Tim Hawkinson - Möbius Ship

“California-based artist Tim Hawkinson is known for taking everyday materials and altering them in imaginative ways, creating works that address broad issues about the intersection of human consciousness, nature and technology. Here, he employed a mix of found objects and common household materials—including twist ties, craft wood, staples, and packing material—which he transformed almost alchemically into a complex and awe-inspiring sculpture.”

L’Opera Restaurant - Decq

French architect Odile Decq (born 1955) and her late partner, architect and doctor Benoit Cornette (1953-1998) have never feared bold, big, challenging projects.

She designed the spectacular L’Opera Restaurant, located in one of the most famous buildings in opera, the 1,600-seat L’Opéra Garnier, on Place de l’Opéra in the 2nd arrondissement of Paris.

second story by Catie Newell

            “Amplifying, transporting, and distorting the volumes surrounding and within a contested existing domestic environment, Second Story reconfigures spaces that were once familiar into an “other” occupation and visual register.  Used to imprint the space and excite the atmosphere, this inhabitable texture is driven by the manipulation of factory standard acrylic rods to capture, manipulate, and distort the existing volumes of the second story of Spencer’s Funeral home in Flint, Michigan, a house slated for demolition.

Inherently transparent, the material both captures and permits the passing of light, visually distorting its presence and the view beyond, through refraction and reflection, altering both the context, the perception of its physical boundaries, and heightening the role of the building in the neighborhood. The work agitates, relocates, and makes accessible new volumes otherwise once unoccupiable: the exterior zone, the wall depth, and the depth of a windowsill. As a further technique of distortion and interplay of tectonic connection and assembly, the acrylic rods are systematically manipulated through the use of heat. One such technique allows for the bending and forming of components to create a pattern that resonates with its context, but also distorts the a priori relationships within the house to construct depth and volume originally unused or nonexistent. A further alteration is the tapering and pulling of the material, developing extensions and strands that flee in a near weightless in pursuit of space, altering the perception and depth they occupy.  The otherness of Second Story is further heightened by suspending the piece above the ground by tethering it to the building’s roof trusses so that it hovers to promote a ephemeral sense of space, an attuned acknowledgement of its surrounding, and an implied stretched atmosphere.”

Very interesting concept of how this piece can transform the space into a completely new environment. I particularly like the description which was submitted along with the project, describing how the changes occur and what is seen in its new location. 

Pylon for the Future Competition

Some very interesting ideas in a very unique type of design competition. Entries show just how creative and elegant you can design something which is seen as so ugly and destructive.

Recently featured on Dezeen

BMA: Shelter Design Competition Entry 2011

The Flowering Tree: A (tree)House in the Wilderness

A tree house set deep in the tropical rainforest of the Amazon. The intended structure is developed for modern day inhabitants (us) to live and experience the senses of the nature. As such, during the day the shelter opens its branches like a flower searching for sunlight. When the daily downpours begin to fall, rain collectors catch the rain creating a weight. The weight allows the canopy to retract as a tectonic structure adapting to the changing environment.

Unfortunately entry did not arrive in Japan before the submission date.

Sarah Sze: Installation at the Lyon Biennale 2009

A collection of wonderful things collated in a hectic manor. 

Link to her website