R-Echos - Today’s Favorites, 20082201
A collection of thought following my (very) irregular postings on R-Echos.
What if Africa was Europe’s power plant? This articles reminded of the first african satellite launch.
Pruned is an amazing place for all things related to landscape and architecture, article might be a bit long to read in an overbooked day - but it’s always a pleasure to take the necessary time.
Kashiwa Sato: What caught my attention on this one is the visual proximity of these colour bars and my electronic presence identity (the small bits of colour on top that web visitors like you modify when they visit). I’m wondering at the color and if there is a code behind… or if it (‘just’) colors taken from the images of each projects. It would be nice to know a bit more. On his website, all the colors are animated which might be a bit disturbing for a long reading but which create a very nice and entertaining interface. In any case, color and hue classification of projects is quite nice.
The Magic Roundabout is nothing new (back from the 70’s), and I remember talking about it with Amandine a little while ago. It seems so complex - but all what I’ve read so far is saying the system is pretty much functionnal (once you’re not scared anymore to use it! I guess!)
The Autonomous Architecture picture of the buildings, outlined and superimposed to real life image, even if quite a simple visualisation, stroke me; it made me think to the Soda Constructor web thingies a little while ago; it remembered also my own attempt at constructing webtoys… It would be nice to see a more parametric real architecture that could adapt itself to parameters, like these sculpture from Michael Wihart: Soft Architectural Machines
Bouroullec Brothers, steelwood chair
I can’t help but see this one being quite related to the Martino Gamper’s 100 chairs (whose work process proximity I wrote about earlier). I know there’s no such thing as copying or anything - no: just a mental connection I am making; maybe it is coming from the way of assembling the legs to the seat, I like it. And I’m left wondering how both would fit (in my flat) next to each other.
Copywronged Google Map
I like the collection of found objects. I like even more their presentation on a map. It’s a bit like those Point of Interrest one can insert on a GPS. It could let you create urban walks made of collection of fragments and memory. One could also curate these bits of emotions form others, and deliver them, the same way as for a podcast - apart that you would have to walk to discover them.
Eee PC with all the hacks, but can it ever learn to love?
This is another kind of way for assembling disparate things together, compared to the chairs above, I quite like the picture especially once compared with the MacBook Air super thin design. I like both machine for diverse reasons. What I especially like with this sum of hardware hacks is its freshness and spontaneity along with the weird, surreal and Frankensteinesque feeling.
And those researchers crafting new testing device to detect early Alzheimer’s are just heroes. Some sci-fi authors like Gibson or Dantec already and a while ago wondered about the irruptive use and inclusion of technology into mental disorder studies and treatments. I’m amazed by what technology and medicine are able to perform to transform live and soften tragedies, even more since I’m now personnaly concerned.