cylonkey

A good city, like a good wine, needs time to develop. As any Civilization-playing geek knows, it takes decades or centuries to turn a cluster of villages into a living, breathing metropolis. It cannot happen overnight. Or can it? Here are 12 urban centres that offer a radical alternative to the traditional model of urban development – they are brand new, fully-working cities from the first day they open for business.

King Abdullah Economic City, Saudi Arabia

(Image via: King Abdullah Economic City)

Saudi Arabia, as you may be aware, is not short on cash. It is therefore unsurprising that its king (Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud) can afford to put $80 billion on the table to finance a new city in his name that will hold an incredible 2 million people.

(Image via: King Abdullah Economic City)

Eventually covering 150 square miles – core plus suburbs – on the edge of the Red Sea and just an hour away from Mecca, the spiritual centre of the Islamic world, King Abdullah Economic City appears to lack nothing but a sexy name. It will house one of the largest sea ports in the world, it will provide over a million jobs (desperately important for the future of a country where 40% of the population is currently under 15 years old) – and if construction sticks to schedule, it will be complete by 2020. Truly amazing.

Treasure Island, San Francisco Bay Area

(Images via: Inhabitat)

Named after Robert Louis Stevenson’s swashbuckling adventure novel (arrrr, that it be!), Treasure Island is yielding a different type of gold these days. The island is an entirely artificial construction built during the 1930s, and its massive derelict aircraft hangers have proved a popular resource for film-makers. A lively history – but soon to be entirely eclipsed by its redevelopment as a sustainably designed eco-city, incorporating an organic farm, wind turbines and a wastewater treatment plant. Most ingenious of all, the streets will all be realigned to minimize their exposure to the brunt of the wind, keeping residential energy bills as low as possible.

Songdo, South Korea

(Images via: Songdo IBD)

New Songdo City is much more than an agreement between designers and developers, accompanied by flashy computer models and artistic renditions…it’s rising higher every day. Perched atop 1,500 acres of reclaimed land, the city is designed with one overriding purpose in mind, as announced on its entrance gates: “Welcome: we will change the face of business“. With 80,000 apartments and 60 million square feet of office and retail space, it may be no idle boast. The $40 billion development will open in 2015 – and will probably only attract residents with deep pockets, as the average apartment will cost half a million dollars.

Waterfront City, Dubai

(Image via: OMA)

It goes without saying that ultra-wealthy Dubai has a new city in the works. It is at the centre of a development made of artificial islands and canals called Waterfront, the design-work of the Office for Metropolitan Architecture. With a population of 1.5 million, Waterfront will double Dubai’s population, boost its job market by one million and add 70km to its coastline.

(Image via: OMA)

At its centre, Waterfront City – around 100,000 fulltime residents with a working capacity of three times that number, and arranged around a central island (pictured) comprised of a 5 x 5 grid of streets arrayed with high-rise buildings. (If you are wondering, the curious-looking silver sphere is a 44-storey skyscraper). However, the cultural focus of the development will be the second of Dubai’s Palm islands, appearing to sprout from one end of the Waterfront’s crescent.

Guangzhou, China

(Image via: Joncrel)

A city steeped in history, Guangzhou – better known to European history as Canton – is in the process of getting a much-needed makeover from the ground upwards…in essence by building a new city and threading it through the best remnants of the existing one. At present, derelicts buildings and crumbling concrete blight significant stretches of the metropolitan area (total population, a shade under 10 million).

(Images via: Inhabitat)

The new Guangzhou will be a place of green spaces, space-efficient housing, an expanded transportation system and a new waterfront. Designers Heller Manus Architects intend for the city to be arranged around networks of open courtyards, attempting to beautify the shabby, impractical areas of the city with greenery and planned gardens. The Southern axis of the city is currently under scrutiny, and when it is developed it will be linked with its already renewed Northern counterpart (also the work of Heller Manus) and the city’s transformation will be complete.

