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Architectural Interventions: 12 Radical Modern Changes to Historic Buildings

[ By SA Rogers in Architecture & Houses & Residential. ]

Honoring the historic significance of deteriorating buildings while reinventing them for modern contexts and usage, these architectural interventions don’t try to erase signs of aging and damage or blend the demarcation between old and new. Cracks in stone manors are filled with glass, elegant Parisian facades are recreated in stark concrete, rusted steel volumes are lowered right into the empty shells of ruined brick houses. Whether renovating or reimagining the original structures, these projects preserve history and highlight the passage of time instead of demolishing or disguising it.

Astley Castle Renovation by Witherford Watson Mann, Warwickshire, England

Ashley Castle, a former fortified manor for England’s Royal Family that fell into abandoned ruin for decades, comes back to life in the hands of London-based Witherford Watson Mann Architects, who repaired the damaged parts of the space with an insert that simultaneously blends and contrasts with the existing walls. The new brick follows the uneven breaks in the original masonry, preserving it not as it originally looked, but as it looked prior to the renovation, with all its years of history and wear.

Blencowe Hall by Donald Insall Associates, England

A similar approach fills a crack in Blencowe Hall in Cumbria, enabling a deteriorating former manor house to become a luxury hotel in the countryside. The south tower was missing a roof and had sustained a large breach in its east wall. Donald Insall Associates worked with local architect Graham Norman to insert a steel frame and glazed wall into the reach, retaining it “as part of the story of the building.”

The Dovecote Studio by Haworth Tompkins, England

The Dovecote Studio is another example of radically preserving ruins that are deemed “too damaged to save” with some creative thinking. Studio Haworth Tompkins filled the empty shell of an abandoned building with a cortex steel building, which reads as an entirely separate structure within the original envelope but complements the red of the old brick as it rusts. The whole thing was preassembled and literally dropped inside by a crane. It now acts as housing for artists in residence, rehearsal space and temporary exhibition space at the internationally renowned music campus at Snape Maltings.

Kew House by Piercy & Company, London

Very little was left of the original buildings that stood on this street within the Kew Green Conservation Area of southwest London, yet the new construction honors it all the same, incorporating it into the exterior facade. A nineteenth century stable wall acts as the defining architectural feature of the street-fronting side of a new four-bedroom family house by Piercy&Company, retaining its sense of history while allowing the construction of a modern home for modern needs.

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Architectural Interventions 12 Radical Modern Changes To Historic Buildings

A Study in Architectural Contrasts: 12 Modern-Meets-Historic Additions

At what point do modern extensions to historic structures surpass and overwhelm the original buildings rather than complementing and enlarging them? Contrasting architectural styles can be a …

Secular Conversion: Historic Chapel Turned Modern Library

A beautiful old chapel in the Italian town of Lonate Ceppino has been transformed into a modern library with a perforated aluminum tower that adds to the building without compromising its …

Structural Graffiti: Street Art Tags Fresh Architectural Design

Architecture and graffiti are always a bit scandalous, as architects usually want anything but graffiti on the sides of their buildings. Not so in this structure, where the facade incorporates a …

[ By SA Rogers in Architecture & Houses & Residential. ]

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October 25, 2016
Got Reach? Tamron SP 150-600mm F5-6.3 G2 sample gallery

Tamron’s newly updated SP 150-600mm F5-6.3 G2 telephoto lens is weather sealed and sports a number of upgrades, including improved image quality over its previous iteration. The real question is how does it hold up in the real-world? We took the lens to the streets – and to the roof deck – to get a feel for its performance in this sample image gallery.

See our Tamron 150-600mm F5-6.3 G2
real-world sample gallery

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

October 24, 2016
Bright Ideas for Dark Art: Murals by Skurk Play Tricks with Light & Night

[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Street Art & Graffiti. ]

The deep sea anglerfish is a disturbing monstrosity that uses lights to lure in its prey and is the featured backdrop of a recent work of graffiti best experienced at night.

Existing wall lamps serve as the lures in this case, while the fish itself is positioned to swallow up anyone brave enough to venture down the stairs from above.

Hailing from New Zealand but living in Bergen, Norway, street artist Skurk hand-cuts stencils and paints large-scale murals around different themes but often involving light and shadow. The works are also site-specific, made to interact with and respond to conditions in a given physical context.

In some cases, his silhouettes seem to be cast like shadows. In other instances, the idea of electrical lighting takes various forms, like a bulb being plugged into an available (vent) socket.

Trained Eye: Rail Art Plays Visual Tricks with Tracks & Ties

This artist colors outside the lines (or off the rails, if you will) with his clever train-centric creations, dashing onto the tracks to complete pieces that play with the site-specific transit …

Bright Lights, Big City: 15 (More!) Light Art Installations

Light might just be the most captivating art medium of all, capturing our attention and transforming spaces in a way that paint can’t. Some artists use it in combination with long-exposure …

Dark Arts: The Work of 10 Talented Night Photographers

The word “photography” has its roots in Greek, roughly translating to “writing of light.” Just as text is most interesting when free of superfluous words, photography using little light …

[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Street Art & Graffiti. ]

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WebUrbanist

October 24, 2016
Nothing Shocking: Abandoned & Derelict Battery Factories

[ By Steve in Abandoned Places & Architecture. ]

These former battery factories once lead, er, led the way in electrifying society; now they sit abandoned in environs rife with heavy metal contamination.

