“Everyone thinks of the desert as monochromatic,” says Schweitzer. “But when you look carefully, there are all these amazing colors: a vivid green lichen growing on a rock, a bright red flower, and the impossibly blue sky. This compound takes those colors and builds them at the scale of man, which is bigger than the flower, but a lot smaller than the rocks.”

The Monument House is one of many multicolored homes in the park. “Following in the footsteps of Lloyd Wright’s nearby New City of Mentalphysics, this home continues a rich tradition of experimental and radical architecture in the California high desert,” says the website for Homestead Modern, the Joshua Tree rental firm currently managing the property.

The listing follows a recent renovation of the Monument House. The home’s moss-colored building features an open plan living room with comfy but modern furniture and a bright orange fireplace, with views of the desert landscape framed by trapezoidal windows and doors on all sides. These playful geometric openings are meant to mirror the shapes of the large boulders in the surrounding park. While there’s no TV here, there are plenty of books, games, and internet access to provide entertainment.

In the blue structure, a canary yellow “chef style” kitchen has all the essentials for small gathering meal prep. The dining room is equally sunny, with a table by Roy McMakin and chairs designed by Schweitzer himself. If you’d rather eat outside, you’ll have no problem dining al fresco in the home’s red-colored outdoor gazebo, complete with a propane barbecue grill.

Come nighttime, visitors to the Monument House can stargaze around the outdoor firepit before heading inside to the solo bedroom with its plush mint king-size mattress from Tuft & Needle. Or they take a dip in the outdoor hot tub (hidden in a deck) to enjoy 360-degree views of the five-acre estate and beyond. The home also includes an electric vehicle charger for any EV-driving guests.

The property location is idyllic. Located just one mile from the entrance to Joshua Tree Nation Park, the house is easily accessible while retaining a secluded feel, standing alone against a rocky hill in a valley of boulders. It’s important to note that guests are not permitted to use the rental for any photo or film shoots without advance permission. Bookings at the historic Monument House start at $299 for a two-night minimum stay.

The post Colorful Joshua Tree Monument House is Now Available to Rent first appeared on Dornob.

The translucent white shingles are counter-weighted and attached to the exterior of an open-air gabled building frame using bolts that allow them to flutter up and down. When the wind blows or rain falls onto the shingles, they move, either slowly or rapidly, all together or in waves. This “shivering” makes the cabin seem like it’s directly responding to the weather conditions.

“She seems to have a personality: sometimes calm when the breeze seems to make her breathe, sometimes angry when the gusts agitate her in all directions…This animal character binds us to her and encourages us to spend time on the spot to observe its constant transformation,” the designers explain.

“It anchors visitors in the present moment. Its movements allow us to see, hear, and feel the wind more acutely. We are also connected to the surrounding trees, whose simultaneous agitation we perceive more clearly. Thus, Shiver House makes us aware of the natural world around us. By anchoring us in the present time and connecting us to nature, this cabin does us good!”

The movement keeps the installation in a constant state of transformation, holding visitors’ attention and hopefully creating a closer emotional link between them and the natural world where the hut is located. The structure builds on the success of previous iterations of Shiver House installed in Finland. This one is designed for longer-term use, and will sit within the park of Louvre-Lens for years to come.

The installation is the result of a collaboration between engineers Elliott Wood, NEON, and Odysee des Cabanes, a project that invites architects, landscape architects, designers, and visual artists to interpret landscapes through specially designed cabins, offering users the possibility of sharing moments of play, relaxation, discovery, or discussion.

NEON artist Viliina Koivisto and architect Mark Nixon founded their studio as a way to encourage playful interaction between art and everyday people. “We empathize and listen to ensure our projects resonate with people who use them,” they say. “We manipulate familiar materials in ways previously unimagined. We design with every sense in mind. We deliver once-in-a-lifetime emotional experiences.”

Inaugurated in 2012, the Louvre-Lens was created as a new off-site museum where an innovative approach to art could be developed from scratch. Located in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region, the museum was designed by Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa from Japanese architecture studio Sanaa, and its main exhibition space, the Galerie du Temps, houses over 200 artworks on loan from the Louvre in Paris. Additional works like Shiver House V2 are located on its grounds.

The post Shiver House: Animal-Like Kinetic Structure Flutters in Response to Wind and Rain first appeared on Dornob.

Commissioned by artisan café brand Colicci, architecture firm Mizzi Studio took inspiration from the verdant foliage of the Royal Parks, giving the kiosks a vaguely tree-like structure complete with curves and canopies.

This mimicry and appreciation of local environment are a common strategy for the studio. “We call our work ‘bio-architecture,’ said company founder Jonathan Mizzi in an interview with Architizer. This approach “characterize[s] our studio ethos, a philosophy that rests on bringing humans and nature closer together through thoughtful and innovative design solutions.”

