Archidemo and Nippaku100

Last Sunday I got an email from Hidenori Watanave, Associate Professor of Tokyo Metropolitan University, letting me know that he and a student team from the University have developed a 3D image database in Second Life dedicated to Oscar Niemeyer and his work. The database is an "official art project" as part of the centenary of the first exchange between Japan and Brazil. Niemeyer, who reached his own personal centenary last year, is best known as the inspired architect behind muich of the construction of Brasilia.

According to the Archidemo blog, the current construction is just a first build, with much more to come. Nevertheless, I recommend you pop along to the Nippaku100 sim and have a look. Click on the cubes as they float past, and click on the pictures too - to bring up weblinks. It's a clever and imaginative piece of work - as hopefully my pictures below will show:




If you want more on Archidemo, take a look at my post from January this year.

Itau

Brazil, as you may be aware, was the first country to get a Second Life Grid Global Provider, in the form of Kaizen Games. There was an expectation that this locally-supported service would see Brazillians flocking into Second Life, but I'm not sure it has really done so. Nevertheless, many of the busiest residential sims in Second Life are Brazillian, and it is perhaps surprising that there does not appear to be an equivalent level of commercial interest.

Tonight I stumbled across one such Brazillian commercial sim: Itau. It belongs to Banco Itau, a privately-owned bank with its headquarters in São Paulo. It is the second largest private bank in the country, accounting for around 11% of retail banking services. However, the sim does not appear to be pitching itself as a major promotional tool for the bank. I really need one of my Portuguese-speaking chums to translate it for me, but at least part of seems to be concerned with environmental and ecological matters. Thus far, the build extends across half the island and comprises 3 buildings - an arrival zone, an auditorium and a "conviviality suite", where you will finding rolling displays, presenting a variety of eco-stats. A pathway winds through hilly woodland, linking the buildings. For freebie-chasers it looks like you might be able to grab a T-shirt or 2 - though I wasn't able to prise one out.

I don't really have much more to add - but you might want to go and figure it out for yourself. Oh, I've just been back for another look, and there is a quiz in which you can participate, on the subject of "sustainability."

TV Seculo21

Brazil and the Roman Catholic Church seem to be intertwined to a degree far greater than I, a European atheist (and lapsed Catholic), would expect. Although I failed to get around to blogging about it, I noticed a large Brazillian/Catholic cluster of sims many moons ago at Cancao Nova. Tonight I came across another - TV Seculo21. As you have probably already divined, this is a TV station - and it seems to be related to the Igreja Católica religious organisation. The station describes itself as "educational" (I think) and carries a mixture of religious, documentary, news and current affairs programmes.

The island in Second Life is very much at the formative stage. So much so, in fact, that it really should not be open to visitors. Nothing is even remotely finished... there are plywood buildings and ramps all over the place (plywood is the default texture for newly-made objects in Second Life) and partially complete pathways and lawns. There is a rather well made statue, that I assume was sourced from elsewhere, but beyond that everything is in flux. It looks like the edge of the sim will feature a number of TV studios - but the usage of these studios remains a mystery. There is a 3D model (pictured below) that may show the final plan for the sim. Anyway, for those of you who have a passing interest in places under construction, here's a glimpse: