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:
Unless you’re Anish Kapoor, you won’t be gazing into the abyss of Vantablack anytime soon, but now you can own the next best—or, darkest—thing. Singularity 2 is the blackest black currently available to the public and the reviews sum it up better than we can: “It’s almost creepy how black it is,” one backer writes. The team behind the campaign previously funded an iteration of this black, called Singularity, but that version only appeared “superblack” when viewed head-on, whereas this latest release retains its ability to trap almost all visible light from any angle. You can choose to get a swatch housed in a protective case if you’re looking for a curio to add to your collection, or as an individual sheet that can be used as a material for your next project.
The glass dome of Manual’s latest coffeemaker will lend a unique sculptural look to your pour-over ritual.
Phonocut is an “idiot-proof” vinyl lathe that turns digital audio files into 10″ records. It’s a no-brainer for music producers but equally exciting for audiophiles looking to transform their digital playlists into tangible vinyl mixtapes that can be shared with loved ones.
Carbon labeling isn’t the solution to our climate problems, but by helping consumers make informed decisions, labels can play a crucial role in encouraging businesses to take full responsibility for their carbon expenditure. A collaborative effort from Peak Design and BioLite, this campaign is raising funds to create a label that will be awarded to businesses that have achieved carbon neutrality.
An intriguing puzzle made of brass and stainless steel that’s as satisfying to work out as it is to look at.
The Moving to Mars exhibition, which opens tomorrow at London’s Design Museum, explores putting humans on the red planet as the final frontier for design.
The show is structured into five parts: Imagining Mars, The Voyage, Survival, Mars Futures and Down to Earth.
It explores themes including the role that design plays in keeping astronauts safe during the voyage to Mars, and what working with its limited resources could teach us about designing more sustainably on Earth.
Moving to Mars opens to the public on the 18 October
“We don’t advocate for Mars as a Planet B,” said the exhibition’s curator and Dezeen columnist Justin McGuirk.
“But we pose the question of whether the rigours required in such an inhospitable environment – where we’ll have to recycle our oxygen, recycle our water and reuse our waste to survive – might force us to solve those problems on Earth,” he continued.
“Here, despite everything, we can all still get up and go through our day and not change anything. You cannot do that if you’re sending someone to Mars because they wouldn’t last one minute.”
NASA’s Curiosity Rover landed on Mars in August 2012. Image is courtesy of NASA
How survival on Mars might become possible is explored through more than 200 exhibits.
These consist of a combination of original artefacts from the likes of NASA and Elon Musk’s SpaceX, alongside new commissions and immersive installations by Konstantin Grcic and Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg.
“We’ve gathered a lot of the real work going into the Mars mission by practising architects and designers,” McGuirk told Dezeen. “But we took it even further and invited a number of designers to think through possible future scenarios.”
“Their work adds a layer of design fiction to the exhibition, which is a great tool for taking ideas and making them concrete, and material,” he continued.
The MARSHA Habitat by multidisciplinary design agency AI Spacefactory is one of several speculative habitats featured in the exhibition
The show’s first section, Imagining Mars, charts our fascination with the red planet throughout history and culture, and how our understanding of it has been shaped through scientific advancements.
This covers everything from the first real maps of Mars, created by Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli in the 1870s, to a prototype of the Rosalind Franklin ExoMars Rover which will be sent to the planet in 2020.
Named after the scientist whose x-ray images let to the discovery of DNA, this mobile laboratory created by the European Space Agency (ESA) and its Russian counterpart Roscosmos, will drill two metres into the planet’s surface to look for evidence of past or present life.
The Rosalind Franklin rover is the largest of a number of different ESA prototypes and models featured in Moving to Mars
This is followed by On Mars Today, a multi-sensory installation meant to help visitors imagine what conditions on Mars are like today from the radiation to the freezing temperatures, the lack of oxygen and the frequent dust storms.
It visualises these conditions through a slowly panning panorama of the Martian environment, accompanied by an audio track of otherworldly sounds and a scent created especially for the exhibition by perfumery Firmenich.
On Mars Today offers a multi-sensory experience of conditions on the red planet
Part two of the exhibition takes a closer look at how we would actually get to Mars, starting from the first iterations of space travel and going on to explore how it might be adapted for the journey to Mars.
