Remember when you wanted to blast music on your speaker at home but your dad kept yelling at you to keep it down? How about if I told you there were speakers that could channel their sound in a tight beam, so you can only hear the music if the speaker is pointed at you. If you move out of the speaker’s audio beam, you hear nothing. Sounds pretty neat, doesn’t it?

The SRAY speakers are the equivalent of headphones but they don’t sit in your ears. They throw audio in a beam, like a flashlight focuses light in a beam, illuminating only what you point it at. The SRAY work similarly with sound. Using ultrasonic propagation, these small speakers can bind audio in a unidirectional channel. Point the speakers at yourself and you hear the music. Point them even slightly away and its complete silence.

Audio spotlights, as the technology is often labelled, have been in development for a few years now. I remember seeing a video where someone used these unidirectional speakers to listen to music in a library. You could practically focus the audio towards a single line of people in a crowd, making the technology useful in places like roads and railways, where only people near the train tracks hear the train’s siren, or only the cars in front of you hear you horning, but not the cars beside or behind you.

While this technology is still pretty nascent, the guys at CatchFlow figured out how to shrink it down to a handy size, and democratize it so anyone can access the technology. You can use the SRAY speakers to listen to podcasts, music, driving instructions, or practically any audio without disturbing the person right beside you.

The SRAY is the world’s smallest commercially available ‘audio spotlight’ speaker. It’s practically small enough to fit in your palm, which says a lot for a technology that’s relatively new, and challenging to shrink. The SRAY is capable of providing a uniquely private listening experience by focusing the audio in a thin beam using ultrasonic vibrations.

This allows only the people in the path of the audio beam to listen to the audio, making it great for public services, museums, libraries, transportation, or even at home when you’re around other people who don’t necessarily want to listen to the football game. The SRAY comes with its own stand, allowing you to easily position it in the direction you want, and uses low power too, allowing you to hook it to a power bank for endless hours of use.

That doesn’t stop the SRAY from being a regular speaker. A simple switch allows you to turn the unidirectional speaker into an omnidirectional one. A second audio driver within the SRAY lets it work like a regular speaker, throwing sound in all directions and allowing everyone to hear what’s playing on your phone, the radio, or any device connected to it.

This ability is truly what makes the SRAY such a remarkable speaker. Its unique technology allows it to give you the oomph of a Bluetooth speaker, but also the privacy of a pair of headphones without damaging your ears… And with the ability to seriously impress and shock the people who experience its magic!

Designer: Tae-Young Kim of CatchFlow

Click Here to Buy Now: $209 $320 (34% off). Hurry, only 60/100 left!

SRAY: World’s Smallest Directional Speaker

A headphone-replacing speaker, that generates sounds only you can hear. It is the smallest directional speaker that creates fields of sound which spread less than most traditional speakers by ultrasonic waves.

SRAY generates ultrasonic waves modulated with audio signal and as they pass through the air they modulated and sound can be.

How SRAY Works

SRAY produces a directional beam of sound, sort of like a spot light for sound. This means if you are standing in front of SRAY when it’s on, you will hear the sound it produces. If you step to the side, you won’t hear anything produced by SRAY. In comparison, the speakers we are used to tend to emit sound radially, filling an entire space around it with sound.

All of The Sound, None of The Noise

Earbuds Raise Your Risk of Hearing Loss

Earbuds or headphones enable you to listen with disturbing nobody. However, headphones and earbuds cause damage to your ears the same way other loud noises too, resulting in what audiologists call ‘noise-induced hearing loss (A.K.A NHL)’. Over time the sounds from your headphones cause the hair cells in the cochlea to bend down too much or too severely. If they don’t get time to recover, the damage can be permanent.

So here is the solution, SRAY, headphone-replacing sound generator.

Features of SRAY

Private Area – SRAY brings focused audio to target audiences without disturbing anyone. By user experience, the existence of different sounds can be possible.

Miniaturization – Up to now (present), the directional speakers on the market, cannot be user-friendly due to the size and weight matters. Currently SRAY is the smallest directional speaker in the world and super light. Via SRAY, directional sound is now for everyone.

