Posts Tagged ‘ London ’
DOS Architects have transformed the top two floors of Westbourne Grove Church into a contemporary loft apartment. Located in Notting Hill, London, England, the Victorian church was originally built in 1853. Traditional architectural elements such as arched windows have been preserved. The open plan of this 400 square meter (4,305 sq. ft.) modern loft with double height allows transparency. A glass staircase connects the two floors.
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Clouds are natural canvases and in certain conditions, they can look very picturesque. French artist and photographer Charles Pétillion drew inspiration from the visually limitless variations of cloud formations to create a cumulus cloud using over 10,000 illuminated white balloons. The installation, titled, “Heartbeat”, is featured inside London’s Covent Garden and stretches the length of its entire South Hall.
Describing the project, Pétillion says, “With Heartbeat I wanted to represent the Market Building as the beating heart of this area — connecting its past with the present day to allow visitors to re-examine its role at the heart of London’s life.” Check out some more photos below.
On Friday, John Boyega met Star Wars super fan, 5-year-old Daniel Bell. The youngster has been diagnosed with a brain tumour and his wish was to meet Finn. That became a reality when the two spent the afternoon hanging out and passing around toys to other sick children in a London hospital. “When I heard about Daniel’s wish to meet Finn, I jumped at the chance to make it come true,” the actor says. “It was fantastic to be a part of his very special wish with Rays of Sunshine. It was also great to meet the children at The Royal London Hospital and be a part of something so positive.”
Daniel’s mother meanwhile released a statement via Facebook in which she praised the actor for making her son’s wish come true. “Thank you so so much ‘Rays of Sunshine’ and John Boyega for granting Daniel’s wish to meet Finn and take toys to the hospital. It was just amazing, I have no words! Daniel is still totally overwhelmed, I have never seen him so happy.” Boyega has frequently shown himself to be a real class act and nice guy, and this is yet another example of that.
This little stormtrooper Daniel had a wonderful wish after seeing the force awakens. Daniel currently lives with a brain tumour and rather than having Finn to himself he wanted Finn to meet the kids at the Royal London hospital and give them some toys. I stayed in character while I was with this brave boy asking him what a car was. He taught Finn about everything earth related! Really thankful for the opportunity this child granted me and I’m just humbled! I hope I played a little part in making you smile young stormtrooper.
Mayor of London, Boris Johnson revealed the design and brand experience consultancy priestmangoode’s new vision for the underground tube. Working with transport for London (TFL), the next generation of deep level trains will operate from 2022 at newly modified piccadilly, Bakerloo, central and Waterloo & city line stations for more than 40 years. The 250 built will be capable of fully automatic operation but will have a driver on board when first introduced. The designs reflects the contemporary culture and architectural landmarks of the city, whilst staying true to the british transport’s style heritage. The stations platforms feature a step-free walk-through system that increases commuters’ safety by opening seamlessly with the train’s doors. The carriages include wider entrances to facilitate quicker turnaround times and also an increased capacity. Inside, the cars have an updated air-cooler to provide a more fresh traveling experience and has digital screens to display live news feeds from the TFL. The interior uses natural finishes and materials to ensure a comfortable commute, and includes a color palette of charcoal, warm grey and oxblood that represents the underground DNA.
New technologies mean the design process is becoming akin to “creating a Hollywood film,” says designer Francis Bitonti, who created a seamless 3D-printed dress for burlesque dancer Dita von Teese. Speaking about the development of the dress at the Wearable Futures conference in London, Bitonti says that developments in computer-based design and 3D printing mean that designers are no longer limited by their knowledge of materials. “The separation between what you can simulate and what you can physically model is gone”, claims Bitonti, founder of New York luxury fashion studio Francis Bitonti Studio.
Dylan Don is a fashion & lifestyle photographer re-inventing the porno chic style. On his tumblr he narrates the daily life and meetings of a photographer working & living between London & Los Angeles. Here’s a selection of his work.
Slinkachu is as a London-based artist who creates very small street-based installations and then photographs them. He modifies tiny human figurines from model train sets and places them in real urban situations, capturing them sight-seeing, camping, grocery shopping, fighting and dying. Slinkachu creates tiny scenarios that, seen from afar, are almost unrecognizable, but when viewed up-close unveil an almost-hidden alternate reality.
London architect Zaha Hadid has designed a family of superyachts for German shipbuilders Blohm+Voss. Zaha created a concept for a 128-metre yacht, which informed the design of five smaller vessels engineered by Blohm+Voss. The upper structure of the design is formed from sinuous shapes connecting the different decks. This conceptual language has been pared down and applied to a series of 90-metre-long Unique Circle Yachts, refined so the vessels meet the technical specifications for ocean crossings. “As a dynamic object that moves in dynamic environments, the design of a yacht must incorporate additional parameters beyond those for architecture – which all become much more extreme on water,” said Hadid. “Each yacht is an engineered platform that integrates specific hydrodynamic and structural demands together with the highest levels of comfort, spatial quality and safety.”
