In this week’s comment update, readers share their thoughts on the feasibility of suspended shelving in a university library and question the aesthetics of an at-home insemination kit.

Novel idea: suspended shelving in this renovated library at Cornell University has Dezeen readers worrying about logistics and making comparisons to well-known retailers.

“I can’t imagine how this could be anything but an acoustic nightmare,” said Aaron, giving thought to the library’s intended use. “A giant hard-surfaced void where every footfall strikes metal grating. Doesn’t seem conducive to the quiet focus most strive for in a reading room.”

Nivora had the same concern: “It’s unfortunate they don’t write anything about the acoustics, it’s a vital aspect of the function and this building seems hard to create a good comfort for that.”

“Imagine having to clean that floor underneath,” pondered Sim. “Maybe they’ll employ those robot hoovers for the floor.”

The design reminded Ty-Phoo-Suk of a children’s film: “They made the Monsters Inc-door storage scene into a library, even the curvy transport rail made it in.”

Thisismattia’s comparison, on the other hand, was less magical: “All the warmth of studying in an Amazon warehouse can be yours too at Cornell!”

“Looks like an IKEA warehouse,” agreed John.

This reader felt the library’s renovation missed its mark:

What does Wolfgang Tschapeller’s renovation remind you of? Join the discussion ›

Baby making: an artificial insemination tool that doubles as a sex toy has commenters questioning whether such a design was necessary and pondering its materiality.

“Is it made of plasteline?” asked Donacio Cejas Acosta. While another commenter felt the product was more suited to the kitchen than bedroom: “It looks a lot like a roll of raw ham,” fabian-k.-z. said.

“Why? Is there a shortage of children on the planet?” asked Pierre with a hint of sarcasm.

Other commenters were more complimentary.

“Thoughtful!” said LoveYourHairHopeYouWin, with trewus describing the tool as “stunning and brave!”

“You may think that pleasure can improve the success of insemination,” said ARCHIPLAIN thoughtfully, adding: “Even if I do not know precise statistics or scientific studies on the subject.”

This commenter felt the design tackled the wrong aspect of procreation:

What do you think of the design? Join the discussion ›

Beachside the point: BIG and landscape architecture firm James Corner Field Operations have revealed plans for a mixed-use development on the waterfront in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Commenters are far from won over by the beach included in the proposal that the firms say could bolster the resiliency of the shoreline.

“Ocean rise equals future fish habitat,” said Benny. “Nice to have an aquarium downstairs in one’s own building.”

Patrick Sardo expressed similar concerns: “This’ll look really good underwater after another hurricane hits the city.”

Other readers felt the additional housing, and therefore people, in the area will be unsustainable.

“Who’s going to occupy these apartments, and how will the L train, already way overcrowded, handle these new residents?” asked Janice Kirkwood, adding: “Williamsburg on the weekend is already a traffic jam of Ubers.”

“Will be interesting to see how these folks will fit onto the already packed L train,” said Alon, in a similar vein.

Stuy guy offered some words of reassurance to those with transport concerns: “It’s right by a ferry dock, Citi Bikes, and not too far from Marcy J train, so that should help.”

“Sure sign your development is out of scale with the context when it can’t even avoid casting a shadow on itself,” commented HeywoodFloyd.

One reader felt the renderings looked familiar:

Will the development cause more problems than it solves? Join the discussion ›

Deck the halls: commenters are lamenting Yinka Ilori’s stylised Christmas tree designed for London’s Sanderson hotel.

“Nothing says ‘Christmas!’ more strongly than the space capsule that sent John Glenn into orbit,” chris_becket commented sarcastically.

LoveYourHairHopeYouWin felt similarly: “If he didn’t say it’s a Christmas tree, would you still call it a Christmas tree?”

“Nonsense,” MarkR declared, adding: “Might as well call every triangular object a Christmas tree, and never have a dedicated proper Christmas tree ever again.”

“This is not a Christmas tree,” proclaimed Kadmos. “It is a pile of discarded samples of cloth material.”

But the tree is not without fans.

“Playful, imaginative and avoids all that fey tat that has become associated with Christmas,” described orangikaupapa in defence. “I like this man’s work.”

Geofbob also enjoyed the tree’s deviation from the norm: “Eye-catching, playful change from the conventionally decorated fir tree – and no needles to hoover up daily!”

This reader couldn’t decide what the tree looked like:

Is Yinka Ilori’s tree a decoration too far? Join the discussion ›

The post “How to not solve a non-existent problem” appeared first on Dezeen.

