LOCAL CULTURE.

People out in Rotterdam last Friday night who spotted a glowing, poppy-colored umbrella dome on the street couldn’t resist stopping in for a spontaneous party. The temporary structure housed a full bar and DJ, and over 300 visitors gathered there until 2 am when the police shut things down. Titled the Bucky Bar, the dome was part of a series of unsolicited positive proposals for the future of the city of Rotterdam by DUS Architects and Studio for Unsolicited Architecture.

From the architect/party planners: “The title refers to the great American inventor, Buckminster Fuller, who demonstrated how minimal energy geodesic domes could open a way to a more environmentally sustainable future. Could an umbrella dome lead the way to a more socially sustainable future? The Bucky Bar is a full-scale model of such a future. It shows the power of space for spontaneous gathering, for improvised shelters to host conversations, debates, games or even parties.” Click Read More for additional information and photos.

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LOCAL CULTURE.

In National Geographic’s March issue they have a terrific photo essay entitled Shanghai Dreams. Fritz Hoffman’s photos juxtapose Shanghai’s older aspects & traditions against new architecture & highspeed tendencies. As spotted on Boing Boing – they report: “There are lots of places in the world where seamless high-tech and ancient cobblestones exist side by side, but I’ve never been anywhere in which you can go from one to the other so quickly as Shanghai.” Click Read More for additional information and photos.

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LOCAL CULTURE.

For the past 14 winters, residents of Copenhagen have been unable to safely venture onto the city’s frozen lakes. Now, sufficient chill has turned the ice into a temporary extension of the city, a place for gathering, skating, sliding and even cycling.

Copenhagenzine describes how the frozen lakes augment the city and the way it is experienced: “The thing that hits me [...] is how much real estate is suddenly available to the citizens. [...] You really get the sense that the city has suddenly grown. Standing on the ice in the middle of one of the lakes you experience views that are otherwise inaccessible [sic].”

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CULTURE: Lately we’ve been pursuing stories about cabs for a project we’re working on. The cab drivers, managers and companies have an interesting perspective on the urban grid. In our research we came across this fantastic collection of Tokyo cab signs. The design and expression of the signs is matched with really sharp photography. Click Read More to view additional photos and information.

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CULTURE: Handball is intense. It’s also a staple of NYC. In the summer you’ll see people playing for hours. From kids to grown men and women, the parks loom with stories of epic ballers. 13th Witness – a bright light in film and photography – brilliantly captures the energy Handballers bring to New York City. There aren’t words that can articulate the culture more than this video. Click Read More to watch.

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The NY Times has an interesting article about Japan’s shifting trend away from luxury shopping. As their economy chugs along customers are looking to megastores and thrift shops for their purchasing needs. As the Times reports, “Not long ago, many Japanese bought so many $100 melons and $1,000 handbags that this was the only country in the world where luxury products were considered mass market. Even through the economic stagnation of Japan’s so-called lost decade, which began in the early 1990s, Japanese consumers sustained that reputation. But this recession has done something that earlier declines could not: turned the Japanese into Wal-Mart shoppers.” Read the entire article.

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As technology zooms along, the ability to capture and distribute high quality video is astounding. The video above was captured with a Canon EOS5DmkII. While it looks and operates like your traditional DSLR, it also shoots in full HD at 1920×1080 resolution.

Check out the work of Dan Chung as he shoots a typical night in Beijing. It’ll make you want to visit and people watch for hours. Here’s some more detail about the short: “Video filmed by Guardian photographer Dan Chung entirely on a production Canon EOS5DmkII and adapted Nikon and Zeiss lenses using manual focus. The camera was purchased to use solely as a video camera with existing Nikon kit. The film was shot and edited in about twelve hours directly after picking the camera up from a Beijing camera store and charging the battery.” Click Read More for additional information and photos.

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