Volkswagen recently gathered transportation ideas from the people of China to help innovate future car concepts. They took one girl’s idea for a hover car and made it into reality…sort of. Hit play above to check out this concept.
Maison Monday: Boxetti
Boxetti contains the set of basic bedroom functions –a double bed, night stand and a wardrobe. The foldaway bed platform is automatically lifted by a remote control, together with a built-in night stand. The unit is equipped with a spotlight and an ambience lighting fixture above the headboard. The integrated wardrobe consists of six sections including shelves, drawers and a clothes rail.
In Bed With Invader
This is one night in Paris with Space Invader! Watch the video above for a night in life of a Parisian street artist.
Yoan Capote
Yoan Capote is a Cuban artist who focuses much of his creative efforts on sculptures. His works reflect the irony of political and social movements as well as technology. For more examples of his works, please check out his portfolio.
Dream Downtown Hotel
Dream Downtown Hotel is a 184,000 SF boutique hotel in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City. The 12-story building includes 316 guestrooms, two restaurants, rooftop and VIP lounges, outdoor pool and pool bar, a gym, event space, and ground floor retail.
Dream sits on a though-block site, fronting both 16th and 17th Streets, and is adjacent to the Maritime Hotel, which sits adjacent to the west. In 1964, the National Maritime Union of America commissioned New Orleans-based architect Albert Ledner to design a new headquarters for the Union, on Seventh Avenue between 12th and 13th Streets. Two years later, he designed an annex for the headquarters on the site where Dream currently sits. A few years later, Mr. Ledner designed a flanking wing for the annex, which would eventually be converted to the Maritime Hotel.
In the 1970s, the Union collapsed and the buildings were sold and used for various purposes in the years that followed. In 2006, Handel Architects was engaged to convert the main annex into the Dream Downtown Hotel. The otherness of Ledner’s 1966 design for the National Maritime Annex was critical to preserve. Along the 17th Street exposure, the sloped façade was clad in stainless steel tiles, which were placed in a running bond pattern like the original mosaic tiles of Ledner’s Union building.
Wi-Fi Powered by Dog Poop
Via Inhabitat: Dog poop in public parks can really be the pits – however a new campaign by DDB in Mexico includes a genius incentive to get dog owners to clean up their pup’s leavings. For every “deposit” made in a specially sanctioned receptacle, the surrounding area will get free Wi-Fi, paving the road to the information superhighway with poop.
Conceived by the Mexican internet company Terra, the campaign will help bring new Wi-Fi services to local parks and public meeting places. Many parks and areas in the United States now feature Wi-Fi, but the service has yet to become widespread in many areas around Mexico.
To encourage down owners to pick up the business, the Wi-Fi will be administered in timed increments based upon the amount of poop collected. The more poop, the longer free Wi-Fi time will be provided. The whole campaign is executed in a tongue-in-cheek witty fashion, but the incentive is both real, and enticing for park goers wishing to get online while relaxing in the sun. What’s more, the program helps clean up the parks that these very park goers will log online from.
To make the incentive even greater, Terra could convert the poop receptacles into methane digesters, and transform the piles of poop into usable energy for the park.
The incentive may be a publicity stunt by Terra, but it is an ingenious idea to get people to help clean up their parks that is ready to be taken to the next level.
PAL-V One
The PAL-V ONE is a two seat hybrid car and gyroplane: a personal air and land vehicle. What makes the PAL-V ONE attractive is the convenience of fully integrated door-to-door transportation.
On the ground this slim, aerodynamic, 3-wheeled vehicle has the comfort of a car with the agility of a motorcycle thanks to its patented, cutting-edge, ‘tilting’ system. It can be driven to the nearest airfield and take off just like any other airplane. The single rotor and propeller are unfolded to make the PAL-V ONE ready to fly.
When airborne, the PAL-V usually flies below 4,000 feet (1,200 m), the airspace available for uncontrolled Visual Flight Rules (VFR) traffic; so there will be no interference from commercial air traffic. Furthermore, the PAL-V is powered by a very robust, flight certified aircraft engine. It runs on gasoline. It can reach speeds of up to 180 km/h (112 mph) both on land and in the air.
The PAL-V ONE has a very short take off and landing capability, making it possible to land practically anywhere. When not using controlled airspace, you can take off without filing a flight plan. Flying a PAL-V is like a standard gyrocopter. It is quieter than helicopters due to the slower rotation of the main rotor. It takes off and lands with low speed, cannot stall, and is very easy to control. The gyroplane technology means that it can be steered and landed safely even if the engine fails, because the rotor keeps auto rotating.