Dual Mode [Parametric/Hybrid/Normal] – Do you want to share what you hear with people around you? SRAY can assure you. Convertible modes are available depending on the situations or environments.

Low Power – SRAY fits in everywhere due to low energy consumption. Indoor, outdoor, even in the car.

Sleek Design – Modern and simple design are suitable for anywhere displayed.

Click Here to Buy Now: $209 $320 (34% off). Hurry, only 60/100 left!

The artisan and textile industry in India has always been a vital part of the country’s culture. It has thrived, spreading it’s work all over the world, garnering much appreciation and revenue in the name of talent and of course, the country. Unfortunately, the wastewater left behind by this industry is another matter altogether. Over 70% of the water resources in India are contaminated due to untreated discharge of wastewater. And it is estimated that artisan industries compose 40% of the total wastewater. Moved by this dilemma, architect Shneel Malik created Indus.

A part of the Bio-Integrated Design Lab at the Bartlett School of Architecture, Malik came up with this tile-based, modular bioreactor wall system for cleaning water through ‘bioremediation’. The catalyst behind bioremediation is algae, the single-celled, non-flowering organism found sprawled virtually on every ocean bed. The algae suck or filter out the toxic chemicals and impurities from the wastewater. They are able to do so because of a symbiotic relationship that exists between them and the pollutants. The microorganisms release a set of compounds called phytochelatins, allowing them to trap pollutants which they then use for their own nutrition and growth. Hence the water is completely rid of harmful pollutants such as cadmium, whereas the same pollutants are then stored in the algae cells aiding their sustenance.

Designer: Shneel Malik

The algae capture pollutants such as cadmium, in turn, cleansing the former wastewater.

“These site visits made us better understand the site and context-specific constraints and challenges in wastewater treatment. Neither the artisan workers have any space available for Westernized high-tech water treatment solutions, nor do they have the economic capacity to get additional support. . . . Therefore, we started to design a system—which is both spatially compatible, but more importantly can be constructed and maintained by the artisans themselves.” Shneel said. Hence the “goal [behind Indus] is to enable the rural community of artisans, panchayats, to regenerate water for reuse within their manufacturing processes”, which is one of the reasons why the tiles on the wall systems are made locally using traditional clay making methods. In fact, the entire system is designed to be “fabricated using locally available materials and techniques, thereby reducing capital expenditure significantly.” Inspiration was taken from the architecture of a leaf to design Indus. The water flows over a series of vein-like channels containing algae. The algae aren’t administered alone into the leaves but are first prepared in a seaweed-based hydrogel, and the mixture is then added. The hydrogel, which by the way is wholly recyclable needs to be replaced after it reaches a saturation point. The algae will need to be replaced as well after a certain point of time, but the tiles can always be reused.

The tiles on the wall systems were designed taking inspirations from leaves.

Though Indus was originally developed for the Indian environment, Malik is certain it can be used in different regions and countries to tackle the issue of water pollution. She believes that “it’s about finding solutions through natural processes”. And through her effort of biomimicry, it does seem she has given local communities the access they needed to re-use water. Indus did win the international design competition called Water Futures organized by A/D/O, Mini, New York, but with it’s naturalistic and bio-integrated approach it is sure to win the dynamic battle against water pollution as well.

The entire system including the clay tiles is built locally using traditional methods. 

Modular, plywood boxes have been self-built by climate change protesters Extinction Rebellion to build lock-on sites, towers and stages for London protests.

The blocks are adapted from Studio Bark‘s U-Build system by architects involved in the actions, including members of Architect’s Climate Action Network (ACAN).

Studio Bark gifted the cutting patterns – and told Dezeen that some of its employees are part of Extinction Rebellion (XR) – but the practice itself was not involved in delivering the project.

“It’s a natural extension of what U-Build was meant for,” Nick Newman, a director at Studio Bark and member of XR, told Dezeen.

“This is about what a group of people all coming together have managed to achieve. You can call it protest architecture, or architecture of activism. It’s a new typology.”

