Design Decoded: Lego Architecture Studio Brings Modernism to the Play Room

Lego bricks have been inspiring generations of future architects since they first hit toy store shelves in 1949. For any kid (anyone really) with even the slightest predisposition toward building, Legos represented an incredible opportunity to create anything. I’ve probably wasted days of my life sitting on the floor amidst piles of tiny plastic bricks, scouring through the thick piles of our carpeting to find the one small piece that would make my design perfect, which inevitably would elude me until one of my parents had the ill fortune to step on it. The possible permutations of the snap-together blocks were limited only by my imagination and the number of blocks on my carpet. Decades later, my architectural career may be in remission, but I still love Legos. In 2008, the Danish toymaker decided to capitalize on such life-long goodwill with the Lego Architecture Series, which gives the brick-obsessed the chance to build their own small-scale replicas of iconic works of architecture from around the world – from the Empire State Building to the Imperial Hotel.

The Architecture Series is most successful at capturing modernist designs, such as Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye (1929, above image) and Mies van der Rohe’s Farnsworth House (1951, below image). Along with the assembly instructions, the extensive books that accompany each set provide a little background on the miniature masterpieces, elucidating their historic importance and notable features. Recently, Lego took their interest in architectural modernism even further with the debut of The Lego Architecture Studio, a new set for a more mature demographic that gives users the tools to make their own unique contribution to toy architecture canon.

Before they went into full production, the monochromatic Architecture Studio was tested and endorsed by noted architecture firms from around the world: REX architecture, Sou Fujimoto Architects, SOM, MAD Architects, Tham & Videgård Arkitekter, and Safdie Architects. The set consists of 1,210 pieces and accompanying user guide – an architectural crash course with contributions from the participating firms — designed to help the Sunday morning modernist learn more about concepts like space, section, scale, mass, symmetry, modules and repetition. Color, history and ornament are basic architectural principles as well, but like the Modernists who inspired the series, the Architecture Studio abandons those ideas in favor of studies in pure form and planning principles.

While the fundamentals are there, a lot of the fun seems to be missing. The affordable, egalitarian multicolored blocks beloved by kids and adults have been replaced with expensive, refined model-making kits that are targeted more toward collectors and that, when built, likely won’t be destroyed and reused as part of some other far-out creation, but will sit on a book shelf and collect dust (and I write that as someone with a Villa Savoye on his book shelf collecting dust). It seems more text book than toy box.

Read the full article on Design Decoded

 

Life Without Buildings

[Image: "Cavity Mechanism #12 w/ Glass Dome" (2013) by Dan Grayber].

We've looked at the work of Bay Area sculptor Dan Grayber here before, but he's got a small show of new work opening up at Oakland's Johansson Projects gallery next month and it seems worth stopping by.

[Image: Another view of "Cavity Mechanism #12 w/ Glass Dome" (2013) by Dan Grayber].

Grayber describes his work as a study in "self-resolving problems," where highly-tensioned devices hold themselves aloft inside glass vitrines, as if floating in space, fighting their own weight while pushing relentlessly against the walls that contain them.

[Images: "Cavity Mechanism #9 w/ Glass Dome" (2013) by Dan Grayber].

Graybar uses an over-arching description for many of pieces seen here, writing, for example, that each piece is "a counterweight driven mechanism that wedges itself into the inside of a cavity (the glass dome in this case), suspending itself."

[Image: "Cavity Mechanism #11 w/ Glass Dome" (2013) by Dan Grayber].

They are as much displays of gravitational potential energy—like staged moments in some avant-garde machine-ballet whose only plot and purpose is to resist the pull of the earth—as they are "art objects."

[Images: "Cavity Mechanism #10 w/ Glass Dome" (2013) by Dan Grayber].

While the highly contained, desktop scale of each piece adds to the overall feel of pent-up force and concentration, it's hard not to want to see this guy working at Richard Serra-like proportions, scaled-up to the point of architecture.

[Image: "Display Case Mechanism #1" (2013) by Dan Grayber].

You walk into Madison Square Park in Manhattan only to see a giant steel mantis weighing five or six tons, painted in fluorescent construction orange, poised kite-like inside a polarized glass dome, holding boulders the size of Fiats, sprung, tensioned, and impossibly buoyant, as if somehow lighter than air.

[Image: "Cavity Mechanism #7 w/ Glass Dome" (2013) by Dan Grayber].

There is an artist's reception and opening on October 4, so mark your calendars ahead of time and stop in to meet the machines. More examples of his work can be seen here on BLDGBLOG or at the artist's own website.

Harrison Ford by Nancy Ellison

Based in Milan, Italy, Emiliano Ponzi is an award-winning illustrator with a strong sense of color and composition. Stripping away superflous elements, both visual and textual, he creates stylized and symbolic landscapes that become backdrops for his satirical musings.

