(small) creative initiatives that challenge (big) traditional ideas
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The Guardian asked its readers to share their pictures of what cyclists have to put up with. Here are 20 highlights lowlights.
• More photos on The Guardian
Posted by Sebastian on Mar 11, 2013
Photo project by the Italian photographer Ra di Martino who discovered the architectural remains of the Star Wars movie set on Google Maps.
It turns out that Luke Skywalker's childhood home is not located on planet Tatooine, but in the Tunisian dessert at the coordinates 33°59’39 N 7°50’34 E.
More about the photo project on The Guardian.
A piece of urban furniture and landmark created by pupils at the elementary school Tove Ditlevsens Skole (TDS) in Copenhagen.
The sculptural object is one of many elements conceived to revitalize the public space around the school and in Copenhagen's Vesterbro district in general.
The idea behind the object is developed by the pupils themselves after a week of workshops and prototyping facilitated by the urban network Supertanker.
• More info on Facebook (in Danish)
A very long grass carpet running through the village of Juajac in France.
The carpet was created by artist Gaelle Villedary to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the program “Arts and Nature Trail”.
The green trail required 168 rolls and runs for 420 meters (1,377 feet). Total weight: 3,5 tons.
Other long art-installations:
Water road + The knitted mile + Kitchain
• Gaelle Villedary Via Rebelart
Carlsberg Group recently held a competition to transform its iconic brewhouse into a new Brand & Experience House.
The competition process - called Brewhouse Project - was transparent and the final proposals were exhibited and presented to the public before being presented to the jury.
The exhibition took place in the very brewhouse that the competition is about to change, and visitors received a card upon arriving which they could to fill out and place at the proposal they liked the most. The cards did not count as a jury-vote but as an indication of public taste and opinion.
The final competing teams were: BIG, Wilkinson Eyre Architects, Effekt, DAY and Ralph Appelbaum Associates.
BIG
BIG
Ralph Appelbaum Associates
DAY
Effekt
Effekt
Wilkinson Eyre Architects
The exhibition - and the bar - was built from pallets. Lots of them.
And the winning team: Ralph Appelbaum Associates.
Posted by Sebastian on Feb 16, 2012
Kitchain is a modular kitchen-based system, designed turn the ritual of cooking and eating into a social event.
The system can be assembled into various structures and turned into one large kitchen where it is possible to cook, eat and relax in one or more groups.
Kitchain is suitable for events like festivals and it is currently installed at the Artefact festival in Leuven, Belgium. It is designed by Antonio Louro and Benedetta Maxia.
Related entry: Outdoor Pop-Up Kitchen
Hüttenpalast is a new unconventional hotel, located in a former factory building in the residential district Neukölln in southern Berlin.
Hotel rooms are made up of caravans and wooden huts that are placed in a 200 sq meter warehouse space.
Hütten Palast ("Hut Palace") is created by event maker Silke Lorenzen and designer Sarah Vollmer. Their aim is to offer visitors a unique and personal Berlin experience.
Hüttenpalast
Hobrechtstraße 65/66
12047 Berlin
Neukölln
info(at)huettenpalast.de
Tel: +49-(0)30-37 30 58 06
The National Gallery of Denmark has teamed up with Roskilde Festival to facilitate a series of collaborative art events at the upcoming festival in June.
The biggest event, quite literally, is Museo Aero Solar - a huge solar-powered air balloon made of reused plastic bags.
The artwork is conceived by the artist Tomas Saraceno and festival goers can participate by collecting plastic bags and taping them together in small sections. The sections of various bags are eventually connected and formed into a big balloon that will float above the ground.
You can participate + win tickets to the festival by donating at least two (clean) plastic bags. Send your bags by post to the National Gallery of Denmark (or stop by in person if you are in Copenhagen) before june 13th.
The photos are from a previous event.
To win festival tickets (or simply participate for fun) send your plastic bags to:
Statens Museum for Kunst
Att: Morten Sørensen
Sølvgade 48-50
1307 København K
Denmark
• www.smk.dk/roskildefestival2011
Pop-up stores are usually associated with retail brands and physical products, but the small software start-up Podio has challenged the tradition and opened a pop-up store in San Francisco to promote its launch.
Podio is an online work environment (labeled a "Facebook for companies") and the temporary facilities in the physical world are used to host workshops and seminars.
Hotel recommendations rarely take up much space on this site, but if a hotel manages to create a unique and positive experience, exceptions are happily made - and JIA Hotel in Shanghai is one of those happy exceptions.
For a relatively pricey hotel, JIA Shanghai is pretty understated. In fact, there is a good chance that you will have trouble finding it, especially if you arrive by taxi. Small letters next to a front door of tinted glass simply says JIA. In a city where size tends to overshadow everything else, a subtle hotel entrance is a good sign of what to come.
JIA means "home" in Mandarin and that's what they want you to feel - at home. The atmosphere is casual and guests seem to be returning, which is another good sign. JIA is a design-led hotel, in the sense that design is not just cosmetically applied, but integrated in the hotel's DNA. Attention is paid to detail - from the architecture and interior design to the friendly service and the delicious complimentary cookies in the lounge. Luckily, in all its chicness JIA is not a place without humor. In the rooms you'll find classic board games, including Chinese checkers (!) and the lobby is decorated with quirky works by contemporary Chinese artists Liang Binbin and Caroline Cheng of the fantastic Pottery Workshop (more of this please).
Like most contemporary things, JIA is a mix of different impulses. The founder is a business woman from Singapore. Rooms are designed by the Melbourne based firm BURO and the lobby and restaurant are designed by Hong Kong architects André Fu and Darryl Goveas, respectively.
And a few Shanghai tips:
Casual places to eat
Noodle Bull - A large communal table creates the atmosphere in a room stripped of any decor. And the noodles are good!
Pho Rea - A cozy place with an eye-catching interior. Woven bamboo baskets are used as lamp shades.
Kin - Small street wear shop with a café/restaurant at the back.
Misc contemporary design
The Pottery Workshop - Ceramics and pottery from various young Chinese designers. Good stuff.
Spin Ceramics - A renowned ceramics brand. The shop will move to 360 Kangding Road in March 2011.
EMOI - A Chinese take on Muji (?)
Neocha - A creative agency and network of Chinese designers. It may give an idea of what the creative youth is up to.
Contact: Sebastian Campion