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Day May 11, 2010

Entries 5 Total

Hubble Deciphers Misfit Star Mystery

May 11, 10 7:30 PM

From Wired, by Alexis Madrigal:

The massive, hot star seemed out of place when astronomers first spotted it in 2006, and now thanks to Hubble, we know why. The misfit, 30 Dor #016, appears to have been ejected from a cluster of even heftier stars, pinging off of them and off into space at tremendous speed.

The star is traveling away from the R136 star cluster at about 250,000 miles per hour. Just 1 or 2 million years old, the star already appears to have traveled 375 light-years from its place of birth.

“These results are of great interest because such dynamical processes in very dense, massive clusters have been predicted theoretically for some time, but this is the first direct observation of the process in such a region,” astronomer Nolan Walborn of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore said in a press release. Walborn is a member of the team that tracked down the star,

30 Dor #16 is 90 times more massive than the sun and resides in the Tarantula Nebula, approximately 170,000 light-years from Earth. It’s part of the Large Magellanic Cloud, the Milky Way’s third-closest neighbor.

You can see the R136 cluster in the middle left part of the imageabove. The runaway star is in the upper right, a bright blue spot trailing red dust. Check the annotated image below to make sure you’ve got your stars properly aligned.

Images: European Southern Observatory. High resolution versions available.

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Swirling Oil Spill

May 11, 10 7:10 PM

From National Geographic:

Like cream poured into coffee, oil swirls in the Gulf of Mexico not far from the Louisiana coast, as seen in a recently released picture taken by Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi last Tuesday. Low clouds hover over the Gulf at bottom left.

NASA and other satellites have been tracking the Gulf oil spill from space, but the astronaut photo, taken from aboard the International Space Station, offers a different angle on the situation. Taken obliquely, or from a side view, the shot captures fine ribbons of dark oil amid lighter-hued waters gleaming with reflected sunlight.

By contrast, satellite pictures are usually taken with a nadir, or straight-down facing, view.

Photograph courtesy NASA.

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New Pompidou Centre in Metz, Now Open

May 11, 10 7:04 PM

Via BBC:

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has opened a big new outpost of the Pompidou arts centre in Metz, north-eastern France.

It is the first time the world-famous centre has ventured beyond Paris. It was designed by Shigeru Ban and Jean de Gastines, and it shows Ban’s Japanese roots. It bears no physical resemblance to its big brother in Paris, although it will have access to its huge store of art works.

“You know in France, we are a little bit centralised, so for this kind of operation, it’s a kind of little French revolution, saying such a simple thing, but the national collections are for everyone,” says the museum’s director Laurent Le Bon.

“And why Metz? Because there was no big museum of modern art, and so the connection with Europe was very important,” he adds.

Regeneration

The French government is sure big arts projects can help economic regeneration away from the capital. But no-one should fear the opening exhibition in Metz consists of rejects. There is important work by Georges Braque, Pablo Picasso, Jackson Pollock, Joan Miro and others.

Natalie and Sophie, two early visitors, were delighted with their city’s new arrival. “I think it is absolutely fabulous to see all these masterpieces… It is very important for this region to see the first decentralisation for a cultural place. Amazing, outstanding!”

Two years from now, the Louvre Museum will also get an outpost away from Paris – in economically depressed Lens.

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Tel Aviv Museum of Art

May 11, 10 6:52 PM

By Preston Scott Cohen:

Located in the center of the city’s cultural complex, the program for the Tel Aviv Museum of Art Amir Building posed an extraordinary architectural challenge: to resolve the tension between the tight, idiosyncratic triangular site and the museum’s need for a series of large, neutral rectangular galleries. The solution: subtly twisting geometric surfaces (hyperbolic parabolas) that connect the disparate angles between the galleries and the context while refracting natural light into the deepest recesses of the half buried building.

The building represents an unusual synthesis of two opposing paradigms for the contemporary museum: the museum of neutral white boxes and the museum of architectural spectacle. Individual, rectangular galleries are organized around the “Lightfall”, an eighty-seven foot tall spiraling atrium. The building is composed according to multiple axes that deviate significantly from floor to floor.

In essence, it is a series of independent plans and steel structural systems stacked one atop the other, connected by geometric episodes of vertical circulation. The new building refers to the original building in such a way that the two can be seen as having a family resemblance. At the same time, it relates to a larger tradition of the new that exists within Israeli architectural culture.

The multiple vocabularies of Mendelsohn and Bauhaus Modernism in Tel Aviv are resynthesized in an architectural language that is internationalist and progressive in its cultural orientation.

