Over the years, the smartphone camera has become one of the most advanced and pop photography and videography tools on the planet… the hand holding the camera, however, hasn’t evolved as much. No matter how good your phone’s optical/digital image stabilization is, you can always tell the difference between a handheld shot versus a stabilized/tripod shot. For the most part, that distinction existed because while cameras became popular and consumer-friendly, gimbals and stabilizers have still always been expensive professional tools. All that changes with the PowerVision S1, the world’s most compact smartphone gimbal with a built-in 3-axis stabilizer, a wireless power bank, a tripod, and even AI tracking for those completely hands-free shots.

Click Here to Buy Now: $189 $249 (24% off). Hurry, less than 48 hours left!

Designed to be the size of a power bank, the PowerVision S1 is quite literally a tiny, AI-powered film crew. It can track and follow subjects, stabilize video footage (without degrading the quality like your phone’s digital stabilizer), and comes bundled with an app that lets you automatically stream to your social media, or even edit the videos in post. If that wasn’t enough, the PowerVision S1 is also a wireless power bank that lets you charge your phone (at 10W) in between shots, keeping your video-setup going for longer so you can take that extra take or make that blooper reel to share with your fans and followers.

Check out the review by Unbox Therapy.

The hardware of the PowerVision S1 is perhaps one of the most impressive designs and engineering feats I’ve seen. Gimbals can often be extremely large devices (often the size of a human torso) because of the large film cameras they need to support. What the PowerVision S1 does is scale that tech down to the size of your palm, while keeping it just as effective as larger stabilizing gimbals with more robust motors.

The 3-axis stabilizer comes with a universal mount on top that allows you to magnetically snap any smartphone onto it in portrait or landscape. The magnetic mounting system is made possible via a magnetic case that attaches to your smartphone. The case serves multiple purposes – aside from protecting your phone from damage and supporting the PowerVision S1’s magnetic mounting feature, it comes with its own kickstand that lets you prop the phone up anywhere, and the magnetic mount works universally – on car-mounts as well as on metallic surfaces like gym equipment or your refrigerator.

The case even supports wireless charging, allowing the PowerVision S1’s passthrough wireless charging system to juice up your phone’s battery. If your phone already has a case of its own, PowerVision S1 also has just a mounting accessory that sticks to your existing case via a strong adhesive.

Once you’ve got the case/mount assembled, your stabilizer ready, and the camera app running, the PowerVision S1’s software chops take over, turning the tiny device into an AI-powered camera crew. Aside from simply stabilizing your videos and allowing you to perform clever camera movements like panning, twisting, etc., the PowerVision S1 has AI-based facial tracking and body tracking, so it can follow subjects as they move around within the frame or even outside the frame.

The device can be used as a handheld stabilizer, a selfie stick, and even as a hands-free rig, thanks to a built-in tripod that lets you place your phone anywhere on a flat surface.

Adding further to its hands-free experience, the PowerVision S1 even has gesture recognition that lets you start/stop recording or tracking, and even click pictures on a timer.

A free-to-use smartphone app even lets you add pro-level production features to your photo/video content, like taking automatic time-lapses, editing videos, adding filters, transitions, and subtitles, or even directly streaming to your social media accounts or video conferences.

The S1 is the latest in PowerVision’s lineup of robotic devices. Founded in 2009, the company developed multiple aerial and marine drones – so cameras, stabilizers, and AI videography tools are definitely in their wheelhouse. While their drones have always been for more specialized purposes, the S1 is perhaps their truly consumer-grade product. It’s compact, lightweight, intuitive, and brings multiple pro-level features to your smartphone’s pro-level camera, allowing you to upgrade your photo and video game, be it for vlogs, events, sports, filmmaking, social content, or even business/commercial use… and when you’re done, it either doubles into a wireless power bank for your phone, or slides right into your pocket!

