Vertigo Inducing Surreal Cliff Concept House in Australia

Glimpse Team on June 15, 2015

[intro]After a couple asked for a concept home to be designed along “extreme parcels” of coastline in Victoria Australia Modscape got to work…[/intro]

bond villain house

Australian modular architects and home designers Modscape have devised a futuristic looking concept home which is designed to resemble a barnacle attached to a ship’s hull, that seemingly defies physics by being suspended off the side of a cliff in Australia. With a certain Bond villain look, the home hangs rather precariously with the ocean beckoning below. It pushes their use of modular home design concepts and technologies to new levels by anchoring itself to the side of a cliff by way of engineered steel pins and was built in a modular fashion level by level.

The cliff concept home has three bedrooms, a living area, kitchen, and gigantic floor-to-ceiling windows that display breathtaking (or vertigo-inducing) views of the horizon and ocean beneath. There were obvious design challenges such as how to hang the house off the side of the cliff, but also how to transport the owner through the home’s five levels. The upper level houses the entrance and carport and the owner is then transported through all five levels by way of a elevator with the lower level dedicated to a fully outdoor BBQ and spa.

inside cliff home

cliff home

 

Top Ten Engineering Predictions For The Future

Glimpse Team on June 8, 2015

[intro]A panel of engineering experts predictions suggest a future of cities built on top of water, farms on top of buildings and more.

Engineering predictions for the future are some of the most interesting predictions because these predictions can mold our entire way of living in the future. We can actually see some of these predictions already starting to come to life before our eyes. With all of the technology and possibilities out there, it’s quite possible these predictions can become our children and our grand children’s actual future. Here are a panel of experts top ten engineering predictions for the future.[/intro]

Super Deep Basements

This prediction is one that we are already starting to see in our present rather than our future. Multi-layered basements or super deep basements, are already starting to be built in certain highly valued areas of London. Experts say that it will be possible for these basements to have as many levels as the above ground portion of the house or building. They theorize that these basements can have as many as six stories. Right now, the majority of people having these basements built are obviously people who have the means to do so. However, it’s quite possible that in the future, this can be a common layout for newer houses that will be built. Apparently, this will be used to help to solve any lack of space issues. There are a number of reasons why this future prediction of engineering is already being proved to be the number one most likely prediction of the future.

Floating Sea Cities

Floating cities is one of the more interesting predictions of our future. This theory is motivated by global warming and a rise in our sea levels. If and When global warming occurs our sea levels will drastically rise, forcing us to adapt to a water world. This is why this prediction is not too farfetched and can one day become a life saver for the future of our children. In theory, these cities will be solar powered and more importantly, they will also be powered by tidal energy. Tidal energy is the ability to use the energy of the tides to create electricity.

High-Rise or Rooftop Farms

We know that it’s possible for people to grow vegetable gardens and things of that nature on city rooftops, but this suggests entire farms on top of roofs. These experts predict that there will be farms complete with cows, chickens, pigs and other farm animals that play an imperative role in not only our food sources, but our economy. This theory is also geared around disastrous events due to global warming.

3d Printed Homes

3D printed homes are homes that are constructed using bio-based, renewable materials and a 3D printer. Experts predict with future engineering possibilities, 3D printed homes with Micro Ecosystems are possible. A Micro Ecosystem is something that allows the climate and ecosystem that is imperative to our survival to be sustained in smaller confined spaces. This would allow us to live and survive in our 3D printed homes regardless of the conditions of the ecosystem outside.

Buildings with Their Own Microclimates

If this prediction proves to be true it can open the door to many possibilities for the future of the human race. These experts say that it is likely that in the future there will be buildings with their own Microclimates. This would make it possible to survive in places that would otherwise be uninhabitable.

Huge Bridges That Span Entire Cities

In a future that’s based upon us adapting to floating cities and rooftop cattle, you have to wonder how people would commute. Well the experts have a prediction for that as well. They are predicting that enormous bridges will be built. These bridges will be so big that they will span an entire city. People of the future will use these huge bridges to travel and commute to work.