The abandoned Power City Warehouse in Niagara Falls, New York began producing batteries for automobiles and tractors back in 1910. In the early 1940s, work of a classified nature was being conducted there in support of the Manhattan Project – the top-secret initiative charged with creating the atomic bomb. By the 1960s it had been bought by the Prestolite Company, who re-tolled the factory to manufacture hard rubber battery cases and to fill lead-acid batteries with sulfuric acid. The factory was abandoned in the late 1980s.

The EPA conducted a survey of the site in 2001 that revealed extensive contamination with lead, semi-volatile organic compounds, PCBs, and pesticides in the soil and buildings. Radioactive slag was discovered on the property in early 2012. Flickr user Kevin McBride (Mr Kevino) visited “The Battery Factory”, as it is known colloquially by urbex’ers, in August of 2008 to snap a small selection of photos… hope he wore appropriate clothing like, say a haz-mat suit.

Edison’s Other Bright Idea

Better buy glass company stock STAT – the former Edison Storage Battery factory in West Orange, NJ is being renovated and re-purposed into Edison Village and roughly 900 windows in the circa-1914 main building are due to be replaced.

The factory manufactured batteries for submarines, mining lamps, railroad signals and more. The Battery Building, abandoned since 1965, was the only remaining building in Edison’s once-enormous West Orange industrial complex aside from Edison’s old laboratory, now part of the Thomas Edison National Historic Park. One reason for its longevity was the special “Edison Cement” used in its construction – wrecking balls bounced off the outer walls leaving nary a dent.

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Nothing Shocking Abandoned Derelict Battery Factories

Outside The Blocks: 12 Coldly Abandoned Ice Factories

Ice ain’t all it’s cracked up to be and neither are these obsolete & abandoned factories that once made it, as these 12 examples coldly show.

Judging by their architecture …

Played Out: 10 Cheerless Abandoned Toy Factories

There are few things sadder than an abandoned toy, and abandoned toy factories take that sense of lost innocence to dramatically deeper depths of despair.

As if an abandoned …

Imploded: 8 Burned Out & Abandoned Fireworks Factories

Skyrockets red glare and bombs bursting in air were once sweet music to these abandoned fireworks factories, many of which ended with a bang not a whimper.

Wells Fireworks …

[ By Steve in Abandoned Places & Architecture. ]

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October 23, 2016
Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2016 winners announced

Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2016 winners announced

Entwined lives. Tim Laman, USA, Winner, Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2016

When we heard that the winners of the 2016 Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition had been announced, we were all ears. The shortlisted images released not long ago were incredibly striking, so we were eager to see which ones took the top prizes. The photo above by Tim Laman is the grand title winner, captured with a GoPro HERO4 Black, is a classic case of having your camera in the right spot at the right time. Keep reading to learn more about how his image was created and see other winning images from this year’s competition.

Wildlife Photographer of the Year is developed and produced by the Natural History Museum, London.

Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2016 winners announced

Entwined lives. Tim Laman, USA / Wildlife Photographer of the Year
Winner, Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2016

GoPro HERO4 Black; 1/30 sec at f2.8; ISO 231

A young male orangutan makes the 30-metre (100-foot) climb up the thickest root of the strangler fig that has entwined itself around a tree emerging high above the canopy. The backdrop is the rich rainforest of the Gunung Palung National Park, in West Kalimantan, one of the few protected orangutan strongholds in Indonesian Borneo. The orangutan has returned to feast on the crop of figs. He has a mental map of the likely fruiting trees in his huge range, and he has already feasted here.

Tim knew he would return and, more important, that there was no way to reach the top – no route through the canopy – other than up the tree. But he had to do three days of climbing up and down himself, by rope, to place in position several GoPro cameras that he could trigger remotely to give him a chance of not only a wide?angle view of the forest below but also a view of the orangutan’s face from above. This shot was the one he had long visualized, looking down on the orangutan within its forest home.

Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2016 winners announced

The moon and the crow. Gideon Knight, UK / Wildlife Photographer of the Year
Winner, Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2016

Canon EOS 7D Mark I + 400mm f5.6 lens; 1/250 sec at f6.3; ISO 500

A crow in a tree in a park: a common enough scene. It was one that Gideon had seen many times near his home in London’s Valentines Park, which he visits regularly to take photographs. But as the blue light of dusk crept in and the full moon rose, the scene transformed. The spindly twigs of the sycamore tree silhouetted against the sky ‘made it feel almost supernatural, like something out of a fairy tale,’ says Gideon. Positioning himself on a slope opposite, he tried to capture the perfect composition. But the crow kept moving along the branch and turning its head away, and so getting a silhouette of it with the moon in the frame meant Gideon had to keep moving, too. Then, just as the light was about to fade beyond the point that photography was possible, his wish came true, and an ordinary London scene turned into something magical.

Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2016 winners announced

Eviction attempt, Ganesh H Shankar, India / Wildlife Photographer of the Year
Winner, Birds

Nikon D810 + 200mm f2 lens; 1/500 sec at f5; ISO 400; Gitzo 5540LS tripod + Sachtler 0707 FSB-8 fluid head

These Indian rose-ringed parakeets were not happy. They had returned to their roosting and nesting hole high up in a tree in India’s Keoladeo National Park (also known as Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary) to find that a Bengal monitor lizard had taken up residence. The birds immediately set about trying to evict the squatter. They bit the monitor lizard’s tail, hanging on for a couple of seconds at a time, until it retreated into the hole. They would then harass it when it tried to come out to bask. This went on for two days. But the action only lasted a couple of seconds at a time and was fast-moving. The branch was also high up, and Ganesh had to shoot against the light. Eventually the parakeets gave up and left, presumably to try to find another place to rear their young.

