Sculptural work that often impresses me the most are those that use everyday, average materials that are not inherently beautiful. A good example is plain old scotch tape which is not typically seen as a sculptural material on it’s own however the character of the tape being clear, reflective and moldable lends well to building interesting shapes.

This video of a temporary installion is stunning – the music, the way the sculpture goes together, the lighting and shadows. Well done. Like a web in a forgotten corner of the city.

Une Toile from Nemo Tral on Vimeo.

This next video is interesting because, unlike the pure beauty of the one above (although still beautiful, especially with the light), you get a better feel for how the sculpture is created in a more structural sense.

Toile-Expérience from Nemo Tral on Vimeo.

A trip to the ocean with another couple allowed us to score a really cool vacation beach house, obviously owned by some sort of designer that probably built many things themselves. There were a lot of great details throughout with great uses of wood and metal, like the ledge in front of the fireplace in the image below. A nautical theme ran throughout expressed through clean lines and interesting use of materials like the image above where metal cleats where attached to a wood strip for use as coat hooks. This detail was also in the bathrooms for towels.

The house actually sat along the edge of a lake just a block inland from the ocean and in an effort to reduce the disturbance along the lake edge, the house was raised up on metal beams, allowing the natural vegetation flow underneath with a simple gravel path to the staircase leading up to the entry deck.

A rain chain connects the roof to the ground with a stone splash block…

The deck leading to the canoe launch didn’t take out any trees…

The gravel driveway and the vegetated swale…

There were also some fun pieces of art and furniture. My favorites were the chair at the entry that was a simple piece of metal with a strip of tan leather through the top for a seat and especially the fabulous set of 3 paintings of frying eggs in the kitchen.

Tara Donovan, installation artist out of Brooklyn, New York, creates pieces made out of everyday ordinary objects like drinking straws, cups, fishing wire and paper. These simple objects when are then transformed into amazing textural and topographical works of art. The individual object then is almost no longer recognizable in it’s original form but has taken on a new life form. The installation in the image above feels like some sort of life form bubbling out of the ceiling, reflecting light in different ways throughout the form. But the piece is made simply with a sea of styrofoam cups and hot glue. A detail shot is below.

Below are images of an untitled piece from 2003 that uses paper plates held together by hot glue to form highly texture spheres the look almost soft and fuzzy from a distance.

“Haze” was made in 2005 from stacking an amazing amount of clear drinking straw to create a sensual wall that bubbles up in places that gives it an almost liquid look.

The following piece uses ripped up tarpaper that has been stacked into an undulating landform titled “Transplanted”. It was firt exhibited outdoors in the IBM Exhibition Space on 57th and Madison Ave. in New York City in the fall of 2003. Following it’s time in the outdoors, it was moved into the Ace Gallery indoor exhibition space.

images via Ace Gallery

After a lovely stroll through the south park blocks in downtown Portland in the late fall, I decided to wander over to the Hotel Madera to snap some pictures of the lovely courtyard designed by local landscape architecture firm Lango Hansen in conjunction with Holst Architecture on the upgrade of the old Days Inn to the new boutique Hotel Modera. The location of the new courtyard replaces what used to be a lifeless parking lot.

From the sidewalk, the trellis structure indicates the entrance point into the courtyard, doubling as a subtle welcome sign. The connection between the courtyard and the streetscape works well in that the courtyard feels like it’s own space and yet is still open and inviting enough not to feel uninviting to those passing by.

A wooden screen between courtyard space and sidewalk creates a feel of enclosure while allowing for the best urban activity of all, people watching. This is especially interesting given the public bus stop right outside.

Once inside, the wood decking leads up to the hotel entrance while a low wall lines the walkway to the left surrounding an outdoor dining area while the open area off to the right is an open, public space. Moveable seating mixed with permanent seating walls invite people to sit down and relax awhile. As the furniture would indicate, the seating walls could either be used for sitting or as a table.

The public space is madeup of a grid that overlays both the horizontal and the vertical space with hardscape, furnishings and planting which create patterns that move in and out of the grid. Patches of vegetation reach out from the vertical wall into the horizontal hardscape with sharp, angular edges that give it a clean, modern feel that meshes with the identity of the hotel. This design is the part that is so intriguing about this space, instead of creating a gridded living wall that simply because of product or budget limitations, this particular living wall not only fits perfectly within the design but enhances the idea of the fluid grid.

