Hasta La Ideas

There’s so much we owe the Greeks for. Probably one of the most impactful civilizations of the world, Ancient Greece is responsible for giving us democracy, trial by jury, geometry, philosophy, history (the first documented historian was a Greek), theater, and even the Olympics. The modern world would be a very different place had it not been for the Greeks. We’d probably still be monarchist, wouldn’t have proper documented evidence of historic events, no theater, no Olympic games, and would still struggle to wake up at a predetermined time of the day, because believe it or not, the Ancient Greeks also gave us the alarm clock.

Igemon’s watches give the Ancient Greeks the hat-tip they rightfully deserve. Designed as an ode to one of the greatest civilizations, Igemon’s watch face is the first to feature Greek numerals in a wristwatch. Designed with the finest premium materials, using geometric shapes inspired from Greek architecture, Igemon’s uniqueness sets it apart, and its celebration of its heritage gives it cultural soundness.

The watch comes with an anodized 316L stainless steel body in a crisp circular design. It features a sapphire crystal glass on top to prevent the watch from scratches, a Swiss Ronda 763 caliber movement on the inside, and sandwiched between the two, a pristine watch face with not Arabic, not Roman, but rather Greek numerals, a system that predates the former two by a few hundred years. The numbers are laid out in the traditional 12 hour format, allowing them to be easily read, while a radial artwork on the watch face denotes the presence of 60 seconds in a minute and 60 minutes in an hour, while also making a reference to the Greek origins of geometry.

Designed in two sizes, Igemon comes in a 43mm diameter for men and a 40mm diameter for women. The watches come with 5 ATM waterproofing, and sport an eye-catching mesh strap, with an Italian leather alternative too. Designed to be a fusion of history and art together, Igemon puts culture around your wrist, and comes with a 2-year international warranty.

Designer: Giorgios Tsouknakis

Click Here to Buy Now: $157 $270 ($113 off). Hurry, Only 4/15 Left!

Igemon Watches – Where History Meets Art

Igemon is a watch meant to bring history in the foreground. As its prominent feature are the Greek numerals on the dial, it becomes clear that the preservation of the very long history of our civilization, is of primary importance to the design team.

For the past two years, the design team have devoted their mind and effort to creating a watch that would meet the highest standards as far as design and quality are concerned. Collaborating with highly skilled manufacturers, whom they have carefully selected, the team has received the finalized samples, which fully lived up to their expectations.

The next step was to proceed with safeguarding Igemon with a patent. The outcome is a watch boasting top quality materials and authenticity.

Igemon Watches – The Classic Collection for Men

Igemon Watches – For Women

Igemon Watches – Specs

Features:

– Greek numerals
– An anodized 316L stainless steel body
– Sapphire crystal glass on top to prevent the watch from scratches
– Swiss Ronda 763 caliber movement
– Traditional 12 hour format- 60 seconds in a minute and 60 minutes in an hour,
– Reference to the Greek origins of geometry

Case Dimensions:

– Men’s Collection: 43×9 mm
– Women’s Collection: 40×9 mm
– Strap size: 20 mm for both Men’s and Women’s Collections

Available strap colors:

– Mesh: Silver, Gold, Rose Gold
– Leather: Black, Brown (Alligator Pattern)
– Buckle: stainless steel pin buckle

Warranty: 2 years international warranty against manufacturing defects

The Total Watch Package

– The Total Watch Package contains two different strap options, a stainless-steel mesh bracelet and a premium Italian leather strap.

– Placed in a luxurious black leather box, you will also receive a full description of the specifications of your watch, a certificate of authenticity, guaranteeing the use of the finest materials, as well as a thank you card in appreciation of your purchase.

The Vision

The vision is to diversify our product, offering complete collections of watches, inspired from ancient Greek deities, monuments, as well as prevalent figures, with a view to promoting the Greek civilization through the watches.

The Full Collection

Click Here to Buy Now: $157 $270 ($113 off). Hurry, Only 4/15 Left!

Burkinabe architect Diébédo Francis Kéré used sick and dead trees to build this pavilion at the Tippet Rise Art Center in Montana, USA.

The roof, columns and seats of Kéré‘s Xylem pavilion are made from bundles of local ponderosa and lodge pole pine logs, felled during a “natural pruning” process that aims to save forests from parasitic bugs.

“No healthy trees were felled or damaged during the building process!” said Kéré Architecture in a comment on its Instagram account.

Kéré built Xylem between the main facilities of the art centre and the beginning of its hiking tracks to form a gathering place for visitors of the ranch in Fishtail.

The 256-square-metre structure takes cues from traditional toguna, a shelter typically found in Dogon culture, which spans West African countries Mali and Burkino Faso.