“It took us three days to get to the moon, so how can we stay safe and sane on a seven- to nine-month journey to Mars?” asked McGuirk. “Add to that the time needed for the scientific study of the planet and it’s a completely different prospect.”
“It’s not just about making sure that people can be kept healthy and fed. It’s also about making it tolerable,” he continued.
Sokol spacesuits were worn by those onboard the Soviet Soyuz spacecraft
This shift to a more human-centred approach is explored through seminal interior designs created for both NASA and the Soviet space programme.
Sketches by American designer Raymond Loewy illustrate his introduction of windows, which had previously been considered a structural weakness, as well as a dining table to facilitate communal eating.
Alongside this, sit designs from Russian architect Galina Balashova, which first introduced the colour coding of floors and ceilings to help astronauts maintain a sense of orientation.
Moving to Mars explores design as a crucial factor in keeping astronauts safe and sane during their journey to the planet
This part of the exhibition also considers the constraints of zero gravity, leading everything from basic equipment to furniture needing to be re-designed.
A new commission by German industrial designer Konstantic Grcic simplifies the highly engineered and complex tables present in spacecrafts and on space stations today as a circular rail. Astronauts’ feet are hooked into floor-mounted straps.
Designer Anna Talvi, meanwhile, has contributed a series of lightweight, flexible garments, which act as a sort of “wearable gym” stretching the wearer’s muscles to prevent them from atrophying in low gravity.
The NDX-1 spacesuit is more flexible than the suits used for the moon landing to allow for planetary exploration
On display for the first time as part of the exhibition is NDX-1, the first prototype spacesuit designed specifically for use on Mars.
It was created by the University of North Dakota to withstand the planet’s gruelling conditions, while soft fabric-joints improve mobility when compared to the suits used on the moon.
The outer shell of Foster + Partners’ Mars habitat would be built by semi-autonomous robots
In part three, designers turn to the matter of survival – namely where we will live, what we will wear and eat.
Here, a large space is designated to different miniature models of what a future habitat could look like, including a 3D-printed habitat designed by Foster + Partners, as well as a full-sized, walk-in model made by architecture firm Hassell.
Both make use of Mars’ loose, sandy topsoil, called regolith, to form a protective outer shell, while inflatable pods are used to form the interior.
Raeburn’s collection of clothes repurposes materials such as parachutes, which would deployed in the process of landing on Mars
Fashion studio Raeburn has contributed its New Horizons collection, which responds to the lack of resources on Mars through a “make do and mend” approach, repurposing solar blankets and parachutes into clothing.
Usually, GrowStack specialises in growing food beneath the surface of the earth in one of the world’s first underground farms.
But for this exhibition, the vertical farming company is taking its methods into space, exploring how a hydroponic system – which is not reliant on soil and uses less water and space while creating a larger yield – might be useful on Mars.
The exhibition imagines how GrowStack’s hydroponic farming system might provide food for Mars settlers. Photography is by Felix Speller
It consists of a candle placed under a glass dome, with the soot created through repeated burning gradually blackening the glass as a way of visualising grief and remembrance.
Moving to Mars aims to help us reconsider how we use resources on Earth
The final two parts of the exhibition – Mars Futures and Down to Earth – pose concrete questions about the future.
On the one hand, possible alternative routes are explored, such as habitable pods suspended in space, as well as a version of Mars populated by plants instead of people via an installation by designer and artist Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg, who will give a keynote talk at Dezeen Day on 30 October.
Her computer simulation tracks a million years in the space of an hour, to imagine how bringing 16 different species of bacteria and plants could lead to a myriad of different biospheres as they interact in unexpected ways.
Finally, the last section invites visitors and contributors to ponder the ethical and existential question at the heart of the exhibition: should humanity actually go to Mars?
Les années 80 et 90 ont une influence certaine dans notre société, pas vrai ? Bon nombre d’artistes ont tendance à s’inspirer de ces décennies passées pour créer leurs oeuvres.
Ce n’est pas Mohanad Shuraideh qui dira le contraire ! Cet artiste réalise des collages à partir de vieilles illustrations et photographies provenant directement du passé. Le résultat est vintage, mais un brin fou et surréaliste. On aime !