“The architecture and design industry has seen a massive shift in practice towards trends that favor a nature-led approach,” he added. “Mizzi Studio has been focused on this philosophy since day one of our foundation. Our architecture holds the natural world as its greatest teacher and inspiration — this ethos is central to The Royal Parks project.”

The team started by spending months exploring the heritage of each park. After channeling “all of that research into a design strategy…driven by nature and the variety of tactile experiences it offers” (the firm’s own words), Mizzi Studio invented a fleet of kiosks, each “unique, tailored to the history, nuances, and demographics of its respective site within the parks.”

While each kiosk has a slightly different 360-degree organic profile and volume, they all share a tree-based sculptural outline, and an instantly recognizable silhouette from far away.

Set conspicuously at the entrances to Hyde Park, Green Park, and St. James’s Park, eight of the nine kiosks are covered in “steam-bent” wooden English oak timber, a sustainably sourced material, in addition to the stainless steel and copper used in the frames.

The ninth iteration — the flagship Horse Shoe Bend kiosk in St. James’s Park — got the royal treatment as it sits at the base of Buckingham Palace. While the shape follows the patterns of its siblings, this “kiosk is clad in tubular brass, mirroring the ornate precious metals of the nearby Sir Thomas Brock’s Queen Victoria Memorial,” Mizzi explains.

Each kiosk was constructed with the lowest impact to the environment in mind. Modular in design, all are freestanding and able to be transported in just two truckloads, cutting down on carbon emissions.

The timing of the kiosk project — on the heels of the COVID-19 pandemic — made it especially impactful for visitors. “Aside from the spectacular landscape of the Parks, which directly influenced the design of the kiosks — our hope was that the fleet would stand as a new architectural structure and symbol of collective respite,” Mizzi says. “We believe in the power of public space to bring people together and restore them both physically and emotionally. The aftermath of the pandemic became the context for the completion of the Royal Parks fleet, and therefore we saw this as a moment where architecture could help restore mental well-being, bring people together, and offer surveillance and support at a time when the city’s inhabitants felt most vulnerable.”

The post London’s Royal Parks Kiosks Get Sustainable “Bio-Architecture” Update first appeared on Dornob.

ZNera Space sees the Downtown Circle as sustainable and self-sufficient vertical urbanism. The mega-complex stands an incredible 550 meters (1,804 feet) off the ground on five relatively narrow supports as an alternative to a bunch of unconnected skyscrapers. Containing housing, retail stores, offices, and schools as well as public spaces like parks and museums, the ring-shaped tower even has its own transportation system. Theoretically, residents wouldn’t ever have to leave the tower if they didn’t want to.

Downtown Circle contains five levels, including two main rings held together by a continuous green belt the architects call Skypark. Spanning the multi-story vertical space between the structure’s two rings, the Skypark is its own self-contained ecosystem full of swamps, waterfalls, canyons, sandy dunes, and tropical vegetation. It also incorporates rainwater harvesting, solar power, and agricultural production, so the community can grow some of its own food and produce its own energy. And with full-size trees capable of storing carbon, the Skypark also helps to offset the ring’s greenhouse gas emissions.

To get around the ring, residents and visitors will travel in a fleet of suspended peripheral pods that transport them from one node to another. The vessels follow tracks along the structure’s bottom tier. An elevated heliport on the roof of the inner ring lets inhabitants travel down to the city and back up again. An outer layer of louvers protects the facade from intense sunlight and helps reflect light to areas that get shaded by the geometry of the building throughout the day.

“We wanted to go down to the basics of how gated communities were established as a very horizontal built environment,” says Najmus Chowdry, co-founder of ZNera Space. “But you can’t have that here because of the dense urban fabric of Dubai. The best way to explore and practice this concept was in downtown itself.”

“The concept was of a vertical city,” says Nils Remess, the firm’s other co-founder. “When COVID-19 hit hard, we thought a lot about sustainability and how can we change things and how we can create better urban planning. We looked at aspects such as garbage disposal, food production, traffic problems, and pollution. We put all these things together and came up with a concept.”

Concepts like the Downtown Circle could definitely help with the challenge of packing more people into cities as the global population continues to grow amidst the threats of climate change. One thing few of them seem to address, however, is the question of whether such structures would contribute to further segregation of economic classes within cities, leaving poor residents on a ground level that would feel downright subterranean when shaded by megastructures that elevate richer people into the sky above. In that case, higher-density cities will only feel livable for some people and not others.

The post Massive Ring-Shaped Structure Could Encircle Dubai’s Burj Khalifa first appeared on Dornob.

The poetic vision of Studio noa* treats the library like a modern Garden of Eden wherein knowledge may be found. The look of the library from afar is meant to be almost like a mirage, too strange and beautiful to be real. Passersby in the park are tempted to approach and see what this unusual building is all about, drawing them into a world of books in the process. The lushly vegetated library design seamlessly blends into its parkland environment, and although the facility features a total of nine floors, all are accessible via a ribbon-like walkway that leads from the ground level all the way up.

