Iceburgs: multipurpose architectural placeholders until developers resurrect their projects.

“With the economy on hold, there are lots of good (and some bad) construction projects currently frozen mid-construction, leaving a glaring rip in the urban fabric. As Woods Bagot New York Principal Jeffrey Holmes traveled to work every day, he contemplated these voids and wondered what could be done to make them more attractive and useful until developers resumed their projects. What he came up with is an urban ‘Iceberg‘ made of recycled and recyclable materials that could be easily installed and would serve as a temporary and flexible space for any number of uses.”

More: Inhabitat & Bustler.

The DeMilitarized Zone between North + South Korea is to be turned into a protected wildlife zone.This is one of the rare areas that has been left completely untouched for 50 years and is home to several endangered species like to Korea Tiger and Asiatic Black Bear. While only 2 miles wide, it provides a 155 mile corridor for animals to move freely.

CNN published a series of photos by photographer, Choi Byung Kwan.

“I gradually realized during my work that the Korean DMZ was not only a valuable source of irreplaceable natural life but also a historical site reminding humanity of the preciousness of peace,” Choi says.

“I thought many times that this buffer zone deserved serious international attention as a possible world conservation site, which could naturally facilitate peace in the Korean peninsula.” -CNN

via Treehugger + CNN

Its a nice reminder to realize that mother nature can still shut down the airspace over a whole continent.

Vaughn Bell, a Seattle-based artist, created these biosphere boxes suspended from the ceiling. The artist had a box up at Bumbershoot, in Seattle, that I saw in-person. It feels like a different world when you stick your head in, especially in the two-person. He calls the installation “Village Green”. More from inhabitat.

“Eclipse” is a user driven, networked-art application that alters and corrupts United States national and state park images from Flickr.com based on the real-time Air Quality Index (particle pollution data) provided by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (E.P.A.) at the site www.airnow.gov.

Ted Talks has a great presentation by miru kim on her work. It’s a short 15 minute talk but offers some interesting insight into her motivations, work, and explorations

About Miru Kim:
Miru Kim is a fearless explorer of abandoned and underground places. Her photography underscores the vulnerable nature of the human explorer in these no-woman’s-lands.” -from ted.com

Stunning images by mikel uribetxeberria.

After the reactor accident at Chernobyl in 1986, she found her true calling: since then, Cornelia Hesse-Honegger has been studying and drawing malformed insects, especially true bugs (Heteroptera), which she collects in fallout areas and in the periphery of nuclear facilities. Building on her 25 years of experience as a scientific illustrator at the Natural History Museum of the University of Zurich (Switzerland), she has created beautiful evidence of a threatened animal world, which has been displayed in international art galleries. Together with the former scientific editor Peter Wallimann, Hesse-Honegger has now summarized her comprehensive studies in the journal Chemistry & Biodiversity.