Spaceports With Easy Access To The Moon And Mars

One of the more unbelievable predictions that were made was the spaceport predictions. These experts believe that in the future, we will be traveling to the moon and mars via spaceport. I would assume the prediction of micro climates and micro ecosystems would have to be evident for the possibility of traveling to mars and the moon.

Super High Buildings-Cities In The Sky

This prediction suggests that in the future there will be buildings taller than some of the biggest sky scrapers in the world. Experts suggest that these super high buildings will be like cities in the sky. They are going to be upwards built with levels on top of levels. This would also help us to sustain survival in the event of global warming.

Underwater Cities

Most of the predictions revolve around building on top of the water, but experts also predict that cities will probably be built under the water as well. If global warming was to occur, experts say this is also a possibility that will allow us to thrive in an ocean filled world. I imagine there would have to be cities on top of the water as well as under the water in order for plant life to grow.

Collapsable/Stackable Living Pods

Just making the bottom of the top ten list of engineering predictions for the future, are collapsible living pods. This suggests that we will be able to have living spaces that we can collapse when they are not in use and then stack them to save space. It would also give the added element of having portable living quarters in case someone was in need of immediate shelter.

These predictions were concluded by a panel of experts from established institutions such as the University of Westminster. They believe their predictions will take place over a time period of 100 years. They based their predictions around the events that would occur due to global warming. Although some of these predictions may seem farfetched, global warming is inevitable and it is possible that some of these predictions can be the future of our children and grandchildren.

A Journey to Kuala Lumpur

Glimpse Team on February 21, 2014

Soooo….. I don’t know where to start. Haha. The last few days in Kuala Lumpur have seemed like a really weird dream. When I flew in I was pleased to see that I didn’t have to fill out any forms at immigration and after I handed my passport to the official and gave my fingerprints, I was given a 90 travel visa. After that I grabbed my backpack and headed to customs which I was nervous about because I know how strict they are about drugs here and I was nervous because I have such a big bag I was surely to get searched. I was worried about having to explain that I’m not really a photographer here on business even though I have so much camera gear. As I approached I saw a family being searched and I thought “fuck”, but the customs official smiles and waives me through.

The bus system was really easy and I only needed one transfer to get to my hotel which was an hour plus from the airport and right on the edge of china town and what seems to be a big party district.

Very pleased with the city so far, I put my bags in my room, had a shower and decided to go for a little walk. That was when I was to feel culture shock for the first time. I didn’t make it ten steps before I noticed all the rats and cockroaches in the ally’s and on the sidewalk. I passed a restaurant and noticed that everyone was eating everything with their hands. I noticed one man with rice all over his fingers lean away from the table and blow snot on the floor and then spit. It’s a different kind of table manners than I’m used to but certainly not everyone here has such disregard for cleanliness as that “gentleman”.

The next block proved to be even more interesting. Every fifteen steps held very different and foreign smells from all the street vendors lined up along the sidewalk. A group of prostitutes stared at me from a corner and one turns a little and smacks her ass. The whole time looking at me with the same blank expression on her face. She licked her lips and I smiled but had to look away. I heard dance music coming from a bar across the street so I went over and stepped in. A woman led me through the crowd of drunk ( and I’m pretty sure a lot were on ecstasy) people to a table in the back. I ordered a pint of beer and when it was brought to my table I was handed a bill for 29 Ringgit($10)! I asked to look at a menu to see if I was being ripped off but it was correct for some strange reason (or they have a separate menu for suckers like me that don’t ask the price first). Lesson learned. I paid the bill sourly and decided to drink my beer quickly and leave due to the amount of people staring and giving dirty looks at the only tourist in the bar.

