Industrial Waste Bin Architecture
Over the last years we’ve encountered a continuous stream of pop-up architecture constructed out of daily objects. Almost every single household product has been used to create a shelter, pavilion, pop-up construction, temporary house, bar or hotel. For me it’s still unclear whether this is a consequence of the bad economic situation for architects (they […]
Hello, World!
‘Hello, world!’ is a real installation for the virtual globe of Google Earth, made by German media designer Bernd Hopfengärtner. In May 2006 he created a huge semacode measuring of 160 by 160 meters and consisting of 324 bright and dark squares in a wheat field near the town of Ilmenau, Germany. The code produces the classic […]
Digital Paint Bombs
VR/Urban is a Berlin/Glasgow-based collective of ‘public media interventionists’ that works together to create real-time installations. The aim of all their projects is to reclaim urban screens for the public, and so they did with the SMSlingshot project. This neat installation consists of a mobile text gun for spreading information on public screens and media […]
Moonlight Rainbow Fountain
In the past we’ve been writing about designing the air, for example here and there. This is a small contribution to this subject in the form of a moonlight rainbow fountain in the South Korean capital of Seoul. This exciting 1,140 meters long fountain is the world’s longest bridge fountain. It’s an aerial design on top […]
The Seed Bomb Vending Machine
We like vending machines and we like seed bombs, so we were very delighted when we heard about this clever idea from the designers of Commonstudio. Under the name of Greenaid, the agency has launched these nifty vending machines that stimulate a bit of guerrilla gardening by appropriating the existing distribution system of the quarter […]
The Rise Of Mobile Microlistings
In the past we’ve written about some examples of mobile services that aim to enhance opportunities for location-based communication. For instance BlockChalk, an application that enables us to correspond with strangers that are close-by. Another appealing initiative is Anttenna, a new, free mobile application that facilitates real-time, location-based, person-to-person exchanges. By turning traditional classified listings […]
The City In A Suitcase
Swedish artist Michael Johansson (who in general makes the most brilliant series of heavily packed regular objects) created this handy packed city. The so-called ‘Umedalen Skulptur’ is an installation that can be visited in the Galleri Andersson/Sandström in Umeå, Sweden. It reminds Recyclart of good old Tetris, but then played with urban objects. The installation […]
When Fashion Met Architecture…
Last week the exhibition Fashion & Architecture kicked off with a good party at the Amsterdam Architecture Center (ARCAM). Along with ARCAM and office for architecture and urbanism V2A, our friends of Amsterdam-based fashion label OntFront has challenged four creative duos to enter into a design process. Each duo comprises a fashion designer and an […]
The Grassroots Mapping Community
Since BP’s oil incontinence in the Mexican Gulf the company tries to avoid brand damage by controlling media and by censoring maps and pictures. Photographers are told what can be taken pictures of and, more important, what not. Real maps of the environmental impact of the situation are banned. As a part of Grassroots Mapping […]
Indoor Biking At Amsterdam's Temporary Bike Bar
Over the last weeks, trend and idea magazine PSFK published some articles about the developing bicycle culture in metropolitan areas around the world. Particurarly interesting is the rather new phenomenon of bike cafes, such as Look Mum No Hands in London and the pop-up bar slash shop slash gallery Rapha’s Cycle Club and Lock 7 […]
Lunch On The Highway!
Did you ever have the chance to have lunch right on a heavily used highway? Two days ago, the inhabitants of the complete Ruhr Metropolis was given this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity with the Still-Life A40 project.
The 8-Bit City
Brooklyn-based interaction designer Brett Camper did some great work with these pretty 8-Bit city maps. The maps are designed with 1980s video games in mind. Oh yes, among the series is a map from Amsterdam, which is featured above. (Scroll down for New York.) Other cities are Austin, Berlin, Detroit, London, New York, Paris, San […]
Findings On Elasticity
This book review contains a little theoretical background on the subject we often write about — flexibility. Inspired by Darwin, we’ve described the ability of cities to adapt to a changing environment as a main goal. But what does flexibility mean in real life? and what is its physical condition? A great book initiated by the […]
A Woman’s Answer To Modernism
Under the name of Wild Beamen, Dutch artist Hester Scheurwater has projected images of herself on some post-war apartment blocks in Rotterdam. The work belongs to a series of projections on buildings of her own body. It’s an interesting woman’s attribution to a urban planning tradition ruled by men. The tender, soft and round characteristics […]
A Piece Of Vintage City-Marketing
Between the seventies and nineties, Amsterdam’s international image has been shaped by prostitutes, marihuana and gays. The city’s administration tries to reset this impression of the Dutch capital by the launch of the somewhat lame I Amsterdam campaign a couple of years ago. The intensification of the global inter-urban competition has led to the emergence […]