Malabo II, Equatorial Guinea

(Images via: skyscrapercity)

The capital of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea, Malabo, is eager to leave its past behind – not just a troubled post-colonial history, but an urban infrastructure that can’t keep up with a booming population. The answer is Malabo II: an attempt to relocate the heart of the city on its outskirts and rebuild outwards from there. Many of Malabo’s principal governmental buildings will be resituated at the new site, surrounded by good-quality paved roads and cutting edge infrastructural technology. The money for all this is coming from huge oil and gas reserves found off the coast in the 1990s – and the eventual aim is to absorb the old capital into Malabo II, replacing the city from within.

Rawabi, West Bank

(Image via: Rawabi)

If ever a place was desperate for new cities, it’s the Middle East’s West Bank. For the last 50 years, Israelis and Palestinians have struggled to find common ground in every sense imagineable – and the fallout has blighted the Palistianian economy and the region’s standards of living. The new city of Rawabi intends to change all that.

(Images via: Rawabi)

As well as offering a place for Palistinian professionals to set up home in beautiful, airy, well-kept surroundings, the city is also designed to anchor the region’s economy and provide a place for long-term investment, research and learning. It is a place built to endure in a land in flux for decades – and more than that, it is an unambiguous political statement for the Palistinian people: We Are Here To Stay.

Masdar City, Abu Dhabi

(Image via: Masdar City)

With a projected population of 50,000 people, the planned 6-million-square-metre city of Masdar may seem thoroughly overshadowed by all the cities we’ve already outlined – but when it comes to green living, this is the winner on the grounds of sheer ambition.

(Images via: Masdar City)

Designed by Brit architects Fosters + Partners and being built by the Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company, Masdar wants to show the world how a city can go green from the get-go. Automobiles will be banned within the city walls. The city’s energy needs will be entirely met with renewable sources including solar, wind and geothermal sources, and even the world’s largest hydrogen power plant. Up to 80% of the city’s water supply will be recycled, and waste will be reduced to as close to zero as possible. (No news on accomodation prices for those lucky 50,000, but we suspect this green utopia comes at a hefty cost).

Destiny, Florida

(Images via: Destiny Folrida)

The environment is top of the list of priorities for Florida’s new urban wonder, Destiny City. Planted on 40,000 acres of Osceola County land, the city is an attempt to make “the Silicon Valley of green technology, in the words of its developer Anthony Pugliese. Once completed it will house a quarter of a million people, with a large proportion of them working in newly-created green collar jobs in the area. Recycling facilities, electric car filling stations, gray water irrigation, a possible biomass power plant producing super-cheap energy – the list goes on. It sounds too good to be true…and since ground hasn’t been broken yet (that’s scheduled for 2011), it’s very early days. In every sense – watch this space.

Ziggurat Project, Dubai

(Image via: )

Moving further into the realm of what-if, we have the return of the ziggurat – the colossal terraced pyramids of antiquity, typified by the famous monumental temple at Ur in what is now modern-day Iraq. Ziggurats are back – except on a scale we’ve never seen before.

(Image via: Business Intelligence Middle East)

The Ziggurat Project is a proposal for a self-containing sustainable community of one million people. Renewable energy would power this enormous multi-tiered machine, while its occupants would get around using the integrated transport system (removing the need for personal vehicles).

Crystal Island, Moscow

(Images via: Foster and Partners)

A new city proposal with similar designs on the sky is the dazzling Crystal Island. Covering 27 million square feet and nearly half a kilometre high, this structure would house 30,000 people (making it more of a new town than a new city) and its terraced gardens and dynamic frame would moderate the inner environment depending on the season – allowing cool air in and reflecting unwanted sunshine in the summer, insulating and illuminating during the winter. 3,000 hotel rooms, 900 apartments and a thriving business sector complete the picture of the world’s first inhabited steel volcano.

X-Seed 4000, Japan

(Images via: Inhabitat)

Of course, you can go too far. Take the X-Seed 4000, a building so absurdly ambitious that the designers later admitted it was never meant to be built (they were trying to impress the industry – or put another way, showing off). With a 6-kilometer-square footprint, it would reach 800 floors into the Japanese sky and cost anything up to $900 billion to build. The shape is inspired by Mount Fuji, except (you may want to sit down for this part) the X-Seed 400 would actually be taller than Fuji by 200 metres. Madness? Here and now, perhaps…but since the design is perfect for lower-gravity environments, is this the first draft of humanity’s first offworld city from scratch?