Low-level wood and straw roofs rest on a series of columns to offer shade in these pavilions, while also bringing in plenty of natural light and ventilation.

Drawing on this, Xylem’s canopy comprises groups of logs slotted in between a modular, hexagonal weathering steel structure to allow daylight to filter through.

The top of these blocks are carved to form a gently undulating roofline. Underneath, the bundles extend down to different levels.

Steel columns covered by longer wooden logs hold up the roof and rest on the polished concrete circular base that forms the platform for seating below.

Kéré wrapped the base of these columns in curvilinear logged benches that are oriented to to make the most of views to the surrounding landscape – including aspen trees and a small creek. The layout of the seating is also intended to encourage visitors to use them in various ways.

“Through exploration, the user can in fact discover the different spatial configurations of the pavilion, gather in small groups or have a chat between friends, lie and watch the romantic views with his partner, or sit and meditate in solitude on his visit of the Art Center,” said a statement.

Xylem was built at the Tippet Rise Art Center to form a parallel with Kéré’s Naaba Belem Goumma Secondary School in Gando, Burkina Faso, which was funded by the Tippet Rise Fund of the Sidney E Frank Foundation.

Kéré completed the primary school in 2001 while he was still studying architecture in Germany, marking his first ever built project.

The architect – who has offices in Gando and Berlin, Germany – has since built his reputation on his socially driven and sustainable approach to architecture. Many of his projects also draw on the architecture of west Africa, including the Serpentine Pavilion 2017 and an installation at this year’s Coachella Festival.

Photography is by Iwan Baan.

Project credits:

Architect: Kéré Architecture, Diébédo Francis Kéré
Design team: Vincenzo Salierno, Nina Tescari
Contributors: Kinan Deeb, Andrea Zaia, Lina Wittfoht, N’Faly Ismaël Camara
Client: Tippet Rise Art Center, Fishtail, Montana
Project management: Pete Hinmon, Tippet Rise Art Center, Fishtail, Montana
Architect of record: Laura Viklund, Fishtail, Montana
Structural engineer: AECOM, London, United Kingdom
Structural engineer of record: DCI Engineers, Bozeman, Montana
Civil engineer: DOWL Engineering, Billings, Montana
General contractor: On Site Management, Bozeman, Montana
Wood fabricator: Chris Gunn, Gunnstock Timber Frames, Powell, Wyoming
Steel fabrication: TrueNorth Steel, Billings, Montana
Steel erection: Western States Steel Erection, Billings, Montana
Concrete: Davis and Sons Construction, Absarokee Montana

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A lot of electricity bleeds and is wasted because we tend to hook up our gadgets to a power strip and not turn off the mains. We have seen ones with individual switched to the sockets, but realistically, people are not motivated enough to switch off the ones not in use. I can see how the Switchboard addresses this and many other issues.

Hooked to an app, you can control each socket on your fingertips and turn off the device that is not in use. Hence, cuts laziness aka as the effort to go and turn off individual devices. I like the fact that an ambient light glows, indicating the device in use. It can be annoying at night times, when you are not watching the TV and it’s switch on the power strip is on! Get my drift.

I love the inclined and intuitive design of turning the socket on and off – it also allows you to fit in adaptors that have an oversized head – and easily navigate the position of individual wires.

Reduce your power bills and control your consumption on your fingertips!

Designer: Ryan Biery

A companion app makes it easy to label, control, and automate the power supplied by each socket.

The color of each LED ring corresponds to the labeled device in the app.

The socket’s contact faces are angled toward connected devices.

Rotating sockets reduce cable stress.

Power draw is represented by the brightness of a glowing ring around the active socket.

Simple on / off switch works as an alternative to the app.

Rubber feet keep Switchboard in places on the grounds, while eyelets allow wall mounting.

Ground configuration.

Wall configuration.

Thick green brush nearly conceals the slanted roof of this house near Melbourne, which architecture studio Lovell Burton has created for a retired couple and their extended family.

The house is situated just 100 metres off the beach in the coastal town of Barwon Heads and has been designed by Lovell Burton to accommodate a retired couple and their frequently visiting grandchildren.

Measuring 320 square-metres, it serves as a spacious replacement to a run-down stilted cabin that the client had owned on the site for a number of years.

The body of the two-floor house comprises one rectilinear volume and a rhombus-shaped volume.

These purposefully slant across the site as a protective measure against the strong gales and thunderstorms that Melbourne can be subject to in the warmer months of the year.

Both structures are clad in almost-black sheets of anodised aluminium, intended to contrast with the surrounding green terrain that’s blanketed in Moonah – a native Australian tree characterised by its dense foliage.

