SlideShare Takes On Whitepaper Industry With New Ad Platform
SlideShare, the service that lets you share presentations online, has just launchedSlideShare Business as a way for businesses to better target new customers and generate leads…..more
Web Faceoff: Twitter vs. Facebook
If you’ve been surfing Mashable the last few weeks, you probably have already have already seen a few Web Faceoffs, our new weekly series where we let two popular web apps duke it out via reader vote. Two enter, only one can claim the title……more
Google Overpaid YouTube by $1 Billion … Was it Worth It?
Remember when Google bought YouTube for 1.65 billion dollars? After the dot-com bust, many thought that this was a beginning of a new bubble – the web 2.0 bubble. Some thought – me included – that Google got it cheap. Mark Cuban called Google crazyfor spending that much money on YouTube……….more
Belief: Iran is aggressive and has threatened to attack Israel, its neighbors or the US
Reality: Iran has not launched an aggressive war modern history (unlike the US or Israel), and its leaders have a doctrine of “no first strike.” This is true of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, as well as of Revolutionary Guards commanders.
Belief: Iran is a militarized society bristling with dangerous weapons and a growing threat to world peace.
Reality: Iran’s military budget is a little over $6 billion annually. Sweden, Singapore and Greece all have larger military budgets. Moreover, Iran is a country of 70 million, so that its per capita spending on defense is tiny compared to these others, since they are much smaller countries with regard to population. Iran spends less per capita on its military than any other country in the Persian Gulf region with the exception of the United Arab Emirates.
Belief: Iran has threatened to attack Israel militarily and to “wipe it off the map.”
Reality: No Iranian leader in the executive has threatened an aggressive act of war on Israel, since this would contradict the doctrine of ‘no first strike’ to which the country has adhered. The Iranian president has explicitly said that Iran is not a threat to any country, including Israel.
Belief: But didn’t President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad threaten to ‘wipe Israel off the map?’
Reality: President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad did quote Ayatollah Khomeini to the effect that “this Occupation regime over Jerusalem must vanish from the page of time” (in rezhim-e eshghalgar-i Qods bayad as safheh-e ruzgar mahv shavad). This was not a pledge to roll tanks and invade or to launch missiles, however. It is the expression of a hope that the regime will collapse, just as the Soviet Union did. It is not a threat to kill anyone at all.
via azspot
To throw rubbish in the bin instead of onto the floor shouldn’t really be so hard. Many people still fail to do so. Can we get more people to throw rubbish into the bin, rather than onto the ground, by making it fun to do? See the results here.
A novel idea from Sweden. How do you convince people to make positive behavioural choices? Make it fun. After turning a staircase into a piano, 66% more people used it than before, leaving the adjacent escalator almost redundant.
In a similar vein, getting the elderly to exercise through use of pensioners’ playgrounds is a fantastic idea that is having brilliant results across Europe.
You can find more information about this project in this site - The funtheory.com
AR Emerging Awards 2008: The winners
By David Basulto —
The winners of the 10th edition of the AR Emerging Awards are being announced right now. In the past, the AR Emerging Awards have awarded the most promising young practices from around the world. Previous versions of this award confirms it: Sou Fujimoto, Miro Rivera, Plot (BIG) and more.
This time, we´ve got 3 winners, 6 highly commended, 4 commended and 12 honourable mentions.
As for the winners we have the BIP Computers building (Santiago, Chile) by Alberto Mozo(previously featured on ArchDaily), the Hotel Aire Bardenas (Navarra, Spain) by Emiliano López and Mónica Rivera Arquitectos and the the HOMEmade village family houses and DESI building (Vishnupur, Bangladesh) by Anna Heringer (in collaboration with BASE habitat, BRAC University and Dipshikha (NGO)).
Anna Heringer was also featured on the previous versions, and I recommend checking out her work, as she has been doing an amazing job in India, involving the community.
More pictures of the awarded projects after the jump.
