Le photographe italien Massimo Listri présente cette année dans son livre The World’s Most Beautiful Libraries, publié chez Taschen, le résultat de plus de dix années de documentation et de voyages à travers le globe. Massimo Listri a entrepris de se rendre dans les bibliothèques du monde pour photographier les splendeurs architecturales, les jeux de lumière et les volumes spectaculaires de ces lieux trop souvent fréquentés par un public réservé. Il présente ainsi des clichés de la bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève à Paris, mais également la librairie Palafoxiana à Pueblo au Mexique, et bien d’autres. En bois, en marbres, baroques ou néoclassiques, ces bibliothèques s’inscrivent droit dans la lignée de celle d’Alexandrie, à découvrir en format papier.
Looking like something either out of a videogame or a movie about videogames, this is MCLExtreme, an amped-up vision of what a fully-electric F1 will look like in 2050, courtesy McLaren.
Sparing literally no detail, and quite literally painting an incredible picture in the process, McLaren’s vision for 2050 has quite a few interesting predictions. A completely electric drivetrain is a given, considering Formula One’s gradual drift towards it. The cars won’t just be electric, they’ll charge wirelessly too. The track will supply power to the cars at strategic intervals as they drive in circles. However, where it gets interesting is that McLaren says that in order to charge effectively, drivers will have to slow down to gather more energy. Drive slow and you charge more, drive fast and you save time. The concept of the pit-stop doesn’t exist in 2050 either. The car’s tires will be crafted from a much more durable and self-repairing material that makes them last longer and eventually repair over time, therefore never needing replacing.
The cars themselves will be able to morph as you drive too. The car will morph to grow wider at corners, allowing them to grip the road better and stay stable, but will grow narrower on longer, straight stretches, giving them the aerodynamics they need. Formula 1 will retain the closed-cockpit design, especially since these cars will come with the capacity to reach top speeds of 500km/h. However, to retain the human element that would get lost by enclosing the driver in a covered cockpit, McLaren’s even designed an emotion-sensing bodysuit that connects the driver to the lighting units in the car’s wheels. As drivers get aggressive and angry, the car wheels will turn red, and when the drivers remain collected and calm, the wheels shine blue. This allows fans to feel emotionally engaged and invested in the F1 experience, retaining the overall addictive, entertainment element of the sport. Sounds like an extremely far-fetched vision of the future, but remember that the world could be an entirely different place 30 years from now!
A triumph of minimalism, the Vivo Apex 2019 concept phone is, in many ways, what the iPhone should have become. Pure and pristine in every sense, and made completely from glass (something Apple even patented in 2014) with no trims or embellishments, barring the cameras, the Vivo Apex 2019 is quite literally flawless. It ditches the buttons and the ports (completely functional details, if you think about it) and puts aesthetics on a pedestal. Obviously, this raises a few questions… like how do you insert a sim-card, or bootload the phone without physical buttons, or even wire-charge the phone, but that’s not something Vivo is really concerning themselves with immediately, given that the Apex is just a proof-of-concept at the moment, intended at showcasing Vivo’s vision for the future of smartphone aesthetics. Oh yeah, the future has no notch too, so a big thumbs up there.
The front of the Apex 2019 is perhaps just as eye-catching as the back, with a full edge-to-edge screen and a minimal bezel. There’s no notch, but there’s a slight hint at the phone having a chin, which is where I surmise Vivo’s planning on putting their front-facing camera. The phone also comes with a full-screen fingerprint sensor, eliminating the need for an extra blemish/sensor on the phone’s otherwise-pristine body. Flip the phone on its back and it literally has two cameras, a flash, the branding, and a barely visible set of magnetic connector points that I suspect will be for modular attachments like a jack or physical buttons or perhaps a SIM to eSIM converting device. Who knows. Let’s just focus on basking in the beauty of this perfect, unblemished, piece of smartphone purity. Ahhh…
It is very endearing to receive a bouquet of flowers, but quite cumbersome to keep them properly after you’ve enjoyed their glory after the first few minutes. Typically wrapped in a glossy sheet of plastic paper, you need to first find the vase and then dunk the stems into water … you know the drill. The BouquetPOT saves you all this effort and becomes a make-shift pot for your flowers. The packaging is made from biodegradable pulp and it simply overturns to become a pot. If the flowers are the kinds that can grow for a longer period, simply shift the packaging to a larger pot and see it degenerate as an organic fertilizer to the plant. Thus completing its lifecycle. Very Nice!
The newly crowned royalty in modular furniture has to be designer Chang Kuei Fang. The BACK TO BED sofa is multifunctional and modular enough to be an elegant lounger or a snuggly bed for the kids. The combination is such, that if you put four of the sofa chairs together, you can make it a warm bed. And if you’d like to, you can play around with the armrests, dividers and backrests to make new combinations.
As far as the details go, the sofa uses brass knobs on the undersides and substitute traditional metal connectors. A rubber or silicone band works with the knobs to give you the configurations you’d like. Change from a 3-seater sofa, L-shaped sofa, a single bed or a double bed.
The Chinese character ‘回’ signifies ‘to go back’, thus the name of this project.
Navigating the world of crowdfunding can be overwhelming, to put it lightly. Which projects are worth backing? Where’s the filter to weed out the hundreds of useless smart devices? To make the process less frustrating, we scour the various online crowdfunding platforms to put together a weekly roundup of our favorite campaigns for your viewing (and spending!) pleasure. Go ahead, free your disposable income:
Manual is back on Kickstarter to reveal their 2019 Ceramics Collection, a sleek matte black set that features wooden lids and details. The collection is focused on everyday utility and includes vessels for storage, serving and even incense burning. Their Kickstarter campaign offers backers the option of pledging for a full set or individual pieces.
