Twitter can be a great source of information and inspiration, as long as you are getting the right tweets. With over 100 million users worldwide, it is a task in itself to find those follow worthy. Fortunately for you, if you are interested in design, I’ve done most of the heavy lifting already in creating - Top 100 Design Tweeters.
Tens of thousands of Iranians have crowded the streets of Tehran to protest shoulder-to-shoulder with others marginalized by last week’s presidential election. Despite the Iranian government’s best efforts to curb criticism and the increasingly heated opposition rallies and to quash coverage by journalists, images and stories have found a worldwide audience.
While combing through images of the protests, we were struck by the beauty of the Azadi Tower, which marks the entrance of the Iranian capital. Architecturally signifigant on its own, Iran’s “Freedom Tower” has become a rallying point for recent protests and will likely live on as a reminder of how ugly, messy and beautiful the fight for true liberty is. To celebrate the struggle for freedom in Iran, DesignCrave looks at the architectural significance and history of Iran’s Freedom Tower, the Azadi Tower in Tehran.
Art Theft – Diamonds and dollar bills are fine spoils for thieves, but more cultured crooks know that just one work of art can be worth millions on the black market. That’s probably why art theft has persisted through the years, and why some of the world’s most famous paintings are prime targets. Here are 10 of the world’s most high-profile cases of art theft:
Through careful planning and hundreds if not thousands of hours of three-dimensional printing, the Chicago Architecture Foundation has reproduced the city of Chicago as a 25-foot by 35-foot model. The designers were inspired by similar models in Beijing and Shanghai, and used a process called stereolithography to duplicate more than 1,000 Windy City buildings. Stereolitholography uses a laser to precisely sculpt hair-thin layers of acrylic into 3D form. The Tribune Tower took about 40 hours to recreate this way, and some buildings require 70 hours. When the buildings are done, they’re arranged on trays that are brought individually into the site of the model. The point of all this? Simply to marvel at what’s regarded as an excellent piece of urban design. If you’re in Chicago through September 20, check it out at the foundation’s Michigan Avenue headquarters. [Chicago Tribune]
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Forget luxurious houses. Sometimes all you need is a shelter. In honor of two Frank Lloyd Wright-related exhibitions, the Guggenheim is teaming up with Google to solicit shelter designs from amateurs and professionals around the world. These are basic structures that look awesome but only provide the necessities of life. All you need is Google SketchUp and Google Earth to sketch the design in 3D and place it somewhere on the globe. Mums the word on the spoils for winning, but there will be both a People’s Prize, voted on by the public between September 7 and October 10, and a special Juried Prize awarded on October 21. Details on how to enter can be found at the Guggenheim’s Web site. [Guggenheim via New York Times, Image]
The WordPress community has almost single-handedly changed the face of the web. Countless blogs, portfolios, news sites and web communities are powered by WordPress, in a range of quality from good to bad, beautiful to ugly. WordPress.org and its community runs an on-going tally of some of the best WordPress designs on the web, including their ten best. To showcase the hard work of a select group of designers, we take a close look at the 10 best WordPress designs as rated by the WordPress community.
An exclusive Austrian resort with unmatched access to the nearby Alps, the Madlein Hotel is part modern ski chalet and luxurious getaway for skiers and spa-goers. With an experience in mind, the Melein’s owners set out to design a hotel that embodies the minimal. The hotel’s few materials are well used. Stone, wood and glass surrounds guests and intelligent lighting design transforms hotel spaces into dreamy volumes for eating, drinking, gathering and relaxing. The hotel spa exercises a similar Zen-like approach with its holistic treatments and visitors eager to shed stressful crowds can head to the Madlein via a private jet service. [via arnewde]
A look back, Lisa Jack’s series of Barack Obama portraits depict a young man at casual pre-presidential play. Jack snapped the photos as a then-student photographer at Occidental College in Los Angeles. The “charismatic freshman,” who then went by “Barry,” was made a great subject by the photographer. The photos were unseen for 28 years, locked away until a friend encouraged Jack to dig them out. The photos were featured in Time Magazine’s 2008 “Person of the Year” issue and are showcased for the first time in an L.A. gallery exhibit at M+B. “Barack Obama: The Freshman” opened yesterday and is on display at the gallery through July 18. [location: mbfala]
iPhone Design Concepts - According to a recent leak, there’s a new iPhone on its way for July 17th. As that date approaches, the frenzied speculation of the new design will reach a fever pitch. What will this new design bring for Apple fans throughout the world? DesignCrave has compiled a list of 10 iPhone design concepts that have surfaced over the years, some beautiful, others… not so beautiful. Will any of these inspire the new iPhone? Take a look below and decide for yourself.