Sur son compte Instagram intitulé « vertigo.artography », on peut alors apercevoir une cascade de lait, l’iconique robe blanche de Marylin Monroe s’élevant comme un nuage, un robot batteur rétro battant une montage enneigée, et bien plus encore…
My first time attending an Architecture & Design Film Festival program was in 2016. I saw graphic designer Stefan Sagmeister’s documentary The Happy Film, a tonally existential autobiography about Sagmeister’s pursuit for that elusive, tease-of-an-emotion. Following the screening, the audience had the privilege of sitting in on a discussion between (now-disgraced) radio journalist John Hockenberry and the filmmakers, the famous designer included. It was an intimate setting, and a rare opportunity for transparency about process, partnership, psyche and the flexibility of the parameters of “design” as a medium.
My initial (albeit belated) foray into the ADFF world reflected only a smidgen of the festival’s broader line-ups of programming and screenings, which make up the compact annual events series whose audience has expanded far beyond just the design ilk, and which continues into its 11th year this October.
Image courtesy ADFF
Its 2019 roster of 25 films spans many aspects of design, ranging from the politics of housing and urbanism to structural engineering to print and communications design – including, of course, ample focus on architectural subject matters rooted in cities and landscapes across the world.
“The lineup contains many films that stray beyond the traditional boundaries of architecture and design,” says ADFF Founder and Director Kyle Bergman. They “tread into the realms of politics, global health and inequality,” he continues, offering a wide lens perspective on what the festival’s eponymous aesthetic and technical mediums encompass.
Festival Founder and Director Kyle Bergman
Wednesday, October 16 is its New York kickoff, featuring a world premiere of The New Bauhaus. A documentary chronicling the North-America bound trajectory of controversial Bauhaus-bred designer László Moholy Nagy, the screening will be followed by a conversation with award-winning director and ADFF returnee Alysa Nahmias, led by Design Matters‘ question-asker extraordinaire Debbie Millman.
Poster for The New Bauhaus, debuting ADFF’s opening night
Approaching the industry with an angle for which I have particular affection, the fest’s closing night will feature the U.S. premiere of City Dreamers, a documentary piecing together how four trailblazing, fiercely persevering female architects have contributed to the build of our urban landscapes. The film highlights the stories of Cornelia Hahn Oberlander, Denise Scott Brown, Blanche Lemco van Ginkel and Phyllis Lambert, the latter of whom will be present afterward to discuss the film with its director, Joseph Hillel, as moderated by prolific architecture critic Paul Goldberger.
From PUSH, Leilani Farha on an official mission to Chile. Photo by Janice d’Avila.
Sandwiched between its opening and closing features is a jam-packed schedule of screenings, a pop-up installation in the lounge at Chelsea’s Cinépolis theater, and conversations from the likes of MoMA Architecture and Design curator Sean Anderson, design editor Wendy Goodman, UN Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing Leilani Farha, and The Space Beyond subject Mario Botta. Special shout-out to a Saturday boat tour of Swiss structural engineer Othmar H. Ammann’s NYC-based bridges projects (sign me up!) in celebration of the U.S. premiere of Gateways to New York, a film reframing the art of bridge-building through the story of Ammann’s unique history and practice.
Sundown vantage point of the Bronx-Whitestone Bridge in New York City, designed by Othmar H. Ammann, and a viewing pitstop on the ADFF boat tour of some of his work.
From The Space Beyond
Visit ADFilmFest.com more information on the festival, its screening schedule, its programming and presentations line-up, its supporters (Evenstcape, a custom art and architecture fabricator, is the largest this year), and relevant location and ticketing information.
We’ll see you front row, hungry for popcorn and thirsty for this annual showcase of illuminating design-centered cinema.
As we learned here, when female soldiers in the U.S. military are given body armor designed for men, their job is made more dangerous; the ill-fitting armor has been shown to encumber women’s range of movement, which affected everything from their aim with a firearm to their ability to quickly get in and out of a vehicle. Even worse, the bad fit creates gaps that an enemy can grab onto during hand-to-hand combat.
Sheathing the relatively barrel-like shape of the average male torso is a relatively straightforward design process; but military designers have been stumped by the problem of creating curved armor plates to fit the average female form, as the shapes required create more weight and even worse, weak points. (Hopefully this will change, as last year the House of Representatives finally greenlit funding for the design of female-specific body armor.)
So I was surprised to learn that another dangerous government-backed job that increasingly involves both genders, the vocation of astronaut, has unisex outfits that work for both men and women. Apparently a spacesuit’s large interior volume (required for pressurization) moots the need to accommodate the anatomical bits that distinguish the genders. Instead, the problem with astronaut suits has been size.
