Bjarke Ingels at Biennale di Venezia 2010

here and here


Bjarke Ingels talks about "Loop City," his studio's modern take on Copenhagen's Finger Plan. In the video he mentions one of B.I.G.'s main interests - the idea of functionalism creating radical designs. A good example of this is "8HOUSE," which was recently completed. It started as a simple perimeter block, and through functional decisions alone became a twisted and tilted multistorey combination of accomodation, commerce and office space. The video below details this process.

I also recommend browsing through the various projects on their website, which range from pavillions to man made islands.

Wesley Mortimer Wales "Wes" Anderson

(born May 1, 1969) is an American film director, screenwriter, actor, and producer of features, short films and commercials. He was nominated for a 2001 Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for The Royal Tenenbaums. Anderson has been called an auteur, as he is involved in every aspect of his films' production. His films employ a similar aesthetic, employing a deliberate, methodical cinematography, with mostly primary colors. His soundtracks feature early folk and rock music, in particular classic British rock. Anderson's films combine dry humor with poignant portrayals of flawed characters – often a mix of the wealthy and the working class. He is also known for working with many of the same actors and crew on varying projects. He also works with Indian Paintbrush, Steven M. Rales's production company.
From Wikipedia

My favourite films of him are "The Darjeeling Limited":



and "The Royal Tennenbaums":

132 5 by Issey Miyake

From here

Japanese fashion designer Issey Miyake has designed a range of clothing that expand from two-dimensional geometric shapes into structured shirts, skirts, pants and dresses.

Ten basic two-dimensional patterns make up the collection, the eventual garments being decided by the lines the patterns are cut along and their position.

Many clothing variations can be created by utilising the patterns in various scales and combinations.

The project was inspired by the work of computer scientist Jun Mitani who creates three-dimensional structures with smoothly curved surfaces by folding flat materials.

The designers used a computer modelling program designed by Mitani to design the three dimensional forms of the garments, which are then modeled in paper adding cuts and fold lines until the forms can be flattened.

The project was undertaken by Miyake’s Reality Lab, a research and development team formed by Miyake, textile engineer Manabu Kikuchi and pattern engineer Sachinko Yamamoto.

AE20: Books

from here on DAILYDOSE, thank you!

Paper may be used in construction as recycled filler for insulation and in the form of concrete tubes, found in many of Shigeru Ban's projects, but using books as an architectural element would just be silly. Right? Yet a couple projects--admittedly more installations than buildings--that landed in my newsreader and inbox happen to use those bound things with words and (sometimes) pictures on them for defining spaces, indoors and out.


["Scanner" by Matej Kren | image source]

Inhabitat posts Matej Kren's installation "Scanner" at the Museum of Modern Art in Bologna, Italy. The huge conical object and enclosure is built from books, "because of their nature as seat of knowledge, as symbols of intrinsically human free thought, books are here 'used' as raw materials for an artistic process existing and communicating on many distinct levels." I can't help thinking it also has something to do with the state of books, as Amazon.com's sales for electronic books now outsell the paper ones.


["Scanner" by Matej Kren | image source]

I also think the choice aims to overwhelm one physically and psychologically. The installation is large--and the space inside is visually enlarged with mirrors--but with books as building blocks we have something to relate to. We've held books in our hands, so seeing thousand of them stacked and stuffed into the museum's gallery makes it that much more impressive. The same space with bricks, stucco, or another "architectural" materials just wouldn't work, metaphorically or experientially.

Red Beacon by Arne Quinze

From here and here

"Conceived to entice visitors into Shanghai’s Jing’an Sculpture Park, Quinze’s Red Beacon is typically unrestrained, with 55 tonnes of wooden planking, seemingly slung in fury at a canopy structure."
In much the same way as Nouvel's current Serpentine Pavillion, Quinze's Beacon's intense red bursts from the surrounding trees. The actual structure emerges as a subtle yet striking angular canopy, not dissimilar to the tree's own form. Whilst contradicting each other in almost every respect, the similarities tie the two frames together to create a seething mass of wood, paint and leaves that is at once both chaotic and ordered.
There is a photo blog of the project that documents the whole process from idea to object here. Just click on the date links on the left of the page to view.

The Worlds Largest Weathervane

This decommissioned DC-3 now forever points into the oncoming wind.

