The Museum of Nature by Ilkka Halso

www.inhabitat.com

Finnish photographer Ilkka Halso’s photographic series ‘The Museum of Nature’ intelligently challenges how we can imagine the natural environment of the future. This collection of images capture a series of man-made structures that enclose nature, protecting it like a relic of the past. Using images of landscapes and 3D digital manipulation, this photographic collection captures a future vision of nature as a rare display. Challenging the audience’s interaction with the natural environment as endangered artifact, Halso manages to truly visualize a future we so desperately do not want to see become a reality.

Halso’s work is a thoroughly engaging project that takes us into a future world where nature is a museum-like place and experience is controlled. We do appreciate BLDGBLOG’s pessimistic suggestion as to how appropriate these images would be as illustrations in some form of eco-catastrophic novel. However, we also think that these thought-provoking portents could stand-alone in any urban environment to remind us how truly precious our natural world is becoming.

+ Ilkka Halso

Via The Post Family Via BLDGBLOG

by Kate Andrews

Santa Monica’s New Solar Powered LED Ferris Wheel

by Alexandra /www.inhabitat.com

The Pacific Ferris Wheel at the Santa Monica Pier in California took her last spin on May 5th before crews dismantled the sun-faded behemoth piece by piece to make way for a shiny new wheel. And shiny it is, boasting 160,000 LED lights that will bring glittering visual performances to Santa Monica’s evening sky. The solar panels used for the old wheel will remain at the pier, providing clean energy for the 90-foot ride and its 800 passengers per hour.

The old wheel, shown in disassembly, has been auctioned off on eBay for over $130,000 dollars. The lucky recycler is Oklahoma City real-estate developer, Grant Humphreys. In time, Humphreys plans to incorporate the wheel into a mixed use residential community.

The Pacific Wheel, erected in 1996, was the world’s first and only solar powered ferris wheel making cameo appearances in many Hollywood films including A Night at the Roxbury, Titanic, and Thank You for Smoking. Pacific Park has donated half of the winning bid to Special Olympics Southern California. And, for each person who rode the wheel on its last day, $1 was donated to LA’s Society for the Prevention of Cruelty Animals. Inscribed with the words ‘Pacific Wheel,’ one of the hubs will be preserved at the Santa Monica Historical Society.

The new wheel, manufactured by Chance Morgan Rides, is a $1.5 million dollar investment for the city, debuting just in time for Santa Monica’s Memorial Day weekend festivities and the long California summer ahead. It’s use of LED lights will cut costs and energy consumption for the park, while a solar application generates up to 71,000 kilowatt hours of photovoltaic power.

Torrena , Guadalajara, Jalisco

El espíritu en alto
15/05/2007

Las ciudades se distinguen por un conjunto de rasgos inherentes, no sólo es su ubicación geográfica, sino la identidad histórica y cultural lo que le dan personalidad.

El mariachi, el tequila, la gastronomía, la arquitectura y todo nuestro folclor son parte de nuestro origen, así como su gente sembró en tierra fértil, con miras hacia un futuro en donde las nuevas generaciones cosecharían los frutos, esa gente que con su talento y esfuerzo, nos ha dejado un legado invaluable, del cual nosotros damos testimonio, pues con el tiempo se han convertido en nuestros símbolos, en nuestra identidad como mexicanos, por lo que su compromiso dio como resultado a uno de los estados más representativos de nuestro país: Jalisco.

Porque todos tenemos un pasado por el cual sentirnos orgullosos y vivimos un presente lleno de oportunidades, tenemos que ver el futuro como resultado de nuestra lucha constante, de nuestras ganas de seguir con el mismo espíritu de grandeza que nuestros antepasados, para seguir avanzando, siempre trabajaron en conjunto.

La semilla se sembró, ahora nos toca cuidarla y alimentarla para que siga creciendo, y continúe dando frutos, por lo que en nosotros está ahora el construir los símbolos del México moderno, no solo como simples espectadores, sino como actores constantes, de tomar decisiones y construir, siempre volteando al frente, para conducirnos por un camino sin límites, seamos el vínculo entre el pasado y futuro, entre el origen y el desarrollo, por que lo sentimos, por que nos corresponde, por nosotros y por nuestra gente, por una gran ciudad, por un país mejor.



Sigamos construyendo, avivemos la flama, seamos parte de lo trascendente, seamos parte del nuevo México. Torrena “El espíritu en alto”.

http://www.torrena.com.mx/