Via Arch Daily: Nine students studying at the Aarhus School of Architecture, one of Denmark’s premiere architecture universities have transformed the typical college quad into an activated social hub with their temporary pavilion. In a quick ten-day workshop, the students designed and built the pavilion with 420 recycled euro-pallets. “By being built with nothing else but pallets, easily reachable on the site by the closeness of the harbor, the pavilion was basically a short-living vernacular architecture,” shared the students.
Since there are no structural elements, the layout and overlapping of the euro-pallets were extremely crucial to insure that the pavilion could be used as the students envisioned. Some pallets are stacked perpendicularly to create a cantilevered condition which provides steps to bring students to the very top of the pavilion, or serve as little seats where users’ feet dangle in the air.

The designers determined the curvilinear form of the pavilion after studying the regular flow of students through the courtyard. The project’s snaked edges gracefully descend from its height of 3.5m to the ground level – suggesting, if not tempting, all who pass by to climb. “The pavilion was basically a strip interacting with its context…leading people to use a different way of crossing the courtyard, by walking and sitting up to 3.50m high. Then, by curving the strip to link and adapt to each element, many steps were naturally created between the pallets, allowing people to sit in the sun, like on a terrace,” explained Marcilly.

This pixel orca sculpture was created by sculptor Douglas Coupland.  Standing outside the Vancouver convention center, the mammalian art installation is instantly eye-catching, and strangely enough it seems at home amongst the natural backdrop of mountains and waterfront.  Pixel sculptures and even costumes are becoming increasingly popular, however Coupland’s work is the first instance of a massively oversized piece of pixel art we’ve noticed.  Check out his portfolio for more of his installations.

Asaf Hanuka has been doing editorial illustration since 1995. And doing it well. You may recognize the surname, as Asaf is the younger brother of one of our past features, Tomer Hanuka. Clearly talent runs deep in the Hanuka family. Back to the matter at hand, the Google monster, which Asaf created for an article published in California Lawyer regarding the search giant’s plans to scan every book that was ever published and build the biggest digital book store. You may recall, and as the illustration suggests, many authors and publishers were against Google’s move to create their massive, digital library. The double mouthed Google Monster is certainly awesome, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention a few of Asaf’s other projects including The Warriors, The Airplane Thief, and the Eco Bubble for Toronto Life! Check them all out over on Asaf’s portfolio.

Artist Jan Robert Leegte explores the cross over between the physical and digital worlds through his art. One of his areas of interests is translating iconic elements from digital environments into reality. Scrollbars are a frequent feature in these pieces including these two pieces. ‘Scrollbar Composition’ features a freestanding structure that appears to be a series of digital scrollbars made from wood. The earlier piece ‘scrollbar’ is similar, buy only featuring a single bar. Both works are made from wood structure painted white with digital projections of the scrollbars overlaid, animating the scrolling actions.

How do other countries tackle drinking and driving awareness? The Minsk Highway in Odintsovo, Russia recently became home to a giant bottle sculpture that was created from car parts, which may or may not have been wrote off in accidents involving alcohol.  With a height of over 15 meters, the eight ton monument is the brainchild of consulting agency Zavod, who were commissioned by the Russian Union of Auto Insurers. The purpose of installing the bottle along the roadside was to demonstrate one of the worst case scenarios that stem from drinking and driving. The only thing missing from the heaps of scrap automobiles, are the remains of the drivers. That said, perhaps the addition of blood and limbs would have made the campaign less acceptable, and other rejected on the grounds of gruesomeness.  Without the gore, I believe the audience gets it.

Founded in 2000 by Steve Spett and Ron Barth, Resource Furniture has gained a reputation for providing Interior Designers, Architects and Specifiers access to European Furniture not widely distributed in the US. We’ve been fans of Murphy Beds and transformable furniture ever since the in-laws relocated and redecorated their condo. Needless to say, when we stumbled across Resource Furniture’s YouTube calling card, we were amazed with level of sophistication, and functionality their diverse product line has to offer. Space saving pieces ranging from coffee tables turned dining room sets, to wall mounted desks that convert to single, and in some cases, bunk beds complete with safety rails and ladders.  Before you decide that you need more space, perhaps it’s time to re-think how well you’re using the space you’ve got.  As a side note, this is the first time we’ve actually featured a company rather than a specific piece of home whatever.  Hit the play button below and you’ll see why it was so hard to pick one over the others.

