Iman Maleki-PHOTO’S OR PAINTINGS?

PHOTO’S OR PAINTINGS?


                                                           Iman Maleki 

Born in 1976 in Teheran. From an early age he was fascinated with paintings. Age 15 he studied with Morteza Katouzian, de greatest realist painter in Iran & since had many successful showings of his paintings. The most important exhibition to date was the “Exhibition of Realist painters of Iran” in the Contemporary Museum of Art in Teheran(1999) and the “Group Exhibition of KARA Studio Painters” in the SABZ galerie(1998) and the SA'AD ABAD Palace(2003).

Look like photo’s... but these are actual PAINTINGS!

                      
                                                              UNBELIEVABLE!

He is consired to be the best realist painter in the world!

Unbelievable technique and talent...

Bringing Life, Giving Water and Peace, via a Skyscraper in Sudan - eVolo | Architecture Magazine

Citing experts and news articles, architecture student Hugon Kowalski says that the unrest in the Darfur region of Sudan, where over 200,000 have been killed and 2 million have fled, has, in reality, been caused by the scarcity of water, and the subsequent struggles to claim some of this precious resource. Amazingly, researchers at Boston University discovered, in 2007, an underground lake in the region that, though now dry, could be refilled as an artificial lake. This reservoir could then be tapped to bring plentiful water, and quite possibly peace, to the war-torn area.

The skyscraper that Kowalski has designed taps into the underground lake and brings it to the surface for distribution. In addition to housing the water pumps and treatment facility, however, the building also has a hospital, school and a food storage center, centralizing many life-bringing and saving services into one vital tower.

The building is made of brick, which will be made on-site and baked, energy-free, by the hot desert sun. The building will also be environmentally responsible by utilizing water turbines and solar panels.

Because of the diverse services housed within, Kowalski says that the building can simultaneously stimulate the economy and help untie under one roof the very different populations of the people of Darfur (Sudan being Africa’s largest nation, and one of its most diverse religiously, ethnically and linguistically). This mission of peace via architecture seeks to ameliorate one of the recent past’s most horrific crises.

Bringing Life, Giving Water and Peace, via a Skyscraper in Sudan - eVolo | Architecture Magazine

The Museo Nazionale dell’Automobile is reopening!

THE MUSEO NAZIONALE DELL’AUTOMOBILE IS REOPENING!

IN TURIN

[ 18.12.2010; ] On the occasione of the 150th anniversary of the Unification of Italy, the “new” Museo Nazionale dell’Automobile in Turin will open after three years of renovation.

In the presence of the Head of the Governement Giorgio Napolitano and on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the unification of Italy, the “new” Museo Nazionale dell’Automobile in Turin will reopen after three years of renovation. A new innovative and modern design, given to the architect Cino Zucchi and ot the stage designer Francois Confino, who in Turin had already set up the Museo del Cinema, has changed the shape of the museum. But, after all, it has been given it a new essence and a new mission: it is not just an architectural renovation, but a real intervention that aims at finding a more dynamic place to the museum within the Italian cultural world.

Turin is the “Italian capital of the car”: from industry to design, from planning to engineering, from research centers to production. So, it does not concern only on production, but it is a cultural and social phenomenon that is enhanced and expressed throught the transformation of the museum. The highest level of the Museo Nazionale dell’Automobilein Turin is managed by the President Giuseppe Alberto Zunino, the vice President Fiorenzo Alfieri and the Director Rodolfo Gaffino Rossi.

STUDENTS PROJECTS-market in Kypseli

Restoration and urban renewal of the market in Kypseli

Spatial uses according to current self-management practices.

Study group: Christina Giannopoulou, Ioanna Tsimpou, Jenny Chalkiadaki 
Supervisor teacher: Eleni Portaliou
Consultant teachers: Eleftheria Tsakanika, Vasilis Tsouras
National Technical University of Athens
November 2008

BRIEF HISTORY OF THE BUILDINGThe market building was constructed on the axis of the Fokionos Negri pedestrian way, during the Middle war years, and was for years a space of intercourse for the residents as well as a reference place of the area. Its operation came to an end in 2003, after some years of sub - operation. In 2004, due to a movement of local residents and social actors, the building was saved from demolishment, and in 2005, it was characterized as a monument by a Ministerial Decree. On December 2006, after the initiative of local residents and actors, the market building was opened and cleaned so as to house a number of activities. Since then, local residents are coordinated through open monthly assemblies, where they decide over the activities and its function.

TYPOLOGY - MORPHOLOGYIt is a one-storey building, which consists of a central elevated space, with stores arranged along each side. Except for the inner stores, there is also a row of stores with external access below a gallery on one of the longer facades. On the four corners of the building four larger stores are formed.