(Via Mike Jeter)

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Liquid Jewel is a new project by Swiss photographer Fabian Oefner (previously) as part of his ongoing exploration of manipulating paint with natural forces such as sound, centrifugal force, and even magnetism. In these new images the photographer turned his attention toward air pressure by harnessing the power of the popped balloon. Oefner covered modeling balloons in thick layers of acrylic paint and photographed each one milliseconds after popping it with a needle. The resulting effect captures the paint as its driven simultaneously inward and outward. See more over on Behance.

Design Decoded: Would You Like Arches With That? When Famous Architects Design McDonalds

Since the late 1960s, when McDonald’s abandoned its iconic, modernist-inspired golden-arched buildings in favor of a separate, golden-arched sign and a decidedly less exciting mansard-roofed structure, it has been rare to mention the words “McDonald’s” and “architecture” in the same sentence. Rare, but not unheard of, as a few notable architects designed some of the franchise’s more exceptional establishments.

But the biggest franchise in the world can afford to take a few risks and have a little fun. In 1983 McDonald’s approached a man named David Bermant to build a new restaurant in the parking lot of one of his Berwyn, Illinois, properties. Now Bermant loved two things: building shopping centers and collecting art. McDonald’s gave him the opportunity to do both. He agreed to let them build with one stipulation – they build something daring.

New York architecture firm SITE was brought in. At the time, SITE was known for bringing a surprising sculptural sensibility to the Best Products retail stores and they brought that same subversive approach to their work for McDonald’s, identifying the standard ingredients, as it were, of a typical franchise –mansard roof, brick exterior, Colonial-style windows, golden arches– and then re-presenting them in a new way. Their design is a subtle subversion on the classic 1980s franchise. All those elements are there, but they’re separated just enough to create the illusion of a “floating” McDonalds. The entire brick level of the mansard roof seems to be separating from the brick structure, which is itself levitating a few feet off the ground, making room for a miniature garden.

Many architects aren’t content with just designing the building – they often want to design furniture, lighting, sometimes even doorknobs and silverware. SITE’s no different, but instead of proposing redesigned plastic benches, they designed a “floating Big Mac” to complement the building. Unsurprisingly, McDonald’s passed on that addition, opting to only construct the SITE design in 1983. Perhaps also unsurprising? The floating McDonald’s no longer floats; when the franchise dulled the design is unclear.

Another significant McDonald’s was built in the 1990s by renowned architects Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown in Buena Vista, Florida.

Continue reading on Design Decoded

Related Content:

• The Golden Arches of McModernism

Life Without Buildings

Designer Chris Godfrey created a gelatinous, stratified 12-course tasting-menu in a tin, formed in a perfect cylinder that starts with "Selection of local cheeses with sourdough bread" and goes all the way to "French canele with a malt barley and hazelnut latte" by way of such delights as "Risotto foraged ramps, prosciutto and fresh parmesan" and "Roast pork belly and celeriac root puree."

Contemporary culture means on every trip into town; you’re bombarded with gimmicks galore. Gimmicks often diminish their products to turn a profit; downgrading on the content but selling you something thats ‘50% more’. The All in One 12 course meal offers the average Joe; the chance to dine like royalty without the washing up.

Selection of local cheeses with sourdough bread

Pickled kobe beef with charred strawberry

Ricotta ravioli with a soft egg yolk

Shitake mushroom topped with filled peppers

Halibut poached in truffle butter in a coconut crepe

Risotto foraged ramps, prosciutto and fresh parmesan

French onion soup with fresh thyme and gruyere cheese

Roast pork belly and celeriac root puree

Palate cleanser, pear ginger juice

Rib eye steak with grilled mustard greens

Crack pie with milk ice cream on a vanilla tuile

French canele with a malt barley and hazelnut latte

All In One (via Things Organized Neatly)

GEEKS! Come see me at GAYMERX!. I'll be there both days, and I have a panel and a signing.

“The Column” is a video installation by Adrian Paci. A raw block of marble was shipped from China to Paris and during the trip it was transformed into a classical column by Chinese sculptors.

found at pietmondriaan

At last! As of RIGHT NOW on Steam or here, you can finally get an early access to the Mercenary Kings and join the fight against the forces
of CLAW on Mandragora Island!

I want this! Can I get it? Where can I get it? Which platform??
You are in luck! The game is available as of right NOW on Steam, for PC! Once completed, the game will be released for PS4. We want to release it in other formats down the road, but for the moment, Steam andPS4 are the priority.

Early Access? What is this??
It’s an earlier, not completed version of the game. It currently has 60 missions whereas the completed version of the game will have 100! This version of the game still needs your feedback to get it in the best possible shape and it’s why we are releasing it now.

It’s not complete??
It is not! The early access is still packed full of stuff, it even has the online multiplaying component, but it is not a completed version of the game, which is still in progress.

What’s missing?
We’re thrilled with the current version of the game, but we still need to balance different values (items, different enemy difficulties, weapons) ontop of adding the remaining missions, cutscenes and various sound effects.

Do I still get the full version of the game?
Yes! The full version of the game will automatically download when it’s released!

When is the completed version coming out?
Sometime around Fall!

