Hasta La Ideas

Deane presents a mathematical problem which starts with a broken toaster and ends with fast toast!..(Read…)

I’ve always maintained that the best way for a designer to validate a personal project is to crowdfund it. Crowdfunding is literally an exercise that helps you take your product from a base concept to a fully manufactured and functional product. Walking down that road itself can help a designer gain a lot of insights and experiences, and having people pledge to buy your product is probably the best way to test the water to see what consumers think, and most importantly, want. Created back in 2008, the Drop Light was an ingeniously designed chandelier concept that comprised multiple hanging lights that could be detached and carried around. Thanks to advents in contact charging, wireless charging, and LED technology, Baek can take the Drop Light from a concept to a product that design enthusiasts can own. Newly christened the Doolight, the design features a few updates and visual tweaks to make it look great and perform seamlessly well.

The Doolight comes with its own set of improvements, from a redesigned chandelier base to a separate reading-light attachment. The individual lamp units come with a sturdy, waterproof construction that can be used outdoors or even in the shower without abandon. The LEDs are surrounded by a soft silicone sphere that absorbs impact and diffuses the light perfectly. With a flat base, these individual ‘drops’ can be kept flat on any surface on their own, using them as an ambient light, or a night light, or even a nursery light. The lights can be controlled using a switch on the base, or even via an app, allowing you to power on/off and even control the brightness of individual lamps. The lights now even recognize voice commands, allowing you to control them via Alexa (a feature that clearly wouldn’t be possible a decade ago). The lights hang upside down on a flower-shaped mount just like wine-glasses do, and charge using wireless charging technology. Running on batteries, the lights can work for three days on a full charge, allowing you to use them anywhere around the house and returning them to the chandelier mount only when you need to charge them, or when you’ve got friends coming over and you want to impress them with this amazing Alexa-powered chandelier in your house that has detachable light modules!

Designer: Doosan Baek

Click here to Buy Now: $149 $299 (50% off) for the Leaf Set (1 Base + 1 Droplet).

A new freedom of lighting never seen before. Chandelier, Stand lamp, Torch and Nightlight.

Click here to Buy Now: $149 $299 (50% off) for the Leaf Set (1 Base + 1 Droplet).

In The Minimalist Home, author Joshua Becker suggests that one of the problems affecting many of us is that we are living in homes that mass marketers want to sell us instead of the homes that our hearts and souls crave. Even the highly publicized “minimalism home” with white-washed walls and stark rooms with the occasional piece of expensive (and probably uncomfortable) furniture, is not what we truly need. Becker states, ” Successful family living was never about the size of a house. So, make more of the people within your household, and make less of the house itself.”

The Minimalist Home helps readers define their vision and set goals for how they want to live in their space, whether that space is an apartment, house, cottage, houseboat, or mobile home. Becker gives readers practical advice on how to engage and motivate family members to create the ideal home for everyone. He believes that with less stuff occupying your home, there will be fewer worries on your mind and you will appreciate and make better use of what you do own. You can then focus on your family and enjoy activities together. I appreciated this particular quote:

The goal of minimalism is not just to own less stuff. The goal is to unburden our lives so we can accomplish more.

In The Minimalist Home, each room has a dedicated chapter, from family rooms to bedrooms, from outdoor spaces to hobby spaces, and even spaces dealing with family pets. Within each chapter there are sections on defining the vision and goals for the space, implementing a step-by-step plan, and reflecting on possessions to include items that tell your family’s story. There is a “minimizing checklist” at the end of the chapter so readers can ensure they have reached their goal. The Minimalist Home also includes maintenance guides — from daily maintenance like putting away the mail and dishes, to yearly maintenance such as spring cleaning and filing income taxes.

This book has no glossy photos nor examples of the latest home décor trends. As a matter of fact, Becker does not propose rules on how much of each item to keep or toss. He encourages the reader to analyse his/her lifestyle and minimize to that level. It is a very nice change because so many books about minimalism make the readers feel that they are keeping too much or shaming them for feeling sentimental about souvenirs or heirlooms.