Maison Monday: Notebook Grill
Tipping the scales at just over 8 lbs, the Hotspot Notebook Portable Charcoal Grill makes cookouts a breeze, wherever you are. Folding down to an inch thick, you can easily fold and carry the Notebook Grill in one hand. Great for small space dwellers, campers, tailgaters, and those who love compact, cool gadgetry. Priced under $50, and available only via Amazon.
Her Shoes
Check out this playful short by Daniel Mercadante titled Her Shoes. Daniel is a director and founder of Everynone. Music by Lullatone.
Moki
Brought to you by designer Marcus Sternz, Moki comes in seven different styles: Base, Cut, Dust, Lean, Mono, Soft and Uni. Moki is a display expert – with a wide range of languages covered, the family offers a style for every purpose.
Opus Hong Kong
Via Inhabitat: Frank Gehry’s first foray into China, the Opus Hong Kong for Swire Properties, is now open – and it’s breaking records in terms of price. Located on a lush hillside above the city, the luxury tower enjoys panoramic views of the urban scene below. Inspired by the location and the city, Gehry designed the 12-story tower to enhance and reflect Hong Kong’s distinctive landscape. Although it may not be his magnum opus, Gehry’s organic style shines through the structure as the volume emerges from the hillside like reeds swaying in the breeze.
The Opus Hong Kong for Swire Properties is the city’s newest luxury residential building situated on Stubbs Road on The Peak high above the city. With its green hillside location, the Opus enjoys a bit of nature within close proximity to the urban space. The 12-story tower is over the top in terms of amenities and has only 12 residences – 10 apartments at 6,000 sq ft each that occupy an entire floor of the building and two double-level garden apartments on the bottom floors. Each residence has access to rooftop swimming pools and sweeping views of the city.
The organic form of the building resembles reeds swaying in the breeze with structural columns slowly twisting out of the rock base. Gehry’s design allows for open-plan apartments that flow around a central core with a sinuous façade composed almost entirely of glass. Each apartment is airy and light filled with natural daylight and natural ventilated. “With its remarkable views and lush green hillside, OPUS HONG KONG’s extraordinary location offered us the opportunity to create something unique, something that is unlikely to be replicated anywhere again,” said Frank Gehry. “The building has been designed to enhance and reflect Hong Kong’s distinctive landscape, and is custom-made for the city it overlooks.”
Upload Cinema: Ninja, Babies, David
Check out this series of 3 print ads by Upload Cinema, which features iconic viral videos such as ‘David Goes to the Dentist’, the ‘nun-chuck ninja’ and ‘two babies babbling to one another in the kitchen’. Scenes from these videos have been hilariously re-imagined with elderly actors, featuring the tagline: videos get old really fast, come see them before it’s too late. An interesting concept, but I can’t say I need another avenue to viral videos than social media, or even the nightly news.
Pizza Shirt
Pizza + shirt = Pizza Shirt! Yes, this real, and for a mere $40 (US), you too can sport either a peppperoni, or vegetarian, super high resolution tee.
Patricia Povoa
Graphic designer Patricia Povoa has created a series of the most famous haircuts and styles on the plant. The minimalist, colourful silhouettes feature the likes of Mr. T, Princess Leah, MacGyver, Clark Kent and others.
Maison Monday: Horizontal Shower
The Dornbracht Horizontal Shower has a heated tile base to lie on and 6 heads that cleanse and allegedly massage your body. Its designers go on to boast that the horizontal shower:
permits showering using the ambience tuning technique while reclining. The application combines six water bars recessed into a broad shower field above a reclining space, along with an eTool as the main operating element. Just as with vertical shower, with horizontal shower the user can also choose from among a variety of pre-programmed choreographies, offering a range of settings for water temperature, intensity and quantity. The user can decide from among balancing, energizing or de-stressing effects.
Kiskin
Kiskin bikini’s are designed with a heart-shaped silhouette that leaves a “sun tattoo” on the wearer’s body. The updated line now other shapes from the poker table.
Our inspiration comes from the opportunity of combining the highest quality of fabrics and materials with top wearability and 100% Made in Italy-manufacturing. A fresh and original idea that allows a Kiskin-Woman to play with irony while choosing which tattoo the sun should leave on her skin! Kiskin is made for women who are unconventional, who love to dress high quality products, who want to be free from the typical “impositions” of Fashion!”
Jala PRT
Jala PRT is a national network for domestic workers advocacy. The trio of print ads developed by Ogilvy portray individuals being wrung out like mops and drowning as dishrags. The tagline for this attention-grabbing campaign reads:
When domestic helpers themselves need help.
