Colossal Baobab Tree Made From Recycled Fabric Takes Root in Central London

A towering baobab tree made from colorful strands of recycled textiles recently rose on the bank of the River Thames in London. Dubbed “Under the Baobab”, the art installation was created by Pirate Technics for the Southbank Centre’s Festival of the World. With the help of local students from the Chelsea College of Art and Design, the group stacked rings upon rings of fabric to form a beautiful blooming tree.

http://inhabitat.com/colossal-baobab-tree-made-from-recycled-fabric-takes-root-in-central-london/

guerrilla gardening

http://hort-doc.blogspot.co.il/2011/08/fork-law-guerrilla-gardening-in-ireland.html

http://mediatingthemediated.wordpress.com/2011/05/13/guerrilla-gardening/

http://wenchwisdom.blogspot.co.il/2012/04/this-just-in-guerilla-gardeners-spread.html

MELTING MEN Eco Art Calls Attention to Global Warming

Ice melts. Simple, yes, and yet it seems to be one of those seminal issues of our time. Ice is melting, in a big, thundering, shuddering, streaming-down way, and it’s making polar bears swim longer, dissolving Arctic villages, and making the hunt difficult. Similar to the army of melting penguins from 50graus.org, Brazilian artist Nele Azevedo’s art installation of frozen men brings the Arctic ice melt to the equator, metaphorically speaking. Showcasing a multitude of thought-provoking figures carefully sculpted out of ice, these men seem to sit in contemplation as the midday heat slowly erodes their bodies.

Photos of the sculptures have spread wide over the internet, earning comments and praise in Portuguese, Russian and English. The little people sit quietly as the sun slaughters them slowly. It’s funny, even if you’re sitting in front of your computer, wrapped against the cold of an unusually chilly day– the effects of the melting ice can be felt worldwide, though few of us have lived on permafrost.

http://inhabitat.com/eco-art-nele-azvedo-melting-men/

Holding Pattern by Interboro Partners

Instead of deciding outright what the installation should be, Interboro talked to PS1′s neighbors about what they needed and let the design grow organically from the input, incorporating the community’s requested materials. The result, as the firm say, is “a scheme that doesn’t so much redesign the courtyard as reveal it.” Holding Pattern is a twisted canopy of rope that stretches from the main PS1 building to each side of the courtyard through one large and continuous structure.


Under the canopy, Interboro created sitting areas, and used things like mirrors, flood lights and ping-pong tables to create an interactive space for for Warm Up attendees. The seating will be split between a senior citizens center and the Checker Management offices. The mirrors will be given to the Long Island City Ballet School, the flood lights will go to the NYC Irish Center, and the ping pong tables are for Info Tech High School.
Interboro Partners worked with more than 15 different community groups to create the final design. On their website, they say, “We never would have thought to include [these items], but [they] both enhance the Warm Up’s program, and strengthen MoMA PS1′s ties to its neighborhood.

http://www.dezeen.com/2011/02/17/holding-pattern-by-interboro-partners/

http://inhabitat.com/nyc/brooklyn-based-interboro-partners-wins-moma-ps1s-young-architects-program/

Afterparty by MOS at P.S.1

A pavilion consisting of thatched, conical towers designed by MOS architects has opened outside the P.S.1 Contemporary Art Centre in New York.
The pavilion is covered in thatched palm-fibre from Indonesia and will be used as a venue for events over the summer. The brief required that the pavilion have bar areas, provide shade and seating, and incorporate water. Cooling air is drawn across concrete troughs of water and upwards through the chimney-like structures, which also provide shade for visitors.

http://www.dezeen.com/2009/07/24/afterparty-by-mos-2/

Pole Dance

The brainchild of Solid Objectives – Idenburg Liu (SO-IL), the Brooklyn-based firm founded by Florian Idenburg and Jing Liu in 2007, it consists of several dozen 30-foot-high fiberglass poles connected by bungee cords, with an open net slung over the bungees at a height of about 15 feet. Weighing down the net at intervals are 120 colorful inflated balls. As wind blows through the courtyard, the poles sway and the balls bob peacefully above your head. Things get more interesting when somebody decides to give one of the poles a nice violent shake, sending convulsions through the entire installation and maybe even launching a few of the balls skyward.

visitors wanting to take full advantage of Pole Dance’s interactivity will need to get out their iPhones. Eight of the poles in a side courtyard (below) are rigged with accelerometers; as those poles swivel and vibrate, data is sent to a piece of software that converts the poles’ motion into eerie electronic tones emitted from a ring of speakers. (The sound design is by Arup.) And iPhone-toting attendees can visit www.poledance.so-il.org to adjust the quality of the sound in real time.

http://www.metropolismag.com/pov/20100625/seriously-playful#more-16095

Warm Up – Cool Down

Taking as a starting point the relief we experience when we move between temperature extremes—from hot sunshine into a cool pool of shaded water, for example—Matter Practice’s proposal juxtaposes warm and cool areas throughout MoMA PS1’s outdoor spaces. The firm proposes to install a cooling tower and a solar chimney in one of the small side courtyards, supplying cool air to the main area while venting heat. Moving between the ventilated and unventilated areas, visitors enjoy the relief of warming up or cooling down on a microclimatic level. A colorful canopy shades the entire space, blocking ultraviolet rays and eliminating foundation supports at ground level.

http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/yap/2011ny_warmup

Public Farm One/ work AC

PF1 (Public Farm One) is an urban farm concept built with inexpensive and sustainable materials recyclable after its use at P.S.1, such as cardboard tubes that form a continuous surface creating multiple zones of activity including swings, fans, sound effects, innovative seating areas, and a refreshing pool at its center, as an Urban Beach.

http://www.archdaily.com/708/ps1-young-architects-program-2008-work-architecture-company/

http://www.publicfarm1.org/index.php?/images/