Parasite Cinema Pops Up In Auckland Stairway
We love parasites, and although we're always looking for great examples, it's been a long time that we reported about nice examples of parasite architecture and urbanism. But here we've one! Dezeen reports about a small movie theater as an extension to a regular building in Auckland, New Zealand. This small parasite cinema was made by the architects of OH.NO.SUMO and uses the steps of a staircase as seats. Right on the side of a busy street, the theater has place for approximately seven people.
Vending Machine Offers Free Iced Tea In Exchange For A Tweet
This South African soda machine gives away free iced tea in exchange for a promotional tweet. The Bevmax 4-45 ('BEV') vending machine, located at Wembley Square, Cape Town, is equipped with a marquee that encourages passers-by to send a GPS-tagged tweet with a hashtag in it. As soon as the machine notices the tweet, it spits out a free can of Rooibos iced tea.
Data Graphic Shows What New Yorkers Complain About
311 is New York City’s main source of government information and non-emergency services. The service, launched in 2003, currently receives some 50,000 calls a day and offers information about more than 3,600 topics — school closings, recycling rules, homeless shelters, park events, pothole repairs, you name it. Each complaint is logged, tagged and mapped, allowing for further analysis. Pitch Interactive came up with this interesting data visualization that provides insight in common complaints by time of the day. The graphic shows 34,522 complaints that were collected between 8 September and 15 September, 2010.
Olaf Mooij’s Mobile Car Wash
Rotterdam-based artist Olaf Mooij has designed a rather remarkable car. Equipped with a rain installation on its rooftop, the so-called Rain Car washes itself continuously. Although it's hard to find the exact reason to make this installation, it's for sure that cars are important objects in Mooij's work. Besides his Rain Car he has also developed other amazing car designs like the Brain Car, the Chesterfield Car, a DJ Mobile and a couple of Hair Cars, such as the Punk Trabant.
How The Modern Food Truck Came To Be
We like infographics and we love food trucks, so here's a snazzy food truck infographic from Mashable Infographics. It charts the evolution of the food truck industry since it started integrating social media into its marketing arsenal. Like any good infographic, you get tasty tidbits of interesting information, like a common street food buzzword is 'lavendar'. Only American data is used, yet it's still clear that the recent food truck craze has a lot to do with more creative food offerings enhanced by clever usage of social media.
Studio Gil’s Urban Toy Box
One of the trends of 2012 in design, especially in the urban context, is ensuring that play is a fundamental part of our daily, public lives. London-based Studio Gil Architects seem to agree, but have put together a concept that is directed at those that need play the most: children.
Some Wine With Your Outdoor Library?
What do you get when you cram a lawn chock-full of books? A Bookyard! We love pop-up libraries, from trees to trains. Italian artist Massimo Bartolini has outfitted the gentle slopes of St. Peter's Abbey in Ghent with 12 sweeping bookcases for the Belgian art festival Track: A Contemporary City Conversation. The installation is actually adjacent to the abbey's vineyard (the bookcases are aligned with the rows of vines) because Bartolini believes that both good wine and books can broaden the mind.
Natwerk Presents… The NeighbourBQ
The people of Amsterdam-based advertising agency Natwerk asked themselves "What would we do if we were a brand in barbecuing utilities?". They came up with the the so-called 'Buurbecue' ('NeighbourBQ' in English), a barbecue for neighbors that breaks down social walls while enjoying the most popular Summer outdoor activity. Social dining meets BBQ!
How To Become A Remote Farmer
We have some good news for those urban farmer types that don’t like dirty hands. Springwise reports about Farmhopping, a Bulgarian online platform that enables wannabe farmers to indulge their farming ambitions remotely, right from their lazy chair. The new online service aims to connect virtual farmers to 'real' farmers all around the world.
Mark McKeague Explores The Future Sound Of Traffic
Although many electric vehicles use synthesized sounds to simulate the sound of motor vehicles, you can let them play any sound you want. London-based interaction designer Mark McKeague explores the future sound of urban traffic by letting electric cars adapt their sound to their relationship to other road users and the environment. Can the city become a symphony?
Tiny House Flown In By Helicopter
Tiny homes are really efficient, not to mention the adorable factor. That's why we've been following the tiny house trend. The latest discovery is a series of Micro Compact Homes by London-based Horden Cherry Lee Architects.
Shanghai Bomb Shelter Transforms Into An Underground Nightclub
Thousands of abandoned bomb shelters lie beneath Shanghai, a remnant of Soviet era tensions. The Shelter is a dance club that has taken over one of these bomb shelters. Despite the cool concept, the club has remained part of the underground scene with cheap drinks and frequent visits from burgeoning local and international DJs.
A Smart Guide To Utopia: 111 Inspiring Ideas For A Better City
Last year, Le Cool invited us to be one of the contributors to a new book about ideas and projects that improve the city. We were very glad to find the final result in our post box some weeks ago. 'A Smart Guide to Utopia' is a book about cool urban initiatives, but not just another book about cool urban initiatives. It starts out with a fabulous admission from Ben Hammersley: that the city is the natural habitat of humanity. We need our cities just as much as they need us. They are the engines of humanity, and this book shows 111 different ways that this is happening right now.
Mobstr’s Thought-Provoking Phrases And Anti-Advertising Billboards
UK-based artist Mobstr seeks the fine line between art and advertising. Just simple sentences that make you think, criticize advertising, and sometimes all cliches in street art. As we can see in the pictures, his work consists of a minimalistic style with black stenciled grafitti letters on a billboard or wall. However, such simple sarcastic and ironic messages can provoke a lot more...
Wi-Fi To The People!
In a technological utopia there would be free Wi-Fi for all, as plentiful as the air we breath. Many city mayors have declared grand schemes of blanketing their dominion with free Wi-Fi, yet none of these plans have come to full fruition.
