Apple is launching a new iPod Touch today and if you want a bare-bones, affordable iOS device, this is your best option. The new seventh-generation model will be powered by an A10 Fusion chip that will let you take advantage of augmented reality and the latest app features such as Group FaceTime. As for storage, the iPod Touch will come in 32GB, 128GB, and a new 256GB option. It also features a 4-inch Retina display, an 8MP rear camera, a 1.2MP front camera, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. Starting at $199..(Read…)
After a string of incredibly drool-worthy supercars with Lamborghini’s signature wild-bull attitude, the company forayed into something more consumer-friendly and road legal with the Urus, an SUV design that was a departure from the Italian company’s supercar-heavy catalog. While it made great business sense, it left a lot of Lambo-aficionados wanting for more.
Designed as a tribute to Lamborghini’s incredible brand DNA and some spectacular looking automobiles, as well as a reminder of all the good work the company has done developing their supercar aesthetic, this is the Forsennato, a conceptual car created by Dmitry Lazarev, that combines the best parts of Lamborghini’s designs from the past couple of years.
At first glance, you see headlights that are a hat tip to the unconventional line-based headlights of the Terzo Millennio, while the entire front profile definitely reminds one of the Aventador with a little extra edginess. The taillights follow the design direction set by the Veneno, and carried forward with the Terzo Millennio. The car’s pentagonal wheel pattern is fairly signature Lamborghini too, while the dual-colored body isn’t something the Italian company has tinkered with much, but undoubtedly looks spectacular on this beast of an automobile! And what does Forsennato mean, you ask? A simple Google Translate search yielded the word ‘Madman’, which I’d have to say is a pretty strange-yet-suited name for this absolute hell-raiser!
With phones becoming increasingly flat and homogeneous over the past few years, many companies like Huawei, Oppo, and OnePlus have begun resorting to CMF to create a factor of differentiation, with gradients, anisotropic reflective metallic finishes, and holographic patterns. As a fan of solid colors, it seems unlikely that Google would adopt that path, but something like this Pixel 4 concept with a carbon-fiber finish is definitely something that would look like a thousand bucks (although quite out of Google’s ball-park).
The rumored Pixel 4’s back obviously wouldn’t be made out of carbon fiber, given that it would definitely affect the phone’s ability to wirelessly charge, but Google could just as easily create a faux carbon fiber pattern in their glass/ceramic back through clever etching. The end result would look as good as a vinyl clad, giving the phone a completely new avatar, with the same body and soul! Hey Sundar, think your team can pull this off?
Canadian firm Moriyama & Teshima Architects has designed an underground visitor centre in Ottawa with gothic-style details that echo historic government buildings nearby.
The Government of Canada Visitor Welcome Centre (VWC) was completed by the Canadian firm Moriyama & Teshima Architects to serve as the new public entrance to Parliament Hill, the home of Canada’s parliament.
The national historic site in Ottawa, commonly known as the Hill, has a suite of Gothic Revival buildings dating back to the late-1800s. These feature stonework, archways, pillars and soaring ceilings reminiscent of medieval European architecture.
The VWC is the first new major addition on Parliament Hill in over 75 years, and is designed to improve security and enhance circulation between various buildings. The Hill comprises three edifices arranged around a central lawn, with the Centre Block for the Senate and Commons chambers and the East and West Blocks as ministers’ and senators’ offices.
“At once a building project and a landscape intervention, the VWC provides a literal and metaphorical bridge between building and landscape, as well as contemporary and heritage architecture,” Moriyama & Teshima Architects said.
The VWC is a subterranean structure inserted into a sloping site, measuring 450,000 square feet (41,806 square metres) across two levels.
On the top level is the main entrance, ticketing desk, room for security and scanning, restrooms, a cloakroom and exit. The floor below features these amenities along with gathering areas, a gift shop, information desk and back-of-house rooms.
To enter, visitors descend through a procession of compressed and expansive spaces with low, cross-vaulted white plaster ceilings. Escalators and stairs lead to a lower level, which features a series of marble-clad columns.