The last two chapters in the book are particularly interesting. Becker discusses the advantages of downsizing, not just when the kids have left for college or at retirement, but at your current stage of life, whatever it is. He raises points such as it takes less time to clean and maintain a smaller house, and mortgage payments and utility bills will be lower too. The dollar-value calculations he shows, reinforce his reasoning. Becker also recounts the stories of several people who minimized and downsized and then were able to pursue their passions — from travelling to volunteering for various causes. He states:

…minimalism doesn’t guarantee that you can find meaning and significance in life. But it does, almost always, open your eyes wider to these issues and create a context where you can think through them better.

If you are looking for help to define your vision and set goals, to work together as a family to create a welcoming home that is your ideal of comfort, that nurtures your passions, The Minimalist Home is the book you need.

Post written by Jacki Hollywood Brown

American firm Dumican Mosey Architects has transformed an old industrial building in San Francisco into a home, gallery and studio for a contemporary artist and her family.

Located in the city’s South of Market neighbourhood, the SOMA Residence occupies a former auto repair garage dating to the 1920s. When the architects first encountered the two-storey building, it was “dark, rundown and pungent with grease”.

“The historic, industrial-use building provided a unique canvas and challenging opportunity for this carefully considered, owner-occupied, adaptive reuse project,” said local studio Dumican Mosey Architects in a project description.

The architects were charged with converting the rectangular, 8,200-square-foot (762-square-metre) building into a home, studio and gallery for artist Klari Reis, who lives there with her husband and son. The clients wanted a strong interplay between art and architecture, along with a blending of light, texture and materiality.

On the exterior, the team restored the building’s original concrete walls and painted them black. On the street-facing facade, steel-sash windows were replaced with newer versions that recall the originals. Frosted glass panels were added at ground level, which provide privacy while still enabling natural light to enter the building.

“New modernist infill elements were introduced at the ground level, creating a dynamic relationship as experienced from the street and pedestrian level between new and old,” the team said.

Inside, the ground floor contains the studio and gallery, along with a two-car garage. The team also incorporated a small apartment that can be rented out or used by guests. In the rear of the building, large, tilt-up glass doors enable rooms to flow onto a small outdoor patio.

Floating stairs lead to the second storey, which was converted into a three-bedroom, loft-style space. At the centre of the plan, the team created a courtyard lined with sliding glass doors and a lush living wall. Motorised skylights usher in daylight and fresh air.

Throughout the building, there is a mix of old and new materials. In certain areas, original concrete walls were left exposed after their surfaces were cleaned using a walnut-shell blasting technique. Newly added elements include reclaimed oak flooring, white drywall, and shear walls made of board-formed concrete.

Rooms are punctuated with a range of contemporary artwork. Perhaps the most notable piece is a 1965 red Fiat that was mounted upside-down to the ceiling over the stairs.

Like many American cities, San Francisco has a plethora of old industrial buildings that are being converted in shops, homes and workspaces. Other adaptive reuse projects in the city include the McClintock Building by Pfau Long Architecture, which entailed converting a 1930s building that once housed a dress manufacturer into a creative workspace with an openable glass roof.

Photography is by Cesar Rubio unless stated otherwise.

The post Vintage car mounted to ceiling in SOMA Residence by Dumican Mosey appeared first on Dezeen.

In the unfortunate event of an accident while out in the field, it’s of paramount importance that the individual receives medical treatment urgently! However, the harsh environment and everchanging conditions may require the casualty to be protected from the elements, or worse, the rest of the team protected from the casualty. A regular stretcher is not capable of this… but the Milpod CBRN Stretcher is!

The Milpod Stretcher provides an environment for the casualty that has been either been injured or contaminated in a CBRN environment, in turn this ensures that no more members of the extraction team, or the extraction vehicle get contaminated also.

The transparent plastic screen allows for constant monitoring of the casualty by the medical team, and this, combined with the inflatable frame, also keeps the overall weight of the equipment to a minimum so it can be comfortably carried.

Designer: Joseph Lincoln