We Often Feature Buildings And Architecture,

and it is no surprise, 

 that there is an annual photography contest for the best architectural photograph of the year, and here are a few contenders for the 2017 prize, above, Interior: Dongzhuang Building Museum of the Western Regions, China, by Xinjiang Wind Architectural Design & Research Institute, photographed by Yao Li,

Interior: Ponte City Apartments, Johannesburg, South Africa, photographed by Ryan Koopmans,

Exterior: Samsung Electronics HQ building in San Jose, California, USA, by NBBJ, photographed by David Crawford,

Exterior: Bosjes Chapel, Ceres, Cape Town, South Africa, by Steyn Studio, photographed by Adam Letch,

Sense of place: Choi Hung Estate, Hong Kong, photographed by Fabio Mantovani,

Interior: Gymnasium of the New Campus of Tianjin University, China, by Atelier Li Xinggang, photographed by Terrence Zhang, the shortlist was selected by a panel of judges that included Royal Academy of Arts curator Kate Goodwin, Klein Dytham Architecture founders Mark Dytham and Astrid Klein, photographers Richard Bryant and Matt Emmett, and designer Andrew Chen, "The winning images not only captured the aesthetics of different architecture and space, but also went beyond recording the images by telling stories about the meaningful built environments," said Chen, all 20 images will be exhibited at the World Architecture Festival in Berlin next month, during which the winner will be announced, a selection of the shortlisted entries will also feature in an exhibition at Sto Werkstatt, London, in 2018, the full short list can be seen here, and if this type of photography appeals to You grab a coffee there is lots to look at!

It Looks Like A Model,

and it is now finally finished,

 after 4 years of building blocks,

Denmark’s colourful LEGO House has finally been unveiled to the public in the company’s native land of Billund, the building, designed by the Copenhagen and New York-based design firm Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), is composed of 21 large, white cubes which each contain a colourfully painted roof,

 this “stack” is topped by an oversized LEGO brick, an oblong keystone which contains eight skylights that peer into the building below,

 the structure is colour-coded to correspond to four experience sections which encourage visitors to explore their creativity in different aspects of learning and play, 

 the red section is for creative skills, blue utilises cognitive abilities, green engages social interaction, and yellow contains activities aimed at emotion, in addition to these zones there are also three restaurants, a store, a 6,500 square foot public square, and two exhibition areas that display creations built by fans and works that explore the history of LEGO,

You can explore more images of the new interactive centre on its website, to Me the building still looks like a model!

Keeping To A Slightly Architectural Theme,

I came across this strange video, 

here are a couple of stills from it,

it is the latest experimental visualisation from digital artist Erdal Inci,

 as part of an artist collective he co-founded called Oddviz with Çağrı Taşkın and Serkan Kaptan, the video piece captures an abandoned Jewish orphanage building in Ortaköy, Istanbul, through thousands of photos and 3D scans and then reconstructs it digitally, allowing the viewer to pass digitally through the walls while seeing a complete photographic representation of the building, for Myself it looks rather spooky,

as does His previous work Hotel.

Diana Wanted To Go Window Shopping,

which was my cue to play with one of My toys,

 so it was out with the Wild Gears,

 firstly I tried a couple of easy patterns,

 trying not to make a mistake,

 so far so good,

I was doing reasonably well, until the I started to use the brown coloured pen,

then I tried a new type of pattern, a gear within a gear,  

 using marks I had already made, on the bigger gear a pink mark, opposite a black on the outside, on the smaller gear black to black, this gives me a starting and finishing point,

  if You needed a set of good eye, brain and hand coordination for the single gear patterns,

You need it so much more when two gears are involved, I was doing so well with this one, then the inevitable happened, I slipped,

but I carried on, it was good fun,

 I started a new sheet of paper determined not to make a mistake, but I did, I have placed the gear selection in the outer frame, so You can see at the top left where I slipped,

 and there it is, oh dear, how sad, never mind!

this is a scan of My mistake, as it is a scan the slip appears on the opposite side, just another couple of circuits and it would have been perfect, but there it is,

  next thing Diana called, window shopping over so off I went to pick Her up, We had arranged to meet at the coffee stall,

I had an ice coffee, Diana had something in pink,

after our evening meal and a couple from The Chase, We settled down to watch the first of a new series, Rome and was it good! We had planned to watch the first episode and round the evening off with Billions, but Rome was so good We watched the first four episodes back to back! the costumes and set were fantastic as was the story, set in these four episodes in the time of Gaius Julius Caesar, Gnaeus Pompeius, Mark Antony and Marcus Junius Brutus, but the plebs were not forgotten, as the story line also includes them in the film, and of course the different view of for them in life and world changing events, we even started shouting when we recognised a part of Rome, 'been there, been there!' when We watched in the series easily identifiable landmarks like the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina, also the Temple of Castor and Pollux, the Coliseum and of course the main square itself, the boxed set has sat on one of the 'to watch' shelves for such a long time, we are both so glad We decided to watch it, what a stunning gem of a find, and with that we were off to bed.

