Sum Of Fibonacci Numbers Trick

A little trick to sum Fibonacci numbers. Try it out…(Read…)

Zaha Hadid's Port House in Antwerp captured in photography by Hélène Binet

Swiss-French photographer Hélène Binet has shot the recently completed port authority building in Antwerp by Zaha Hadid Architects, which features a huge glazed volume mounted on its roof.

Binet photographed Port House ahead of its inauguration last week. The building is one of a string of projects designed by the late architect Zaha Hadid that are due to be completed this year.

Hadid’s firm converted a former fire station in Antwerp’s docks to create the headquarters, and added a glazed extension to its roof.

Port House Antwerp photographed by Helene Binet

The volume is covered in triangular facets that are angled to give it a rippling texture at one end and a smooth surface at the other.



This smooth end is pointed like the bow of a boat and projects over the edge of the original heritage-listed building below, where it is supported by an angular concrete leg.

An integrated viewing platform is wedged between the old and new parts of the building.

Port House Antwerp photographed by Helene Binet

Port House is designed to host 500 port authority staff in open-plan offices who were previously working across separate sites in the Belgian city.

Hadid, who died earlier this year, first unveiled plans for the project in 2009.

Port House Antwerp photographed by Helene Binet

It is one of the most ambitious designs proposed by the British-Iraqi architect, whose firm hopes to realise over 30 projects that were in the pipeline at the time of her death.

They include a new airport terminal building in Beijing and a contentious stadium for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

Port House Antwerp photographed by Helene Binet

Binet has been the go-to photographer for high-profile architects including Zaha Hadid Architects, Peter Zumthor, Daniel Libeskind and Caruso St John for decades.

She started working with Hadid in the infancy of the architect’s career, shooting her first major project, the Vitra Fire Station, in the early 1990s.

Port House Antwerp photographed by Helene Binet

“Her buildings have changed a lot because the materiality has changed and technology has changed so much, and she is really playing with the technology,” Binet told Dezeen during an interview last year.

Binet shoots exclusively in film. In an exclusive interview with Dezeen last year, she spoke to Dezeen about her dedication to the analogue medium and the problems she perceives with digital photography.

The post Zaha Hadid’s Port House in Antwerp captured in photography by Hélène Binet appeared first on Dezeen.

Nils Holger Moorman launches dog-sized version of its flatpack bed

German furniture maker Nils Holger Moormann has released a flat-pack bed designed for the needs of man’s best friend (+ slideshow).

The company launched the Kläffer as a pooch-proportioned version of its full-size Siebenschläfer and children’s Spross beds, both flat-pack designs.

Kläffer dog bed by Nils Holger Moormann GmbH

The dog bed comprises several metal-free pieces designed to be easily slotted together – a feature that also makes the beds portable.



In keeping with Nils Holger Moormann‘s commitment to local sourcing of materials, the Kläffer is constructed from European birch plywood.

Kläffer dog bed by Nils Holger Moormann GmbH

Currently only available in one size, the bed comes in three varying colours – red, black or white. The company hopes to launch small, medium and large Kläffers in the future.

Kläffer dog bed by Nils Holger Moormann GmbH
Photograph by We Make Them Wonder

Summing up its design approach, Nils Holger Moorman explained that “the key thoughts are simplicity, intelligence and innovation, and these colour the entire company’s philosophy”.

The company often works with flat timber sheet material in designs like the Bookinist bookshelf chair and the self-catering Berge lodge, built next to the Nils Holger Moormann headquarters.

Kläffer dog bed by Nils Holger Moormann GmbH
Photograph by We Make Them Wonder

The Kläffer dog bed is the latest product in a growing pool of high-end designs for pets. In March of this year, Japanese studio Nendo launched its minimalist collection of dog accessories, while MAD founder Ma Yansong recently debuted a series of steak-shaped rugs for dogs.

The post Nils Holger Moorman launches dog-sized version of its flatpack bed appeared first on Dezeen.

Sports Illustrated Reveals Arnold Palmer Cover

Imagine yourself today at the offices of Sports Illustrated, sorting through all the possible photos and illustrations to use for a U.S. national edition tribute cover to Arnold Palmer. In the end, as managing editor Chris Stone affirmed via Twitter, “there really was no other choice but this beauty from Jerry Cooke, shot for the magazine in 1960.” As the publication sometimes does when warranted, it has revealed its next cover a little earlier than usual.

SIArnoldPalmerCover

That’s caddie Tip Anderson in the background, on Palmer’s bag, watching as the golfer tried to win at St. Andrews that year the third leg of the sport’s modern Grand Slam. Cooke, who shot dozens of SI covers over the year, passed away in 2005.

The same image was also once used by Palmer for the cover of Issue #23 of his quarterly golf lifestyle magazine, Kingdom. Check out The King’s previous SI covers here. And this is how SI senior writer Michael Bamberger led off an obituary, a version of which will appear in the Oct. 3 print issue, on newsstands beginning Wednesday:

Arnold Palmer, who died Sunday in Pittsburgh at age 87, led an American life that will never be duplicated, so rooted was it in a lost time and a place and the sui generis chemistry of the man.

