Monday 22 September 2008

Bank Space Sky Onion Visualisations

1.2.

3.4.

Awesome visualisations by Theo Deutinger Architects.

1. China
vs. Worldbank in Vrij Nederland


Vrij Nederland issue Nr. 17/18; 2008 features a world map, which compares the
top ten money streams of the Worldbank versus the top ten foreign direct
investments of China. Underlying one can see the expected GDP growth per country
for the year 2007. While the Worldbank’s core task is to help world's poorest
nations, most of its money is lent to countries with double digit growth rates.

I particularly like the subtle shades of grey for the countries and then the
bold blue & red sprouting from world bank and china much in the style of
their invasion, presence affecting these countries. (much like dads army, uk).
Then some handy pye charts for stats keyed to their colour.

producer: Theo Deutinger in collaboration with Pieter van Os

http://www.td-architects.eu/?id=4

2. Building
up Space

50 years ago the first artificial satellite Sputnik 1 was launched by the
Soviet Union, inaugurating the rage to occupy outer space. Currently, the U.S.
Strategic Command monitors 12.771 satellites and other large objects with about
10cm in diameter orbiting the earth. Out of these 12.771 objects only 872 are
active satellites, while most of the remaining 11.899 monitored pieces are
dysfunctional and considered ‘space debris’. Together with millions of other
smaller pieces of debris generated by spacecraft explosions or by collisions
between satellites, they form a rapidly growing dangerous nebula, causing a
major threat for damage on satellites and spacecrafts. The power released by a
1cm piece of space debris is equivalent to a hand grenade. While our lives on
earth depend more and more on GPS satellite support, the space they are imbedded
in becomes more and more threatened. As an American General puts it “…our
space architecture is very fragile.”

Very interesting subject matter to think that their is that much floating
above our atmosphere. Never imagined that scale.

Producer: Theo Deutinger

http://www.td-architects.eu/?id=96

3. High-Rise
Buildings

Out of the 191 countries that are counted by the United Nations only 81 (42%)
to have a building that is higher than 100 meter. Still, lining up the highest
buildings of these 81 nations according to their geographical proximity creates
an impressive skyline.

I really love this visualisation. Firstly it is great how they collate all
the high rise buildings and they layer it with a little design/illustration with
a silhouette of a sky line. Then there's also the gradient from blue to white
for the sky. It tells you the height of each building and its name, location and
they're sectioned Asia, Europe, Africa & America. It then has outer rings
showing scale at 200 metres & 300 metres to offer comparison between.

I kept questioning why circular, would it work better along a straight scale
to serve as like a bar chart? But I think it is served best as a circle because
it gives me the sense of the earth, rhetorically emphasized with the orange/red center
core (contrasting brilliantly with the blue sky), and the buildings grow out of
it trying to reach the planes in the sky and even satellites in space to give
you a sense of scale. Admitted a bar chart would probably be easier to adjudicate
their size in comparison, but it would change it all.

It would probably have to be smallest to largest changing the continent
grouping. It wouldn't have this great notion of height with the earth as the center
that these buildings grow from to reach satellites. It wouldn't be half as intriguing
as it is now.

Producer: Theo Deutinger, Johannes Pointl, Beatriz Ramo

http://www.td-architects.eu/?id=49


4. Onion

Again great sense of scale with how much the onion is exported form the
netherlands and how little they need to import. Also very informative as to the
amount countries import with a convenient key of size, colour and scale of cost
with the arcs/lines connecting the nodes/countries.

Producer: Theo Deutinger

http://www.td-architects.eu/?id=58


Four excellant visualisation, and there are many more at their site that I haven't
shown here.

http://www.td-architects.eu/

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