The library is crowned by a circular study room for 300 people with a 360-degree view of Milan. To reach it, guests ascend an elevator contained within a glass tower of books, rising from the building’s layered levels into the open air before reaching the ring-shaped floating element. This ring is flanked on either side by billowing structures resembling trees or giant mushrooms. All around them, green roofs undulate, segueing into both open-air outdoor spaces and protected interiors.

“The project’s starting point was the research into the meaning, usage, and features of a 21st-century library,” the firm explains. “Studio noa* reimagined it as a hub of creativity, aiming to create a stimulating environment for freeing the mind and acquiring new knowledge. As a prerogative, a relaxed and quiet atmosphere, as an added value, the possibility of moving in a hybrid environment breeding new ideas, where the line between inside and outside becomes blurred. Therefore, the design of a complex architectural structure was flanked by the creation of the natural landscape, which permeates all spaces.”

“It feels like climbing a tree after having walked through a lush garden. And not by chance, since the archetype that inspired the team of architects is the Garden of Eden, where the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil grows. The biblical episode linked to it is perhaps one of the narratives philosophers have drawn on most to portray humanity. According to Hegel, by eating the forbidden apple from the Tree of Knowledge, Eve was the first person to stand apart from the animals, acquiring consciousness and intentionality in doing. When Eve became interested in the unknown, paraphrasing, libraries found their raison d’être. On the roof of the BEIC, Studio noa* wanted to recreate an earthly Eden, where to celebrate the beauty of knowledge and continually encourage people to reach out to unknown worlds.”

Check out more visionary projects by Studio noa*, including a geometric modular building system, a stunning modern bed and breakfast in Italy, and a theatrical spa in the Alps.

The post Studio noa’s Tree of Knowledge Library Attempts to Recreate an Earthly Eden first appeared on Dornob.

Located on the border of Cypress Park and Glassell Park just north of downtown Los Angeles, the historic former rail yard was identified as an ideal opportunity for both river restoration and new public green space. It’s the largest undeveloped parcel on the river and also happens to be a strategic location where the riverbank could be naturalized, even with the rest of the concrete channel remaining as it is today. The parcel is part of the larger 250-acre Taylor Yard, currently owned by Union Pacific Railroad.

Mayor Eric Garcetti oversaw the purchase of the property for $60 million after the project was unanimously approved by the Los Angeles City Council. Plans for the parcel include one mile of direct riverfront access with views of the Griffith Observatory, downtown, and the iconic Hollywood sign. It will also unite the surrounding Rio de Los Angeles State Park and the state-owned G1 parcel, forming 100 acres of open space along the LA River.

“We’ve always considered G2 to be the crown jewel in our vision to revitalize the L.A. River, and that’s why I have been committed to fighting for the resources to finally return this land to the people of Los Angeles and the wildlife that call it home,” Mayor Garcetti said in a press release. “We got it done, and now this vast site can transform how Angelenos connect with the natural world — because it will allow for habitat restoration, and open more than a mile of direct access to the river for local communities that have been cut off from it for too long.”

The massive cost increase of the Taylor Yard G2 River Project mostly comes down to a single word: contamination. An updated study by the Bureau of Engineering found that cleaning and removing contaminated soil will cost about $231 million alone, in addition to the cost of the parcel itself, the infrastructure, and the expected operating costs of at least $6 million per year. The city will have to work with California’s Department of Toxic Substances Control to remediate the site. The good news for locals looking forward to the park’s completion is that it’s almost certainly still moving forward, despite the price tag.

Last month, a major milestone in the plan was achieved as the Taylor Yard Pedestrian Bridge was completed. Designed by SPF:architects, the bright orange bridge connects an area north of Dodger Stadium known as Elysian Valley to the neighboring Cypress Park district. It features a 400-foot box-trussed span referencing the area’s industrial heritage. Two cantilevered central viewing platforms form a “handshake” meant to symbolize peace between two neighborhoods once known for public fights and gang violence.

The post The Cost of LA’s “Crown Jewel” River Park Skyrockets to $1 Billion first appeared on Dornob.

The original Subterranean Tropicália Projects would have been a massive multi-level structure with an almost maze-like interior where visitors “discover” works of art by Oiticica and other artists and have interactions with each other. Unfortunately, garnering financial support and permits from the city for such a large installation proved out of reach. PN15 reworks the project as a 40-foot-diameter circular structure of curving corridors offering visitors a multi-sensory experience full of plants and projected images. Throughout its run, the installation will also be a stage for interactive performances and workshops by Brazilian and queer artists.