These Indian birds are highly adaptable, and escaped captive parakeets have founded populations in many countries. In Europe, where they are known as ring-necked parakeets, they are accused of competing for nest holes with some native species, such as nuthatches, and even bats, but in turn, other birds such as starlings are quite capable of evicting the parakeets from their nest holes.

Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2016 winners announced

Wind composition, Valter Binotto, Italy / Wildlife Photographer of the Year
Winner, Plants and Fungi

Nikon D4 + 200mm f4 lens; 1/80 sec at f10; ISO 200; remote shutter release; Gitzo tripod + Benro head; reflector

With every gust of wind, showers of pollen were released, lit up by the winter sunshine. The hazel tree was near Valter’s home in northern Italy, and to create the dark background, he positioned himself to backlight the flowers. Hazel has both male and female flowers on the same tree, though the pollen must be transferred between trees for fertilization.

Each catkin comprises an average of 240 male flowers, while the female flower is a small bud-like structure with a red-tufted stigma. The pollen-producing catkins open early in the year, before the leaves are out, and release huge amounts of pollen to be carried away by the wind. And now recent research suggests that bees may also play a role. The catkins are an important source of pollen for early bees and have a bee?friendly structure, while the red colour of the female flowers may entice insects to land on them.

‘The hardest part was capturing the female flowers motionless while the catkins were moving,’ explains Valter. ‘I searched for flowers on a short branch that was more stable.’ Using a long exposure to capture the pollen’s flight and a reflector to highlight the catkins, he took many pictures before the wind finally delivered the composition he had in mind.

Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2016 winners announced

Nayan Khanolkar, India / Wildlife Photographer of the Year
Winner, Urban

Nikon D7000 + 18–105mm f3.5–5.6 lens at 21mm; 1/20 sec at f7.1; three Nikon flashes; Trailmaster infrared triggers; custom-made housing

At night, in the Aarey Milk Colony in a suburb of Mumbai bordering Sanjay Gandhi National Park, leopards slip ghost-like through the maze of alleys, looking for food (especially stray dogs). The Warli people living in the area respect the big cats. Despite close encounters and occasional attacks (a particular spate coinciding with the relocation of leopards from other areas into the park), the cats are an accepted part of their lives and their culture, seen in the traditional paintings that decorate the walls of their homes. The leopard is not only the most versatile of the world’s big cats but possibly the most persecuted. With growing human-leopard conflicts elsewhere grabbing the headlines, Nayan was determined to use his pictures to show how things can be different with tolerance and planning.

Once he had convinced the Warli people of his plan, they supplied him with valuable information, as well as keeping an eye on his equipment. Positioning his flashes to mimic the alley’s usual lighting and his camera so that a passing cat would not dominate the frame, he finally – after four months – got the shot he wanted. With a fleeting look of enquiry in the direction of the camera click, a leopard went about its business alongside people’s homes. Nayan hopes that those living in Mumbai’s new high-rise developments now impinging on the park will learn from the Warli how to co?exist with the original inhabitants of the land.

Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2016 winners announced

Playing pangolin, Lance van de Vyver, New Zealand/South Africa / Wildlife Photographer of the Year
Finalist, Black & White

Canon EOS 5DS R + 500mm f4 lens; 1/1600 sec at f4; ISO 1600

Lance had tracked the pride for several hours before they stopped to rest by a waterhole, but their attention was not on drinking. The lions (in South Africa’s Tswalu Kalahari Private Game Reserve) had discovered a Temminck’s ground pangolin. This nocturnal, ant-eating mammal is armour-plated with scales made of fused hair, and it curls up into an almost impregnable ball when threatened. Pangolins usually escape unscathed from big cats (though not from humans, whose exploitation of them for the traditional medicine trade is causing their severe decline).

But these lions just wouldn’t give up. ‘They rolled it around like a soccer ball,’ says Lance. ‘Every time they lost interest, the pangolin uncurled and tried to retreat, attracting their attention again.’ Spotting a young lion holding the pangolin ball on a termite mound close to the vehicle, Lance focused in on the lion’s claws and the pangolin’s scratched scales, choosing black and white to help simplify the composition. It was14 hours before the pride finally moved off to hunt. The pangolin did not appear to be injured, but it died shortly after, probably not just from the stress of capture but also from being out in the heat all day.

Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2016 winners announced

Snapper party, Tony Wu, USA / Wildlife Photographer of the Year
Winner, Underwater

Canon EOS 5D Mark III + 15mm f2.8 lens; 1/200 sec at f9; ISO 640; Zillion housing; Pro One optical dome port

For several days each month (in tandem with the full moon), thousands of two?spot red snappers gather to spawn around Palau in the western Pacific Ocean. The action is intense as the fish fill the water with sperm and eggs, and predators arrive to take advantage of the bounty. Having read about the drama, Tony couldn’t understand why there were so few photos of it – until he hit the water there for the first time, in 2012. The currents were unrelenting – ideal for eggs to be swept swiftly away but a struggle for him to keep up with the fast?moving fish. Also, the light was low, and the water was clouded with sperm and eggs. That first attempt failed, but he has returned every year to try to capture the event.

