I am again and again fascinated by the beauty of engineering projects. This mold / matrix to cast a sea defence wall is one of these examples where the beauty of making these structures is almost more interesting then the final result. It also makes you wonder why not more adventures structures are being cast.

This principle could also be used in many other contexts like interpretative devices in museums …etc. And of course as a way of visually displaying information on the i-phone…

Additionally we installed RGB LED’s to graze up the walls behind the hanging ‘curtains’. These LED’s are individually addressable, enabling the background to be animated by gently pulsating and changing colour schemes.

Photo: © Olivier Minaire / Maison Moderne (TM)
paperJam TV: www.paperJam.TV

Outdoor ceramic tiles in the public realm always fascinated me, especially if they are in relief. They seem to be such a good solution for buildings, street furniture and walls. There is an almost endless scope of design options; texture, pattern, light reflection, colour ..etc. The slide show shows examples from Belgium (Ostend), Portugal (Cascais) & France (Le Tréport).

If any reader knows of other fine examples, please let me know. I would like to collect more images and hopefully I can post a more comprehensive collection of examples in the near future.

I found this 1952 tourism brochure at a car boot sale in Belgium. Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg – vacation-land is a great slogan, the land of leisure and pleasure! I also like the wood carving style font and the friendliness that transpires through the illustrations. Although the message is very simple I think it still works today!

Please check-out the post below with the map on the opposite side of this page.

This is the map on the reverse of the 1952 brochure. Great wood carving style graphics, great colours, great graphic treatment of our neighbouring countries!
The tourist attractions in the 50′s seem overwhelmingly to centre around outdoor activities like walking, kayaking and hunting… all of that surrounded by deep woods and medieval castles. I can’t help thinking that this is still our most valued tourist capital (minus hunting), certainly in terms of branding & positioning. Whilst promoting the country as a shopping or contemporary arts destination still has some way to go we should cherish, cultivate and promote the real gems that are unique to Luxembourg.

Graphic designer: Pe’l Schlechter

Road works barriers are rarely a pretty site in Europe, but if  you live in Japan it is a whole different story. To the delight of the Japanese kids there seems to be an endless variation of cartoon animals that populate the roadside. Not sure it makes much more sense in terms of safety / visibility ..etc, but I guess fun is a good enough reason and you can’t really spoil a construction site with visual clutter either.

Photo © Pierre Filliquet

In other words, it is an acquired taste, a bit like coffee.

While driving through the Burgundy region in France I came across this beautiful old factory building in the small town of Génelard.

I really liked the confident, almost out of scale, presence of the signage on the building. On top of that the signage is not an after-thought but completely integrated into the architecture. Compared to many of today’s undistinguished manufacturing halls it also tells the story of an admirable industrial pride.