Huge aquarium

Remember wanting an aquarium growing up? Well, i don't know about you, but mine didn't really look like this one...

Located at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Berlin, the AquaDom is a 25 metre tall cylindrical acrylic glass aquarium with built-in transparent elevator.

3D art

The Singapore-based artist Keng Lye creates near life-like sculptures of animals relying on little but paint, resin and a phenomenal sense of perspective.

Lye slowly fills bowls, buckets, and boxes with alternating layers of acrylic paint and resin, creating incredibly realistic looking aquatic animal life artwork

 

  

artist: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kenglye

Glow-in-the-dark driveway

Remember putting glow-in-the-dark stars and planets on your bedroom ceiling and walls as a kid?... well now you can do it with your whole driveway! How awesome is that!?...

"Glowstone is a synthetic aggregate, based on Photoluminescent pigment and synthetic resin. When exposed to light sources, the photoluminescent pigment within Glowstone becomes chemically excited and will afterglow (i.e. glow in the dark), initially very strongly, then reducing slowly overnight. The glow is best seen in a dark area, where ambient light sources such as streetlights and moonlight are absent."

Glowstone is for use in Concrete, Pavers and Terrazzo products as an exposed aggregate and it enhances safety by marking the pathway in Low Light Level conditions. In daylight the Glowstone has an Off-white colour and can be supplied in after-glow colours of Yellow-green and blue-green.

source:http://www.jncht.net/Photoluminescent_Stone.htm  

Low cost bamboo housing

Vietnam based 'H&P architects' developed this low-cost housing project that is situated in a flood-stricken region that receives extreme temperatures year-round.

Meeting the basic residential needs of a residential dwelling, the building will be assembled using minimal components and bamboo module units. The buildings are secured using anchors, ties and solid connections and the structure will be strong enough to float in floods.

Built using the local materials such as bamboo, leaves and recycled oil containers, the concept combines traditional architectural characteristics to distinguish the exterior fabric.

The units cost just under 2000USD each and the plan allows for mass-production with the ability for villagers to build themselves.

via http://www.sciencedump.com

H&P Architects http://www.hpa.vn

Melting Men

A series of art installations aptly named "Melting Men" is part of the Minimum Monument  created by Brazilian artist Nele Azevedo.

Originally intended as an urban intervention project to critique the role of monuments in cities, environmentalists around the world, like the World Wildlife Fund, are adopting her work as climate change art to spread awareness and to serve as a warning that the melting ice of the polar ice caps could possibly cause levels to rise more than 3.3 ft by 2100.

Furthermore the groups say that the warming of the Arctic will change weather in different parts of the world and increase the release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

Silo House

In Utah stands the Monte Silo House, a building created from placing two metal grain silos back to back. Created by Gigaplex Architects, an inspiration of what can be created from the use of simple industrial items like silos or shipping containers.

The front silo is the largest, and generous windows allow residents to enjoy the view of the Provo River whilst being shaded from direct sunlight by the second level deck.

I do love the esthetics and interior special planning, especially the bedrooms with its “Bed in a Box” concept. I mean those beds do look super comfy... and each of these beds include stereo sound and a flat-screen monitor.

 

The only thing I don't like very much is the way the interior is done, like the floor texture in the lounge and kitchen area. It reminds me of hospital floors for some reason... why not just use a timber floor or even a worked screed... As for the bathroom, well it looks kinda poor. 

Lumion kitchen

So this is my first attempt at a Lumion rendering. The goal was to produce an exact replica of a photo taken of an interior. There is still a lot of work to be done, like the reflections and lighting. The biggest challenge so far was to get a chrome or polished stainless steel material.

As far as I can tel, Lumion does not have such materials. You can however chose a steel material and set the gloss and reflection to high, but this does not give the desired effect. Another issue I had was with the graphic on the back wall and door. When applied, the colours of the graphic come out much darker than the actual image I am using and secondly for some weird reason the image covering the door gets stretched and squashed and i can't get it to fill the entire door.

I will give it another bash and see what I can come up with. All and all the experience working with lumion is great as a lot of things are simple and straight forward to do. 

After making some changes and playing around with a few settings I got the chrome texture looking better and the reflection of the graphic against doors.

Pencil VS Camera

BEN HEINE is a Belgian multidisciplinary visual artist. He is best known for his original series "Pencil Vs Camera", "Digital Circlism" and "Flesh and Acrylic". Here are some pieces taken from his Pencil vs Camera series.