Noticing that the spawning ran ‘like a chain reaction up and down the mass of fish’, his success finally came when he positioned himself so that the action came to him. Rewarded with a grandstand view, he was intrigued to see that the fish rapidly changed colour during mating from their standard red to a multitude of hues and patterns. Even their characteristic two white spots, close to the dorsal fin on their back, seemed to fade and reappear. On this occasion, with perfect anticipation, he managed to capture a dynamic arc of spawning fish amid clouds of eggs in the oblique morning light. Still obsessed by the dynamics and magnitude of this natural wonder, he will be returning to Palau next April to witness once again the spectacular snapper party.

Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2016 winners announced

The aftermath, Simon Stafford, UK / Wildlife Photographer of the Year
Winner, Mammals

Nikon D810 + 800mm f5.6 lens; 1/500 sec at f5.6; ISO 400; beanbag

Eerie silence and a mound of lifeless bodies: the contrast with the mayhem of the previous day couldn’t have been starker. And the stench was already dreadful. The day before, thousands of wildebeest on migration through Kenya’s Maasai Mara National Reserve had massed at the Mara River, nervous of the crossing ahead and of the huge Nile crocodiles lying in wait. Once one made the leap, they all surged forward and the river became a maelstrom of flailing hooves and crocodiles. In their frantic efforts to get out, they carved gullies in the riverbank, and in over an hour, as the gullies became deeper and deeper, more and more wildebeest slipped back down and died under the hooves of the ones coming out of the river.

Simon returned at first light, knowing that scavengers would gather at the site of the carnage. ‘It was a sinister scene,’ he says. ‘There must have been 50 or more carcasses, piled two or three deep.’ Spotted hyenas were already feeding, and hippos and crocodiles had gathered in the river below. As Simon watched from the other side of the wide river, one hyena left the feast and stood, as if standing sentry, at the river’s edge watching the gathering of crocodiles in the water below.

Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2016 winners announced

Wild West stand-off, Charlie Hamilton James, UK / Wildlife Photographer of the Year
Finalist, Mammals

Nikon D7100 + 10–24mm lens at 24mm; 1/2500 sec at f5.6; ISO 1600; Trailmaster TM550 passive infrared monitor

A grizzly bear charges at ravens trying to grab a piece of the feast. The bison is a road-kill that rangers have moved to a spot they use for carrion to avoid contact between predators and tourists. The location is Grand Teton National Park, part of the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem in the western US, where grizzlies still roam. ‘Approaching a bear’s lunch is a dangerous thing to do,’ says Charlie. So there were strict protocols for getting out of his vehicle every time he went to check his camera trap. Over nearly five months, he had thousands of images of ravens and vultures, but only a few of wolves or bears, and none were up to the high standards he set himself, until this one.

‘The moment I saw it, I was so excited. It had taken nearly five months to get a decent image out of the set-up. It’s rare that I like my images, but I really like this one – though I still get annoyed that the top raven is positioned right over the Grand Teton mountain.’ The Yellowstone grizzly population has been protected since the 1970s, but now that numbers are recovering, it is proposed that the population is removed from the federal list of protected species, allowing hunting outside the two parks. This has raised concerns not only about the grizzlies’ fate but also about the knock-on effect on the ecology.

Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2016 winners announced

The pangolin pit, Paul Hilton, UK/Australia / Wildlife Photographer of the Year
Winner, The Wildlife Photojournalist Award: Single image

Canon EOS 5D Mark III + 16–35mm f2.8 lens at 21mm; 1/800 sec at f8; Manfrotto tripod

Nothing prepared Paul for what he saw: some 4,000 defrosting pangolins (5 tons) from one of the largest seizures of the animals on record. They were destined for China and Vietnam for the exotic?meat trade or for traditional medicine (their scales are thought, wrongly, to treat a variety of ailments). Pangolins have become the world’s most trafficked animals, with all eight species targeted. This illegal trade, along with habitat loss and local hunting, means that the four Asian species are now endangered or critically endangered, and Africa’s four species are heading that way.

These Asian victims, mostly Sunda pangolins, were part of a huge seizure – a joint operation between Indonesia’s police and the World Conservation Society – found hidden in a shipping container behind a façade of frozen fish, ready for export from the major port of Belawan in Sumatra. Also seized were 96 live pangolins (destined to be force-fed to increase their size), along with 100 kilos (220 pounds) of pangolin scales (formed from keratin, the same substance in fingernails and rhino horn) worth some $ 1.8 million on the black market, and 24 bear paws. All had come from northern Sumatra. The dead pangolins were driven to a specially dug pit and then incinerated. The live ones were taken north and released in the rainforest. ‘Wildlife crime is big business,’ says Paul. ‘It will stop only when the demand stops.’

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

October 23, 2016
Record Breaking: Magnetic Levitating Turntable Lets Vinyl Defy Gravity

[ By WebUrbanist in Technology & Vintage & Retro. ]

Cool and clever trump common sense and normal physics in this levitating record turntable, which aims to bring a vintage technology into the future.

Mag-Lev Audio wants to push audio technology in a new (vertical) direction, creating an “uplifting experience of music” in the form of the world’s first floating record player.

The device, the creators claim, not just about a look, but also the ability to “maintain the incredibly precise turning of the platter with sensor regulating software. Air is the smoothest medium with least amount of friction, which further elevates this project into a truly unique listening experience.”

Feet support the spinning platter when it is not in use while stored-up power can bring the system to a comfortable stop and lift the needle in case of an outage (instead of it dropping the floating disc uncontrolled).

The makers boast the simplicity of the system: “pick a favorite record; turn the turntable on; move the tone arm into position; and lower the cueing lever; then let the smart-record player do the rest.”