The ‘Contained Calls’ is international firm Aedas‘ shortlisted entry in the 36 the calls competition in Leeds, UK. Participants were asked to develop an ‘Iconic’ commercial building, situated on the calls waterfront adjacent to the river Aire. The site can be easily accessed by pedestrians and vehicles via call lane. Bridges to the east and west of the site connect the calls with the rest of the city to the south of the river.
The form of the building is bold and iconic; its concept is derived from the former warehouse storage units that once inhabited the site. By loosely arranging these modules between the existing buildings, it creates space for both elements to ‘breathe’. The intention is not to infill the site but to maintain the existing views and relationship with the river aire and the surrounding context. The scheme enhances the public realm by providing more permeability across the site through the introduction of a south facing terrace linked to a riverside walk, this will offer new connections to the adjacent future calls wharf development and provide valuable green space within the city.
The building is designed as a ‘family’ of elements that creates a new business community along the river Aire. The individual prefabricated modules provide 136m2 of open plan work space, and whilst they all share a ‘family resemblance’ they can be modified to respond to their occupants needs. The stacking of these elements allows for change and flexibility through the addition and subtraction of modules, these can be added both horizontally and vertically to allow for future expansion.

It’s been eons since I last tuned in to watch the X-Games. It’s not as though I don’t enjoy the extreme summer and winter competitions, but without a cable subscription, ESPN and many other channels are but a dream.  Thankfully YouTube has me covered.  At the recent Summer X-Games, someone dressed up in a hand costume and launched themselves all over the skate park. I’m guessing this is an advert for the touchgrind iPhone App, where your fingers serve as the skateboarder’s legs. It’s pretty cool to see the oversized hand land a basic jump, but sadly that’s about as technical as the tricks get. Sorry folks, no 720′s or darkside grinds here. Check out this video for more.

Today we’re featuring a video be Stephen Ong titled ‘When Humans Ruled the Earth. The animated short centres on a pseudo0-Rube Goldberg machine, or a freakish industrial assembly line that highlights the pitfalls of our ultra-consumptive, obsessive society. Can we possibly change our course and speed before it’s too late, or have we already passed the point of no return?

Via Arch Daily: A sculptural installation by VeeV Design, entitled Field Rupture, rests upon the courtyard of a 1950s modern house in Berkeley Hills, California. Since the installation is applied over the topological surface, the shifting ground conceptually pushes the surface vertically, and, as the name implies, this action causes the surface to “rupture.” Using a laser cutter to produce the digital fabrication, the sheet metal formation seems to burst from the ground as a “figure of two planes pushing against one another.”

Via Inhabitat: We have seen a lot of techy gadgets designed to help people save water, but they often feature obtrusive readouts or require outfitting your home with clunky fixtures. That’s why we love that the Waterpebble’s simplicity and its unique way of teaching users to save water. The device measures how much water you use and glows a series of colors to let you know when to turn off the faucet.
Blending right in with your soap bubbles, the Waterpebble sits at the bottom of the shower and measures the amount of water that passes by. On the first use, the Waterpebble takes note of how much water is used and stores the information. The next time you get in to wash your locks, the Waterpebble glows a series of colors to let you know how much water you are using in comparison to your previous shower. It starts out green, but then turns yellow to warn when you have used half as much water as the previous bathing. When it begins to flash red, you know that you must finish up quickly so as to not go over your previous usage. The goal is simply to finish before you see the red light, so that your new, faster shower time is recorded. Withing being pushy, the pebble automatically reduces your time each time you shower.

The Waterpebble website states that the product is fully recyclable (although we question how the LED light would be considered recyclable). For helping you lessen the impact of your morning regimen, this little widget seems like a wise investment, at a cost of only £8GPB ($12USD).

Design student Kevin Scott created the unusual Bending Bike that not only folds up tightly, but it can be used to locks itself up. The De Montfort University industrial design student designed the bike to make its safer and easier to lock up your bike in the city. His design looks like a normal bike when in riding mode, but a simple level on the frame triggers the frame to go from rigid to pliable. A ratchet system built into the frame enables the bike to simple be bent around a pole fitting one side of the handle bar into a closure under the seat, locking the bike in place. The design just won runner-up for the business design centre new designer of the year award at new designers. Scott will be using his prize money to further develop the bike, building more iterations for a full testing of its viability.

Matthias Reis’ Plus One is an additional storage container that latches onto most types of shelving. Its sophisticatedly bent plywood design lends an exclusive, modern look. With a simple U-shaped tube, Plus One connects wherever you need additional storage. Surely it doesn’t add much more storage space, but it helps to highlight your current folders, books and knickknacks in an unobtrusive way. Plus One comes in walnut or maple veneer, while the knitted sock connection comes in a full array of colours.

Way back in the early days of HC2′s Design News blog, we stumbled upon Jeff Soto, a fantastic artist who’s work now adorns the walls in my office, as well as my home. I hate describing Jeff’s work, mostly because I think that it speaks for itself. Like most art, you either get it (or like it), or you don’t. Jeff hasn’t fallen off of the face of the earth, which is to say that he’s still doing his thing, and creating outstanding works we’d love to share with you. Take a gander, and also enjoy some snipits from his latest interview with Fecal Face, who asked about the new direction of his work.

