Hasta La Ideas

The world’s health systems are feeling immense pressure to catch up with Covid-19’s reach and speed. With over 400,000 worldwide cases (and still growing), the contagion is spreading so rapidly that health professionals are worried because facilities are already overflowing. We have already seen many countries like Italy, Spain, and China treating people in corridors, makeshift tents, and on streets by simply laying a sheet because beds are not available. The global community, from designers and startups to big fashion and alcohol brands, has been helping out by using all their resources to support the health system. Italian start-up Isinnova has 3D printed valves for ventilators, New York start-up Air Co. is making carbon-negative hand sanitizers to donate, Kering (Gucci’s parent company) and beer maker BrewDog have offered money and production lines to make items needed for the pandemic. The most important need of the hour, apart from the hope of a vaccine, are hospital beds and especially ICUs. The supply is nowhere close to the demand – the USA has 2.8 beds per 1000 people, while a country like India with a population of 1.3 billion only has 0.5 beds per 1000 people. Because there is no international standard for how many beds a country must have in hospitals, there is a huge disparity and despite Italy having 3.2 beds per 1000 people, which is more than India and the USA, it is still grappling with the reality of only treating those with a higher survival rate due to the lack of resources. These heroes are doing everything they can but due to the absence of adequate infrastructure, their efforts to contain the spread can quickly become futile if the space used is unhygienic, so Italian architects Carlo Ratti and Italo Rota have come up with a solution – Intensive Critical Unit (ICU) pods made from shipping containers!

These ICU pods are called CURA (Connected Units for Respiratory Ailments) which means “cure” in Latin (doesn’t that make you feel a little better?) and these will help take some load off the hospitals, especially in Italy. Ratti’s Studio, Carlo Ratti Associati, and MIT’s Senseable City Lab are creating mobile field hospitals with these CURA Intensive Care pods that serve as a biocontainment unit for two patients at a time. “The aim is that they can be quickly deployed in cities around the world, promptly responding to the shortage of ICU space in hospitals and the spread of the disease,” explained the CURA team as they build the first prototype unit at a hospital in Milan. These units can be set up as fast as tents with the benefit of having hospital-level hygiene which will help contain the infection and especially help those suffering from acute respiratory problems as they need intense care. This will also ensure that the health professionals remain safe while treating the infected who will have a better chance at recovery in the biocontainment units. “Whatever the evolution of this pandemic, it is expected that more ICUs will be needed internationally in the next few months,” says a spokesperson from the CURA team.

The pods can be assembled and disassembled very quickly, and because it is a shipping container, it can be moved from epicenter to epicenter by road, rail, and ship, around the world to address the need for more ICUs. The units are designed in repurposed 6.1-meter-long (approximately 8 feet x 8.5 feet) shipping containers with a ventilation system that generates negative pressure inside – this prevents the contaminated air from escaping thus reducing the risk of infecting health professionals who are more vulnerable because of a shortage of protective gear. This is a common technique used in hospitals and laboratories and the designers have created CURA to comply with Airborne Infection Isolation Rooms (AIIRs) standards. Each of the ICU pods will have all the medical equipment needed to support two coronavirus Covid-19 intensive-care patients at a time. The beautiful part about CURA is that it is modular – each pod could work as a stand-alone unit or multiple pods can be connected with an inflatable structure to create a bigger intensive care center. These were designed keeping in mind that they would be an expansion to existing hospitals by being set-up in their parking area but have the flexibility to be turned into a larger field hospital if needed. “CURA aims to improve the efficiency of existing solutions in the design of field hospitals, tailoring them to the current pandemic,” explained the team who are working hard to do their bit as non-health professionals in supporting those at the frontline of this outbreak.

While we can’t match the contribution of health professionals, the world needs every single person to play their part right now – designers, engineers, creative professionals, manufacturers, start-ups, brands are all called upon to offer any and every service they can to help ease the ache mankind is feeling. And if you don’t have anything to offer, you still have an equally powerful role to play in breaking the exponential transmission chain by simply staying indoors. Let’s flatten the curve, Avengers assemble…in your homes!