The installation marks the first time an outdoor work by Oiticica will be displayed in the United States. The project is able to move forward thanks to the Americas Society, which acts as a connector for Latin American artists in New York through grants and exhibitions. A cardboard maquette for the original design and sketches for the two modified versions (PN14 and PN15) went on display in Part I of the Americas Society’s “This Must Be the Place: Latin American Artists in New York, 1965-1975.” Part I closed in December, and Part II ran through May 21st.

“This is an artwork that is as radical now as it was in the 70s,” Aimé Iglesias Lukin, Director and Chief Curator of Visual Arts at the Americas Society, told ARTnews. “This is an artwork that is free, has public access, and is inviting them to participate and is engaging with them. We don’t have enough of that.”

According to Iglesias Lukin, the exhibition offers a “re-reading of 1960s and 70s American art through the lens of immigrants, in this case Latin American immigrants. We need to start questioning to which degree New York became the cosmopolitan center that it is without immigrants. How do you explain the neo avant-garde without all the artists who came from all over Europe, Latin America, and Asia?”

Oiticica first envisioned the work for display at Central Park, but as Iglesias Lukin notes, the Central Park of today is very different than it was in the 1970s. Installed within Socrates Sculpture Park, it will have more of the impact Oiticica imagined, seen and experienced mostly by everyday working class New Yorkers rather than tourists and wealthy Manhattanites. The park is a place where local residents hang out, play basketball, go on runs, and walk their dogs. Oiticica wanted Subterranean Tropicália Projects to foster “creleisure,” a term he coined for creative-leisure, offering a space for both planned and spontaneous performances.

The post After 51 Years, Hélio Oiticica’s Sculptural Vision Finally Comes to Life in NYC first appeared on Dornob.

Shanghai based-firm 100 Architects were charged by the local government with “activat[ing] this pedestrian junction” in a brand new commercial and residential area of the port city. For maximum head-turning value, they decided to turn the entire park into a metaphorical volcanic eruption filled with bright, attention-grabbing reds, oranges, and yellows.

The 14,000-square-foot park uses small stairways to signal the beginnings of a figurative outpouring from the Earth’s crust. Tiered, overlapping shade structures throughout symbolize the infectious lava of fun venting upwards and spilling back down through a slide and over the wide steps.

The magma continues its inviting flow around a picnic table and stools. A ramp from an adjacent building is painted brilliant orange, pouring the excitement down towards a large playground. Visitors can follow fire-colored paths around the park and tackle climbing shapes, small hills, and a giant tic-tac-toe table along the way. A swing pergola, seesaws, more slides, punching bags, and tunnel tubes all beckon to passersby. LED rope lights trim the shade and play structures, and spotlights on the trees provide an enticing ambiance at night.

For less agile pedestrians, 100 Architects also included several seating and resting areas with sun-blocking canopies. A mahjong table and adult sized-swings complete the experience.

“The flow of magma creates an intense and vivid circuit of events and spaces arising by its side,” the designers explain. “Altogether the proposal creates an incandescent public space that acts as an urban attractor and entertainment hotspot.”

According to the company website, “100 Architects was born with the mission of improving our cities and the experience of citizens in the public realm.” They are known for their colorful and playful temporary street installations throughout China, and for their quirky landscape architecture in places like Hong Kong, Mexico City, and Santiago. Energetic colors and an abundance of geometric shapes are hallmarks of their designs. The Magma Flow project fits nicely into the firm’s overall niche, so-called “neighborhood interventions.”

The company adds “the main objective of this typology is to trigger a massive public interest to the place through a strong visual impact, usually of a permanent nature, encouraging the rise of high public affluence and establishing an urban landmark that can cultivate important human dynamics and boost commercial activity.”

Ningbo is the second most populous city in Zhejiang Province, China, and 100 Architects hopes that the Magma Flow project will be “of such magnitude and notoriety” that it’ll “impact not only the immediate surrounding urban environment, but rather the urban dynamics of a whole neighborhood, becoming an urban landmark and a local attractor of social interactions in a given neighborhood.”

While a real-life volcano might be more likely to inspire fear than fun, it’s hard not to get swept up in Magma Flow’s colorful currents.

The post China’s Magma Flow Park Takes Its Design Cues from Volcanoes first appeared on Dornob.

Hollaway, who was commissioned for the project by billionaire Roger De Haan, recently told Dezeen that “We see this as an opportunity to put Folkestone on the map. To the best of our knowledge this has never been done anywhere else in the world.” The park’s ambitious three-story plan certainly aims to impress, offering facilities for both skateboarders and BMX riders to hone their freestyling and tricks. There will also be a boxing ring (operated by a local boxing club), an 11-meter-high climbing wall, a café, a first aid center, and a rooftop terrace present to complete the ultimate skaters’ paradise.