Hotel Aire de Bardenas by Emiliano López and Mónica Rivera Arquitectos
BIP Computers by Alberto Mozó
HOMEmade village family houses and DESI building (Vishnupur, Bangladesh) by Anna Heringer (in collaboration with BASE habitat, BRAC University and Dipshikha (NGO)
“When I saw the movie Apocalypto in 2006, for the first time, it woke something in me. The fantastic universe contained a brutality and straightforwardness which, combined with the beauty and greatness, drew me to it – and the desire to recreate and combine the contrast filled elements, with my own style and esthetics has grown ever since. The film itself is not present in the final outfits – but it has led me to my own inspiration. I took the elements from the movie, and found my own pictures, to express the same tension and contrasts. My collection focuses on the neck, as a symbol of the proud tribal element and my outfits move on the edge between the elegant/luxurious and the brutal/androgynous and the tension it creates gives strength to the collection in a contrast filled universe.” – said Camilla. (via Art School Confidential : Camilla Lastrina | Trend.Land -> Fashion Blog & Trend Magazine
)
Gymnasium 46º09′N-16º50E / STUDIO UP
This morning, at the Granting ceremony of the Mies van der Rohe Awards for European Architecture in Barcelona at the Mies van der Rohe Pavilion, we met Lea and Toma, founders of Studio Up, winners of the Emerging Architect Special Mention for Gymnasium 46° 09′ N / 16° 50′ E in Koprivnica, Croatia -and they shared with us this interesting project.
The Jury, chaired by Francis Rambert includes: Ole Bouman, Irena Fialová, Fulvio Irace, Luis M. Mansilla, Carme Pinós and Vasa J. Perović.
Lea Pelivan (Born in Split, Croatia in 1976) and Toma Plejić (Born in Riijeka, Croatia in 1977) both received their architecture diplomas in 2001 from the University of Zagreb where they established their professional practice in 2003. Their most important projects include: Frameworks (Site-specific project for the 2004 Biennale di Venezia), the P10 Mixed-Use Building, Split and the Spectator Business Building, Zagreb.
‘Koprivnica – Spirit of Mega’; a town with the lowest number of college graduates in Croatia announced the rebellious competition program for 900 scholars and 2000 spectators in 2003.
The site of the high school building and a sports hall, in front of the American-like housing suburb periphery, is located at the end of a series of ambitious town interventions – mega elements. ‘Tabula rasa’; The contact site of these ‘two worlds’ is radically divided into two parts, black and green, full and empty, spiritual and physical, one facing the city and the other facing the residential suburbia.
The new building complex arises between these two extremes. An enigmatic compressed mono-volume of the gymnasium and sports hall complex with intricate spatial relations in contrast to a vast plain landscape, placed centrally on the plot, forms a gymnasium – a common place – a contrasting provocative whole lacking a foreground or background, without hierarchy or authority.
The “common place” concept examines the stability of the hybrid, and enables the most diverse interpretations both in terms of use and interpretation of significance of the building. The selection of an abstract mono-volume, with a transparent membrane is a radical break with the modernist tradition of building schools and sports facilities as three-dimensional interpretations of bureaucratic disposition schemes. In addition to the public-private partnership in construction of the gymnasium and sports hall in Koprivnica, the idea of building two complementary urban facilities in a single building also arose. Hybrid facilities overlap with the public-private partnership concept, where the hybrid complex is leased and managed independently of the newly formed institution. The spatial and visual overlapping of the facilities and the synergy of use constitute the basic operative logic underlying the building.
The structure of the building is reinforced concrete on the ground floor, while the upper floors are realized with dry assembled ‘H’ shaped steel elements. The classrooms floors have thin Slim-deck flooring, made up of trapezoid section lightweight galvanized sheet steel and cast concrete. The roof of the sports hall is made using a specially designed grid work of right-angled elements and joints in steel. Generally, all the materials are available on the standard building market (lightning, anodised aluminium window frames, metal parapet grilles, Profilit industrial opal glass) and there is no finishing when unnecessary, as in case of the floor soffits which are left unfinished. Because of its high cost there is no air conditioning in the gym, so system of shutters above the sports hall and the ducts through the cantilevered classrooms of the top floor ensure a constant flow of cool air during the summer months, while the double polycarbonate skin creates a ‘green house effect’ in winter. The translucent skin, illuminated at night, radiates the even and turns the building into public condenser, an iconic and symbolic place for the youngsters of Koprivnica.
