these videos by dassault systems are meant to sell design software, but they are far more powerful as inspiration for future kinds of tangible interfaces, maybe one day when nanotechnology gives us the ability to use atoms as dynamic input/output media the same way pixels move today:
Category Archives: architecture
touch map
this is another example of a universal design map in the tokyo subway to reveal not only names in braille but also the complex three-dimensional arrangement of platforms with a delicatly raised relief in this bronze plaque.
Also posted in 3d, tangible, universal design, visualization
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rest in pod
it is still inspiring to see kisho kurokawa‘s nagakin capsule building in ginza, even as the structure falls apart and faces demolition – the building is a monument to an idea, otherwise unlivable, and in all of its ugliness and simplicity reveals more about the way tokyo’s residents actually live than any other building. the […]
Also posted in fabrication, livingbreathing
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art must burn
long before burning man and lithium battery flareups, art has been destroyed by fire – in 1960 swiss father of kinetic sculpture jean tinguely built a self-destructing sculpture in the courtyard of new york’s museum of modern art: “The piano began playing. Jean had reversed the belt for his big meta-matic painting machine which was […]
Also posted in possessed products, soft/glowing
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carpenter shelter
at the cooper hewitt’s lackluster ‘design for the other 90%‘ exhibit i was puzzled by the ‘day labor station:’ a well-intentioned shelter for immigrant day laborers who – at least in california – seek day labor by standing around home supply stores waiting for an unscrupulous contractor to pick them up. the solution – for […]
Also posted in conviviality, fabrication, marketing, possessed products
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digital dwelling
i visited moishe safdie’s habitat yesterday, a 40-year-old futurist masterpiece that was a lot more exciting to walk through than a lot of crazy buildings. this dated vision of the future is still inhabited, in fact renovated, and it makes the point that you can design for customization in architecture: you’ll hardly notice all of […]
Also posted in conviviality, customization
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polypopolis
i was at the AARP conference in boston last week – i’m not sure why – and i came across this radical experiment in inflatable architecture: the super colon. i have to say it was effective – i couldn’t even go in. i’ll have to trust doctors to do that for me.
Also posted in livingbreathing, soft/glowing
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hyperspaces
another theme of this blog appears to be the ways that physical spaces can take on hyper-functionality like software. one example is architecture vs. virtual environments: how can real spaces create connections with physically distant realms? jennifer allora and guillermo calzadilla propose one solution in their work ‘traffic,’ a bare room with a drop ceiling […]
Also posted in 3d, art, soft/glowing
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