American Girl in Italy by Ruth Orkin (1951)

The most beautiful photograph... A beautiful woman and the male gaze... Read an American Girl in Italy's  backstory here.

Sensory Sky by Sieger Design

This movie by German art director Mike Meiré for bathroom and kitchen brand Dornbracht features one shower that makes you feel like you're washing outdoors and another that you use lying down. Created by Sieger Design for Dornbracht, Sensory Sky has a wide and flat shower head with separate sprinklers for head and body and a "rain curtain" that creates a solid wall of water, as seen in the movie by Cologne-based art director Mike Meiré. There's also a nozzle that uses cold water to create a foggy mist. Watch the video here. 

How to Find Your Purpose and do what You Love

“Find something more important than you are, and dedicate your life to it.” 

Philosopher Dan Dennett once said, But how, exactly, do we find that? Precisely how you arrive at your true calling is an intricate and highly individual dance of discovery. Still, there are certain factors — certain choices — that make it easier. Gathered here are insights from seven thinkers who have contemplated the art-science of making your life’s calling a living.

The Strangers Project

"Everyone has a story - What's yours?" 

In the same vein as Humans of New York, The Strangers Project is a site dedicated to sharing the stories of everyday strangers. The sit offers a series of anonymous journal entries collected from complete strangers. Read their stories here. 

What is Love? Words of Wisdom from 200 Years of Literary History

C. S. Lewis, who was a very wise man, in The Four Loves:
"There is no safe investment. To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket — safe, dark, motionless, airless – it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation. The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell."

Katharine Hepburn in Me : Stories of My Life:
"Love has nothing to do with what you are expecting to get — only with what you are expecting to give — which is everything."

Philosopher and mathematician Bertrand Russell, he of great wisdom, in The Conquest of Happiness:

"Of all forms of caution, caution in love is perhaps the most fatal to true happiness."

Honoré de Balzac, who knew a thing or two about all-consuming love, in Physiologie Du Mariage:

"The more one judges, the less one loves."

Extreme Photography by Wanted Mustang

A combo of my two favourite activities: extremem sports and photography. Ukrainian Wanted Mustang, photographs himself in very compromising places, striking a pose whilst being suspended in air for example. The following shots are from his series "Extreme Photography".

More Vice Docos on Documentary Photography: Saudi Arabian Women Unveiled & Documenting Asia's Illegal Animal Trade

"Photography has been the Best Visa."

Documenting Asia's Illegal Animal Trade - Still usiing analog, I can respect that. Venturing ino the wild to bring to the fore the stories that are worth telling. I can respect that. 

Also check out War Photographer below for more on analog development process, start the video at 8.32min - old school photoshop at its best. 

Saudi Arabian Women Unveiled - a really really cool photography concept which incorporates art, humanitarianism, photography and technology.

The Most Detailed Picture of the Internet Ever

Why would you need a map of the Internet? The Internet is not like the Grand Canyon. It is not a destination in a voyage that requires so many right turns and so many left turns. The Internet, as the name suggests and many of you already know, is nothing but the sum of decentralized connections between various interconnected computers that are speaking roughly the same language. To map out those connections and visualize the place where I spend so much of my time may not have any clear use, but it intrigues the pants off me. Read there full article here. 

Spa House by Metropolis Design

Architect: Metropolis Design

Location: Hout Bay, Cape Town, South Africa

Project Team: Jon Jacobson, Jenny Bath, Shani Schabort

Client: Cape Dream Stay

Project Year: 2011

Set on the mountainside on the urban edge of Hout Bay, overlooking the bay and harbour, surrounded by weathered sandstone formative. The primary design intention was to integrate the building with the powerful landscape and to derive its poetics from the qualities of its surroundings. The Spa House is separated from the principal residence by a berm, and is connected to it by foot paths. The brief called for a place of entertainment and relaxation both for the client and his occasional guests, who would also be accommodated there. It incorporates swimming pools, guest accommodation, spa facilities and general living and poolside areas. The house is conceived of as a hovering set of elements, suspended over a large waterscape, which forms an extended terrace on the mountainside. Water constitutes the primary experience of the building. The floor planes are arranged to provide contrasting experiences of water, and the underwater spa with large viewing windows into the pool has a sense of stillness and mystery. The guest accommodation block hovers dramatically over the water and projects into space towards the mountain and sea. The dining area is submerged below water level, and pool decks are arranged as islands in a sea of water, connected by a bridge. The building masses are arranged in a dynamic composition, across and counter to the contours of the landscape. The building acts as a windbreak, protecting the pool from the south-easterly winds raking down the mountainside in summer. The ground floor opens up entirely to the landscape and the interior and exterior finishes are continuous, to minimise the distinction between inside and outside and enhance the experience of the building as a light platform in a vast landscape. Formally, the building comprises a number of separate sculptural forms in a dynamic composition. The base of the building, incorporating pools, relaxation rooms and guest accommodation is entirely of concrete. The superstructure is of steel construction, which is clad in afromosia shiplap boards on timber studwork.

