The kaleidoscopic studio reflects upon the ways technology changes our relationship to the world “Style is democratized within virtual space,” explains Lara Lesmes over sesame noodles at their apartment in the Barbican Estate “Since the dawn of the internet and digital connectivity a language typically enjoyed by the few has become one for the many,” continues cofounder Fredrik Hellberg in a seemingly seamless manifesto Lesmes and Hellberg are every bit the Technicolor troubadours you’d expect to be heralding a digital revolution But you’d be mistaken to think these designer architects haven’t also put their ideas to the test offscreen The pair is behind an eccentric addition to the quiet suburb of New Santa Bárbara Lesmes and Hellberg’s jazzy Brick Vault House pops out from a gently sloping site its collection of modular white cubes overlaid by a gargantuan green grid four-inch-thick steel frame traverses the house’s indoor and outdoor space while pale-brick vaulted ceilings—laid by hand and without scaffolding in the traditional Guastavino method—stitch together the sequence of open-plan rooms The house is a mishmash of architectural referents caught somewhere between Continuous Monument redux and a children’s playpen It also speaks wholly to Space Popular’s yen for irreverent Lesmes and Hellberg met while studying at the Architectural Association (AA) in London where they currently teach a research unit called Tools for Architecture They founded their own practice in 2013 while living in Bangkok and staged exhibitions across Europe and Asia Space Popular has garnered an international following for its kaleidoscopic style which borrows freely from a treasure trove of influences: pastel-loving Postmodernism the glitzy temple architecture of Thailand and South Korea platforms that generate popular taste such as Instagram and Pinterest Space Popular mines the distant past and imminent future to interrogate the idea of style Recent research projects have sent the pair to inventions of yesteryear from the printing press to the Wardian Case (a 19th-century container for transporting rare plants) which they re-created in Milan’s sumptuous Palazzo Reale at last year’s Salone del Mobile the duo gave their students at the AA this year the lofty task of designing a new civic space using VR technology Other projects overlay past and future in one fell swoop an immersive VR installation at Seoul’s Deoksugung Palace considers the paradoxical history of gates—serving both as portals of popular taste and as an architecture of exclusion wielded by political and religious leaders Space Popular’s giddy optimism about a more democratic VR-enabled future underlies all of its investigations into a new virtual world but it’s also under – pinned by a serious sense of responsibility a solo exhibition at Stockholm’s ArkDes in 2018 curated by James Taylor-Foster drew on a Space Popular style manifesto for architects; a declaration titled “Ten Propositions for Virtual Architecture” accompanied the press release While fully manifested in Space Popular’s teaching and exhibitions the duo’s commitment to the idea of a virtual civic realm is evident even in their daily life and head into a virtual pub or club to chat with strangers,” explains Hellberg who says he spends two or three hours daily hanging out in VR worlds like Second Life Lesmes praises the purer form of self-expression enabled by digital avatars rotating through a cast of characters based on her mood If the duo’s tenth and final proposition—that “attire and architecture will blend into a continuous extension of the self”—comes to fruition it appears Space Popular will be fully primed for the revolution You may also enjoy “New Talent: MUT Design Creates Furniture That Merges Play and Function.” Would you like to comment on this article? Send your thoughts to: [email protected] Subscribe to our mailing list to receive the latest updates subscription deals delivered straight to your inbox This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page Pop sensation Ella Eyre is donning her apron for a special celebrity edition of The Great British Bake Off We're rooting for Eyre all the way - and she could always ask her mum She'll be rubbing flour-coated shoulders with the likes of Kaiser Chief Ricky Wilson and Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson and more are also part of the 20-celeb-strong show presented by Noel Fielding and Sandi Toksvig is looking to raise money for charity Stand Up To Cancer Get the Best Fit take on the week in music direct to your inbox every Friday Sanchis Olivares is an architecture studio founded by Esther Sanchis and Álvaro Olivares based in Godella Esther and Álvaro both graduated as architects from the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia in 2018 after working in different architecture offices Francisco Mangado's studio and Rafael Moneo's studio stand out where Esther and Álvaro worked for two and three years respectively they have participated together in various national and international projects and competitions Their work ranges from private commissions of different scales to public works obtained through first prizes in competitions their first built work (a brick house in La Eliana) received the prize of the Official College of Architects of the Valencian Community for the best new work built in the community in the last two years They currently combine their professional work with teaching as lecturers in architectural projects at the CEU Cardenal Herrera University in Valencia Archive HOUSING a soldier in the Spanish Civil War woke up to find a world that's completely backward After being shot in the head in 1938 during the Spanish Civil War a soldier began seeing the world backward and upside down.  