images via: Lisa Town

I decided to light a few scented candles around the house in an effort to banish the fish smell from the awesome dinner the previous night.  I had paired three candles together into what I would later find out would become their own little cascading wax fountain.  They had burned enough that they were filled with lots of hot wax.  The tallest one, a cream color, burned right through the edge, making a hole that drained all of the wax into a lower red one and then it all flowed right down and out the sides of all three candles.  Later the light green one began to do the same thing, adding to the layers of color.  It created a really neat affect…although I did learn that I probably shouldn’t put the candles so close together next time.

Every time we turn around, there is another threat to planet.  It’s sad but at the same time, in this time of considerable loss of resources and environments, one can’t help but be in awe of the world that we live in and see the beauty even amidst the loss.

Today NOVA aired a show called Extreme Ice which takes both a scientific and artistic look into the dramatic melting of our worlds ice.  Scientists teamed up with photographer James Balog to capture the amazing features they discover along the way.

images via: NOVA and James Balog

In Greenland, the melt lakes would form on the surface of the ice and then quickly and without notice they would suddenly disappear.  They soon discovered that the lakes would all of a sudden pour right through the surface in the most beautiful and spectacular water falls.

In Iceland ice chunks can be found right on the beach in the most interesting interface between ice and sea.  The artistically sculpted shapes suggest root balls of drift wood upon the shore with the elegantly sculpted curves and twists within the brilliant blue ice.  It is a fleeting moment of beauty that is gone once the tide rises.

In a recent post over at Landscape+-Urbanism about the book Infra Structures by Malcom Wells, brought me back to the inspiration I continually find in trees. Like Antoni Gaudi who proclaimed the tree outside his window to be “his teacher”, I too find that trees are an endless source of education and inspiration.

I like this book as well, especially this sketch of the elevation of the Land Bridge concept. The idea of having green pass overtop a bridge or a freeway is a good one and should definitely be explored more often but that isn’t what caught my attention. My eyes immediately go to the columns that are like great trees holding up the green like a canopy running together.

image via: Landscape+-Urbanism

This would be quite dramatic driving through or viewed from any angle from the ground. It would perhaps be like the feeling of awe I felt when passing under the great tree-like columns of La Sagrada Familia. (please let this project be completed in my lifetime!)

Barcelona and Berlin images via: Lisa Town

I found another example while exploring the Jewish Museum in Berlin. I was in search of a certain art piece that I was particularly interested in seeing when I stumbled upon this covered courtyard.  The space is pretty massive.  

The best part is that not only are these supporting column structures reminiscent of giant trees but the style fits with the building itself, mimicking the style of the window perforations.

images via ArchDaily

Within the new Armani 5th Avenue store in New York, there is a strikingly elegant stair that spirals and cascades down from the 3rd floor to the main level like a piece of art.

This is the third Armani store designed by Doriana e Massimiliano Fuskas.  In the latest building, the  staircase takes on a character of its own…that of a wild tornado, caught between the levels of the building and frozen in mid spin.  Even those it sits static, it still manages to encompass a sense of dynamism as if it could take off at any moment.   

I love the idea of using wind as an inspiration.  I don’t know if that was really the case and I think the designer instead could’ve been thinking about ribbons or pieces of fabric splitting apart or being woven together.  This would make sense given that this design is for a clothing designer.  But I still like the idea of wind as muse…imagining the different layers spiraling up through the levels, almost as if the layers are pealing off. 

When viewed from above in plan view, you can see that the levels don’t even fully align with each other so you can see the entire experience from the top down.  The shape twists and turns on itself as it also decreases in size.

Anytime there is a possibility for capturing rain water, especially in the pacific northwest where there’s lots of it, it is always beneficial.  Well…that is, unless you capture the water and then don’t convey it to somewhere for use or just filtering into some sort of system.  How about just dumping it on top of a light pole?  Check this out, these pictures were taken of a covered outdoor escalator at a mall in Oregon.  I first saw it when it was raining, which is why it caught my attention, so then I had to go back with my camera.  Unfortunately these pictures are taken on a sunny day.

Clark Little, a surfer gone photographer, takes pictures of waves from within using his waterproof camera. This is an angle so few have, or really want, to view with their own eyes.  The colors and shapes he catches are quite lovely and poetic for such potentially crashing destruction.  When I usually spend so much time thinking about the movement of water, it’s interesting to look at water is a still image.

I especially love the views of the sand mixing with the water, with the waves kicking up the bright golds and orange tones as they flow into the blues and greens of the water that becomes clear as it rushes over the grains.