Success for models, celebrities, advertising campaigns, and entertainment all depend upon being well-liked by the masses. Their rise to popularity can influence society and change cultural tastes, but it is often the fashion photographer who moves behind the scenes to make it happen. Fashion photography is much more than headshots, but fashion, clothing, jewelry, cosmetics, anything photographed to advertise and to sell. These photographers emphasize staging the shots, elaborate poses, and exotic backdrops to peak the public’s interest, increase sex appeal and sell their final product in magazines, TV, movies and even the Internet. Their art of eye-catching has transformed fashion photography into an outstanding art form. Here are 16 model and advertising fashion photographers.

Richard Avedon, Steven Meisel, Mario Testino, Mert & Marcus

(image credits: pixcetera ,All About Madonna ,ilikeiwishiheart ,bloomacious)

Legendary Richard Avedon was one of the fathers of modern-day fashion photography. He captured model Twiggy in the upper left photo. Steven Meisel is one of the most iconic fashion photographers of all time and models aspire to be photographed by him. Meisel has photographed every cover of Vogue Italia since 1988. In the upper right, Meisel shot Madonna for the 2008 Vanity Fair cover and won for image of the year. Mario Testino is best known for his highly polished and exquisitely styled photographs that manage to carry a deceptive air of nonchalance. Testino captured many images of the late Diana, including the Princess of Wales’ famous Vanity Fair cover in 1997. In the bottom right picture, Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott show off their vivid image with deeply saturated color and textural depth. Mert and Marcus are not only famed fashion photographers but also masters of digital manipulation.

Annie Leibovitz

(image credits: fashion bride)

Annie Leibovitz is a formidable force in fashion photography. She is known for capturing a piece of personality in each shot. The above photograph was taken by Leibovitz for Vogue, starring Drew Barrymore in Beauty and the Beast. It is indeed as the magazine states, A feast for the eyes.

Peter Lindbergh, David LaChapelle

(image credits: David LaChapelle ,LaChapelle Studio,Peter Lindbergh ,ecorazzi)

David LaChapelle as an artist, a fashion photographer, seems to like to keep people talking even if the comments are not always complimentary. He is a dynamic force in his field. The top left advertising photo was taken for Lavazza. The top right, of Michael Jackson as an archangel, showcases LaChapelle’s digital skills as he had never even photographed Jackson, but still managed this picture as a tribute. The bottom two images were shot by German fashion photographer Peter Lindbergh. Linnea for Little Nikki is on the left, while the photo on the right was shot as an advertising campaign for Kate Hudson in Africa.

Sante D’Orazio, Sophie Delaporte, Patrick Demarchelier

(image credits: Sante D’Orazio ,Sante D’Orazio ,Sophie Delaporte,Patrick Demarchelier)

One of the most important image-makers working in the area of fashion photography today is Sante D’Orazio. D’Orazio’s signature style is a unique blend of advertising and art. His sexy campaigns includes works for clients such Victoria’s Secret. The top two left pictures were taken by D’Orazio. Although the upper right photo is more mellow than most of her pictures, Sophie Delaporte has a painter’s eye. Her keen sense of color, sometimes vivid yet sometimes muted, can display a scene from her camera in a different way than most people would see it with their eyes. The bottom photo was taken by famous French fashion photographer Patrick Demarchelier. He has shot covers for nearly every major fashion magazine, since he is a master photographer who uses light, lines and forms of the human body. Demarchelier said, “Beauty is everywhere”, he says, “you only have to open your eyes.”

Max Cardelli

(image credits: Max Cardelli)

As a fashion photographer, Max Cardelli has photographed many to showcase his sense of style and his range of talent. However, his ability truly was showing for Etros Fall Winter 2008-2009 season shoot. Cardelli and Etros went green, literally. The show venue was the most unique stage of the season. Besides the green set, bundles of greenery, and a garden full of vegetables, Cardelli snapped shots while the models walked on dirt to really get a feel and a feeling of loving our planet.

