Graphic for Current Blog
I found this website a while back for something I was developing for work. The applet maps out the website and its links.
http://www.aharef.info/static/htmlgraph/

Levity III by Architects of Air
Check on this installation for the Art on the Edge Festival. Here's a bloggers review.
http://gamil.com/2008/08/26/luminarium/

Teastick
Tea leaf holder designed by Gamila. An accidental find when I misstyped gmail.
http://www.gamilacompany.com/catalog/beverage/TST001b.html

Moving Graphics or Not...
Are your eyes playing a prank on you? Professor Akiyoshi Kitaoka from the Department of Psychology at Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto, Japan, creates images that will play with your mind. Through the study science of vision and perception, Kitaoka generates illusionary art. Click on the image for it's full affects. If look around the graphic it will appear to move;however stare at a single location and you will notice that the graphic is not moving at all.
Click on the link below for the professor's website.
http://www.ritsumei.ac.jp/~akitaoka/index-e.html

Architecture in Tirol
Thinking about snowboarding in Tirol... and seeing architecture. Check out Aparthotel Anton or Cube Biberwier
http://www.tirol.at/xxl/en/1055017/index.html

Swoosh, London
AA setup a competition for a summer pavilion. The winner was a student from Mexico, Garcia Abarca.
http://www.mexican-architects.com/index.php?seite=mx_bdw_aktuell_en&root=129441&system_id=194921&com=detail&jahr=2009

Klein Bottle House, Melbourne
The winner of the 2008 Australian Institute of Architects Robin Boyd Award for Residential Architecture, the Klein Bottle House is a holiday house located on the Mornington Peninsula, approximately an hour's drive from Melbourne.
http://www.australian-architects.com/index.php?seite=au_bdw_aktuell_en&root=79107&system_id=192890&com=detail&jahr=2009

World Architects
A portal for website listings of architects from around the world. The site has samples of projects as well as job listings.
http://www.world-architects.com/

Foodie Archive

Food Archive
Here are my pics from my food archives
http://picasaweb.google.com/wongerblog/FoodieArchives?feat=directlink

Miracle Berry
Change sour to sweet just add miracle berry. Flavor trip anyone?
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/28/dining/28flavor.html

Fast Food Design
Interior design for the fast food chain Maxim Restaurant in Hong Kong.
http://www.designboom.com/contemporary/maxim.html
http://www.steveleung.com
http://www.alanchandesign.com

Bookshelf
London flat integrated with stair and bookshelf.
http://i.gizmodo.com/358636/stairs-bookcase-actually-makes-me-want-to-move-to-london

Stairs
MRDV has designed a spiral stair design integrated compacted in a room.
http://i.gizmodo.com/379236/mvrdv-floating-stairs-dont-show-you-the-way

Media Skins
Oobect has posted comparisons of animated facades.
http://www.oobject.com/category/15-blade-runner-buildings/

Burj Dubai Photos

Burj Dubai
So I spent 3 years of my life on this project called Burj Dubai... check out these links and photos

Construction Photos
http://picasaweb.google.com/wongerblog/BurjDubaiProgressPhotos?feat=directlink
Dubai
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/11/dubai_and_the_uae.html
Tallest Buildings Comparison
http://skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/?28069335

Thin Is In
Check out the posting on Gizmodo of the slimmest houses.
http://gizmodo.com/5107283/the-slimmest-houses-on-earth-are-made-in-japan

Highway Design
Crazy highway designs in Japan.
http://i.gizmodo.com/5117220/crazy-japan-builds-crazy-highways-to-drive-people-crazy

Panko Crusted Shrimps on Bed of Zucchini Mash
Gotta work on maintaining the green in the Zucchini. The crunch of the shrimp was a nice compliment to the freshness of the zucchini.

Zucchini Wrapped Prosciutto Shrimp
Tested this out a number of ways. The best result is to have smaller zucchini slices and quickly cooked.

