Eco / Eco urban cactus
On the harbour in Vuurplaat, Rotterdam, a proposed Urban Cactus rises from the usually boxy Dutch architectural landscape. Responding to the natural setting of being on the harbour, UCX Architects envisage a housing project that is green with stacked undulating floor plates, giving large outdoor terraces to each apartment and allowing for light penetration. Details of eco attributes have yet to be released but a cactus starting point could be a good sign.
Tagged: Rotterdam
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Formed in New York and now based in Rotterdam and Berlin, SMAQ is a collaborative studio for architecture and urbanism by architects Sabine Müller and Andreas Quednau. Here they have created an interesting installation called Bad (bath) in the Solitude Palace Gardens in Stuttgart with the premise of creating a usable sculpture which entwines a 1000 metre long garden hose throughout a timber structure. Read more
Benjamin Verdoncke’s human nest
Just a few days ago, Benjamin Verdoncke climbed out of the human-sized nest he’d been residing in for the past seven days. The Dutch artist took six weeks to build the nest, which hung fifty metres high against a skyscraper in Rotterdam. Read more
Photographer Desiree Palmen takes some pretty amazing photos of people that have been camouflaged in their surroundings. It’s a simple concept, and not necessarily radical, but the Rotterdam-based artist does it well enough for the resulting images to be rather striking. Read more
Also by SNELL
Dutch uber-firm OMA, headed by Rem Koolhaas, has created this concept in Mexico City to symbolize the coming two hundred years of Mexico’s independence. There are many layers of symbolism in this building, from Mayan pyramids to which part of the building controls the park and which part controls the city, to the fact that the bulge of the building is below the centre height, and that it all happens on a relatively small footprint. Most of all, in this building there is a barely contained energy that seems near to release and it may be that this is what Torre Bicentenario represents.
The Danes are renowned for their considered and subtle design. However, in these times of change, they must feel they need something with this selection of a bridge building as the winner of a recent architectural competition in Denmark. The American architect Steven Holl designed this building with a pedestrian bridge that links two sides of the harbour in the distinctly low-rise Copenhagen. Read more
Hamburg’s music and glass ice sculpture
Since the beginning, architects have been faced by the challenge of housing the ever unpinnable idea of music. The challenge here is the Elbe Philharmonic Hall in Hamburg, Germany. Basel-based architects, Herzog and de Meuron have created an ephemeral glass tent-like structure perched on top of an existing heavy modernist abandoned warehouse. The warehouse will be composed mainly of parking and back of house, while the glass structure incorporates concert halls, restaurants, bars, apartments and a luxury hotel. Clearly, this is a tremendously exciting alteration and addition to an existing site and building, with this new ice sculpture reflecting the surrounding changing environment and the soaring notes within. Completion is scheduled for 2010.
YOU'RE SAYING (2)
Pablo F.P said | 20 February, 2008
haha Christmas Tree like.
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WeMe Creative has an awesome new female tee available called All About Me, featuring ‘pattern wrap over’ printing. Read more
Brooklyn-based painter Dan Heidkamp creates subtly hilarious images that investigate the absurdity of sex, attraction, love, relationships, and marriage. Read more
We checked in recently with one of our favorite illustrators — and Lost At E Minor contributor — Yuko Shimizu: — How’s 2008 started for you? ‘I was just in the French Riviera with eighteen other illustrators and designers. It was our annual New Year’s retreat. People from all over Europe and North America meet up and spend a week together, exchange information, go see things together, or just have fun. It was fantastic, although we didn’t have the best weather’. Read more
DJ Spooky — That Subliminal Kid — is just about the deepest crate digger around, trawling the barrels of long-lost record stores for choice vinyl to spin in his wickedly dubby sets. He gave us the inside word last week on his eight favourite songs right now via our sister website, My Secret Playlist. This is what he had to say about Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry’s Panic in Babylon: ‘If there’s anything that the twenty-first century has told us, it’s that dub is the real original hip-hop. Lee Scratch even had to make it clear in 1965 by adding “Scratch” to his middle name. Take that, Grandmaster Flash!’ Read the rest of DJ Spooky’s Secret Playlist.
This entertaining documentary follows a group of seemingly clichéd American teenagers in their last year of high school. Through a comprehensive recording of their lives it reminds us that, when examining anything in detail, there is no such thing as a cliché. The naivety and hope of each student shines through, providing a memorable and accurate portrait of a middle-American high school. Read more
Falling in between Enya, Bright Eyes, and Air, The Republic Tigers have been tagged ‘indie rock meets new age fog’. If that’s all too wishy-washy for you, then check out their new album Keep Color and watch the video to the album opener, Buildings and Mountains.
Listen to The Republic Tigers track, Golden Sand
[audio:http://fakepennycomics.com/blog/TRT_GoldenSand.mp3]
It seems only fitting that New York’s first eco dining experience, Habana Outpost, is located in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. Read more
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The Japanese sure know how to think outside the box. The country that brought us Takeshi’s Castle has come with this equally genius take on modern sport, and it’s absolutely hilarious.
There are two Americas: one which strives to create its own culture, music, and art with a strong sense of ethics in mind, and another that drinks 32-ounce energy drinks before waiting on line to get into a club packed with women trying to get back at their overbearing fathers, and homophobic men with a fondness for Axe body spray. How do we bridge the divide?
These stylish hoops of bronze have a profound effect on me. I’m seriously left singing If I Were A Boy Beyonce-style whenever I see them. Made by Stannard Inc, William the Brave bronze rings are stunning and the raw look exudes an air of individuality. But the cool thing is that you can actually get away with wearing them if you’re a chick, too. They’re made uni-sex in various sizes.
Download the new Michna album, Magic Monday
The media world is firmly embedded in the twenty-first century digital revolution, so we thought we better keep up with the times. Read more
Curious what had happened to the band Hail Social earlier this year, I started trawling the internet and excitedly uncovered signs of a Dayve Hawke side project – Weird Tapes. Read more
Australian fashion label Das Monk is my new favourite t-shirt label and this shirt is more comfortable to wear that a thousand pairs of Ozone socks. Super soft 100% cotton. Grab one now from the Lost At E Minor store for $35. Read more
Woohoo! We have five copies of the new Faint album, Fascination [Inertia], to give away to randomly selected Australian-based Lost At E Minor subscribers who leave a message under this post telling us about the last time they, ummm, Fainted.
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Kate said | 21 August, 2007
Ahhhh that is crazy. I want to live there.