Bruce Weber, Roman Salicki

(image credits: Bruce Weber ,Roman Salicki)

Bruce Weber got his first big shoot with GQ magazine. His style is as unique as his first label line, “eat, swim, sex, sleep.” The photographs on top are from Heartbreaker’s Club, Weber’s take on the best and brightest of young Hollywood. Roman Salicki has done many shoots of sets, food, and jewelry. His variety of assignments have taken him to over 100 countries, from capturing images of celebrities in their fabulous homes to commercial shoots. The photo on the bottom emphasizes a closeup of cosmetic and jewelry fashion.

Way Out There Fashion Photography

(image credits: carioca ,carioca ,troyt coburn ,Daily Mail)

Fashion photography can focus less on the models and more on the products. Some are done with a degree of fun mixed with graphic programs to enhance the images. Carioca Studios presents the top two photographs, one of high heel cleats and the other of black boots set in a magically tweaked background. The bottom left picture was taken by Troyt Coburn. He shoots very enticing pictures, from portrait, editorial, to advertising with some untouched and some graphic alterations done to the images. Lastly, fashion photography can be anything but serious. Julian Wolkenstein made supermodels of horses to show off fancy hairstyles. Each horse took four hours to add the hair extensions and then took a full day to shoot.

Cardboard is a mundane material, so often cast off and thrown away or recycled – but these 12 artists have transformed it into objects that are anything but disposable. From expressive little faces made of toilet paper tubes to an entire cardboard city, these works of art range from temporary installations to durable sculptures that are imaginative and eco-friendly.

Junior Fritz Jaquet

(images via: Village of Joy)

The lowly toilet paper roll has many surprising uses, but perhaps none are quite so full of personality as the ‘origami’ sculptures of Junior Fritz Jacquet. This paper artist paints the inner cardboard tubes from toilet paper and folds them into expressive faces, each distinct and charming despite their humble origins.

Peeta

(images via: Peeta.net)

Italian artist Peeta is renowned for his graffiti, but it’s his 3-D interpretations of his art that make him really stand out from the crowd. Cardboard is among the materials Peeta has used to transform written graffiti into complex forms that have been featured in galleries around the world.

Fantastic Norway Architecture

(images via: Arch Daily)

While living in a cardboard box is about as far from high-end architecture as it gets, a firm called Fantastic Norway Architecture managed to make hundreds of them into a unique hanging art installation. The boxes form a pixelated-looking ‘cloud’ suspended from the ceiling at the Center for Design and Architecture.

Mike Leavitt

(images via: Sneaker News)

Seattle-based artist Mike Leavitt created a series of cardboard shoes for the ‘Don’t Stop Object Shopping’ exhibition at NYC’s Fuse Gallery last April. The sculptures show what shoes like Air Jordan IVs, adidas Gazelles and Converse Chuck Taylor All Stars would look like in recyclable form.

“These are aimed at examining consumerism and the current state of the economy,” Leavitt told Arrested Motion. “I’ve found a rhythm with making them, I’m learning new fabrication tricks which I’m still excited to apply, and continue to have tons of ideas on how to expand the series.”

Jözef Sumichrast

(images via: Jozef.com)

Sculptor Jözef Sumichrast says he can’t find any inspiration in traditional artists’ materials, so he has turned to cardboard, shellac and drywall screws among other unusual media.

Of this piece, Sumichrast says, “Sometimes when I work for a couple of days without sleep fatigue sets in. These are the times when I see movement. Out of the corner of my eye a shape or undesirable object moves across the floor or falls from the ceiling. Recently… one of these shapes was a large rabbit. Though the rabbit appeared only for an instant, its image remains with me.”

“I did not want to completely refine or cast this piece. The image came and vanished so quickly that I felt it needed an unfinished appearance. The medium for “Wall Rabbit” is industrial cardboard. The use of cardboard is a backlash against technology. However, I have found that when this lowly material is sanded, it is elevated to velvet.”

Paul Orzech

(images via: PaulOrzech.com)

Artist Paul Orzech’s sculptures don’t look like they’re made of cardboard either – but that’s because they’re not, technically, though the material plays a large role in his technique. But Orzech uses strips of cardboard to form his designs before firing them in a kiln, resulting in cavities that are filled with molten bronze.

