On the beaches of Costa Rica

Received an e-mail about the turtles on the beaches of costa rica

World wide shame in costa rica

What have they all gained for the future of Costa Rica 's Marine Life protection?

See the 2nd picture where the female cannot cover up her own eggs, before the

intruder steals away what nature has given her to protect her young. These people have unfortunately, taught their children nothing for the future generation to cherish. Look at these children and they do not know anything about conservation of Marine Life Protection and look at the disastrous road their parents are taking too.
The turtle eggs are stolen to be sold.

Inspirational Morpho Towers

After being exposed to the realm of Morpho Towers, I was truly amazed by the creativity and innovation of the designers. The ability to "think out of the box" is what the comrades of the designing industry should have and Morpho Towers are definitely an epitome of a fine combination of science, arts and creativity, which hold a new breath to the construction industry as well. When I first saw the towers, my curiosity aroused when spikes of ferrofluid resembling steel ribbons besiege the towers, making the towers extraordinary and futuristic. Morpho Towers are truly inspirational as they exemplify the need of bridging concepts and realising inspiration. They display a whole new way of building, based on fresh and interesting ideas. So, it can be deducted that Morpho Towers are truly an mind-opener, as they show us a way to open up to boundless territory of thinking and creating, as a way to stand out from outmoded mind and abyss, while conforming to actual rules of the game of constructing, as in safety and in care of trend and people's fastidious needs of new things, which are usually visually exciting.

Conclusion of Assignment,
By Jasper Ng.

What I Think About The Morpho Tower?

The first time i watched then video in class, I was like " yuck!! What is that?!" That is because the ferrofluid in the video was flowing around and even forming spikes on two towers that look like KLCC to me. The video really looks like some kind of effects created by the computer, but i when i did some researches about the Morpho Tower, I found out that it was actually something that really exists! The even more unbelievable part is that the ferrofluid in the video actually moves synthetically with the music. How cool is that! I think Sachiko Kodama is a genius combining art and science this way. I couldn't imagine how much effort she has put into this project, this really shows her passion and creativity towards art. the video is really inspiring to me as it shows that everything that looks like a fantasy can actually become true.  As a student who wishes to become a successful architect in the future, I wish to build something that might seem impossible to be built!! :)


Caryn Chang Yuen Teng

A man and his Artwork

Artwork    : Strandbeest (one of the kinetic sculpture)
Man          : Theo Jansen
Video Title:  BMW (South Africa). Defining Innovation
             
Feelings after first time watching it:
WAY TOO COOL!!!! Is this real???????
After doing a bit of research, i am sure this is real. Basically I am trying to keep it as short as possible, so that readers dun have to go through the process of reading too many words.

Who is he?

Name                   : Theo Jansen

Birthplace             : Scheveningen, Netherlands

Birth date              : 14 March 1948 (age 62)

Tertiary Studies     :  Studies Physics at Universities of Delft (1968)

Job                       : Kinetic Sculptor, Dutch Artist (Engineer/ Artist)

One of prizes won : special jury prize in Ars Electronica 2005

Workplace            : Ypenburg

Interview               : http://www.goodexperience.com/2005/04/interview-theo-jansen-strandbe.php:

Next goal              : Improve Strandbeest's survival skill so that they can stand up to natural elements such as                               storm

His hope               : His creation becomes more anatomically sophisticated and can live on their own.

Artwork

Name                          : Strandbeest (literally means beach beast)

Materials used              : Flexible plastic tubes, Adhesive tapes, nylon threads ,etc

Powered by                 : Wind power

Year started                 : 1990

Structure                      : Bear resemblance to skeletons of animals and also Da Vinci's unbuilt prototypes

Function system            : Klann Linkage System (can't explain it here, it will be too long) To know more                                         click here, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klann_Linkage                                                                                    and http://www.mechanicalspider.com/comparison.html

Abilities                        : i)  Walk on beaches,

                                      ii) Capture and store the winds, and keep moving for extended time

                                      iii) Anchor themselves in the sand when the wind is trying to blow them away

Simulation programme

of the artwork               : click here http://www.cove.org/ape/demo2.htm

Before i end my this, i would like to share a few words. This Strandbeest is created by Theo Jansen. This man is awesome. I think most people around the world will be taken aback by his creativity. Perhaps his creation will become our vehicle in the future. His dedication to create something so amazing is undeniably valuable to our slowly shaterring mother earth.So,everyone START saving our EARTH AND RECYCLE!!!

