Peter, the link is fixed. Sorry bout that.
I think your use of "elegant solution" is is well put. And I am sure you know what it means to try and arrive at this solution recognizing the needs and wants of clients, the rules and regulations of local jurisdictions, and the fashion of the moment.
I have just had the occasion to be in discussion with a City Planner over a projects connection to the neighbourhood. I told him that if connection is truly desired, then it must be recognized how the greater neighbourhood was built out. There is a certain variety and resilience in traditional neighbourhoods, at least in North America, that developed through the emotional identity, artistic aspirations, pride, and sense of community, and craftsmanship of it’s residents.
Replacing that with the instant artificiality of modern development, that tends to rely on the trends of the architectural fashion, will only amount to a loss of this identity.
So can sensitive well executed design express this while at the same time being somehow fresh?
I think the best of Fine design can.

@pbacot said:

My iPad has a video function. This doesn't make me a filmmaker.

Even professional filmmakers can make a lot of fluff out of a couple usable facts. For example see the endless production of "history" shows that offer little to the text but some blurry clips of marching sandals--and draw-out a 5 minute read into half an hour.

There's a lot to be said for succinct text and still pictures on websites, along with an ergonomic structure.

But I think this thread is veering towards clever, odd, and unlikely design that is not always that fine. Media discussion would be a nice thread but where?

I know that I sometimes place things here to invite discussion and criticism, and frankly I would love to see more of that, which is why I appreciate your comments. I think I have mentioned that I believe one's perception of what is fine may lay in the eye of the beholder. An example is that I feel that Prince Charles and I would not necessarily eye to eye on architecture http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/theroyalfamily/5317802/The-Prince-of-Wales-on-architecture-his-10-monstrous-carbuncles.html

So I encourage people to post, but would really welcome critique and frank discussion.

I am a great believer in having as many skills as possible, and it looks like you aren't having difficulty with that judging from those pics. Do you do it all, mechanical, body and Paint?
I also believe that you get a better outcome when you put one foot in front of the other and go where the path, and heart lead.
Good on you Oli

The last conversations we were having were on Urban Farming. Were you able to proceed on that Oli?

Having used both Mac and PC with SketchUp, I still feel the Mac version is way more glitchier than the PC. This also really depends on the video card. The dreaded NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M in the older MacBook pro with its blackout issues is a real winner.

@d12dozr said:

@paul russam said:

This is good:

I love it Paul

@Dale, that's Vi Hart, a girl with a whole youtube channel of mesmerizing videos

Here's one her dad George Hart made

Wow! Thanks for pointing this out, this is on creative lady. (Family by the looks of it)

Thanks Mike.
I think this could spark a couple of good long conversations, and though some may think that it is a stretch to include website design in a 'Fine Design " thread, I will thoughtfully submit that I think that long videos should only be used when the user has the alternative to watch them if he or she chooses, with lots of informative non video content as well. Using it as a main format in the website almost goes against the grain of both the way most of us surf, and the good old attention span factor. I also think that by allowing me to browse the non video content, will only serve to draw me to the Video, which I will probably subconsciously have committed to watch all the way through by then.
I can in the first few seconds, be quite intrigued by the content in a gallery, making me want more.
This, I feel is very difficult to do in the first few seconds of a video.

As for their content, it is worth going through the video. This is very interesting find.
I really would like to hear what you and others think about the Video as content.
Then there is the workflow and philosophy of Facit, and that is another conversation.

He's nailed the parabola! Looks like he's done this once or twice.

Our boat saying: A boat is a hole in the ocean in which you pour money.

These are great, but I think there is a fortune to be made by someone coming up with a card that unties the not for divorces

Hey, great concept, and challenge.
Here is a pavilion designed as a project by a team of the students at M.I.T architecture school. It uses a system of Kerf cutting, which is not new in woodworking by any means, but the technology available to accurately execute it is.