Good urban architectural design takes space and aesthetic into account, allowing them to work in unison, much like this efficient London apartment in Camden. While some compact residences use a modular design to create the visual effect of more space, this particular English home opts to design vertically by featuring a suspended bed overhead. This innovative apartment allows inhabitants to have more walking room on the ground floor without disrupting the tastefully modern design. The bed hangs above the living area like an elegant, simple balcony with a equally complementing staircase leading up to it. The bed is also situated below a retractable glass skylight that leads to a 500-square-foot rooftop garden. It proves that smaller living spaces don’t mean cramped, unattractive environments.
The nine-story Atrium Champagne Bar in London, designed by Foster + Partners, has been awarded “Best Bar” at the fifth UK and International Restaurant & Bar Design Awards. Arriving guests pass through the ground floor lounge, and ascend to a dedicated hotel lobby (The ME Hotel) and champagne bar on the first floor, housed within the hotel’s main spatial event – a nine-storey high pyramid, clad entirely in white marble, with a highly reflective, black polished granite floor.
“The project is the first hotel in which everything, from the shell of the building to the bathroom fittings, has been designed by Foster + Partners. As a result, the drama of the interior spaces is provided by the bold geometry of the structure – the challenge for the design was to complement and not detract from, the 80 foot high top-lit space. The minimal furnishings were custom-made and include a 30-metre long curving bench, sleek black reception desks and a freestanding triangular champagne bar. Rather than works of art that interrupt the space, the projections celebrate its scale – giant jellyfish rise upwards as if from the depths of the sea, and the triangulated panels of the marble cladding are illuminated and animated like origami.” say the UK and International Restaurant & Bar Design Awards.
MINI has unveiled an interactive art installation, fusing digital design, music and social media in the development of the MINI art beat. Part of their 2013 ‘not normal’ campaign, the vehicle is a participatory design experience, giving anyone a chance to stream a personal video of themselves live, projected directly onto a moving MINI cooper as it zooms around London’s city streets. Adorned on the facade of this custom MINI countryman are 48,000 hi-resolution LEDs that dot the entire surface from roof to bumper — the combination of individual LED strips integrated with mapping technology create a seamless screen.
The Japanese camera maker has teamed up with urban artist Susie ‘Suzko’ Lowe, fashion photographer Jay McLaughlin and Harrods to offer a strictly limited number of handpainted special edition cameras, complete with matching Vespa scooter. Available exclusively through Harrods in London, each ‘Art Edition’ camera has been individually hand-painted by Susie ‘Suzko’ Lowe (ensuring that no two are the same), and has its matching Vespa Motor scooter and crash helmet. It comes with a one-one-one photography lesson with street photographer Jay McLaughlin who was brought in by Olympus to document the customization process and to help decide the camera’s specification and accessories. As well as a unique, hand-painted body, each camera also comes with a second, stock camera body for everyday use and one of each compatible Olympus-made lens currently available. Harrods and Olympus have not confirmed how many Art Editions will be created but they have stressed that this is a strictly limited collection.
British artist Conrad Shawcross has turned the London roundhouse into a real-time clock. The installation, ‘timepiece’ is a modern-day mechanical sundial, which transforms the entire room into a time telling system, responding to the circular architecture in a dramatic display of light and shadow. The 8-meter, faceless clock functions from a rotating metal mechanism which hangs from the center of the ceiling. Its three mechanical arms, each with a glaringly bright bulb attached to its end, rhythmically swing and fold. positioned on the floor, marking the center point of the space, is a four-meter high gnomon — the pointed needle of a sundial — which signals the time. As the illuminated motor whirls, the light it casts onto the ground marks the hours, minutes and seconds in real time. shawcross developed the idea behind the mechanical light sculpture with the realization that he could adopt the roundhouse’s architectural elements into a timekeeper, paralleling its 24 iron columns to the number of hours in the day. The chiaroscuro that defines the piece brings the idea of timekeeping back to the participatory, celestial experience it once was.
The world faces critical food shortages in the near future as demand for meet is expected to increase by more than two-thirds, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Cultured Beef represents the crucial first step in finding a sustainable alternative to meat production. This technology has been pioneered by Dr. Mark Post of Maastricht University. The world’s first cultured beef burger was cooked and tasted in London as proof of concept that this revolution in food science is possible.
Guests at Hotel Cipriani on the isle of Giudecca in the Venetian Lagoon will be in for a truly celestial meal: 22 guests at a time will be invited up for a Dinner in the Sky — at a big table on a rotating platform raised 164 feet in the air over the hotel pool. Two chefs will take turns feeding the fearless guests. Up there in the air, the paying guests will be able to relish a whole gourmet meal or just appetizers, prepared alternately by Cipriani Hotel chef Renato Piccolotto or Cips restaurant’s Roberto Gatto.
Those opting for the smaller meals will be served appetizers and pre-dinner libations. These half-hour dinners will be offered daily at 5:15, 6 and 6:45 PM. The three-course dinner with assorted wines, one-hour meals will commence daily at 8 and 9:30 PM. Dinner in the Sky has already been served in several major cities, including Paris, London, Dubai, Las Vegas, Sydney, Monaco and Brussels.
Check out these digital photographs made by London based post-production studio Addictive.