As an example, earlier this year two astronauts at the International Space Station were scheduled to work on an exterior repair, a spacewalk in NASA parlance. This requires special spacesuits–Extravehicular Mobility Units, or EMUs for short–different than the ones worn inside the station (called Orion suits). The modular EMU spacesuits are not designed for gender, but instead for size, with just three options for the torso portions: Medium, Large and Extra Large.
Both astronauts selected for the task were female and one of them, Christina Koch, was outfitted for a size Medium suit. The other astronaut, Anne McClain, had trained in both a Medium and a Large down on Earth, but on an actual spacewalk earlier in the mission, had discovered that the Medium was the better fit.
Christina Koch
The problem was that, while they had two Medium suits onboard the station, only one of them had been prepped for the mission. Preparing a suit for a spacewalk is more complicated than getting dressed for an Edwardian dinner party, with a time-consuming list of equipment safety checks and “loop scrubs” that must be performed first. In order for the spacewalk’s task to be completed on schedule, McClain stepped aside and fellow astronaut Nick Hague went in her place, in the prepped size Large.
Preparing an EMU for a spacewalk
As a result, what would have been the first all-female spacewalk–a coincidence of scheduling, with astronaut rotations being “luck of the draw,” according to NASA spokesperson Stephanie Schierholz–did not happen. “When you have the option of just switching the people, the mission becomes more important than a cool milestone,” Schierholz told The New York Times.
Still, for years NASA engineers have understood the problems associated with having suits of different sizes. On a spacecraft or station with limited space, and in a potentially dangerous environment where redundancy can mean safety, it would be desirable to have complete interchangeability of gear among all astronauts. And this week, NASA revealed the solution they’ve been working on.
From left to right: Amy Ross, Lead Spacesuit Engineer; Jim Bridenstine, NASA Administrator; Kristine Davis, Spacesuit Engineer, wearing the Exploration Extravehicular Mobility Unit (xEMU) prototype; Dustin Gohmert, Orion Crew Survival Systems Project Manager, wearing the Orion Crew Survival System suit.
After seeing this photo, I’ll never again complain about how bulky my laptop backpack is.
And after seeing this photo, I realize that I have a jacket I never wear because it makes my shoulders look weird. I am probably too self-conscious to become an astronaut.
Multiple news outlets have reported that xEMUs are one-size-fits-all, though none have offered details, and NASA in their own press release has made no such claim. However, NASA has stated that:
In the Anthropometry and Biomechanics Facility at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, astronauts undergo full-body, 3D scans while performing basic motions and postures expected during spacewalks. With a complete 3D animated model, NASA can match the astronaut to the modular space suit components that will provide the most comfort and the broadest range of motion, while reducing the potential for skin irritation where the suit might press on the body.
You guys are NASA, and this is the highest resolution image you could provide?
This leads me to believe that perhaps the exterior of the torso component of the xEMU is of a single size, with modular interior components of differing sizes for each astronaut that can be “plugged into” the xEMU suit. But that is admittedly speculation.
As for the Orion suits, NASA’s language is also confusing: “The Orion suits will be custom fit for each crew member and accommodate astronauts of all sizes.” I take that to mean they are not interchangeable.
I want to believe that if you press the red button on the ribs, a mechanism inside the helmet dispenses snacks.
In any case, this week NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine tweeted the following:
While researching the story of NASA’s new spacesuit prototypes, I could not confirm the one-size-fits-all claim made by news outlets. But I did learn the following fun facts while I was looking:
– According to NASA: During spacewalks, which can last for many hours, astronauts all wear “a diaper-like garment…that is a combination of commercial products stitched together for maximum absorption.” Astronauts “generally prefer not to use it.”
– Amy Ross, NASA’s lead spacesuit engineer, describes her job as “to take a basketball, shape it like a human, keep them alive in a harsh environment and give them the mobility to do their job.”
– The Orion suits, which are worn during re-entry, are colored orange in case the astronauts wind up in the ocean and need to be spotted for rescue. (You know what, maybe this fact isn’t actually “fun.”)
– According to NPR, “astronauts grow taller in the microgravity of space;” astronaut Anne McClain reported that after a few months on the ISS, she’d gained two inches in height!
