Enlightened Souls is an awesome light painting project by a French photographer Fabrice Wittner which he started in May 2011  in Christchurch, New Zealand. For this project, Fabrice used a special technique that combines light painting and real-sized stencils.

Fabrice Wittner: ‘I started light painting with a good fellow of mine Hervé Baccara aka Dr Gosh, a graffiti artist. He was painting while I was taking the photos. He first came up the idea of using stencils and we developed the technique together, both working on stencils and the pictures. We arrived to conclusive results. Like in street art, the technique consists in painting through a stencil. A photograph instead of the wall.’

Fabrice Wittner: ‘In 2010, I moved to New Zealand and Dr Gosh moved to Vietnam. I spent a year there after what I joined Dr Gosh in Vietnam for a common project. I had more time than expected so I decided to work on a new series. For the Enlightened Souls I used real sized stencils that I chose to put in the streets of Christchurch and Hanoi. But not for the same reasons. The first part, Christchurch Quake was created to commemorate the victims of the big earthquake occurred the 22 February 2011. The plan was to offer some prints to the Council, it was the only donation I could afford then. But now that the project got some exposure I’m thinking about organizing a fundraising by selling limited prints by auction. The Country Mice project was more to show the difference between people living in the big cities and people from remote places in the country side. Then I put kids from the mountains down in Hanoi streets, a place they will maybe never see.’

BIG + Architectural Nexus + Dunn Associates + VBFA + Envision Engineering + Big D design the winning proposal for the renovation and expansion of Kimball Art Center in Park City, projected for completion by Mid-2015.

The Kimball Art Center, home to Sundance House during the Annual Sundance Film Festival, invited an international group of architects to submit designs for an interior renovation of the existing Kimball Art Center and the construction of a new building directly adjacent to the original, located centrally in Park City, Utah. The winning project, announced by The Wall Street Journal this past weekend, was selected by an official jury while giving voice to the visitors of the Kimball Art Center – including those who recently attended the ten day Sundance Festival in January. The construction is expected to begin in mid-2013, with completion by 2015. Other finalists included major U.S based offices, including Brooks + Scarpa Architects, Sparano + Mooney Architecture, Will Bruder + Partners Ltd., and Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects.

Maurice Cox, Jury Member and architectural educator at the University of Virginia, former director of Design for the National Endowment for the Arts: ‘It was hard for the jury to choose between the five excellent finalists. BIG won the competition by proposing an iconic building that honors the spirit of Park City’s past and looks ahead into the 21st century. BIG’s design boldly reinterprets the Kimball Art Center’s place in the city skyline with this amazing new structure for the arts.’

BIG’s design for the new Kimball Art Center, inspired by the urban development of Park City, the Kimball site, and the city’s mining heritage, envisions the building as an anchor for the street life on Main St. and as a gateway and landmark for Park City. The new Kimball is designed with the flexibility, character and personality necessary to become a natural incubator for public life.

Robin Marrouche, Executive Director, Kimball Art Center: ‘BIG built the strongest case for the continuity of Park City’s history—a bold, poetic new landmark to resurrect the spirit of the Coalition Mine Building that burned down in the 1980s. The design concept supports our mission to present engaging exhibitions, education, and events, and enhances the natural flow between the three in a uniquely free-form way. As the Kimball Art Center expands in scope and reputation, embracing both the local community and a growing group of international visitors and art collectors, BIG’s design sets a course for the future.’

At 80 feet, the new Kimball Art Center matches the height of the formerly neighboring Coalition Building. The building footprint and lower gallery sit in relation to Main St. and the city grid, and as the building rises it turns to greet visitors entering the city via Heber Ave, creating an iconic yet contextual building at the city’s doorstep. Referencing Park City’s mining heritage, the façade is constructed of massive stacked timber elements, creating an open publicly accessible space inside.

Bjarke Ingels, Founding Partner, BIG: ‘The raw charm of Park City and the Kimball Art Center is rooted in a culture of appropriating the structures of past industry to accommodate spaces for cultural life and leisure. The plumes of smoke from the chimneys have turned into clouds of snow from the snow cannons. The old garage is now an art museum.  With our design for the new Kimball we seek to continue this tradition by using the construction technique of the old mines and the railroad trestles that have marinated for decades in the Great Salt Lake to create a raw spacious framework for the art and artists of Park City – a very traditional material and technique deployed to produce a highly contemporary expression. Where the Coalition Building once stood as a landmark for Park City as a mining town– the new Kimball will be a beacon for Park City today as a home for an exploding cultural life and a sprawling creative community.’