U-Build‘s modules were re-designed to be simple enough that complete novices could build them, with just one shape of box and an easier bolt system.

Pieces were cut at a community-run CNC workshop and supplies were bought through crowdfunding.

Circles were cut into the sides of the boxes, allowing activists to lock on through them – a peaceful protest tactic where people attach themselves to shut a site down. Locking on through a structure makes it harder for the police to remove protesters.

Each plywood box weighs just five kilos and has two handles cut into the sides, so XR activists can carry several boxes at a time and quickly assemble them into a pre-agreed structure.

A tower made from the boxes in Trafalgar Square this week had three XR protestors locked onto it, and required the police to bring in heavy machinery to take it apart.

Newman was one of the people locked on to the modular tower, and he was subsequently arrested.

“It’s one of the best things that I’ve done in my life,” he told Dezeen.

“To be able to see U-Build – something we always envisaged as a kind of community asset, a way of people making their own structures – in a different way. To be able to witness that was really quite special.”

The University of East London, where some of Studio Bark are tutors, did a project looking at the multitude of ways the boxes could be arranged and bolted together.

Along with the tower, the boxes have been used to create stages for activists to deliver speeches from, and benches for visitors to the protests to rest on.

XR, which has been banned from protesting in London by the Metropolitan Police, is currently crowd-funding to build more boxes for future actions.

The group previously disrupted London Fashion Week with a funeral procession, calling on designers to find a way to be creative without “creating more stuff”.

U-Build is a modular construction system designed by Studio Bark to allow people and communities to self-build structures. A flat-pack kit of parts allows users to build modules that can be slotted together with hand tools to form houses or extensions.

Photography by Joe Giddings.

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The 10 winning design projects for Dezeen Awards 2019 have been revealed. The list includes public seating that doubles up as a barrier, a silent wearable breast pump and a self-cleaning water bottle.

The projects were reviewed by a jury of 25 leading architects and designers before the winners were selected by this year’s design master jury, which gathered in London last month.

The master jury comprised French designer Philippe Starck, Atelier NL co-founder Lonny van Ryswyck, experiential designer Nelly Ben Hayoun, co-founder of Front Sofia Lagerkvist, British-Nigerian designer Yinka Ilori, and Design Miami curatorial director Aric Chen.

One of the ten category winners will be given the overall design project of the year prize at the Dezeen Awards 2019 party in London on 30 October. All winners will receive a hand-made trophy by Atelier NL presented in a special carrying case by Herschel.

Read on to see the winning design projects or visit the Dezeen Awards website to see all the architecture, interiors and design category winners:

Furniture design of the year:
Tense by Panter & Tourron

Tense is a collection of lightweight flat-pack furniture by Lausanne-based design studio Panter & Tourron that holds it shape using tensile strength. The collection weighs less than 20 kilograms altogether and can be easily assembled anywhere.

It includes a table, chair, screen dividers, pendant light and wall light. It also functions as a research project that explores the evolution of living in a time of global mobility and fluid identity.

“We appreciate the consciousness of the lightness and logistics of Tense,” said the master jury.

“The intelligent design produces less waste and considers the fact that as a species we now live lighter with increasingly nomadic lifestyles,” they explained. “This research project has great potential to evolve.”

Seating design of the year:
Rely protective public seating by Joe Doucet

Rely protective public seating is a 3D-printed concrete bench by New York designer Joe Doucet that also functions as a barrier to protect public spaces from vehicle-led terrorist attacks.

The benches, which are attached by steel rods, remain linked and skid along discs to form a barrier when hit by a vehicle.

“Rely considers the changing needs of urban spaces and how they can be divided intelligently,” they explained. “By turning a barricade into useful seating and then integrating it into a public space, the project invites people in and encourages them to inhabit the area.”

“It transforms something functional into something that is also well-designed and beautiful,” the judges added. “A lot of design around this specific issue is big and bulky, but Rely is light and transformative, adaptable and original.”

