Sunday, November 27, 2011

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Friday, November 25, 2011

Good Morning, This Is BBC

BBC Broadcasting House, London

Construction of Broadcasting House began in 1932, and the building opened to the BBC's offices and radio operations on 14 May 1934, eight years after the corporation's establishment. George Val Myer designed the building in collaboration with the BBC's civil engineer, M T Tudsbery. The original interiors were the work of Raymond McGrath, an Australian-Irish architect. He directed a team which included Serge Chermayeff and Wells Coates and designed the vaudeville studio, the associated green and dressing rooms, and the dance and chamber music studios in a flowing Art Deco style. It was later said of his efforts that "the designs for the BBC gave the first real fillip to industrial design in England. " (Wikipedia)

Photo by vanman11 @ Flickr

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Down to the Foundations!

NAPF (Japanese Proletarian Artists Federation) magazine cover, Feb 1931

Monday, November 21, 2011

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Drapacz Chmur

Drapacz Chmur (English: Skyscraper) is a historical building in Katowice, Silesia, Poland. It was the first skyscraper built in post-World War I Poland. Finished in 1934 after five years of construction, it made pioneering Polish use of steel frame construction. Today, Drapacz Chmur is considered the most spectacular and beautiful example of functionalism in Poland.

The building has seventeen stories, fourteen above the ground, and contained one of the first garbage chutes in Poland. It is 60 m tall and until 1955, it was the highest building in the country. It was designed by architect Tadeusz Kozłowski and structural engineer Stefan Bryła to house Polish Revenue Office employees.

Info: Wiki (EN, PL)

Photo by Lestat (Jan Mehlich) @ Wikimedia Commons

Friday, November 18, 2011

Interchangeable!


French Rex Reflex camera (1949) was the world's first medium-format TLR with interchangeable lenses. Different lens panels were offered, ranging from 59 to 240mm.

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Hat Factory

Steinberg factory building. Luckenwalde
Designed by Erich Mendelsohn
1921

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Camel & Dragon

London Underground poster by Austin Cooper, 1930

One of a series of London museum posters issued by the Underground Group in c.1930 - this Austin Cooper showing a rare mix of images and also artist drawn lettering rather than the more commonly used Underground 'Johnston Sans' font.

From mikeyashworth's photostream @ Flickr

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Monday, November 14, 2011

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Too Hard, Too Heavy

Harley Davidson VSC/LC (Landsverk 210)

A Harley Davidson was fitted a armor chassis build to Danish specifications by Landsverk (Sweden) in 1932. This configuration didn't perform well. Hard to steer on-road, and almost impossible to drive off-road due to the heavy chassis. Negotiations were held with Landsverk about a lighter chassis, but without any results and the motorcycle was de-mobbed in August 1933.

Picture courtesy of Ole Drostrup, Soenderborg

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Asbóth Helicopter

Hungary 1928

On September 9, 1928, Oszkár Asbóth took off vertically with his helicopter powered by a 120 HP nine-cylinder engine and propelled by two wooden propellers, each 4.35 meter in diameter, placed parallel above each other and rotating in opposite direction. Tires were replaced by four footballs to provide sufficient flexibility for landing. During the first flight, after 1100 rotations the plane swiftly took off, at ten meters stopped, hovered for some ten minutes, remained absolutely stable around all axes, than smoothly descended.

The two large wooden propellers raised Asbóth´s device into the air together with its pilot more than 200 times and hovered in the air for almost one hour, which was a great achievement, but because of their rigid propellers Absóth´s „helicopters" became unstable when moving forward or when subjected to a strong side wind.

By his good business sense Absóth was able to profit from his inventions. The British Air Ministry got an option of purchase of his helicopter in 1938.

Friday, November 11, 2011

Not Gone But Well Forgotten

Moscow's first automatic telephone exchange
Designed by V. Patek
Built 1927-1929

Photographed on Sept. 9, 2011

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Savoia Trimotor

Savoia Marchetti S.M.75 of the Hungarian airline Malert in Berlin
1930s

Monday, November 7, 2011

Make It Happen

Dieselpunk is more than streamline design, weird weapons, elegant fashion and flying boats. It is music - melodies of old and sound of tomorrow.

Over the last 16 years, Wolfgang Parker founded the Dieselpunk genre with his 1998 debut album “Hep City Swing,” and went on to release 3 additional albums, “Octoboure” (2000), “Room Nienteen” (2007), and “Petty Standards” (2010). “Father of the Black Cat, Pt. I” is the first batch of all-original music the band has recorded in 10 years.
“Father of the Black Cat, Part I” offers not just new music, but a new approach to music all together. By embracing the independent fundraising platform of Kickstarter, Wolfgang and his band will give an all-access view into the creation of the album as well as Wolfgang’s personal insight into the songs themselves; songs Parker says are the most honest, and personally revealing he has ever written. Videos will be shot by the band as they rehearse, track, and hear the final mixes for the first time.
Backers can choose rewards ranging from .mp3 files of the songs to a hardcopy CD autographed by the entire band, hand written lyric sheets, and more. A few backers will have the chance to snag ultra-rare copies of Wolfgang’s early albums, “Hep Ciy Swing,” “Octoboure,” and the American edition of “Room Nineteen” autographed by the band to the individual backer.

A portrait of Wolfgang: from the Lovely Gianncarlo @ myspace

Thursday, November 3, 2011