How To Pretend To Be A High-End Shopping Street
A shopping street in the Chinese city of Wuxi has been completely pimped with fake signs of big Western brands. Doing so, the street pretends to be successful and chique, while its shop spaces are actually staying empty. The new identity of the street is not only copied, it's fake too.
Sidewalk Pop-Up Store Offers Free Clothes To The Homeless
Cape Town-based advertising agency M&C Saatchi Abel and the local Haven Night Shelter Welfare Organisation have joined forces to create a pop-up street store that offers free donated clothes to the homeless.
Derelict Gas Station Turned Into A Color Explosion
Although the Oil Age hasn't ended yet, the first petrol stations are being left empty. This development leads to new chances for urban transformation. That's what renowned Irish street artist Maser must have thought when he transformed a derelict gas station in the city of Limerick into a colorful piece of art.
Time Is Money At The Ziferblat Cafe
Ziferblat is London's first pay-per-minute cafe. Based on a Russian chain where "everything is free, except the time you spend drinking your cup o' tea", the new social concept turns out te be very welcomed by the inhabitants of East London hipster walhalla Shoreditch.
Jean-Louis Cohen: Modernist Lessons in Post-Modernist Times
On Thursday 23 January, our friends at Stroom in The Hague will host a lecture by the French architect and architectural historian Jean-Louis Cohen. This past summer Cohen curated a comprehensive exhibition at New York's Museum of Modern Art about the work of the godfather of modern architecture: Le Corbusier.
The Pirate Bubble: Parasite Architecture From The Seventies
Doing research for the upcoming Pop-Up City book, we came across a great 'Pop-Up City avant la lettre' project by Jean-Louis Chanéac (1931-1993). In 1971, the French architect installed a parasite bedroom on the façade of a regular modernist residential apartment block in Geneva, Switzerland. Chanéac's 'parasitic sucking cells' are mobile, evolutionary and a complete contrast to the host building's architectural style in every sense possible.
Vending Machines For Bike Parts
Most of the new-generation cycling cities lack a traditional bicycle culture, with no bike lanes, no bike parking facilities and no bike repair shops on every corner of the street. This makes it pretty frustrating to use the bike for daily routine trips. The guys behind New York-based Bikestock have launched a solution for at least one of these problems: vending machines for bike parts on the street.
A Portable House From Spain
Award-winning Spanish architecture office Ábaton have designed a beautiful cabin that can be easily transported. Imagine you wake up in the same house every day, but in a setting that changes every week...
Pray On The Way
A while ago we read that Kansas City has installed multiple prayer booths in public space where citizens can pray while they're on the go. The news didn't turn out to be true — the booths are a prank by artist Dylan Mortimer.
Belgian Designer Turns His Home Window Into An Arcade Game
In an attempt to make his neighborhood a little more playful, Antwerp-based interaction designer Kris Temmerman has installed an 8-bit video game on his window for passers-by to play.
Signable Petition Billboard In Paris
To promote the French NGO Action Contra La Faim (which translates to Action Against Hunger), TBWA France launched a billboard petition on the walls of a metro station in Paris.
Why Urban Gardeners Should Carry A Shotgun
It seems to be quite a battle to make urban spaces greener and better-looking. A few years ago seed bombs were a big hype on the urban gardening battlefield. The people behind Flower Shell take it one step further as they developed a 12 gauge shotgun shell that lets you fire flower seeds instead of lead.
It’s Official: Pop-Up City Book Is Funded!
You may have noticed yesterday that our Kickstarter campaign has ended! So it's official now: the Pop-Up City book is funded!
Fly Over London In An Emirates-Sponsored Cable Car
Airline carrier Emirates offers a special 'flying' experience to Londoners and visitors of the British capital as the company has teamed up with Transport for London (TfL) to build and operate a cable car service close to the city's O2 Arena.
A New Souvenir From Amsterdam: Canal Water In A Bottle
This year Amsterdam is celebrating the 400th anniversary of its world-famous canals. Two creative Amsterdammers came up with a perfect souvenir for this special moment — a limited-edition set of good-looking bottles filled with, eh, canal water! 'Cause who doesn't want a piece of UNESCO World Heritage on his/her desk?