“Enriched with a new layer of contemporary form, the design seamlessly knits the heritage fabric into the present,” Moriyama & Teshima Architects said.
Double-height pillars reach up to support dramatic vaulted ceiling on the floor above.
Both the vaulted ceilings and the columns take cues from the soaring Gothic Revival architecture seen around Parliament Hill.
Interior details and finishes are inspired by the site’s heritage, and express an elegant material palette with Adair limestone, Danby marble and white oak.
“A sense of grandeur is evoked through a modern interpretation of vaulted ceiling forms, ornamental details and filigree in keeping with the Gothic Revival attention to craft,” the firm said.
Among these details are the pleating technique features on the columns, with similar folds applied on wood panelling and bronze stair handrails inside. Gothic-inspired elliptical archways are also prominent.
Woven bronze filigree screens frame the atrium and allow views from the upper concourse to the level below. This metalwork echoes the twisted ornamental forms on existing neo-gothic guardrails and gates seen across the Hill.
To further integrate the project with the surroundings, the building features existing heritage flagstaff and retaining walls that were extended down into the construction.
The project is the first phase of the VWC’s construction and is part of a 20-year, multi-billion-dollar rehabilitation of Parliament Hill. Additional phases will expand the building to connect with the complex’s East Block and Centre Block.
Client: Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) Design architect and interiors: Moriyama & Teshima Architects Prime consultant: IBI Group Architects Inc (IBI) Moriyama & Teshima Architects team: Diarmuid Nash (partner-in-charge), Carol Phillips (project architect), Emmanuelle van Rutten, Chen Cohen, Amanda Gilbert, Greg Perkins, Will Klassen, Chris Ertsenian, Shawn Geddes, Maria Pavlou, Mei Chow, Claudia Cozzitorto, Hamia Aghaiemeybodi, Louis Lortie IBI team: Diane Phillips (partner-in-charge), Heather Semple (project lead), Bernie Duquette, Jamy Beauchamp, Mark D’Agostino, Chris Tudin, Earl Reinke, Om Madan, Bob Wingate, Ryan Magladry, Sandy Ng, Rosemarie Albert Structural engineer: Adjeleian Allen Rubeli Limited / WSP Global Mechanical and electrical engineer: Pageau Morel Civil engineer: IBI Group Landscape: Lemay Contractor: PCL Construction Sustainability, building envelope and code: Morrison Hershfield Lighting: Gabriel Mackinnon Lighting Design Heritage: DFS Inc. Architecture & Design Acoustics: State of the Art Acoustics Elevator: KJA Consultants Inc Accessibility: Betty Dion Ent Wayfinding: Jaan Krusberg Design Hardware: Upper Canada Specialty Hardware Costing: Hanscomb Limited
Designed to elevate both the user’s physical and emotional experience, abl transforms itself from a mobility aid to a personal accessory worth showing off.
BIG’s tiny cabin in Upstate New York, a prayer room in Arizona and an outdoor toilet with gabion walls are among the 12 winners of this year’s AIA Small Projects awards.
Now in its 16th year, the awards are divided into three categories: the first for designs that cost up to $150,000 (£119,000); the second for small projects under $1.5 million (£1.2 million); and the third for buildings or installations under 5,000 square feet (465 square metres).
A bridge in a forest, BIG’s cabin and a children’s club were awarded Category One prizes. For Category Two, awards were given to a prayer room, a barn, homes and housing complexes. Winners were more varied in or Category Three, including outdoor toilets, a treehouse and a residence by Chicago firm Vladimir Radutny Architects.
Read on for an overview of each Small Project Awards 2019 winner from the AIA:
Klein A45 is the first prototype constructed in New York and will be entirely customisable for home-owners to purchase, tailor and have the tiny house built within 4-6 months in any location, for any purpose. The design evolves from the traditional A-frame cabin: A45 increases usable floor area by taking a square base and twisting the roof 45 degrees to raise the tiny home to a soaring 13 foot (3.9 metres) height.