A series of LED lights and digital displays lend the entire setup an air of cyberpunk futurism as well, reinforcing the ambient aesthetic created by the floating form of the disk. Whether this approach will take off remains to be seen, but the gadget has already raised enough money on Kickstarter to make it happen.

For the Record: 13 Modern & Conceptual Turntable Designs

As record players enjoy a resurgence in popularity, their designs get sleeker and more modern, incorporating 3D printing, lasers, magnets that levitate the disc so it plays while in mid-air and …

Air Bonsai: Magnetic Levitation Kit Lets You Float Little Trees

Taking bonsai approaches to the next level, a Japanese company based out of Kyushu has raised over half a million dollars so far for its levitating (and rotating) tree system.

The fauna …

Anti-Gravity Hotel: Sleep Suspended in Levitating Space Suit

If various aches and pains or a childhood fantasy about being an astronaut make you wish you could sleep in antigravity, here’s a way to make it happen – sort of. A group of architecture …

[ By WebUrbanist in Technology & Vintage & Retro. ]

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October 23, 2016
Cluck Yeah! Two New Downtown San Francisco Fried Chicken Sandwiches!

The Bird’s fried chicken sandwich offers a juicy, succulent piece of fried chicken complimented by a slightly sweet apple based slaw on a brioche bun.

Organic Coup’s fried chicken sandwich offers a slightly larger piece of chicken with a tangy and spicy slaw with jalapeno on an equally tasty bun.

Downtown San Franciscans were treated to not one but two new fried chicken sandwiches this week in the heart of San Francisco’s Financial District. Two new restaurants, Organic Coup and The Bird are both located a mere 2 blocks off of Market Street. Organic Coup North of Market at 224 Kearny and The Bird South of Market located at 115 Montgomery.

The Bird is open Monday through Saturday from 11am to 10pm.

Organic Coup is open 11am to 3pm Monday through Friday for lunch.

Since who the cluck doesn’t like fried chicken sandwiches, I tried both this week and thought I’d write a few thoughts on each of these fine new chicken coops. My co-worker Sam Greene joined me (because birds of feather stick together) and I’ve added his thoughts on each section of this review.

Let the great San Francisco Cluck Off begin!

Organically Cocky at the Organic Coup.

The Bird, Fried Chx Sandwiches, 200 Daily #CluckYeah.

50 Deep in line at The Bird. Get there early and plan on a wait.

Ordering. (Winner: tie)

Although it’s probably not fair to compare the foot traffic at both of these restaurants on opening week, plan on spending a lot more time waiting for your chicken sandwich at The Bird than Organic Coup.

I arrived to a line already 50 deep at 11:10 am Friday at The Bird. The wait was approximately half an hour from start to finish. By contrast you get in and out of Organic Coup much faster. I went to Organic Coup on Wednesday and Thursday at 11:10am and there was no line. On Friday I went to Organic Coup after the Bird at around 11:45am and the wait still was only about 4 people for about 5 minutes.

Organic Coup had a very efficient ordering system. An order taker walks you through your order on an iPad. You make your designation side by side and then when you swipe your credit card the system automatically pulls your name and then uses your name to call you when your order is ready. The Bird offers a more formal across the counter cash register based system where they print out a receipt for you to sign. They do capture your name from your card as well though and use it to call your order.

Organic Coup has a sign up by the order taker that says no cash / no tipping. On their website they say that they are committed to paying their workers a livable wage and say that they “pay the highest wages in the industry.” With tax their sandwich is $ 11.

By contrast the Bird has you either write in or decline a tip on your credit card receipt when you sign. Their sandwich is cheaper at $ 9 with tax no tip.

I will write more on the whole tip no tip thing below, but I will say I liked the fact that Organic Coup doesn’t allow cash. Cash tends to slow things down and pretty much everybody has a credit or debit card these days.

I would clearly give the win to Organic Coup here based on the faster service, except for the fact that The Bird had a server come outside to the line and give everyone in the line a free sample of their clucking amazing ice cream sandwich, one of the best I’ve ever tried. Not only did they hand out free samples to the line, the guy handing out the samples came by afterwards to take everyone’s trash from the sample that was handed out. Such thoughtfulness and such an amazing treat made the line totally worth it. That was very smart. So the verdict here is a tie but both were pretty clucking great.

SAM’S TAKE:

Ordering (winner: Organic Coup)

I’m a big believer in the holistic evaluation process so it is hard for me to say which restaurant offers an absolutely better ordering system. I would start by saying the ordering systems are different. The Organic Coup offers a clucking-efficient iPad based self-service ordering system while The Bird offers the more traditional cash-transaction at the register system. I personally like the iPad self-service system much better for a few reasons. For starters, the pressure of having to field a barrage of questions at the counter is completely removed with the iPads. Additionally, what’s nice about ordering on the iPad is that it gives me a little more time to consider what options are available before making my selection. This way you don’t have to fumble over your words dictating your order to the cashier while you’re looking at the menu. Sure, it may be a bit awkward and anti-social to prefer the iPad system, but the reality is that ordering through the iPad is much easier and simpler for all parties involved and saves everybody a little bit of time.

However, since the fried chicken sandwich itself is a bit simpler at The Bird in that there is only a spicy and non-spicy option as opposed to an overwhelming assortment of sauces to add and choose from at the Organic Coup, I didn’t feel like the register-based system slowed down the ordering process significantly. Overall, I think the two are tied for the best ordering system. The Bird’s products don’t complicate ordering at the register, and Organic Coups iPad system nicely handles more complicated orders.

