Check out this photo essay of graffiti in post-Chernobyl city, Pripyat by Alex Cheban on English Russia. The graffiti art as well as the urban decay are well documented.  ps. this might be one of my new favourite websites. 1 Comment  The Psychology of Architecture
At the moment, I think we’re only beginning to grasp the relevant variables of design. Christian Jarrett, for instance, highlights a new study on curved versus rectilinear furniture. The study itself was simple: subjects viewed a series of rooms filled with different kinds of couches and lounge chairs. The results were bad for fans of high modernism – furniture defined by straight edges was rated as far less appealing and approachable. Sorry, Corbusier. Or consider this 2009 experiment, published in Science. The psychologists, at the University of British Columbia, were interested in looking at how the color of interior walls influence the imagination. They recruited six hundred subjects, most of them undergraduates, and had them perform a variety of basic cognitive tests displayed against red, blue or neutral colored backgrounds. The differences were striking. When people took tests in the red condition – they were surrounded by walls the color of a stop sign – they were much better at skills that required accuracy and attention to detail, such as catching spelling mistakes or keeping random numbers in short-term memory. According to the scientists, this is because people automatically associate red with danger, which makes them more alert and aware. The color blue, however, carried a completely different set of psychological benefits. While people in the blue group performed worse on short-term memory tasks, they did far better on those requiring some imagination, such as coming up with creative uses for a brick or designing a children’s toy out of simple geometric shapes. In fact, subjects in the blue condition generated twice as many “creative outputs” as subjects in the red condition. That’s right: the color of a wall doubled our imaginative power. What accounts for this effect? According to the scientists, the color blue automatically triggers associations with the sky and ocean. We think about expansive horizons and diffuse light, sandy beaches and lazy summer days. This sort of mental relaxation makes it easier for us daydream and think in terms of tangential associations; we’re less focused on what’s right in front of us and more aware of the possibilities simmering in our imagination. Lastly, the psychologist Joan Meyers-Levy, at the Carlson School of Management, conducted an interesting experiment that examined the relationship between ceiling height and thinking style. She demonstrated that, when people are in a low-ceilinged room, they are much quicker at solving anagrams involving confinement, such as “bound,” “restrained” and “restricted.” In contrast, people in high-ceilinged rooms excel at puzzles in which the answer touches on the theme of freedom, such as “liberated” and “unlimited.” According to Levy, this is because airy spaces prime us to feel free. Furthermore, Levy found that rooms with lofty ceilings also lead people to engage in more abstract styles of thinking. Instead of focusing on the particulars of things, they’re better able to zoom out and see what those things have in common. (It’s the difference between “item-specific” versus “relational” processing.) Sometimes, of course, we want to focus on the details of an object or problem, in which case a claustrophobic basement is probably ideal. However, when we need to come up with a creative solution, then we should probably seek out a more expansive space. Especially if it has blue walls. Needless to say, we’re only beginning to grasp how the insides of buildings influence the inside of the mind. For now, it’s safe to say that tasks involving accuracy and focus – say, copyediting a manuscript, or doing some algebra – are best suited for short spaces with red walls. In contrast, tasks that require a little bit of creativity and abstract thinking benefit from high ceilings, lots of windows and bright blue walls that match the sky. The point is that architecture has real cognitive consequences, even if we’re just beginning to learn what they are. a Bucky dome >> doomed and demolished This trailer dazzles my eyes. It would be really great to work on a project like this someday... check out Norman Foster's interview with Charlie Rose from last week http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/11227 For more information visit Art Commissioners website http://www.artcommissioners.com/# I'm listening to a TED Talk on Charles and Ray Eames. It's always great to learn more about this design duo. | check out my Case Study No. 8 - Eames House photos from this summer | http://www.kristajahnke.com/case-study-house-no-8---charles-eames.html I wish I could show this to everyone who questioned why I went to school for Architecture then Photography, as if they were unrelated and isolated. For me, the marriage is obvious. The artist is Alex Roman Check out his The Third & The Seventh website. "A FULL-CG animated piece that tries to illustrate architecture art across a photographic point of view, where main subjects are already- built spaces" click here to see what other people are saying.. psst...It's best if you watch it full screen A few months ago I came across the work of photographer Christopher Payne and can't stop thinking about his images. The photos in his 'Asylum' series are particularly breathtaking and I can't wait for my copy of his book to arrive. Between 2002 and 2008, Payne photographed seventy mental hospitals in thirty states, gathering images of aging and abandoned institutions. Trained as an architect, Payne's photography naturally gravitates towards historical and industrial architecture. What I enjoy so much about his hospital series is how he documented the silence and calm of these places that we've all imagined as terrifying, uneasy and sometimes violent. His photos capture moments that allow the viewer to transport back to a time where patients, doctors and staff still walked the halls. Throughout these spaces, the colours, abandoned objects and equipment are signifiers of the past and provide a humanistic element that helps describe the quality of life inside the seemingly ominous architecture. go to chrispaynephoto.com to see more images...     I just watched the trailer for this movie and am really excited to see the whole film. I love Julius Shulman's photography, his photos are among some of the most recognizable because of subject but also because of his clarity and precision. Julius Shulman (October 10, 1910 - July 15, 2009) American Architectural Photographer WATCH THE TRAILER AND SEE MORE PHOTOS AT: http://www.juliusshulmanfilm.com/  one of my favourites... Duffield's Continental Showroom | krista + blog = klog
> what the world needs now, is another blog <<<<<<<<<<  authorKrista Jahnke lives and works in Vancouver, BC and likes to ask archivesMay 2012 categoriesAll   |
RSS Feed