Designers: Carlo Ratti Associati with Italo Rota (Design and Innovation), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Design and Innovation), Humanitas Research Hospital (Medical Engineering), Policlinico di Milano (Medical Consultancy), Jacobs (Alberto Riva – Master Planning, design, construction and logistics support services), Studio FM Milano (Visual identity & graphic design), Squint/Opera (Digital media), Alex Neame of Team Rubicon UK (Logistics), Ivan Pavanello of Projema (MEP Engineering), Dr. Maurizio Lanfranco of Ospedale Cottolengo (Medical Consultancy).

The Ashmolean – the University of Oxford’s museum of art and archaeology – was founded by Alias Ashmole in 1683, when it became the world’s first public museum. If over three centuries of history isn’t enough, inside visitors will find 500,000 years’ worth of art, archaeology and other historic artefacts.

As part of a strategy overhaul, the museum enlisted design studio Blast to create a new identity that would help to improve brand awareness and ultimately expand the museum’s reach – in terms of both the size and diversity of its audience.

Yet the refresh was born out of a need to modernise, too. “From a practical point of view the previous logo and descriptor lock-up had legibility problems,” explains Paul Tunicliffe, director of Blast. “It wasn’t designed to work effectively across digital platforms and there were problems with creating appealing branded products and merchandise.”

First and foremost was the logo redesign, which is now represented by a crisp, geometric serif A complete with an extended crossbar, “inspired by the concept of a timeline”. The new logo is designed to create a “bold, recognisable symbol for the Ashmolean, a distinctive shorthand mark, recognisable at small sizes and from distance,” Tunnicliffe says.

“The logo is designed to form the cornerstone for typographic layouts, signposting information, dates, events, art or artefacts,” he adds. The new logo was formed with flexibility in mind, giving freedom to adopt a range of layouts and, crucially, hitting the right notes across digital touchpoints – whether the Ashmolean’s online platforms or the information screens within the museum. Blast also developed a new tagline for the institution: ‘Inspiring minds, since 1683’.

Beyond the logo, the aspect of the overhaul that arguably jumps out most is the colour palette, which now welcomes flashes of colour akin to those seen in Pop Art. “We wanted a vibrant palette to keep communication fresh and engaging,” Tunnicliffe says. But it wasn’t a case of throwing away the history books altogether; hidden amongst the grabby colours are subtle allusions to the Ashmolean’s rich heritage. “The brand colour palette is inspired by the vibrant colours of the museum’s galleries, paired with the more subtle colours of the exterior stonework.”

Creating a digitally minded brand identity for any historic institution is difficult at the best of times, but particularly for one associated with both a city and a university both heavily steeped in history. The Blast team were cautious of this, highlighting the importance of “reflecting the beauty and history of the Ashmolean”. However, they saw how imperative it was to freshen things up in order to work across multiple formats and ultimately attract modern audiences. Even for the world’s oldest public museum, “creating a brand identity suitable for the digital age is key.”

blast.co.uk

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Stanford University‘s Folding@home project allows users to donate unused computer power to run simulations of how the novel coronavirus is structured – and how ultimately, it could be treated.

Up until now the initiative has focused on modelling diseases such as Alzheimer’s and breast cancer.

Now Folding@home has turned its attention to coronavirus, also known as SARS-CoV-2, which has infected almost 335 thousand people across 190 territories.

“A lot of people are going to suffer, and even die, until someone finds vaccines or therapeutics for the virus,” said Folding@home director Professor Greg Bowman.

“We, collectively as a species, should be trying every possible avenue to find treatments,” Bowman told Dezeen.

“My lab and collaborators have been working on a number of viruses recently, especially Ebola, and expect the same approaches will be equally applicable to SARS-CoV-2.”

Software turns computers into hive mind

The project is based on a distributed computer system, meaning it draws on the dormant processing capabilities of numerous computers.

The computers are connected into a kind of hive mind via a downloadable software, allowing the system to run calculations with greater speed and efficiency than any individual device.

This is necessary to do the complex work of simulating how the proteins that make up the novel coronavirus behave and where there could be potential binding sites for drugs to latch on to.

