From a distance, the building looks like a smart new addition to Taipei’s skyline—an angular, approximately nine-story-tall silver and white structure on Zhongshan North Road, not far from Taipei’s landmark Grand Hotel. Close up, it is a surprise for first-time visitors, as it is constructed with plastic bottles—1.5 million of them to be exact. Since the building, known as the EcoArk, has taken shape, it has received much attention not only from local media, but international media including the BBC, Reuters, Agence France-Presse, and Bloomberg news services. National Geographic also has been filming it for the last half year for the TV channel’s MegaStructures program to air in early January. The Taiwanese company that built it, Miniwiz Sustainable Energy Development Co. Ltd., a relatively young company started by a Taiwanese overseas returnee in his 30s, has also garnered a lot of attention. That is because the EcoArk is the world’s first fully functional, large-scale plastic building made from recycled plastic bottles. Taiwan is one of the biggest consumers of plastic bottles in the world, with the island’s 23 million residents using up to 4.6 billion polyethylene terephthalate or PET bottles each year. It took the company only a couple of weeks to gather enough used bottles to make the building, which it did by collecting them from department stores belonging to the Far Eastern Group, the project sponsor and one of Taiwan’s biggest conglomerates. Read the full article here!
A cutting-edge engineering project has turned 1.5 million used plastic bottles into the world’s first large-scale recycled-plastic building.
EcoArk
Friday, October 01, 2010 | | Labels: architecture, green living, taipei
Gil Scott Heron's New York is Killing Me
Thursday, September 30, 2010 | | Labels: music, new york, video
Heres the actual video for Gil Scott-Heron's New York is Killing Me, directed by Chris Cunningham that premiered on Sunday at MoMA. Although I thought the video was beautiful, I wish it was directed by an actual NY-based director. Some of the shots seemed a little cliche (subway, bridges, back alleys) and I felt like the video took away from the haunting poetry of the song itself. Check out the previous post here.
Marwencol
The wonder and healing power of imagination!
"Marwencol" is a documentary about the fantasy world of Mark Hogancamp.
After being beaten into a brain-damaging coma by five men outside a bar, Mark builds a 1/6th scale World War II-era town in his backyard. Mark populates the town he dubs "Marwencol" with dolls representing his friends and family and creates life-like photographs detailing the town's many relationships and dramas. Playing in the town and photographing the action helps Mark to recover his hand-eye coordination and deal with the psychic wounds of the attack. When Mark and his photographs are discovered, a prestigious New York gallery sets up an art show. Suddenly Mark's homemade therapy is deemed "art", forcing him to choose between the safety of his fantasy life in Marwencol and the real world that he's avoided since the attack.
"Marwencol" is playing at the IFC center and Hogancamp's photography is on view at the Esopus Gallery. Thanks Stacy!
Bike Shelf
Monday, September 27, 2010 | | Labels: bicycles, furniture
wow -- what a beautiful and thoughtful way to store your bike. I love how it turns your bike into a hanging art piece. Perfect for us NYers with tiny apartments. Buy here! Thanks SwissMiss!
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