According to a new report of the historic case, published April 1 in the journal Neurologia when doctors examined the 25-year-old Spanish soldier they found straightforward wounds where the bullet entered and exited his skull it was when the soldier rose out of unconsciousness that things went askew a neurologist who served as a consulting physician at Godella Military Health Hospital in Valencia originally documented Patient M's odd case He'd been examining patients with brain injuries to better understand the organ's functional organization [Patient M] realized that he had almost lost his sight 'I was noticing something with my right eye Related: Woman's sudden case of dizziness and hearing loss had a rare cause Patient M also observed people and objects appearing on the opposite side of his field of vision instead of where they were actually located funhouse mirror-like inversion also translated to noises and touch He could read numbers and letters both forward and backward with ease and often saw things in triplicate and with colors that appeared as though they were detached from the objects Get the world’s most fascinating discoveries delivered straight to your inbox He was particularly intrigued with how the man could "read the newspaper fluently and with the same ease in the normal position and upside down," Gonzalo wrote in his two-volume book Brain Dynamics (Instituto S "[M] had found his abnormalities strange when he saw men working upside down on a scaffold," he wrote the disturbances go completely or almost completely unnoticed by both Patient M and other patients who have sustained similar injuries but rather consider them as something temporary that does not affect or compromise their daily life Gonzalo noted that Patient M downplayed his symptoms of inverted vision "They are things that sometimes appear in my vision." Gonzalo continued studying Patient M for decades creating his theory of brain dynamics in the process the field of neurology remained stuck in the past and unreceptive to Gonzalo's new ideas In the 1930s, "the brain was seen like little boxes," Alberto García Molina a neuropsychologist at the Institut Guttmann in Barcelona the modular theories couldn't explain the questions that emerged with Patient M so he began to create his theory of brain dynamics breaking with the hegemonic vision about how the brain works." —A man went to the doctor about a cough. It turns out, he had a 6-inch mass in his chest. —Doctors remove 50 AA and AAA batteries from a woman's gut and stomach —Man's 'shifting' rash caused by worms crawling under his skin By studying Patient M and hundreds of other patients with brain injuries Gonzalo proposed that the symptoms of brain damage depended on the "magnitude and position" of the lesion He then identified three general syndromes that could occur following a brain injury: central (disruptions that affected multiple senses) paracentral (similar to central but the effects aren't evenly distributed between the senses) and marginal (affecting brain pathways for only certain senses) He found that the "pathological alteration observed after a brain lesion is the result of a game of gradients the lesion involves the area where the overlapping of the visual tactile and auditory gradients is greatest hence its multisensory symmetrical character," according to the new case report Patient M lived the rest of his life within this alternative perception Jennifer Nalewicki is former Live Science staff writer and Salt Lake City-based journalist whose work has been featured in The New York Times She covers several science topics from planet Earth to paleontology and archaeology to health and culture Jennifer has a bachelor's degree in Journalism from The University of Texas at Austin Scientists hijacked the human eye to get it to see a brand-new color Scientists built largest brain 'connectome' to date by having a lab mouse watch 'The Matrix' and 'Star Wars' May's full 'Flower Moon' will be a micromoon A page from the manuscript by Georg Hermann A long-lost manuscript by renowned 20th century German author Georg Hermann has been published over 80 years after it was written, thanks to the efforts of a University of London researcher Professor of Modern German Literature at the School of Advanced Study discovered the manuscript when she was handed a bag of unsorted papers at a conference on the author the novel offers a poignant portrayal of a Jewish family in Berlin during the rise of the Nazi regime who was a powerful voice in German literature prior to World War II wrote the novel while in exile in Holland in 1939 After being ordered to move to the ghetto in Amsterdam by Nazi officers smuggled out many of Hermann’s papers – including the manuscript – in a pram Most of these were then donated to the Leo Baeck Institute in London but somehow Those Who