Hasta La Ideas

Suffice it to say that the Mac Pro was easily the best thing Apple did this year.

Core77 2013 Year in Review: Top Ten Posts · Furniture, Pt. 1 · Furniture, Pt. 2
Digital Fabrication, Pt. 1 · Digital Fabrication, Pt. 2 · Digital Fabrication, Pt. 3 · Digital Fabrication, Pt. 4
Insights from the Core77 Questionnaire · Maker Culture: The Good, the Bad and the Future · Food & Drink
Materials, Pt. 1: Wood · Materials, Pt. 2: Creative Repurposing · Materials, Pt. 3: The New Stuff
True I.D. Stories · High-Tech Headlines

The preponderance of Jony Ive-related headlines this year suggests that technology and design are as deeply connected as ever, and we certainly saw a fair share of interesting innovations from Silicon Valley and beyond. That didn’t stop Quartz’s Christopher Mims from boldly asserting that “2013 Was a Lost Year for Tech, though I felt that he overlooked the implications of Google Glass as a sign of the times. Even so, his suggestion that it “doesn’t count” due to its “tone-deaf design” only underscores the importance of industrial design in the technology sector (more on Glass below). IDEO’s Tim Brown, on the other hand, offers rather more positive outlook—and a telling follow-up to Mims’ optimistic 2012 year-end roundup—at least to the effect that iterative feedback loops and decimal-pointed-versioning hold the promise of exciting new developments in 2014.

If Toymail demonstrates the power of the Internet of Things from an early age…

Based purely on anecdotal / qualitative data, it seems that the ‘Internet of Things’ has surpassed ‘Digital Fabrication’ as the Next Big Thing—wearables, in particular, have taken on the buzz of 3D printers before them. But unlike the broader domain of digital fabrication, the connected devices have more commercial potential than the 3D printer’s cousins—open-source CNC mills, wire benders, etc.

Of course, 2013 will mostly be remembered—at least in the short term—as the year that Google Glass came out, not least for the subsequent backlash to the limited launch of the eyeglass+HUD form factor. Mat Honan’s chronicle of his year with Glass offers at least a few insights into the actual experience of the $1,500 device (though his refusal to wear it on public transit, when he’s out for dinner or drinks, at movies or around kids speaks to Mims’ point that it’s inherently alienating), but its impact as a novel cultural artifact. And in some ways, Mims is right in dismissing Glass as a gamechanger: Frankly, I still can’t help but do a double-take each time I see it in public, and it’s simply too soon to tell how significant Glass will be in the long run.

From L to R: Google Glass, Melon, No More Woof

(more…)

This black house by German studios Fabian Evers Architecture and Wezel Architektur is raised up over a translucent base where the client’s truck can be stored (+ slideshow).

Located on a busy street near Tübingen, Germany, the building needed to accommodate both a residence and a workshop, so Fabian Evers Architecture and Wezel Architektur decided to lift all the living spaces off the ground and create a garage underneath with a parking space for the client’s Unimog – a cult four-wheel drive vehicle produced by Mercedes Benz.

This prompted the architects to name the project House Unimog.

“The concept was to stack the two different uses on top of each other in order to minimise the footprint on the site and to orient the living rooms from the street towards the landscape,” said Fabian Evers.

Opaque corrugated cladding covers the first-floor walls and roof, while the lower level is surrounded by translucent polycarbonate with matching ridges, allowing daylight to permeate the workshop.

“The workspace is filled with filtered natural light during the daytime, and turns at night into a light box which glows into the neighbourhood,” said Evers.

A staircase extends up along one of the outer walls, leading through to the domestic spaces via a sheltered south-facing terrace that can be used for various activities, from al fresco dining to chopping wood for the fire.

Glass doors connect the terrace with an open-plan living and dining area, with a bathroom and bedroom positioned beyond.

Oriented strand board lines the walls and ceilings of all three rooms, and a wood-burning stove provides heating.

Here’s some more information from Fabian Evers:

House Unimog


The unusual task and the difficult building site was at one hand a big challenge but on the other a big potential. The owner requested a workshop for his Unimog and a small residential unit.

The site is located directly next to a street with heavy traffic and is surrounded by small private houses and farm buildings. A crucial parameter was the very tight cost frame.

The concept was to stack the two different uses on top of each other in order to minimise the footprint on the site and to orient the living rooms from the street towards the landscape. The result is a vertically developed house. The variation of the two different uses reflects itself through the facade: The lower part of the workshop is clad with translucent polycarbonate elements.

The workspace is filled with filtered natural light during the daytime, and turns at night into a light box which glows into the neighbourhood. The living space presents itself with its anthracite facade as a monolithic volume. Precise set windows and a generous south-oriented loggia enables beautiful views into the surrounding landscape.

The chosen materials for the facade and inside the building underlines the pragmatic and reduced design concept: a house which is rather located in the typology of a rational farmhouse or of a workshop than a classical residential house.

Project: low budget house – private house with mit workshop
Client: private
Period: 2011 – 2012
Floor area: 120 m2
Costs: 170.000 Euros

The post House Unimog stores a truck
within its translucent base appeared first on Dezeen.

The simplistic, spherical pendant is one of my favorite choices for lighting a room. so the more the merrier! The Multiball system is a cloud-like cluster of different size spheres that seem to float in mid air. Perfect for larger spaces, the light compositions (available in 5, 8, or 12 spheres) can be shaped and tailored to suit any interior area.

Designer: Roberto Paoli

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Yanko Design
Timeless Designs – Explore wonderful concepts from around the world!
Shop CKIE – We are more than just concepts. See what’s hot at the CKIE store by Yanko Design!
(Floating Spheres was originally posted on Yanko Design)

Related posts:

1. Natures Spheres
2. Squishy Light Spheres
3. Floating Storage

Steven Heller and Mirko Ilić are looking for submissions for their latest project – a book showcasing poster designs for Shakespeare plays to mark the 400th anniversary of the writer’s death.

The book will be published by Princeton Architectural Press in 2016. Ilić and Heller are looking for submissions from around the world and also plan to use entries in a promotional exhibition exploring Shakespeare’s influence on contemporary theatre.

A former art director at the New York Times, Heller has written for more than 100 design books and collaborated with Ilić last year on Lettering Large, a publication exploring monumental typography in urban settings.

The deadline for Shakespeare poster submissions is March 14 and works must have been published – personal and student projects will not be accepted. Files can be submitted online or by post and a printed copy should also be supplied for use in the exhibition.

For details on how to enter, click here.

Le photographe Jonathan Besler nous offre avec cette vidéo Dreamscapes plus de 35 000 images compilés pour une création en timelapse. Tournée avec son Nikon D800 et montée sur la musique Beacons de Rob Fleming, ces images capturées en Allemagne sont à découvrir dans la suite de l’article.