The worlds largest Weathervane, A Douglas DC-3 airplane sits on a pedestal in front of the Yukon Transportation Museum (where it was moved to in summer of 2009). The title of "The Worlds Largest Weathervane" isn't just a joke. Placed on a specially engineered pedestal in 1981, the plane truly does slowly and silently pivot and move with the breeze (it only takes a 5 knot wind to turn her), so that her nose is always pointing into the wind as if in a perpetual, never-ending flight.

Bought in April 1946 by Canadian Pacific Airlines, the plane served as a military cargo plane, a civilian plane, and later as a "bush plane." In truly Canadian style the plane was outfitted with skis so that it might land on remote snowy plains to deliver supplies. The DC-3 flew her last flight in November 1970 before being donated to the Yukon Flying Club in 1977. Though the DC-3 has been downgraded to the status of weathervane, as far as the fate of retired planes go, flying forever into the oncoming wind is a pretty good last gig.

From Atlas Obscura, Thanks!

Home 08 by i29

link from here on DEZEEN. thank you! 

This Amsterdam apartment by Dutch interior architects i29 has two pine wood wall cabinets hiding most of the functional appliances and fitings, allowing for a completely open space. More »

Pseudoscope

A pseudoscope is a binocular optical instrument that reverses depth perception. It is used to study human stereoscopic perception. Objects viewed through it appear inside out, for example: a box on a floor, would appear as a box shaped hole in the floor.

It typically uses sets of optical prisms, or periscopically arranged mirrors to swap the view of the left eye with that of the right eye.

In the 1800s Charles Wheatstone coined the name from the Greek ψευδίς σκοπειν -- "false view". The device was used to explore his theory of stereo vision. ^[1]

Switching the two pictures in a standard stereoscope changes all the elevated parts into depressions, and vice versa. The pseudoscope produces these inversions also, it changes convex into concave, and high-relief into low-relief.

But the pseudoscopic inversion of a complicated picture — a landscape, streets, etc., produces a bewildering impression. It seems as if all the objects — men, trees, etc., had been placed in a depression of the earth, and yet everything remains in its place. Therefore, nearer objects appear very large, because we imagine them to be at a great distance, and more distant objects smaller, because they seem to be nearer.^[2]

Wikipedia Article


Image above from grand illusions.

For images and instructions see these two 'Make your own Pseudoscope' tutorials:
Monokai
pseudoscope.blogspot
Thank You!

The Ruins of St. Peter's Seminary

One of Scotland's most important modern structures, it just made the '100 Most Endangered Sites' list

St. Peter's exterior

St. Peter's exterior

Main chapel

The alter

Remnants of living quarters.

St. Peter's exterior

Main chapel

The alter

Remnants of living quarters.

Overgrown stairs

The great library

The great library (overhead)

St. Peter's exterior

Main chapel

The alter

Remnants of living quarters.

Overgrown stairs

The great library

The great library (overhead)

St. Peter's Seminary

Main chapel

The alter

Remnants of living quarters.

Overgrown stairs

The great library

The great library (overhead)

St. Peter's Seminary

Source YouTube

Strolling through the countryside of Scotland you expect to see the ruins of an ancient castle or two - the hillsides are full of them. However, tucked away in the woods outside Cardross lies an entirely different kind of relic.

The ruins of St. Peter's Seminary are seemingly not of this world. Its as though you've stumbled upon the remnants of an ancient alien civilization. In appearance the word "brutal" is an understatement. Daunting, ghastly, decimated are all appropriate descriptors.

Alien as they may appear, St. Peter's function was quite quotidian, and as far as ruins are concerned, they are not very old.

Designed in 1958 by Gillespie, Kidd, and Coia, it's an A-listed building that sits on several preservation lists for being an excellent example of Scottish modern design. So, what brought this spiritual hall of learning to such a sorry state?

By the time St. Peter's Seminary was completed in 1966 its function was obsolete. The Roman Catholic church had recently decided that priests should train in communities rather than the isolation of remote seminary colleges. To compound problems, church attendance in Scotland was declining, as well as the number of young men wishing to enter the priesthood. This left St. Peter's, a school designed to house and train a hundred would-be priests, with a residency of only twenty some students by the late seventies. In 1980 St. Peter's permanently closed it's doors.

Since then, neglect, the elements, a sizable fire, and nearly daily vandalism have taken their toll, reducing the seminary to a hulking skeleton.

From Atlas Obscura, Thanks!

Gillespie, Kidd & Coia: Architecture1956-1987