The twisting façade of the building encloses a continuous spiral staircase, leading the visitors from the ground floor to the generous roof terrace, which can be used for outdoor exhibitions and events. Skylights allow light to wash down the gallery walls below. In between the two galleries is a restaurant, which spills out onto a sculpture garden on the rooftop of the existing, historic Kimball Art Center building.

The existing building is converted into an educational hub, complementing the function of the new Art Center. At its heart is a flexible double height auditorium for screenings and exhibitions. During summer, the façade towards Heber Ave opens up to the street and exposes the internal activities. The roof of the existing building is equipped with solar thermal panels concealed by indigenous plants. An outdoor sculpture garden loops around the perimeter of the roof.

The new Kimball Arts Center takes advantage of Park City’s climate, with an objective to meet a LEED platinum rating by harnessing sources of natural heat, using natural daylight, maximizing ventilation, and recycling rainwater. Generous skylights and large ribbon windows flood the building with diffused natural light, greatly reducing energy costs for lighting. Operable skylights trigger natural stack ventilation. A ground-coupled heat exchanger is drilled deep into the ground in non-built areas. The heat pumps either extract heat from the circulating water in the winter, or reject heat in the summer.

Existing Kimball Art Center. The location of the existing building is oriented towards Park Ave – what used to be the main artery through Park City

Two new galleries. At 80 feet, the new Kimball Art Center matches the height of the former Coalition Building

Street gallery. The lower gallery is oriented to Park City’s street grid and Main Street

Sky gallery. The upper gallery is oriented to Heber Avenue – the gateway to Park City

Unified twist. The volumes are blended together to form a unified twisting building – a new icon to Park City.

Program. Between the two galleries are administration and restaurant functions. The existing building houses the education program and exhibition support functions.

Project facts:

Project name: The Renovation and Expansion of Kimball Art Center

Client: Kimball Art Center

Location: Park City, Utah, USA

Size: 2.800 m2, 30.000 sf

Collaborators: Architectural Nexus, Dunn Associates, Van Boerum & Frank Associates, Envision Engineering, Big D Construction

Partner-in-Charge: Bjarke Ingels, Thomas Christoffersen

Project Leader: Leon Rost

Team: Terrence Chew, Suemin Jeon, Chris Falla, Andreia Teixeira, Ho Kyung Lee

BIG + Times Square Alliance + Flatcut + Local Projects and Zumtobel celebrate the Valentine’s Day  with an interactive heart installation at Times Square, New York utilizing the flow of people, air and touch to bring the heart to life.

BIG ♥ NYC, a 10-foot tall glowing heart sculpture, consists of 400 transparent, LED lit, acrylic tubes donated generously by the Austrian lighting company Zumtobel. The transparent tubes refract the lights of Times Square, creating a cluster of lights around the heart. The hovering heart will appear to pulsate as its tubes sway in the wind. When people touch a heart-shaped sensor, the heart will glow brighter and beat faster as the energy from their hands is converted into more light.

 ‘What better place for couples to celebrate love and public art than in the heart of Times Square – this year, we’re inviting couples from across America and New York to come to Times Square and publicly declare their love in front of the beautiful “BIG ♥ NYC” which will glow brighter on Valentine’s Day as a symbol of our month-long celebration of love.’

Tim Tompkins, President, Times Square Alliance

Over the last four years, the Times Square Alliance has hosted an annual public art sculpture to celebrate Valentine’s Day. This year’s 2012 Times Square Valentine is on display at Duffy Square from 6 to 20 February.

 ‘The heart reflects what Times Square is made of: people and light – the more people, the stronger the light,’

Bjarke Ingels, Founder & Partner, BIG

‘Like a daisy chain of human contact, the more people who hold hands or make contact with others while touching the heart, the brighter and faster the heart will pulse. The “BIG ♥ NYC” is an indicator of human energy in one of the most energized places on earth.’

Daniel Kidd, Project Leader, BIG 

You can also watch BIG ♥ NYC on ABC News.

Project data:

Name: BIG ♥ NYC

Client: Times Square Alliance

Location: Times Square, At Duffy Square (46th St. and Broadway)

Collaboration: Flatcut, Local Projects, Zumtobel

Partner-in-Charge: Bjarke Ingels

Project Leader: Daniel Kidd

Team: Jeremy Siegel, Julian Liang, Chris Falla, Sören Grünert

The anatomy of mother bear giving birth is an awesome new mural in Vienna, Austria. This big and detailed work is a result of collaboration of four talented street artists – FlyingFortress from Germany, Nychos from Austria and Sobekcis twins from Serbia.