In past work I concentrated on Man vs. Nature conflicts, politics, social issues and the worries that my children will be inheriting this mess. But I’ve been fascinated by the cycle of life lately, I don’t know, maybe I feel that I’m getting older and getting closer to death while my kids are just starting out their lives.

This body of work is trying to capture some of those feelings, the idea of living your life, having all sorts of adventures and stories, then aging and the inevitability of death looming on the horizon. It’s universal, it is repeated everyday, and if you look at any lifeform, you have birth, life, reproduction, death, then the cycle comes around again, and it’s been going on on Earth for billions of years. As humans I think we always believe we’re living in such an important time in history. In reality we are just a little speck on the timeline.

I always think that my grandchildren will know me, my great grandchildren might kinda know me, but after that my wife and I and even our kids will start to fade away in people’s minds. One thousand years from now (if humans have not destroyed the planet) will our country and our times be remembered at all? Surprisingly, I’m comfortable with all of this. It’s just the cycle of life. It fascinates me and I’m working on paintings that relate to it.

Fecal Face goes on to ask Jeff: What was the major technical shift from previous works if any?

When I started painting at 14 I thought the pinnacle of art making was the ability to paint things as realistically as possible, and that’s what I worked on for a few years. As I learned more about art history I realized there was so much more to art than being able to render well.

So I tried a bunch of things over the years, from traditional painting to embarrassingly failed attempts at video installations and performance art pieces! It took a while but I realized my strengths were in making visual art, and more importantly, that’s what I had the most passion for. In the last ten years I’ve concentrated heavily on painting, but felt like being a “painter” was too limiting. I was finding used pieces of wood, scratch into my surface, create texture, add collage elements, spraypaint on it; this time I am keeping the pieces really clean and pristine, making each piece precious in a way. I think for this show I wanted to visit my early roots of trying to render forms realistically. I am realizing I am a painter and for the first time embracing it. Aint nuthin’ wrong with being a painter!

Since the advent of email, many people of stopped hand writing letters to friends and family. This stationery set from the Spanish design tudio Brigada Creative brings a digital element to paper and pen. The set consists of notepaper and envelopes that have large black outlines around their edges to make them look like computer icons. The set allows the user to write down their thoughts on paper while still remaining in a slightly digital world. Truly awesome!

Austin, Texas-based artist Shawn Smith explores the intersection between the digital world and reality with his pixilated wood sculptures. These works are composed of small pieces of wood that smith sculpts together, treating them as individual pixels to form one complete image. Smith focuses on how we experience nature through technology and therefore a lot of his piece are representations of animals and objects of nature. smith calls these pieces ‘re-things’ and he sculpts them based on images he finds online.

In my building process, I start with a full sheet of material like plywood or MDF and cut it into 1/2″ strips of varying lengths–typically 1/2″ to 2′ long. I then hand dye each strip of wood individually with dyes mixed from ink and acrylic paint. I mix each color by hand to create a huge palette of colors in order to give the sculpture more depth and visual interest before assembling the object.

“Freeze the Moment” is the latest Slurpee advertising campaign that invites consumers to literally “freeze space and time”. It is clear that the brand knows that it this is impossible, but there’s certainly no harm in trying. Consumers are invited to record and upload their videos illustrating the ideal setting for a frozen moment. The best video will win be transformed into a tv commercial, and will earn the creator $5,000 in cash, as well as free Slurpees for a year. The videos already uploaded by users are hilarious, and we can’t wait to see what Slurpee selects as the winner.

Australian firms Lyons and Conrad Gargett Architecture have designed the new Queensland Children’s Hospital in Australia. Located in Brisbane’s Southbank Precinct, this new twelve quaternary facility accommodates specialist acute and sub acute services together with research and teaching facilities.
The project is designed around the idea of a ‘living tree’ – a network of ‘trunks and branches’ which punctuate the building and connect inside and outside. The building sits in a generous urban park which serves as a gathering place for the local Southbank community. Once completed, Queensland Children’s Hospital will have about 71,000sqm of floor space and 359 beds. Construction has begun on the 1.28 billion (AUD) project and the hospital is due to open in 2014.

Via Inhabitat: Digital cameras have made photography much more sustainable, and rechargeable batteries are a great eco-advantage too. But photography is the art of light, so what better way to run your camera than on the power of the sun? This new solar strap from designer Weng Jie lets you do just that. The Solar Camera Strap makes stopping to change batteries as “last year” as putting in a new roll of film. The only trouble, as Wired’s gadget lab notes, is that the straps feed directly into the battery port, making it impossible to have a battery in place as a back-up power supply. But as long as the sun’s out, you can keep firing with your camera securely around your neck, and it looks pretty nifty too.