Cairns Botanic Gardens by Charles Wright Architects

This mirror-clad visitor centre by Australian firm Charles Wright Architects was designed to be invisible amongst the surrounding trees of the Cairns Botanic Gardens in Queensland. Comprising two buildings and a dividing promenade, the visitor centre was designed as a gateway to the gardens, which contain a selection of tropical plants from northern Australian rainforests as well as from across Southeast Asia. Charles Wright Architects drew inspiration from the suit worn by the alien-hunter in the 1987 movie Predator to give both buildings a reflective outer coating that would play down their impact on the park landscape. "We proposed a design which literally reflects the gardens as camouflage for the building," explain the architects. Rather than cover the surfaces with a single polished plane of metal, the architects added a series of flat panels that break the facade down into facets. Each one sits at an incrementally different angle and helps to muddle the reflected images.Charles Wright Architects have offices in Melbourne and Shanghai. 

Here's a project description from Charles Wright Architects:

Conceptual framework

We set-out to design a "green" building which represents a paradigm shift for Cairns, moving away from the conventional building vernaculars toward new and progressive solutions that can be applied anywhere on a tropical latitude. There was a collective desire to attract both national and international attention, which would also aid in creating new opportunities and connections to existing facilities, communities and groups.

Public and cultural benefits

A new, iconic gateway into the botanic gardens and tanks arts centre precinct – "a democratic public space under-cover" – a challenging new architecture for the tropics which will act as an attractor to assist Cairns in its mission to be seen as a progressive city nationally and globally significant.

Relationship of built form to context

Council called for the building to be long, low and blending seamlessly with the surrounding environment (ideally invisible). We proposed a design which literally reflects the gardens as camouflage for the building with visual effect similar to the suit as worn by the alien hunter in the original 1987 Predator film. We sited the new building to straddle and activate the pedestrian promenade linking the gardens with the Arts Centre, acting as an open and flexible conduit into the interpretive and performative spaces.

Integration of allied disciplines

The project team had a collective desire to develop a world-class ESD, flexible office and mixed use public facility which wasn’t reliant on complex technological solutions or costly maintenance. We collaborated closely with council's public artist to incorporate art glass within the glazed promenade facades.

Sustainability

ESD initiatives include solar panels for feedback into the energy grid, stormwater harvesting tanks, mixed mode air-conditioning systems, low energy light fittings throughout, low water usage fittings, long life cycle efficiency materials and construction, solar treatment to all windows, naturally ventilated circulation corridors and shaded exposed thermal mass internally.

The Neighborhood - Sweater Weather

Giuseppe Tornatore's Malena (2000)

My endless fascination with Italy has only been fuelled by a film I watched a while back. A coming of age story where the protagonist, a pubescent boy named Vito develops an unhealthy crush on the towns beautiful widow, Malena. Through his obsession, he discovers himself, his sexuality, and the cruelties of his own culture. The director, Giuseppe Tornatore is famed for Cinema Paradiso (1988), another coming-of-age tale set in rural 1940s Italy. However, I never felt that the tale was quite as heart felt as this one. Not to mention, Monica Belluci is absolutely revitting as the captivating and enigmatic Malena. And as far as  WWII movies go, this hits the top of my list. Beautiful women are always going to be tormented. Their worth and value as a woman living in a misogynistic patriarchal society which views women as sexual objects and encourages women to think of themselves as such. and therefore  this other women the green light to treat other women in such a way as well. this is no different in several countries, not least in the progressive ones. We are still very critical of women, not just attractive ones, but smart ones as well. When will the paradigm shift in our global mentalities towards women? Or will we allow these stereotypes to proliferate? 

Malena Trailer

Django Django - WOR

Mercury prize nominees Django Django have released the video to their track WOR inconjunction to music channel Noisey, which brought them to Allahabad, India where they documented and created a short film out of the infamous Indian Well Death riders. Speaking about the video, Noisey said: "We happily obliged, getting our shoes stolen in the process, but it was worth it to meet a bunch of guys with the most rock solid testicles we've ever come across." Check it out above.

Winter Illuminations at Nabano na Sato

An LED display at Winter Illuminations at Nabano no Sato in Nagashima in Japan has just opened is on display till 31st March 2013. The showis credit as being one of the best shows in the country and uses millions of sparkling LED lights, including on water to create the theme of "nature".