Here’s a small package design detail revealing that the designer thought things through:

These are from Austrian drill bit manufacturer Alpen Drills. Image credit: xelu

The hole in the hang tab has been offset to compensate for the weight of the bits, so it will hang perfectly plumb on a store display.

Of course I still wish they weren’t encased in single-use plastic, but I guess you can’t have everything.

Passionné par le cyberpunk – un genre de science-fiction dystopique -, le photographe Roland Millsaps est perpétuellement à la recherche de paysages qui pourraient y ressembler. Si la ville Chattanooga, au Tennessee, où il vit, n’est pas forcément connue pour ses vibes cyberpunk, Roland Millsaps est tout de même parvenu à donner des allures de science-fiction à sa ville. Certaines photographies ont été retouchées, d’autres sont restées intactes, mais toutes reprennent les codes du cyberpunk.  

Images : © Roland Millsaps. Facebook, Instagram

In the US, it is difficult to think of a product that has impacted the past, present, and even the future of our nation more so than the automobile. Unfortunately, climate change looms large in that future. Where as the US has made some progress in switching to fossil-fuel alternatives in the last decade (though recently that has been stifled by the current administration), progress has been undercut by the fact that the nation continues to put more cars on the road. So much so that in recent years, transportation has replaced power plants as the prime culprit of greenhouse gas emissions in the US today.

Which isn’t surprising, as so much of the US infrastructure is designed around cars, and in many parts of the US, even major metropolitan areas, one can hardly get to work or buy groceries without owning a car. The common refrain is that we ‘love’ cars in the US, but upon closer examination, what has been interpreted as love looks more like fixation or even addiction.

Which is demonstrated by how the US is using cars. A third of all trips in the this country are under 2 miles and 75 percent of car commutes are by done with one person in the car. Overall, nearly 86 percent of all miles traveled in cities, are done so by private car. Which illustrates a clear contradiction between the design of cars and their actual usage. The failure of cars as a transportation solution is made most devastatingly clear in the way that it is affecting the global climate.

Photo by David Anderson

Unsurprisingly, the goals set out by the UN IPCC are not even close to being met. A recent study published inNature found that the only possible way to limit warming of 1.5°C, is to cancel all fossil-fuel infrastructure projects. Which doesn’t bode well, as in several major cities across the US, over $26 billion in highway construction projects are currently well underway. California is exemplary of our car problem, for despite higher state fuel-efficiency regulations, their transportation emissions have gone up in recent years due to the fact that there are much more cars being driven than there were in decades past.

One might be tempted to think that electric cars are the solution to this problem. Which is both right and wrong. Though it is necessary to move away from fossil-fuels, if everyone were to drive electric cars in the same way that we drive our gas-powered cars today, the carbon reduction would in fact be cancelled out by electrification. Not only that, but if to switch over the entire fleet of US cars to electric would require “18 times the world’s current cobalt production, about nine times global neodymium output, nearly seven times global lithium production, and about four times world copper production.” reports The Hill.

image courtesy of Kruzat

Betting everything on electric vehicles alone is not a realistic solution. Inevitably the nation must move away from away from fossil-fuels and there simply needs to be less cars on the road. In design, there is a desperate need for new transportation solutions, especially in the urban environment. Several cities around the world like Madrid, Oslo, and Bogotá have been working to diligently to remove private vehicles from city centers, and expand public transportation as well as bikeways for residents. To curb our impact on the climate, the US must follow suit.

Herald Square, New York City, 1973

Ironically, cars are one of a great examples of how design can change the world, but if things don’t change quickly that change will have been for the worse. The global climate crisis is more pronounced than ever, and if the US and the world is to curb the climate crisis to any degree, designing new transportation alternatives is one of the most important undertakings that governments and global industry must address.

title image by Rajesh Appalla

Little did Leo Ochoa know, the work from his summer job as a wildlife firefighter many years ago, would give his spine, of all things, back problems. The risk of backache exists practically with every profession… whether it involves long hours on foot, heavy lifting, or even sitting on an uncomfortable chair at work for half a day. For Leo, a short stint as a firefighter was enough for him to feel the fatigue on his spine. Once he realized that he wasn’t the only one, and that almost everyone past a certain age feels spinal fatigue (most people normalize it), Leo went on to develop the Dorsum Exospine.

The Dorsum Exospine is a wearable that gives you a second-spine to help distribute the load and effort, keeping your back safe and preventing injury or chronic aches. Molded from a thermoplastic polymer, the Dorsum Exospine is a combination of lightweight, supportive, and flexible materials. It integrates into a minimal shoulder-strap system and a waistband that allows you to secure it to your body, while a relatively discreet design allows you to wear it under your clothes, just like any back-support belt.