Image courtesy: Sports Illustrated

An Architect's Take On Cake

An innate fascination with food is a structural part of being human, but what about structural food? Dinara Kasko is an architect-trained pastry chef, and her work melds classic desserts with stark geometry and 3d printing. While inviting, Kasko’s creations look less like food and more like architectural renderings or diagrams from a chemistry textbook. 

After graduating from Kharkov University Architecture School, Kasko started her career as a design-visualizer at at Dutch architectural firm. After a few years of imagining, illustrating and photographing buildings, she took time off to have a kiddo and reconsider her options. 

It appears that she’s found a sweet middle ground between interests. She now uses her background in precise aesthetics alongside culinary perfectionism, aided by 3DMAX modeling and 3D printed silicone molds. 

Aggressively shaped modern food has gone a bit out of fashion in the States, in favor of “honest ingredients” and fusiony takes on “authentic” homestyle dishes. While good food is always good, the excitement and awe prompted by highly designed food is hard to describe. Many chefs and food theorists consider sense confusion a great tool for deepening an experience of food, since core assumptions about texture, color or form as they relate to flavor are tossed out. 

Gratuitous soothing pastry video

While some of her designs harken back to more aestheticized architect/culinary crossovers of the past, I’d bet the use of sugar and fat guarantees these “function” just fine. Whether or not it helps me pick up nuances of flavor, I’d love to take a bite out of a sleek confectionary building just to know how Godzilla feels.

Catch more of Dinara Kasko’s work on her Instagram.

A child’s leafy friend

purelife_1

Children are truly pure and innocent at heart. Remember that video that went viral of the girl who was literally moved to tears by the plight of animals? She vowed never to eat meat again. It was touching, and really made you believe in humanity again. Pure Life is a planter that gives that sort of connect between children and plants. Gamifying the concept of having a green thumb, the Pure Life gives the plant an avatar, telling the child when the plant is happy, or sad, or hungry. It also pairs with an app that allows the child to interact with the plant… much like a virtual pet. The planter also has an air purifier at the bottom that rewards the child with fresh air when they take good care of the plant’s needs. Lovely!

Designer: Tomas Moyano

purelife_2

purelife_3

purelife_4

purelife_5

purelife_6

purelife_7

purelife_8

Wesley Walls embeds multi-level home into forested Arkansas hillside

American architect Wesley Walls has created a home for his family in central Arkansas that is composed of stacked boxes clad in stone, metal and glass (+ slideshow).

Called Two Rivers Point, the multi-level house sits on a steep slope and overlooks a river valley near Little Rock, the state’s capital.

Two Rivers Point Residence by Polk Stanley Wilcox Architects BASE

Encompassing 3,700 square feet (344 square metres), the residence was designed by the architect for his family of four.

Creating an aesthetic that was modern and restrained – as well as providing panoramic views – were key factors during the design process.

Two Rivers Point Residence by Polk Stanley Wilcox Architects BASE

The result is a three-storey structure comprising two 22-foot-long (6.7-metre) bars stacked atop a boxy volume at the base. A flat, angled roof covers the rectilinear home.



“The design intentionally sidesteps trendy formishes in an effort to create a sophisticated, timeless residence,” said Wesley Walls, a principal at the local firm, Polk Stanley Wilcox Architects.

Two Rivers Point Residence by Polk Stanley Wilcox Architects BASE

The material palette was limited to stone, steel and glass, with the surrounding trees meant to add “colour” to the design.

The house is oriented to the north, which enables the interior to be filled with soft light.

Two Rivers Point Residence by Polk Stanley Wilcox Architects BASE

“The ever-changing seasons, weather and time of day provide a myriad of exterior and interior experiences,” the architect said.

A stone wall serves as a visual anchor, while also acting as a physical barrier between private and public spaces within the dwelling.

Two Rivers Point Residence by Polk Stanley Wilcox Architects BASE

The front door is located on the top level and is accessed via a driveway and concrete steps.

Visitors step into a glazed area, called the Upper Level Gallery, and are guided toward a “vertical communicating stair” that connects all floors.

Two Rivers Point Residence by Polk Stanley Wilcox Architects BASE

The living and dining rooms, along with the kitchen, are situated on the top storey and merge with an outdoor terrace.

An island in the kitchen serves as both a counter for entertaining and as a dining table for daily use.

Two Rivers Point Residence by Polk Stanley Wilcox Architects BASE

The middle floor contains a den, master suite and guest bedroom, while the bottom level houses two children’s bedrooms and a shared bathroom.

Throughout the home, ample glazing provides sweeping views of the scenic terrain. The dwelling is fitted with contemporary decor and finishes such as warm-toned wood and stone.

Two Rivers Point Residence by Polk Stanley Wilcox Architects BASE

Sustainable elements include the use of recycled materials, LED lighting, and high-performance mechanical systems.

