Behold – like a scene from ‘Inception’ – Zhongshuge Bookstore in Chongqing city, China: a bewildering, mirrored symphony of stairs and shelves designed by architecture firm X+Living.
Category Archives: Design
Ozymandian
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Cambridge University ‘collapse expert’ Luke Kemp contrasts the relative longevity of ancient civilisations.
G’wan the Kushites!
Hot Wheels
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Behold: the Fluid – a top shelf, pedal-assisted electric bike from e-bike manufacturer Fuell.
The aluminium alloy frame contains two rechargeable cells packing 1,008Wh with 100Nm of torque and a 200km range while hub-mounted gears and carbon belt drive (instead of a chain) reduce maintenance.
Yours later this year for just over €2,500.
Cake?
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Reflective
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Aerial views of the 1,600 hectare BrightSource Ivanpah solar plant in California’s Mojave desert by German photographer Bernhard Lang.
Hot Wheels
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Behold: the 1948 Alfa Romeo 6C Super Sport coupe – the marque’s first post-war motor, equipped with a 2.5l inline six engine capable of 193km/h – staggeringly fast for its day.
This vehicle – immaculate following a two year full Concours restoration – still has its original engine, gearbox and aluminium coachwork by Touring of Milan.
One of only 383 made and already Best In Show at last year’s Zoute Concours d’Elegance, it can be yours for around €750,000.
Hot Wheels
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Behold: the 1962 Ferrari 250GTE 2+2 Series II Coupe – the company’s first large volume four seater road car – a 3.0l V12 that would eventually become Ferrari’s biggest seller.
This particular vehicle has an illustrious list of former owners (mainly singers), including French performers Richard Anthony, Claude ‘Cloclo’ François and France Gall and, more recently, British Ferrari aficionado Jay Kay.
Yours for €320,000-€400,000.
The work of japanese illustrator and Marvel fanboy Takumi – sundry Avengers rendered in traditional Ukiyo-e style, complete with their own kanji name and costume design. To wit:
Thor is pronounced tooru in Japanese, so he assigned the Japanese equivalent, which is 徹(とる). Thanos’ 6 infinity stones served as the inspiration behind that name, which references the 6 realms of Buddhism.The patterns on each of the characters clothing are traditional Japanese designs and each references certain traits of the characters. Captain America’s pants use the shippo (七宝) pattern of layered circles, which references the shape of his shield. Thor’s pattern is pretty straightforward: the traditional cloud (雲) pattern. Iron Man uses the complex bishamon kikko (毘沙門亀甲) pattern, which mimics the look of a circuit board.
Hot Wheels
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Behold: the 1971 Toyota Land Cruiser FJ40 – in this instance, completely refurbished, stripped back to bare metal and repainted with a rebuilt 3.9-litre 1F inline-six engine, upgraded undercarriage, performance tyres and bucket seats.
Currently accepting bids.
Hundreds of bollards populating a side street once plagued with illegally parked cars in Shonan near Enoshima in Japan – their reflective ‘eyes’ creating the surreal impression of black ghosts emerging from below ‘like something out of a Hayao Miyazaki film’.