Upon entering, the 180-square-foot (16.7-square-foot) interior space reflects a minimal Nordic abode: from the Douglas Fir floor to the insulating natural cork walls, A45 brings nature inside. An elegant Morsøe wood-burning fireplace, a petite kitchen by Københavns Møbelsnedkeri, hand-crafted furniture from Carl Hansen and a bed fitted with Kvadrat fabric designed by Soren Rose Studio adorn A45. The bathroom is made of cedar wood with fixtures by VOLA. A45 is assembled in modules on site and consists of 100 per cent recyclable materials.
Photograph by Cornell Anderson
Forest Park Bridges, Portland, Oregon by Fieldwork Design & Architecture
Located in Forest Park in Portland, Oregon, one of the largest forested urban parks in the country, the project consisted of providing durable, scalable, and safe replacement bridges for three popular and beloved hiking trails. The design team created bridges made of four foot (1.2 metres) modular components that can be brought to the site by hand, minimising site disturbance and tree removal in this sensitive environment.
Weathering steel structural components are highly durable and patina to tones that blend with the organic colors of the surrounding context. Taking inspiration from the verticality of the native Douglas fir groves of Forest Park, the vertical slats of the bridges emphasise views from the bridges up and downstream, and to natural environment beyond. Further enhancing the views, the railings are angled away from the path, inviting children and other users to pause, lean against the cedar handrail, and watch the moving waters below.
Photograph by Dror Baldinger
Northside Boys and Girls Club, Fort Worth, Texas by Ibanez Shaw Architecture
The design invites people through the new glazed entrance, pulling them toward a friendly face. As families enter, they can now see the activities available to their children. Steel benches and a laser-cut steel desk are powder coated and topped with solid surface, while painted tectum panels provide acoustic relief. These materials provide durability without the “heaviness” of the original building. The white elements on blue create a strong sense of brand that breaks through the banality of the structure. At night the elements reach beyond the footprint of the building creating a strong visual presence in the neighbourhood.
There is a layer of meaning folded into the form. The aluminum entry canopy is a visual symbol of the children whose life paths have been altered by the Boys and Girls Club. The plane of the canopy is interrupted by holes, allowing the sun to beam points of light in the afternoon. Each year, one hole is drilled for each child who completes their college preparation programme and goes on to college. Every day children, staff and parents walk underneath an aluminum plate shade canopy at the entry to this branch, the points of light falling over them as they walk. As the years pass the sense of inspiration will grow as children walk beneath a canopy emitting more light with each passing year. As the organisation’s impact plays in the light on their doorstep.
Photograph by Architecture Building Culture
Jarrett Street 12, Portland, Oregon by Architecture Building Culture
The Jarrett Street 12 is located in north Portland along the MAX light rail line. The project is a 7,200 square feet (669 square metre), 12-unit affordable housing project. The units were all offered at below-market prices through the City of Portland SDC Exemption Program that assists developers by reducing their development costs in exchange for building affordable, for sale, residential housing.
The simple massing is a response to the site and zoning constraints. The overall site area is a mere 3,900 square feet. The building is comprised of three 2,538-square-feet (236-square-metre) floors with four units on each floor. In addition to the highly efficient planning, the project utilised modular construction which reduced construction time and budget. The building’s design is marked by an overlapping cladding detail that gives a subtle stratified appearance to the building’s massing. The result is an innovative development that helps address the city’s affordable housing crises.
Photograph by Debartolo Architects
Prayer Space Redemption Gilbert, Gilbert, Arizona by Debartolo Architects
In 2017 the leadership of Redemption Church challenged Debartolo Architects to design a space dedicated solely to prayer. It has been said that, “prayer is bringing our helplessness to God.” For hundreds of years spaces and places have been specifically designed to foster one’s intimate communication with God.
In contrast to the machined, extraverted quality of the existing building in which the space resides, the prayer space is modest and reserved. The intention was to feel ‘made’, more than ‘manufactured’. To achieve this, common douglas fir two-by-fours were selected as the principal material for its raw presence, warmth, and economy, a single material that could function as floors, walls, ceiling, and benches. One ordinary material, with thousands of imperfections, made into something extraordinary when unified. Analogous to the church, each person is a unique expression of God, however when unified, the whole becomes more beautiful than the parts.
