The Oslo Opera House

I was going through my sketchbook and realized I'd never scanned in the sketches I did of the Oslo Opera House way back in August ... So here goes ...

It was designed by a Norwegian firm called Snohetta in 2004. It's a very cool building. Actually I'm enamored of the shell more than the insides, which don't seem to correlate much. There's a Guggenheim thing happening on the interior - in wood - and a floaty, white marble-y thing happening on the exterior.

In all, it's a lovely place to wander around, and to then sit and drink coffee while sketching.

(All images & photos are my own)

Exterior:

The money shot

Actually, the approach isn't that lovely ...

View from the top

Interiors:

Inside looking out

The Brain Wave Headset

I have a new life goal: to be asked to speak at TED someday.

(TED stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design. It's a nonprofit that gives people who are working on ingenius projects a platform from which to discuss them; no matter what subject. The website showcases an amazing collection of brief videos, searchable by 'jaw-dropping'-ness, 'inspiring'-ness, etc.)

I came upon this video, from July 2010. It's a headset that allows for hands-free manipulation of technology. It actually reads brainwaves.

Tan Le presents the headset on TED in this video.
You set it up by thinking of what you want to happen while the sensors read and record the activity of your brain.  Thereafter whenever you think about that action and your brain reacts accordingly, the system recognizes it and performs the related function.

All I can think about at the moment is how much easier 3D modeling would be ...

We Feel Fine

Recently I discovered this astonishing online animated data project called We Feel Fine.


We Feel Fine is a research project by Jonathan Harris and Sep Kamvar. They automated a system that searches blogs globally for the phrase "I feel ..." and then categorizes the emotions or moods represented in that sentence. You can refine the search by gender, age, geography, date, mood -- even by the weather at the time the post was written. Many include images.

It's a jaw-dropping emotional thermometer on a global scale. I find it moving, and often quite funny.

On the We Feel Fine website, you can actually click on the phrases, and it will lead you directly to the poster's blog. It's a wonderful concept in terms of connecting across the world, but it kind of gives me the heebie-jeebies ...



Some of my favorite finds:














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Bright Ideas

Oooook, so that was quite the hiatus.
I'm back in school (final year of my Master's in Architecture program!) and rather busy.

But one of the classes I'm taking now is WoodWorking, which I love love love.


That said, I'm attaching some progress shots of one of those projects (with imaginary-person commentary):

"Why, look. An unassuming little cube which has been cut in two and has a hole in it. Ho-hum."

"Ok, so this weird cube also has funny cuts on one side. Whatever."

"What?? It's a light! Oh my gosh, that's the best WoodWorking project I've ever seen!"

Actually right now it reminds me of an egg slicer:

But I'm not done with it yet ...

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