We spoke with Leo Ochoa, founder of Dorsum and designer of the Dorsum Exospine about his product design journey, and how necessity led him to invent a product that would go on to help people who face back problems with a lifestyle that’s either too active or too sedentary. The Dorsum Exospine, according to Leo, is ideal for laborers, construction workers, package handlers, drivers, and stylish for even the office-going professional who faces the brunt of sitting for long hours on uncomfortable chairs.

Click Here to Buy Now: $150 $189 (20% off). Hurry, less than 72 hours left!

Yanko Design: Hey Leo, we’re very happy to be doing this interview! Tell us a little about yourself and how you came to develop the Dorsum Exospine.

Leo Ochoa: Likewise, and thank you for this opportunity to share how the Dorsum Exospine came to be. I worked for three summers as a wildland firefighter to pay for my university expenses while I was studying design. Carrying equipment and heavy packs while doing repetitive work was no fun when my back become fatigued and was in pain. But that job allowed me to pay for part of my college.

What kept me coming back to do the physical work every summer, was the feeling that my work mattered and it made a difference in other people’s lives. The best memories I have is when on the drive back to our camp, we watched from our fire trucks the local people on their front porches waving their hands and holding signs.

Those signs read; Thank You for Saving Our Town. It was that feeling of making a difference to an entire town that motivated me to push through the pain and come back every summer. My dream position then was to become a Hotshot firefighter, and be part of an elite crew with qualifications to approach and fight fires from a much closer distance. Eventually, the risk of body injury convinced me to take a different path.

The experience of fighting fires became a bigger part of me years later when studying product design at Art Center. We were given the assignment to design for future health and medical applications, and I chose to design for emergency response. Doing station visits and conducting interviews with north Los Angeles fire medics I started to notice a pattern emerge.

Every first responder I interviewed had a back injury story, from the most common of a pulled muscle, to the most severe of a herniated disc. For some first responders the injury had prevented them from returning to do the work they loved so much. Hearing how a simple back injury crushed their dreams to save lives motivated me to help and do something through design.

It doesn’t surprise me why the injuries keep happening, and part of the reason is the lack of preventative focused products in the market. I started prototyping ways to support the body by creating a flexible vertical spring-like device to help keep the user upright and allow them to bend properly while doing their job. The outcome was reimagining the first responder uniform and integrating the vertical spring in it. This was the first application of the Dorsum Exospine into apparel.

YD: Did you have any experience with back-braces before you made the Dorsum Exospine? What were your thoughts on the current solutions?

LO: My experience with back-braces was from a designer’s point of view, I wore several versions (non-injured) as a product study to understand their use. My experience validates what everyone that has worn a back-brace says, they are bulky, uncomfortable, restrict movement, and soon become warm and sweaty. You don’t feel good wearing them. My thoughts are that they serve the function for what they were intended to be used for, post-injury and restrict the body from movement. My design perspective though, is that back-braces are antiquated and some are over-engineered. Their material is not breathable, use too much layering, and the design is unattractive. They serve a purpose, but desperately need a modern design and more innovation.

The Dorsum Exospine is different and the opposite of a back-brace. It is designed to be flexible, and supportive while moving with the user and adapt to their everyday movements. It supports the upper, mid, and lower regions of the back, and all focused on reducing the risk of injury.

YD: There’s this common theory that people with back problems shouldn’t be engaging in any activity that causes them strain. What prompted you to design a product that goes against this theory that’s so ingrained within everyone’s minds?

LO: In design reviews with our medical experts, I learned that theory is outdated in many ways and needs clarification. There is a spectrum of back problems, from the most common affecting the muscles, to the most severe, affecting the joints and discs. It all depends on the severity of the injury of course. If the skeletal or spinal structure is affected, the best solution is to prevent movement until the bones are correctly aligned.

For common strain from overuse of the muscles around the spine, as long as all vertebrae are correctly aligned, the best solution for the body is to continue being active. When the body remains active, more blood which carries oxygen is delivered to the injured area, and waste is removed for consistent recovery. It is healthy to have blood pumping through your spine, and proper posture to engage your core muscles, even while sitting.

The Dorsum Exospine is not a brace and is designed to be worn to keep your spine aligned while doing activities requiring repetitive movement. Research shows when the spine is properly aligned, added weight to the body is distributed evenly, and the risk of injury is significantly reduced. Although it is not a brace, it is a postural support and encouragement of proper body mechanics as an injury is healing, which is extremely important to long term recovery.