Take A 1976 Honda CB 550 Engine,

and a 1972 frame, 

 add lots of hard work and the ideas of Kyril Dambuleff and You have this dream bike that He calls, ‘Bikini’,

 the bike started with just an engine that had been rebuilt by Kyril from the ground up, ‘It sat on my workbench for months, taking up much needed space,’ he says. ‘I thought about displaying it somehow, perhaps in my office, but what could be better than an original frame?’

 Kyril went about accumulating all the parts over the coming months – the frame, wheels, exhaust pipes, forks and tyres and all the other sundries that come from assembling a ground-up bike, but the focus was to remain the powerplant,

the finished tank slopes up hard on the right hand side to expose the spark plug leads and the coil, on the left it retains something close to the original lines, ‘The idea was to showcase the engine and have all of it in complete and unobstructed view with nothing hidden,’ he explains, ‘Everything else had to conform accordingly, hence the asymmetrical tank and all the other exposed components which shows what makes a motorcycle tick, it’s like one of those skeleton watches in which the maker has left only what’s essential and tried to reveal as much of what makes the watch tick as possible’ 

now this is also really neat, the exhaust headers, it’s not polished stainless steel but Cerakote applied with a mirror finish, Cerakote is actually a polymer-ceramic coating that’s usually applied to firearms, often in camouflage or flat earthen colours, it’s a neat process that’s very heat and distortion resistant and should ensure a mirror-like finish for years, the engine was blasted and polished the cylinder was bored out to 59mm and new Wiseco pistons installed, compression was taken up to 10:1 and displacement is now 553cc’s, like an original cafe racer this one is considerably lighter than stock, Kyril’s target weight was 350 pounds (158kg) and with the anti-gravity battery, aluminium parts and tricky things like the adjustable foot peg positioner he nearly managed to hit that with the bike weighing in at 357lbs, ‘I think I could have hit 350,’ he explains, ‘but I had to replace the front single disc with a twin disc setup that was irresistible’, and that is what I think about this motorbike, irresistible.

What Is It?

and who makes it?

 were the first two questions I though of, well it is the new Aston Martin, in collaboration with submersibles manufacturer Triton, to create a concept for a limited-edition submarine, which it hopes will "redefine luxury for a select few" codenamed Project Neptune, the submarine was unveiled at this year's Monaco Yacht Show, the yachting industry's biggest event, which takes place every September, the "state-of-the-art" submersible combines the classic design features of Aston Martin's cars with Triton's deep-diving technologies,

 although few details and images have been revealed, the companies are billing Project Neptune as a vehicle that will "redefine luxury and performance for a select few", reports circulating from the Monaco Yacht Show claim that only a dozen of the submarines will be available to purchase each year, and will each cost around $4 million (approximately £3 million),

this is more than twice the amount of Aston Martin's One-77 car, which costs around $1.85 million, 

renders show the futuristic three-person submarine with a bubble-like cabin, encased within a silver and black body,

which Aston Martin vice president Marek Reichman likens to the brand's Valkyrie car, "Project Neptune is defined by its sleek, elegant exterior," said Reichman, "We have used forms and proportions that express the same devotion to design, engineering and beauty that shape our cars, such as the Aston Martin Valkyrie hypercar project." although technical details about the project are currently under wraps, Triton's Super-Yacht Sub could provide clues about how the new submarine may function, named Triton 1650/3 LP, the submersible can accommodate a pilot and two passengers, it is able to dive down to 1,650 feet (500 metres) and stay there for up to 12 hours, and it can reach speeds of three knots (3.4 miles per hour), would I like one? To be truthful I would prefer the car, please!

Keeping To A Water Based Theme,

but this time on it, not under it,

the water velocipede dates back to 1868, according to author Caroline Rochford, when it was reported to have been used “by pleasure-seekers on Lake Enghien on the outskirts of the capital.” think a pedal boat with a bicycle seat, various inventors came up with different ideas, but it was in 1891 that the Pinkert Navigating Tricycle, which used balloon-like tires and was featured in Scientific American when Georg Pinkert tried to cross the English Channel on it, according to the magazine, Pinkert was hard at it and about halfway across when “the tide turned.” He realised he would be carried out to sea, “so he hailed a passing vessel and was taken on board,” the magazine recorded, “He will probably make further experiments.” So the next time You see a pedalo at sea, think back to Georg Pinkert and his attempted channel crossing, but nowadays the peddles powering paddles, not tyres, well think of the problems of getting a flat tyre at sea!