"The walls between arts and engineering exist in our mind" -his quote is connected with my favourite quote "Anything is possible, the impossible just takes longer". What we imagine is possible. His quote should have been used for all the FNBE students and future architect.

Reference link

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theo_Jansen
http://www.artfutura.org/02/05jansen_en.html
http://www.strandbeest.com/
http://weburbanist.com/2008/10/11/unbelievable-kinetic-sculptures-of-theo-jansen/
http://test.org.uk/2005/09/04/strandbeest-and-the-fossils-of-new-media-art/and 4 more link up there.


-SOE HEN JUN-

Morpho Tower - 2 standing spiral!! :D

Last class, our awesome teachers showed us 2 videos, I would say weird videos. Haha

One is MORPHO TOWER – two standing spiral, the other one is BMW(South Africa) defining innovation.
Why I said these 2 videos are weird? Well, actually weird in a good way. XP
Both of the videos are very creative!! :D


Okay, back to business. I want to talk about the Morpho Tower – two standing spiral .


The morpho tower – two standing tower is created by Sachiko Kodama.
“Morpho Towers--Two Standing Spirals” is an installation that consists of two ferrofluid sculptures that moves synthetically to music. The two spiral towers stand on a large plate that hold ferrofluid. When the music starts, the magnetic field around the tower is strengthened. Spikes of ferrofluid are born from the bottom plate and move up, trembling and rotating around the edge of the iron spiral.
The body of the tower was made by a new technique called “ferrofluid sculpture” that enables artists to create dynamic sculptures with fluid materials. This technique uses one electromagnet, and its iron core is extended and sculpted. The ferrofluid covers the sculpted surface of a three-dimensional iron shape that was made on an electronic NC lathe. The movement of the spikes in the fluid is controlled dynamically on the surface by adjusting the power of the electromagnet. The shape of the iron body is designed as helical so that the fluid can move to the top of the helical tower when the magnetic field is strong enough.
The surface of the tower responds dynamically to its magnetic environment.
When there is no magnetic field, the tower appears to be a simple spiral shape. But when the magnetic field around the tower is strengthened, spikes of ferrofluid are born; at the same time, the tower’s surface dynamically morphs into a variety of textures ranging from soft fluid to minute moss, or to spiky shark’s teeth, or again to a hard iron surface. The ferrofluid, with its smooth, black surface that seems to draw people in, reaches the top of the tower, spreading like a fractal, defying gravity.
The spikes of ferrofluid are made to rotate around the edge of the spiral cone, becoming large or small depending on the strength of the magnetic field. In this work the speed of this rotation can be controlled without motors or shaft mechanisms ? we simply control the magnetic power.
In this work, we are trying to activate analogue physical phenomena (= fluid) precisely by utilizing digital music metadata. To control the synchronization of the ferrofluid with the music playback in real time, time series metadata are added to the music beforehand. The metadata consist of musical information, such as beat position, chord progression, and melody block information, and ferrofluid control information such as DC bias voltage and AC pattern. Each data record has a time stamp that indicates the timing of presentation. All data are stored in time-series order.
These time series metadata must be accurate for precise control of timing, so as to cancel the time delay of fluid movement. By this correction, the time when the protuberance of the spike reaches its maximum size is coincident with the beat of the music. As a result, the rhythm of the fluid movement coincides with the musical rhythm. When there is no sound, the fluid falls down into the plate.
As there are two towers in the installation, complicated expressions of surfaces become possible. Each tower’s surface pulsates, like one creature calling to the other.
Fluid moves synthetically with the music, as if it breathes, and the condition of the fluid's surface emerges as autonomous and complex. In this art we want to harmonize several opposing properties, such as hardness (iron) / softness (fluid) and freedom (desire for design) / restriction (natural powers such as gravity). This work emerges as an autonomous transformation of the material itself: sometimes it seems like a horn, sometimes a fir tree, and sometimes even like the Tower of Babel.

This is the video :
MUST WATCH!! haha
Sachiko Kodama "Morpho Towers -- Two Standing Spirals" (2007)

Collaborator: Yasushi Miyajima (Sony CSL)
Special Thanks:Satoru Saito, Kingo Arakawa, Takeshi Aoki, Osamu Sumiya(UEC), Megumi Sato
Music: Tetsuhide Hidaka, PIRAMI