Stayed At Home slipped through the net "The book is remarkably similar in structure to Tom Stoppard's recent play Leopoldstadt,” says Professor Weiss-Sussex then in the following acts the dwindling family and at every stage a stock-taking telling the history of German-speaking Jewry through the focus on one family." Professor Weiss-Sussex discovered the manuscript while sorting through the papers she was handed at the conference and lists she found two closely typed manuscripts covered in additions and corrections in the author’s distinctive handwriting To her amazement she realised they were the first two parts of a novel Hermann had mentioned in letters to family and friends before being murdered in the gas chambers at Auschwitz-Birkenau in 1943 The novel had been planned as a four-part series of 'momentary glimpses' focusing on March 1933 (Hitler’s rise to power) September 1938 (exiles in Florence reacting to Mussolini’s race laws) and 9 November 1938 (the pogroms of ‘Reichskristallnacht’) Hermann had urged his daughters to find a publisher for the two first parts of the novel as he desperately wanted the memory of those Jewish Germans who ‘stayed at home’ to be kept alive no publisher wanted to touch this material in the war years Hermann’s wish has been fulfilled: Professor Weiss-Sussex has carefully edited the manuscripts of the two first parts and prepared them for publication by the Wallstein publishing house in Germany.  The book also includes a substantial afterword by Professor Weiss-Sussex Now she hopes the novel will be translated into English and reach a new audience of readers keen to know more about life in pre-war Germany and the works of Georg Hermann The steel structure of Brick Vault House served as scaffolding during construction and continues to provide a unifying element between interior and exterior Located in the suburb of Valencia known as New Santa Barbara which was planned as a protoype for a developer is formed out of a modular space-frame structure The frame creates a unifying element between the interior and exterior as well as expressing the structure simply The slabs between the grid are formed of brick vaults which also served as scaffolding during the construction of the building The vaults were made without using formwork: the bricks stuck together with gesso just at the right stage of drying UK-based Space Popular has recently designed Freestyle: Architectural Adventures in Mass Media at the RIBA – the first virtual reality (VR) exhibition at 66 Portland Place which explores key moments in the evolution of architectural styles over the last 500 years The floor plates shift between floors to create solar shading and large covered outdoor areas on a tight plot Large windows bring light deep into the plan the landscape allows for the house to be revealed slowly two-storey house with the shifting floor plates creating a sequence of viewpoints A central staircase is at the heart of the layout with rooms organised around it to minimise the use of corridor space Sliding doors allow areas to be separated off as required The house has been inspired by materials and construction methods common in Spain was chosen to blend in with surrounding vegetation The interior was designed by the developer based upon simple, affordable finishes, although Space Popular have experience designing furniture – such as for Infinity Spa in Bangkok where they founded their practice in 2013 and taught for five years Directed by Architectural Association graduates Lara Lesmes and Fredrik Hellberg Space Popular is a multidisciplinary design and research practice that make architecture The brief for the house called for something that was ‘different’ but still fulfilled the usual expectations of a medium-scale detached home This first house was to serve as a prototype for a larger plot where the client plans to develop more in the future with which we could resolve the typical details that would allow them to create different configurations in the subsequent houses avoiding replication but still maintaining some level of standardisation The space-frame is the structure of the building We wanted to create a unifying element between interior and exterior as well as reveal the way the house is held up We think one feels more at ease living in spaces where the way it all comes together can be easily discerned works against the sky and is a colour that is often found in domestic interiors in small amounts The space frame’s steel grid is 10 x 10m with spacing of 3.75 x 3.75m and a 3.16m floor-to-ceiling height Start on site October 2018Completion date December 2019Gross internal floor area 235m²Gross (internal + external) floor area 280m²Construction cost UndisclosedArchitect Space PopularLocal architect Estudio Alberto Burgos and Javier Cortina MaruendaClient PrivateStructural engineer Estudio Alberto BurgosEnergy consultant Javier Cortina MaruendaProject manager Raquel Gimenez IbañezApproved building inspector INCOSAFurniture TeulatMain contractor Vicente BolinchesCAD software used Rhino Tags The project prioritised reuse and upcycling, using low-carbon and natural materials including… Working with local architecture studio dílna, London and central Europe-based Chybik +… Harp & Harp has completed a seven-home scheme in Croydon, south London,… In