As the hype around Apple’s iPhone reaches a crescendo today, it seems only appropriate to look at a phone design that’s completely different.
Designed by Syntes Studio, the beautiful seamless exterior Cocoon once opened, reveals a phone interior whose design channels Jacob Jensen. Heavily influenced by Naoto Fukasawa’s Neon, its deceiving shell also hides an exterior LED display, yet the Cocoon takes a large evolutionary step imbuing character into its appealing form, and providing expanded functionality.
Upper echelon commercial & music video director Tarsem, renowned for his striking visual sense, last year completed his second ambitious feature film, The Fall. A self funded project shot in 24 countries, it debuted at the Toronto Film Festival and despite its visual splendor, was summarily dismissed by the few prominent critics in attendance.
As outlined in last week’s Power of Buildings post, the architectural illustrations of Hugh Ferriss remain readily available in the print medium. His work is also well represented online thanks to a voluminous offering from Columbia University’s Avery Architectural Library. Containing over three hundred and fifty drawings, this is a more varied catalog than Metropolis of Tomorrow with several delineation’s from Power of Buildings.
A mere fraction covers the 1939 & 1964 World’s Fair, plans for the United Nations lot, Rockefeller Center, Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, La Guardia and Washington National Airports, Taliesin West and an unexpected abundance of aircraft illustrations. Never before published and unbuilt works are also prominent. In this broader oeuvre, Ferriss occasionally evokes Piranesi and Antonio Sant’Elia, exhibiting less distinctiveness than seen in Metropolis of Tomorrow, but no less impressive.
Philip Johnson’s modernist classic the Glass House estate in New Canaan, Connecticut, opened to the public for the first time on Saturday. Completed in 1949 it served as Johnson’s residence until his death in 2005. The 47 acre property, which includes 14 buildings, extensive landscape architecture and a significant collection of modernist art, was transferred to the National Trust for Historic Preservation with funds provided by Johnson and his partner David Whitney, to establish it as a museum and aid in its preservation.
Two hour tours with photography allowed, and ninety minute tours occur daily with a maximum of ten visitors per tour. The estate will be open annually from May through the end of October. All tickets for the 2007 season have sold out.
Sunshine, the latest film from Screenwriter Alex Garland and Director Danny Boyle (28 Days Later), arrives in theaters July 20. “50 years from now the Sun is dying. It is no longer providing the energy and the light that mankind needs to survive on Earth. The entire global community pools its resources to send a mission into space to deliver a bomb to reignite the part of the Sun that is failing.”
In the late nineties Princeton Architectural Press reprinted the famous 1929 Hugh Ferris book, The Metropolis of Tomorrow. The preeminent architectural illustrator of his time, Hugh Ferris’s charcoal drawings are dramatic, with an almost tangible rendering of grand volumes. While the hardcover edition is out of print, Dover Publications added an inexpensive paperback substitute to its catalog a couple of years ago.
Also during the nineties, the press imprint of Santa Monica bookstore, Hennesy & Ingalls, reprinted his 1953 work, Power of Buildings. Missed this lesser known work of his at the time, though unlike Metropolis of Tomorrow, this highly regarded hardbound edition remains in print.
Yesterday, Warner Bros. Pictures released images of the Batpod motorcycle from next Summer’s Batman Begins sequel, The Dark Knight.
Despite its curious mechanics, this is a drivable vehicle. Flanking the Batpod behind the front wheel are two elevated stirrup like devices which the stunt driver, Jean-Pierre Goy, places his arms into and steers the vehicle using his shoulders. The engines are located within each wheel hub, seemingly reminiscent of the electric motor integrated into every wheel of MIT Media Lab’s CityCar. According to the LA Times, this attitude laden design was conceived by Nathan Crowley and built by Chris Corbould.
London based boutique “moving image” studio Wyld Stallyons has unveiled their short film, The Doll, created for luxury lingerie brand Lascivious. Well directed and designed with a foreboding score by HECQ, it’s reminiscent of the Outer Limits with sexy stylings and a potent grand finale.
Intended as a viral campaign, the four minute short probably could have been equally effective as a sixty second spot, but the length won’t draw any complaints. A Making Of video, higher quality version and background information is available at thedoll.tv.
Renowned Italian fashion designer, Gianfranco Ferré, 62, died Sunday evening after suffering a brain hemorrhage on Friday. Holding a degree in architecture from Milan Politechnico, he ventured into fashion in 1974 after being inspired whilst traveling through India. In addition to his own line, Ferré, was also stylistic director at Christian Dior for most of the 90’s.
Architect extraordinaire and Pritzker Prize winner Zaha Hadid will have her first full-scale UK exhibition at the Design Museum in London commencing June 29. “To facilitate a forum for debate, and to maximize the impact of the exhibition, the Design Museum has launched a Zaha Hadid Exhibition Blog” in conjunction with online design magazine dezeen.
The Zaha Hadid Exhibition Blog already includes an insightful interview with Zaha Hadid Architects partner/co-architect Patrick Schumacher and bountiful photos of the BMW Central Building, a personal favorite, taken by architectural photographer Hèlène Binet.
