Friday 3 March 2017

Incredible Pictures of Glowing Flowers


Southern California based 28 years old Photographed “Craig Burrows” photographs plants and flowers using a type a photography called UVIVF or with ultraviolet-Induced visible fluorescence. If you haven’t heard of it, that’s not a wonder, as it is a fairly unidentified process which brings out the glowing fluoresce in plant matter through the use of high-intensity UV lights.

Usually UV is removed through a camera’s lens, though Craig Burrows snaps with a 365nm LED light which is passed through a filter to transmit UV and infrared light. Hence, the amazing plant life absorbs this UV light and releases visible light at different wavelengths, which lets him to capture colors far more bright than those seen in a typical viewing condition.

Though Burrows has limited his photography to singular flowers and small arrangements, his next step is aimed at illuminating whole scenes, like gardens, glades, and greenhouses, with 100-watt floodlights. You can see more of the glowing plant portraits on his Flickr and portfolio site.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Thursday 2 March 2017

Old Cement Factory Turn Into Breathtaking Home



In 1973 Spanish architect Ricardo Bofill stumbled upon a cement factory in Catalonia, Spain, and a huge compound of silos and buildings that was well covered approximately two and a half miles of underground tunnels. He stumbled upon a dilapidated cement factory, but instantly saw a world of possibilities. Then he decided to turns old cement factory into his home and the interior will take your breath away. La fábrica was born, and almost 45 years later, the factory structure has been totally transformed into a remarkable and exclusive home. The cement factory is located just outside of Barcelona, once a WWI-era pollution machine that had closed down, and came with numerous repairs to be done when Ricardo Bofill and his team purchased it. Original construction to transform the sprawling series of buildings took a little over a year and a half. Once the dust cleared from the jack hammers and dynamite, Catalan craftsmen worked to add gardens and add in, model workshop, archive rooms, residence, and studio, a workspace for Bofill’s firm spread over four floors in the factory’s silos and connected by a spiral staircase.
Therefore, after years of limited deconstruction, the strong-minded architect proceeded to lace the exterior of the property with flora, and furnish the interior as a modern living and work space. Moreover, La fábrica is work in progress continuously, to which Bofill likens his own life, as his visions for the forthcoming continue to change shape. The factory chimneys that once used for to fill the air with smoke now overflow with lush greenery. This is a true example of the lovely transformations that result from imaginative thinking. Bofill has created a perfectly programmed existence, a ritualized lifestyle that goes against his previously nomadic early life.


















Monday 27 February 2017

The Animals Bridges Across The World


The animal bridges, across the world is incredible purpose-built crossings that help animals bypass roads safely, as crossing roads safely isn't a skill many animals possess. Fortunately, support is at hand in the form of innovative wildlife crossings, situated at numerous spots across the world and in all shapes and sizes. Therefore, in Canada's Banff National Park in Alberta, 24 green overpasses have been built above busy highways to support animals including moose, bears and wolves cross safely.

Moreover in New Zealand, an underground passage in Oamaru exists particularly for penguins to get from the local harbour to their nests without come across the traffic above. And in Australia Christmas Island, bridges exist to benefit millions of crabs make it to their laying grounds every year without being flattened by cars along the way. However, some of the world's most inventive wildlife crossings, which support creatures as small as doormice to beasts as large as elephants. These wildlife crossings, from tunnels to rope ladders, aim to decrease the number of animals hit by vehicles.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


The Ikea's Flat-Pack GARDEN for Townies


The Scandinavian design company “Ikea” is taking indoor gardening up a new level, The “Growroom” is made of plywood, DIY spherical garden which is designed for city living where space is limited. The “Growroom” is a 9ft high piece of living furniture for growing plants, vegetables, Bonsai and herbs; it is made of just 17 sheets of plywood. The “Growroom” was formed by Space10 a “future living lab” supported by Ikea. The first “Growroom” was built in 2016, and exhibited at the Chart Art Fair in Copenhagen.

It has been designed to be within your means to build and can be assembled in your comfort zone of your own home. It is thought, that this is the future vision where healthy food is grown more locally. The major challenge is that traditional farming takes up a huge space and in the modern era, and space is a limited resource in our urban environments. Therefore, the “Growroom” has a minor spatial footprint as it grows vertically. Unluckily you can't buy pre-cut plywood, but it is an open source design and the dimensions are available to download from Ikea website. Hence, you have to cut the plywood with a CNC machine, a laser cutter or a table saw and put it together using a screwdriver and hammer. The overlapping slices mean that plants can get light on each level and making it an impression shape for growing greens.  At 2.8 x 2.5 metres, it is sufficient for folks to sit inside and pause for a moment of reflection.

Furthermore, you can say either it as “part of the floating cityscape”. The shelves are 7cm deep which lets space for the soil and the designers suggested treating the plywood beforehand to protect it. It is designed to support our everyday sense of well-being in the cities by generating a small oasis or pause architecture in our high paced societal scenery, and allows folks to connect with nature as we smell and taste the abundance of herbs and plants. Moreover, local food represents a thoughtful alternative to the global food model. Hence, it diminishes food miles, as huge pressure on the environment, and educates our children of where food actually comes from. The “Growroom” is an open source design, which helps people to copy the design without asking and architects have to motivated people to build their own locally.  In this way, you could produce food of the highest quality that tastes better, is much more nutritional, fresh, organic and healthy, and that local food production represents a serious alternative to the global food model.
 
 
 
 

Thursday 16 February 2017

The Lungfish: A Fish Lives Without Water


The lungfish, also known as “salamanderfish”, is a type of freshwater fish actually famous for its ability to live on land, without water, for months on end, and sometimes even years. The lungfish name suggests, the fish have a highly evolved respiratory system that can take oxygen straight from the air, similar of land animals do. However, few species of lungfish are quite used to breathing air that they gradually lose the function of their gills as the fish reach adulthood. Whereas they still live in water, and their requisite to frequently come up to the surface for fresh air. The lungfish can even drown if they are keeping him for underwater for a long time. It has elongated bodies, just like eels, with thread-like pectoral and pelvic fins which they use to swim and crawl along the bottom. The lungfish usually inhabit shallow waters, such as swamps and marshes, but they’re also found in bigger lakes. Lungfish is feeding on fish, insects, crustaceans, worms, molluscs, amphibians and plant matter. They have an intestinal spiral valve rather than a true stomach. Normally, lungfish excrete nitrogenous waste as ammonia directly into the water. The lungfish can be extremely long-lived.

Moreover, when there’s water, the lungfish acts like any other fish, swimming in the waters and eating small fish and crustaceans on the bottoms of ponds and streams. However when the dry season comes, the lungfish burrows itself deep into the mud, digging out a path by taking mud into its mouth and forcing it out its gills. Thus after the fish has touched a comfortable depth, the fish will stop digging and secrete a mucous out of its skin that hardens to form a protective cocoon around it. Though only the mouth is left showing for breathing. Therefore, for its long hibernation, the lungfish will greatly decrease its metabolism and live off the muscle tissues in its tail. Because once the water returns and the mud soften, it will wriggle out of its burrow. Furthermore, some reports claim that the fish can stay underground in dried mud for as long as four years. The lungfishes are found only in Australia, Africa, and South America. In Africa, the people use to eat lung fish that would often dig out the fish from dry soil. The fish is said to have a strong taste, and is not enjoyed by all.