The War Rooms, St. James’s Park by Ned Scott

The War Rooms, St. James’s Park by Ned Scott:
This series of hand drawings by Bartlett School of Architecture graduate Ned Scott presents a science-fiction world in which London grows a jungle of crops for fuel and food next to Buckingham Palace.

Above: The Mall
The War Rooms, St. James’s Park imagines a future in which the UK’s energy supply has been cut following a war over energy resources in 2050.

Above: The Mall – detail
Scott presents a closed-loop agricultural system where London provides energy and food for itself without relying on imports.

Above: Smart Grid
An anaerobic digester would stand on the outskirts of St. James’s Park, filled with vertiginous crops.

Above: MP’s House
A sky-scraping ‘energy tower’ nearby would have plants growing on every floor, and a smart grid would be installed for efficient energy use.

Above: MP’s House – detail
Scott was inspired by Ebenezer Howard, the late 20th century thinker whose utopian writings led to the creation of several ‘garden cities’ in Britain.

Above: New St. James’s Park
See more work by Bartlett graduates »

Above: Energy Tower
See all our stories about conceptual architecture »

Above: Energy Tower – detail
See all our stories about graduate shows in 2012 »

Above: The Instrument
Here’s some more information from Ned Scott:

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The War Rooms, St. James’s Park
The War Rooms takes a science-fictional premise in which the UK’s energy supply networks are terminated following an Energy War in 2050.

Above: Aerial Perspective
The project explores the implications of the decentralisation of the UK’s energy networks and the implementation of a closed-loop agrarian economy.

Above: Aerial Perspective – detail
The science-fictional scenario presented and the subsequent urban strategies proposed address the challenges the UK faces regarding energy security and fuel poverty, and speculates on the hypothetical consequences of a future where the many risks associated with the UK’s long-term energy strategy come to bear

Above: Anaerobic Disaster
The War Rooms, St. James’s Park introduces an institutional framework for agrarian reform, inspired by Ebenezer Howard, which operates on three simultaneous scales representative of the three protagonists of Clifford D. Simak’s ‘City’: Man, Dog and Ant.

Above: Anaerobic Disaster – detail

Above: Energy Warehouse

Above: Energy Warehouse – detail

Above: Howard Boulevard

Above: Howard Boulevard – detail
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by Ned Scott appeared first on Dezeen.

EcoXPower Kit Charges a Smartphone and LED Bicycle Lights with Pedal Power : TreeHugger

EcoXPower Kit Charges a Smartphone and LED Bicycle Lights with Pedal Power : TreeHugger





© EcoXGear

The EcoXPower kit by EcoXGear uses pedal power to charge your smartphone and an LED lighting system for your bike, keeping you road safe at all hours. Kits for charging your cell phone while riding your bike are not new, but this is the first we know of that also lets you power ultra-bright LED lights too. You may never have to worry about replacing your headlamp again.

The set-up includes a rechargeable lithium-ion battery, a headlamp, red tail lights and a rugged water-resistant and touch-screen compatible smartphone case that mounts on the handlebars. A universal mount clips to the front wheel of your bike and a USB cable runs up the fork to connect to your smartphone. The kit is compatible with iPhones, Android devices, Windows phones and GPS devices.


© EcoXGear

As the bike's front wheel spins, the ECOXPOWER's clutch engages between the tire's spokes, fueling a generator that powers the lighting system, the rechargeable battery and your smart phone. The handlebar mount is nice because it lets you easily access GPS directions if you're trying out a new route or your playlist if you're taking a more leisurely ride. An on/off switch on the handlebars lets you control the lights while riding.


© EcoXGear

The EcoXPower is being sold for $99.99 on the EcoXGear website.

Via: treehugger.com

99.5% Of Iceland's Non-Transportation Energy Comes From Renewable Sources

99.5% Of Iceland's Non-Transportation Energy Comes From Renewable Sources:
They get their electricity from hydropower and their building heat from geothermal; there are some benefits from living on a fault line.