Photograph by Casey Dunn
Saxum Vineyard Equipment Barn, Paso Robles, California by Clayton & Little Architects
Located in the Templeton Gap area of Paso Robles, California, this simple agricultural structure rests at the toes of the 50 acre James Berry Vineyard and the adjacent winery. Sitting sentry as the foremost structure present upon entering the vineyard-lined property, the barn and its renewable energy system speak to the winery’s commitment to sustainability and subservience to the natural landscape.
Imagined as a modern pole barn, the reclaimed oil field pipe structure provides an armature for a photovoltaic roof and covered storage for equipment, workshop and maintenance space, and storage for livestock supplies. Utilising a laminated glass solar module system as both the actual primary roof and the renewable energy generator, offset any additional costs to construct an additional roof. Minimalistic and salvaged materials were selected to withstand the particularly dry climate, for regional availability, long-term durability and to minimise the need for regular maintenance.
The South 5th Residence slips nonchalantly into Austin’s eclectic Bouldin neighbourhood and deftly negotiates Austin’s zoning, envelope and critical-root-zone requirements. A rare, 25 inch durand oak and an unexpectedly steep escarpment created a powerful circumstance for a house that emphasizes view and a dynamic spatial sequence, while at the same time being an abstract backdrop for the serendipity of light and circumstance.
The visitor arrives into a verdant courtyard under the majestic oak. A thin, four inch gabion wall at the street, evergreen plantings and a perforated, Corten corrugated screen to the south, provide varying degrees of privacy and animation for the ensemble. A transparent living room hovers over the tumbling escarpment and reveals an expansive panorama. The visceral textures of concrete, mill-finished steel and raw stucco are presented against finely detailed millwork and custom site, glazed window walls, which are framed with rift-sawn white oak and steel to form flitch plate mullions.
Photograph by Eric Schmid
Squirrel Park, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma by Allford Hall Monaghan Morris
Responding in a sensitive and sustainable way to Oklahoma City’s imperative to increase density in existing residential neighbourhoods, Squirrel Park makes innovative use of modified shipping containers to create four single-family homes. Each offers around 1400 square feet of living space, its unconventional interior layout contrasting with the modern, industrial exterior aesthetic.
The design reinterprets the components of a traditional neighbourhood street on a smaller scale, encouraging outdoor living and interaction. The unique nature of the site as a park-like environment will be enhanced through retention of existing mature trees, provision of shared outdoor spaces and new planting, and the addition of green roofs to assist energy efficiency and biodiversity.
Photograph by Casey Dunn
Sugar Shack Residence, Austin, Texas by Alterstudio Architecture
The Sugar Shack Residence slips between a dramatic ravine and an intimate courtyard, both defining and accommodating its adjacent circumstances. Organised linearly, interior spaces negotiate between these two powerful conditions of landscape, and embrace their very different characteristics.
A cedar-clad volume, treated in the traditional Japanese Shou Sugi Ban, is set perpendicular to the street and hovers above the landscape. The visitor enters in the middle of the house where an exterior, glass-enclosed stair penetrates the volume from a carport tucked into the hillside below. Windows direct one’s gaze strategically into the tree canopy or towards the private courtyard and align with the edges of the building, alternately sliding below the floor or above the ceiling.
Careful attention to detail is ubiquitous and abstraction is utilized to focus attention on the subtlety of light, material and circumstance. Here, mill-finished steel and board-formed concrete is set against purpose-made, fumed white oak cabinetry and floors.
Photograph by Mike Schwartz
Michigan Loft, Chicago by Vladimir Radutny Architects
Inside a century-old structure initially built for automotive assembly and display, we renovated a residence that was poorly functioning as a domestic space. Scaled architectural components, material restraint and theatrical lighting, lessens the overall spatial dominance, while openness and clarity of space is maintained. The continuous wood platform organises the vastness of the open room, providing an edge for more intimate furniture arrangement and a designation for objects on display.