The protein structures, which a virus uses to reproduce and suppress our immune system, are bounded together in a process called folding. Crucially, this structure isn’t stagnant but continually folding and unfolding.

“We’re simulating how every atom in the protein moves as time progresses,” said Bowman.

“To do this, we have a model of what the protein looks like and keep asking over and over: where is each atom in the protein going to be at a point in the future, given how all the atoms in the protein are pushing and pulling on each other?”

Simulations require lots of processing power

These simulations take a huge amount of computational power.

According to Bowman, simulating a single protein could take between a hundred and millions of years if executed on a single desktop computer.

“We’ve developed algorithms for breaking these enormous calculations into lots of small pieces that can be run in parallel on different computers,” he said.

“Think of it as trying to explore a new planet by having one astronaut walk around, versus having lots of astronauts fan out and explore different parts of the planet. In this analogy, the astronauts are the simulations and the planet is the set of different shapes that a protein can adopt as all of its parts move about.”

Race to discover how drugs can bind to virus

Through these simulations, Bowman’s team is hoping to identify where drugs could bind to the virus’ proteins in order to disrupt them.

“We call these sites ‘cryptic’ pockets and have made a lot of progress on finding them in simulations and then experimentally confirming that they exist to provide new opportunities for drug design,” he explained.

So far, the team has already managed to find a few promising cryptic pockets. Now they are working with experimental collaborators to help design small molecules that may target the virus’ different proteins.

“Each simulation is like buying a lottery ticket”

Any data gathered through the project will also be shared with laboratories around the world as part of an open science collaboration, to power research into how we might develop therapeutic antibodies.

“Open sourcing our data is the intellectual equivalent of our distributed computing paradigm,” said Bowman.

“Hypothetically, our labs can extract all the useful information from these simulations. But if a lot of people look at the data, we can get all the useful information more quickly.”

Although computers with powerful graphics processing units for use in gaming or mining cryptocurrency are the most effective, even older, slower laptops can help by downloading the software from the Folding@home website and selecting to contribute to “Any Disease”.

“Each simulation is like buying a lottery ticket,” said Bowman. “The more machines and the faster they are, the more tickets we can buy and the better chance we have of beating the virus.”

On Friday, the World Health Organisation launched a global trial of four possible treatments, that have so far been deemed the most promising.

Among these is the malarial medications chloroquine, which US President Donald Trump falsely claimed had already been approved for use in treating the coronavirus.

His statements led multiple people to self-administer the drug, including an elderly man in Arizona as well as three people in Nigeria, who overdosed and subsequently died.

In lieu of a cure, many designers have turned to devising products that could instead help to contain the spread of the coronavirus, such as a sterilising lamp, an electrically-charged, graphene face mask and a full-body shield powered by UV light.

The post Software creates computer hive mind to help find coronavirus cure appeared first on Dezeen.

Quite simply the most elegantly designed dust-collecting apparatus I’ve seen in a while, Eva Solo’s Sweep dustpan perfectly complements the house it finds itself in. Unlike most plastic dustpans that take on a utilitarian approach to the act of cleaning, the Sweep does its job both by being effective at gathering dust, as well as aesthetic when not in use. The two-part product comes with a circular design that splits into an Oakwood broom with silicone bristles that efficiently gather dust and debris, along with a matte-black plastic pan that uses a hollow semicircular design to scoop the dust collected by the broom.

The broom’s soft form is easy to hold and even features a thumb-hole that allows you to grip it well. The Sweep even comes with a leather lanyard that lets you hang it anywhere around the house, because let’s just agree that this is one household cleaning accessory you wouldn’t mind letting guests look at!

Designer: Eva Solo

The racing world’s lesser-known discipline proves as exhilarating as its counterparts

Formed in 1932 by the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA), Class A Pro Flat Track Racing was the USA’s original extreme sport. Like the early days of the Grand Prix, where carmakers put new technologies to the test, American Flat Track (AFT) was a stage for motorcycle companies to try out innovations that would later be applied to street bikes. Competition in any field yields fertile ground for growth but when companies are literally racing head to head, it hastens developments in capability and safety. A lot of the tech we take for granted in our cars and motorcycles stems from racing. And while cars are seen as a necessity for many, motorcycles are perceived as an indulgence for few. But AFT could be a major player in changing that perception through its racing series and its brand partnerships.