Credits
Architects: Lea Pelivan + Toma Plejic / STUDIO UP
Location: Ulica dr. Selingera, Koprivnica
Project Team: Lea Pelivan, Toma Plejic, Sasa Relic, Marina Zajec, Katarina Luketina, Danka Tisljar, Ana Dana Beros, Mojca Smode, Marina Smokvina, Ana Boljar, Masa Mujakic, Antun Sevsek (models 1:50, 1:100 Zeljko Golubic, Jerolim Mladinov, Dujam Ivanisevic, Silvija Lakovic), Mateo Bilus, Teodor Cvitanovic, UPI-2M: Berislav Medic, Goran Janjus, Andrej Markovic, ENG-90: Milan Bjedov, Ernest Kevo, Sinisa Radic, INSPEKTING: Milan Carevic
Client: Koprivnica Municipal Authority, Koprivnica-Krizevci County, Tehnika SPV (private partner)
Site Area: 2,4 ha
Constructed area: 11,600 sqm
Project: 2003-2006
Completion: 2007
Cost: 10,958,904.00 €
Program: High school (900 students) and Sports hall (2000 visitors)
Competition: Open
Investment: Public-private partnership
Photographs: Robert Les
World Architecture Festival 2008
14APR 2008By David Basulto —
The World Architecture Festival is an annual event for architects worldwide, and this year it will be held at Barcelona, Spain on October 22-24 and will award buildings in 16 categories (more info con the awards after the break)
This 3 day event will have a nice agenda, full with exhibitions, live presentations, product showcases, a student charrette, thematic exhibitions (built environment, new technologies, collaboration and sustainability), plenary lectures, study tours of Barcelona and lots of social events and networking.
Student charrette
The Festival will invite architectural students from 10 of the world’s best known architectural schools to participate in an intensive two day live design competition concentrating on a design brief to be agreed with the City of Barcelona.
The teams of students, led by a well known architect, will have a limited time period to generate conceptual ideas and will then present to a panel of judges who will select a winning team. All of the work generated will be on display on day 3 of the Festival.
Awards
The 2008 awards are for buildings completed between 1 January 2007 and 20 June 2008. Buildings in any country, by architects of any nationality, are eligible for entry.
International juries will shortlist the best entries in 96 building types, grouped into 16 categories. All shortlisted architects will present their work to live juries and audiences at the Festival, competing against each other to become category winners.
Category winners will compete against each other in front of a super-jury, to win the ‘best in show’ prize, the first architectural Prix de Barcelona.
All entries in the awards will be exhibited on site at the Festival in a gallery modelled on the Barcelona grid system, and after the Festival all entries will be permanently available to view on the WAF website.
Registration will open on April 15th at the awards website.
If you are submiting something, good luck! (and send it to us to be showcased at ArchDaily). If you are attending, we hope to see you there! And if you are not attending… we hope to bring live coverage of the event in October.
SmarterCities launched last week as a platform to submit your ideas for local change. It’s an enthusiastic and valuable idea, and it was a pleasure working with the smart folks at IBM to get this project on its feet.
It was fun using as many colors as I could think of. Can you find all 6,000?
Is Google a Social Media Company? (via Fred Wilson, Bijan Sabet)
I hope not. That sounds awful.
Fortunately, I think this is one of those new-media thought extrapolations where we’re so far into the clouds that we can’t even see reality anymore.
I’m sure products and services (or “brands”, as they like to call themselves) will continue trying to find us on social networks. That doesn’t mean that we’ll welcome them in many contexts. People are already annoyed that they can’t rant about their local cable monopoly’s awful service on Twitter without receiving a cheerful but useless reply from a PR drone with the frustratingly false implication they can do something to improve their employer’s mediocrity.
When you tell your friends that you’re having coffee at Aroma, the last thing you want is to get an at-reply from Starbucks asking you to try their location across the street. When you congratulate your friends for their new baby on Facebook, you don’t want Pampers to auto-message you (or them) about the great features on their new diapers.
Meanwhile, if you search Google for coffee or baby announcements, the chances are much better that you’re interested in seeing commercial offers — or at least won’t be interrupted and offended by them.
Social media, by design, resides in a similar context as socializing in real life. “Brands” can’t interrupt us in the social context without being awkward and unwanted. Imagine the mood if your new father-in-law followed your grandfather’s war story during Thanksgiving dinner with a pitch for his Amway energy drinks and a great investment opportunity for everyone at the table.
Commercial interaction just doesn’t work in that context, and I doubt that it ever could.
(via marco)