– I thought squeezing into a tight pair of jeans was bad, but getting into a spacesuit is apparently more difficult. Here’s an astronaut finagling her way into an older spacesuit design with “waist entry:”
– More modern designs feature this crazy “rear entry” process:
– NASA has this actual image and caption in one of their downloadable presentations:
Toyota‘s latest electric LQ concept car satisfies the “human need to be engaged emotionally” with an on-board artificial intelligence agent named Yui.
The Toyota LQ is both fully electric and equipped with an SAE level four equivalent automated driving system, meaning no human intervention is needed to drive the vehicle.
Its main feature however is the on-board AI-powered, interactive agent, called Yui, which provides a personalised mobility experience by learning and responding to the driver’s emotional and physical state.
According to Toyota, the LQ concept is based on the idea that “mobility goes beyond physical transportation to include the human need to be moved and engaged emotionally”.
These AI features include an an air-conditioned seating system that self-adjusts according to the driver’s levels of alertness and relaxation, and an automated valet parking feature.
The car also includes LQ’s augmented reality-enhanced “head-up” display, which presents the car’s driving information such as lane warnings, road signs, and route guidance without the driver having to look away from the road.
In addition to the typical transparent head-up display, the LG uses augmented reality to expand this data display area to the windscreen to further reduce the driver’s eye movement.
As a safer alternative to buttons, drivers can engage with the AI agent using interactive voice communication. This can be used to activate in-seat functions designed to increase alertness or reduce stress, to turn on the air conditioning, to release fragrances, or to turn on lights inside the car.
Yui can also select and play music based on the driving environment, and provide real-time information on topics of interest to the driver.
Other personalised safety features include the LQ’s smart seats, billed by Toyota as “a world first in seating technology”.
Embedded with a series of inflatable “air bladders”, the seats work with an in-seat air conditioning system to help keep the driver alert or relaxed depending on the situation.
When the system recognises that the driver is tired, it inflates the air bladder in the back of the seat to support an upright sitting posture, and directs cool air onto them.
When conditions, such as the car being in automated driving mode, allow the driver to relax, the air bladder gradually inflates and deflates in time with their breathing.
“In the past, our love for cars was built on their ability to take us to distant places and enable our adventures,” said LQ development leader Daisuke Ido. “Advanced technology gives us the power to match customer lifestyles with new opportunities for excitement and engagement.”
“With the LQ, we are proud to propose a vehicle that can deliver a personalised experience, meet each driver’s unique mobility needs and build an even stronger bond between car and driver,” he continued.
The concept car communicates information about the vehicle to the passengers via the roof and floor mat areas.
Integrated lights show different colours to indicate if the car is in automated or manual driving mode. These lights illuminate different foot wells depending on which passenger Yui is addressing.
The LQ can also inform people both inside and outside of the vehicle about road surface conditions using the Digital Micromirror Device installed in the car headlights.
This system can activate one million tiny embedded mirrors to project complex figures onto the road ahead.
In addition to being powered by an electric battery, Toyota’s LQ aims to help the environment by using technology to clean harmful emissions.
The concept boasts a newly-developed catalyst coating designed to purify the air as it moves. It works by decomposing ozone – a colourless unstable toxic gas that is a cause of photochemical smog – near the ground surface into oxygen on the radiator fan.
According to the car brand, over the course of a one-hour drive, the coating can purify about 60 per cent of ozone contained in 1,000 litres of air.
Toyota chose to name the concept “LQ” to express its hope that the vehicle’s modern features will “cue” the development of future vehicles that enhance the relationship between car and driver.
The LQ will make its debut at Future Expo – a special exhibition running at this year’s Tokyo Motor Show, which will take place in the capital from 24 October until 4 November 2019.
When it comes to companies stepping up to challenge wasteful manufacturing models, the Swiss recycled tarp bag company FREITAG has stood at the forefront of this trend for years since launching their sustainably-minded brand all the way back in 1993.
Photos by Fabian Hugo
Taking their mission to an even more extreme—or, dare we say, anti-capitalist—degree over the past week, the company has launched a bold new idea in an age where many companies are fixated on mass manufacturing, growth and profit: an app that allows FREITAG customers to swap their bags with other FREITAG bag owners without spending a dime.
