Hamburg District Becomes A Playground For City-Makers
The prestigious Internationale Bauausstellung (IBA) has set up shop in Wilhelmsburg, a district in the south of Hamburg that struggles with the legacy of its heavy industrial history. The main theme that IBA applies to Wilhelmsburg is the shift in the way Germany wants to manage energy -- a shift from energy consumption to energy production. As always, this big ambition is connected with innovation in building techniques and architecture, but also with culture, experience and just fun. These last elements in particular make this piece of urbanism stand out. A playground for city-makers will eventually turn into a playground for everyone.
Collapsible Urban Shelters
Brooklyn-based artist and architect Chat Travieso has designed a series of collapsible shelters for urban camping purposes. Made of steel, wood, aluminum, masonite, plastic, foam, canvas, and found cart, Travieso's good-looking one-person structures are foldable and allow for easy set-up anywhere in the urban jungle.
Nipple Mountain
Wiltshire-based artist and lighting designer Bruce Munro has transformed a massive hill into a huge illuminated woman's breast.
World’s First One-Person Restaurant Opens In Amsterdam
An extraordinary pop-up restaurant will open doors in Amsterdam this Thursday. 'Eenmaal', as the place is called, claims to be the world's first one-person restaurant.
Diogene: A Mobile Home By Renzo Piano
What is the result of a world-famous architect, known for structures like the Centre Pompidou and The New York Times building, unleashing his knowledge and experience of these Herculean constructions on an absolutely tiny self-sustaining mobile home? Apparently, the Diogene.
Mathieu Tremblin Watermarks The City
In street art great ideas are often simple ideas. Today I stumbled upon a recent artwork by French street artist Mathieu Tremblin that makes fun of the characteristic watermark you often find in stock photos on the Web.
Photoshop Artist Gives People At The Bus Stop A Live Retouch
For the occasion of the Adobe Creative Days, Berlin-based Photoshop artist Erik Johansson gave unsuspicious bus travelers a live retouch job, and projected the edited versions right in front of them in an advertising space.
Dutch Outlet Supermarket Fights Food Waste
Think 'outlet store' and things like outdated fashion, suburban shopping malls and crowded Sunday afternoons pop up in your mind. However, a new outlet supermarket in the Netherlands has become very fashionable by selling food that's not fashionable any more for half the price.
Home Recording Project Turns Building Into An Online Radio Station
'Home' is a new residence in Amsterdam that houses 69 international students of the city's music academy. The building's owner wanted the surrounding neighborhood to benefit from all the musical talent inside. Turning the building into a giant radio transmitter, the Home Recording project enables the students to share their melodies with neighbors, relatives at home and everyone else.
Unlock Private Spaces In The City With Breather
The local Starbucks if often filled with hip looking people who are slowly sipping their coffees with hasty people incomprehensibly shouting their names to the baristas. In between these people, the keen observer could discern another group altogether: the people who despite the circumstances desperately try to work. For the people who like a bit more peace, quiet and privacy than their local coffeeshop can offer them, there is Breather.
Smart Billboards Double As Urban Furniture
IBM has launched a clever series of billboards that double as urban furniture. Three different billboards that promote the company's People for Smarter Cities program are designed to sit on, to take cover under when it rains or to pull your bags over instead of carrying them.
Apps For Urban Farmers
Nothing shouts ‘traditional’ as urban farming does. Actively trying to pull away from our digital world, it encourages people to roll up their sleeves and start getting their precious typing hands dirty. Still, it seems quite impossible to avert anything from the digital revolution, which is once more proven by the newest trend in urban farming: apps!
This Laundromat Is A Bar Too
For people who would like some excitement during their laundry, there is the Wasbar, a combination between a laundromat and a bar.
A House Made Of Sugar
Installation artist William Lamson created a small greenhouse out of caramelized sugar. Edible architecture!
Throw & Grow: Confetti Meets Seed-Bombing
Dutch gift store Niko Niko offers the long-awaited alternative for throwing rice into people’s faces at weddings: seeds! Throw & Grow confetti is beautiful and grows wildflowers to boot at the same time.