Emmen Theatre and Zoo
Via ArchDaily: Emmen Theatre and Zoo, designed by Henning Larsen Architects and Van den Berg Groep, is an unusual cultural building that brings together culture and nature. The building design, which won the first prize in the international competition, will constitute the entrance to a large zoological park of 10 hectares and comprises two main stages with a capacity of 1,150 people in total, an additional stage, exhibition and conference facilities. The building in itself covers 16,000 m2.
The contrast between city and nature are united in the building design where the rectangular frame structure and the organic, curved roof merge into each other. The roof arouses associations of an animal’s back. It creates a distinctive entrance to the zoo and stands out as part of the city skyline. The building will be a large theatre in itself. Viewed from the city, it opens up as a magic window towards the natural wildlife in the zoo – while the city is staged as a large urban universe viewed from the zoo.
Sustainability has been an important design parameter in the development of the new theatre in Emmen. The integration of daylight, geometry and flexibility in the building reduces the energy consumption without use of technology. The design is energy-efficient in itself and forms an important part of the sustainability concept of the building. The design ensures a good indoor climate and a comfortable outdoor climate on the urban square under the roof. The large overhangs of the east and west facades protect the square from the sun and rain. Forming part of the frame structure, the remaining facades are solid and feature large windows to the north and small openings to the south. Plenty of overhead lights in the roof provide the various foyers and halls with ample daylight.
Valerie Hegarty
Valerie Hegarty creates unique works of art that look like burned, smashed, cracked, warped, melted, and damaged paintings.
Talented artist makes extremely detailed replicas of famous masterpieces and then comes up with clever ways of destroying them.
The Adventures of Mr. Fly
Nicholas Hendrickx is a very creative Belgian photographer that put a fly’s world into a whole other perspective. In this series called “The Adventures of Mr. Fly” we get to see the artist’s creativity and perfectionism at their best. What a painstaking mission this was, to follow Mr. Fly around all day while he carries on with his dull, insignificant life, struggling to make a buck as a cab driver, to support all his 173 wives and 2184 kids who all needed money for education and iPods.
Maison Monday: Thermosaurus Radiator
Thermosaurus by Art.Lebedev Studio is a heat exchanger with a Tyrannosaurus as a backbone. The item is highly efficient and energy-savvy, thanks to its complex structure that includes a skull, spine, ribs, legs, and tail bones. Made of cast iron, Thermosaurus installs like your regular central-heating radiator.
BANA1N
Via Inhabitat: When designing a temporary structure there is no limit to what materials you can use, so what about using few fruit crates to build an easy, fun and affordable piece of architecture? Designed by A1 Architects, BANA1N is a temporary, multifunctional shelter made from 200 Chiquita Banana boxes. Locally sourced, recyclable and colorful, this ephemeral shelter was used as a library and, more recently, as a banana milkshake bar!
Inspired by those living a dynamic and often low budget life, this cool modular shelter can be assembled and disassembled with little effort, and even be setup as a space within a space for some extra privacy. By turning the box tops inwards, the interior also finds itself lined with plenty of shelves and lit by the light peeking through the boxes.
First unveiled at Designblok06 back in 2006, BANA1N was a short-term structure housing different activities inside. More recently the tropical shelter made an appearance at a Czech design show as a ‘banana bar’ that served up banana milkshakes all throughout the night.
A1 hopes that people around the world will be inspired to use the Bana1n system in a free creative way — and off course recycle the cardboard once they are done!
Shay Aaron’s Miniatures
Shay Aaron creates incredible miniature sculptures, often portraying delicious dishes. The scale of just how diminutive these works is illustrated by showing the sculptures next to pennies, finger tips and so on. See more of Shay’s work via Flickr.
Imagine by Jung von Matt
Jung von Matt designed a series of minimalist ads in support of LEGO. He used LEGO blocks to portray characters from South Park, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Smurfs, The Simpsons and more.
Beach and Howe
The 490-foot-tall Beach and Howe mixed-use tower by BIG + Westbank + Dialog + Cobalt + PFS + Buro Happold + Glotman Simpson and local architect James Cheng marks the entry point to downtown Vancouver, forming a welcoming gateway to the city, while adding another unique structure to the Vancouver skyline. BIG’s proposal, named after its location on the corner of Howe & Beach next to the Granville Street Bridge in downtown Vancouver, calls for 600 residential units occupying the 49-story tower, which would become one of the city’s fourth tallest buildings.
