Zitpaaltjes: Amsterdam’s Bike-Inspired Street Furniture
Yesterday I came across a nice project by Jihyun David while strolling around the center of Amsterdam. David transformed the so-called Amsterdammertjes, the famous and ubiquitous posts in the streets of Amsterdam, into a rather comfortable 'bar' stool.
A Sunken Bridge
The Dutch designers of RO&AD Architects have built a unique bridge that hardly comes out of the water itself. Their so-called Moses Bridge is sunken and offers access to the unique 17th century Fort de Roovere in the Netherlands. Dutch forts are historically surrounded by a canal, preventing it from invading powers. In the south of […]
A Bookstore In A Greenhouse
What else can you with a greenhouse, apart from growing disgusting Dutch tomatoes, running a beautiful landscape hotel and simulating an urban farm in Tokyo? Well… in East London, journalist Lydia Fulton runs a very intimate and little bookstore in a greenhouse. From her Greenhouse Bookstore, Fulton encourages readers to check out the latest titles — from […]
This City Socks… And Shoes!
Less than a three-hour high-speed rail trip away from Shanghai, 90% of Walmart’s socks are produced. So if your feet are cold this is the place to go. The county level city of Yiwu is not only the birthplace of many socks, it is also the production and trading place for a great number of […]
A House In One Day
The guys of REFUNC, a Dutch collective of architects and builders, created this upcycled architectural installation. The Road Air is a flexible and movable ‘house’ that can be built in one day. An old trailer, interior windows of airplanes, fish crates and on old carpet were blended into a new highly movable shelter that looks […]
The Friendship Game
Design students Christian Baur and Thimon Machatzke came up with a creative idea for a smartphone app that gamifies friendship. The idea is simple: keep your friends in close proximity and complete a number of tasks during a set amount of time. You lose if you go further away than two meters. “But we all know […]
Augmented Reality Gaming On Urban Façades
Woonbedrijf, an Eindhoven-based housing corporation, wanted to spice up the façade of one of its apartment blocks in the city. Design agencies Studio Maatwerk and Studio 1:1 came up with a new take on the paint job: do it in Augmented Reality. Using the façade as a trigger for an interactive AR artwork on your smartphone, the designers left the building […]
How To Democratize Art
How many times have we heard that art is far from people’s lives, that is something extraneous to the real world? Unfortunately, too much. How can we get people closer to it, making it easy and friendly? Although being difficult, there are a pair of nice examples… Does anyone remember the old, american-style cigarette machines? […]
Minimizing Waste With Innovative Design
Waste is energy. No doubt about that, with these esthetically satisfying new designs for self-sufficient home appliances developed by Philips Design. Or should I say furniture? One of the concepts, the Methane Bio-Digester Kitchen Island, is able to break down organic waste to obtain energy. From the integrated chopping board, organic waste such as peels and seeds can […]
Philips’ Urban Beehive
A slightly bizarre yet utterly captivating idea from Philips – indoor bee keeping! Imagine the horror, you’re out of the gold stuff. Toast, tea and cereal remains unsweetened. This concept puts an end to all of that! Whilst shoving your hand into a hive of pollinating bees may not sound like everyone’s idea of fun, […]
The World Manhattanized
ExtendNY is an interactive project by Harold Cooper that extends the Manhattan street grid to every place on Earth. The Google Maps-based website allows visitors to find out for every geographical location where it would be in case the characteristic urban lay-out of Manhattan would fill the entire world. Pop-Up City office, for instance, is […]
Abandoned Casinos And Happy Urbanism
Nothing’s sadder than a happy showbiz smile with rotten teeth. In fact, that’s what abandoned casino’s look like. What used to be a promise about luck, fortune and having a good time, is turned into the hard truth of economic reality. Buildings that were used to exhibit happiness, fun and success are now breathing disappointment, […]
Plug-In Art By Alexandre Lagoët
Last Friday we stumbled upon this great artwork, made by French art director Alexandre Lagoët for Dutch advertising and marketing magazine Adformatie. It’s called ‘Consuminder’ and questions the role of ad men in the consumerist society. “Do we need to stop encouraging ‘super consumption’ in our customers and find more sustainable ways of doing business?”, asks […]
Rotterdam’s Black Pearl
If you happen to be in Rotterdam, don't forget to check out this new architectural pearl in the Charlois district. Located in the Pompstraat, the Black Pearl is a labor worker's house that has been transformed into an award-winning spectacle that's remarkable from both the outside and inside.
Bratislava’s Green Square
When you think of revitalizing space, paint is perhaps the best option. At least it’s one of the cheapest. Here at a bus terminal in Bratislava the urban interventionists of Civic Association and the people of Sadovský Architects have uplifted a bus stop that used to be a very sad place. As long as the government […]
