Haptic Lab brings us these AMAZING quilted city maps - quite possibly the best way to interact with a map ever!
Haptic Lab was started by Emily Fischer, a Brooklyn-based architect and designer. Soft-Maps started in 2002 as an academic experiment in tactile wayfinding; the quilts were inspired by Emily’s mother Peggy who had begun losing her eyesight.
The website has quilts, baby SoftMaps and even custom maps available. I am dying to own one of these someday!! If you join the mailing list you can be entered to win a free quilt :)
Brought to you by designer and illustrator Christoph Niemann "I LEGO N.Y." is an endearing little book that shows bits and pieces of New York rendered with legos. Yep, its as good as it sounds. From taxis to wasabi, the Holland Tunnel to a stack of $20 bills, all are made from Legos and completely adorable. This book makes an excellent coffee table book ( I can attest to this because it currently is sitting on my coffee table)
Manhattanhenge is one of the best little known facts of New York City in my opinion. Twice a year the sun sets in exact alignment with Manhattan's east/west street grid.
Neil deGrasse Tyson (the guy who coined the term) says that "Manhattanhenge may just be a unique urban phenomenon in the world, if not the universe." The alignment of the grid, coupled with the shear verticality of the city create this phenomenon in NYC unlike any other city.
This year Manhattanhenge will take place on Tuesday May 31st at 8:17 pm and Monday July 11th at 8:25 pm. A half sun will also be visible May 30th and July 12th. Mark your calendars!
For your best view, go as far east in Manhattan as possible while still being able to see New Jersey. The wider two way streets like 14th, 23rd, 34th and 42nd are recommended for even better views.
***Side note*** Welcome to the second theme of The Curiosity Project - Urban Experiences. The last two weeks we brought you fun/random/crazy inspirations focused on being passionate. If you missed any of those posts, we'll be uploading a poster soon that shows a little bit of each of them.
The Curiosity Project brings you Legos today. Yeah, you know what Legos are...we know. But these projects push the limits of craziness with creative uses of these beloved building blocks.
Above, a video by rymdreglage called 8 Bit Trip combines Legos with one of my favorite things ever - stop motion. It will blow you away! It took 1500 hours to make which makes perfect sense - this is insane!
Below is the Munchausen Lego Kitchen - an IKEA counter covered in Legos by two Paris designers. This makes me want to cover something in my apartment with Legos.
Lego has recently released famous architecture buildings in lego form including Falling Water by Frank Lloyd Wright (seen below) as well as the Guggeheim Museum in NYC also by Frank Lloyd Wright, and the Farnsworth House. They also have a landmark building series that includes favorites like the Empire State building, the Willis (Sears) Tower, the Hancock Tower, and the White House. If they weren't quite so expensive, I'd have one of these for sure.
Next up is the DispatchWork, an international project to patch up cities with Legos. Not sure what the ultimate goal is other than smiles and awesomeness, but I know I'd sure love to see one of these around NYC
Haptic Lab brings us these AMAZING quilted city maps - quite possibly the best way to interact with a map ever!