One might say that the vegitated wall looks too regimented unlike the walls of Patrick Blanc which run seamlessly without lines. But here, such a seamless style would not make sense and instead the vegetated tiles work perfectly. They even seem to float, almost giving off the sense that the viewer could move them about as they wished by simply pushing them around.

Metal edging details the planting areas, separating them from the precast paving tiles. Some plants are clipped and manicured to remain within the square and rectangular spaces while others, like the soft grasses, are allowed to flop outside the lines.

A rough rock slab and gravel pathway move through lush, vegetated squares that bring the viewer close to the living wall amongst the ferns and grasses. Here one can touch and look closely at the vegetated tiles that make up the wall.

I believe the vegetated wall panels are the Green Wall Panels by G-Sky. These are pretty cool products that make it easy for even the vegetated architecture novice to achieve good results. The designer can select a palette of plants that fits in with their design, G-Sky will then plant the tiles for them. Pretty simple and easy. Here it looks like they are planted with a mix of dirt inside of fabric pouches and moss has filled in some gaps around some of the smaller plants. Drip irrigation is then added behind the system and here it is allowed to drip freely out the bottom and drain into the nearby planter bed.

This plaza has successfully managed to blend the feel of the richly vegetated Pacific Northwest with the clean lines of modern architecture while bringing in a cool element of new technology within landscape architecture. While this space was rather empty in these pictures, I’m certain that it’s just because it had recently rained and it was bitterly cold out. I can only imagine that on a sunny day this space would be full. I’ll make sure to visit again to capture this space on one of those days.

images (c) Lisa Town

Designed by Kristine Jensen and winner of the 5th Rosa Barba European Landscape award, the Nicolai Kulturcenter in Kolding, Denmark is transformed from the alley-like outdoor space of the former educational center into an integrated and inviting cultural space for activities in music, cinema, literature and art.

The circular amphitheater, a signature piece in the space, is used for outdoor theater performances, cinema and concerts blends new materials with old, introducing a Cor-Ten steel wall surround.

To offset the rather industrial nature of asphalt, old buildings and steel, a bit of whimsy is introduced into the space through neon flowers decorating the side of one of the buildings and white thermoplastic detailing graphic patterns in the asphalt and surrounding trees. This detail helps to bring in an element of playfullness as this courtyard will be used for the multidiscplinary acts of play while at the same time instilling a subtle sense of order to the otherwise vast, open space.

From Bustler: “It consists of various elements that are connected to areas designated for outdoor activities: the entrance; a garden where children can play and relax on the grass; a terrace for patrons of the cinema cafés; a large circular stage used for outdoor cinema in summer and for theater performances and concerts; a shopping area; a small garden next to the music hall; and a multifunctional square. A Cor-Ten steel wall and a Cor-Ten steel stage/platform have been built along the two terraces situated on the west side. The playground’s sloping terrain is prevalent in the project, and a new blacktop has been installed, which delimits the area with thermoplastic patterns and street paint.”

images via Kristine Jensens Tegnestue

On my drive back from my vacation up in British Columbia, I got stuck at the US/Canada border near this “green wall” outside the duty free store. I couldn’t see it very well at first, it just looked like pine branches sticking up behind some other vegetation. Then when I got right up to it, I noticed that it was basically giant green pipecleaners woven through a chainlink gate that opened to the service area for the store.

images via Lisa Town

A New York-based architecture firm with an interesting name, Ginseng Chicken has designd a Fibonacci Spril-inspired building for the Liverpool’s National Wildflower Center. The concept for the building, which houses such activities as seed processing, plant production and education, is to create a form that would provide a seamless relationship with nature, mathematics and physics. The architects, via Arch Daily, describe it as providing “an operational hub for creative conservation, learning and innovation.”

“The spiral form is layered to divide the complex pragmatically. The lower spiral contains conference rooms, classrooms, and a community room; above, a pebbled floor provides the base for operational programs, such as the seed processing rooms, while a sustainable wildflower screen provides enclosure; the uppermost level offers a continuous circulation path along a PV paneled covered roof.”

“The wildflower screen is a self-standing sustainable skin that creates a greenhouse condition to develop an energy saving system. “The double-skinned screen enhances the building’s energy-saving performance through features such as seasonal daylight control by varying pot arrangement, water irrigation systems, and living machines,” stated the architects. The screen provides an aesthetic texture to the façade and allows users to stay connected with the exterior gardens, even while occupying the interior spaces.”

images via Arch Daily

Honestly I’m not that impressed by the looks of the wall screen. It seems a bit messy and is really just pots set in hoops. Kinda boring and not at all elegant. I also don’t understand how the plants are watered or how the system is self-sustaining. An irrigation system is mentioned and shows some sort of cascading gravity system in the section but I can’t figure out how it works in reality given the other pictures and the angles.