Joseph DeLappe

(images via: Instructables & Winnie Shek)

Artist Joseph DeLappe created a 17-foot-tall cardboard figure of his avatar in the video game Second Life, MGandhi Chakrabarti. In March of 2008, DeLappe and his avatar walked through Second Life for 26 days to reenact the real Ghandi’s 1930s Salt March. DeLappe used a Nordic Trak Walkfit to travel the 248-mile length of Gandhi’s original march, six hours a day for 24 days, converting his steps into those of his avatar. He provides instructions for creating the cardboard Ghandi at Instructables.

Miika Nyyssonen

(images via: Miika Nyyssonen)

Miika Nyyssonen used cardboard as the main component in his interactive Olin Hall Gallery installation ‘M the Machine’. 700 cardboard boxes were cut according to ten different models, each surface containing between one and ten square holes that provide partial views of other interior spaces and of three sets of home movies from three decades as the viewer moves within the work, simulating the workings of memory.

Ana Serrano

(images via: Reuben Miller)

The colorful and whimsical cardboard sculpture of Ana Serrano, including the pictured piece ‘Cartoonlandia’, are tiny imaginary worlds brought to life. The artist says, “Recently I’ve been working with cardboard because I find it easy to handle and manipulate, but also I like that it’s a mundane and familiar material.”

Ann Weber

(images via: Culture Vulture, Art Business)

Ann Weber’s gourds, spires, pods, Russian samovars and other figures stand as tall as 16 feet, towering over the artist herself and shining with a patina of shellac. Weber, of California, began her career as a ceramic artist but began working in cardboard in the early ‘90s, intrigued by the idea of using such mundane materials.

Shigeru Ban

(images via: Dezeen, Inhabitat)

Is cardboard strong enough to be used in real architectural structures? Shigeru Ban believes it is, and he has created several surprisingly sturdy structures to prove it. Among his creations are a bridge across the Gardon River of France and a temporary tower on the South Bank in London, both made from cardboard tubes.

Cardboard Institute of Technology

(image via: Complex)

Not to be outdone by any other artist or organization, the Cardboard Institute of Technology created an entire cardboard city called “Cardburg”, exhibited at the Cell Space gallery in San Francisco in 2008. So what, exactly, is the ‘Cardboard Institute of Technology’? It’s a group of cardboard artists who, according to their website, “pride themselves in their well-honed hot glue and box-cutting skills.”

Buildings should be rock-solid steady under our feet, surely? Our instincts certainly tell us so – but perhaps someone should tell the current wave of architects and designers who seem so intent on rocking our world in a more literal sense than we’re used to. Have a look at these 13 more examples of buildings in motion, whether by illusory trickery or natty mechanics, and ask yourself – are we ready for urban life on the move?

(Images via: Building Design Online and benedict.adam)

In the urban jungle of the future, our survival-senses are going to take a serious battering. What would you do if a waterfall appeared to gush out the side of the towerblock overhead? Anyone not answering “run like the clappers” is probably working in the exciting new world of telematics – the projection of computer imagery on building surfaces. Take the proposal by consultants Body Data Space for a beautiful yet thoroughly alarming depiction of Angel Falls on the side of buildings in London’s Canary Wharf…

(Images via: NuFormer Digital Projections)

…or NuFormer’s jawdropping showcase featuring colorful, crystal-clear imagery thrown onto the side of a monumental building. When the CGI is tailored to fit the architecture, it can appear to rebuild it before your eyes – and the effect is astounding.

(Images via: awidernet)

For a more tangible variety of building facade illusion, we turn to the Hyposurface – an array of nacho-sized triangular surfaces that move in and out according to varieties of input. The result is a wall that behaves like a liquid.

It can respond to preprogrammed pattern-making, to light, to sound…the possibilities seem endless. Want it to mirror the shape of people walking past? It can do that. Respond to the noise of traffic? Check. If the future cityscape is Hyposurfaced, it is going to look busy.