Zümi is an educational self-driving car kit to help teach kids and adults how to use and interact with AI, while also explaining how the hell autonomous vehicles actually work. After awhile, your Zümi will be able to recognize the faces of your loved ones (run) and navigate on its own (hide).
We love a good footwear startup, and Chicago-based CODDI seems to be delivering what the people want with their line of high-performance outdoor boots that don’t make you look like you’re about to go on a 10 mile hike.
Anti Ordinary A1 is a beanie that claims to be as strong as a helmet for snowboarders and skiiers. If this is true, it’s pretty awesome, but we’ll let you decide for yourselves!
Conceived of as “a mobile workshop for creative woodworking professionals,” Nissan produced the vehicle in collaboration with UK-based design/build firm Studio Hardie.
The vehicle is kitted out with portable worksurfaces and tool storage, as well as a killer feature: Roof-mounted solar panels hooked up to their Energy ROAM portable powerpacks, created from recycled Nissan Leaf batteries. With the ROAM system in place, power tools can be readily used and recharged, even in the middle of nowhere.
Here’s a walkthrough featuring studio principal William Hardie:
The Shimao Wonderland Intercontinental hotel has opened within a 88-metre-deep abandoned quarry near Shanghai.
Designed by London- and Shanghai based Jade + QA, the 337-room hotel descends 16 storeys below ground level within the former quarry and is described by the studio as a groundscraper.
Architect Martin Jochman created the concept for the quarry hotel while working for Aecom and it won a competition in 2006. He later established his own studio Jade + QA, where he carried on the design.
“The concept for the building was inspired by the quarry itself and by its natural environment needing to be finely balanced with the new development following the using the Tao principles of yin yang,” Jochman told Dezeen.
The steel-framed building is attached to a cliff face on one side of the excavated water-filled quarry, with only two storeys rising above ground level and the lowest two floors descending below the water level.
Rooms are wrapped around the walls of the quarry, with a “glass waterfall” structure containing the building’s observation lifts and giving access to all the floors.
“There are three principal elements of the building massing derived from the character of the site and its location, said Jochman.
“The ‘green hill’; the two storey green roof covered part of the building above ground level, the ‘hanging gardens’; convex and concave S-shaped guest room wings; and the central glass ‘waterfall’.”
Photo is by Jade+QA
The hotel’s public areas are located above and below the main rooms levels. The two storeys above ground contain the quarry hotel’s reception, a restaurant and conference facilities.
Swimming pools and further conference facilities are on the lakeside, 14 floors below ground level. The two floors below water contain a restaurant and further bedrooms, which face onto an underwater aquarium.
The unique location of the project, combined with the structural challenge of creating a tall building that is attached to the ground at both ends, meant that the hotel has taken 12 years to design and build.
“The biggest challenge in my opinion was to satisfy the seismic and structural codes with an unprecedented building type – a tall building fixed at both ends – an inverted ‘groundscraper’,” said Jochman.
There were many other technical and operational issues associated with building in such unique and difficult location, including fire escape, safety from flooding and safety from rock fall.”
Photo is by Jade+QA
Although this is not the first quarry to be rejuvenated and repurposed for commercial purposes, Jochman believes that the hotel could be a blueprint on how to develop other redundant industrial sites.
“We already have the Eden Project in Cornwall, or the Sunway in KL and few others, but yes the Shimao Wonderland Intercontinental is a great inspiration how to utilise difficult ‘brownfield’ site for the leisure use in a way which balances the natural and man-made environment,” he said.
Photography is by Blakstation & Kevin unless stated.
A triumph of minimalism, the Vivo Apex 2019 concept phone is, in many ways, what the iPhone should have become. Pure and pristine in every sense, and made completely from glass (something Apple even patented in 2014) with no trims or embellishments, barring the cameras, the Vivo Apex 2019 is quite literally flawless. It ditches the buttons and the ports (completely functional details, if you think about it) and puts aesthetics on a pedestal. Obviously, this raises a few questions… like how do you insert a sim-card, or bootload the phone without physical buttons, or even wire-charge the phone, but that’s not something Vivo is really concerning themselves with immediately, given that the Apex is just a proof-of-concept at the moment, intended at showcasing Vivo’s vision for the future of smartphone aesthetics. Oh yeah, the future has no notch too, so a big thumbs up there.
The front of the Apex 2019 is perhaps just as eye-catching as the back, with a full edge-to-edge screen and a minimal bezel. There’s no notch, but there’s a slight hint at the phone having a chin, which is where I surmise Vivo’s planning on putting their front-facing camera. The phone also comes with a full-screen fingerprint sensor, eliminating the need for an extra blemish/sensor on the phone’s otherwise-pristine body. Flip the phone on its back and it literally has two cameras, a flash, the branding, and a barely visible set of magnetic connector points that I suspect will be for modular attachments like a jack or physical buttons or perhaps a SIM to eSIM converting device. Who knows. Let’s just focus on basking in the beauty of this perfect, unblemished, piece of smartphone purity. Ahhh…
Conceived of as “a mobile workshop for creative woodworking professionals,” Nissan produced the vehicle in collaboration with UK-based design/build firm Studio Hardie.
The vehicle is kitted out with portable worksurfaces and tool storage, as well as a killer feature: Roof-mounted solar panels hooked up to their Energy ROAM portable powerpacks, created from recycled Nissan Leaf batteries. With the ROAM system in place, power tools can be readily used and recharged, even in the middle of nowhere.
Here’s a walkthrough featuring studio principal William Hardie:
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