Lighting design of the year:
Franchise Freedom by Studio Drift

Franchise Freedom is a performative art installation by Studio Drift that explores the relationship between humans, nature and technology.

The Amsterdam-based studio programmed hundreds of drones to simulate the behaviour of starlings. Mounted with lights, the autonomous swarm of drones fly in formation questioning the concept of human freedom and social construct.

“Franchise Freedom is a terrifyingly beautiful project,”  said the judges. “As designers, we need to look at how technology can be used in design to make us think.”

“The work provokes thinking about human relationships and questions how much agency we have as individuals versus as a group,” the designers said. “Also it looks cool.”

Homeware design of the year:
Backstitch by Raw Edges for GAN

A collection of three rugs by Raw Edges that gives prominence to the reverse of traditional embroidery work, Backstitch wool rugs are handmade by Spanish textile brand GAN’s women’s unit using a technique called kilim.

“This is an outstanding design that highlights traditional craft techniques and processes through hand embroidery,” said the master jury.

“Backstitch has a powerful narrative as well as being a beautiful product,” they explained. “You can see every stitch, which highlights the design process.”

“By emphasising the collaboration with the women that made the rugs, the project also becomes beneficial and authentic,” said the judges.

Workplace design of the year:
AT 187 by Wilkhahn

This office chair by German furniture brand Wilkhahn promotes “dynamic sitting” and was designed based on research conducted with German Sport University Cologne.

With its patented Trimension technology and automatic weight-adjustment, AT 187, claims to prevent backache, boost mental-performance and enhance a sense of well-being.

“An innovative product that presents a real solution to a real problem using new technology,” said the master jury. “As we spend more and more of our lives sitting, bringing movement into our daily routine is even more important.”

Wearable design of the year:
Elvie Pump by Elvie

Elvie Pump is the world’s first silent, wearable breast-pump from technology company Elvie, that users can control from their phone via an app.

Unlike most devices for expressing milk, Elvie’s breast pump is compact and wire-free, so new mothers can move around freely without having to sit by a power socket or worrying about cords.

“The Elvie Pump is an innovative product that addresses how society treats breastfeeding women – in the workplace, in public, etc,” said the judges.

“It’s a new and interesting solution that empowers women,” they added. “The silent, wireless technology allows women to breastfeed on the move, using new technology to approach something so natural.”

Product design of the year:
LARQ bottle by LARQ

The minimalist LARQ bottle cleans itself using ultra-violet light. For people troubled by the hygiene of reusable water bottles, the self-cleaning bottle provides instant water-purification using LED technology in its lid that emits UV-C light.

According to LARQ, the light eradicates almost all harmful and odour-causing bacteria and viruses, rendering the bottle clean without the need for the user to wash it.

“The main problem with reusable bottles is that they are difficult to clean, but the LARQ bottle solves that problem,” said the judges. “It provides psychological reassurance for the user.”

“The LARQ bottle introduces a new technology that has great potential to evolve,” they added.

Sustainable design of the year:
Aguahoja I by Mediated Matter Group

Aguahoja I is a digitally designed and robotically fabricated structure by MIT Media Lab’s Mediated Matter Group, led by Neri Oxman.

It is fabricated from molecular components found in tree branches, insect exoskeletons and human bones. The project demonstrates the application of water-based robotic fabrication at a scale close to those of natural ecologies.

“Finding new sustainable materials is an urgent matter,” said the judges. “Aguahoja I shows how nature can help us to design new materials, highlighting the relationship between nature and technology.”

“It is completely innovative and presents hope for the future,” they added. “The organic material shows huge potential, which could even change how we think about architecture.”

Graphic design of the year:
Hafnia-Hallen by Re-public

Re-public designed the visual identity for Hafnia-Hallen, Denmark’s largest multi-purpose sports centre, located in Copenhagen.

The project included the logo, signage and wayfinding for the centre after a major refurbishment. The graphics include clean lines, vibrant colours and clear-cut typography with a bold yet informal look and feel.

“Re-public have transformed a space that is typically not very beautiful using clear graphics,” said the master jury. “They have addressed a complex task in an elegantly simple way.”