The mobile platform called S.W.A.P (Shopping Without Any Payment) is designed in a similar fashion as Tinder, allowing you to register your own bag and swipe through other bag owner’s gear to facilitate a switch. The platform was designed solely as a way for fellow FREITAG customers to connect with one another and eliminate the complications that come with financial exchange—that way you can come out of the experience with a new bag while keeping old belongings in circulation and, ultimately, out of landfills.
While this concept appears potentially risky within typical business models, it’s certainly helps FREITAG earn customers’ trust in their company while also addressing an important issue in this day and age—our harmful dissatisfaction with the items we own (an epidemic coined as “affluenza“).
As described in FREITAG’s press release for S.W.A.P., perhaps fighting these consumerist tendencies means making sure a neglected bag gets out of your closet and into the world to give someone else joy: “FREITAG has been thinking and acting in cycles and giving disused truck tarps a new life as unique bags that are so robust and durable there’s no need to buy another one right away. But what if your affections disintegrate faster than the tarpaulin and the bag is still willing but you no longer are? If…your old one-off ends up forever at the bottom of your closet and has to make way for a new one, it gets kind of difficult to talk about sustainability and conscious consumption.”
You can register to be a part of the S.W.A.P. community on FREITAG’s website; simply register your bag model and away you go! Happy swapping.
Designer Irina Flore has created a collection of ceramic bowls and plates that can be stacked up into form containers for preserving food, to offer an alternative to plastic tupperware or foil.
Plates and containers in L’ art de la table stack on top of one another to form lids and serving dishes
L’art de la table is composed of six tableware pieces that can be used for eating, preserving or presenting food. The collection’s ability to be assembled in various forms is influenced by construction and building games, and the designer’s memories of her grandmother’s cooking.
“L’art de la table is a collection of multipurpose objects ideal for both serving or displaying,” the Portland designer said.
The interchangeable nature of the designs allows food to be served, presented or preserved
“They can be mixed and matched in different ways, they will always work together.”
A bottom rim encircles each object allowing them to easily connect on top of one another in various arrangements. This stacking idea was influenced by the designer’s memories of her grandmother who always covered bowls with plates to keep food heated or to preserve it inside a refrigerator.
A low container doubles as a plate, while a taller version showcases one variation for stacking, which adds a low container and plate on top to cover
Objects in the collection come in black and white and include plates that measures 250 millimetres (9.8 inches) and 300 millimetres (11.8 inches) in diameter.
Both the plates can be fastened on top of the containers, which come in two sizes, high and low, to provide an alternative to plastic tupperware lids or foil used to preserve food. A bowl features a rigid exterior and a handle, and is intended to be used for eating, mixing ingredients or as a saucer.
“With this collection we want to encourage people to use long lasting products, but at the same time to offer them the possibility to adapt the objects to their own needs and spaces,” Flore said.
Flore collaborated with Portland designer Mudshark Studios to manufacture the collection.
Plates are intended to become lids for bowls in the series
It is handcrafted using custom moulds that are slipcast, a popular process for mass producing pottery that involves pouring liquid clay into plaster moulds to form a solid ceramic material.
The Multipurpose Bowl features a rigid exterior and a handle so it can be used for serving, mixing ingredients or as a saucer
L’art de la table won the prototype competition at this year’s IDS Vancouver, which ran from 26 to 29 September 2019. The event focused on food, with a showcase of eating designer Marie Volgezang’s sensual Seeds exhibit, which was first shown at IDS Toronto earlier this year.
Other installations included the Edible Futures exhibit, featuring proposals for eating in the future like meat made from seaweed and an automated food-production system.
In our latest competition, we’re offering our readers the chance to stay at FCC Angkor, a hotel located at the heart of the historic Siem Reap area in Cambodia.
The recently renovated resort boasts 60 new guest rooms, a pool, spa and wellness area surrounded by verdant landscapes. It is situated at the gate of UNESCO world heritage site Angkor Wat.
One lucky winner and their guest will be invited to stay for three nights in a deluxe room, including a half-day tour of the Angkor Wat temples, a set dinner at the hotel’s restaurant and round trips from the airport.
UNESCO world heritage site Angkor Wat is a short walk from FCC Angkor
Ideal for outgoing travellers, guests can expect an authentic experience at the heart of Siem Reap. Venture to lively nearby markets and Pub Street – a tourist spot lined with bars and restaurants which transform at night with music and parties.