Located on the site of an old bingo hall in the center of Folkestone, the project is meant to be a lot more than a fun, tricked-out space and architectural centerpiece. More importantly, Holloway wants F51 to be a draw for the area’s youth through engagement and community involvement, with the end goal of revitalizing and re-energizing the small town of Folkestone. “If you make childhood meaningful through education, sport, and recreation, then it’s more likely [youth] will invest in their town and the future…that is what true regeneration is about,” the architect said at the outset of the project.

Replacing the old harborside skatepark also owned by De Haan, the park will definitely be a striking addition to the town. Currently under construction, the structure’s three stories tower above the rest of nearby Tontine Street, looking eerily similar to the prow of an enormous concrete ship. A true work of art described as a “giant piece of pottery” by local artist Matt Rowe, who has been documenting F51’s progress since the beginning, the skatepark was created using polystyrene molds set with rebar, which were then sprayed into their more finished concrete forms. The process is not only artistic (think ceramics), but a crucial part of one of the park’s signature features: a suspended concrete bowl located on the first floor that’s perfect for the likes of BMXers and skateboarders looking to trick, jump, and ride with reckless abandon.

The open space, with its “refined skate surfaces” and reinforced concrete pillars, will also be a fully immersive experience, with the acoustics playing an important part in creating the park’s enigmatic and energetic ambience. Initially described by Halloway as a “controlled adrenaline facility,” the park offers opportunities for boarders and BMXers of all skill levels to showcase their skills. And even though it’s being designed with safety in mind, the park will nonetheless offer an exhilarating way for locals to ollie, 360, and shred to their hearts’ content – all in the small English town of Folkestone.

The post F51: The World’s First Multi-Level Skatepark Shreds into a Quaint English Town first appeared on Dornob.

The structure is a distinctly New York addition to the surrounding area, adding to the surrounding Hudson River Park and the now-booming stretch of other little “islands” along the Chelsea piers. Rising from the ashes of the defunct Pier 54 (damaged by Hurricane Sandy in 2012), Little Island is less a phoenix than an ebullient homage to unique public spaces: what they are, and what they have the potential to be.

This enigmatic space cost approximately $260 million to build and is the brainchild of British designer Thomas Heatherwick, known to New Yorkers for the Vessel at Hudson Yards, itself a beehive-esque construction that’s architecturally artful, edgy, and vertigo-inducing. That 150-foot tall structure recently re-opened with new safety measures in place after being criticized for its safety protocols.

Heatherwick, known for design strategies that aim to create immersive experiences for visitors that merge form, shape, and ambition, has here created a more approachable and visitor-friendly structure that, instead of being imposing, is welcoming and quite lovely.

Funding for the Little Island came mainly from billionaire Barry Diller, who, in partnership with the Hudson River Park Trust, set out to reimagine Pier 54 in 2013 and create a public space that embraced nature, art, and design. Enter Heatherwick, and the vision for the present-day parklet was born.

The first sight of Little Island is enough to make anyone gasp in delight. White concrete structures rise out of the murky Hudson, dazzling the eyes and sparking the imagination. Visitors will feel as if they’re approaching a whimsical world, either floating lazily on the water or emerging from it as if birthed from its depths fully formed. Initially it resembles a setting in Super Mario World (Mushroom Kingdom, anyone?) or an elaborately constructed mini-golf course.

Either way, it’s certainly imposing and instantly captivating, and the designs on the island continue the theme with a beautifully landscaped space that somehow manages to be a natural haven while still feeling like a distinctive part of the city and its environs.

Part of the reason for that is that one can’t really escape a view of the city from here. It’s in the background, looming and distant, but still a major player in the proceedings. But it’s the details that make Little Island truly special: the paths are winding and broken up by little asides that truly recreate a fairy tale experience, hidden secrets among the landscape that emerge as a trail of bread crumbs leading into each new twist and turn.

Tactile and truly immersive, Heatherwick’s design pairs beautifully with the landscape architecture of New York design alum Signe Nielsen, who herself has an eye for merging natural elements with the surrounding architecture. This combo complements and enhances Little Island’s curves and rises, bringing to life all its rich views and secrets.

Upon arrival at Little Island, visitors may feel as if they are a part of something larger; namely, the interconnecting network of piers and attractions that now dot the landscape throughout Hudson River Park. But once on board, it’s all too easy to get lost in the dreaminess of the design and the simple fantasy of this magical green space so removed from the city (and yet somehow an integral part of it).

The post New York’s “Little Island” Uses Cutting-Edge Designs to Create a Natural Retreat first appeared on Dornob.

Beginning back in December 2020 as one of 40 of Illuminate SF’s annual Festival of Light installations, “Entwined” is comprised of three synthetic trees and 16 bushes, all topped with thousands of LED light cubes. Colors chromatically flow in and out of the “leaves.” The San Francisco Recreation and Parks describes the variety of LED effects as “building a sense of awe,” fashioning “raindrops on the pavement, lighting and thunderstorms, wind blowing tall grass and flowers, and ripples on a pond.”

