Container Homes That Open In 90 Seconds. Push Button Houses by Adam Kalkin.

Architect Adam Kalkin's Push Button homes are fascinating. A shipping container that unfolds with the push of a button in 90 seconds to reveal a living space complete with a bedroom, a bathroom, kitchenette, and living area.

The first Push Button House was originally displayed at Art Basel Miami in 2005. Built in a standard shipping container, the home, by architect Adam Kalkin, expands like a flower blossoming to reveal a modern and minimal living space.











Kalkin’s concept uses hydraulic power to lift and lower the sides of the shipping container, expanding the usable living space.



photographs by Peter Aaron.

The Push Button House was adapted by Illy for use as a temporary café at the Venice Biennale in June of 2007, and at the Time-Warner Center later that year (images courtesy of Tree Hugger).






His Push Button House 2, a revised version of his Push button House 1 was documented in the 12 minute short, shown below, by Snag Films.

Push Button House 2:


Part performance piece and part sculpture, the Push Button is an engineering and artistic feat that captured the attention of both the artistic community and public as a bold, yet playful vision on the intersection of art and technology.

This award winning short film has been featured at over a dozen international festivals including AFI Dallas, Newport Beach Film Festival, Seattle International Film Festival, and featured preview footage at the Museum of Modern Art.

Adam is also the owner and designer of Quik House, a series of purchasable and customizable prefab shipping container homes.



Kalkin’s Push Button Houses are one of many shipping container concepts and homes that he has designed. See all his amazing work here.

Images courtesy of Adam Kalkin and Peter Aaron

Artists Reinterpret Emoticons In Their Own Style of Work For The Noteworthy Project.

The Noteworthy Project asked different artists to reinterpret emoticons in their own inimitable style. The process and final pieces were documented on film and directed by Oscar-nominated and Sundance-winning filmmaker Jessica Sanders. Below are those films and the final artworks.

:( by Tim Biskup:

“My goal was to present a midpoint between the :( emoticon’s abstraction of sadness and the literal representation of it in the photo of my daughter, thus inserting my own expression into the equation.” - Tim Biskup

Tim Biskup's final piece:


:-) by AJ Fosik:

“I decided to transform the devious emoticon into an idol, taking a digital [way of conveying] emotion and meaning and merging it with a traditional physical one, subverting both to create something new.” - AJ Fosik

AJ. Fosik's final piece:


LOL by Megan Whitmarsh:

“I wanted to create a LOL that radiates optimism, using a handcrafted, analog, pop vision to capture its warmth and cheerfulness.” - Megan Whitmarsh

Megan Whitmarsh's final piece:


OMG by Reza Ali:

“OMG invites its audience to interact by speaking to it. Besides surprise, it can represent joy, sadness, anger, excitement, fear, shock, and relief. OMG changes in real-time to reflect that variation.” - Reza Ali

Reza Ali's final piece:


;) by Craig + Karl:

“The ;) emoticon depicts our dynamic: a closed eye dreaming, forming ideas; an open eye, developing them. A smile links us.” - Craig and Karl

Craig Redmond + Karl Maier's final piece:


About The Noteworthy Project:

Our potential for human expression is huge, but at some point technology started getting in the way of our passion. We’ve been so busy tweeting and texting, we may have accidentally left behind what makes us human.

The Noteworthy Project documents a series of projects that examine what happens when communication is made by hand.

Noteworthyproject.com

Three New York Meat and Cheese Lovers Go Vegan For Six Weeks and Get Vegucated.

Part sociological experiment and part adventure comedy, Vegucated is a award-winning documentary that follows three meat and cheese-loving New Yorkers from different backgrounds who, for six weeks, adopt a vegan diet and a whole new way of thinking about food.

Now, personally, I love my artery clogging animal parts and fat-laden dairy so much I fear I'd never participate in such an experiment. Nor, do I want to know the ugly truth behind how my meat is treated and prepared (I've seen all those tragic PETA films). That being said, the trailer for this documentary made me feel instantly shamed and admittedly piqued my curiosity.



Vegucated is a feature-length documentary that follows three meat and cheese-loving New Yorkers who agree to adopt a vegan diet for six weeks. There’s Brian, the bacon-loving bachelor who eats out all the time, Ellen, the single mom who prefers comedy to cooking, and Tesla, the college student who avoids vegetables and bans beans. They have no idea that so much more than steak is at stake and that the fate of the world may fall on their plates. Lured with true tales of weight lost and health regained, they begin to uncover hidden sides of animal agriculture and soon start to wonder whether solutions offered in films like Food, Inc. go far enough. Before long, they find themselves risking everything to expose an industry they supported just weeks before.


above: Marisa Miller Wolfson, Writer/Director/Editor

But can their conviction carry them when times get tough? What about on family vacations fraught with skeptical step-dads, carnivorous cousins, and breakfast buffets?

Part sociological experiment, part science class, and part adventure story, Vegucated showcases the rapid and at times comedic evolution of three people who share one journey and ultimately discover their own paths in creating a kinder, cleaner, greener world, one bite at a time.

If you are interested in renting/buying the DVD, taking the challenge for yourself, reading reviews of the film or learning more about the entire project, their sponsors and community groups, visit getvegucated.com