Abstract Portraits Formed Out of Everyday Materials

Abstract Portraits Formed Out of Everyday Materials:

Using a variety of everyday materials, artist Jean-Pierre Seguin creates portraits by combining Pointillist techniques with collage. He uses everything from buttons and thread to plastic toy soldiers glued to the canvas to develop the series, entitled Assemblages. Through the use of unique materials, Seguin says he wants to "disturb viewers’ perceptions" and encourage his viewers to move around the piece in order to gain a better visual understanding of each piece, which can be described as both a formal representation as well as an abstraction.
From a distance, the detailed portraits are clear and distinct faces, but upon closer investigation, the faces begin to disappear as the details of the selected materials reveal themselves. In his artist statement, Seguin explains, "Through his or her motion, the spectator becomes a kind of zoom lens, varying focal length to produce effects of nearness and distance. Approaching the image to get a better look, viewers lose their grip on the identifiable reality of the photograph; reference points that normally serve to guide viewers of photography evade them here."

















Jean-Pierre Seguin's website

via [Faith is Torment]

Evolution of the New York skyline from 1876-2013

Evolution of the New York skyline from 1876-2013:

Evolution of the New York skyline from 1876-2013

Brand New: In Brief: Emblemetric

Brand New: In Brief: Emblemetric

The above image is (an admittedly crude) juxtaposition (made by me) of what is otherwise an amazing question: What is the percentage of new logos containing leaves since the 1950s? More formidable is the fact that there can now be an answer to conundrums like these. James I. Bowie, PhD has just establishedEmblemetric, which will report “on trends in logo design, using quantitative analysis of data from the United States Patent and Trademark Office.” Some findings will be posted online, like what is the most used color in logos not just through time but by industry? Or insanely useless trivia bits like California being home to the most logos (14.4%) in a whole dissection of logos by geography. Apart from what is sure to be an addictive blog, Emblemetric offers custom research services so that you can demonstrate to your client in the insurance industry why choosing blue just makes it one more of 39% of the other logos out there.

Disclaimer: James has written for Brand New in the past, contributes to Quipsologies, and is otherwise a good acquaintance of UC.

Via: http://www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/archives/in_brief_emblematric.php

A Sign in Space by Gunilla Klingberg

A Sign in Space by Gunilla Klingberg:
Stars are printed in the sand by a tractor as it drags a giant roller back and forth across the beach, then left to fade at the mercy of footsteps and the tide in this installation by Swedish designer Gunilla Klingberg.

Called A Sign in Space, the project involved attaching a pattern made of tyre treads to a metal cylinder and mounting it on the tractor that cleans Laga beach in Spain each morning.

There are thirteen performances over the course of the summer, every time the low tide and early shift of the beach-cleaners coincides.

If you like this, check out a dance floor decorated with sieved icing sugar in our earlier story.

Here’s some more information from Klingberg:

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Klingberg’s work, A Sign In Space, is a graphic star-pattern composed of truck tires is printed as a relief on the sand at Laga beach during low tide. At high tide the pattern will slowly vanish as the tide rises.
The printed pattern is made with a mechanical device, a manufactured steel-cylinder, with the graphic pattern as a matrix relief made of truck tires. The cylinder is connected to the beach cleaner tractor which drives from side to side of the beach in the morning, creating the pattern covering the whole beach area.

Following the lunar and tidal calendar, the pattern is remade again and again at all possible days at low tide. The work A Sign in Space is performed on dates when the tidal calender is synchronized with the the beach cleaners early morning working schedule- the pattern will be created on days when the low tide hour fits the labour working hours.
Dates when A Sign in Space will be performed at Laga beach
On morning hours (9-12 am):

19th, 20th, 30th and 31st July.

1st, 2nd, 14th, 15th, 16th, 30th and 31st August.

14th and 15th September.
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Gunilla Klingberg appeared first on Dezeen.