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.

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.

 

 

 

 

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. 

 

 

 

 

Canadian Man Who Disappeared in 2012 is Found in the Amazon Jungle After Walking Barefoot Across two Continents

A Canadian man who has been missing for 5 years has been found in the Amazon jungle. Anton Pilipa trekked across two continents, more than 6,500 miles away walking mostly barefoot with just the clothes on his back, after he disappeared from his Vancouver home in 2012. His family spent years frantically searching for the former humanitarian worker, who suffers from suspected schizophrenia, and had almost given up hope when they got a call out of the blue. Anton, who has been placed back on his schizophrenia medication, traveled through at least ten countries from Canada, including the United States, Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Argentina and Brazil - all without a passport and with little more than the clothes in his back. A Canadian-born Brazilian cop spotted Pilipa, who she at first mistook for a beggar, shuffling down a dirt track in bare feet, and dirty, unwashed Bermuda shorts and a vest. He had no passport, without any form of identification. Therefore, extraordinarily, with help of several international agencies and embassies, she was able to track down his family who flew down to be reunited with their lost loved one.

Anton's brother Stefan said, I was astounded, and I told myself that he was dead, that was the only thing I could come up with that explained his absence. However, in my heart of hearts, I didn't think he could be. So I was really shocked, who said he'd spent years asking himself the same question, 'Where is he? What happened to him? I feel shocked that he's alive still and had made it that far. His brother said he had one strange mission; to get to the National Library of Buenos Aires in Argentina. Sadly, when he finally made it to the library, after walking thousands of miles, he was turned away because he didn't have any proof of identity. So he turned around and started his trek into Brazil where he would eventually be found. But after years on the road, he was shocked by his brother's appearance.

He described the life experience how he survived by picking fruits and berries, opportunistic for food and clothes in the trash, and heavily relied on the generosity of strangers. But that's not to say times weren't harsh. Anton started off with a small bag of belongings but was robbed of what little he did have on several occasions during his trek. Whereas walking more than 800km alone through the dangerous Amazon jungle, filled with poisonous spiders, snakes, caiman which can grow up to 20ft long and jaguar all his toenails dropped off. Yet, while he met some “bad people” on his unbelievable 10,000 mile journey, as he had received more generosity, particularly in recent times. I have never felt alone, it's been a lot of thinking for years, sleeping in the open. I used to very simple to live; and don’t need too many things. He looked very pretty rough, as after flying out to Manaus last month to collect his brother. The severities of his journey took a toll on his body and face and he had a lot more hair than last time I saw him.

Stefan said his brother's health was starting to weaken in the Brazilian mental institute where he was being held waiting for his family to collect him. We got him just in time, and I know that I am very fortunate to be alive,' Anton told the BBC. Hence I am very happy to be able to return to my family. While Anton walked most of the 10,000 mile trip, he would irregularly get a ride or stowaway in a truck. However mostly, he kept himself to himself, barely speaking to another human being in 5 years. Anton hardly speaks almost any Spanish or Portuguese.  Anton, who was described as an individualist, was diagnosed with schizophrenia some years ago but his family says they struggled to find him the help he required in the two years before his disappearance. Therefore, before his illness, he had worked all over Canada for humanitarian relief organizations. In 2011, he finally started treatment for his mental disease but that same year, he was involved in an incident which resulted in him being charged with assault and weapons offences. He fled his native country in 2012 before he was due to appear in court. And despite his unbelievable journey, he will still have to answer those charges. After he arrived back in Toronto on Monday he was arrested before being released on bail. However Stefan says he doesn't believe the court appearance was the reason for his brother's disappearance. Perhaps the timing is suspect,' he admitted. 'But was he trying to avoid (the charges)? I don't think so. He was restless, and that is the main form of his mental illness.' 

After he disappeared, he and his family did everything in their power to try and find him, but vein. They contacted police, hospitals, and jails and even checked the morgues but there was no trace. When someone disappears you abruptly realize there isn't a lot you can do, only we can hit a wall nothing else. The first they knew Anton was even alive was when Stefan got the call from the Brazilian police department shortly before Christmas. Anton was first spotted at the end of November 2016 when he strolled onto a highway in the Brazilian state of Rondônia. He was taken to a hospital in Porto Velho where police reached out on Twitter, and to local embassies to try and discover his identity. Lastly, officer Helenice Campos - the officer who'd found him wandering on the road, was able to get in touch with Anton's family. The family started raising money to get their brother back to home, but then tragedy struck; Anton fled the hospital. However, a big thanks to Brazilian police were able to track him down again as he was heading into the hazardous northern Brazilian state of Amazonas. That is the area where we talk about enormous predators like crocodiles and jungle cats,' Officer Helenice Campos, who said she swiftly recognized that the tall, blonde and blue-eyed Pilipa could be a foreigner, told CBC. We truly were afraid he could be eaten by one of those animals.