The tower is situated on a nine-story podium base offering market-rental housing with a mix of commercial and retail space. BIG was commissioned by Canada’s premier real estate developer Westbank, established in 1992, with over $10 billion of projects completed or under development, including the Shangri-La luxury hotels in Vancouver and Toronto. “We have brought together the best talent available in Vancouver and Europe to create a truly world class project that will enrich not only the particular neighborhood, but also the city and its quest to become creative, sustainable and affordable city.
Architecturally, the Beach and Howe tower will introduce a new building typology to the Vancouver skyline and will create a dramatic gateway to downtown Vancouver that speaks to the emerging creative economy in the city”, Ian Gillespie, President, Westbank. The tower takes its shape after the site’s complex urban conditions aiming to optimize the conditions for its future inhabitants in the air as well as on the street level. At its base, the footprint of the tower is conditioned by concerns for two significant neighboring elements, including a 30-meter setback from the Granville bridge which ensures that no residents will have windows and balconies in the middle of heavy traffic as well as concerns for sunlight to an adjacent park which limits how far south the building can be constructed. As a result the footprint is restricted to a small triangle.
Song of The Machine
What if we could change our view of the world with the flick of a switch? ‘Song of the Machine’ explores the possibilities of a new, modified – even enhanced – vision, where users can tune into streams of information and electromagnetic vistas currently outside of human vision.
This film is a part of an ongoing collaboration between Superflux and neuroscientist Dr. Patrick Degenaar, whose pioneering work in optogenetic retinal prostheses aims to bring back sight to the blind.
Unlike the implants and electrodes used to achieve bionic vision, this science modifies the human body genetically from within. First, a virus is used to infect the degenerate eye with a light-sensitive protein, altering the biological capabilities of the subject. Then, the new biological capabilities are augmented with wearable (opto)electronics, which, by mimicking the eye’s neural song, establish a direct optical link to the brain. It’s as if the virus gives the body ears to hear the song of the machine, allowing it to sing the world into being.
Safe Sex for Seniors
In the past 5 years, the rate of STDs among active seniors has risen over 70%. This public service announcement promotes the importance of using condoms, illustrated by mature adults in various poses of the Kama Sutra.
Maison Monday: Tout Va Bien
The Tout Va Bien cabinet is an original piece of design furniture from BD Barcelona Design that is sure to capture your attention, just as it has ours. Designed by Parisian graphic artists, Antoine Audiau and Manuel Warosz, this piece is a modernized tribute to old traditions. It has an artistic quality and plays with theme of fantasy and therefore feels a bit surreal. A mixture of modern graphics, hieroglyphics, haut and bas reliefs, it’s just so much more than a place to store your stuff. Available in black and white and other bright colors, Tout Va Bien is a real show-stopper.
Calgary Farmer`s Market
Check out this series of three ads in support of the Calgary Farmer`s Market by the agency Wax. The three play up the social and fun aspect of the market, but we`re still partial to the 2010 series which employed risque fruit.
Dekalb (Shipping Container) Market
Via Inhabitat: It’s back! After a winter hiatus, the much beloved Dekalb Market, made from nearly three dozen salvaged shipping containers, is returning to Downtown Brooklyn on Saturday, April 7th. The market first debuted last summer, and it has grown from a commercial hotspot of local artisans and eateries to a cultural community destination that hosts family-friendly events, live music and art experiences, unique shops, an urban farm, and delicious locally-made food. The Spring Weekender event on April 7th and 8th will feature all this, plus special Easter events.
The 2012 Dekalb Market brings back everything we loved about the unique space, including the shipping container shops and cafes populated with some of our favorite vendors, like Robicelli Cupcakes and Maharlika’s Filipino street food. The 45 retail shops will include 3rd Ward, Etsy Collective, Hot Trash Vintage, and many more. The market is ramping up its event programing, with plans for bike-in movie nights, roller derbies, and more live music. Plus, there will be a permanent Dekalb Market Beer & Wine Garden, featuring local craft beer, wine, and sangria.
One of our favorite aspects of Dekalb Market, the urban farm, will also be returning in a new and improved way. A collaborative project between several groups, Dekalb Farm grows fresh produce to sell at the market and hosts urban agriculture events for the community. Newtown Farm Collective and Brooklyn Grange help to run the farm, which is also home to Food 360, a farm-to-table job-training program run by Family Cook Productions that will be housed in a brand new incubator kitchen designed by Marketshare. The kitchen will allow market purveyors to prepare their goods on-site, and 3rd Ward intends on hosting food-related classes.
During the debut weekend on April 7th and 8th, there will be urban farming demonstrations, a curated flower and garden flea market, and a market-wide Easter egg hunt. Forty of the market vendors will also be selling their goods, and local bands and DJs will provide live music.