After I left, I only made it a few steps before a prostitute in a tight pink dress grabs me by the arm and asks me where I was from. I tell her Canada and she says “ohhhh I love cCanada”. She then leaned in and whispered “you want to give it to me for free? I have private room”. She kissed me on the cheek and I had to pull away and tell her(or possibly a him) that I was flattered but no thanks. She (or he) made a weird noise and as I walked away I noticed that a six foot tall lady boy was watching and he tells me she is crazy. I laughed and walked down another street. I asked someone sitting on a wall where I might me able to find a quiet bar to have a beer. Boy was that a bad idea. He pointed to a place across the street and I noticed the fluorescent sign that he was referring to. I walked in and look around and I notice a woman at a desk that just points to an elevator. Inside stands a man who I thought was just the operator but halfway up I notice a pistol sticking out of his pants and judging by the mean look on his face I figure he is more like a bouncer. The doors open and a short funny looking man rushes up to greet me. I notice it doesn’t look much like a bar. Then I see all the woman wearing next to nothing and lounging all over the furniture.

I realize what kind of place this is and at the same moment the funny looking man shouts something and they all line up. I told him that I am tired and just would like a beer. With a semi-sour smile he points to the bar without saying anything. He shouts again at them and they all return to their lounging (or resting unfortunately). I order a beer for a much cheaper price than the last place and the funny looking man leads me to a dark room full of men in lazyboy recliners with swiveling computer monitors. I had been really nervous since the elevator and I let him lead me to an empty lazyboy.

He tells me to relax for a while and I sit down only to think of how to get out of this situation without pissing anyone off. The computer monitor turns on and pornography displays inches from my face while loud moaning seems to be coming from speakers built right into the chair. I’m sure all of this is meant to arouse me but all I want to do is go back to my quiet little hotel room. I chug the beer and get up. The funny looking man, who must have been waiting only a few feet away, urges me to sit back down and relax. He asks me if I need another beer and I tell him no and that I am very tired from traveling. I lie and tell him that I will be back tomorrow for sure and finally his sour look changes to a fake smile. I get back on the elevator and the man with the pistol stares at me the whole ride down. I’m sure he is wondering why I am leaving so quickly.

As dirty and loud as it is, I am happy to be back on the street and headed to my hotel. Once I get there I immediately shower the filth from that place off of me and go straight to bed.

My sleep was filled with strange dreams and nightmares. I woke several times to the sounds of things scurrying on my hotel room floor but I am too exhausted to care. I wake in the morning to a tiny moth trying to fly around under my blanket. I wondered if it’s cocoon was in my blanket (the next morning I woke to the same thing so I’m pretty sure it’s a popular spot for larvae). I head straight out of the hotel to get coffee and breakfast. I find a nice clean looking place and sit down and order the Nasi Lemak (I’ve heard it’s one of the most popular dishes). It was good but I wouldn’t suggest it to anyone for breakfast. I find that the dried anchovies don’t taste the best after brushing your teeth. It was decently cheap though and I did finish everything despite a scruffy and dirty cat who kept bothering me and even jumped onto my lap a few times to get some food.

After that I decided to do something more familiar and go for a walk with my camera. It’s Chinese New Year right now and I thought I would be able to get some neat shots in Chinatown. I walked for twenty minutes and after taking about ten photos I was yelled at four times before I decided to stop. It was not like the Philippines where I would be thanked for taking people’s pictures. Instead almost all I got were dirty looks no matter how much I smiled or thanked them and one person even spat at my feet. On the walk back I tried asking people if I could take their picture and only a few agreed or gave me a slight nod of compliance. I decided I would go take pictures of landmarks instead. The immense Petronas Towers were even more breathtaking than I had imagined and the KL Tower was higher than I had ever been in a building. After that I got a little lost trying to find my way back. I’m also not used to the cars driving on the other side of the road. This is a first for me and I almost got hit by a motorcycle going extremely fast because I looked left first instead of right while crossing the street. He swerved a little and went by only a couple feet in front of me. He was going so fast I couldn’t even hear him until he was right in from of me. Another lesson learned.