Fat Boy
Oversized bean bogs.
http://fatboyusa.com/fatboy_home.php

I had dinner with Jane and Jimmy

Nordpark Cable Railway by Zaha Hadid with Patrik Schumacher
A new railway line has been built to connect the mountain village of Hungerburg with the centre of Innsbruck. It will be used by tourists to access high slopes, connect villagers to the urban area. The construction of the railway is a considerable achievement in its own right. The architects worked closely with the rail engineers to produce station buildings that would appropriately celebrate the entire infrastructure. Zaha Hadid Architects designed all four stations along the route. The designs are all variations on a suite of parts made up of concrete station platforms, lifts, stairs and sensuous protective canopies. The key relationship within each composition is between the concrete which forms a supporting platform, and the over-sailing canopy that acts as a heraldic signal to announce the presence of the station. The base can be read as a moraine, connected to the earth but given form by a glacier. The canopy can be imagined as like the glacier itself, a changeable, luminous monolith curved as if shaped by melt water. The construction of the three dimensionally curved glass forms is an achievement of great virtuosity. In the development of Zaha Hadid's architecture from drawing to construction, this project represents a milestone in achieved form.
http://www.architecture.com/Awards/RIBAEuropeanAwards/2008/NordparkCable.aspx

Paint by Marker
Made by repeatedly balancing a single A1 sheet of paper on the nibs of a set of Pantone pens. Felt-Tip Print by Daniel Eatock

m-ch (micro compact home)
The team of researchers and designers based in London and at the Technical University in Munich developed the m-ch as an answer to an increasing demand for short stay living for students, business people, sports and leisure use and for weekenders. The m-ch has a timber frame structure with anodised aluminium external cladding, insulated with polyurethane and fitted with aluminium frame double glazed windows and front door with security double lock; graphics can be applied for sponsors, exhibition and business use. The m-ch measures 266cm x 266cm x 266cm. The unit weighs 2.2 tonnes.
http://microcompacthome.com/

Established & Sons Surface Table
Two Royal Designers for Industry, one from the world of furniture design and one from the world of Formula One racing car design, have collaborated on this super slim composite table. By using state-of-the-art autosport / aerospace technology, and exploiting the inherent rigidity of layered carbon fibre, Terence Woodgate and John Barnard have created an astonishing table that spans 3metres and has a thickness of just 2mm at the edge (five times thinner than its nearest equivalent). 'Surface Table' is available in a walnut veneer or unidirectional natural carbon fibre finish.
http://www.stylepark.com/en/established-und-sons/surface-table

Nola
A Swedish based company that designs street furniture. Nola bring quality design to open-air urban areas and high-traffic indoor environments. Whether considered robust enough for the outdoors or stylish enough for the interior, each product from Nola is as practical and durable as it is striking and chic.
http://www.nola.se/en

Hans Sandgren Jakobsen Gallery Stool
Gallery, designed in 1998 for Kunstforeningen København, is produced in moulded cherry, beech or maple veneer. Several stools can be linked to form benches which can be sat on from either side.

Clothes Hanger
Interesting hanger concept

Las Obras Maestras del Museo del Prado en Gigapixel
Amazing paintings ever at El Prado. Now you can see them in Google Earth, at a stunning 14-billion-pixel resolution.
http://maps.google.es/maps/mpl?moduleurl=http://pradomuseum.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/themasterpieces.xml&utm_campaign=es&utm_medium=lp&utm_source=es-lp-emea-es-gns-mp&utm_term=prado

Zutto Collection
The ZUTTO® Collection represents Zojirushi's first consumer launch designed and developed as a line of products. The concept of the ZUTTO® Collection was born of the collaboration between Zojirushi engineering and a renowned Japanese interior designer - thus giving the collection a seamless, elegant design theme. Unlike other Zojirushi products, the physical body of the ZUTTO® was designed first, then the inner technology. This exciting and modern collection of kitchen electronics emphasizes streamlined operation, providing only the basic functions necessary for operating each appliance. Symbolic icons, instead of labels, make the control buttons universally recognizable. ZUTTO (ZOOT-tow), meaning "always" in Japanese, is designed to be enjoyed and used universally, for any occasion, anytime.
http://zojirushi.wowshopper.com/htm-pages/rice-cookers-ns-dac10-zutto-neuro-fuzzy.htm

Trash Can Concept
Top tiers are for recycling and the bottom for your trash.

