WebUrbanist

Architecture, Art, Design & Built Environments

Author: Kurt Kohlstedt

WebUrbanist was founded in 2007 by Kurt Kohlstedt, who currently writes and edits articles and episodes at 99% Invisible and can be found on Twitter @KurtKohlstedt

Fluid Dynamics: How a Wall of Lava Lamps Helps Encrypt 10% of the Internet

Computers have a real problem when it comes generating truly random numbers, which has led one web-critical cybersecurity firm to reference an array of lava lamps to create unique and ...

Japanese Waiter Exhibits 8,000 Chopstick Sleeves Left as Restaurant “Tips”

In a culture without tipping, one Japanese waiter began to realize that customers were expressing their gratitude in a subtle (and in some cases even unintentional) way, by folding the sleeves in ...

Architecture in Motion: Gothic Cathedral Gets its Own Two-Minute Music Video

We tend to experience buildings as static or slow-moving objects relative to our own points of view, but this simple work of creative adaptation turns an ordinary perspective into a dynamic ...

Stretch Goals: Smooth Shape-Shifting ‘Friction Table’ Deforms on Demand

Compact and round for board games and intimate conversations, this flexible table gracefully stretches to become a long dining or boardroom surface without adding pieces or moving parts. Paper ...

Parked Bench: Yellow Lane Lines Morph into Improbable Urban Seating

Green space, installation art and public amenity are all distorted into something fresh and provocative with this strange creation, crashing together at the intersection of amusement and ...

Graceful Degradation: Flashlight Designed to Operate Despite Missing Batteries

There's nothing quite so annoying as having a battery-powered device with one too few batteries, which in many cases would render it useless. In a common-sense twist on typical designs, MUJI's ...

Buttsy: Banksy-Style Street Artist Crafts Cigarette Butt-Based Assemblages

Working to raise awareness of litter, Buttsy builds sculptural collages out of found objects, with a strong emphasis on some of the most toxic offenders: cigarette butts. Like Banksy, he works ...

Cutting Loose: Crafty Paper Silhouettes Animate Architectural Landmarks

The built environment becomes the backdrop from all kinds of imaginative (if improbable) scenes when this London photographer adds a single layer to each of his images: a black piece of cut ...

Steely Look: Weathering Metal Forest Retreat Uses Mesh to Foster Greenery

Reddish-brown corten steel compliments surrounding dark browns and lush greens in this Ukrainian forest retreat, its horizontal planes pushing the building out to meet the surrounding ...

We Live Here: Light Art Helps Sydney Tower Residents Protest Gentrification

Residents of Waterloo Estate towers in Sydney, Australia, were given a uniquely visible voice this year amidst city plans to change the neighborhood. The #WeLiveHere2017 project gave 500 ...

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