All in all though, I am not disappointed at myself for coming into the city and not taking a bus straight out to a small town somewhere. I’m not a fan of big cities anymore and this is the craziest and most foreign place I’ve ever been…but it has been quite the experience though.

This post is written by Patrick Anthony Rojo who is travelling around South East Asia and is a freelance photographer.

The Rise of Japanese Fashion Labels

Glimpse Team on January 2, 2014

It is enough to take a glance at New York Fashion Week in order to notice at least 13 distinct Japanese-born or Japanese-American fashion designers mentioned in the schedule. Fashion industry is a changing landscape with trends that change from a season to another, just like the fashion designers behind them. Even though French designers were probably the pioneers of this wide landscape, there is no doubt that Japanese fashion has become impressively popular since the 19th century.

Names like Yohji Yamamoto have been known since 1981, when Cathy Horyn from New York Times said that Yamamoto likes to dissolve sartorial boundaries. WTAPS was launched in 1996 by Japanese designer Tetsu Nishiyama, who follows the principle “placing things where they should be,” giving birth to new fashion collections twice per year.

The main point is that Japan is a controversial country with plenty of various cultures and subcultures that make fashion very complicated to follow. Staying up-to-date with the latest fashion trends is surely complicated, as there are, if not hundreds, then thousands of different fashion magazine issues being distributed in Tokyo all the time. Street fashion styles like harajuku and shibuya are probably the most popular, and they appeared during the last decade, when colors have started to flood up Japan.

However, Japan fashion distinguishes among the other styles through its eccentricity, with oversized garments, colorful accessories and incredibly nice shoes, which are neither pump shoes nor leather boots. By the beginning of the 21st century, people have started to adopt various fashion styles, which are usually called street fashion due to the fact that they combine both current and traditional trends within.

What about the international podiums? Well, there are still only a few Japanese fashion designers who present their creations during international fashion shows, which means that Japan is still a limited country and the main problem is originality. Even though most Japanese outfits produced by designers like Yohji Yamamoto seem unique, the problem is that they approach similar styles like other designers’, bringing novelty only through their way to fit shoes or accessories to the other garments. Let’s take a look at Tokyo street fashion: during the last fashion week in New York City, Japanese designers presented various versions of Lolita dresses, which were meant, according to their saying, to “present traditional femininity, blending childishness and voluptuousness at the same time.” Lolita fashion has been popular for quite a while, but it stayed the same since it was firstly approached. However, many Japanese women of various ages dress like Lolitas, approaching a Japanese-adjusted Victorian look.

An interesting fact about Japanese fashion is that many reputable designers, such as Diane von Furstenberg, consider it “an intelligent way to duplicate dated or current trends that keep appearing.” Unfortunately, Japanese fashion evolved because many important Japanese fashion designers have chosen to approach similar fashion styles, which were, of course, already popular within the fashion industry. “Bringing something new on the scene, surprising the public and getting positive comments from the critiques – this is what makes a fashion designer unique and really talented,” says von Furstenberg. “I do not like when others duplicate my outfits – it is like I would take Chanel Coco Noir, change its recipient, but keep the perfume itself and say I made it. I would not mind if someone was better than me at creating outfits, but stealing current trends – that is horribly and truly unfair.”

Is that the truth about Japanese fashion or just a way to disapprove and denigrate it? If we consider that, in many countries around the world, such as Germany, people, and especially teenage girls, prefer dressing like Lolitas instead of wearing haute couture garments, we should not rush into saying that. However, we believe that these fashion designers should be more original. Exactly like von Furstenberg said, “just dressing a guy with a pair of light-colored trousers, a jacket and a pair of huge glasses, and styling his hair just like a cockscomb will not be enough to integrate among popular fashion houses, like Valentino or Victoria Beckham.” And we agree with her – uniqueness has always been appreciated within fashion industry, so bringing new outfits and styles on the international fashion events will definitely be a great way to rise Japanese fashion above others around the world.

