The Blog

I was driving the other evening at about and I started thinking about how expressive and emotive the sky is. Its versatility is amazing, as is its power to exert an effect on how we feel about our environment.

We associate the crispness and warmth of a sunset with going to safety, victory and resolution etc. Lightning and thunder make us realise our scale in the world and create a sense of unease and danger and a clear blue sky uplifts most people, whilst textures in clouds can interact with light to create interesting shadows and shapes. I found the images below on the interenet, some of which are quite interesting and I think they go some way to illustrating the power of the sky.

These designs are planted in rice fields and apparently use different types of rice to create the different colours. The results are quite interesting. They remind me of crop circles, but the rice fields have the extra dynamic of colour/contrast and they have a more visually artistic as opposed to geometric design.

Here are some of the other designs…

This is the ‘REN’ building and its a proposal for a hotel, sports and conference center for th World Expo 2010 in Shanghai. The building is concieved as two buildings merging into one. The first, emerging from the water, is devoted to physical activities, and houses the sports and water culture center. The second building emerging from land, is devoted to spirit and enlightenment, and houses the conference center and meeting facilities. The two buildings then meet in a 1000 room hotel, a building for living. The idea being that the building becomes the chinese sign for “The People”, and recognisable landmark for the world Expo in China.

It’s definately an interesting concept and design but I’m not sure about the circular cut-out sections all around the exterior as they seem to remind me of something but I can’t place what. I think it will probably work when it is seen in reality rising from the water with more texture, shadows ad variation in both, so maybe its the CG impression puting me off, but as far as the curvature of the two buidings rising from the water and the concept behind it I like the idea.

Like the Sao Paulo sewer drains these images show how functional objects around a city can be enhanced creatively forming a kind of street decoration, but these covers as opposed to the drains have a more sculptured quality that would probably appear to more people.

This is the new Nestle Chocolate Museum in Mexico City designed by Rojkind Arquitectos in an origami style (and created in two and a half months including design).

Nestle Press Release…

“Why not create the first chocolate museum in Mexico and have a 300-meter long façade along the motorway as the new image of the factory. So the first phase took shape and required a 634m2 space that could accommodate the main entrance for the children to have the most pleasant experience and to start the voyage into the chocolate factory as soon as they enter this playful yet striking space, the reception area, the theater that would serve as preparation for the Nestle experience, the store or museum shop, and the passage to the tunnel inside the old existing factory. The concept: a playful folding shape that is evocative for kids, of an origami shaped bird or maybe a spaceship.”

For me the links to chocolate or Nestle aren’t apparent except maybe for the red having connotations of a Kit Kat, but the playfulness and creativity of the project is clear. To me the inside seems quite bland. Whether its unfurnished I’m not sure, but it feels a bit clinical or modern art gallery than a chocolate factory whose target would be children, but as for attracting visitors I think it should do the job through its appearance, location and the publicity it will attract.

Architectural plan…

I just found these images of some street art created in Sao Paulo, and it made me think why not? It’d be great to see these ideas hidden down different streets around Leeds just so long as it wasn’t every single sewer drain, as the idea would lose its novelty.

see the rest here…

This project is an initiative of a Dutch artist working with school children in an area of the city referred to as ’satellite city.’ They may not be the best paintings ever created but they certainly brighten up what would otherwise be a dull landscape.

I saw these floor patterns whilst visiting the abbey atop Mont St Michel in Brittany, France. I thought I would post these as they reminded me of the Design Theory lectures and the border patterns and motifs we learnt about and are examples for me of how a creative design can be created in a simple and easy way.

I have also included these windows (which weren’t side by side - I have combined them onto one image) as I think the limited colour palette of the strong red and pale green against the black lead create a simple, yet strong border pattern design.

Mont St Michelle itself is an interesting place. Located on an area cut of from land by rising tides at regular intervals the streets wind up the hill to the abbey at the top. Unfortunately because of its interesting nature the influx of tourists has caused every other shop to become a souvenir shop, and the ones between those cafes and restaurants meaning that some its appeal has been lost, but the higher up you walk the fewer tourists you see and the architecture of the whole place remains mainly intact which is good.

(Image taken from Wikipedia Article)

Whilst in London recently I visited the Natural History Museum and was really impressed by the exterior nearly as much as by the interior. The building was designed mainly by Alfred Waterhouse in a distinctive Romanesque style and was opened in 1881. It has since been dubbed, quite rightly so, the “Catherdral of Nature.”

I was impressed by the entrance and the pillars in particular, as they created such a sense of grandure through the extensive layering of the arches and pillars, and they served well to set the scene for the contents of the musuem. The design is also practical and appropriate as Waterhouse made extensive use of terracotta tiles to resist the sooty climate of Victorian London, many of which feature relief sculptures of flora and fauna - the museum’s main contents. But Waterhouse’s brief was restricted as Richard Owen, Superintendent of the natural history departments of the British Museum stated that relief sculptures of extinct and living animals must be situated on the east and west wings respectively as a reflection of his contemporary rebuttal of Darwin’s theory of Natural Selection.

To me the Natural History Museum was a building truely designed for and suited to its purpose.

— Addition —

In response to Claire’s post regarding the architecture of more of the building I have posted this photo.

This is the rebranding of about a dozen 7-Eleven’s in the US to coincide with the launch of the Simpsons movie this summer. The transformed stores and many other 7-Eleven’s in the US will sell products from the show such as Buzz Cola and Krusty O’s cereal. I think that this idea will be effective as even people who don’t visit the stores will remember the transformation or wish they could visit the stores and it should create a buzz for the movie in the US.

Use them following link for more photos http://flickr.com/photos/rdr07/sets/72157600590001691/

Also the mini site http://www.simpsonsmovie.com/ has lots of features to explore, including games and buildings (although some still say “coming soon”), but its worth a look.