Ethem Cem aka bone2ART, Bahadir Gokce and Dogu Akdeniz Sound and Video Studios have created a making of video for The anatomy of mother bear giving birth which illustrates the process of creation of the mural. Very interesting!
 

 

An ambitious new work by American artist Doug Wheeler with an intricate title SA MI 75 DZ NY 12 is being exhibited in David Zwinger Gallery. The installation explores the materiality of light while emphasizing the viewer’s physical experience of infinite space. The exhibition marks the first presentation of an infinity environment by the artist in New York.

The installation consists of two rooms: the bigger room, which is meant for the majority of visitors, and the smaller one, where only several people can enter. The rooms are divided by a glass partition and painted in the same colour. In the smaller infinite room, the combination of softened corners and ambient light forms an impression of infinite space, and people inside look like they float in it. To increase this floating effect, floors in the rooms were made on different levels.

Doug Wheeler says that he created SA MI 75 DZ NY 12 to make people perceive space, light and infinity in different way. The installation is on view from 17 January to 25 February 2012 in David Zwinger Gallery in New York.

Bright Mites, Big City – this futuristic animation film by Mate Steinforth illustrates the development and destruction of a mite population in only 60 seconds. Enough time for cameos of Hello Kitty bobby pins, bright red lollipops, and – tadah!! – the Vorwerk mite blaster Tiger VT265. And for those who skipped their German classes: ‘Stadt der Milben’ means ‘Mite City’ and ‘Mehr Saugkraft. Weniger Mitbewohner’ reads ‘More vacuum power. Fewer roommates’!
 

 

Making of video

 
Credits:

Client: Vorwerk & Co. KG, Wuppertal/Germany

Head of client marketing Vorwerk Kobold: Felix Withoeft

Agency: Kolle Rebbe, Hamburg/Germany

Creation: Thomas Knuewer, Dennis Krumbe, Stefan Wuebbe

Producer: Bey-Bey Chen

Consultant: Jan Kowalsky, Jessica Gustafsson

Production/Animation: Sehsucht Berlin GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin/Germany

Director/CD: Mate Steinforth

Design: Mate Steinforth, Christian Zschunke, Ronny Schmidt, Jonas Littke

3D: Hannes Weikert, Philipp Broemme, Ronny Schmidt, Christian Zschunke, Helge Kiehl, Chris Hoffmann, Philipp Rudler

Compositing: Sebastian Nozon, Helge Kiehl, Christina Agapitou

Producer: Christian Gemeiner

Music: Supreme Music, Hamburg

Mix: Studio Funk, Hamburg

Making of edit: Christian Zschunke

Making of music: ‘Caribou – Sun (Gandolf Remix)’ (Gandolf) / CC BY 3.0

BIG wins an invited competition for a 47,000 m2 ski resort and recreational area in Levi. The future Ski Village will transform the existing Levi ski resort into a world class destination, offering top quality accommodation and leisure services for skiers of all levels and demands. The proximity to the Kittilä airport ensures easy access to the resort attracting international visitors to Levi village and the whole Lapland region. The Finland-based developer Kassiopeia Finland Oy is investing in its local region as it currently owns and operates Hotel Levi Panorama, Levi Summit Congress Center and Hotel K5 Levi and above and beyond has interests in developing the exquisite Koutalaki area.

‘BIG’s visionary approach of combining unique types of accommodation and amenities along with the leisure activities offered at the resort, left the jury in awe. BIG’s ambitious plan challenges traditional thinking and we believe that the collaboration between Kassiopeia Finland and BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group will rise to the occasion.’

Jury, Kassiopeia Finland Oy

Located on a gentle slope, the existing Levi ski center provides the framework for the future Koutalaki Ski Village which is conceived as an extension of the summit and the existing cluster of buildings in Koutalaki. BIG proposes to create a series of buildings that radiate out from a central square and whose ends touch the ground to create four freestanding buildings that each provide access to the roof and allow the skiers to descend from the resort’s rooftop downhill in any direction. The soft curves of the undulating roofs of the four buildings create a visual continuity of the natural land­scape while lending the whole village the unique character of a skislope skyline that creates an inhabited mountain top.

‘The Koutalaki Ski Village is conceived as an extension of both the summit and the resort. Grown from the natural topography rather than dropped from the sky – the ar­chitecture extends the organic forms of natural landscape creating an inhabitable as well as skiable manmade mountain. As a result, our design for the Koutalaki Ski Village creates a new hybrid integrating distinct identities such as village and resort, shelter and openness, cozy intimacy and natural maj­esty, unique character and careful continuity – or simply – architecture and landscape.’