3D Printed Guns Documentary Trailer

What are the implications for gun culture in America? What power does this technology hold and where will it take us? What kind of world will this manufacture n our future? Home made guns made by children makes violence more tangibly accessible to those unfit to possess a weapon, the laundry list of implications is endless.

Vice HBO Series 1 Trailer

CAN.NOT.WAIT. Damn you to HBO for not being available in NZ.

Seeing Double: What China's Copycat Culture Means for Architecture

An alpine town, the Eiffel Tower, the whole Manhattan skyline … China is replicating the world's architectural gems. But now Zaha Hadid would like it to stop. Read the rest of the article by Oliver Wainwright here. 

 Now a barbecue restaurant ... Ronchamp in Zhengzhou, 2004.

Le Corbusier's Chapelle de Notre Dame du Haut, Ronchamp, France. 

Printing 3D Buildings: Five Tenets of a New Kind of Architecture

As a designer, architect, artist and founder of the Mediated Matter group at MIT’s Media Lab, Neri Oxman has dedicated her career to exploring how digital design and fabrication technologies can mediate between matter and environment to radically transform the way we design and construct our built world. In this article, which was first published by CNN, Oxman discusses the future of 3D printing buildings with five tenets of a new kind of architecture. 

"In the future we will print 3D bone tissue, grow living breathing chairs and construct buildings by hatching swarms of tiny robots. The future is closer than we think; in fact, versions of it are already present in our midst.

At the core of these visions lies the desire to potentiate our bodies and the things around us with an intelligence that will deepen the relationship between the objects we use and which we inhabit, and our environment: a Material Ecology.

A new model of the world has emerged over the past few decades: the World-as- Organism. This new model inspires a desire to instill intelligence into objects, buildings and cities. It is a model that stands in contrast to the paradigm of the Industrial Revolution, or the World-as-Machine."

Read the rest of Neri Oxman's article here. 

Eileen Gray's E-1027

Eileen Gray was born into a wealthy aristocratic family in Enniscorthy, Ireland in 1878. After studying art in London, Gray moved to Paris in 1902 to further her studies. Using her experience in interior design, she designed E-1027 – a holiday home in the south of France. E.1027 was built by Gray between 1926 and 1929 as a summer vacation residence for Badovici. The name of the house was a code for their intertwined initials: E for Eileen, 10 for J, the10th letter of the alphabet, and, following this logic, 2 for B, and 7 for G. Though the house was in one sense a collaborative effort, in reality Gray was entirely responsible for its design and for overseeing its construction. Badovici mainly assisted in technical matters when needed. Gray built the house on an isolated stretch of the French Riviera, on the western side of Cap Martin overlooking the Bay of Monaco. She chose this sight for the beauty of its view and built the house directly into the terrain. Wishing to build a house that interacted with the natural elements surrounding it, she carefully studied the wind and the angles of the sun at different times of the day and year and in this way was able to build a structure with a constant, evolving relationship with the sun, the wind, and the sea. Gray designed the house so that inside and outside flowed together. Not only does every room give out onto a balcony, but the shutters, screens, and windows are all movable, allowing the inhabitant to harmoniously engage with the sea and the hills surrounding the villa. The house was designed as a “maison minimum” – simple and efficient, with areas of built-in furniture and no wasted space. The main level of the house consists of a large open living room, a study/bedroom, a kitchen, and a bath. The lower level consists of a large covered sitting area, a guest bedroom, maid’s quarters, and a WC. On the roof she built a garden which included an outdoor kitchen connected to the interior kitchen, and a small area for sunbathing. While E.1027 was a modern movement house and employed many of the key tenets of the movement’s chief architect, Le Corbusier, Gray took issue with Le Corbusier who famously felt that “the house is a machine to live in.” Rather, she described the house as a living organism, an extension of the human experience, stating that “it is not a matter of simply constructing beautiful ensembles of lines, but above all, dwellings for people.” “Formulas are nothing,” she insisted, “Life is everything.” Gray created a villa with an open and flexible design which allowed the user to experience the space of living as an organic whole comprising the self, the house, and the outside environment. At the same time her designs allowed the user to maintain a feeling of intimacy and privacy, both of which she herself valued enormously. With E.1027 Gray made a singular and fundamental contribution towards modern architecture.

