Siberian eco tower
Foster + Partners have clearly been busy on the large scale eco front with another offering in the Russian city of Khanty Mansyisk. This 280 metre tall tower is built like a cut diamond to maximise daylight through the winter months by the refraction of light. Of the project, the architecture firm says, ‘this mixed-use scheme will create an elegant and crystalline landmark, providing crucial new amenities for its citizens — a place for living, working, and leisure, sheltered from the harsh Siberian climate’. [see another Foster + Partners design]
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Also by SNELL
This house has many facets that make it an intriguing example. First of all, it is a very aesthetically pleasing project with the use of light horizontal timbers and a clean pitched roof. Designed by MOS, an interesting design collective based in America, the secret to the Floating House is that it floats on a structure of steel pontoons. The house rises and falls with the changing waters and is frozen in place depending on the season. The steel pontoons were constructed first and towed to the lake outside the contractor’s factory and then the house was built atop of it. When finished it was towed to its position, anchored and enjoyed in its unique position. Finally, it forms a bridge between the land and an island. Wonderful!
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
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Many years ago, the Italian designer Fupete and I collaborated on an issue of the magazine I was editing at the time, STU, his intricate art direction giving space and life to the cacophony of illustrations and photography bursting from its pages. The guy is one hell of an art director, and a brilliant designer as well, his latest work revealing his well-developed sense of shape and texture, which meshes seamlessly with his subtle use of color gradients. Read more
Over at Apartment Therapy, Cemusa has been cited as the design group responsible for the stylish glass street furniture popping up around New York City. Read more
is it TooLate? Is it? Never! This Italian-made watch has a beautiful minimal design, comes in lots of colors, is water proof and goes for less than $30. Hot damn! 10,000 of them were sold in the first ten days after their release and half a million in it’s first year of distribution. Apparently the Italians are wearing two or three of them together as part of some bizarre fashion clique. Wonder if the rest of the world will catch on?
Riffing on the idea that ‘eating was tending toward breathing’, Harvard professor David Edwards, in conjunction with design studio Le Laboratoire, has created Le Whif, the breathable chocolate. No chewing, no calories, and it comes in mint, rasberry, mango, and plain chocolate flavors. The product may just be a fancy scratch-and-sniff sticker, but it looks so sleek and design-y.
Sometimes tests are just too hard. Sometimes they’re just dumb. Funny Exam Answers collects all the funniest and most ridiculous results of students who may not have book smarts, but are quite clever and creative in other ways.
Set in a remote Chinese village in the 1920s during a cholera outbreak and with a revolution bubbling in the background, The Painted Veil is a wonderfully tortured love story which excels on all levels. Based on the W Somerset Maugham novel, it was a labour of love for stars Edward Norton and Naomi Watts, who also produced the film. Read more
You may have already heard composer Nico Muhly this year on All Is Well, Samamidon’s lovely reimaginings of immigrant folk songs. (If you haven’t, you should). Mothertongue, Muhly’s second album and first for Brassland (run by members of the National), is divided into three acts. Read more
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Yum, yum, cupcakes are fun. These creations are so clever, so arty, so damn bizarre that it would almost be a shame to eat them. Almost! Read more
1970s and 80s Soviet Union buildings
Cambodian born photographer Frederic Chaubin is the editor of French magazine Citizen K. His photo series on bizarre buildings built in the former Soviet Union during the 1970s and 80s is absolutely fascinating. Read more
With the recession still biting, it may be time to whip out the glue and the cardboard and make your next pair of cool kicks. Don’t know how they’d manage in the rain though? Read more
Hong Kong-based illustrator Man-Tsun draws dark and beautiful painterly images that look like they are straight off a high-end Japanese animated film. Read more
Wheeeeee! This game is so freaking fun! You move your cursor over each dot to make them split into four smaller dots ad infinitum.
Thanks to Sony Australia, four Lost At E Minor readers will win personal audio prizes, including the new 8GB Walkman S series video MP3 player and the MDRXB500 Extra Bass headphones. Read more
Made from 100 percent organic cotton and eco-friendly, this super soft tee celebrates a sinister world of kaleidoscopic colours and ripples of psychedelia, of serenading Queens, of dancing flamingos, of unimaginable euphoria. It’s all the work of Sydney label, Das Monk and it’s available through the Lost At E Minor online store for just US$40. Now, there’s one hell of a Christmas present, even if we do say so ourselves! Read more
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Pablo F.P said | 20 February, 2008
Nice! I love what I am seeing in architecture lately.