Now Anton has returned back to their native country Canada to live with his brother, sister-in-law and their children in downtown Toronto. Their 65-year-old mother has also been reunited with her missing son. Everybody is very pleased and supportive,' Stefan said of his family. The amount of support pouring in this critical time is incredible. Even though neighbors are all along the street are coming in to say hi. I have even had myriad emails from mothers of adults who have disappeared saying our story has inspired hope. Therefore, it may be some time before he knows the full story of his unbelievable journey. I haven't wanted to press him too much about it, as his brother is disturbed but is still doing extraordinarily well', all things considered. Stefan said.

It's a little bit awe-inspiring for him and he's very subtle at the moment. For sure, he hasn't been around people for a long while. He is hoping his brother will reinstate back into society after so long on his own. Although there's a little bit of a brawl with that, as he's used to being completely alone. He's been outside of society for a very long time. So I’ve to recap him sometimes that he needs to contain himself, in a more civilized way, and that will come with town.  In spite of his trepidation, Stefan does not try and stop his brother from taking walks now he is in Toronto although they are considerably shorter than what he's used to. I know he used to walk and likes walk, so I allow him to walk as he needs to walk. I am not intent in trying to curtail that. He's just got rules now and he has to be back by a certain time. We are just taking it one step at a time. He's been walking for a long time. Anton and Stefan were always close growing up and both left home at a young age. We learned to be in the world together. We had similar mannerisms, and views of the world.  It was hard to see him change. While Anton set out for Vancouver and Stefan for Toronto, they remained close. But during a family event, in 2009, Stefan noticed for the first time his brother was different. His family was still seeking treatment when Anton fled in 2012. While he admits to many, his brother's experience will sound strange; he said that those who know him may not be fully surprised. He's my brother and he's a very important person. What he's done is very much in his personality if you know him.

 

 

 

 

 

The Gorgeous Images of Deserted Cars Enveloped by Nature

Well, A Paris-based photographer Peter Lippman explores a world of stationary, abandoned cars overhauled by nature in his latest series titled “Paradise Parking”. The American-born photographer personal project that was 2 years in the making captures abandoned cars from yesteryear that are overcome by wandering roots and leaves from its nearby natural environment. The rusty vehicles are tarnished finish coupled with nature’s brimming shades of green and brown covering its extended limbs around the cars makes for a fascinatingly post-apocalyptic scene.

Peter Lippman says, when I first came across this series, I thought it looked weirdly alike to underwater shots of sunken ships. However, like the aquatic vessels covered in algae, these land vehicles are ravaged with moss, rotting and spoiling into its surroundings. These pictures also stand as prodigious evidence of past civilizations. Therefore, it’s stunningly captivating to see the old models of automobiles naturally buried in foliage over time. Moreover I’m very much interested to observed what these ransacked cars will look like in a few more decades. For now, the first worldwide showing of this series will soon take place in Brussels at Sophie Maree Gallery.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Petoskey Stones

Well, The Petoskey stones are composed of petrified skeletons of Hexagonaria percarinata. This is a type of coral from coral reefs that once well covered all of what is now the state of Michigan, the USA, during the ancient Devonian period, around 350 million years ago. The Petoskey stones were molded as a result of glaciation, in which sheets of ice scrapped the bedrock, gathering up fragments, and then grinding off their uneven edges and putting them in the northwestern portion of Michigan's Lower Peninsula. Ultimately, Petoskey stones are just chunks of coral reef, and when they dry the stone look like normal limestone but when wet or polished, the characteristic mottled pattern of the six-sided coral fossils emerges.

This primeval fossil is bringing into being across the state of Michigan along lakeshores and rivers in sediments usually called the Traverse group. Meanwhile in 1965, the Petoskey stone is called Michigan’s official state stone. Therefore, more than 350 million years ago during the Devonian period, Michigan was quite dissimilar. Geologically, the region was located near the equator and covered by a warm, shallow, saltwater sea, wherever the colonial coral hexagonaria percarinata flourished with other marine life in tropical reefs. Moreover, then the earth’s plates moved and pushed Michigan north and above sea level. When glaciers came about two million years ago, the land was scraped and the fossils spread across the northern Lower Peninsula. The stone was named Petoskey because they are bringing into being in great profusion in the Petoskey area.

Well, the name Petoskey derives from “Petosegay”, the son of an 18th century Ottawa chief, and it means “rays of dawn” or “sunbeams of promise.” The city of Petoskey was also named after the same person. However few say, the coral pattern in the stone resembles sun rays radiating from small suns.

Hexagonaria percarinata comprises of firmly packed, six-sided corallites, which are the skeletons of the once-living organism. So, at the center of apiece corallite was the mouth, enclosed by tentacles that were used for collecting food and drawing the food into the mouth. Though, this dark spot, or the eye of the corallite, has been filled with silt or mud that petrified after falling into the openings. Calcite, silica and other minerals have swapped the original soft tissues, called polyps, in each cell.

Petoskey stones can be originate from the shores of Traverse City, north to the Charlevoix and Petoskey area, and across the state to Alpena, but the most popular place to hunt for them is at Lake Michigan beach. Spring is a good time to look for the stone after the ice has melted and uncovered specimens that they’ve pushed against the shore.