When you start researching the house,  you begin to suspect that Corbusier had something to do with Gray’s obscurity, and in fact many believe this. It’s hard to determine what role Corbusier played in this, but it’s clear that he was extremely fascinated by E-1027. It’s known that Gray was infuriated by Corbusier’s alterations of the villa, especially the murals he painted on it while she was away and which she felt had vandalized it. She never returned to the house after that, and even in her nineties it was said she was still fuming about it. Eileen Gray was born into a wealthy aristocratic family in Enniscorthy, Ireland in 1878. After studying art in London, Gray moved to Paris in 1902 to further her studies.

My Architect

A beautiful reflection of a life, through the lens of a son is endearing and the intercepting old-people moments are priceless and adorable. Kahn's buildings herald monumentality in the twentieth century landscape of architecture, with several touting him as the most important architect of the latter part of the 20th century. 

Kahn was uncompromising in his work ethic vowing to achieve clarity and truth in his design, but his personal life was wrought with chaos and a life filled with secrets. He died penniless in the mens room of Penn Station in New York, leaving only three families and three children from three seperate women to his name. His youngest son, an illigitimte child Nathaniel embarks on a journey to discover his fathers buildings as well as the man behind them, through is friends, his encounters and his collegues. In the end, it is made clear that it wasn't only his buildings that touched all those who encounter them and will conitue to, but his person, was the greatest design of all. Nathaniel's journey leads him to Philly (Louis' hometown), New Jersey, New York, California, Jerulesum and Bangladesh, where he would eventally finish his joureny. His encounters include the likes of Kahn's former lovers, legitmate and illigitamte children alike, and other cameos peppered throughout the film from the likes of Frank Gehry, I.M Pei and the late Philip Johnson, in what I must say, is an untimely encounter. A jewish immigrant from Estonia, whose face and hands were permanently scared from an accident early on in life. You learn about the price of genius and how that effects the people that ar around everyday My Architect (2004) slowly peels back the layers of this mysterious life from an enigma of a man. An enigma so puzzling even his own son finds it perplexing to piece it all together. 

It is a poetic portryal of a great men with iconic buildings, but most of all its a son's journey to discover who his father really was, in what was essentially the messiest legacy any son could have potentially inherited and uncovering home truths that haunt both parents and children alike. In a documentary with the emotional impact of a dramatic feature film (including an original orchestral score), Nathaniel’s personal journey becomes a universal investigation of identity, a celebration of art and ultimately, of life itself.

Musings by Paulo Coelho

"Life has many ways of testing a person's will, either by having nothing happen at all or by having everything happen all at once." - Paulo Coelho

The Ecozoic City

"The writer Thomas Berry described the ecozoic as the “reintegration of human endeavours into a larger ecological consciousness”. The ecozoic, Berry believed, would supplant the Anthropocene age, that we live in now, in which human needs take precedence over the health of the earth’s forests, oceans, and other living systems. Our species will only begin to make true progress, Berry believed, when we learn to cherish the vitality of all life-forms equally — not just our own."

As cities morph according to our needs, we need to question the role of nature and the biological requirements of our new urban structure. The anthropocentrism of cities as they are now inevitably detriment the health of the ecosystems was they once were and never will be again. This causes implications for the way a city is plan too, intercepting islands of green are in fact isolated patches where ecosystems form but don't migrate. There must be a push towards the ecosystem of the city rather than within it instead of nature having to competing. 

Check out the article, by John Thackara here. 

Cam'Ron - Oh Boy

Humans of New York

“I’m attracted to the extreme light and the extreme dark. I’m interested in the human condition and what makes people tick. I’m interested in the things people try to hide.” - Johnny Depp  

Humans of New York is one of the best tumblrs I've stumbled across in a long time. the concept is simple, photographer Brandon Stanton documents the minor accidental encounters that fill ones day,  all of which essentially effect ones perception of a city. "For the past year and two months or so I've been walking all over New York. I've been to almost every single neighborhood. And I've just been stopping strangers on the street and asking them for their photograph," said Stanton. "What I've done is I've plotted them on a map here. And I've organized them by neighborhood. So what you can do is click on a neighborhood and scroll through the faces of the people that live in those neighborhoods," said Stanton. Stanton calls "Humans of New York" a slice of New York City life. He says he loves the art form because you never know who you'll meet or what you'll get, like a break dancer with his son or ballet students. "There's a ton of kids on here. And whenever I see an old couple in love I always stop and ask them for their photograph. Part of that is me knowing what people on my Facebook group like also. We love kids and we love old people in love," said Stanton. Humans of New York is part social documentary, part art project. It offers a dialogue on the existentialism of life, enjoyed through the light-hearted snippets from Brandon's lens. Humans of New York represents everything I love about New York: travel photography and small scale community involvement - this is exactly what the world needs - love, understanding, connecting and documenting. C'est Parfait. I've actually been subscribed to this Tumblr for quite a while, its my little slice of heaven online but I had an overwhelming need to share it here. "I'm always very sensitive as to whether or not I'm getting Jaded." Brandon says, and his introspective outlook and his child like enthusiasm make the blog even more endearing. It seems to me, that by examining other cultural phenomenons like Girls, or the Sartorialist,  people are creating a candid dialogue about what they're going through, documenting and finding solace in the fact that several other people also find solace in the same thing create hime truths. In a way, this made me realize that photography creates an intimacy that cannot be replicated in any other art form, it creates a bond between the photographer and the subject - it's raw, gritty and honest  and presents a fully rendered human being oddly enough... I think that this blog teaches us that we can learn from others, and what we can do about connecting with each other on a small scale makes us realize the fragility of our own existences, which is an important reminder in this fast paced world.