Racing can appear an exercise in frivolity: with myriad sponsors chasing eyeballs to drive sales, athletes chasing personal glory and venues chasing attendance numbers. While that’s certainly part of racing, it’s a small part—especially when it comes to American Flat Track. As we discovered when attending our first AFT race at The Meadowlands, it’s a grassroots organization with an authenticity that’s undeniable—and perhaps surprising. It’s also enthralling.

Despite knowing nothing about AFT superstar Jared Mees (whose dominance was cemented last season when he went six-for-six at the highly challenging mile long tracks, where speeds can reach 140mph) or rising talent for the overall championship, Briar Bauman, we found ourselves captivated by the chase. We also found ourselves eager to get out on a motorcycle—and therein lies the other cornerstone of AFT.

As much as the organization is about competition for both riders and brands it’s also about the collective goal of fostering new talent and interest—something made abundantly clear to us by American Flat Track’s CEO Michael Lock. When he took the helm in 2016 he saw massive potential in America’s oldest motorbike racing series and in the public’s enthusiasm for motorcycling in general. Through careful stewardship of the brand and refinement of the racing format itself, AFT has seen impressive growth in the past three seasons. A major element has been attracting new riders and audiences to the AFT Fan Zone where manufacturers have their latest bikes on display—and oftentimes available for test rides. Lock’s mission has been to make AFT as accessible as possible and riding a motorcycle less intimidating.

The most crucial factor for the sport and its increasing popularity is safety. One such development here is that airbag racing suits will be mandatory in the SuperTwins class for the 2020 season, Lock says that will eventually extend to Production Twins and Singles as well. As we saw during the season finale races a number of riders already wear Dainese’s D-Air racing suits with inflatable chest and shoulder sections, and it’s a good thing as crashes occur with regularity.

Given that flat track racing differs greatly from MotoGP, the calibration of these suits needed to be specific to AFT. The Dainese-sponsored Estenson Racing team tested the D-Air system during the 2019 season to help refine the algorithm needed to minimize unintentional inflation during hard impact (say, from landing a jump during a TT style race). Having added this new level of safety to the premier racing class, Lock expects AFT to be seen as a pioneer in better protection of its athletes.

Since our first day of racing and exploration, we’ve found ourselves eager for the 2020 season (upcoming events have been rescheduled and the first race is now on 30 May 2020, check the site for updates). Indian and Harley-Davidson will once again be battling it out (as they have since the 1930s) but there are a number of new storylines in AFT that we’re excited to follow as well. Captivating new talent like Shayna Texter—the first woman to win an AFT main event and now winningest rider in AFT Singles Class history—are poised to succeed and entertain. Royal Enfield will bring their all-women flat track team to select races in 2020 as part of their BUILD TRAIN RACE program, for which four women will build custom bikes (using the Royal Enfield INT 650 as the base) and subsequently race them in the AFT Singles Class. It’s exciting to see the oldest continuously operating motorcycle manufacturer in the world getting involved with AFT and doing so in a way that will bolster and encourage women within the sport.

As Lock tells us, he sees AFT going global and believes it’s just a matter of time. When he brought a dozen AFT riders (including stars Mees and Texter) to the UK for the Goodwood Festival of Speed in 2017, their reception was more than warm—it was fevered, with fans scrambling for autographs. And that was before Lock had secured better broadcast deals, revised the race day run-of-show and grown participation in the AFT Contingency Program to include eight motorcycle manufacturers and six brands, pushing the total amount of funds available to riders to $3+ million. Bigger payouts across all three classes means higher stakes and more drama, which leads to more viewers. Having found a balance between the entertainment of vintage slug-it-out racing that made American Flat Track popular in the 20th century and utilizing the latest safety equipment, AFT is poised to have another breakout season.

Images by Andrew Maness