Artist Danny Rouzen has reimagined the mirror with over 800 wooden blocks.
“A tiny camera gathers light and shape data, before sending it to a computer that processes it and uses hundreds of tiny electric motors to shift the wood blocks into the image in front of the device. Subtle gradations of shade are achieved by both the natural grain of the wood and the angle at which they are displayed, casting shadow if necessary.”
Hasn’t every reflective surface become an instrument for narcissism? I find myself fixing my hair in the windows of a bodega and checking my makeup in the hidden-camera mirrors alongside Chase ATMs.
That might not be Rozen’s point: instead of using mirrors to look inward, the wooden mirror asks us to see the objects around us as reflections (rather then merely pieces) of the external world.
Architect David Fisher is planning to start construction on the world’s first “skyscraper in motion” in Dubai. The skyscraper will be completed by 2010, and it will take “the concept of green buildings to the next level were it will generate electricity for itself as well as other nearby buildings, making it the first skyscraper designed to be self powered.”
This week’s New Yorker featured a short profile on the project. Fisher conceptualized this idea of “Dynamic Architecture” by imagining a building in which “every floor could spin, everyone in an apartment tower would have the mixture of views…Then, to make his building more environmentally sensitive, he left a few feet of space between each floor and put wind turbines there.”
Fisher plans to build another skyscraper in Moscow, and a third in New York. To imagine a building like this in the middle of the city is simply astonishing–but to imagine an entire city made up of these “four dimension[al]” towers is the stuff of science fiction.
Although the tower is visually stunning and allows residents “to drive directly into the building were a special elevator take their car to their floor and park at the entrance”–it’s ability to function as an alternative source of energy (for itself and for surrounding buildings) transforms it into a socially and economically viable solution for urban planning.