The rest is now up to you! Do not let the world fall into chaos and strife! Join the Kings, craft weapons and CUT DOWN CLAW!

http://mercenarykings.com/

Project
Nautical

Photography
Benedict Redgrove

Link
benedictredgrove.com

Anytime you dump gobs of colorful paint on toys and add liberal amounts of centrifugal force, I’m in. Such is the case with these high speed images shot by photographer Peter Schafrick of paint-soaked Barbie dolls, dog chew toys, and tennis balls. Schafrick created a special rig dubbed the Spinster that allows him to quickly launch each dripping object into a spin at which point he snaps a shot. See more here.

While official details remain somewhat sketchy, high-res box art is now everywhere online for the forthcoming LEGO CUUSOO set #4. Behold 21103 LEGO Back to the Future DeLorean Time Machine.

The DeLorean, Marty McFly, and Doc Emmet Brown are sitting here next to me as I type this, so look for a full review of this new set in the next day or so, once the official info is due to be released.

Also, remember that this week is San Diego Comic-Con, so check back here on TBB for full coverage of official announcements as well as on-the-scene reporting by TBB contributors attending in person.

The Igor I. Sikorsky Human Powered Helicopter Competition was established in 1980 by the American Helicopter Society to help foster the creation of the first human-powered helicopter. To win the prize a team of engineers would have to build a helicopter powered solely by a human that would achieve a flight duration of 60 seconds, reach an altitude of 3 meters (9.8 ft), while remaining in a 10 meter (32.8 ft) square. The first attempt wouldn’t even leave the ground until 1989 when the Da Vinci III built by students Cal Poly San Luis Obispo flew for 7.1 seconds.

Over 33 years have passed since the creation of the AHS Sikorsky Prize and dozens teams have tried to win it. Finally, on June 13th of this year the AeroVelo team from the University Of Toronto managed to fly their Atlas Human-Powered Helicopter for 64.1 seconds, reaching an altitude of 11 feet (3.3 meters). The Atlas is a mammoth four rotor helicopter that despite measuring 154 feet (47 meters) across weighs only 119 pounds. The results were just verified this morning and the AeroVelo team was officially declared the winners of the $250,000 award. Watch the record-breaking flight above and read more over on the Huffington Post. Surely Da Vinci is fist-pumping in his grave.

Robin and The Batcrew wish Adam West a happy birthday

It’s been thirteen long years since the super group DELTRON 3030 (Del The Funkee Homosapien, Dan The Automator, and Kid Koala) released their self titled record that garnished a cult following to backpackers and mainstream Hip Hoppers alike. We have been hearing rumors from the camp for close to a decade that the new record was coming, and with a release date set in October, it looks like fans will have to wait no more. Initially said to be mostly finished in 2005, we have all waited 8 more years to get this final product. It’s not like the three weren’t busy though. Their work with Damon Albarn and Gorillaz has been a priority I’m sure. That success has given the already successful in their own right performers a huge step up on the ladder, and it’s great to see them return together again as DELTRON 3030. Event II picks up where the futuristic, avant garde, outer space concept album left off.

“This time, the album has a specific story. “The Deltron world has gone too far with technology. Everything’s destroyed, and you just see the remnants of our technology. The streets are run by criminals, the police are outnumbered and outgunned, and we’re like pirates, running rogue, doing what we do to survive. That’s the scene of it. We’re trying to be as literary as possible while dealing with a musical format. I don’t know if you could even categorize this as a hip hop album – it’s more like a rock opera, but using rap.”- Del The Funkee Homosapien

The first song recently released off of Event II, “City Rising From The Ashes” can be heard below, and features background vocals from the multi-talented Mike Patton. The clip “Stardate”, features Joseph Gordon-Levitt is the latest snippet from the record. It features a Star Wars style marquee beginning narrated by Gordon-Levitt that slowly slides into some great production work, aka sick beats from The Automator. What a way to open up the record. Featuring guest appearances from David Cross, Zack De La Roca, Damon Albarn, Jamie Cullum, Black Rob, The Lonely Island, Amber Tamblyn, Aaron Bruno of AWOL Nation, David Chang, and Mary Elizabeth Winstead, this thing is destined to be another classic. We’ve waited this long, what’s 3 more months. Look for Event II on Dan The Automator’s Bulk Recordings on October 1.

City Rising From The Ashes from Event II

Watch them perform the song live here, courtesy of Converse.

Keep Diggin’!

Filed under: Crate Diggin', Crate Digging, DJ, Flea Market Funk, Hip Hop, music, New Releases, record collecting, Record Digging, Record Labels, vinyl Tagged: Dan The Automator, Del The Funkee Homosapien, DELTRON 3030, DJ, Flea Market Funk, Hip Hop, Kid Koala, music, New Releases, records, Supergroup, vinyl

Requiem • The New York Times book review

The “grief memoir” is by now a well-established subgenre of autobiography, the array of recent books about dead loved ones a veritable graveyard. The best of these — Jamaica Kincaid’s “My Brother” and Peter Handke’s “Sorrow Beyond Dreams” — aren’t just sad stories;

full story here

Mickey Shorts - Paris I

Mickey Shorts - Paris II