The building is a representative sample of the modern movement, with rational design. It still has many classicistic elements, such symmetry of the elevations, a highlight of the horizontal axis, through molding and orthomarmarosis, as well as pilasters with plaster capitals. The triangular ends of the beams above the terrace, seem to refer to the neoclassical pediment.

RE-USEKypseli, especially in the wider area around the market, is densely built, with limited free "green" spaces. Also, it has few public buildings to cover the social and cultural needs of the residents. Therefore, the market building along with the Fokionos Negri pedestrian way, which together form a strong urban actor, could make up a public pole of collective uses and social life.

The current use of the market, which derives from the needs of the residents, along with the historic role of the building in the area, as a space of social memory, are the basic factor for the proposal of a center for social contact and meeting, culture and update with automanagement practices.

  

The functions of the Social Centre

∙ Library with loaning section and space for reading with multimedia
∙ Artistic workshop (painting, pottery, etc.)
∙ A room for seminars
∙ A room for assemblies of local clubs and organizations 
∙ Coffee shop 
∙ Display spaces
∙ Central space for various events
∙ Small stores
∙ WC
∙ Storing spaces

RESTORATIONThe restoration of the Market aims at the preservation of the typology and the style of the building, through the highlighting of its basic characteristics, as well as at a return to its original state. Therefore, the recommended interventions, pointing at the service of the new operational needs of the building, do not alter the typology. The new constructions are clearly discrete from the existing structure, while easily detachable in case of a future change in the use of the building. 

The restoration of the building includes the following:

∙ Structure restoration
∙ Façade restoration
∙ Interior restoration
∙ Improvement of the energy efficiency 
∙ Improvement of the acoustics

John Lennon Tribute on 30th Anniversary of Death

The 30th Anniversary of John Lennon's Death in NYC

Today mark unfortunately the thirtieth anniversary of the death of former Beatle and immortal Rock legend John Lennon at the age of 40 at the hands of a crazed and deranged fan,Mark David Chapman who shot Lennon  four times in front of his residence,the Dakota Apartments near  New York City's famous Central Park.Since then,Lennon's tragic death has left a void in popular music and also marked the loss of innocence regarding the relationship between celebrities and their fans since ever since Lennon's death,every celebrity has upped up on security and bodyguards to protect them against rabid insane fans and stalkers as well as tons of invading paparazzi, stalkerazzi and annoying reporters. It's so ironic that John Lennon came to New York City back in 1970 to escape the madness of Beatlemania to find his identity as a solo musician together with his wife Yoko Ono and his son, Sean and to become another ordinary New Yorker which Lennon succeeded in doing so until his untimely death.It's also ironic that at the time Lennon was murdered by Chapman on December 8,1980,Lennon had just finished his latest LP DOUBLE FANTASY which would later in 1981 be a number one record posthumously.

But there was a unfortunate legacy that resulted after Lennon's death at the hands of a fan.Previously before this incident,there was virtually no known case of a celebrity harmed or killed by a fan or admirer,because  in those times,fans knew how to keep distance from their beloved celebrites.Since Lennon's death,there has been an alarming and ever growing number of cases of celebrities stalked,harmed and even killed by crazed,insane fans such like in the case of Jodie Foster in which a crazed fan attempted to kill President Ronald Reagan; or the case of actress Theresa Saldana who was scarred in a brutal attack by an insane fan;or TV actress Rebecca Shaeffer(MY SISTER SAM) killed at her front door by a schizophrenic fan.Other famous cases of stalkers and the celebrities being stalked are Uma Thurman,Michael J.Fox,David Letterman,Sheryl Crow, Anna Kournikova,Pamela Anderson,Jerry Lewis,Catherine Zeta Jones & Michael Douglas,former Beatle George Harrison,Conan O'Brian,TV reporter Kathryn Dettman, It also doesn't help that celebrity stalkers are somehow helped by the barrage of celebrity invasive and intrusive  reporting started by Entertainment Tonight which ironically started in 1980 the year Lennon died at the hands of a stalker and continued today by Access Hollywood,Extra!,Inside Edition,Hard Copy and the most infamous of  TV stalkerazzie shows,Harvey Levin's TMZ.But tonight let us remember the great John Lennon not for his death but for his great music,his wit and wisdom and his great talent as a musician/composer.If you are living in the New York City area,then please pass by the Strawberry Fields park section of Western Central Park in Manhattan, NYC to place flowers in honor of the great and never forgotten John Lennon,who at the time of his death,was a fellow New Yorker just like the rest of us!

John Lennon - Give Peace A Chance

Working Glass hero