No, this isn’t a cartoon or a futuristic movie: It’s a six-floor mansion made of bamboo in the jungle in Bali, Indonesia. Here’s how it was designed. insider.com/bamboo-mansion…
As a child, Elora Hardy drew fairy-tale castles in her coloring book.
Now, at the age of 41, she is making them for real. She grew up Ubud, Bali, where babbling rivers, jungle ravines, and artisan-filled villages surrounded her home. insider.com/bamboo-mansion…
Hardy worked as a print designer for Donna Karan in New York City, and then launched the pioneering Bali architecture firm Ibuku, which is known for creating one-of-a-kind buildings from bamboo. insider.com/bamboo-mansion…
In 2010, Hardy left New York and returned to Bali, where she immediately began working with her father’s team to execute his vision of building a village called the Green Village.
It wasn't long before Hardy was pushing design boundaries – she built her first bamboo mansion by December 2010.
Then, over the next eight years, she built 17 more homes, which are now largely used as second homes by foreigners. insider.com/bamboo-mansion…
The crowning jewel of Hardy's Green Village is the Sharma Springs residence, a six-floor mansion made from seven varieties of bamboo that she built in 2012.
One defining feature of Hardy’s Ibuku firm's homes, which can sell for as much as $1.4 million, is that she blends the needs of a modern family with a natural aesthetic. insider.com/bamboo-mansion…
As for inspiration, Hardy says the bamboo itself, which they collect from ravines on family-owned farms, will often lead the design.
No two pieces are the same and the 18-meter usable length is often one huge curve. insider.com/bamboo-mansion…
Hardy also says the material presents a challenge: "Bamboo constantly requires flexibility, new ways of thinking, and demands bespoke attention to be best expressed." insider.com/bamboo-mansion…
It takes just three years for bamboo — which has the tensile strength of steel — to grow to maturity.
Here’s a school in Thailand made entirely of bamboo.
The movement of the moment in China is "lying flat," which advocates for lying down instead of working hard.
Here’s more on why Chinese youth appear to be rejecting a life and work culture of constant competition. 👇insider.com/disenchanted-c…
The idea of "lying flat" is widely acknowledged as a mass societal response to "neijuan" (or involution). "Neijuan" became a term commonly used to describe the hyper-competitive lifestyle in China, where life is likened to a zero-sum game. insider.com/disenchanted-c…
The Tokyo Games are only ten weeks away, but much of Japan remains under a state of emergency to combat a rise in COVID-19 cases and a slow vaccine rollout.
Citizens are calling for the Games to be canceled, with some protesting in Tokyo’s streets.⬇️ insider.com/japanese-call-…
Support from the Japanese people for the Games is waning, as some 370,000 people and counting have signed a Change.org petition asking their government to cancel the Games. insider.com/petition-to-ca…
Some have even taken to Tokyo’s streets, holding rallies, chanting slogans, and waving placards, asking for the government to “put people’s lives ahead of the Games.” insider.com/japan-protests…
Japan appointed a "Minister of Loneliness" this month to tackle the country's rising suicide rates. Here’s a thread 👇 insider.com/japan-minister…
During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, with people more socially isolated than ever, Japan saw a rise in suicides for the first time in 11 years, particularly among women. insider.com/japan-more-sui…
In October, more people died from suicide than had died from COVID-19 in Japan in all of 2020 so far. There were 2,153 suicide deaths that month and 1,765 total virus deaths up to the end of October 2020, per the Japanese National Police Agency. insider.com/japan-more-sui…
Singapore's @ChangiAirport was ranked the world's best airport for the eighth year in a row in 2020.
In the pandemic, it has tried to reinvent itself as a domestic tourist destination. See the photos from a recent visit showing it to be mostly empty insider.com/singapore-jewe…
As the world started to lock down in 2020, Singapore, like many other countries, closed its borders to tourists.
And in April and May, during its COVID-19 "circuit-breaker" lockdown, Changi Airport operated at 0.5% of its usual traffic. insider.com/singapore-jewe…
Today, the airport, famous for its massive indoor waterfall, Imax theater, and wide variety of shops and restaurants, is still closed to short-term visitors except for those from a handful of countries like Australia, Taiwan, and New Zealand.