“The dwelling provides a living environment protected from the prevailing weather while celebrating the visual aspects of the coastal landscape,” explained the practice.

“View, shelter and the performance of the building became considerations that formed the architectural response.”

The interiors of the home are almost entirely lined in warm wooden beams to counteract its “austere” facade.

Beams have been laid horizontally on the floors and ceiling to draw attention to the scale of the rooms, while dark-stained beams have been applied vertically to the surrounding walls to frame the sweeping landscape views seen through the huge windows.

An open-plan living-area dominates the first floor. In the kitchen, produce and cooking utensils are tucked away in full-height storage cupboards that have subtly been built-in to the walls.

Inhabitants can choose to dine at the chunky limestone breakfast island, or at the long dark wood table that sits beneath a pair of lantern-like lamps.

The space is fronted by a huge panel of glazing that can be slid back to give access to a large outdoor balcony.

A stone-coloured sofa anchors the adjacent sitting room, which also features a wood burner and tactile decor pieces like an animal-skin rug and leather armchair.

The master bedroom and an adjoining bathroom are also on this level, completed in the same material palette as the rest of the home.

Downstairs on the ground floor are a series of guest bedrooms and a rumpus room where the kids can play freely. The garden also boasts a narrow pool that extends out into the vegetation.

Lovell Burton is based in the Melbourne suburb of Collingwood and was founded by Joseph Lovell and Stephanie Burton.

It is one of several architecture practices to create a residence with a striking dark exterior.

Examples include Thomas Phifer and Partners, which applied tar-coated shingles to the facade of a cottage in upstate New York, and Buero Wagner, which used blackened timber to cover a house extension in Munich.

Photography is by Rory Gardiner.

Project credits:

Architect: Lovell Burton
Builder: Project Group
Structural engineer: Meyer Consulting
ESD consultant: Arc Resources

The post Lovell Burton completes spacious Barwon Heads House for retired couple appeared first on Dezeen.

Royal College of Art graduate Alex Kane explains how his virtual reality Volta production tool allows users to create multidirectional “spatial audio” in this video interview shot by Dezeen.

Kane developed Volta as his graduation project to complete his degree in Global Innovation Design at the Royal College of Art in London.

Users wear virtual reality goggles and headphones to produce surround sound audio by moving different audio elements around manually in a 3D space.

Kane describes Volta as a “spatial audio production platform that you use in virtual reality”.

The application offers users a manipulatable 3D visualisation of “spatial audio”, a term referring to audio that gives listeners the impression of being in a space with individual sources of sound coming from many different precise locations.

When using Volta, users can grab and move different elements of an audio track in a 3D environment in order to alter the perceived location of a particular sound source.

“When you have your headset on, the earphones on and you have the controllers, you’ll be in this very expansive environment,” explains Kane in the video interview, which was shot by Dezeen at the Royal College of Art graduate show.

“You can just reach out and grab different sound objects like drums, or the bass or the vocals,” he continued.

Users can also ascribe motion to the sound objects, so that that the sources of individual audio elements sounds as though they are moving.

“You can record motion” he said. “You can create predefined orbits just by clicking a button, and that will just float around you at different paces,” Kane said.

Kane’s design for Volta was informed by his experience in music production. “The inspiration for the project really comes from my background as a musician and a music producer and a DJ,” he said.

According to Kane, tools like Volta will become more and more important as audio production moves away from the simplicity of producing for two-channel stereo and towards a more intricate and immersive world of spatial audio.

“We’re moving in a direction where spatial audio and spatial music will supplant stereo in the same way that stereo took the place of mono,” Kane claimed.

“I built Volta around a future in which entertainment is moving towards immersive experience. In that future spatial audio is going to be the norm. It’s going to be the standard in the same way that stereo audio is now.”

Kane claims that the simple interactivity of Volta’s interface will make spatial audio production more accessible.

“While the experience itself seems fairly simple – you’re just grabbing something and moving it around – the technology and the process for developing that is most definitely not,” he said.

“The tools that we currently have to do that can be extremely tedious and convoluted. Volta does all the computation for you.”

By offering users the opportunity to craft a 3D sound environment with their hands, Kane believes that Volta will enable a more physical approach to the creation of sound. “It will make producing audio in general a more expressive process,” he said.

Previous Royal College of Art graduate projects include Ryan Mario Yasin’s Dezeen Award-winning expandable clothing for kids, and a ring that allows users to interact with augmented reality.

This video was shot by Dezeen at the Royal College of Art’s 2019 graduation show. The music used in the video is In Search of Pala by Alex Kane.

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