Hasta La Ideas

Sometimes you don’t realize your behavior is actually compensating for a design flaw. That is, until you see the solution. When borrowing a car and carrying anything heavy or delicate—a full toolbox, a few bottles of booze, a birthday cake—I always place it in the rear seat footwell. It would be much more convenient to load into the hatch, but I don’t want those things sliding around because I took the corner too hard after watching Fast & Furious 6.

That’s where the Stayhold comes in. The Velcro strip on the bottom adheres it firmly to the carpeting inside your car, allowing you to wall things off against the edges or build your own little fort.

As humble as this device is, to me it represents the ideal of what industrial design has to offer: It’s simple, largely monomaterial, addresses a valid need, and is relatively inexpensive. Sure it’s not going to wind up in the MoMA, but then again, neither is anything in the trunk of my car.

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Those of us here in the States are getting an early start for Day Five of the Core77 Design Awards jury broadcasts, but it’s already afternoon for GE’s Duncan Trevor-Wilson and his jury team in Shanghai. Tune in now as they announce the winners for the Equipment category—watch the stream above or at Core77DesignAwards.com

Professional
Winner: Ryan Ramos / Nick Paterson / GE Healthcare Global Design – Cytell Image Cytometer
Runner-up: Bresslergroup and Nexus Design LLC – HazMatID Elite
Notables:
» Formlabs – Form 1
» Worrell Design, Inc. – NeoChord DS1000
» Sync Think and tool., Inc. – Sync Think EYE-SYNC
» Duoject Design Team – VaccJect
» Priority Designs – Optitrack Prime 41
» Continuum – Aquamantys 3 BSC 9.1S Bipolar Sealer with Cutting
» Chris Thomson – Genie
» Continuum – RainDance RainDrop System

Student
Winner: Della Tosin – Elle
Runners-up:
» Malin Grummas – Airborn
» Omer Haciomeroglu – ERO: Concrete Recycling Robot
Notables:
» Tetsugaku Sasahara – KOMRAD respirator
» Dawid Dawod – Boltec .04
» Andrew Lowe – CrossTrainer

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First it was the desktop computer, then it was the laptop, and then it was mobile devices. What’s next in the progression? Many speculate the wearable device… and if it’s anything like this concept by Zissou then we’re all for it! Wrist-Borne combines the functionalities of fitness-tracking band, cellphone, and wristwatch into one device that focuses on practicality and ease-of-use in a surprisingly simple way. No buttons, no knobs…it’s the opposite of the Swiss army knife in this category, and that’s why it works!

Features:

• Bluetooth
• Pairs with your phone/computer/tablet
• 3-axis accelerometer
• Retina-quality touch display
• USB Connection/storage
• Blood flow monitor
• Perspiration monitor
• Thermometer
• Water resistant

Designer: Zissou

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(Simple, Smart, and Wearable was originally posted on Yanko Design)

Related posts:

1. A Simple Problem Deserves A Simple Solution
2. Wearable Regulation for Children with Autism
3. Arret a Porter – Wearable Design by Jimin Kim

Volcanic rubble is scattered across the curved rooftops of these villas by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma on Jeju Island, South Korea (+ slideshow).

The “art villas” form Block D of the Lotte Jeju Resort, a development of houses designed by different architects, including Dominique Perrault, Yi Jongho and Seung H-Sang.

Kengo Kuma used locally sourced volcanic rocks for the exterior of his buildings, as a reference to over 300 volcanoes and lava cones, called oreums, that are scattered across the island.

“When I visited Jeju Island for the first time, I was so much inspired by this dark, porous volcanic rock and wanted to translate its soft and round touch into architecture,” says Kuma. “As the result, the entire house emerged as a round black stone.”

A neat lattice of timber creates the arching profiles of the rooftops. The volcanic rubble is spread thinly over the surfaces, stretching down to the ground at intervals and receding to make way for rectangular skylights over various rooms.

Kuma explains: “Our intention was [for] the light to come through the black pebbles. Light highlights the texture of the stone, and the ambiguous roof edge can connect the roof with the ground.”

The villas are available to rent or buy and are available in two sizes – 210 and 245 square metres.

Jeju Ball is one of several projects completed by Kengo Kuma recently, following an art and culture centre with a chequered timber facade and a bamboo-clad hotel. See more architecture by Kengo Kuma.

Other buildings we’ve featured on Jeju Island include a an art museum surrounded by a pool of water and a headquarters building for a Korean internet company.

Here’s the complete statement from Kengo Kuma:

Jeju Ball

When I visited Jeju Island for the first time, I was so much inspired by this dark, porous volcanic rock and wanted to translate its soft and round touch into architecture. As the result, the entire house emerged as a round black stone. From distance, the house appears like a single pebble and when you are close, you notice that many parts of the house are of the black stone.

The stone eaves should be the principal detail for this house. Our intention was the light to come through the black pebbles. Light highlights the texture of the stone, and the ambiguous roof edge can connect the roof with the ground. The detail, placing the black stone on a steel mesh, enabled us to realise such vague and subtle edge.

What determines the landscape of Jeju is this blackness and porousness. So we sublimated its feel in a scale of a house.

The post Jeju Ball by Kengo Kuma
and Associates appeared first on Dezeen.

(Photo: Seth Browarnik for Design Miami Basel)

When last we saw Kanye West, he was wandering the tulip-lined halls of the European Fine Art Fair (TEFAF). His latest appearance on the international art circuit (Gray hoodie? Check.) was at Design Miami Basel, where, in the wee hours of Thursday morning, he gave an impromptu listening party for Yeezus. The album, due out on June 18, is expected to sell 500,000 copies in its first week of release.

Some 2,000 guests (Hans Ulrich Obrist? Check.) gathered–amidst a few Rick Owens chairs–at the center of the Herzog and de Meuron-designed Hall 1 Sud at Basel’s Messeplatz to sample West’s latest, including a track produced by Daft Punk and an a capella rendition of “New Slaves,” which includes a shout-out to Alexander Wang. The decision to appear at Design Miami Basel makes perfect sense considering that West has moved on from George Condo to…Le Corbusier. In a recent interview with Jon Caramanica of The New York Times, he pointed to architecture as influencing the pared-down vibe of Yeezus:

You know, this one Corbusier lamp was like, my greatest inspiration. I lived in Paris in this loft space and recorded in my living room, and it just had the worst acoustics possible, but also the songs had to be super simple, because if you turned up some complicated sound and a track with too much bass, it’s not going to work in that space. This is earlier this year. I would go to museums and just like, the Louvre would have a furniture exhibit, and I visited it like, five times, even privately. And I would go see actual Corbusier homes in real life and just talk about, you know, why did they design it? They did like, the biggest glass panes that had ever been done. Like I say, I’m a minimalist in a rapper’s body. It’s cool to bring all those vibes and then eventually come back to Rick [Rubin], because I would always think about Def Jam.

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