The mystical combination of darkness and glowing nature gives visitors the impression of being transported to a futuristic enchanted forest. Says San Francisco Recreation and Park General Manager Phil Ginsburg: “a twilight stroll through the park’s east [is] truly magical this winter.”

“Entwined is an immersive light experience for Golden Gate Park visitors to explore, engage with, and enjoy,” explains Entwined creator and industrial artist Charles Gadeken. “What does the ‘tree of life’ look like in the world, post-nature? The installation is my latest exploration of this question, blending timeless natural objects with abstract forms and modern technology to evoke wonder, magic, and joy.”

Situated in Golden Gate Park’s Peacock Meadow, Gadeken’s trees range in height from 12 to 20 feet, with their glowing canopies stretching as wide as 30 feet. The trunks and roots were constructed from steel plates using a combination of CNC-cut and hand-rolled strips to generate both organic and boxy shapes. He included both four and eight-inch plastic cubes for the tops, each with 16-channel programmable LED lights, allowing “millions of colors [to] move through the trees’ leaves in hypnotic waves,” according to the artist.

While new to Golden Gate Park, Gadeken has showcased a five-tree version of Entwined in several venues since 2017, including Las Vegas’ Electric Daisy Carnival and the Toronto Light Festival. In years past it was intended to be more hands-on, with visitors encouraged to climb around on the roots and have “a direct physical interaction with the piece of art.”

Due to the pandemic, however, this latest installation is a socially-distanced affair, spread out over an acre of land with more looking and less touching involved.

As an artist, Gadeken has been producing copper, bronze, and steel pieces in the San Francisco Bay Area for over 25 years. Inspired by the objects, structures, and processes in the world around him, he says his work “depicts natural objects in fantastic ways and realizes the potential for serendipity in everyday life.” He also hopes to “instill a sense of play into the environment.”

Gadeken uses his imaginative inventions to encourage others to be creative as well. From 2019 to 2020, he was an adjunct lecturer at Stanford University in the Electrical Engineering Department, where he taught his students about kinetic light art sculptures.

The lights of “Entwined” come on from 4 to 10 pm daily. Although originally slated to run through February 28th, the exhibit’s popularity has yielded it an extension through Sunday, April 4th.

The post Entwined: Fantastical LED Tree Exhibit Brings Glow to Golden Gate Park first appeared on Dornob.

If you’ve watched the news at all lately, you’ve probably heard of social distancing. The phrase was first used back in 2003 during the SARS epidemic, made brief appearances in the years following, and had its most famous comeback just a few months ago when the coronavirus pandemic first struck. Now, in one of the most creative ways imaginable, four art shows in Austin, Texas are zeroing in on the meaning of the phrase.

With little to no good news recently on the pandemic, Austin artists decided to spin the misery into something positive. They unveiled four different projects in parks throughout the city, including Roy Guerrero Colorado River Park, Pease Park, Republic Square, and Zilker Park.

How the Project Materialized

Austin was determined to bring some joy and happiness to the lives of its people. The Austin Foundation for Architecture, Austin’s Parks and Recreation Department, the Pease Park Conservancy, and the Downtown Austin Alliance Foundation all got together to brainstorm ideas that would incorporate bright cheerful colors and stress the importance of following the CDC guidelines. Sticking to those procedures in wide open spaces such as parks has been difficult for many, and the new Austin installations greatly simplify the concept.

The Installations

In each of the parks, oversized, colorful boxes were painted onto the grass, each exactly 64 square feet in size and six feet away from the boxes around it. Even better, the paint used to make the boxes was an environmentally friendly water-based type designed specifically to paint turf. Each color palette in the separate parks was motivated by the hues of Texas Hill Country wildflowers, with an overall goal of increasing the safety of outdoor areas in an artistically pleasing way.

Gerardo Gandy, a designer at Gensler, introduced the idea when he saw similar art projects being implemented in other cities. His inspiration to integrate the colors of assorted Texas wildflowers was partly due to a memorable quote by former first lady and dedicated conservationist Lady Bird Johnson: “Where flowers bloom, so does hope.”

City Leaders’ Praise

Not only are the residents of Austin thankful for the uplifting art spaces, but many of Austin’s leaders also voiced their appreciation for the project.

Ingrid Spencer, executive director for the Austin Foundation for Architecture and AIA Austin, issued a press release stating: “We could not be more excited to be part of this important, timely, relevant, and necessary project. P A R K S P A C E boldly weaves the elements of an architectural landscaping intervention and a social distancing awareness campaign into one exciting public outdoor experience.”