Here is their brief:

This pavilion is the culmination of a semester's research into a novel digital fabrication technique by a team of graduate students in the MIT Department of Architecture. The design of the pavilion is the result of an old technique reinvented using digital strategies and tools. Kerfing, the cutting of wood to add flexibility, has a long history in wood working. Our research combined the material logic of kerfing with the flexibility of parametric modeling and the accuracy of a CNC router. Our parametric model integrated all the digital steps in the modeling and fabrication process, from initial control over the global form to the unrolling and generation of the cut patterns required to make each unit. The patterns allow the plywood to be bent into a predictable shape without the use of additional tools or techniques.The pavilion is a manifestation of new possibilities for design and construction.
This looks like a plywood based system, but the Haida, the aboriginal natives to Haida Gwaii have been employing it for centuries using solid woods (cedar in particular), kerf cut and bent from a single piece of wood.

I wouldn't hesitate to try and contact the MIT folks. Maybe an arrangement can be worked out.
Good luck with this one

I think it qualifies for sure.
It looks like an old commercial structure by the exposed mechanical, and wiring, and even some of the fixtures which fit the context so well. Plus the thoughtful way the key fixtures are mobile, means the space can be altered to any purpose.
But really I just love the funk

Oli
I've wondered about you're whereabouts many times, especially when I use your curved tree lines . So good to have you back.

I absolutely love the second image. What a beautiful story!

Great start.
I don't use V-Ray, but would it be possible to add a Normal or Bump map, or even a procedural to the white trim? I agree it looks flat and does take away from the rendering.
As for the roof, it just looks a little clean, can you use dirt maps in V-Ray?
By the way how is Kananskis. As an old ex Calgarian, I remember my first trip up to the lakes in a landrover over an almost impassable Alta. Power road, and many hikes up Ribbon and Galatea.

Who wouldn't want one! The Hover Bike (sorry Pilou I missed your post,http://forums.sketchucation.com/report.php?f=72&p=422736 but I think it still deserves to be included here)

http://www.cbc.ca/news/yourcommunity/2012/08/hover-bike-prototype-thrills-sci-fi-fans-would-you-buy-one.html

My workflow uses 2 models and 1 file I call "working" which may contain singular components in layers.
I am leaning more and more to modeling the whole building.
To me this is a method of both solving problems, and assuring that you can accurately get across details of the design.
An example of this would certainly be in truss details. Variance in heel height, ceiling height, or slope, interior valances, or vaults, can all be portrayed quickly, and easily understood by the manufacturer. This also means that you are not at their mercy, and end up with surprise design changes by the truss company with their interpretation.
However if you don't have your model well organized in groups and components, then if there are changes requested by the client, the process can be tedious.
I still haven't completely adopted Layout yet, as some on some projects which require the full slate of engineering,the engineers still ask for dxf/dwg's for their work.
But the more I sit back and admire the work example in Layout that have been on the Forum, the more I am swayed.

There is a free cad software product from Dassault called DraftSight. If you export from SketchUp to it as a dxf/dwg file, it will allow you to export as a pdf file.
Would this work for you versus a png file to pdf? http://www.3ds.com/products/draftsight/download-draftsight/

Whether this is my style or no, you have done a beautiful job of modeling and rendering
I do like the monotone, and I think it could give, as you suggest, a certain calmness., My critique would be that the calmness is interrupted by the frenetic presence of the stick shapes (sorry, don't know what else to tag them )
I actually don't mind them, ( I do think that they take from a calm atmosphere), as they provide that principle of design that gives balance, i.e "Static/Dynamic". This can also be said about their balance against the formal design and atmosphere of the rest of the room.
So overall, if it is calmness you wish, you may have to figure a way to manage the frenzy, but this would have to be done delicately, as you would lose the excitement they cause.
Cheers

Actually you may have sparked a very interesting discussion here.
First, with this image of the chandelier, it is very difficult to see how it is actually made. Are those individual spheres? Are they crystal? How are the held together in this shape?
Would it be possible for you to post a better image?
However, the most interesting part of the discussion may be how to model the spheres, and give them the material which has a scattering coefficient, and optics that will mimic the real chandelier.