The famous site of Angkor Wat nearby encompasses 1.6 million square-metres of ruins and temples dating from the 12th to 15th centuries.
Known to be Cambodia’s prime tourist attraction, the temples are located just 10 minutes walk from the hotel.
Ta Prohm is a Bayon-style temple partially covered by overgrown trees
Ta Prohm, a Bayon-style temple with its entrance framed by overgrown tree roots, is one of many found within the Angkor Wat complex.
Its visually striking appearance has made it a tourist favourite, and it has appeared in movies such as Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider.
Guests are able to enjoy cocktails and food outdoors
“The hotel creates an inspiring ambience for remarkable experiences and unforgettable stories in the heart of Siem Reap,” states the hotel.
“It evokes the timelessness of Siem Reap, combining the elegance of the past with a modern edge in the gateway to Angkor.”
Timber shutters decorate the outdoor seating area of the Mansion restaurant
Housed within a former French colonial governor’s home, the architecture of FCC Angkor references its past through its retained European features.
The hotel takes its acronym from Foreign Correspondents Club – a reference to the colonial house’s original function as a social hub.
Accents of European-style decorations are dotted around the hotel’s main building alongside local contemporary art to bring together the colonial aesthetic with the heritage sites of Siem Reap.
Deluxe rooms are found on the ground and second floors of the hotel
As part of the multi-million-pound renovation, a total of 80 rooms were either refurbished or constructed, in the same colonial style as the hotel’s exterior.
The deluxe rooms, where the winner and their guest will stay, are found on the ground and second floors. Each room is decorated in earthy tones and textures, with its own balcony or terrace overlooking the gardens by the pool.
Scribe, the hotel’s new bar, was part of the renovation project
The hotel’s new bar, called Scribe, offers guests a place to relax with a signature cocktail and enjoy an authentic Cambodian menu prepared using fresh, locally grown ingredients.
The Mansion restaurant was also overhauled in the renovation. It offers a menu of Asian fusion dishes which can be served inside the botanical, planted interior or underneath ancient overhanging trees outdoors.
Other new leisure-areas for guests to enjoy include the pedestrian bridge connecting Mansion to the hotel, an outdoor pool, a spa and a lounge, where they can mingle and take in the lush green landscape.
From the deluxe rooms, private terraces and balconies look onto the gardens
Surrounded by the cultural and historic hotspots of Siem Reap, guests can experience an adventurous stay from the comfort of FCC Angkor.
The hotel opened its doors this summer, joining over 20 properties managed by Avani around the world and is available to book online.
One winner and a guest will enjoy a three-night stay at FCC Angkor, with a half-day tour of Angkor Wat, a set dinner at Mansion and airport transfers included in the prize.
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Competition closes 14 November 2019. One winner will be selected at random and notified by email, and his or her name will be published at the top of this page. Terms and conditions apply. Flights not included.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
Image courtesy ADFF 
Festival Founder and Director Kyle Bergman 
Poster for The New Bauhaus, debuting ADFF’s opening night 
From City Dreamers, an early photo of architect Denise Scott Brown ©. Image courtesy Denise Scott Brown via Venturi, Scott Brown & Associates. 
From PUSH, Leilani Farha on an official mission to Chile. Photo by 
Sundown vantage point of the Bronx-Whitestone Bridge in New York City, designed by Othmar H. Ammann, and a viewing pitstop on the ADFF boat tour of some of his work. 
From The Space Beyond 
Image courtesy of ADFF
Christina Koch
Preparing an EMU for a spacewalk
From left to right: Amy Ross, Lead Spacesuit Engineer; Jim Bridenstine, NASA Administrator; Kristine Davis, Spacesuit Engineer, wearing the Exploration Extravehicular Mobility Unit (xEMU) prototype; Dustin Gohmert, Orion Crew Survival Systems Project Manager, wearing the Orion Crew Survival System suit. 
I totally covet this helmet! 
After seeing this photo, I’ll never again complain about how bulky my laptop backpack is.
And after seeing this photo, I realize that I have a jacket I never wear because it makes my shoulders look weird. I am probably too self-conscious to become an astronaut.
You guys are NASA, and this is the highest resolution image you could provide?
I want to believe that if you press the red button on the ribs, a mechanism inside the helmet dispenses snacks. 
Photos by Fabian Hugo
