Pretty Goes with Pretty

Four Takes on the AT-AT

I'm no Star Wars nerd—I haven't even seen the Sith episode—but sometimes you can't deny the zeitgeist.

(via bldgblog)

(via Cinetmatical)

(via Aeropause)

Yesterday's News—Today!

A few short takes from around the interweb:

—Land+Living does a pretty good job of getting you up to speed on the landscape architect Ken Smith’s recently awarded Orange County Great Park project. Smith will be the master planner, with the architect Enrique Norton, public-works artist Mary Miss, and LA-based  landscape architect Mia Lehrer in tow. The park will be larger than both Central Park and Golden Gate Park, and the defining element will be a canyon that Smith will “build,” running seventy feet deep and two miles long. (I’ve been getting a kick out of everyone saying he’s going to “build a canyon.” When I was a kid, I used to try and build a hole all the way to China.) In addition to L+L, the LA Times had two articles on the announcement in yesterday’s paper, and Curbed LA also has a snarky post.

—Pruned is probably my favorite site on the interweb. Alexander Trevi has a great eye for visually stunning imagery. His most recent post is no exception. Here’s a sampling:

More images of this nature at his site, and take some time to dig around if you’ve never been there before.

—The New York Times had an entertaining little article about scientists who, while studying the workings of the brain, accidentally discovered schadenfreude.

—Last but least, Pitchfork has the latest on the ever-growing legend/parody that is Axl Rose’s comeback of the century, Chinese Democracy.

Rem Koolhaas on Fire!

Wow, Rem Koolhaas's uber-cool Prada Store in SoHo apparently went up in flames over the weekend... More information at Curbed, the Gutter, and Verbose Coma (which has more pictures like the one above).

Subtle Technologies

This is pretty academic, but might be of interest to you if (a) you appreciate that this blog tries to thread different interests together, and (b) you are in fact an academic. Subtle Technologies is a symposium happening this summer in Toronto, in tandem with the equally (if not more) fascinating SoundAxis festival.

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

Proposals are invited for presentation at the
2006 Subtle Technologies Symposium
June 1st - June 4th, 2006
Toronto, Canada

DEADLINE: January 31st, 2006

Subtle Technologies is a four-day multidisciplinary event exploring complex and subtle relationships between art and science. Subtle Technologies' mandate is to blur the boundaries between art and science. The annual event combines symposia, exhibitions and performances that juxtapose cutting-edge artistic projects and scientific exploration.

This year's theme for Subtle Technologies is Responsive Architectures. We are interested in investigating how environments and systems can interact and respond to their occupants. We hope for wide-ranging discussions and presentations that explore dynamic systems and environments at every scale, from molecules to continents.  Extraordinary new qualities are emerging in the 'responsive' systems that are rapidly being integrated throughout our world, exploiting leaps in technology. This transformation creates critical questions as our capacity to change the world grows, for good and for ill.

The symposium encourages a wide definition of architecture that encompasses buildings, mechanical and natural environments. Three kinds of submissions are especially invited. Scientists are invited to contribute current research that relates to the topic. Artists, architects, designers and performers are invited to contribute their ongoing creative work. Writers are invited to contribute discussions of philosophy, history and theory. A range of approaches are welcome including interdisciplinary work that combines these approaches, specialized presentation proposals that focus on a single topic in depth, and general discussions that draw upon multiple topics. To complement the Toronto-wide SoundaXis festival occurring in parallel with Subtle Technologies, sound and acoustics will be a special focus.

Examples of possible topics include:

    * Interactive systems
    * Adaptive environments
    * Hybrid ecologies
    * Smart materials
    * Buildings that can move and transform
    * Extended physiology
    * Complex systems analysis
    * Expanded perception
    * Resonance and spatial acoustics

    * Physics of sound

More info at the Subtle Technologies site.