Salvador Dali Museum

On January, 11, 2011 at 11:11am the Salvador Dali Museum opened its doors to the public in St. Petersburg, Florida. The amazing looking structure is 68,000 square feet and holds the largest collection of the legendary surrealist painters works. The works are held on the 3rd floor with the massive concrete structure surrounded by two glass atriums that will let in some amazing natural light from the Sunshine State. Architectural design firm HOK did an amazing job, to say the least.

THE NEW W HOTEL: ISLAND OF VIENQUES BY PATRICIA URQUIOLA

Treading through New York City in the cold and snow makes us yearn for warmth. Looking at the new W hotel makes us think we’ve found the perfect place for it. We have all been witness to the explosion of the W Hotels around the world, we’re just glad the glam hospitality company is still putting design first. for the second time, W has hired on famed designer Patricia Urquiola to stylize their latest retreat on the Puerto Rican Island of Vieques. Urquilo dressed the resort in various species of woods all planked together juxtaposed with explosions of feel good colors. Though much of the resort is styled in the designers famous furniture collections, there are new design elements such as lighting made from ropes, mesh screens, and massive decor reaching out from walls.

The Who - Tattoo (Live At Leeds)

Mmmmmm Tasty.

Music video by The Who performing Tattoo. (C) 2010 Polydor Ltd. (UK)

MERCEDES-BENZ AESTHETICS

from Not Cot

The process and creative imagery that is produced along the path to great products are often quite a work of art… It’s so inspiring to see Mercedes-Benz embracing the process by formalizing sculptures in their process of exploration and discovery. There’s something almost magical when seeing the design process itself shared through these sculptural experiments, especially when they share the sketches and organic inspiration that leads them there. Works of art being displayed along side concept cars and current cars fill you with curiosity and open ended inspiration of what the future may hold. Mercedes Aesthetics No. 2 just debuted at Detroit Auto Show.

I love this quote from Mercedes Head of Design, Gorden Wagener, “Inspiration is the pre-condition for the calm, coherent yet passionately emotional design of our cars. In the interior sculpture Aesthetics No. 2 we have allowed creative fantasy to develop freely without constraints.” Regarding sculpture details, “On a scale of 1.5 to 1 the sculpture measures 18.3 x 6 x 8.5 feet. The finely wrought frame painted in alubeam Liquid Metal is light and strong; the white seating landscapes look like ivory.” Take a look at the inspiration behind and the design process that went into it… as well as the very cool final sculpture!

I think we all need a powerwall, when i first saw this image (in tiny thumbnail form, to be fair!), i thought they were at an aquarium.

musgum earth architecture

designboom has dedicated a large amount of time to learn more about clay - one of the earliest natural building

materials in history of men. our intent is to promote earth also as a building material of the future.
it represents an excellent alternative to cement whose manufacture releases considerable quantities of CO2.
individual housing units and small apartment buildings can easily be built from earth in every part of the world.
however, concrete remains an essential material for high-rise construction. the research effort should be
therefore two-pronged: tailoring earth to the needs of modern construction and making concrete 'greener'.

in this first article of a series, which we will publish in the upcoming weeks, we'll examine a few ancient building
techniques.

the musgum, an ethnic group in far north province in cameroon, created their homes from compressed
sun-dried mud. the tall conical dwellings, in the shape of a shell (artillery), featured geometric raised patterns.


musgum clay houses in cameroon

what strikes at first sight is their almost organic simplicity, a second reading reveals the functions behind the forms.
the walls of the houses are thicker at the base than at the summit, which increases the stability of the building.


detail




a characteristic settlement form is the compound, a cluster of units linked by walls

the domed huts of the musgum people are built in shaped mud, a variant of cob.
cob building is the most widely used technique in the world, since no tools are needed
- hands, earth and water are enough.


the name of these houses ('cases obos') comes from their similarity with the profile of shells.
it is very close to the catenary arch, the ideal mathematical form to bear a maximum weight
with minimal material. this profile also reduces the pressure effect of the impact of water drops
on the walls. furthermore, the extraordinary height (up to 9 meters) of these houses provides
a comfort climate during hot days. the top of the house is pierced with a circular opening,
allowing the air to circulate, resulting in the sensation of freshness.
today, these buildings have become somewhat obsolete, with only a few groups still practicing
this 'cases obos' type of construction.



it is customary to lay the mud spirally in lifts of approximately half a metre, allowing each lift to dry before adding the next.




drawing of a musgum dwelling


cross section of a musgum dwelling


... in the shape of a shell
curves and grooves are the language of natural forms.
the musgum house follows the profile of shells - the arc of a chain.
bows and vaults obtained in this way can be very slim and allow the use of a minimum
of material for maximum rigidity. the arc adopting the inverted profile (figure below)
will only work in compression and does not produces parasitic twisting or bending moments.



musgum throwing knives


maintenance of a musgum
the decorative surface allows for further refinement and individualization.
the veins are also contributing to the drainage of rain. the musgum houses require
regular maintenance of the coating and the veins allow people to climb atop the building.


historic images


historic images
the construction technique of musgum clay houses is currently also mentioned in the
exhibition 'ma terre premiere pour construire demain'.
it explores how and why we should build with earth.
on show at the cité des science et de l'industrie, paris until june 10th, 2010.

smart EBIKE a design study of an electric bicycle for smart

For the mondial de l'automobile 2010 in Paris, France, smart, a subsidiary of the Daimler AG, decided to show two alternatives of electric mobility: an all electric scooter and an electric bicyle.
The deisgn and developement process started in June 2010 (tough schedule!) and went on till mid Sptember. Fortunately, at that time I was doing an internship at the Advanced Design Studio of Mercedes-Benz in Sindelfingen, Germany - so I got the task of designing the Bicyle!

Here are some impressions from the show in Paris, some press images and some sketches and renderings from the design process.

Enjoy!

Life-Saving "Buoyancy Bazooka" Wins 2010 James Dyson Award

The device could save hundreds of drowning people each year, who are far out of reach from hand-thrown life preservers.

A rocket-propelled life-preserver which can be launched up to 500 feet has won the 2010 James Dyson Award, one of the world's most prestigious student-design awards. Australian student Samuel Adeloju, who invented the so-called Longreach buoy, wins $15,000, as well as $15,000 for the industrial design department at his alma mater, the University of New South Wales.

The news caps a months-long process which began with hundreds of entries, which were winnowed down into country winners and finalists.

The key to the Longreach's design is clever use of foam that expands once it touches water. When dry, the buoy is shaped like a bullet, allowing it to be launched from a bazooka-like device. But when it hits water, the buoy expands to forty times its original size--in just 15 seconds--forming a ring-shaped life-preserver. Adeloju says that he's already in contact with search and rescue groups to mass-produce the invention.

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