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A clear, apparently simple plastic chip could eliminate the need for animal testing. The design, which basically mimics the functions of human organs, won the Design of the Year award from the Design Museum in London.
Designer Thomas Heatherwick just completed construction on a cluster of 12 parsnip tornado-shaped towers for the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. The building, called the Learning Hub, is part of a larger project to help redesign educational architecture and make the university a more attractive place. I have to say, it seems to be working – it’s one of […]
Anthony Gibbons, a designer which specializes on sustainable materials and biomimicry developed some rad looking tree houses which seem to be taken straight from the elves’ forest home of Lothlorien in Lord of the Rings! The Roost (as its called) rises up above the forest floor with sleeping quarters, viewing platforms, and spiral stairs, fully […]
An Australian company called ArchiBlox recently unveiled the first first carbon-positive prefab home – it generates more energy than it consumes, helps reduce carbon emission, and looks simply gorgeous. Contemporary and cozy, the house is topped with solar panels, and is designed to keep cool air in – something very important for the Australian environment. However, I […]
In an attempt to make programming more attractive, MIT has developed a stunning “robot garden”, dozens of fast-changing LED lights and more than 100 origami robots that can crawl, swim, and blossom like flowers. I’ll tell you, if this doesn’t make kids want to code… nothing will! The “garden” was created by a team from MIT’s Computer […]
For all the developments in modern architecture, balconies have remained generally unchanged. This is why I was really pleasantly surprised to stumble upon this alternative – it’s not groundbreaking, but it adds a nice, green touch and generally seems very pleasant. The Zalewski Architecture Group has designed this meandering alternative to a balcony which allows inhabitants to […]
They're cozy, beautiful, and surprisingly efficient!
No, it's not Asimov's Three Laws but the Common Law that a robot designed for art infringed. Devised by !MEDIENGRUPPE BITNIK, the Random Darknet Shopper is an automated online shopper that's programmed to randomly buy items on the Deep Web. With a limited budget worth $100 in Bitcoin for every purchase, the bot went on a spree where it bought a number of items ranging from Chinese blue jeans, Nike shoes or Moldavian cigarettes.
German researchers have designed shoe devices which harvest power as you walk. The technology could be used to power wearable electronic sensors without the need for batteries.
3D printing is just as cool as it is useful – as designed John Edmark. These spinning sculptures only become animated when you look at them through a stroboscopic light, or with a camera with a very short shutter speed (1/4000 sec). “If change is the only constant in nature, it is written in the language of […]
An inspired entrepreneur, Shigeharu Shimamura, took an old semiconductor factory that was abandoned following the 2011 Japan disaster and turned it into the largest indoor farm in the world. Using state of the art growing technology, his company manages to make some 10,000 heads of lettuce per day out of the 25,000 square feet facility. This makes it 100 times more productive per square foot than traditional agriculture, all with 40% less power, 80% less food waste and 99% less water usage than outdoor fields.
3D printing is changing our lives – we’re seeing it already. Basically any household item can be 3D printed, and cheaper; in medicine we have 3D printed bones and even skin, you can get a 3D printed tattoo, 3D printed fossils for education, you can 3D print houses cheaply and quickly and even rocket parts – NASA is actually […]
The elevator was invented over 150 years ago, and now, we’re entering a new era in vertical transportation: the first ropeless elevator has been developed. The Germany company ThyssenKrupp developed this technology, and it looks straight out taken from a Willy Wonka movie! But this technology is not about being cool, it’s about being effective. MULTI elevator […]
Among the more common arguments against wind turbines you usually have noise and ugliness. Personally, I really don’t find wind turbines ugly and studies have found that generally wind turbines are very quiet but hey – this is the general perception. For these reasons, French engineers have spent three years developing beautiful and quiet urban versions of […]
In case you didn’t know, developers from New York are working on creating the world’s first underground park using innovative solar technology to illuminate an historic trolley terminal on the Lower East Side of New York City. The project will only be finished in 2018, but it is already starting to take shape, as you can […]
Cloud Collective, a French and Dutch design company has come up with an elegant and green solution to clear up the environment around highways: suspended algae farms. So far, they have implemented such a system over a small stretch of highway in Geneva, Switzerland. Since algae works by absorbing CO2 and eliminating Oxygen into the air, […]