Bjarke Ingels, Founder & Partner, BIG

The four buildings arc around a central square to create a new bustling village plaza at the heart of the resort, which is sheltered from the wind yet open and inviting to the surrounding landscape. The plaza allows ice skating and music events and is connected to a bowl like yard with cafés and bars created by the lower interior heights of the new buildings. The intimate atmosphere of the spaces created here contrasts the open views from the summit.

The whole resort area is connected through a network of paths that prioritizes skiers and pedestrians. Access to the roofs happens through central elevator cores allowing skiing down either towards the courtyard or the piste. An elevator located centrally in the hotel provides access to the roof top restaurant with a 360 degree panorama views of the landscape and plaza.

‘When first visiting the future Koutalaki village site you realize the proximity to the ski slopes but at the same time the importance of creating a connection for skiers as well. The gentle slope away from the main ski system seems to offer the solution for a unified proposal that creates maximum connectivity for skiers and pedestrians.’

Jakob Lange, Partner-in-Charge, BIG

All accommodation units offered at the new resort enjoy beautiful views of the surrounding nature, including the eight private villas which are situated at different elevations to provide an undisturbed panorama, while the elevated private gardens serve as an extension of the landscape. The villas embrace the snowy landscape and allow the snow in all its forms become a part of the architecture itself.

‘Instead of creating design solutions that aim at dealing with snow by shoveling or moving it, we want to create a village that utilizes the full potential of snow. When it is caught on the façade the window frames become a living part of the landscape, adapting to changes in the weather. The light granite façade enhances the intimate relation with the nature.’

Hanna Johansson, Project Leader, BIG

While the four buildings simulate real ski slopes during winter time, combining the essence of a ski resort – skiing, relaxation, recreation and dwelling, the roofscape of the buildings during summer will be just as attractive serving as a green continuum of the surrounding natural landscape for hiking and pic­nics.

Current site inclination. The site topography denies an alpine skier to directly access the slope on skies or snowboard.

Flat landscape. By raising a lower part of the landscape the skier can maneuver on the site only through a big effort.

Peak. Through the creation of a new peak on site the skier can access the slope and choose freely in which direction to go.

Use. The lifted landscape opens up the possibility of programming the space underneath.

Circular display for 360 views. By displaying the program in a circular form, the surrounding beautiful views are available in all directions.

Push down. The volume is pushed down to meet the ground giving a building four peaks allowing skiers to go downhill.

Separate volumes. By the rotation of each peak the site becomes permeable and freestanding buildings are created.

Extention. The buildings are extended parallel to each other creating ultimate streets environments in between the volumes.

Individual adjustments. Each building is adjusted according to programmatic and contextual requirements.

Views. The two northernmost volumes are lower allowing views towards Sirkka village and the vast landscape from all buildings.

Plaza and courtyard. Connected by the village streets are two public spaces of different character. A plaza that allows ice skating and music events adjacent to the existing buildings, and a courtyard with cafes and bars in between the new buildings.

Facts:

Project name: Koutalaki Ski Village

Size: 47,000 m2

Client: Kassiopeia Finland Oy

Location: Levi, Finland

Partners in charge: Bjarke Ingels, Jakob Lange

Project leader: Hanna Johansson

Project team: David Tao, Erik de Haan, Jeff Mikolajewski, Jesper Victor Henriksson, Lucian Racovitan, Maren Allen

Intel Visibly Smart Experience is a collaboration between Intel and Visual Drugstore in presenting to public a series of 3D live projection mapping tours in four German cities. This campaign was started to promote the Intel second generation mobile processors i5 & i7.
 

 
The show started in Dresden on 19 August 2011. Visual artist Markos Aristides Kern alias Mar-K.os and his crew from Visual Drugstore animated the exterior walls of Georgentor giving the public ‘the ultimate 3D experience’. Hamburg acts Moonbootica and Boris Dlugosch played at each projection mapping in correspondence to the audio-visual art performance.
 

 
After a successful launch in Dresden, Intel Visibly Smart Experience continued in Berlin and Munich. The last destination was Hamburg where Mar-K.os and Visual Drugstore transformed and enliven the walls of Planetarium.
 

 
To make the project take place across Germany, Visual Drugstore used Multi Media Offroad Vehicle (MMOV), specially constructed to provide such performances. This unique vehicle features numerous applications from mobile video mappings to promotional campaigns to advertising space and even stage area. The MMOV can also be used as a DJ stage, therefore the DJ desk and sound installation are built in the setup, requiring only one side to be opened.
 

