Cardiff

I went to Cardiff for the weekend and took photos of some of the buildings and places I found interesting. I really liked the combination of old and modern architecture, most of the modern buildings were in Cardiff Bay. 

National Assembly for Wales and a wavy wooden roof. The building design reflects the idea of 'transparency' and it's also a good example of sustainable building design. 

I don't know what this building was, it wasn't even finished yet but this wall is kind of interesting..

FITZHAMON EMBANKMENT: this artwork represents a range of popular spices including mustard seed, coriander, saffron, nutmeg, cardamom and ginger. It was created by artists from Cardiff and Riverside residents as a part of a publis art project. Until we read what the artwork was about we thought they were of tomatoes, peas and pepper...

Cardiff Castle, there was a beautiful park behind it!

The Millenium Arts Centre in Cardiff Bay. It was constructed with slate, wood, steel and other materials traditionally used in Wales. On the front of the building in large Celtic lettering there is an inscription:  "CREU GWIR GWYDR O FFWRNAIS AWEN" and another in English: "IN THESE STONES HORIZONS SING". The letters are over 2m tall and they are windows for those inside the building. It looks a lot better when it's dark.

construct

amour 2007

mothership 2007

Construct is a series of images of places that exist only in the imagination of photographer/graphic designer Laura Kicey! She collected together pieces of different buildings over three years and blended them together creating these very surreal places. They look so much fun and so warm and friendly. I would love to live in one of these buildings, when they look like this on the outside there must be something very interesting inside...

Laura Kicey has a photoblog 'seen but not heard' which is also worth a look!

Free Spirit Spheres

I came across a website advertising these free spirit spheres, or treehouses for adults.. and I have never seen anyting like this before! I would have booked mine already but the only place that has these amazing mini hotels is the west coast rainforest of Vancouver Island in Canada. There they hang like pendants from a web of rope in the middle of the tall trees. There are two different kind of spheres you can choose from, Eve or Eryn. If you ever need to get away or go somewhere to rest I think this might be the perfect place. It's such a unique idea and I love it that someone was brave enough to do this!

" Spheres can be hung from the trees as shown or from any other solid objects like buildings or rock faces. A web of rope is connected to any strong points available. This replaces the foundation of a conventional building. A suspended tree house uses the forest for its foundation. The occupants have a vested interest in the health of the grove. The supporting web also mirrors our connectedness to our surroundings. Each sphere has four attachments on top and another four anchor points on the bottom. Each attachment is strong enough to carry the entire sphere and contents."

Leverty statue

'the entrepreneur's statue' or 'Leverty', Helsinki

This statue has been in Helsinki city centre for about two years now. There was a competition to design a statue for this city square and this one won! I've never really liked it but I think it's interesting how it was made attaching simple squares together and now I've read that it's based on a penrose tiling.. which I guess we all should have known! At night there's a light inside the statue and the shadow looks really nice.