Man-made but natural

Published on November 23, 2007

Designed by Nadim Karam, an architect and founder at Atelier Hapsitus, a Beirut-based design firm in collaboration with an engineering firm, Advanced Geometry Unit, the man-made Cloud resembles a rain cloud, approximately 300 metres tall and covering 20,000 square metres. The floating island is supported by around 1,000 stilts, which from far away look like rainfall. Facilities include a lake, gardens, rotating bridges, spiralling walkways and terraces, an auditorium and sky-sports platform whereas the ground floor is an esplanade with a pool and columns.

At the Tate Modern in London is another phenomenon, "Shibboleh" by Colombian artist Doris Salcedo. She has made what looks like the aftermath of a lightning bolt that has hit the ground. The 150-metre crack represents the divisions in society the shaky ideological foundations on which Western notions of modernity are built. This subterranean chasm stretches the length of the Tate's Turbine Hall. To fully experience the installation, don't just walk along the crack but stop now and then to appreciate its texture and details. "Shibboleh" is on display at the Tate Modern until April 6.

For more details, visit www.dezeen.com and www.tate.org.uk/modern.

Stylish windows

Popular throughout the year for their fascinating clothing and accessories on show, window displays at Louis Vuitton stores are particularly pretty around Christmas. The clothing on display at LV stores this season are the designs of two previously unknown art students from England's Central Saint Martin design school, winners of a contest held annually by LV.

The winners were Marcos Villalba, 27, and his design partner Christopher Lawson, 21, who submitted the "Latitude 48.914/Longitude 02.286" exhibit. Their prototype design is a three-dimensional topographical map of the area surrounding Asnieres (the place of the original Vuitton workshop), made of balsa wood, the same type of wood that has been used as framing for Louis Vuitton trunks since 1854.

LV windows have also featured the works of well-known designers. "Latitude 48.914/Longtitude 02.286" is now shown at 380 stores, including the Bangkok branch at Gaysorn.

Colourful Christmas

Department stores in Bangkok are preparing extravagant festive season displays, particularly Christmas trees. Last week CentralWorld unveiled a huge Christmas tree in its outdoor plaza, as well as an indoor faux-snow-covered tree. Gaysorn unveils its own colourful tree this week, and soon increasing numbers of people will come to the Ratchaprasong intersection to gawk at all the lights.

Gifts from Space

Inside Gaysorn, artist Zheng Xupeng has put on "Meteor-Rain". The young Singaporean's work addresses human challenges and how people rush to judge the merits of people or things because of their appearance. The exhibit features illuminated meteorite-like rocks and artworks, which show the movement of the meteorites gliding across the sky. "Meteor-Rain" reflects gifts from heaven. Each meteorite is a different colour, which suggests that they are jewels upon which wishes can be made.