Other homes in Arkansas include a dwelling by Modus Studio cloaked in weathering steel and wood, and a metal-clad residence by deMx Architecture that is shaped like a bowtie.

Two Rivers Point Residence by Polk Stanley Wilcox Architects BASE
Site plan – click for larger image
Two Rivers Point Residence by Polk Stanley Wilcox Architects BASE
Ground floor plan – click for larger image
Two Rivers Point Residence by Polk Stanley Wilcox Architects BASE
First floor plan – click for larger image
Two Rivers Point Residence by Polk Stanley Wilcox Architects BASE
Second floor plan – click for larger image
Two Rivers Point Residence by Polk Stanley Wilcox Architects BASE
Section – click for larger image

The post Wesley Walls embeds multi-level home into forested Arkansas hillside appeared first on Dezeen.

Vin Scully, With Wings

If you click into the official website biography for singer Roger Whittaker, it’s easy to imagine Vin Scully reading the tapestry of words out loud and giving them full flight. Scully did the next closest thing at the end of his final Dodger Stadium home game Sunday afternoon, sharing over the P.A. system with fans a cover version of “Wind Beneath My Wings” recorded many years prior as a gift for his wife Sandi. She was there in the broadcast booth at his side as the song played, this time as Scully’s heartfelt ode to the fans.

Whittaker, 80, was the first to record “Wind Beneath My Wings” in 1982. One of the song’s two co-writers, Larry Henley, passed away in December 2014. The other, Los Angeles native Jeff Silbar, remains active in the music business. In honor and celebration of Scully’s Chavez Ravine reprise, above is a 2011 version recorded by Silbar in nearby Studio City.

Scully has one more week of baseball duty left. And if at AT&T Park on Sunday Oct. 2 he somehow weaves in a cover version of “I Left My Heart in San Francisco,” we won’t at all be surprised. Watch yesterday’s “Wings” moment here.

Bad UX: Wireless Emergency Alert Asks Public to Spot Terrorist, But Can't Include Pictures or Links

When a then-unnamed bomber detonated his homemade bomb in New York City on September 17th, injuring dozens, he used a cell phone as a timer. Several mornings later, I was in downtown Manhattan when my own cell phone made the “emergency alert” noise. Here was the message:

I looked across the street to see a businesswoman had also pulled her phone out and was peering into it. And I thought, this is kind of cool, that the authorities can use cell phones to enlist all citizens to help find a potential terrorist.

Then I looked at the message again. It said “See media for pic” which I assumed meant an attached file, and I tried clicking on the message, but nothing happened. Then I realized they meant “See media” as in “go look it up in a newspaper, website or on TV,” which is ridiculous. How the hell are we supposed to spot somebody based on their name? Why wasn’t there at least a hyperlink to a website with his photo on it?

It’s limited to 90 characters. Even worse, the FCC has banned hyperlinks, embedded phone numbers and multimedia.

Well, as it turns out, the system that sent the message to my phone is the same as what you in tornado country may have received one on to warn of an impending twister: 

The Wireless Emergency Alerts system, or WEA, is “a public safety system that allows customers…to receive geographically-targeted, text-like messages alerting them of imminent threats to safety in their area. The technology ensures that emergency alerts will not get stuck in highly congested areas, which can happen with standard mobile voice and texting services.”

This system would’ve come in damned handy on 9/11, when none of us could get text messages through and nobody knew what the hell was going on. (After the planes hit, I started the 60-block walk from my office in midtown to my apartment downtown, directly towards Ground Zero. I didn’t know if this was a good idea but I didn’t know what else to do, and some guidance would’ve been helpful.)

So it’s great that WEA exists–but its limitations are absurd. For one thing, it’s limited to 90 characters. Even worse the Federal Communications Commission, which regulates the WEA, has banned hyperlinks, embedded phone numbers and multimedia. They’ve not explained why. Assuming it’s a technical issue to do with the never-gets-stuck nature of the messaging, America surely possesses the brainpower to overcome that.

New York State Senator Charles E. Schumer knows this problem has to be fixed, and yesterday held a press conference calling on the FCC to do so:

“In light of the need to respond in real time to terror threats, we can’t afford to have an emergency wireless response system that is stuck in the 90’s. The bottom line is that in the era of Instagram, Facebook and SnapChat our Wireless Emergency Alert System needs to get as smart as our phones and be updated so it can deliver photos and other media that has information that can save lives.”

The FCC, for their part, says they’re planning on upgrading the message capacity from 90 to 360 characters. But until they figure out how to accurately draw bombers with emoticons, that’s not enough.

Soxfords' Cheeky New Tie Collection: Deviled eggs, Hula girls and a party monster add some well designed fun to your look

Soxfords' Cheeky New Tie Collection

In the limited world of men’s accessories, ties (and bowties) are often given the mighty task of making a statement. Size, color options, material and patterning all allow for a bit more expression, but there’s a slim space between dull and too……

Continue Reading…