The Quest for the Absolute – Lonely Superheroes














Posts Tagged ‘ Landscape ’
Santa Claus will be delivering gifts to children around the world this Christmas on a sleigh guided by reindeer but, in the meantime, one of his U.S. helpers is showing what would happen if jolly ol’ St. Nick went extreme. Ronnie Shalvis, a free-runner, stunt coordinator and parkour trainer from South Jordan, Utah, dressed up in a Santa suit and went to leaps and bounds, literally, to show how Santa Claus gets from roof to roof. Shalvis’ version of Santa travels by parkour, a running discipline that involves jumping, climbing and rolling anywhere and everywhere, making the landscape, in this case rooftops, a personal obstacle course.
Located at an altitude of 159 meters on the rocky island cliffs of Ibiza, Spain, the AIBS House has been designed by Atelier d’Architecture Bruno Erpicum & Partners to allow the inhabitants to fully appreciate the stunning sunsets and surrounding landscape. All the main living areas feature floor-to-ceiling single frame windows which look out upon the infinity pool and terrace, both of which mimic the cliffs and sea during calm weather and act as a direct contrast during stormy weather. Inside, the 400 sqm space has been sparsely and minimally decorated so as not to draw attention away from untouched countryside.
Atkins has won an international competition to design a five-star resort hotel set within a beautiful water-filled quarry in the Songjiang district close to Shanghai in China. Its stunning concept designs inspired by the natural water and landscape features of the quarry captured the imagination of judges to quash competition from two other international firms. The innovative design of 400-bed resort hotel stands two levels higher that the rock face of the 100 meter deep quarry and includes underwater public areas and guestrooms. It will incorporate conference facilities for up to 1,000 people, a banqueting centre, restaurants, cafes and sports facilities. Sustainability is integral to the design ranging from using green roofing for the structures above the ground level to geothermal energy extraction. An aquatic theme runs through the design both visually and functionality. Two underwater levels will house a restaurant and guestrooms facing a ten-meter deep aquarium. The lowest level of the hotel will contain a leisure complex with a swimming pool and water-based sports. An extreme sports centers for activities such as rock climbing and bungee jumping will be cantilevered over the quarry and accessed by special lifts from the water level of the hotel.
Skateboarding expert and photographer Fabiano Rodrigues takes some really interesting self-portraits as he flips and grinds his way through São Paulo on his board. Unlike other action photography self-portraits, though, Rodrigues shares the spotlight with his surrounding setting. The landscape and architecture is as much the subject as he is, if not more so. His anonymous figure is an accessory to the towering structures that cut across the image and fill the frame. With his captivating artistic vision, it’s hard to believe that photography came to Rodrigues as a secondary passion. The Brazilian multi-talented artist first gained interest in photography while skateboarding professionally and posing for other photographers. Eventually his fascination with the medium grew, causing him to take a camera in his own hands and experiment with self-portraits using a Hasselblad camera and remote control. What he’s managed to accomplish since 2010 is a brilliant portfolio full of dramatically monochromatic shots of himself gliding in, around, and across the magnificent architecture of his city.
When completed in early 2014, the Ritz-Carlton Residences in Bangkok will stand at over 1,000 ft tall, becoming Thailand’s tallest and most expensive building. Located near the Chongnonsi BTS station between Silom and Sathorn Roads, the building will include 200 residences as well as an outdoor landscaped public plaza, upscale retail center, 24-hour marketplace and a boutique hotel with 150 rooms and a multi-level roof-top bar and restaurant.
This is the hillside OLS House by J. Mayer H. Architects. With a composition of filleted corners and sweeping curves it is intended to maximize landscape views in an otherwise suburban area. A deep, recessed balcony characterizes the sinuous concrete form and protects the home from solar heat gain thereby continuing an environmentally friendly building system that includes weathered zinc and solar panels. Intended to house a family of four the building’s elevated ground floor is buried into the hillside. The open plan first level contains the gathering spaces: living, dining and kitchen areas are enveloped by floor to ceiling glazing, allowing natural light to bounce off the curved walls. The full-height windows provide unobstructed views of the valley and garden. Upstairs bedrooms and bathrooms are connected to the lower storeys by a large central staircase, its steps surrounded by folded, curved planes. Slats and anti-glare sheeting combine with industrial materials like screed to create an environmentally conscious architecture that at once invites the landscape to its abstracted interior.
Brazilian architectural practice Danilo Matoso Macedo have completed the JPGN project. Completed in 2012, the contemporary property belongs to a young couple in Brasília, Brazil. This contemporary Brazilian property looks onto Lake Paranoá, with the monumental area of the city on the opposite bank. According to the architect: “The contemporary house was almost fully elevated on stilts at the edge of the height permitted by law, allowing the desired view over the roofs of the neighbours. The property belongs to a young couple without children, the basic programme (room, office, bedroom, kitchen and service area) was distributed only at the top level, facilitating rapid paths everyday, more frequent when children are small. The indoors were arranged to prioritise the vision of the landscape, now converted into a central motif of the project – reverence complemented by a ‘panoramic deck’ provisions freely on the cover slab.
In order to avoid the ceiling topping due to elevation of the main block, the ground floor was treated with staggered landfills. The garage is an intermediate level, along with a service equipped with hoists and installing temporary employee in order to hide the vehicles for users from the balcony above. A small two-bedroom flat was designed for future occupation of stilts, second family life, in which the children would demand more independence – Early prediction of execution by the client in the first moment of the work, providing functional autonomy to the area leisure and allowing its use for any guest. It opens directly to the view the room, the office, and the double bedroom – mediated by a balcony – and indirectly the kitchen connected to the dining room for large sliding panels. The integration between these two environments is enhanced by continuous bench, topped by a set of adjoining cabinets and windows that open yet frontal view of the street.
These beautiful art photos of Italy. Teacher from Treviso, known as Giuseppe Desideri will show you his native land by a very unusual angle. Mysteriously, sometimes looks like they are in the middle ages.
A-cero specifically designed this luxury property to fit in within it`s surrounding environment, and to make full use of the exceptional weather that Spain is renowned for. They used large windows throughout, which allowed the main lounge area to be an open space leading to the landscape garden and swimming pool beyond. The property structure is based on two rectangular volumes, and within these feature clean finishes, high-quality materials and exclusive furniture and fittings which all combine to result in an exceptional living space.