31 August 2012
I just like the direct relation between the street side (vertical) and the train side (horizontal). Nice interior ideas.
A tall and narrow entrance slopes down to a low and wide living space at this triangular house in Japan by Katsutoshi Sasaki + Associates. Located in Toyota in Aichi Prefecture, the black wooden house is arranged between two frames at either end, one vertical and the other horizontal. The frames create a sloping roof and walls between them as the two-storey entrance diminishes to a single storey at the rear.
22 August 2012
Monica Bonvicini created this awesome typographic art installation for the 2012 London Olympics. This is the largest standalone artwork on the olympic park, made of three nine-metre tall letters that form the word “RUN”. The letters are made of mirrored glass and mirrored stainless steel.
“In daylight, the letters will act as a mirror for visitors and reflect their surroundings, and at night the letters will become more transparent and glow with complex internal LED lighting.”
Via The Inspiration Grid.
22 August 2012
For children, hospitals are uncomfortable and unfamiliar places, writes Hikaru Imamura, the author of Novel Hispital Toys. Examinations and operations are a cause of anxiety and fear in the little patients, and these feelings can be relieved by informing them of what to expect during their visit.
‘Novel Hospital Toys’ is a toy set consisting of toy models of machines, such as CT, X-ray, ECHO(echocardiograph), ECG (electrocardiograph), as well as picture books of explaining machines. Every toy is made so as to give light or sounds so that children can easily imagine how these ‘strange’ machines work while they are playing with them in the waiting room.
Via Creative Applications Network and Co.DESIGN.
1 August 2012
Colorful umbrellas floating up in the sky… It looks like a low cost and more lively version of Monumenta by Daniel Burden at the Paris Grand Palais, isn’t it ?
Photographs of a delightful public art installation in Portugal have recently surfaced. A flock of brightly colored umbrellas float over a shopping street in Águeda, a small Portuguese town along the country’s northwest coastline known for, well, not very much it seems. Almost as little is know about the installation, save for these photographs and brief commentary from flickr user Patrícia Almeida. Regardless of its provenance, the work is lively enough to inspire interludes of song and dance (or pantomime) that color the iconic 1964 film “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg”. Here, the cheerful formation of parasols is is suspended in mid-air, bathing the promenade in their colorful glow, while casting an array of octagonal shadows to shade pedestrians from the hot summer sun.