Water Light Graffiti

Painting could be done with anything including a paintbrush, water gun, atomizer or for the more expressive – a bucket.

London venues Olympic fly through

This movie is a breathtaking fly-through of London 2012 Olympic venues and many major London landmarks. It gives an impressive orientation of the skyscape through to a detailed view of what it is like in the buildings.

Zoom from the Olympic stadium and park, past the BT tower and on to Lords, Greenwich, along the Mall, under Tower Bridge, St Paul's Cathedral and then up, up, up.
Great heart-warming stuff.

Velodrome experience of Hoy, Pendleton & Trott

Fans of Chris Hoy, Victoria Pendleton and Laura Trott may be curious to know what it feels like to cycle in the Olympic Velodrome.

The movie certainly catches the spirit of going at full pelt around the undulating circuit with just a hint of the film Tron to give extra style.

Olympic athlete montage video featuring Muse's London 2012 official song, Survival.
Go to Youtube

Public realm & paper art create Rainbow Streets

Public realm and paper art have been united in this public art installation to promote independence and peace. The star motif, taken from the Vietnamese national flag, is made from the negative space left by the origami rainbow arrangement floating along a wall.

These ephemeral urban installations, by Mademoiselle Maurise bring colour and a message to streets of Vietnam, Hong Kong and more.
Link to Mademoiselle Maurise

Spinnaker Tower with elegant public realm

The Spinnaker Tower which opened in October 2005, is situated right on the edge of Portsmouth Harbour on the waterfront of the Gunwharf Quays development. It is higher than the London Eye, Blackpool tower and Big Ben and at 170m is the tallest publicly accessible structure in the UK.
The surrounding public realm is inspired by the iconic spinnaker which street lighting taking on the elegant curve.

Click here for link Spinaker webcam for dymanic views minute by minute

Evolution of F1 car design

Go through to the link and see how different elements have been developed, refined and some discarded. Engineering of the F1 car has developed technologies for normal road cars. Pioneering new innovations and knowing when to discard old ones keeps the best at the top of the F1.
Highway engineers benefit from similar methods by keeping up-to-date with the transport innovations and the best road safety design methods. PRIAN encourages retaining knowledge within councils and highway authorites and sharing projects across regions.

Click here for link to F1 infographic

Cycling velodrome

Multipurpose buildings give the best value for land and investment. This design for a Bicycle Club in China provides refreshments and roof top velodrome. NL Architechtes based in Amsterdam proposed this design for real estate developer VANKE. Visitors can rent bikes, enjoy the fantastic architecture from all angles while on two wheels.

Link to NL Architects

For those of us who may not get chance to go to China for the ultimate cycling experience we may have to settle for a slice of the fantastic BBC Olympic Cycle Velodrome cake.

From BBC receipes

Robert Huxford of Urban Design Group gives an over view for making balanced judgments while navigating complex law and guidance documents when designing the public realm.
Link to movie
Link to more information on decision making for public realm

Useful further reading is ICE's Highway Risk and Liability Claims, A practical guide to Appendix C of The UK Roads Board, Report ‘Well Maintained Highways: Code of Practice for Highway Maintenance Management’.

The document gives the current position on highway liability arising from maintenance and design.
It also gives an overview of the the latest philosophy and vies on best practice and legislation.
Recommeded for all with responsibility for providing and maintaining roads and highway infrastructure including: local authority engineers, transport planners, landscape architects, elected
members, insurers, risk managers
By sharing highway related claims information Highways Authorities can monitor their performance with others and the general national trend.

The Architecture of London 2012 is a fascinating guide to the buildings, landscaping of the 2012 Olympics which covers the vision, design and legacy. It has stories of the people behind the games too. Those with a hands on role for the innovative buildings and striking park designs not to mention the technical challenges.

ISBN-10: 1119993865
ISBN-13: 978-1119993865

ITV reports, CCTV footage shows a 1.5km-long road barrier in China collapsing like a giant row of dominoes in just 30 seconds.

Link to ITV movie

The small town of Wuppertal in Germany has transformed a bridge into the largest Lego bridge (or is it?) In fact its just a painted affect but with all the joy and colour of the famous building blocks.
The work by Martin Heuwold is located on an old industry artery that has been converted into a 10 mile causeway of  Bewegung e.V.

The trompe l’oeil effect is extreemly cost effective way of regenerating a plain concrete bridge.

Link to Martin Heuwold 'Megx'

Peter Crawley's stitched illustrations of architecture streets grids and cityscapes in his stitched creations. This precise work has made 2 dimensional images of BT tower, Sao Paulo, Los Angeles.

Link to Peter Crawley

Rain hindered todays Olympic torch relay as it was taken from Oxford to Windsor and then on to Reading.

Gina MacGregor made her way to meet the Queen at Windsor Castle in the rain with the Olympic flame.
Gina has been playing netball for 65 years and coaching for 60 years. In 2005 she was made an MBE for services to netball.

She is greeted by Sebastian Coe, chairman of the London Olympics, and she quips:
"Well, you saw me in a better state early. Let me dry for a moment."

Link to see live flame relay on BBC's Torchcam

Roofscape sculpture by Tom Fruin is the fourth work in his Icon series which features scavenged, reclaimed, and recycled materials constructed into sculptural tributes to architectural icons around the world, from the obelisco of Buenos Aires, to the kolonihavehuse of Copenhagen.