Kimberly McNeeley, Parks and Recreation Department director, echoed those sentiments in her own press release, which explains that “as we navigate the current situation, the Parks and Recreation Department encourages utilization of our parks and green spaces to create community safety. We’re delighted to be partnering with the Austin Foundation for Architecture to facilitate their creative vision of P A R K S P A C E that will help Austinites continue to maintain physical distancing while the park goers nurture their mental, physical, and spiritual health.”

Even Austin Mayor Steve Adler told the media that “Creative placemaking is a communal experience, and P A R K S P A C E is an installation for our times; a new way to be together, apart.”

The entire four-park pilot project was completed prior to the Fourth of July weekend, even though all Austin and Travis County parks were closed over the holiday as COVID-19 cases continue to rise in the state of Texas. More local parks are currently under consideration for P A R K S P A C E installations.

The post PARKSPACE: Austin Art Project Focuses on Creative Social Distancing first appeared on Dornob.

There’s certainly no need for cemeteries to be morbid. They could be pleasant to visit, or even joyful. They could help us honor the lives of our loved ones while reminding us that we are still alive. One such place is the Memorial Cemetery Parque das Cerejeiras in Jardim Angela, Brazil. Designed by Crisa Santos Arquitectos, the cemetery strikes alternately peaceful and playful tones by combining spaces of quiet reflection with bold, sculptural elements in dialogue with the surrounding park.

Lead architect Crisa Santos worked with spiritual leaders, psychiatrists, psychologists, and geriatricians to gain a deeper understanding of the grieving process, aiming to support and care for people in mourning. Drawing on extensive research conducted by the Union of Cemeteries and Private Crematoriums of Brazil, which has polled people in mourning on what they needed most, Santos created an interactive space where people can “live in their grief in its entirety, and as lightly as possible.”

That research resulted in a space that emphasizes connections to sacred spaces, ascent to the heavens, rising souls, and a sense of being rooted in nature. It starts with the Parque de Cerejeiras entrance, a parametric structure made of wood that, according to the architect, “refers to the movement of a flight to a sacred place.”

The standout element of the cemetery is its most symbolic. “Eternity Square” is formed by several sections of steel plates arranged in a spiral, “bringing a narrative that makes an allegory to all phases of life: birth, adolescence, adulthood, generation of children, maturity, and passage.”

The curves represent the chapters of this narrative, slowly unfurling with grass underfoot and the sky overhead. There’s a weight and gravity to it all, but also a lightness that calls to mind the fleeting nature of our time on Earth.

The firm adds that: “Crisa Santos has a unique peculiarity on developing projects focusing on neuroarchitecture, which uses science to create projects that offer sensations and perceptions, causing emotions to users. [It] aims to increase awareness and understanding of the impacts of architecture on the brain and human behavior. An example of this is the Parque das Cerejeiras’ revitalization project, located in Jardim Ângela, South Zone of São Paulo.”

“A reference in the capital of São Paulo, the cemetery, with 300,000 square meters, has architecture embraced by nature in a perfect symbiosis, reframing the contact of human beings with their most instinctive sensations in order to reestablish grief in a more natural way through the practice of biophilia. Using parametric architecture for some structures, in addition to the use of outdoor environments, Crisa Santos designed this complex aimed at the public of the peripheral neighborhoods of the Zul region of São Paulo.”

A lot of thought went into this project, and it shows. Would you prefer to reflect on your deceased loved ones in a space like this, or are you in favor of more traditional cemeteries?

The post Cemetery Park Full of Curves and Spirals Celebrates Our Connection to Nature first appeared on Dornob.

Right in the middle of urban Los Angeles, black tar bubbles up from the ground, often covered in fallen leaves. A registered National Natural Landmark, the La Brea Tar Pits are a rich source of paleontological treasures, having trapped thousands upon thousands of mammoths and other extinct creatures in its sticky liquid asphalt muck.

Today, they’re at the center of Hancock Park, alongside the George C. Page Museum, which itself is full of millions of fossils from the pits, including saber-toothed cats, dire wolves, bison, ground sloths, and more. The Tar Pits are the only active paleontological research facility in the world located in a major urban area, and their centerpiece is currently a group of mammoth statues emerging from the fenced-in Lake Pit.

The 12-acre park and its surroundings are due for a makeover, and three major architecture firms are competing to overhaul them, with three very different approaches in mind.

New York-based Weiss/Manfredi proposes preserving most of the park’s existing architecture, adding an elliptical new wing that will facilitate a more cohesive journey throughout the grounds. This wing cuts into the landscape of the park so that anyone walking along the outside can peek into the museum. They would also plant hundreds of additional trees on site and build walkways right over the pits.