When you spend all that time creating one really detailed 3d model, it only seemed logical to create a series. This time we wanted to explore closeups and use depth of field and broken effects. – Addictive Studios
The Museum Gardens and nature in general are perfect settings to promote peace, to encourage the sharing of joyful stories and to provoke discussions about architecture and design. The proposition was to have a Pavilion which is visually and aesthetically engaging. It is capable of providing an ideal contemporary space offering a sense of tranquility, beauty and an exceptional aesthetic value at the very heart of the Museum Gardens.
Peace is one of the highest human ideals. It is a state of equilibrium; It means no war, but also harmony, silence, pureness, kindness, happiness, appeasement, calm, reconciliation, serendipity, tranquillity… To express these ideas, they have created a perfect and symmetrical sculpture, obtained by a precise geometrical manipulation. The beauty of the shape lies in its perfect symmetry and fluidity of the pavilion.
Lingerie brand Agent Provocateur has teamed up with photographer Olivier Zahm and American model Crystal Renn for a new pop-art inspired advertising campaign. Zahm is perhaps best known for founding avant-garde style magazine Purple, but he is also famous in fashion circles for his sexy, slick photography. Crystal Renn lounges over a Mercedes 450SL and plays with a toy car in the shots, which were produced in London, and focus on the brand’s “retro glamour sensibility” according to creative director Sarah Shotton.
Grosvenor House Apartments are the latest luxury ‘hotel concept’ on Park Lane, London, offering ‘hotel residences’ that combine the best of five star hotel service with the privacy and discretion of having one’s own Mayfair property. Managed by Jumeirah Living, the 131 serviced residences range from studios to five-bedroom penthouses and offer personalised touches for effortless living. Whether for short, mid-term or extended stays, the luxury London apartments feature cutting-edge technology, sumptuous finishes and contemporary design. Combining the services of a luxury five-star Jumeirah hotel with the discretion and privacy of an exclusive Mayfair residence, the uber-luxe apartments are the only ‘hotel residence’ of their kind. Steeped in history and grandeur, the building stands on the site of the former home of the Dukes of Westminster. Today, behind an iconic 1920s Lutyens façade, Grosvenor House Apartments offer 131 ‘residences’ ranging in size from a studio to 5-bed penthouse which open onto a seven-storey vaulted Atrium with a striking and contemporary chandelier: a stunning setting for a romantic break.
When art meets mathematics, it can gives some quite amazing projects. And thats how these anamorphic sculptures were created. Conceived by London artist Jonty Hurwitz, these sculpture look pretty much like nothing you can imagine. But when you look at them through the reflection of a cylinder, you discover great pieces of art forming hands, objects & animals.
Chris Heads is a photographer born in london & who lives between Milan and New York. His photographs, particularly fashion, female or male portraits, have a youthful and colorful style. Girls are sexy and the universe is often urban, lively, quirky. There is a rather beautiful work with the light. Chris Heads has been published in many magazines such as Harper’s Bazaar, Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, Elle, Glamour, GQ, Esquire and more. He also worked for many brands like Levi’s, Miss Selfrige, Galeries Lafayette. Here is a selection of his work.
High quality metallic silver London Sneakers are the today’s pick. The shiny sneakers have round shaped toe throughout covered with imprinted textures structuring the sneaky design. Textured rubber sole with neon green zip on back of heels, the beautifully designed London Sneakers are manufactured in Italy and are highly strengthened to last in long run.
Check out Nic Fiddian-Green’s heart-stopping sculpture at Castello Di Reschio in Umbria, Italy. Fiddian-Green was at Reschio, working on a commission for the owner, Count Antonio Bolza. And, of course, the subject matter of his massive sculpture was the horse, in this case Count Antonio’s favorite stallion, Punto, born and bred at Reschio.
Ever since he saw a fifth-century B.C. carving of the head of a horse of Selene from the Parthenon at the British Museum he has worked at perfecting the form of the horse’s head, as well as mastering the ancient ‘lost wax’ technique. He works in clay, plaster, beaten lead and marble, and he oversees the casting into bronze himself. Fiddian-Green’s colossal, classically inspired equine heads are exhibited around the world in prominent locations, including ‘Still water ‘, the 30-foot head of a drinking horse right next to the Marble Arch in London.
Converse and Missoni created a range of 20 exclusive pairs of sneakers made of iconic fabrics selected from the Italian fashion house’s archives. Unveiled at Paris Fashion Week, the project celebrates the two brands’ longstanding collaboration, now in its sixth season. The “Converse X Missoni Archive Project” collection comprises exclusive pieces of Converse Pro Leather (casual sneakers) and Auckland Racer (for running) in distinct Missoni fabrics. This unique collection is presented at Paris-based boutique Colette in a special installation created by acclaimed London artist Gary Card.
Brazilian fashion model Alessandra Ambrosio has unveiled Victoria’s Secret’s latest Fantasy Bra, this year worth 2.5 million dollars. The push-up ‘Floral Fantasy’ bra features gems handset by Long Island, New York’s London Jewelers, and includes amethysts, sapphires, rubies and diamonds, as well as a removable 20-carat white diamond in the center.
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