Hasta La Ideas

They say that preparing food requires love and a human touch, but honestly, something as mechanical as making you a cup of coffee could surely be handled by a robot, couldn’t it? Think about the methodical approach to preparing a latte or a cappuccino, and the number of steps that could go wrong because of human error. The CafeX wants to do away with that by introducing robotic arms into the mix. Your coffee order becomes a line of code that the robot follows to the absolute T, and that means three things. A perfect cup every single time, no dealing with chatty baristas, and lastly, not worrying about having your name spelled wrong on the to-go cup.

CafeX’s revolutionary system doesn’t mechanize the coffee machine, but rather, replaces the barista with a capable robot. Enter your order into a kiosk (or even via the app) along with your name and payment details. The robotic arm maneuvers the coffee machine, picks the glass up and puts your brew together, handling as many as three orders at the same time (working at a dizzying speed of two orders per minute). It can, with a great deal of dexterity, hold, stir, and even transport cups filled with hot liquid without spilling any of it, or burning itself. It then places the cup onto a platform which descends into a chamber that you can then put your hand into and collect the cup of coffee that’s been perfectly brewed to your liking. The biggest advantage? 24×7 coffee shops because you don’t have to worry about human labor. Also, no tips. The disadvantage? Less motivation to go to the coffee shop because the cute barista you were hitting on got replaced with a robotic arm. Although CafeX says there will always be a CafeX human staff-member on site to facilitate this customer-robot interaction.

Designer: CafeX

Studio66Design’s Darth Vader and Stormtrooper busts aren’t just a treat to look at, they’re life-size too! Standing at a whopping two feet, these busts are completely made out of paper, in an extremely hypnotic low-poly style.

If you’re a Star Wars geek and love having memorabilia but know exactly how expensive it is, these paper low-poly models are just perfect for you! They come as a paper net and require some assembling (difficulty: moderate) and with just a few hours of work and liberal usage of glue, you’ve got yourself a life-sized paper bust of Lord Vader, in brilliant low-poly glory! There’s a 20% discount if you get yourself the Stormtrooper paper model too!

Designer: Studio66Designs

Click Here to Buy Now

Click Here to Buy Now

Fast-food chain McDonald’s has replaced its iconic restaurant in Chicago with a building by Ross Barney Architects that is “unlike any in the company’s portfolio”.

The new outpost opened on 9 August 2018 in the city’s River North district, on the site of the Rock N Roll McDonald’s that served as a flagship for the chain, but was demolished last year.

Its replacement – designed by local firm Ross Barney Architects – is a steel and timber structure that boasts a number of sustainable elements, and has been compared to tech giant Apple’s stores by several news outlets.

“McDonald’s newly designed restaurant at Clark and Ontario streets is unlike any in the company’s portfolio,” said a statement.

The 19,000-square-foot (1,765-square-metre) building has several energy-saving features, including a canopy of solar panels that spans far beyond the exterior glass walls to create sheltered outdoor spaces.

This array offsets part of the restaurant’s non-renewable energy consumption, and helps to power LED lighting fixtures, and efficient kitchen and heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) equipment.

Over 70 trees are planted at ground level across the plot, including native and drought-resilient species interspersed between permeable pavers, to minimise irrigation and reduce storm-water runoff.

In the centre of the building sits a raised garden of ferns and white birch trees, housed within a glazed volume. Greenery also covers portions of the roof, while green walls are suspended from the ceiling inside.

The double-height interior is decorated with a pared-back palette of pale wood, grey surfaces and black furniture. This – along with the building’s glass cube form – has caused the comparisons to Apple stores, which often feature a similar minimal style and the same materials. The company trademarked the “distinctive design” of its retail spaces in 2013.

The furniture, graphics and layout at the McDonald’s were designed by Sydney-based Landini Associates, which has worked with the company on previous projects – including a pilot in Hong Kong.

Other features at the 24-hour Chicago location include self-order kiosks and table service, as well as mobile ordering, payment and delivery.

“This is one of the most amazing McDonald’s restaurants I’ve ever seen and a great fit for this iconic location,” said McDonald’s owner-operator Nick Karavites.

The Rock N Roll McDonald’s occupied the site since 1983, but was replaced in 2005 with a building that used the company’s golden arches as huge structural components.

McDonald’s is best known for its bold-coloured and brightly lit restaurants, but the company has made several moves to change this image over the past few years.