Clad in steel, the sleeping cube is situated away from the perimeter for greater noise and temperature control, it’s a visual anchor that transforms, revealing one of many uses contained within. As one moves between the meandering levels, a variety of unexpected views and conditions are revealed, bringing the homeowners closer with the raw qualities of the industrial raw cloak that is their home.
Photograph by Erik Sommerfeld
Longs Peak Toilets, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado by ColoradoBuildingWorkshop
Determined to find a better privy design, and a more humane solution of collecting waste, the National Park Service collaborated with ColoradoBuildingWorkshop, the design-build programme at CU Denver, to re-design and construct new backcountry privies. The new Long’s Peak Toilets explore lightweight prefabricated construction and emerging methods of waste collection to minimise the human footprint in Colorado’s backcountry.
The final design solution is a series of prefabricated structural gabion walls. Within the gabions, a series of thin steel plate moment frames triangulate the lateral loads within the structure while stones, collected on-site, are used as ballast. This innovative construction assembly allows for rapid on-site construction (the project was erected in eight days) and an architecture that disappears into the surrounding landscape.
Nestled in a natural Ouachita Mountain hillside along Lake Hamilton at Garvan Woodland Gardens in Hot Springs, Arkansas, the Evans Children’s Adventure Garden welcomed a new tree house to the grounds that will provide an interactive educational experience for visiting children as part of an ambitious plan to bring children back into the woods. This unique structure is a defining small project for the design team.
From design to fabrication, they were able to merge their childhood-earned knowledge of the natural world with their hard-earned think, make, do philosophy. The underlying theme of dendrology drives both the form and programme of the structure. The 113 fins comprising the thermalised Arkansas-sourced Southern Yellow Pine screen creates a semi-transparent and an evocative form dynamically shrouding multiple levels of spaces for children and adults alike that refocus attention to the natural wonders of the forest canopy.
I often ask myself this question, but what IS a smartphone? Is it the touchscreen display? Is it the app-store? Or is it the ability to use the internet to your benefit? Probably a combination of those three things? However, this also begs one to ask, can you truly build a smartphone without an app-store or a display? Relay is proof that you, to quite an extent, can.
Designed as a “smartphone for kids”, the Relay gives parents the ability to communicate with and monitor their children, while giving the children a device that A. empowers them, B. doesn’t get them addicted, and C. doesn’t harvest their personal data. The Relay is a SIM-embedded smartphone with 4G LTE capabilities, and allows kids to talk to their guardians, and even friends, just by simply pushing a button.
For a child, the Relay is their stepping-stone into a world with open communication. They can constantly be in touch with their friends and family, while getting their own sense of freedom to play longer, have sleepovers, or basically live life without physical supervision. The parent-child-communication bridge always remains open. The lack of a screen may bother the child, but is essentially better for them in the larger scheme of things. The simple one-button UI also greatly simplifies the product experience, making it great for kids of all ages.
The Relay, however, is more of a parent-empowering product. It enables them to be a good guardian without being overbearing, and especially without giving their kids an addictive smartphone that could actually disrupt communication rather than enable it. The Relay also comes with an in-built GPS module that lets parents keep a check on their kid’s locations throughout the day, and the 4G LTE capabilities let parents talk to their kids from not just one room to another, but even across the country. The Relay comes with a companion app, made for the parent, and allows them to tap into Relay’s multitude of features, from making one-on-one calls to group chats, as well as a feature Relay calls Channels, an app-store of their own that allows the Relay device to play jokes, music, or even work as a translator!
Designed to be, in its most basic sense, a very well-designed inter-city SIM-based walkie-talkie, the Relay takes the idea of a smartphone and simplifies it greatly, retaining only the core features needed for its target audience… kids, and even senior citizens! Aside from easy comms, to the GPS tracking feature, Relay’s SOS feature truly helps aid its users with effectively communicating with their loved ones in a way that’s empowering, rather than addictive.
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