Canstruction comes to London

Ever fancied knocking down a stack of cans in a supermarket. Then you wouldn't have been very popular at Canstruction last week.

Sunday saw architects, designers and engineers coming together to compete in teams of five in the 20th anniversary of the Canstruction competition.

The task was to build sculptures entirely from canned food during the 12-hour competition that took place in London's canary Wharf. 

Waitrose and food retailer AF Blakemore provided the contestants with 40,000 cans to build their designs. Competitors included engineering practice Thornton Tomasetti who used cans of Heinz Cooked Spaghetti to create a rocket ship and others used Heinz Baked Beans cans to create a variety of shaped archways.

This is the first time that Canstruction has come to the UK and is part of the London Festival of Architecture which started on 23rd June.

For more information see World Interior Design Network.

Miniature block of flats

Here's an interesting bit of street art spotted by our Creative Director, Shaun Madle.

Transforming concrete blocks into blocks of flats.

How to make a very manly beer

Ever wondered how to make a very manly beer then this film from Hahn Super Dry beer will explain all.

Jackie Chan, drummers, monster trucks, Elvis and more all go into making this very macho beer, and all to theme tune to Night Rider.

Enjoy!

High performance art

This ad for BMW Canada features some fantastic slow motion film that sees the super-fast M5 smashing through a series of objects set to classical piano music.

The result, according to their YouTube channel - 'High Performance Art'.

We can only agree - definetly one for cultured petrol-heads.



Ad created by Cundari, Toronto

Inventive pop-ups come to life

These great pop-ups are experimental designs by Portland-based designer and art director Mengyu Chen who is currently working on a new comic book. She mocked these up to see how they would work.

Very inventive - can't wait to see the book.

See more on Colossal Art ad Design

Colourful music pictograms

We love these pictograms that chronologue some of the iconic rock artists of the 20th Century by Viktor Hertz.

He set up the project on Funded by Me asking backers to buy the posters in advance until he reached his target so that he could go into production. 

So far be has sold more than $5,000 worth of posters from 90 backers.

All posters are printed on 170 g/m2 silk, sized 50 x 70 cm and are signed by him. They are shipped in thick tubes, est. delivery late July/Early August 2012 and the project is carbon dioxide compensated, new trees are planted in Mozambique after the printing. More info on this here: http://www.planvivo.org

To get hold of one of the posters yourself find out more here.

Living the dream in a cloud

Why build your house as a box when you could be living in a cloud? 

McBride Charles Ryan is the architectural practice behind this cloud-shaped addition to an Edwardian residence in Australia.

It is quite beautiful and very different from the ordinary front of the property that is just a bungalow. 

The architects commmented, “The form of the ‘cloud’ conforms to setback regulations without appearing obviously determined by them. The extrusion creates a dramatic interior language where walls merge seamlessly with the floor and ceiling. The craftsmanship is remarkable throughout; it has a sense of care one typically associates with the work of a cooper or wheelwright. While the geometry is playful, the extrusion is essentially a contemporary barrel vault.”

See more of this great building here on Web Urbanist.

I Love Architecture Charity Auction

This year spring fundraising event for Architecture for Humanity is the "I Love Architecture" Charity Auction.

Featuring original sketches, renderings, prints, paintings and even a pigskin, from over 50 designers and architects, including Renzo Piano, Frank Gehry, Richard Meier, Steven Holl, Kengo Kuma, Snohetta, Jeanne Gang, and more, the hammer is about to come down.

So, if you would like to see some of the great pieces of art and get your bid in for charity then click here. The auction finishes on 29th June. It is a US based auction but they say they will ship worldwide.

For more information on Architecture for Humanity click here.