Breitling Emergency Watch

Glimpse Team on November 17, 2013

Everything about a Breitling Emergency wrist watch is Avant garde. This watch series was first launched in 1995. Thereafter, several models have been released under this series such as mission, super-quartz, orbiter 3, etc. Many of these have been discontinued and new models have been released instead. Some of these such as the Orbiter 3 are limited editions, and therefore exclusive and expensive. Even the discontinued products and pre-owned watches have good resale values because Breitling Emergency watches last for a lifetime. Though primarily designed for outdoors and extreme sports such as mountaineering, hiking, trekking, diving, paragliding, etc… Breitling watches look equally stylish for indoor usage. Many of these watches are designed for men, but there are quite a few that are unisex.

Breitling is a Swiss watch making company renowned primarily for precision in its watches and chronometers. All its chronometers come with certification from the company for their quality. As the name suggests, Breitling Emergency watches are for emergencies. The emergencies in this context means people being stranded without any means of transport for returning home, and without any way to use their cell phones either because they do not have a device with them, or because there is no network around, or charge in the cell. Breitling Emergency watch can be used in such situations for sending a distress signal. This distress beacon is sent using radio waves bands at frequency of121.5 MHz, which is conventionally, reserved for emergencies under civil aviation protocols.

emergency watch

A special emergency location transmitter is integrated within these premium watches for such radio transmission. The distress signal from this transmitter is often captured and relayed through COSPAS SARSAT, which is an international organization engaged in searching, locating, and rescuing people with the help of satellites. However, the primary intention is to let any aeronautical, maritime, or other radio signal capturing device on land become aware of such stranded person’s location. Diameter of Breitling Emergency watch’s case is usually as large as 41mm and more both case back and crown may be screw down varieties. Bezel of the Breitling Emergency watch is impressive with series of numbers and compass points on it, giving it a sophisticated yet technical look. It may rotate in either direction. Usually, the case and bracelet of these watches is made from titanium, though in many models, user has the choice to opt for bracelets and / or cases made from other materials such as steel, crocodile skin, rubber, yellow gold, and white gold. The buckle material may accordingly be made from steel, gold, etc.

However, usually, fold clasps are provided in these watches. The case made from titanium is considerably light in weight, but its special design and molding process makes it extremely strong. A sapphire glass is affixed within this watch’s case frame. Sapphire glass is known to be very hard to break or scratch, apart from being very transparent. The main dial is larger when compared to most of the watches in the market. This makes it easier to read the numbers on this dial. There is choice in dial colors, and numerals as well Choices of dial colors include conventional black, charcoal gray, and white, apart from more modern colors such as bright yellow, and orange. These quartz watches usually have automatic movement. There are, however, Breitling Emergency watches including analog mechanism. Some of these watches also include digital display. Others may have chronometer, and smaller dial showing seconds.

The battery used in Breitling Emergency wrist watch is usually rechargeable. In addition, there may be a charger built in as well Functional capabilities of Breitling Emergency watches include traditional functions such as watch movements, chronographs, date, chiming clock, annual calendar, alarm, and perpetual calendar. Time zone of another city or place can also be known from these watches. Though most of the watches are water proof till 30 m, there are special Breitling Emergency watches which are exclusively made for diving, surfing, deep sea swimming, snorkeling, etc.

These watches are waterproof, even till depths of 100m. However, not all models of Breitling Emergency watches include all these features. The major attraction of Breitling Emergency watch is of course it’s ELT, i.e., emergency location transmission capability, which feature is common across all the models under Breitling Emergency watch series. Since Breitling Emergency watch is a high end watch, its price varies anywhere between 2,000 to 19,900 Euros, depending upon the material used to make the case, straps, and buckles as well as features and exclusivity. A more advanced version of the 1995 Breitling Emergency watch was recently introduced in the market. It marks the beginning of Emergency ll series. This watch has two sets of distress beacons, i.e., one similar to the previous Emergency watches, and one that is captured by satellites. For sending message to satellites, Emergency ll watch uses 406.04 MHz frequency.

$15,000