On the Champs-Elysées in Paris, Patrick Norguet created an interior for the brand featuring raw concrete and sheet metal, after a series of outposts he designed across France. Meanwhile, a McDonald’s restaurant in Rotterdam by Mei Architects boasts a golden facade and a spiral staircase.

Ross Barney Architects was founded by Carol Ross Barney in 1981, and is behind projects including the recently completed Chicago Riverwalk, and a transit station in the city that is housed within a perforated tube.

The post Chicago McDonald’s by Ross Barney Architects draws comparisons to Apple stores appeared first on Dezeen.

The size of a bedroom, the Nolla cabin is perfect for the idyllic holiday. Its design, aside from being highly characteristic, is also comfortable, and sustainable. Named after the Finnish word for zero, the Nolla cabin’s purpose is literally to give you a zero-worry, zero-emission holiday.

Built with a tent-like shape, the Nolla aims at giving you the very same feeling, when sunlight creeps into its interiors through the triangular glass facade on the front. Made entirely from local pine and plywood, the Nolla doesn’t use any fasteners to hold it in place, but rather, pieces together like a massive puzzle. The cabin can be transported and assembled without the need for heavy machinery, and it comes with adjustable pedestals, giving you the freedom to set the Nolla up on any sort of terrain.

With its small, wood-themed interior space, the Nolla forces you to pack less when you travel (less luggage, less waste), and focus more on the beautiful, contemplative environment around it rather than anything else. Running entirely on solar panels, the Nolla maintains a zero carbon footprint. It comes with two beds, a table, and a stove that runs on renewable diesel made entirely from waste. In fact, the boat that takes you to the Nolla cabin in Vallisaari from Helsinki runs on renewable diesel too!

Designer: Robin Falck

Riccardo Blumer Atelier worked with a team of students to create this machine on show at the Venice Architecture Biennale, which is programmed to build and repair an 11-metre-long bubble wall.

The robotic installation, called Wall, is designed to highlight the limitations of physical boundaries. It is programmed to fulfil one goal: maintain a complete wall-like structure made up of eleven bubble-like segments for as long as possible.

It achieves this by lifting rods dipped in a solution of soap and water up from from the ground, creating a series of transparent bubble-like surfaces that measure one metre wide and two metres high.

These walls are held in place by the rods as they reach their finishing position and barely visible as light is reflected off them.

The project is on show in the Arsenale, one of the two main venues curated by the Venice Architecture Biennale directors for 2018, Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara of Grafton Architects.

It was designed by Academy of Architecture in Mendrisio students Lorela Arapi, Stefano Clerici and Andrea Cappellaro, and produced in collaboration with Riccardo Blumer, the school’s director.

“It is a work designed by the students and the idea was to work with the limits of the architecture but also with automation,” Blumer told Dezeen.

Unlike some work at the exhibition, Wall was not created specifically for the biennale – Farrell and McNamara saw it on show at the school and asked for it to be recreated in Venice, in line with their theme Free Space.

“The project was part of an exhibition called Seven Automatic Architecture, so there were seven of these machines,” said Blumer.

“Grafton wanted just this machine for the biennale. I think for them it represents the story of Free Space.”

Despite the squeegee-like blades all beginning in sync with each other, they almost immediately become disjointed, granting each of the fragile surfaces a varying lifespan before they pop and the process starts again.

Viewers are also invited to step in close to intervene with the walls, with many opting to poke through and destroy the sheets or blow large air bubbles, affecting their form.

The designers see these interactions as an exploration of the notion of a wall as a boundary, and proof of its fragility as an element of architecture.

“These students have chosen to work on a minimised, almost non-existent version of a wall, whose presence is given only by light and time,” said Blumer.

“It is a presence that is limited because then the wall explodes and the machine tries to redo it.”

Despite any political interpretations that might be made of the concept, the 59-year-old architect is keen to stress that the project was borne from a desire to teach students about the importance of play within their architectural education.

“We are at school, we play. Games help to educate,” he said. “A game is fun but can also be very difficult to make!”

Visitors to this year’s Venice Biennale can also view another project from the Seven Automatic Architecture exhibition, which merges artificial intelligence with dynamic architecture.

Space, by Greek student Georgios Voutsis, is a grid of 81 wooden towers that constantly adjust their height in response to a geometric algorithm, creating an ever-shifting landscape.

Both projects were brought the exhibition with the support of The Martin Architecture and Design Workshop. They will be on show until the biennale ends, on 25 November 2018.

The post Automated machine by Riccardo Blumer Atelier builds a wall out of soap bubbles appeared first on Dezeen.