Cost (Winner: tie)

Sure the sandwich at Organic Coup is two clucks more, but the fact that there is no pressure to tip and apparently you can feel ok about not tipping because of the living wage thing, it sort of makes up for the extra cost. If you tip a buck at the Bird, the sandwich still comes in a dollar cheaper, but I’m sort of a fan of including gratuity in the price of a product which feels more like what Organic Coup is doing. It would be interesting to know how much each place pays their workers, but to me there’s not much difference between paying $ 11/no tip or $ 10 or $ 11 with manual tip.

Atmosphere (Winner: tie)

Both sandwich shops feel really nice although just a little crowded. Organic Coup feels a little more like a chain/corporate (and with multiple locations it sort of is) vs. the pop up feel of The Bird. The Bird (which is in the space that the old Melt use to use) has some seating which is nice if you want to eat your sandwich there. Seating is very limited, but at least they have some. I usually take my lunch to go though so seating didn’t matter to me. The Bird offers you a water cup which is nice. Organic Coup is more open and airy and light in my opinion — both are very nice and clean.

Both restaurants had people with menus outside greeting you. Both restaurants had friendly employees. Both restaurants were marketing with the San Francisco “Cluck Yeah” tag line sure to appeal to millennials everywhere. The Bird uses a hashtag based #CLUCKYEAH while Organic Coup chose to go with an exclamation point based CLUCK YEAH!

SAM’S TAKE:

Both shops were nice, clean and up to snuff. However, I feel like the Bird may have a slight edge in the overall atmosphere. Fist and foremost, the Bird has a larger space that is big enough to offer counters, seating, and complimentary water and bathrooms. Keep in mind though that around 11:00am when we went the place was hustling and bustling so it was difficult to find a place to stand and lean let alone sit and dine, so if you’re looking for a place to enjoy a leisurely meal I would look elsewhere. That being said, the fact that seating is available for less rushed and frenzied times during the day is a huge plus for me.

In contrast, the smaller, more cooped up space at the Organic Coup (no pun intended), did not feel large enough to adequately handle the 11:00am rush of lunch-goers who inevitably end up waiting on the sidewalk. Granted, the line at the The Bird wound around the block as well when we went — however, once all the hype dies down from the opening weeks for each location I think The Bird will be more attractive to a larger percentage of the lunch-going population since it does offer a place to sit. In light of all that, the smaller space offered by the Organic Coup is nice in that it sort of naturally moves folks along in and out of the building faster since nobody likes to stand around in claustrophobic, shoulder-to-shoulder, tight-knit spaces for long. If your intention is to grab your food and go, the Organic Coup is perfect. However, given the choice, I would rather have the option to sit and schmooze over a quick bite with a co-worker than feel rushed in and out of the place.

Secondly, the Bird felt like it actually had a personality. The interior design maintained what appeared to be the original look and architecture of the establishment that preceded The Bird. As a matter of personal preference, I thought it was nice that The Bird chose to maintain the integrity of style rather than give it a radical makeover to conform to the recognizable and modern look. There is an aura of traditional, classic fried chicken sandwich shop that emanates from the old-school single-letter-insert-menu hanging down from the ceiling. Overall The Bird presents itself as more of unique local, self-sufficient, one-of-a-kind joint while the Organic Coup is more of a modern and contemporary fast-food chain.

I have to hand this one to The Bird.

Nutrition (Winner: Organic Coup)

Organic Coup markets itself as America’s first USDA certified organic fast food restaurant. What’s more, they provide you with calorie nutritional information on their website. According to their website their Chicken Sandwich is 500 calories. For such a big fried sandwich I almost can not believe it is only 500 calories. They also offer a bowl, which is more like a fried chicken salad, with only 320 calories. For someone like me trying to maintain my sleek physique, those numbers are very reasonable and I appreciated that they shared them with me on their website.

The Bird does not provide nutritional information on their website. Based on the taste of their sandwich though (and the fact that it has mayo on it), I’d suspect it’s more than 500 calories.

SAM’S TAKE:

I have to agree with the Hawk here. I think it’s clucking-smart that the Organic Coup makes an effort to disclose nutritional facts on its website to its frequenters. In the age of the IoT, information is data and data is power to the consumer. As a consumer, I feel clucking-empowered by nutritional information in what I’m choosing to buy and eat, even though the information may not necessarily ultimately drive my decision. For example, I may find that the Organic Coup is less calories than The Bird, but I may still like the bird better since it has those incredible pickles. Merely the fact that Organic Coup openly shares with us the nutritional facts so transparently makes me more trusting of them as a restaurant regardless of whether or not their sandwich is any healthier, less caloric or has overall more nutritional value than The Birds. Props to Organic Coup on this one.

The Sandwich (Winner: The Bird, by a beak)

First off, I have to say I liked both sandwiches. I will definitely be back to both in the future.

Organic Coup’s sandwich reminded me very much of one of my favorite East Bay secrets, the fried chicken sandwich at Bakesale Betty’s in Oakland only on a tasty bun instead of a roll. Organic Coup uses a vinegar based slaw with jalapenos in it just like Betty does. This is also the base for the slab of fried chicken that they serve with their bowl (which is more like a fried chicken slaw salad) and it is clucking delicious. You get a choice of four sauces for your bowl/wrap/sandwich. I got my sandwich with the vegan mustard vinaigrette sauce. The sauce was good but the irony that they were marketing my choice of sauce as “vegan” when I was eating a fried chicken sandwich was not lost on me. The spicy BBQ sauce seemed the most popular.