Illuminated by the sun during the day and by Ardunio-controlled light sequences designed by Ryan Holsopple at night. The
Watertower opened June 7th, with daily light shows beginning at dusk and continuing to morning.
Link to Tom Fruin

This short movie shows how drivers of large vehicles and cyclists can share the road with safety. Understand what a lorry driver sees from the cab. Avoid the most common situations where accidents may occur.

Automated Response System – Vehicles Black Box

Institution of Mechanical Engineers recent report ‘Intelligent Transport Intelligent Society’ advised that all new vehicles be fitted with automated response systems within 2 years. This would improve the information gained for a collision and give more accurate details of the location with Global Positioning Systems.

Link to pdf: Intelligent Transport, Intelligent Society

Below:
LATERAL SAFE is one of the sub-projects of a European Commission project run in collaboration with members of the European Council for Automotive R&D (EUCAR).

Interactive map of virtually every reported fatality and injury that occurred on roads in Great Britain in the period 2000 to 2010 as a result of a collision involving a motor vehicle.
It is easy to use and locate the place you are interested in or simply zoom in and out.

The website was released in 2011 for World World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims and Road Safety Week.

If you work for a national media agency and would like some higher resolution exports of particular areas please contact ITO World. Casualty data is based on Stats19 data collected by the police and made available through the Economic and Social Data Service (ESDS) and the UK Data Archive.
Link to map: www.20splentyforus.org.uk

Sky high alfresco dinning could be the latest gourmet trend.
Suspended from a crane, 22 diners can break bread with the best view in Brussels. Seats are similar to those on a roller coaster and the heights scaled vary according to wind and weather conditions.

One of London’s most iconic landmarks today got ready for the Olympics. See the first lowering of the giant Olympic Rings on Tower Bridge marking the 30 days to the start of the games.

City sounds are explored by Mark Mckeague's project City Symphonies. Transport sounds are designed with electric cars mimicking the rumble of the combustion engine. But Mark has taken it a step further by looking at the sound of cars and their relationship to other road users and the environment.
From Streetscape to Soundscapes that are unique in place and time. The roadside becomes a new context for sound – the city is the score. He has used London’s road network and the traffic it carries to inspire unique melodies of urban infrastructure.

BT Phone Boxes transformed - K6

To celebrate this years Diamond Jubilee and London 2012 BT have joined forces with Childline to transform the classic red BT phone box, ‘K6 into an array of BT ArtBoxes.
The Gilbert Scott phone box was designed to commemorate King George V's Silver Jubilee.

These boxes are temporary art installations which will be auctioned to raise money for ChildLine’s 25th anniversary.

For a map of the best dressed boxes in town
For all of the designs

Parking and planting in happy harmony

Innovative street tree planter
The fantastically nostalgic Fiat 500C has been used by artist-designer Fabio Novembre for his public art piece, “Per fare un albero” (Create a tree). First seen in Milans fashion street Montenapoleone, then they moved to New York’s Canal Street at 6 Avenue.
Novembre’s said his solution to merge into one object trees and cars, two elements always vying for urban space, is a “symbol of a new way of living.” According to Fiat’s spokespeople, Fiat 500 C’s cheerful, friendly, innovative and eco-friendly character is a perfect fit for such an undertaking.

Re-using the cars adds to the sustainability of this type of placemaking project. In New York, once the cars are removed, the 12 foot pear trees will have a permanent home and will bring the city closer to its goal of planting one million new trees.
Link to Million Trees NYC

Walking to work or school is no much more fun when you can see how many times round the world you have gone or how many muffins of energy you used. Walk to Work Week 2012 (from 14-18 May) promotes walking as part of the Great British Walking Challenge. During the week thousands of employees across the UK are walking to, from and during work.

The enhanced median now has a large refuge area, so pedestrians can wait safely in the middle between the traffic. They can now cross 3 lanes at a time, rather than all 6.
Safety increased as pedestrians only need look in one direction for approaching traffic.
Planters help protect the pedestrians while adding additional green to the streetscape.
Pale surface of the central pedestrian area highlights this waiting point for pedestrians and not part of the vehicle carriageway.

Role your curser over the images below for results of improvements

No matter the time of day, you can see groups of people gather in line to pose for the iconic photograph of this famous zebra crossing. Local drivers have come to expect to wait a little longer and most are accommodating.

Link to:
Everything Goes on Land

Publisher: Balzer & Bray/Harperteen
ISBN-10: 0061958093
ISBN-13: 978-0061958090

The Portas Review set out what Mary Portas thought had led to the decline of the high street and made 28 recommendations about what could be done to breathe life back into High Streets and Town Centres.
Link to: The Portas Review

The Government's response lays down a challenge for local partners to re-imagine their town centres and high streets. Encourageing local communities to enhance the public spaces and create vibrant local econmies.
These measures give people the incentive and encouragement to take the lead and work together to put their creative ideas into practice.

Community-Led Plans allow a community to plan its future. This English Heritage document guides how heritage may be included within this process and ensuring it keeps its vitality, sense of identity and individuality.
Then go on to choose the best ways for it to develop and grow.
This advice note deals with the incorporation of local heritage within plans that rural communities are producing, reviewing or updating and focuses particularly on parish plans and village design statements.
Link to :  Knowing Your Place

Summer holidays can mean long car trips with traffic jams. Hmmm, not so fun.

But this great book may give a ray of light for low-tech in car entertainment.
Traffic signs are the source of inspiration for this classic road game. Auther Maria van Lieshout see beauty in the simple designs of road signs and lets her imagination take the strain.

Available from Amazon for this ABC-fun.

See how 2 great cities look miniaturised, one in Europe, one in South America.