YD: What age-bracket do you see most Dorsum Exospine users falling under?

LO: We designed the Dorsum Exospine for everyone, but we see it being used primarily by the 25-45 age-bracket. This age group is developing the awareness that by investing in one’s health early on, one can prevent or delay an injury from happening. They understand the importance of maintaining an active life but are also the ones taking jobs that put their bodies at high risk of injury.

YD: Guide us through the design process of the Dorsum Exospine. How did you arrive at the final form?

LO: It has been a challenging process with a lot of learning at each step of the way. User insights along the way showed us we needed to adjust the functional requirements, changing the entire design three times. For the function of the spine I took inspiration from automotive leaf spring suspensions systems. Also pulling from my past experience in footwear and designing healthcare devices, I first created a lacing system that would control the tension when bringing the Dorsum Exospine closer to the body.

With feedback from our focus groups of first responders, we first designed a ballistic heavy duty utility vest to be worn over clothing. Then the preference was for the function to be more slim, flexible, and comfortable while sitting. This was our biggest challenge by far, and it took us many months until we found a breakthrough. Finally, we were able to design the product in a way that is adjustable and collapsible for maximum flexibility. This became a lighter version of the previous design but one that could be worn underneath workwear and closer to the body. The request for the product to be more breathable lead us in the direction of the final version.

YD: What sort of prototypes did you make? What materials were you considering for the Dorsum Exospine?

LO: For the outerwear utility vest we used ballistic nylon fabric with power mesh for breathability with the Dorsum Exospine being made from 100% carbon fiber. We could make the product paper-thin, super lightweight, and very supportive. Using these advanced composites meant the Dorsum Exospine could be used under extreme hot temperatures in case it needed to go into burning structures to fight a fire. To add flexibility we baked a mix of ballistic nylon and carbon fiber more specific to firefighting.

We then explored polycarbonate and spring steel to make a slimmer version of the Dorsum Exospine, that would fit into a lite vest/jersey style using compression fabrics. This created new challenges with adjustability and later the winning design was the final version using elastic bands, ballistic nylon, and breathable mesh fabrics.

YD: Is the Dorsum Exospine curative/rehabilitative? Or does one wear it all their life?

LO: The Dorsum Exospine was designed and created to help reduce the risk of the most common back injuries, from muscular overuse and repetitive motion strains. It is a postural and ergonomic enhancer used to increase the functional movement of the wearer. It supports the body by encouraging the wearer to move properly throughout the repetitive movement the workday requests. It bolsters the body with three points of contact, supporting the upper thoracic, mid-thoracic, and lumbar spine regions. The wearer is effortlessly reminded to maintain natural spinal alignment and activate proper muscle groups while lifting and performing repetitive movements. When proper postural and ergonomic technique is maintained, injury is significantly less likely to occur.

The Dorsum Exospine back support is focused on prevention rather than rehabilitation. Wearing the device gives the user postural feedback to let them know when they’re in and out of alignment. It gently guides the user into correct posture while also teaching the wearer what proper posture feels like. It is not intended for a person to wear the product all their life, only while performing activities increasing the risk of body injury. We are finding from our testers that after wearing it, makes their bodies create muscle memory in their minds and they are much more likely to maintain proper posture even when not wearing the device.

YD: Can the Dorsum Exospine be worn with backpacks or while exercising or sleeping?

LO: Absolutely, by wearing the Dorsum Exospine with a backpack you feel more supported, the weight of the pack is evenly distributed along your entire back activating more the function of this Postural Aid. You can also wear the Dorsum Exospine while working out, especially in activities requiring you to maintain a straight back and hold that posture position for long periods of time. Using it while exercising has become a big request from or customers. Wearing it while sleeping is only functional if you sleep face up, so you can apply the weight of your body through your back directly on the back supporter. This will keep your lumbar curve supported the entire time you sleep.

YD: What sort of feedback are you getting on the Dorsum Exospine? Are there any useful suggestions from the users?

LO: We’ve been getting great feedback and the top two suggestions and requests have been, 1 – to make the Dorsum Exospine more specific to exercising and weightlifting, and 2 – integration of the Dorsum Exospine with body armor.

YD: I believe the Dorsum Exospine is just one of the products under Dorsum’s company line. What else are you working on?

LO: Without revealing too much, I can say we have continued working on a more advanced, heavy duty version that requires more development time, it’s on our innovation track. But that’s not to say the suggestions from our users won’t make it into our product line and to the market sooner.

Click Here to Buy Now: $150 $189 (20% off). Hurry, less than 72 hours left!