 
Next year, Visual Drugstore with the help of MMOVs are going to go on the Multi Media Offroad Vehicle Expedition (MMOV Ξ). The expedition is a non-profit art project that is orientated around the concept of the endless possibilities of multimedia art. Markos Aristides Kern will pre-select artists to join him and Visual Drugstore on this trip. The MMOV Ξ will go on 1 January 2012 into the settings and surroundings of the breathtaking landscapes of North Africa.

]]> http://visuall.net/2011/12/11/intel-visibly-smart-experience-by-visual-drugstore/feed/ 0 http://visuall.net/2011/12/03/big-audi-realize-urban-future-at-design-miami-2011/ http://visuall.net/2011/12/03/big-audi-realize-urban-future-at-design-miami-2011/#comments Sat, 03 Dec 2011 11:04:26 +0000 Visuall http://visuall.net/?p=1790

BIG + Kollision + Schmidhuber & Partner team up to bring BIG’s vision of future urban mobility to life for AUDI at Design Miami/ 2011, running from November 30th through December 4th adjacent to Art Basel Miami Beach. BIG originally presented the concept as an entry for the 2010 AUDI Urban Future Award introducing a future city paved with a digital surface that liberates the streets from existing boundaries and allows for a new flexibility of public use.

The 190 m2 three-dimensional LED installation provides a glimpse of the future city where the public space is shared between pedestrians and driverless cars. The entire surface would be infused with a continuous flow of information allowing for real-time interaction between vehicles and their environment. Mounted above the Design Miami installation, 3D cameras track the movement of passers-by processing the data into a generative artwork that feeds back into the LED panels.

‘Our pavilion for AUDI renders visible the invisible forces that flow through our city – the driverless car is relying on sophisticated sensory and computational technology that constantly observes and calculates the dynamic space that the living city constitutes. The result is an architecture of movement whose forms have not been predetermined by the architect but are constantly being recomposed by the people populating the pavilion.’

Bjarke Ingels, Founder & Partner, BIG

The installation sets the stage for Audi’s showcar, Audi A2 concept, which has its U.S debut at the design fair and is dedicated to future urban mobility, capable of communicating with its environment. The exhibition car continuously emits arrows showing its driving path, navigating real-time between visitors at the stand.

‘We have created 190 m2 of future public space around the concept car, visualizing how pedestrians and cars interact digitally. Pedestrians are creating digital safe zones and the movement of the car is simulated, navigating between people. We believe that infusing the surface of the city with information technology will create a new kind of true shared space – a condition similar to a public square. In a single day, the function of the street may alternate multiple times between entirely pedestrian, vehicular, or even recreational functions. ‘

Andreas Klok Pedersen, Partner-in-Charge, BIG

1. Magic carpet. The entire floor is an interactive LED surface that enables real-time interplay between the visitors and the graphic interface. Installed 3D cameras track the movement on site. The data is then processed into a generative artwork that feeds back into the LED panels on the surface.

2. Fold. A simple diagonal fold of the surface creates a backdrop and separates the backstage areas from the exhibition.

3. Hardware. A prototypical show car is the central feature exhibited on the folded interactive LED surface. The stand also includes a bar and several seating elements to accommodate visitors.

4. Software. The car continuously emits arrows showing its future path and leaves a trace of its past track on the LED surface behind it. The furniture is mapped as an oscillating safe zone. As a future version of a traffic light, the digital surface aims to showcase the possibilities of interaction between cars, pedestrians and urban pavements in the scenario of a driverless car.

5. Interaction. All visitors have an immediate real-time impact on the programmed LED surface. Every single movement is traced allowing for the increase of social interaction. If several visitors meet, a cloud entity is generated.

‘URBAN FUTURE’ facts:

Name: Urban Future – Audi @Design Miami/

Size:  190 m2

Client: AUDI AG

Collaborators: Kollision Aarhus, Schmidhuber + Partner

Location: Miami, USA

Partners in Charge: Bjarke Ingels, Andreas Klok Pedersen

Project Leader: Martin Voelkle

Team: Daniel Kidd, Chris Malcolm, David Tao, Laura Youf, Lucian Racovitan

There is a sequel to the short documentary ‘Be Linen’ by a French filmmaker Benoit Millot. Earlier, we have published the first part of his work. This film tells us about unique properties of flax fibres and their use in different areas, such as automotive industry, water sports, leisure facilities etc. But most of all we are interested in use of flax in interior solutions, furniture design and fashion.