(Images via: Calliope Studios)

Along similar lines is the Flare dynamic building surface. Its array of metal plates is controlled by pneumatic cylinders that alter the surface’s angle to the incoming light, making it lighten or darken like a monochrome pixel.

As this computer simulation shows, the effect is of a living, breathing building surface – one that could play tricks with your sense of perspective (which begs the question, how would drivers feel about buildings that ripple and flow as they pass them?).

(Images via: io9)

But enough of illusions. If it is real movement you are after, try Dubai’s upcoming Shuffle Tower by James Law Cybertecture. Take four elements: residential tower, office tower, gardens, shopping mall. Arrange them on a series of mechanically jacked platforms – and whirl them around. Each section slowly rotates to give a 360-degree view of the surroundings and an ever-changing view.

(Images via: Everingham Rotating House)

The idea of putting a spin on conventional buildings isn’t just confined to the glitzy metropolitan sprawl. This example is in Wingham, Australia (population 4,182) and is descriptively named the Everingham Rotating House. Ever wanted to be able to follow the sunlight as the day waxes and wanes? So have the owners, prompting them to invest a decade into planning and building this 50-ton marvel. Electronics allow the occupants to control the rate of spin, up to a top speed of 160 meters an hour, during which time it would complete two full revolutions.

(Image via: Dynamic Architecture)

Back to the big city. You will have heard of the amazing Dynamic Tower of Dubai (it would be difficult to have missed it over the last 12 months) – but this is just the start of Italian architect Dr. David Fisher’s plans. As well as erecting two signature towers in Dubai and Moscow, Dynamic Architecture have released other concept designs, such as the one shown above.

(Image via: Dynamic Architecture)

The Dynamic tower is being assembled from prefabricated factory-built segments, taking the current obsession with modular design to new heights (sorry). Each module will be built to be self-containing and to draw its power and resources from the central core. Potentially, each section could be replaced wholesale if it malfunctioned – although we would like to see someone replacing the 80th floor of a building without a major kerfuffle.

(Images via: lvsboston and Educared)

One building you can see on the skyline today (if you live in Curitiba, Brazil, that is) is the Suite Vollard – 11 floors of independently rotating apartments. The name comes from a set of 100 engravings by Picasso – and the surrealist painter would surely have approved of an apartment where the view constantly changes and your door does a lap of the room.

(Images via: Michael Jantzen

If you are not fussy about which direction you’re pointing in the morning, keep an eye out for Michael Jantzen’s Wind Pavilion. It is still at the conceptual stage but it’s making a real buzz among the green building sector…because the movement of its lightweight segments (governed by the wind) is involved in generating electricity used to internally light it up at night.

(Images via: Michael Jantzen)

Jantzen further proves himself a mover and shaker in the field of moving architecture with the M-House, a riot of modular panels and transforming spaces. When the wind changes direction, you can change the shape of the house to suit. If you want a house extention (planning permission allowing, of course) then buy a new module and assemble it on the end. Thanks to the slightly chaotic planking style, rooms can be made as airy or as tightly sealed as you like, according to season, weather or whim.

(Images via: Nitrolicious)

Staying with the theme of adaptability, the 160-ton structure that has just opened in Korea is designed to fit every social function. Known as the Transformer, the building is a tetrahedron covered with a light-permeable membrane…and when a new type of venue is needed, the entire structure is flipped over to show a new side and a new social identity.

(Images via: design boom)

You are looking at a holiday cottage with a difference. Not only has the internal floorplan been turned inside-out, but the outside – a series of vertically-slatted windows with sliding blinds – can be opened to the light, or locked up to conserve energy and make the occupants feel snug. It’s called the Merry-Go-Round which nicely captures its sense of fun, and while we have questions (what happens with that flat roof when the rain hits?) we love this new face to family getaways.

(Images via: dornob)

And finally a moving building that plays hide & seek with the world. The Sliding House is a home built like a sword in its scabbard. The 50-ton outer skin is on rails and slides back to reveal a greenhouse, allowing the owner to control the amount of light spilling out into the garden at night. It’s also perfect from hiding away from prying eyes. When the shape of our homes can change to suit our wants and needs – how much will they say about us?