Organic Coup’s piece of friend chicken felt a little bit bigger to me than The Bird’s and hangs out of both sides of the sandwich.

As much as I enjoyed Organic Coup’s sandwich, The Bird edged it out here by a beak. Given the mayonnaise on the sandwich it definitely made it taste a bit richer. More than the mayonnaise though the chicken itself was more tender, flavorful and succulent. The Bird’s bird was a juicy, flavorful, delicious piece of mouthwatering bliss. The Bird’s sandwich had less slaw than Organic Coup’s but the slaw itself was a cabbage-onion-apple based slaw which gave it just the slight amount of sweetness that went perfectly with the spicy flavor. It also had Super Duper pickles on it which added a nice finishing touch.

The Bird had two versions of their signature sandwich, spicy and non-spicy. I of course opted for spicy and I’m glad I did.

SAM’S TAKE:

The Sandwich (The Bird, it was beak-and-beak the whole way through)

Both places offer un-clucking-believable fried chicken sandwiches. Both offer great, high-quality sandwiches sure to satisfy any afternoon deep-fried craving San Franciscan dropping by for quick bite to eat. The Bird differentiates itself from the Organic Coup in a few notable ways. While both offer delicious crunchy deep fried gustatory experiences, The Bird seems to let their birds simmer a bit longer in the pan allowing a thicker, deeper-fried coat to form. The deeper-fried coat made it all the more delicious and rich, though perhaps slightly less healthy. Additionally, the sandwich served at the Bird championed an artfully infused African Berber spice in the batter that was a flavorful and interesting homage to the origins of the fried chicken sandwich.

The coleslaw prepared at the Organic Coup offered more intense, spicier coleslaw than The Bird though. It beautifully complimented the spicy BBQ sauce served with the sandwich that I had chosen. Additionally, the Organic Coup offered a much larger chunk of chicken than The Bird which made me feel like I was getting better value for the two extra clucks I paid.

However, although Organic Coup made an eggs-ellent final product, the bird at the The Bird was slightly more succulent and juicy than at The Organic Coup. I’m pretty sure there was an element of marketing responsible for this perception though. Since I knew in advance that the Bird only made 200 sandwiches a day for the lunch crowd I think I was primed to believe they put more TLC, attention and energy into making each sandwich perfect than the Organic Coup. Upon deeper reflection, however, I do not think the modern fast-food nature of the Organic Coup takes away from the quality of their artfully though more industrially crafted sandwiches. It was just an observation I made when writing this review. I simply think I got a bit luckier at the Bird at the time I went in regards to the juiciness factor of the chicken. All in all, The Bird stood out to me as overall slightly tastier due to the tenderness of the meat and the deliciousness of the deep-fry recipe despite its shortcoming in size compared to the Organic Coup.

The Logo (Winner: The Bird)

Very hipster San Francisco looking fox with a chicken sandwich in his mouth, would also look good on a Bon Iver album cover.

I didn’t really get into the extras beyond the fried chicken sandwiches in this review, but it is also worth pointing out that The Bird sells beer which may be a plus for some while by contrast Organic Coup offers fresh squeezed lemonade. I have a general rule that I don’t consume alcohol before 6pm so I can’t imagine having a beer at lunch, but for more thirstier friends that might be a good option to know about.

The bottom line is both of these new fried chicken sandwiches are abso-clucking-lutely delicious. So the next time you and your cluck buddy get a craving for some fried chicken sandwich for lunch try one of these two hen houses. You won’t be disappointed and you might even get a free sample of some ice cream sandwich to go with it.

Cluck Yeah with an exclamation mark instead of the hashtag.

No Cash and No Tipping at the Organic Coup.

Organic Looks Good on You at the Organic Coup.

Fresh Squeezed Lemonade at Organic Coup.

Standing outside Organic Coup on Kearny Street.

Interior shot of The Bird.

Thomas Hawk Digital Connection

October 22, 2016
The range of light: what made one of Ansel’s most famous books so special

Continuing his video series, Marc Silber of Advancing Your Photography interviews Ansel Adams’ son Michael in Ansel’s home. In this episode they discuss Ansel’s book ‘The Range of Light’ which contains some of Ansel’s most famous images from Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. They also discuss Ansel’s thoughts on how to develop your skill set as a photographer. Michael says that Ansel would have encouraged new photographers to ‘photograph, experiment and to try new things.’

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

October 22, 2016
Pretty in Pink: Trump’s Border Wall as Envisioned by Mexican Architects

[ By SA Rogers in Architecture & Cities & Urbanism. ]

Donald Trump has promised that if he becomes President of the United States, he’ll build a “beautiful and impenetrable” wall and force Mexico to pay for it – so a group of Mexican architects have taken on the task of designing it for him, too. The firm Estudio 3.14 has envisioned the “gorgeous perversity” of the proposal in a vibrant shade of neon pink, a solid architectural ribbon running from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico and packed full of prisons.

“I will build a great wall – and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me – and I’ll build them very inexpensively,” Trump said during his candidacy announcement speech in June 2015. “I will build a great, great wall on our southern border, and I will make Mexico pay for that wall. Mark my words.”

Estudio 3.14 presents a series of renderings of the structure in the various types of border landscapes one finds along that 1,954-mile stretch. The wall is painted pink in honor of Pritzker Prize-winning Mexican architect Luis Barragán. To understand exactly what the architects are getting at with this project, it’s best to hear it described in their own words.

“Based on Trump’s statements, the economic, ecological and financial aspects have been called into question. However, he continues with his verbal plan. As architects and designers, we have the capacity to imagine and interpret what Trump is saying, and we are convinced that if we can make people see it, they can assess his words and the perversity in his proposal.”

