Have a look at the following Aggravure by France artist Baptiste Debombourg. It looks usual and even a bit boring, yeah?! But the realization of its unique design comes only after a closer inspection … The whole picture is made from … staples.
According to the artist he used 35 000 staples and 75 hours to create this masterpiece.
The picture shows how a “Superman” flies straight down towards the earth.
Just because pandas don’t munch on the high “Moso” bamboo - also known as Phyllostachys Pubescens - doesn’t mean we don’t eat it up in design. In fact, it makes it easier to appreciate a natural resource knowing our species’ affinity for good design doesn’t disturb the nourishment of another.
Multi Layer Veneer Ceiling Panels. Designed by MOSO.
A company with the same name as the 15 to 20 meter high bamboo - MOSO International B.V. - is blasting off into the innovative, high quality bamboo product scene. In fact, their Multi Layer Veneer Ceiling Panels (in Side Pressed Natural) were recently featured in the gorgeous 200,000 square meter design of Terminal T4 of the Barajas Airport by Richard Rogers in Madrid, Spain. Focusing on the development of innovative and trend-setting products made of bamboo and based in The Netherlands, MOSO takes advantage of their technological expertise in sustainable design with over a dozen branches around the world to reach anyone wanting a solution to beautiful design the environmentally-friendly way.
Extremely comprehensive, the website of MOSO describes their use of a cellulose fleece-backed bamboo veneer that helps to avoid cracks during handling. This aspect of the panel also helps ease with the pressing of the veneer to a substrate panel during construction. The bamboo ceiling panels are made from five layers of bamboo veneer pressed together with two layers of glass fiber giving them improved strength with an added ability to bend them as needed. To top it off, all of MOSO’s panels have been sealed with a fire retardant solution that meets all fire regulations in Europe and the USA.
As important to its composition is the way it is skillfully designed. The Multi Layer Veneer Ceiling Panels are offered in three different colors: natural, caramel, and khaki. Besides the sheer beauty of a light, bamboo capping your space in varied shades, bamboo design also refers to its overall effect on the environment. Naturally, MOSO has refined their processes from the start, harvesting of bamboo in China, to the end result using it in a ceiling project over in Uruguay. In fact, they use E1 standard glues from European companies and burn sawdust and bamboo leftovers to provide most of the energy for their factory.
Jim Denevan is an artist based out of Santa Cruz, California who travels the globe creating large scale pieces of land art. Drawn on sand, earth, and ice, these incredible works of art are both created and destroyed by the very materials that enable their existence.
Unlike Robert Smithson, known for the Spiral Jetty, Denevan's work feels less about sticking it to The Man (the over-commercialization of art) and more about the ephemeral nature of man himself. Or, maybe he just does it because it looks cool. Thoughts?
See more: www.jimdenevan.com
More pics after the jump!
Best of interior and architecture
Waltritsch a+u projected the new Mediatheque, part of a larger complex named Casa del Cinema (Home of the Film) located in the Gorizia, Italy.
Here is the project description:
The new Mediatheque is part of a larger complex named Casa del Cinema (Home of the Film) which includes the Kinemax multiplex, several associations dedicated to the cinema culture, the DAMS Cinema section of the Udine University, and finally the Mediatheque. One place, located between the city main square and the castle hill, which gathers commercial, cultural, educational and promotional activities dedicated to the film culture. This combination of different activities is obviously quite unique, and particularly important for the small city of Gorizia.
The Mediatheque stands on the ground floor between the street and one internal passage, so it has two entrances, facing the city as well as the University. The simple plan layout divides the space into three main areas open to the public: the newspaper and magazines hall, the study space and the video room. Behind the reception and reference point, which is visually connected to both entrances, the are separated rooms as storage and one office.
All spaces are bound by book and media shelves at full height. One shelve line is marked by a strong color, different for every area, providing specific identity. The same colored shelve line defines the glass facades as well, becoming a communication vitrine, where you directly expose new arrivals, or organize a small exhibition directly facing the public street. The newspaper and magazine area have a custom designed star shape reading table and a cross shape information counter, and is thought for informal gathering. The tables in the study room can be reorganized in order to host reading evenings or presentations.
Part of the project is the new façade on the public street as well. A series of colored glass panels on the higher part of the facade are facing the built and natural context of the historical city heart. The dialogue with the surrounding buildings goes through the use of the typical color palette of the building render, and the slight and not intrusive reflection of the surroundings provided by the colored glass. This allows the context to be dilated into the Mediatheque building façade: a “form of transit” of the everyday life.
Photos by Marco Covi, © Dimitri Waltritsch
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© Dana Wheelock
Architects: ALTUS Architecture + Design
Location: Minneapolis, MN, USA
Contractor: Streeter & Associates
Project Area: 2,500 sq ft
Project Year: 2008
Photographs: Dana Wheelock & ALTUS Architecture + Design
This sixth floor penthouse overlooks the Minneapolis lakes, Uptown area and downtown beyond. Designed for a young professional, the space is organized through distinguishing the private and public realms through sculptural spatial gestures. A curved white marble dust plaster wall that pulls one into the space delineates the private master suite. The master bedroom space is screened from the entry by a translucent glass wall overlaid with a perforated veil creating optical dynamics. This functions to privatize the master suite, while still allowing light to filter through the space to the entry. Suspended cabinet elements of Australian Walnut opposite the curved white wall and Walnut floors draw one into the living room and kitchen spaces.
© Dana Wheelock
Stair Study 01
A custom perforated stainless steel shroud surrounds a spiral stair that leads to a roof deck and garden space above, creating a daylit lantern within the center of the space. The concept for the stair began with the metaphor of water as a connection to the Chain of Lakes. An image of water was abstracted to a series of pixels that were translated into a series of varying perforations, creating a dynamic pattern. This abstracted imagery was then laser cut into the stainless panels that wrap the perforated steel stair. The result creates a sensory exciting path of movement and light, allowing the user to move up and down through dramatic shadow patterns that change with the position of the sun, transforming the light within the space.
© Dana Wheelock
floor plan
The kitchen is composed of Cherry and translucent glass cabinets with stainless steel shelves and countertops creating a progressive, modern backdrop to the interior edge of the living space. The powder room draws light through translucent glass, nestled behind the kitchen. Lines of light within, and suspended from the ceiling extend through the space toward the glass perimeter, defining a graphic counterpoint to the natural light.
© Dana Wheelock
Within the master suite a freestanding Burlington stone bathroom mass creates solidity and privacy while separating the bedroom area from the bath and dressing spaces.
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