Tim Vinke’s Kruikantoor is a portable office made from EPS foam and covered with a coating of polyurea hotspray. The office, consisting of 2 chairs, a table, light, electricity connection and storage, can be put together into one entire unit or taken apart to create a complete office environment. Equipped with wheels, Kruikantoor allows users to swiftly change work locations from any location in an office or home setting.

Dubai recently unveiled images of stadiums, designed by German architectural firm AS & P – Albert Speer & Partner, for the bid of Qatar for the World Cup Soccer 2022. If Qatar wins the bid there will be three completely new stadiums and two existing stadiums that will be subject to extension. Qatar’s plans to use solar technology to power carbon-neutral technology to cool the stadiums and to make sure the temperature at the games does not rise above 27 degrees celsius. In order to meet demand post-tournament of Qatar Stars League most of the stages was designed with a higher form that can be dismantled after the world cup.
The concept of hospitality in qatar is extremely compact and all stages are an hour’s drive from the FIFA World Cup 2022 headquarters which will allow fans to attend more than one game per day. A new and efficient metro system, with a total length of 320 km will be built in 2021. All stages will be connected to the highway system in Qatar and to provide easy access for spectators, some may also be reached by water taxi. not only the fans will benefit from this ‘compact’, but also teams that could remain in their base camp for the duration of the championship.
The brand new 45,120 capacity al-wakrah stadium will be located in a sports complex that will consist of an aquatic centre, spa, sports facilities and a mall. The centre will be a bustling centre 365 days a year and is adjacent to the future routing of the doha expressway. Located in the northeast of Qatar, designed in the shape of a beautiful asymmetrical shell the Al Khor Stadium will have a capacity of 45,330 seats. Some viewers will see the Gulf from their seats as the players will benefit from a flexible cover that will ensure the shadow on the pitch. The brand new Al-Shamal Stadium has a capacity of 45,120 with a permanent lower tier of 25,500 seats and a modular upper tier of 19,620 seats. The stadiums shape is derived from the ‘dhow’ fishing boat of the Arabian Gulf. Spectators are expected to arrive from the Doha Expressway, water taxis, the Bahrain-Qatar Friendship Bridge and the new Metrorail.

Several Apple iPad street ads in San Francisco were liberated during WWDC by a group known as Freedom From Porn. This group is run by dudes who just like porn. “Freedom from porn” is a phrase used by Steve Jobs while engaged in an email argument with Ryan Tate of Valleywag. Hit play below and enjoy.

Via Inhabitat: A new Burger King restaurant in Waghäusel, Germany is hooked up with wind power, solar power, and lighting, heating and cooling systems that are expected to reduce energy costs by a whopping 45 percent and slash CO2 emissions by 120 metric tons annually! While we’re still looking at this story with a critical eye – no matter how many eco-friendly bells and whistles you put on a fast food restaurant, it doesn’t change the fact that it’s a fast food restaurant selling mass-produced, often very unhealthy eats – we’re excited that this one particular location has decided to up its green game. The wind and solar energy systems at the restaurant supply a third of its total electricity and were designed in collaboration with Wirsol Solar AG.
The extensive list of green features at the site includes: an interior heat-recovery ventilation system which saves 73 percent of the energy that would be consumed for heating and cooling, waste heat to generate hot water saving 50 percent of the energy typically needed to heat water, interior and exterior LEDs which use 55 percent less energy that standard bulbs, a broiler that reduces gas consumption and related costs by 52 percent and electricity consumption and costs by 90 percent. The new restaurant in Germany also has a solar-powered electric vehicle charging station for hybrid cars and a rainwater reclamation system for landscape irrigation. The site also boasts more than 720 solar photovoltaic modules that can generate over 53,500 kWh of electricity per year, and a wind turbine that can generate about 2,500 kWh of electricity per year. The Burger King is an example of the company’s green vision, entitled Burger King 20/20, for all of its locations.

The Monowalker Bicycle Trailer follows you, wherever you want to go to. It’s for hikers who want to hike without weight on their shoulders. Thanks to its smart geometry, you only carry half of the weight of your equipment on your hips, because all the remaining weight is on the back wheel. If you want to stop, in order to take a deep breath, you can relax and just lean back because the disk brakes will hold you and the baggage. You are not restricted in moving while pulling it, because the Monowalker has a special hipbelt. Therefore, one-sided impact on shoulders, neck or back diminishes. Additionally, by going uphill and downhill, your knees become released, because you are carrying only half the weight of your equipment. On downhill routes, the brakes help you, because you can choose to pull the disk brake, so that it makes the trailer move slow constantly.