north London’s Tottenham Hale, Pollard Thomas Edwards has created a landmark… The best paella in the world is cooked at the Restaurant Sequial 20 in Sueca , according to the expert jury of the 62nd edition of the Concurs Internacional de Paella Valenciana de Sueca. Forty-five chefs from 16 countries took part in the great gastronomic event. The second prize for best Valencian paella in the world went to Paella Guys Restaurant, which can be found in Burnaby (Canada). The third prize went to Restaurante Bon Aire , in El Palmar, a restaurant that had already won first prize in the 2018 edition, thanks to Raúl Magraner. This time the paella was cooked by Borja Marco and Jordi Magraner. The local participants in the 62nd edition were: Bar Restaurante Galiana, Restaurant Sequial 20 and Restaurante Nou Rodassoques, representing Sueca. From the Comunitat Valenciana region: Nueva Mandarina and Restaurante Paco Baile (Santa Pola); Taberna Marinera El Barba (Altea); El Reclam - Complejo Rural Foies de Baix (Relleu); El Ceramista (Vila-real); Mas Blayet (València); Llar del Pescador and Restaurante Bon Aire (El Palmar); Terraza La Parra (Godella); Pelayo Gastro Trinquet (València); Arroceria Culla Siete (Alfafar); La Marítima Veles e Vents (València), La Cerveseta (Algemesí) and Nas VLC (València). The following restaurants from different regions of Spain were present: La Grifería (Puerto de la Cruz); En BlankoTaberna (Pinto); Arrocería y Brasas Titanium (Calasparra); Restaurante La Ula (Puertollano); Los Naranjos (Torrecaballeros); Los Reyes (Málaga); Restaurante Inclan Brutal Bar (Madrid); Hotel Sa Volta (Es Pujols); Restaurante Venecia (Teruel); Gusto Sevilla (Sevilla); Arrozante La Casa del Arroz (Granada), Mercado Lonja del Barranco (Sevilla) and Hotel Villa Cortés (Adeje). Once again this year, the participants were judged by a jury of renowned professionals with a long history in the world of gastronomy, accompanied by Jaime Cuesta López, a notary from Sueca, who recorded the jury's decision and ensured impartiality during the whole process of choosing the winners. With regard to the recognition as 'Paellero de Honor', this year the organisation wanted to highlight the "absolutely key role that the primary sector, agriculture and livestock farming, plays for the whole of humanity". "Without them, it would be absolutely impossible to feed us and, consequently, to hold events as important to us as our Concurs". "The recognition is for all of them and, especially, for the people of Sueca who are dedicated to these tasks," said Tony Landete. Comentar es una ventaja exclusiva para registrados Registered office Málaga, Avda. Dr. Marañón, 48. The bull was pulled off a small lorry in the makeshift ring in this southern Catalan town with a rope already around its head A group of men pulled the rope through a wooden post and heaved hard Two blazing torches on iron rods were clamped to its horns as a crowd of people jostled around Young men taunted the bull as it shook its head trying to dislodge the fire blazing above it A crowd of 2,000 looked on in satisfaction as one of Amposta's ancient traditions was played out before them The animal doesn't suffer and it is not wounded or killed," said Enrique Pedrol who clamped one of the blazing torches to the bull "It is a local tradition and a great social occasion for all." In July the Catalan regional parliament voted to ban bullfighting – which has many fans in the Amposta region – and now there is pressure to restrict their own games with bulls Banners pinned to the walls of the bullring bore warnings for local politicians The spectacle of bulls being taunted, chased and played with has been repeated this summer in 20 nearby towns and villages while Catalans debate their complex relationship with an animal that inflames passions across Spain not just because it protected animals but because it targeted a potent symbol of Spain Now some of the same politicians who voted for the ban are pledging to pass a law protecting the "bulls of fire" Perplexed animal rights campaigners insist that both fire bulls and the "rope bulls" – who are dragged down Catalan streets by ropes tied to their horns – suffer badly "It is obvious," said Manuel Cases "They suffer from fear just as you or I would We even have a video of a fire bull that collapsed and died of a heart attack We don't mind people running in front of bulls but it is something else to entertain yourself by making them suffer." The separatist Catalan Republican Left (ERC) a party which forms part of the regional coalition government voted for the bullfighting ban but wants fire bulls conserved Its votes should guarantee the tradition's survival The debate reflects complex Catalan identity politics The fighting bull is Spanish – so it's not OK "People just don't want politicians playing with this," said Josep Garriga the town councillor in charge of Amposta's temporary bullring basically a large corral of farm vehicles and carriages set up on the outskirts between a huge rice packaging plant and an Aldi supermarket Garriga oversees a €90,000 (£74,000) fund that pays for 12 days of bull festivals "We don't charge to come here," he said The only party that wants this banned has not had a town councillor for eight years." a town of 25,000 people set at the head of the