Brandon's Story in his own words...

"Hey there.  I’m Brandon.  I get really passionate about things.  At some time in my life, I’ve been obsessed or borderline-obsessed with saltwater aquariums, the baritone euphonium, reading, piano, filming, financial markets, New York City, and photography.  I studied History at the University of Georgia.  During my senior year of college, I took out $3,000 in student loans and bet it on Barack Obama to win the presidency.  A friend heard about this bet and got me a job trading bonds on the Chicago Board of Trade.  I traded for three years.  It went really well for awhile.  But then it went really bad. Whoops. After I lost my trading job, I decided to move to New York City and take portraits of strangers on the street. Mom wasn’t too happy about that decision, but so far it’s gone pretty well. I’ve taken nearly 5,000 portraits and written 50 stories. And I’ve met some amazing people along the way."

"It's important not to rush through life so much that you don't find time to do the things you really should be doing."

"What things do you wish you'd made more time to do?"

"I wish I'd learned to drive a racecar. Learned to cook. Followed up with a certain young lady. I wish I'd read more. I've got this stack of books I'm going through now, but I should have read them 50 years ago. I'm even reading Harry Potter!"

"Do you mind if I take your photo?"

"..."

"I run a website called...."

"Don't give me that shit line. Just take the picture."

“This is a character.”

“Oh, so this isn’t you?”

“It’s not me. But there’s a lot of me in here.”

“I’m in the middle of a spiritual process. I can’t wear color for another six months.”

“I work at the UN. I study happiness, actually.”

“So what’s happiness then?”

“Well it’s very strongly related to income, but only to a certain amount. After about $20,000 a year, it becomes much more dependent on the amount of time we spend with family and friends. This is something we seem to intuitively know at the beginning and end of our lives— but lose sight of in the middle.” 

“I never had any family growing up. But I still went to school everyday. One day, when I was in eleventh grade, my English teacher came up to me and said: “If you graduate, I’ll adopt you. I’ll show you the life. You’ll do things you never dreamed of.” And he kept his promise. He made it legal and everything. On the day I graduated, he was the only family I had there. My father’s taken me everywhere since then. I’ve done all kinds of things.”

Seen in Times Square.

Seen on the Williamsburg Bridge.

“When my husband was dying, I said: ‘Moe, how am I supposed to live without you?’ He told me: ‘Take the love you have for me and spread it around.’”

Seen on the Subway

“Living in New York is a struggle, because you’re always trying to make $5 last for three days. But in a way it’s romantic, because The City always gives you little ways to make it.”

This man walked onto the subway and announced in a loud voice that “Everyone is now on the Love Train!” He then started blasting gospel music, volume 10. Ironically, some people opposite-of-loved it.

Meanwhile in Iran...

“How is business?”

“As God wants it to be.” 

(Tehran, Iran)

This man offered me a cup of tea after I took his photo. It seemed like a good idea to accept his offer. He was super friendly, but it quickly became apparent that the extent of his English consisted of the phrase: “Do you want some tea?” Unable to communicate, we spent an awkward five minutes staring at our shoes and avoiding eye contact, while I burned the shit out of my tongue trying to finish the tea as fast as possible.

I saw these men from the window of a taxi. I asked the driver to pull over, so I could walk back and take their photo. Instead he INSISTED on backing up against a heavy stream of traffic. It was 100 yards of sheer terror. “No, please,” I said. “This is perfect.” Not a problem at all, he insisted.

So much of Iran’s history, as well as world history, is encapsulated in this image. These are the 200 year old etchings of British servicemen, carved into the 2500 year old walls of Persepolis— the markings of a modern empire on the ruins of an ancient one. The drive to empire is not a disease of individual nations, but a disease of humanity.

Behind the Portraits

A City of Faces

An American Photogrpaher in Iran

Check out Humans of New York here.