Google`s Project Glass
Google`s Project Glass builds on the current capability of their Google Goggles application, which is available via the smartphone marketplace. Similar to Looking Glass, a previous version of this technology we crowned one of the best gadgets back in 2008, Project Glass embeds real time data over top of real world imagery, presented a new, augmented reality that is rich, or perhaps even even cluttered with information. Hit play below to check out how Google imagines the future of wearable computer products might take shape.
Airborne Wind Turbine
Altaeros Energies, a wind energy company formed out of MIT, recently announced that it has demonstrated high altitude power production from an automated prototype of its airborne wind turbine. The company recently completed testing of a 35-foot scale prototype of the Altaeros Airborne Wind Turbine (AWT) at the Loring Commerce Center in Limestone, Maine. The prototype, fabricated in partnership with Doyle Sailmakers of Salem, Massachusetts, achieved several key milestones. The AWT climbed up 350 feet high, produced power at altitude, and landed in an automated cycle. In addition, the prototype lifted the top-selling Southwest Skystream turbine to produce over twice the power at high altitude than generated at conventional tower height. The turbine was successfully transported and deployed into the air from a towable docking trailer.
Key Frames
Key Frames is a light installation created by the French design/artist studio Groupe LAPS — six artists and designers with combined expertise and technical know-how who work in film development, light installations, and multimedia applications. Using LED light tubes, Key Frames consists of multiple static stick figures that, when paired with a dance soundtrack, flash on and off in a choreographed display that evokes movement. Originally designed for the Fête des Lumieres 2011 in Lyon, France, Key Frames was just included as part of the iLight festival at Marina Bay in Singapore.
Doggie Fountain
The Doggie Fountain is a cool solution for keeping your pup`s water supply safe, fresh and readily available. The fountain is connected to your garden hose, and by using a common Y-splitter shutoff valve at the spigot, you can use your garden hose without disturbing the Doggie Fountain connection. The Doggie Fountain features a valve that lets you adjust the height of the vertical stream.
Maison Monday: Target Books Shelf
Turkish industrial designer Mebrure Oral has found a contemporary method of displaying books on walls in an organized, creative and fresh manner. By separating books into sections like “has been read” and “will be read”, and making it easy to find each section with a two-level design, Mebrure Oral created the Target Books Shelf as an interesting aid for those loving how typography can prove useful around the house. Typographic elements act as the bookends, making simplicity the key elements of this beautiful, trendy bookshelf. Made of recyclable ABS plastic using injection molding, the three pieces of the book shelf are assembled into a decorative linear design. We enjoyed seeing that ideas worth spreading combine modern technologies with our defining potential for creativity. What would you like written at the end of your bookshelves?
Regia Sans
Regia Sans is a typeface that was designed in 2008 in Concepción, Chile, and was first released for sale by Latinotype. It is a very thin and condensed font with a modular design, well-suited for short texts, logos, magazines, posters, etc. This new version includes more than 1,300 characters in Opentype format, many ligatures (including diacritical marks and numbers), two groups of alternate characters, and some swash characters. Languages include: Basic Latin, Western European, Euro, Catalan, Baltic, Turkish, Central European, Romanian and Pan Africa Latin.
Back to the Start
“Back to the Start”, an animation by Johnny Kelly for the Chipotle Cultivate Foundation. This is a beautiful piece of filmmaking. The soundtrack is provided by Willie Nelson, performing Coldplay’s “The Scientist”. This piece was commissioned by Chipotle to emphasize the importance of developing a sustainable food system.
“Exploded Flowers”, photos by TJ*
Developed by American mechanical engineering grad student Jeff Kessler, ‘TJ*‘ is a customizable robot puppet, designed as a remote-control toy for kids or tinkering platform for budding programmers and digital artists. The head is composed of fiberboard or coloured plastic, with two eyes that move up/down and left/right, controlled by three micro servo motors. An optional arduino remote can be used to control ‘TJ*’, or users can develop their own on any servo controller platform. Record-playback for activity is built into the device, in addition to live control.
Already fully funded but still accepting pre-orders on kickstarter, the mechanical puppet is designed to offer a toy that grows with child users. While early ways of interaction might be decorating and creating accessories for ‘TJ*’, children can then use it as a star in skits or videos, before being introduced to software development by beginning to write code to add new functionality.
Expected to be ready in June 2012, the basic DIY kit will be available for 60 USD. add-on options include an arduino controller, coloured plastic rather than fibreboard, and LED rather than normal eyes. The next-generation ‘emotive TJ*’ will feature movable eyebrows and mouth.
Kessler plans to start a ‘TJ*’ youtube channel once the product has been released as a user-created showcase of creative projects utilizing the puppet.