Ebro river delta they are clear that bulls form part of local culture and blame metropolitan prejudice in Barcelona Nine bull ranches in the region are devoted to producing animals "Bulls are a Catalan tradition," said Miquel Ferré head of the recently formed Federation of Delta del Ebro Bull Clubs "But there seems to be a mania for banning things so we want a law to sort things out once and for all." the fire bull tradition is proving more lethal for people than for bulls Earlier this month a 47-year-old man was gored to death during the fiestas after running drunkenly in front of a fire bull in Godella where both bullfights and fire bulls are legal A 23-year-old man died after being crushed by a fire bull last year and two people were killed in 2008 at similar fiestas, though all these deaths were outside Catalonia who formed his fire bull group with teenage friends 20 years ago the tradition reinforces a close network of friendships that now includes wives and families who dine together every night at the Amposta bullring "For me this is something very harmonious," he said Entradas a la venta y asignación para el primer partido de la final de la LF Endesa Finaliza la 1ª fase de “La Traslladà”: La formalización de la renovación del abono Actualidad Ver más Hecho por Lobo. The owner of the boat allegedly used to transfer the stock of 231 kg of heroin seized yesterday (06) has been arrested in Yatiyanthota with Rs 1.5 million in cash was arrested at around 11.50am today at Pahala Garagoda in Yatiyanthota based on information received by a team of Yatiyanthota Police officers had jumped into the Kelani River as police officers attempted to arrest him however the officers attached to Yatiyanthota Police had managed to capture the individual They found Rs 1.5 million in cash in the possession of the suspect while it had been uncovered that he had withdrawn the moneys from one his accounts at a bank in Yatiyanthota It has also been uncovered that the boat owner is the brother of one of the suspects arrested along with the massive heroin haul The Police Narcotics Bureau (PNB) had arrested two persons in Beruwala-Balapitiya beach on Wednesday (05) night with the second largest haul of heroin ever seized in the country a boat used to transport the drugs had also been apprehended parceled in to 214 packets and hidden inside large sugar bags 38 year old Dilip Prasanna and 34 year old Mohamed Farzan were arrested in connection with the massive haul of drug The two suspects were yesterday produced before the Colombo Chief Magistrates Court which granted approval for police to detain and question the suspects for 7 days The heroin haul is estimated to be worth over Rs 2,778 million this is the second largest haul of heroin found in Sri Lanka The detection has been a result of an investigation conducted by the PNB over several weeks According to the Police Media Spokesperson an internal conflict within the smugglers had helped the PNB with the raid Police suspect that the heroin might have been packed in Pakistan as Pakistani letters had been printed on some of the sugar bags PNB has received assistance from the Special Task Force United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) foreign intelligence and the Sri Lanka Coast Guard One of the oldest mosques in the Gampaha district the Thihariya Al-Masjidul Rawla Jummah Grand Mosque built in 1916 is being restored and rebuilt Several of is distinctive architectural features and antiques will be incorporated in the new three-storey building including its carved door frames a casket that weighs around 25 kg and other items used during earlier times who has lived in the village of Godella in Thihariya for six decades says the mosque was built between 1914 to1916 and opened on February 16 1916 with the help of wealthy families and villagers “My father used to say that villagers used to stand in a row from the Attanagalla Oya to the mosque as they passed baskets full of sand during construction Artists in the village contributed to the construction of the minaret The women in the village handed over the income they earned by selling coir ropes also for this purpose,” he said Bandaranaike had sent one of his British engineers to help with the restoration when slight damage was reported a few years after the construction of the mosque “The porch of the mosque resembles the Horagolla mansion in Attanagalla as it was built on a suggestion by the same engineer who designed the bungalow,” Mr “With the increasing population there was a necessity to expand the mosque The present structure of the building and space do not allow any further expansion and so we need to reconstruct it,” treasurer of the Thihariya Masjidul Rawlah Jummah Mosque Building Committee Permission has been obtained from the Department of Muslim Religious and Cultural Affairs “Only 1000 persons can pray in the old mosque during Friday prayers but after the construction 5000 could accommodated A women’s prayer area and student learning centre (madrasa) will be constructed as well But some of the main architectural objects in the old mosque will be included in the new building,” he said The projected cost is Rs 61 million and as the villagers struggle to make ends meet they are hoping well wishers and kind donors will come forward to assist them