Good Things come in small sizes, fun Micro Cars

The BMW Isetta

A microcar is an uncommonly small automobile. They were popularly referred to as cyclecars in the 1910s and 1920s and bubblecars in the 1950s and 1960s. Bubble cars became popular in Europe when demand for cheap personal motorised transport emerged and fuel prices were high due in part to the 1956 Suez Crisis. Most of them were three-wheelers, which in many places qualified them for inexpensive taxes and licensing as motorcycles. There is a microcar museum, take a tour at microcarmuseum And feel how is to ride one, just click.

The BMW Isetta 300

The cool convertible 1958 Goggomobil DART

The Messerschmitt Kabinenroller KR 200 
Watch the original Messerschmitt KR175 commercial

Watch this great Top Gear test drive of the world's smallest production car, weighting only 130 pounds (59kg), the British bubble car Peel 50. Also a review and the original advertising campaign.

Bubble cars were followed by a new wave of "town cars" like the 1959 Austin Mini, which gave far more functionality for their owners for only slightly higher costs.

Mini's ad campaign 1960

The beloved Fiat 500

The Fiat 600 Multipla 1960

Following the town car concept new wave is the Smart fortwo and the return of the Mini Cooper and Fiat 500.

The Smart fortwo Visit http://www.smartusa.com/

The convertible Mini Cooper  Visit http://miniusa.com/

Also launched this year, the cheapest car in the world is the Tata Nano, India (approximately US$2,000). The Tata Nano is a rear-engined, four-passenger city car built by Tata Motors, aimed primarily at the Indian market. The car is very fuel efficient, achieving around 26 kilometres per litre (73 mpg-imp; 61 mpg-US)

A Tata Nano in silver

BMW has recently announced their plans of manufacturing and releasing a micro car of their own in India. They have plans of giving the classic so-called bubble car Isetta hybrid technology, high-performance petrol and diesel turbo engines.

BMW Micro, concept car for India

Honda is not behind with their new concept car Honda Puyo. Very asian in design. Let's see who is next.

Honda Puyo, as shown in Tokyo Motor Show http://world.honda.com/Tokyo2007/PUYO/photo/

Herzog & de Meuron, setting ground for innovation

Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron founded Herzog & de Meuron Architekten, BSA/SIA/ETH (HdeM) in 1978. A Swiss architecture firm, headquartered in Basel, Switzerland known by their commitment of articulation through materiality.

Their formal gestures have progressed from the purist simplicity of rectangular forms to more complex and dynamic geometries. The architects often cite Joseph Beuys as an artistic inspiration and collaborate with different artists on each architectural project. Their success can be attributed to their skills in revealing unfamiliar or unknown relationships by utilizing innovative materials.

Beijing National Stadium, colloquially as the Bird's Nest, designed for 

use throughout the 2008 Summer Olympics and Paralympics, China

In 2001, Herzog & de Meuron were awarded the Pritzker Prize, the highest of honours in architecture. Architecture critic and Pritzker juror Ada Louise Huxtable summarized HdeM's approach concisely: "They refine the traditions of modernism to elemental simplicity, while transforming materials and surfaces through the exploration of new treatments and techniques."

CaixaForum Madrid is a post-modern art gallery in the centre of Madrid, Spain. 

Which combined an old unused industrial building with rusted steel.

An amazing structural challenge, the 56 Leonard in NY, watch the animation at http://www.youtube.com/watch? Read more about the project at http://www.dezeen.com/2008/09/14/56-leonard-street-by-herzog-de-meuron/ Visit the building website at http://www.56leonardtribeca.com/

56 Leonard Street, NY.

Browse some other interesting projects as 40 Bond Street in NY http://www.triplemint.com/triplemint/2006/02/40_bond_in_deta.html , the Tate Modern in London http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/transformingtm/, GSAPP animation http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9KE2DOzlSE&feature=related and the Young Museum of San Francisco http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwXxpB69VPs&feature=related

Laban in Deptford, british college and centre for contemporary dance (2003)

The M.H. de Young Museum is a fine arts museum located 

in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park.

They designed a Prada store in the fashionable Aoyama district of Tokyo in 2003. Read more about it at http://www.galinsky.com/buildings/pradatokyo/index.htm You may also watch a model animation at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xGw1jrUPq0&feature=related and live the whole experience at http://vimeo.com/1449787

And if you wonder what is going on in Lincoln Road and Alton (South Beach, Miami), well it is 11 11, the new multi-space designed by the firm. Visit the website at http://www.1111lincolnroad.com/ and watch the transformation of an iconic corner.

Watch the animation video and the construction progress

Anthropologie, connect with your roots

Anthropologie is a retailer of high-end casual women's apparel and accessories, furniture, and home furnishings run by Urban Outfitters, Inc. Founded in 1992 by Richard Hayne, this new concept was designed to appeal to 30- to 40- affluent professional women with total family annual income above $200,000. Today there are more than 90 stores and each one has its own interior designer, making them almost one of a kind. "One of our core philosophies," explains Anthropologie president Glen Senk, "is that we spend the money that other companies spend on marketing to create a store experience that exceeds people's expectations. We don't spend money on messages, we invest in execution." I may only add that a good design speaks for itself and the nonverbal communication transcends the word in this case.

But what makes it so unique... is the concept of a whole lifestyle that takes us to the roots, to our grandmas and their crochet, the quality of the things done by hand... with time... with love. Is like traveling to the past, when life seamed simpler and luxury was synonym of quality and hours of work. From every blouse, every alpaca coat, vase and plate, sign and book.. there is a a story to tell... there is a sense of history and ancestry... about our own life.

Anthropology (pronounced /ænθrɵˈpɒlədʒi/, from the Greek ἄνθρωπος, anthrōpos, "human", and -λογία, -logia, "discourse") It is a comprehensive study of human beings and our interactions with each other and the environment.

The shopping experience extends to the website www.anthropologie.com, the polished monthly catalog http://www.anthropologie.com/anthro/catalog/shopbycatalogentry.jsp and a quite creative blog at http://theanthropologist.net/ making Anthropologie one of the most cohesive and successful lifestyle brands.