“The La Brea Loops and Lenses form a triple mobius that links all existing elements of the park to redefine Hancock Park as a continuously unfolding experience, connecting three distinguishing identities that are latent within the park today: Research and Revelation — the site of the excavation pits and Pleistocene Garden; Community and Culture — where the museum and central green are located; and Spectacle and Urban Fictions — where the lake pit and mastodons join the public imagination on Wilshire Boulevard. The different identities of the loops embody journeys, with programming that appeals to diverse interests — from paleontology to bird watching, from science to play.”

Danish architecture firm Dorte Mandrup would add a new floor and rooftop garden to the museum while keeping the mammoths intact. Their main goal is to expand the museum’s floor area without taking away from the green space outside.

“Our proposal interweaves the park and museum, so [from] the moment you step inside the park you become immersed into the story of the Tar Pits. We want a visit here to be a journey of curiosity, where senses and imagination are instantly awakened. Our hope is that this will bring visitors much closer to the world of natural science, and in turn heighten their understanding of the past, present, and future of our planet.”

By far the most radical of the three, Diller Scofidio + Renfro’s proposal would raze the entire museum and rebuild it as a series of stacked, overlapping plates surrounding a glass box, which would house exhibition, collection, and laboratory spaces.

“As an urbanized culture, we are rarely conscious of the geological forces that shape the ground we walk (and drive) on. A new masterplan for the La Brea Tar Pits and Page Museum offers a unique opportunity to not only heighten awareness of the natural history held underfoot, but also to engender a sense of responsibility towards the role humans play in shaping the environment they inherit.”

The firm continues: “A revitalized Hancock Park is conceived to be the connective tissue between existing and new institutions, public spaces, and urban infrastructure. We have taken a ‘light touch’ approach for the next evolution of the Page Museum, infilling underutilized spaces and reconfiguring what is already there to create a more dynamic and efficient hybrid structure that is both building and landscape.”

Displays of each proposal will be on view at the museum at La Brea Tar Pits through September 15th, so the public can check out renderings, models, and drawings and provide feedback either on-site or online. The Natural History Museums of Los Angeles County are expected to decide on one by the end of the year.

The post Three Design Firms Present Their Visions for L.A’s La Brea Tar Pits first appeared on Dornob.

Elevating a naturally breathtaking venue to new levels of beauty is challenging stuff. Swan Lake Park, a natural wetland close to the Yellow Sea in China’s Shandong province, has been a mecca for birdwatchers for eons now. October is an especially popular time for the park, as it’s then that ornithology enthusiasts swarm to watch bevies of Great Swans arriving from Siberia for their annual migration and stay through the winter. It’s known locally as the “Hometown of the Great Swan.” Yes, this venue is truly magnificent, with reeds stretching out as far as the eye can see and babbling brooks winding through the marshlands.

Trace Architecture Office (TAO) was recently chosen to transform the park into an unparalleled sightseeing destination where tourists could be swept away by the extended panoramic views and surrounding dense pine forests, with or without any fine-feathered creatures around.

Background

From November to April every year, over 10,000 swans fly into Swan Lake Park from Siberia and other areas, with over 100,000 tourists trekking there to see them. Some just enjoy the experience, while others capture the graceful fowl with cameras. Others write about the surreal happening, and others still capture the awesome birds with watercolors and oils. Rongcheng shops overflow with swan-themed memorabilia, and many of the hotels and restaurants prominently feature swans in their decor. The local conservation sector regularly disinfects the lake area, too, monitoring the health of the swans and spreading food on the surface of the lake whenever it freezes.

The Main Building

TAO first conceived a casual café and restrooms on the site for the tourists’ personal comfort. Simply called “The Bridge,” the building in question is 73 feet long and bordered by a thick pine forest on the rear, with the front facing the quagmire. Although the structure seems to float over the water like an enchanted cloud, it’s actually made of cast concrete and sheathed in wood shingles that will eventually fade to gray over time. TAO designed the bridge to meld with the surroundings, making sure it enhanced the landscape rather than take away from it.

The Catacomb Connections

Some spectators have compared the hallways that run along the sides of the structure to those of crypts or catacombs. Indeed, the hallways closest to the pine forest are reclusive and quiet, in stark contrast to the ones on the west side that face the marshland, which are decidedly more airy and inspirational. The two paths sometimes come together, too, creating entrances and connections that sometimes lead to stairs, affording guests multiple visual experiences.

The Viewing Tower

The Viewing Tower is a detached structure located next to the Bridge. It stands a little over 50 feet tall and faces the water, providing a beacon for visitors to enjoy the best possible view of the bayou and nearby Mt. Mashan. It’s encased with the same wood shingles as the Bridge, too, with its sole source of light being a large skylight in the middle of the roof. That stream of light bathes the interior in sheaths of shapes and shadows from top to bottom as people climb the spiral wooden staircase to the tower’s apex. As the light gets brighter, the peak of the tower grows closer and finally yields to a platform that provides a panoramic view of Swan Lake in all its natural glory.

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