Buildings Taken Over By Giants In Athens, Greece. A Shoboshobo Art Installation.

The following images are of an unusual art exhibit by Shoboshobo in Atopos, Athens, Greece. The exhibit ran from November to December 2010.

















The installation included:
Building 5 giants displayed in the space
Building 1 twin big giant displayed in 2 pieces
1 wall drawing black on white
1 room all-over drawing white on black
Molo drawing series of 50 pieces
Various drawings
Soldier drawings (series of 125 pieces)
New series of 15 silk screen prints made by Decapitron E*Rock+Hendrik Hegray+Shoboshobo

all images courtesy of Shoboshobo

The Domino Wall Clock From The Carbon Design Group.

from the press release:
We live in a hectic world. Alerts, alarms, and reminders prod us through our days with unforgiving precision. Challenging this pressure-filled environment, the Domino Clock™ takes a simple, iconic object and transforms it into a new way to tell time. The concept is simple. Three larger-than-life dominoes are equipped with articulating dots that flip back-and-forth between black and white to keep time. They hang on the wall or stand free, communicating wirelessly as they quietly mark the passing hours and minutes. By subtly abstracting the idea of time, Carbon’s Domino Clock creates a more relaxing experience.



Challenging Expectations. While the idea itself is pretty straight forward, it challenges the assumptions we make about familiar objects. "People have a lot of immediate associations with everyday things, especially iconic ones," says Joe Sullivan, industrial designer at Carbon Design Group, a Seattle-based product development consultancy. "It’s interesting to play with these expectations. In this case, we’re taking a well-known object out of its normal context and giving it new capabilities, allowing it to function as something completely different."




"The numbering scheme on dominoes and dice developed as a way to represent numbers that’s immediately recognizable, so in a lot of ways it makes perfect sense to use it as a time piece," explains Sullivan. "Everyone gets it, but the fact that we’re not used to seeing it in this context makes it unexpected at the same time. It’s this shift in context that gives the concept a twist."



Fueling the Passion. The Domino Clock was one of a number of ideas bubbling up in the Carbon studio when it was selected to be a Carbon Passion Project. Similar to Google’s 20% Time, Carbon’s Passion Projects are designed to fuel the creative spark. "They’re a way to push the boundaries… to try something new, to take a break from the constraints of client projects and play a little," explains Dan Blase, President of Carbon Design Group. "These projects foster Carbon’s culture of learning and play, and, at the same time, give our team the variety they thrive on."

Making it Real. Simple ideas often require a good deal of work to keep them simple. "Form-wise, it’s a very literal reference to a domino, so 95% of the up-front heavy-lifting from an aesthetic standpoint is defined from the get-go," says Sullivan. Once the form is set, the conversation moves quickly to feel and function. The reference to real dominoes plays heavily here as well. From their playful falling motion, to the weight of the ceramic materials in your hand, dominoes have very specific physical qualities inherent to them. "The clock wants to communicate these same qualities, from the materials down to the precise motion of the dots."



"If you imagine a domino scaled up to a foot tall, it would be quite heavy and have considerable inertia. The mechanism that creates the motion needs a sense of gravity to it to give the flip the feel of falling," says Sullivan. It was up to Eric Davis, one of Carbon’s mechanical engineers, to solve the challenge of creating a small mechanism that generated this slow movement, yet was very quiet. The additional challenge of powering thousands of transitions a day without burning through batteries meant Davis would need to design a custom actuator. Ultimately, he developed a mechanism that runs off a small, electromagnetic coil. "You might call it a ‘single-poled motor,’" says Davis. "The magnet and the iron move around the coil… opposite the way motors are usually designed." The device can be fine-tuned to get just the desired flip speed. And, best of all, power is only required to initiate the movement, and not while the device is in either the black or white resting state. A more detailed explanation and video demonstration of the Domino Clock proof of concept prototype is available on Carbon’s site.

The Chicken Point Cabin Is A Loft-Like Modern Dwelling In Northern Idaho.

The Chicken Point Cabin is a modern, 3,400 square foot loft-like cabin designed by Tom Kundig, Design Principal and Olson Kundig Architects and is situated on a half acre of land.


above image via Contemporist

It is located on the crystal clear Lake Hayden in Idaho, USA, surrounded by the Coeur D'Alene National Forest. According to the Hayden Chamber of Commerce, the cove that the cabin is placed on is positioned at an altitude of 684 meters above sea level. The lake has over 80 kilometers of timber shoreline and beaches, of which Kundig has taken successful advantage. The lake is also surrounded by the Bitterroot Mountain Range. Because of the high latitude, the region has mild summers and cooler winters.



The idea for the cabin is that of a lakeside shelter in the woods — a little box with a big window that opens to the surrounding landscape. The cabin’s big window-wall (30 feet by 20 feet) opens the entire living space to the forest and lake. Materials are low maintenance—concrete block, steel, concrete floors and plywood—in keeping with the notion of a cabin, and left unfinished to naturally age and acquire a patina that fits in with the natural setting. The cabin sleeps ten.




The cabin is made of three general parts. These are the main concrete block containing the major portion of the house, a plywood insert, and a large steel fireplace created from a piece of the Alaska pipeline.

above image via Contemporist


The front door (shown above) is a normal width, yet 19 feet tall in order to accommodate ski equipment for the surrounding environment, as well as to mimic the pine trees of the dense forest. This is one of the many features that incorporates the surrounding nature into the design of the house; filtering out the environment while maintaining the feeling of being a part of it.



A massive window, over 6 meters wide by over 9 meters tall faces the expansive lake. This window is attached to a wheel that is easily turned by a crank, which rotates the window outwards and opens the interior of the cabin up to the lake:







The above photos of the window wall are courtesy of Turner Exhibits, who was responsible for the kinetic window design.

Besides this large window and the master bedroom window on the same wall, there are very few windows. This tunnels the focus through the major window, and draws the eye to the lake. By having the entire lake-facing wall made of glass, as well as the majority of it being able to open, the residents of the house are able to feel as if they are outdoors, while still being sheltered by the environment; another environmental filter while still feeling a part of nature.



Inside the use of color and texture are important in the interior of this casual family cabin. Strong blocks of color help to define space and direct the eye. Texture in furnishings provides a soft but strong counterpoint to the hard, raw material palette. Custom tables using plywood and polyurethane create a direct connection to the architecture while providing durability and function. Some of the unique interior features include the custom continuous steel pipe fireplace, the wood slab work surface supported by a truck suspension spring, and the custom stainless steel bathroom sink.





images and info courtesy of Olson Kundig Architects

Check out Patrick M Burnhams' fabulous model of the Chicken Point cabin he created for his first year architecture studio at the University of Houston here.

Mike Ruiz Shoots Khloe Kardashian's New Look For YRB Magazine.

Khloe Kardashian is sporting a new look on the cover and in an inside editorial and interview for YRB magazine. Shot by A-lister photographer (and superhunk) Mike Ruiz with styling by Darius Baptist , makeup by Joyce Bonelli, hair by Clyde Haygood.






below: Photographer Mike Ruiz poses with Khloe Kardashian

images courtesy of YRB magazine.

The images are accompanied by an interview with Perez Hilton.