Also, here’s an interesting product I came across recently from Loop called Biowall that kind of resembles the wall structure that held planters for the National Wildflower Center, but on a smaller scale and with a more interwoven texture that would just allow for plants to climb on. It sort of looks like artistic chicken wire in a way.

Loop describes BioWall as: “springy fiberglass rods are bowed into rings and woven into several dodecahedra that in turn are joined together. The woven fibres create a balance between the rigidity of sheet material and the flexibility of a textile. The structure is based on the principle of self-similarity enabling it to work from the nano to the macro scale. It can be seen in our natural environment in the formation of bubbles, living cells and water molecules. With plants creeping and crawling around the structure, BioWall can become an indoor, living hedge that divides space.”

images via Loop

I’m not entirely sure what to think about this article from Popular Science. I could argue both sides. I mean, it’s good news in one sense but one of those things where if it were to take the place of the real version it terms of people “placing” trees around the city versus planting real ones, I would certainly have an issue with it. Especially the idea of a synthetic forest, yikes!

A little on the functionality from the Popular Science article “The ‘tree’ uses plastic leaves that capture the carbon dioxide in a chamber. The carbon dioxide is then compressed into liquid form. The tree captures the carbon without the need for direct sunlight, which means that, unlike traditional trees, the synthetic trees can be stored in enclosed places such as barns, used anywhere, and transported from one site to another regardless of conditions.”

And also this interesting little bit, “the captured CO2 could be used to create fuel for jet engines and cars, the two most common carbon emitters. In other cases, the CO2 could be used to enhance current production of vegetable produce.”

Synthetic trees could be interesting for the indoor environments where there is no sun or no windows. Perhaps instead of taking place of real trees, they could instead take the place of those horrific fake plastic trees…in fake plastic earth… (cue Radiohead).

As the second Wave Deck on the Toronto Harbourfront, the Simcoe Slip has officially opened for public enjoyment! I’m absolutely in love with West 8‘s super sexy form designed to emulate the natural form of waves that make up this amazing deck.

The last time I wote about this, it was still under construction. Of course, the first thing I thought when looking at the construction photos was that there’s no way it would be near as cool once they start sticking all those darn safety features on. But I was pleasantly surprised to see that the rails totally work and in fact, actually add to lovely curving form.

However, eventhough there are rails in the area of the steepest portion of the curves, the railing then dives behind the backless seating benches to allow people sit such that they can face inward towards the deck or outward towards the water for a direct engagement. Amazing! I saw several examples of waterfronts in Europe that had details like this one that I drooled over…knowing full well that we’d never get to build something like that here the US. Instead we would have benches set back and with rails between the people and the water.

images via pmccabin600

With the steep slopes of the curves, it would seem an obvious question as to whether people could actually walk up and down the deck safely. One flickr member took a picture of the detail and points out that the “seemingly impossible slope at the newly opened Simcoe Street wave deck [is] easy to walk up and surprisingly safe to walk down due to the tilted hardwood boards. The whole effect is gorgeous and unexpected.”

image via restorationcomedy

Adriaan Geuze, landscape architect and urban designer from West 8, said that the wave deck has no specific program. West 8 wanted the deck to inspire and enourage people to step off their normal path and engage themselves with the waterfront. But I bet that no matter how they thought people would use it, they didn’t expect kids to treat it like a slide! It’s always amazing to see how the public ends up using new spaces and what kind of unexpected events begin to form.

image via restorationcomedy

image via pmccabn600

images via somewhere in toronto

While scoping out the Bavarian Garden Show last year in Neu Ulm, Germany, I came across the concrete pavilion that was showcasing new stuff in concrete. The best was definitely the light transmitting concrete from Litracon that is not only cool for it’s slight see-through effect but it also looks pretty neat too. The otical fibers woven into the fine concrete are quite beautiful and I personally love the imperfections that come from being hand woven (see: expensive).

While this is extremely cool and beautiful, it is not at all transparent. There needs to be a pretty good light source and the object or person needs to be practically right up against the other side of the concrete blocks in order for their shadow to show through very well. But again, it’s still beautiful and makes for a sleek “window” effect. I liked how they had the blocks hanging with cables through an opening at the exhibit.

Weburbanist recently had a post on futuristic materials available now and this concrete was part of it. There are some other interesting materials in the mix like solar shingles.

image via weburbanist