The advertising creatives at Jung Von Matt call Hamburg their home, as they have held their headquarters in a historic 19th century factory building for quite some time now. Only recently, did the marketing gurus call upon the architects at Stephan Williams Associates to extend their workspace with the occupation of two new floors.

These two new floors have quickly been dubbed the “elephant house”, because they are the new home to Jung Von Matt’s heavyweight executive team. The architects at Stephan Williams wanted to create a space with dominant design features to suite the agency’s occupants. Strong and dark materials like wood and hunter green walls were implemented into the space which includes open offices, private offices, small conversational areas, and one gigantic conference table which has a seat for each director.

Jung Von Matt’s logo is a angular version of a Trojan horse. This logo is proudly represented throughout the office and wildly introduced in the cafe seating area on the fourth floor. Stephan Williams designed the seating units to resemble the logo, “It is an entirely wood-clad, comfortable space for informal conversations over a tea or coffee, which so often create the spark for big idea”, the architects explained. Stephan Williams wanted to create a “timeless design that reflects the agency’s character and idiosyncrasies in every detail.” Which was accomplished in more than one way!

More photos at KNSTRCT

Bates Masi + Architects has its roots in the East End of Long Island for over forty years while building in various places throughout the United States, Central America and the Caribbean. Sites, clients, technology and programs change but the desire and ability to respond to each design problem with an equally unique design solution has been a constant in the firm’s philosophy.

Projects range from rural, suburban and urban homes to schools, offices, retail spaces, storefronts and furniture. The focus is neither the size nor the type of project; rather, it is the opportunity to enhance clients’ lives and environment. Since no two projects are approached the same way, the results are as varied as the individuals for whom they are designed.

Read more at Remodelista

Two and a half miles under the Earth lies Lake Vostok, which hasn’t seen the light of day in 20 million years. It’s taken almost 20 years of drilling, but Russian scientists are about to break through and explore the lake at the bottom of the world.

 

Vostok is thought to hold more fresh water than any other lake in the world, and is the third-largest by volume overall. To give you a sense of just how deep it is, it’s kept liquid by heat from the core of the planet. And the Russian drilling is being staged at Antarctica’s Vostok Station, which itself is built at the Southern Cold Pole—basically, the coldest point on Earth. Scientists are giddy over the possibility of observing life that’s been completely undisturbed for millions of years, since back when Antarctica was attached to Australia.

The easy joke is to wonder aloud what horrors are going to escape—Old Atlantis buried beneath Antarctica is already an ongoing Marvel Comics plot—but even scarier for the scientists on the scene is the chance that they might find nothing at all. That would be heartbreaking for the people who’ve spent decades doing research in an incredibly cold and inhospitable climate.

And then there’s the worst-case scenario: That the lake is irrevocably tainted before any research can be conducted at all. If a drill breaks too far into the water, it could contaminate samples. There could be a gaseous explosion when the drill bit breaks through, the result of which would be like shaking up a can of soda and popping it open, creating an enormous geyser and destroying much of the subterranean ecosystem. As one scientist that the Washington Post interviewed says, “If it doesn’t go well, it casts a pall over the whole effort to explore this wet underside of Antarctica.”

But if all does goes well? The implications are unfathomable not just for the fleshing out of Earth’s historical record, but the prospects of life on distant celestial bodies. Moons of Jupiter and Saturn, and presumably many exoplanets, have similar icy surfaces that might hide lakes like Vostok. And could host similar life forms.

So there’s a giant and ancient body of water that’s warmed by the planet’s molten core buried beneath the coldest point on Earth, and whatever organisms found there might lead to breakthroughs in the study of interstellar life. The Russians have been digging there for decades and are about to break through. The results could be traumatic, or life-altering or both.

Story by GIZMODO.

Great news for timelapse video fans — we should be seeing plenty more aurora borealis over the coming years, as solar activity is on the up, claim space weather experts such as University of Michigan’s Tamas Gombosi, who said “the solar cycle is increasing, and so we are going to get more storms,” with “at least” a day’s warning for coming storms, which we should see monthly from now on. Full story at Gizmodo.

It will reach a peak in 2013, following an 11-year cycle of the sun’s gas bubbles increasing in temperature to 5,504-degrees celsius. The stunning flashes of colour across the night’s sky occur when these charged particles from the sun interact with the earth’s magnetic field, and are found closer to the magnetic poles.

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For a long time there were a number of people talking about how iPhone photos, and Instagram photos in turn, weren’t “real”, basically that they held no value.

 

Continue reading at The Fox is Back

As visitors flock to this year’s blockbuster show, the National Gallery’s Leonardo da Vinci: Painter at the Court of Milan, Guardian art critic Jonathan Jones takes a detailed look at some of the Renaissance master’s most admired drawings

via Guardian

If you would like to register for the next visit, please fill this form – the next date will be announced shortly.

The Case of Wonders – an exhibition taking place within the Moscow Design Week between 12th and 15th October – is a cooperative project between the International Design School and one its graduates, a most notable Russian designer – Dima Loginoff. Currently, Dima is ranked 2nd in the world of product designers by “Design & Design” – an annual design competition which takes place in France every year.

On display to all visitors will be only a part of the large collection of lamps designed by Dima Loginoff, who has received numerous international awards and rave reviews from buyers and professionals alike. The collection was created for the Venitian company Studio Italia Design, formally presented in 2011 at the iSaloni furniture exposition in Milan, Italy. Also on display are several samples of ceramic tiles from Dima Loginoff’s 2011 Designer Collection, created for the world famous company, VitrA.

Visitors will also have the chance to see the works of other International Design School graduates, novice designers Ksenia Sterlina, Pavel Beliy and Maxim Artamonov. In March 2011, Ksenia’s works were nominated for awards in Subject Design, by ITEC – an international examination board – in conjunction with ELLE Decoration. Maxim Artamonov introduced his concept and received 3rd place at the “Russian Design – 2011” competition. And Pavel Beliy’s works always attract great interest and a wave of debate in the media.

This exhibition aims to show doubtful young designers that design definitely works, it is worth studying design and there is a lot of value added in excellent design education. The success and achievements of our graduates has well established these facts!