Client: Motti Omer, Director and Chief Curator

Project Team: Preston Scott Cohen, Inc., Cambridge, MA, Preston Scott Cohen (Design); Amit Nemlich (Project Architect); Tobias Nolte, Steven Christensen, Guy Nahum, Gjergj Bakallbashi, Bohsung Kong (Project Assistants); Models: Jonathan Lott (Lightfall); Isamu Kanda (Massing in Situ); Renderings: Chris Hoxie (Exterior, Lightfall); Agito Design Studios (Lobby and Gallery Views); Competition Project Team: Scott Cohen, Cameron Wu, Andrew Saunders, Janny Baek; Competition Consultants: Ove Arup and Partners, Caroline Fitzgerald, Tom Dawes, Mark Walsh-Cooke (Structural and MEP); Hanscomb Faithful and Gould (Cost Estimator) Project Schedule: First Prize Winner in the Herta and Paul Amir International Competition, 2003; Design Development and Construction Documents, 2005-2007; Construction, 2007-2010

Project Budget: Est. $45,000,000

Program: 200,000 sq. ft (18,500 m2) includes Galleries of Israeli Art, Architecture and Design, Drawings and Prints, Temporary Exhibitions; Photography Study Center and Archives; Multidisciplinary Auditorium; Seminar and Conference Rooms; Art Library; Restaurant; Administrative Offices; Loading, Unpacking and Storage.

General Contractor: Hezkelevitch Engineering

Project Management: CPM Construction Management Ltd.; Structural Engineers: YSS Consulting Engineers Ltd., Dani Shacham, Principal; HVAC: M. Doron – I. Shahar and Co., Consulting Eng. Ltd.; Lighting: Tillotson Design Associates, New York; Accessibility: Michael Roitman; Acoustics: M.G. Acistical Consultants Ltd.; Alluminum: Landman; Auditorium: David Braslavi; Cost Estimation: Gamzo; Electrical: U. Brener – A. Fattal Electrical and Systems Engineering Ltd.; Elevators: ESL- Eng. S. Lustig – Consulting Engineers Ltd.; Food Services: Zonnenstein; Maintenance: Valtman; Multi-media: Gera Yoav; Public Shelter: K.A.M.N; Safety: S. Netanel Engineers Ltd.; Sanitation: Gruber Art System Engineering Ltd.; Security: H.M.T., Tel Aviv; Soil: David David; Survey: B. Gattenyu; Traffic: Dagesh Engineering, Traffic and Road Design Ltd.; Waterproofing: Bittelman;

Photography: Iwan Baan, Ohad Malaton

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Bespoke: The Handbuilt Bicycle

May 11, 10 6:42 PM

Bespoke: The Handbuilt Bicycle displays the designs of six internationally renowned bicycle builders whose work in metal, as well as graphics and artifacts, elucidate this refined, intricate and deeply individual craft. Organized by Michael Maharam, owner of the eponymous textile company and an avid bicycle collector, along with master builder Sacha White of Vanilla Bicycles in Portland, Oregon, this survey is presented as part of the MADProjects exhibition series, which explores emerging trends and innovations in the design world.

The twenty-one handbuilt bicycles exhibited sit squarely at the intersection of design, craft, and art, and include a range of contemporary designs: fixed-gear, road racing, cyclocross, mountain, and commuter bicycles, as well as the stripped-down radonneur, designed exclusively for long-distance racing. The exhibition features bicycles by: Mike Flanigan, Alternative Needs Transportation (A.N.T); Jeff Jones, Jeff Jones Custom Bicycles; Dario Pegoretti, Pegoretti Cicli; Richard Sachs, Richard Sachs Cycles; J. Peter Weigle, J. Peter Weigle Cycles; and Sacha White, Vanilla Bicycles.

Despite the seeming simplicity of their form and mechanics, bicycles offer a unique challenge to their makers. Rider and machine meet at three contact points-saddle, handlebar, and pedal. The custom builder’s chief preoccupation is with fit; simply taking a rider’s measurements may require more than two hours for a single commission. Every bicycle is a highly refined piece of engineering.

Custom bicycle building involves master metalwork: bending, welding, carving and wrapping steel, titanium, aluminum and carbon. A graphic artist’s eye is required in the application of paint and decorative flourishes. The custom models exhibited in Bespoke are the virtuosic productions of individual makers who lavish great attention on detail. The resulting product reflects the builder’s sensibility paired with the rider’s unique needs, turning the custom bicycle into a work of art.

The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated color catalogue published by Lars Müller Publishers that includes a foreword by the Museum of Arts and Design’s director Holly Hotchner; an introduction by the design writer and critic Julie Lasky; a dialogue between the exhibition’s curators Michael Maharam and Sacha White; multiple images of work by the builders in the exhibition; images of related artifacts; and biographies of the builders.

Exhibition design by Solveig Fernlund, Fernlund + Logan Architects
Exhibition graphics by 2X4
Video production by The Digital Project

Curators: Michael Maharam, Guest Curator

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