Hong Kong Apartment
Hong Kong architect and technophile Gary Chang has the most amazing apartment. His 344-square-foot space can be shifted into at least 24 different layouts, using a funhouse's worth of sliding walls and detachable shelving. Chang has lived in this apartment since he was 14, moving in with his parents and three younger sisters. Back then, he used to sleep in the hallway. Now, he uses a hydraulic Murphy bed that he designed himself, which is usually hidden behind a sofa during the day. Turning his apartment into what he's named a “Domestic Transformer” hasn't been cheap. It only cost $45,000 to buy, but his latest design efforts came with a $218,000 price tag. Still, his experiment in small living is incredibly cool. Personally, if I had a quarter million to play with, I'd much rather spend it optimizing something creatively rather than on another boring McMansion.
http://i.gizmodo.com/5132678/hong-kong-architect-turns-344+square+foot-space-into-ultimate-transformer-apartment

Graphics Design
Interesting beer advert. Check out the 3 different workflows for men and women.
http://i.gizmodo.com/5132786/workflow-charts-finally-put-to-good-use-show-fundamental-men-vs-women-di target="_blank"fferences

Compact Bathroom
The Cirrus MVR bathroom concept keeps your bathroom out of sight and out of mind thanks to its award-winning fold-up design. Just be mindful of the sink—the water is constantly recycled to save resources.
http://www.bathroominnovation.com.au/finalists/2008/Michael_Trudgeon

Inaugural Panorama
We've all seen the iconic imagery of the day again and again: the nervous smile as the oath went haywire, the rapt crowds, Aretha's hat. But what about everything else? It's all in here.

Containing over 2GB of photo data and comprised of over 220 images shot from a Canon G10 Bridge camera on a Gigapan robotic camera mount, David Bergman's incredibly detailed panorama is filled with pieces of information that you previously weren't able or bothered to see. Some are just obviously cool—nearly being able to read the sheet music on performers stands, seeing the comically varied expressions in the VIP area behind the President as he speaks—but others are more subtly awesome.

Take Yo-Yo Ma snapping a picture on his iPhone, the unreal number of personal digital cameras or the endless, imposing banks of photography equipment surrounding the event from every conceivable angle. Sorry CNN, this is cooler than Photosynth. Tell us what you find in the comments.
http://gigapan.org/viewGigapanFullscreen.php?auth=033ef14483ee899496648c2b4b06233c

Country Codes of the World
While you know .com as the most popular top level domain, every country has a unique TLD of its own known as a country code. Here is the entire world in those country codes. Available for $30, Country Codes of the World is a 24" by 36" representation of the globe in which each country is displayed as its corresponding country code in a font size relative to its population. So countries with big populations appear as bigger letters on the map, and small populations look tiny. It's a neat idea that really shows you the US's place in the online world, especially as China and India (.cn and .in) both look huge here, despite having been scaled down 30% to fit within their geography.
http://www.bytelevel.com/map/ccTLD.html

Reuben Margolin: Magic Wave
Kinetic sculpture remains one of the most enchanting fusions of technology and high art. A perfect example opened recently near Zurich at the Swiss Center of Technorama. Artist Reuben Margolin worked with museum staff to suspend 450 aluminum rods by 256 wires and connect 3,000 pulleys and sliding bars. The resulting specimen uses pure mechanics—not computer-controlled servomotors—to create almost limitless figurative shapes. The effect isn't far removed from the recent kinetic installation by ART+COM at the BMW headquarters in Munich.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iR1gYjSPa98

360
The innovative design places the rider's feet inside the hole at the center of each orbital wheel. The 360 moves as the rider shifts their body weight forth and back and it can be ridden downhill, using the built-in speed regulation system or freestyle for tricks on obstacles. The thick, off-road wheels permit use on most surfaces, from pavement to grass and gravel.
http://www.zerofra.com/360.html