3-D printing has taken the world by storm, and even though we’ve already discovered a myriad of potential applications, we’re just beginning to scratch the surface on what the technology can actually do. From cranium replacements to fossils, from artificial ears to artificial skin and from bacteria to livable rooms, 3-D printing has done it all, […]
In 2011, we were telling you about the planned vertical forests in Milan – you can read the entire article here. Recently, the project has finally reached fruition, and we finally get to see the world’s first vertical forest. Stefano Boeri Architects’ amazing Bosco Verticale towers rise up, adding some 2.5 acres of lush vegetation (over 100 […]
Urban noise can be quite a nuisance, but it can also provide a lot of valuable information about the city’s needs. A first of its kind project in the city of Santander will check if this data can actually be used to improve the lives of citizens and develop a better, smarter city. “The EAR-IT project is […]
China has drawn most of its modern technology from the West, but now, as the balance of power is starting to shift, China will have to innovate and start developing its own ideas. In a recent contest, the city of Shenzhen went looking for creative proposals for a financial district which would include three skyscrapers, several cultural buildings, […]
The physical properties of the ultra-white scales on certain species of beetle could inspire researchers to make better, whiter paper, plastics or paint, using far less material. The Cyphochilus beetle, native to South-East Asia, is whiter than paper or even milk teeth. The whiteness of its body is caused by a thin layer of a highly […]
“Juanita Knits the Planet” is a short comic strip that tells the story of Juanita, a very creative little girl. In fact, she’s only 10 microns tall, small enough for the entire comic strip to fit on a strand of human hair, making it the smallest comic in the world. The strip was printed for the […]
Biking to work or downtown when the weather allows it is one of the greenest things you can do – not only does it prevent the gases you would be emitting by driving, but it’s also a great way to keep in shape. But a new concept unveiled in Thailand’s capital, Bangkok, could take things […]
Greening the urban environment is not only pleasant to look at – it’s a necessity! But as cool as planting a green roof on a bus is, is this really an efficient way to go at it? The good I absolutely love green roofs – and I love innovative public transportation! It makes sense that […]
Brigham Young University (BYU) engineers have teamed up with one of the world’s leading experts in origami to solve one of space exploration’s most challenging (and ironic) problems – the lack of space. Working with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a team of mechanical engineers have designed a solar array that can be tightly compacted for […]
Chernobyl is still one of the most radioactive places on the face of the Earth, and authorities are working on a huge program to reduce any further risks of contamination. Work began in recent days to remove, bit by bit, the giant chimney protruding from the Chernobyl nuclear power station. The Chernobyl disaster was a […]
You know what sucks about riding a bike? Except for, you know, all the traffic and all the reckless car drivers, and rain, and sometimes being really tired? Bike helmets. Of course, they do provide the advantage of keeping your brain from getting splattered if you crash, but they’re not really comfortable, and they take […]
The fastest way to get from any point A to any point B is through a straight line – but when your point A is on a mountain, and your point B is on another mountain, that’s pretty hard to work out. According to architect Arturo Tedeschi (A>T), that’s also boring, so they came up with a […]
Merging road cars with airplanes into a two-in-one purpose vehicle may seem like a SciFi endeavor, but how truly crazy is this idea? Although we’re far from seeing people hovering to work in a Jetson’s-like craft or mid-air traffic jams like in the Fifth Element, some people believe street-legal cars that can both run on […]
In the heart of Bangkok, Thailand’s capital, green spaces are a rarity. With the idea of creating an escape from the congested streets of Bangkok, Somdoon Architects came up with this design of two towers, each tailored for a specific type of customers, but also eco-friendly. A “green skin” covers the building providing temperature control […]
3D printing took the world by storm, and there’s almost no limit to what you can create: from ears and organs to rocket engines and dinosaur skeletons. This technology is so efficient and advanced that in fact, a study concluded that the average American could save money each year by printing household items. Now, two […]
In 2011, Building Trust International launched an International design competition asking Architects, Designers and Engineers to come up with an innovative design solution for a mobile, modular school for a displaced community of migrants and refugees on the Thai/Burma border. The winners of The MOVING Schools 001 were architects Dan La Rossa and Amadeo Bennetta; […]
