July 23, 2013

Dreams of a Future Moon

Screen shot 2013-07-23 at 9.14.01 AM
The above is an artist's conception (1969) of how, according to National Geographic, "man may one day colonize his newest frontier." Wouldn't it have been nice?! Answer: yes.

Dreams of Space, one of my favorite blogs, just published the above illustration and the School Bulliten that goes along with it. Total eye candy. 

 

July 23, 2013 | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

July 07, 2012

Volcano House

Cool house

Volcano House for sale in Newberry Springs, California... it could be yours!

Cool house2

July 7, 2012 | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

February 15, 2010

Lord of the Frogs

Screen shot 2010-02-15 at 4.49.57 PM

Well over a year ago, I had a staring contest with this self-satisfied frog (click to enlarge). It resides (or resided?) at the Paris zoo: the Ménagerie du Jardin des Plante. Founded in 1794, the Ménagerie is the first and oldest civil zoological garden in the world. The zoo has an antique quality –– surreal –– like stepping back into time. Whilst spending a day observing the various birds and se Parisian zoological beasts, one may begin to get the impression that the zoo has become frozen in time since its opening. Not true! As the Ménagerie website points out...

Other buildings, enclosures and improvements were added over the years: notably the bear den in 1805, the first big cats enclosure (since demolished) in 1821, the semi-circular pheasantry in 1827, the reptiles gallery in 1870, a wintering building in 1905, an ape house, transformed into a nursery in 1928, etc.

Pariszoo Group of artists at Jardin des Plantes, from the magazine "L'Illustration", 7 August 1902.

February 15, 2010 | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

January 20, 2010

Real Fake Worlds


About two weeks ago, Josiah, a friend, sent me the the link to this short film. I started watching and couldn't stop until it was over. Not just because it's so beautifully composed and edited, but also because every object in the film was modeled using 3dsmax and rendered using Vray by only one person... Alex Roman.

If you watch even a portion of it, it's worth link to vimeo to see it full screen so you won't miss a detail.

January 20, 2010 | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack

September 09, 2009

Underwater Churches

Uwc04

Click on photos to link or enlarge.

Uwc03 Uwc05 Uwc06 Uwc08 Uwc07

Uwc09 

September 9, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBack

September 01, 2009

This is Not a Room

Notroom

Engel, 2002
by Tatzu Nishi

Notroom2 

Notroom3
I recommend taking a look at more of Nishi's weirdly displaced rooms... they're all equally fascinating.

September 1, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack

May 13, 2009

A City in a Day

More procedurally generated cities. When will it end?

• earlier: City Engine

Thanks, Rangachari

May 13, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 11, 2009

High Tea

Takasugi1 Chino City, Nagano Prefecture

A traditional Japanese teahouse by architect Terunobu Fujimori, which he calls, "the ultimate personal architecture." He says it feels like an extension of one's body, or "like a piece of clothing."

Somehow it reminds me of it Howl's Castle.

link (thanks Guy!)

Takasugi2

May 11, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack

May 10, 2009

Cabin-Kitsch Headstone

Headstone  

Flickr photo by sandrift.

May 10, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

March 28, 2009

Cactus Dome

Runit

Intrigued? Just stare at this photo a bit and try to imagine what it might possibly be. I'm thinking... the secret lair of Jame Bond's nemesis? Better yet... evidence of a crashed spaceship!... (because it looks a lot like the top part of the U.S.S. Enterprise to me).

Enterprise  

Turns out, we're not so lucky. Brookings reveals the bitter truth...

Beneath this concrete dome on Runit Island, part of Enewetak Atoll, built between 1977 and 1980 at a cost of about $239 million, lie 111,000 cubic yards or radioactive soil and debris from Bikini and Rongelap atolls. The dome covers the 30-foot deep, 350-foot wide crater created by the May 5, 1958, Cactus test.


Runit03
click to enlarge panoramically

via pruned

March 28, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (11) | TrackBack