Zikmu Speakers Designed by Phillipe Starck
Looks great, except for the Ipod dock on top of the speaker. Zikmu, a collaboration between speaker company Parrot and noted super designer Phillipe Starck, is a set of 2.5 feet tall speakers that use Bluetooth to communicate with each other. They apparently broadcast sound 360° arround the room thanks to Parrot's NXT technology, which uses an extra-flat mebrane to create small-scale vibrations across the speakers' entire surface. Not sure if I wanna pay $1500 though.

Royal Ontario Museum
The Royal Ontario Museum, commonly known as the ROM, is a major museum for world culture and natural history in the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. [1] The ROM is the fifth largest museum in North America, containing more than six million items and over 40 galleries. It is also the largest museum in Canada. It has notable collections of dinosaurs, Near Eastern and African art, East Asian art, European history, and Canadian history. It has also hosted many travelling exhibits.

Wrapped
Artist Christo and Jeanne-Claude create temporary large-scale environmental works (both urban and rural environments) have elements of painting, sculpture, architecture and urban planning. Projects that they have done include The Gates (Central Park, NY), Pont Neuf Wrapped (Paris), Surrounded Islands (Miami, FL), etc.

Storage Shelving
Brazilian design firm Triptyque has designed an apartment-wide storage solution/book shelf that looks kind of like what everyone thought the future would be in 1965. Custom-made for a private apartment in Sao Paolo, the shelf winds its way through the entire area, pulling double duty as an entertainment rack and a cubbyhole storage system.

Food Blogs
http://thepickledtongue.com/
http://l2o.typepad.com/l2o_blog/
http://bettereatingthroughchemistry.blogspot.com
http://onokinegrindz.typepad.com/
http://foodonthedole.blogspot.com/
http://www.chow.com/
http://oneforkonespoon.blogspot.com/
http://stilllifewith.com/
http://www.tastespotting.com/
http://annesfood.blogspot.com/

Toshiba Time Sculpture Advert
Director Mitch Stratten, along with the creative minds over at Grey London, has put together an interesting 60 second piece utilizing 200 Toshiba cameras and a little imagination. The technical prowess can be credited to a few key engineers and the effects work of The Mill London. If you were wondering how they did it, be sure to check out the making of below.
http://www.neublack.com/art-design/toshiba-time-sculpture-advert/

Paper Toys
Websites for paper toys
http://www.marshallalexander.net/
http://www.tvseriescubees.com/
http://www.shin.co.nr/
http://www.readymech.com/

Wearable Architecture
Hussein Chalayan is an internationally regarded fashion designer who is renowned for his innovative use of materials, meticulous pattern cuttining. From Chalayan's Spring 2009 namesake collection, designs were conceived with notions of speed, automobiles, and crashes. To quote Mr. Chalayan, "It's about the speed in our lives and how it can only result in a crash." Seems fairly prescient considering the times. See Style.com for whole collection.

Recycled Paper Coffee Table
The Paper Table from Matt Gagnon is made of recycled newsprint boards cut and fused to create a coffee table to hold your current reading materials. With the addition of new magazines the form of the table is complete.

Compact Office Workstation
It appears that the design team at Mubai-based Planet 3 Studios have done for the office what the Casulo did for small apartments. That is to say, they have found a way to cram a rooms worth of furniture into a box. At a glance, it appears that their "Out-of-Box" workstation incorporates 2 desks, a decent amount of desktop real estate and a ton of storage space into a fairly compact design that can easily be wheeled from one room to another. The design is still very much a work in progress, but the $2350 build price suggests that they will become commercially available. A video of the workstation in action is available after the break.
http://gizmodo.com/5014067/planet-3-studios-crams-an-entire-office-workstation-into-a-box

Superfuture City Superguide
Shopping in a Cities, get a superguide. They are Downloadable PDF city superguide for global shopping experts
http://www.superfuture.com/supershop/