“The playful graphics appeal to the different ages of the people who use the centre and does the job of wayfinding successfully,” the judges explained. “The lines they have used are an immediately recognisable universal symbol of sports.”

Installation design of the year:
17,000 by Skaparkollektivet Forma

17,000 by Skaparkollektivet Forma features thousands of small artworks made by more than 1,500 artists. These represent the number of young people expected to be deported from Sweden to Afghanistan.

Skaparkollektivet Forma wanted to visually demonstrate that behind every number there is an individual person.

“The installation is powerful because it allows us to visualise the number of people expected to be deported into something real,” said the judges. “The 17,000 people become human rather than just a figure.”

“It addresses a really urgent problem being faced today and emphasises the power of design,” they added. “Design should make you feel something. Skaparkollektivet Forma has used design as a powerful tool in a thought-provoking way and have used their platform to tell a touching story.”

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MVRDV has revealed visuals of The Hague with its 17th-century canals reopened and refilled to demonstrate how their restoration could help revive the city’s centre.

Developed in collaboration with local neighbourhood organisations, MVRDV’s vision imagines the Dutch city’s historic canals, which once ran through its centre, restored as waterways for swimming, canoeing, pleasure boats, and a koi carp habitat.

The aim of the project is to show how the waterway’s revival could regenerate parts of the city and in turn boost its economy, biodiversity and traffic and water management.

“All over the world, neighbourhoods like the old centre of The Hague form the backbone of tourism and provide an identity to a city, but in The Hague somehow this ancient and incredibly charming area was forgotten,” says Winy Maas, architect and co-founder of MVRDV.

“The area offers the unique chance for an urban regeneration that will improve the local economy and make a leap forward in the city’s energy transition.”

As a city founded as a government centre –  and housing one of the world’s most important courts – The Hague has had little dependence on its canal system in comparison to other Dutch cities, which historically relied on them for trade.

Consequently, much of its water network was filled between 1910 and 1970 to create space for tram lines and buildings – despite a local grassroots movement to preserve it.

Recent years have seen a revival in this movement as part of the community’s Spinoza Power 2.0 project.

Spinoza Power 2.0 is calling on the local authorities to remove and repurpose the red light district, and create a market hall in place of an underperforming parking garage.

Building on this vision, MVRDV has developed a deliberately “simple and realistic” masterplan to reopen a number of its canals, rejoining those that run around its edges.

“Based on a study of the historical canals by local firm BAU architects, MVRDV envisions the restoration of the main canals, and has drawn up plans for the minor canals which are either dead-ends or lost due to underground works or buildings,” explained the studio.

“Each of these canal stubs needs to function as an urban activator.”

The visuals imagine the reopened canals used as routes for swimming, canoeing, and surfing to support The Hague’s ambition of becoming a sports-focused city, as well as pedalos and gondola-style vessels.

MVRDV says they have also proposed for the restored waterway to provide space for koi carp – a species of carp that are usually kept for decorative purposes in outdoor koi ponds or water gardens.

MVRDV is an architecture studio based in Rotterdam, founded in 1991 by Winy Maas, Jacob van Rijs and Nathalie de Vries.

Elsewhere in the Hague, MVRDV is developing a pair of mixed-use towers that will feature natural stone facades that stagger into wooden outdoor spaces on top.

Visuals courtesy of MVRDV.

Project credits:

Architect: MVRDV
Partner in charge: Winy Maas, Jan Knikker
Design team: Lisa Ulbrich, Gustavo van Staveren, Emilie Koch, Fedor Bron, Elien Deceuninck Visualisations: Kirill Emelianov
Strategy and development: Amanda Rooseboom, Miruna Dunu
Advisor: Shireen Poyck
Neighbourhood organisations: Grachten Open / Buurtplatform Oude Centrum eo (Bob Willem van Hooft, Chris Schram, Jan Elsinga, Shireen Poyck); Wijkorganisatie Oude Centrum / Spinozakracht (Karlijne Scholts, Marieke de Jong, Jan van den Brink)

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