“Because the wall has to be beautiful, it has been inspired in by Luis Barragán’s pink walls that are emblematic of Mexico. It also takes advantage of the tradition in architecture of megalomaniac wall building. Moreover, the wall is not only a wall – as you can see in the hill landscape cross-section it is a prison where 11 million undocumented people will be processed, classified, indoctrinated, and/or deported.”

“The relation between the discipline of architecture and political perversity and/or megalomania has already been seen through previous characters such as Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini, who relied on the imaginative architects of their words and the creators, who materialized their macabre ideas. The proposal is made from the disciplinary field that has worked, since the existence of humanity, for the status quo and benefits from this tradition.”

The ABC of Architects: 26 Famous Buildings in 100 Seconds

An adult-fascinating and kid-friendly overview of 26 works by architectural greats from the last 100 years. Watch as this fantastic collection of animated iconic buildings comes to life in less …

Binational Megacity: Master Plan Designed to Span US-Mexico Border

Border City is being designed as a bridge between nations, a novel approach to creating international unity at a time when some politicians call for building walls. Proposed by architect …

Beware of Colour: Activists Highlight Decay with Pink Paint

Splashed with bright buckets of paint from roofs and windows, the colorfully defaced buildings of downtown Johannesburg have evoked different reactions from supports and detractors who variously …

[ By SA Rogers in Architecture & Cities & Urbanism. ]

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WebUrbanist

October 22, 2016
Hands-on with Nikon AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm F2.8E and PC Nikkor 19mm

Hands-on with Nikon AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm F2.8E and PC Nikkor 19mm

Nikon just released two new lenses – the AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm F2.8E FL ED VR and PC Nikkor 19mm F4E ED. We’re at the Photo Plus show in New York, where we got our hands on them.

Hands-on with Nikon AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm F2.8E and PC Nikkor 19mm

The AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm F2.8E FL ED VR is the third iteration of Nikon’s modern 70-200mm F2.8 telezoom. Improvements over its predecessor include a complete optical redesign and fluorine coatings on the front and rear elements.

While the new lens is only around 100g lighter than the VR II, and a mere couple of millimeters slimmer, it makes a difference. The new lens definitely feels like less of a ‘lump’ than the older version, thanks partly to a shift in the center of gravity, with more weight moved towards the mount.

Hands-on with Nikon AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm F2.8E and PC Nikkor 19mm

The new lens construction features 22 elements, including six ED, one fluorite and one high refractive index element. As we’d expect from a lens in Nikon’s professional F2.8 lineup, the body is weather-sealed, and includes a rubber flange around the mount to prevent dust and moisture from getting into the camera body when the lens is in use.

Hands-on with Nikon AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm F2.8E and PC Nikkor 19mm

The ‘E’ in ‘2.8E’ denotes an electronic aperture actuator. Most Nikon lenses still feature a mechanical aperture actuator, but the benefit of electrical actuation (which is slowing being phased in to Nikon’s high-end lenses) is better precision, and stepless movement. The latter feature is especially important when shooting video. Minimum focus in the new lens has been reduced compared to its predecessor, to ~1.1 meters.

Hands-on with Nikon AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm F2.8E and PC Nikkor 19mm

As usual with high-end telezoom lenses, the AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm F2.8 E features a focus limiter, to prevent hunting when working at longer subject distances. Alongside the usual VR and AF mode switches the new lens also offers an AF-L / Off / AF-ON switch, which allows the buttons on the lens barrel to either activate or lock AF (or be deactivated).

Hands-on with Nikon AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm F2.8E and PC Nikkor 19mm

According to Nikon, the new 70-200mm F2.8E features a refined vibration reduction (VR) system, offering the equivalent of up to four stops of correction. The AF-S NIKKOR 70-200mm f/2.8E FL ED VR will be available next month for $ 2799.99.

Hands-on with Nikon AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm F2.8E and PC Nikkor 19mm

Next up, at the opposite end of the lineup is the PC Nikkor 19mm F4E ED. Nikon’s widest PC (perspective correction) lens, the 19mm F4E should appeal to architectural and real-estate photographers who need the ability to correct for perspective optically rather than digitally, in post-processing.

Hands-on with Nikon AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm F2.8E and PC Nikkor 19mm

The 19mm F4E offers 97° of coverage and can shift ±12mm and tilt ±7.5°. Unlike the company’s existing PC-E designs, the mechanism for tilt can be rotated independently from the mechanism for shift, allowing the tilt to be set either parallel to or perpendicular to the shift.

Hands-on with Nikon AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm F2.8E and PC Nikkor 19mm

The new lens is distinguishable by its enormous bulbous front element. Optical construction includes three ED and two aspherical elements as well as Nano Crystal Coating.

Hands-on with Nikon AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm F2.8E and PC Nikkor 19mm

Minimum focus is around 25cm, and as we’d expect from a perspective correction lens, focusing is manual, via a large and well-damped focus ring. Unlike classic Nikon PC designs, aperture is electronically controlled from the camera body.

Hands-on with Nikon AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm F2.8E and PC Nikkor 19mm

Like the new 70-200mm F2.8E, the 19mm F4E is built to a very high standard, and includes a rubber flange to keep dust and moisture out of the camera body.

Hands-on with Nikon AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm F2.8E and PC Nikkor 19mm

The PC Nikkor 19mm F4E ED will be available next month for $ 3,399.95.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

October 22, 2016