Letters From Here

(via Here’s a Look at Strand East, Ikea’s 27-Acre London Suburb - Globe Trotting - Curbed National)

Swedish home furniture giant IKEA will soon begin work on an 11 hectare neighbourhood in east London called The Strand East. The neighbourhood will feature 1,200 IKEA rental homes, which will be priced to appeal to a range of incomes.

(via HUH. - IKEA To Build East London Neighbourhood)

Three cities are visualized according to their their retail landmarks instead of street names and numbers – it’s an astounding way to view cities, where you’re never a block away from a shop, Starbucks, or restaurant.

(via iPhone App Helps You Navigate Cities Using Brand Logos @PSFK)

Above: a proposal for housing within a billboard. The concept won some sort of competition, according to Billboard House / Apostrophy’s | ArchDaily:

Billboard house inspired form the progression of the capitalism that contributes higher competition on advertising media especially O.D.M (Outdoor Media) which are located around the big cities separately. Sometimes their huge structure causes the visual pollution or harms the neighbor accidentally. However they are still be used in advertising industrial because of several advantages as following. 

A couple of things to note here.

First: Is ArchDaily basically a bot of some sort? That paragraph, as you can see, falls decisively short of actual English. It’s embarrassing.

Second: If you don’t mind my saying so: Living inside an advertisement is a grotesque concept.

Google Street View is now Google Store View. A recently released feature of the well-known mapping app lets you go inside participating businesses remotely and take a look around. B&H’s giant photo and video store in Manhattan, above, is one of the first to invite Google into their establishments. 

Camera Store Gets Virtual Tour From Google Street View | Raw File | Wired.com

Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood now boasts of a swanky new subway station, thanks to a four-million dollar makeover funded by Apple. The company also built a plaza in between the transit station, complete with seats and a fountain. And yes, Apple opened its new retail store last month.

Chicago Gets A New Subway Station, Thanks To Apple - PSFK

“Google is introducing a new feature on its Maps service which will allow advertisers to pay and have their logos show up beside the names of their establishments. Currently, Google Maps only show generic gray icons that indicate the type of businesses on the map, but with the sponsored map icons, companies can promote themselves with their logos prominently visible when users zoom in on an area while searching.”

Google To Introduce Sponsored Icons In Its Maps Service - PSFK

Heinz reclaims the streets :: Cream – The Innovation Exchange

Mixed feelings about this. It’s an urban garden, but it’s really a murketing stunt Heinz. The phrase “Heinz Reclaims The Street” makes me slightly ill. It’s sort of like — “I have seen the future of grass-roots urban experimentation, and it’s all done by multinationals.” Oh well.