Designer: PowerVision

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Less is more when it comes to creativity. Less technology, less social media, less WiFi unlocks and taps into more of what truly inspires us to create. Artist residencies provide those quiet spaces in family homes and cabins alike, with limited access to technological luxuries, pushing creatives to do what they do best– create. Commissioned by Galway’s week-long multidisciplinary residency Drop Everything, architect and interior designer Jordan Ralph debuted his own off-grid artist residency, Studio Drop. Founded in 2012, Drop Everything brings international artists to the edge of Inis Oírr, the smallest of the Aran Islands, stationed on the unruly Atlantic coastline.

Following a visit to Galway where he collaborated with boat builders to revive ‘Loveen,’ the Galway Hooker fishing boat, Ralph felt inspired to reinterpret those building techniques when constructing Studio Drop. Cladded with larch wood, a type of timber that’s grown in sustainable plantations, Studio Drop gradually twirls into a short cylindrical frame with a discreetly pitched bottom skirt. Studio Drop was given a natural green painted finish to complement the rocky coastline capped with seaweed and sea moss. Beneath the wooden panels that encase Studio Drop’s interiors, the residency was built on an overlaid steel structure once again inspired by the construction of traditional Galway Hooker boats.

Inside Studio Drop, only a wooden bench bends around the studio’s walls, and a hammock daybed woven from a trawler net collected after it washed ashore following a coastal winter storm hangs overhead. The studio retains its Irish boating origin story even when it comes to its natural insulation method. Kept warm during cold Galway winters with sheep’s wool insulation, the insulating cushion is held in position with the same trawler nets from which the day bed is woven. When inspiration comes knocking from the outdoors, artists and residents can relax on the structure’s exterior bench positioned right beneath the studio’s window facing the sea. Otherwise, residents can climb to the roof using the studio’s exterior ladder to access fuller panoramic views and nighttime stargazing.

Designer: Jordan Ralph

Stationed atop the rocky cliffside of Galway’s Atlantic coastline, Studio Drop can bring artists to the height of their creative potential.

Isolated, for the most part, Studio drop is a stripped-down artist residency for creatives ready to leave the modern world behind for a moment.

The studio’s exterior window ledge doubles as a bench for coastal views.

An exterior ladder brings residents to Studio Drop’s roof, offering unfettered views of the wild Atlantic sea.

Painted a sea moss green, Studio Drop’s exterior complements the blue-green sea and seaweed strewn rocks.

Inside, trawler netting props up sheep’s wool insulation and weaves a hammock daybed for sleeping.

Jordan Ralph reinterpreted the boat-building methods used to construct Galway ‘Loveen’ boats to build Studio Drop.

Four pavilions including a giant seashell and a colourful archway have opened in Toronto as part of the coronavirus-delayed annual Winter Stations event.

Opening late due to delays caused by a coronavirus lockdown, the Winter Stations have been built in the city rather than the usual spot of Woodbine Beach on Lake Ontario.

Four competition-winning designs have been realised around the theme of Refuge for this year’s event.

ARc de Blob is a pink arch decorated with pastel patterns of hearts and sunshine that visitors can walk through and stand underneath

Designed by an Austrian and UK-based team made up of Aleksandra Belitskaja, Ben James and Shaun McCallum, the ARc de Blob comes with an augmented reality app so people can also interact with the pavilion digitally.

The giant seashell was designed by an Iranian team of Shahed M Yengiabad, Elaheh M Yengiabad, Alemeh M Yengiabad and Mojtaba Anoosha.

Called The Epitonium, the curling shell-shaped structure invites visitors to stand inside one at a time and admire how nature creates its own refuges from the elements.

UK team Jack and Charlie Leather realised their winning design called From Small Beginnings.

Made from wooden shelves, the pavilion has a recessed bench where visitors can sit and take shelter. The shelves are full of tree saplings, which people are invited to take away with them to plant.

These three installations have been built in the Distillery Historic District, a pedestrianised arts and entertainment district built in an old 19th-century whisky distillery.

The fourth, called Throbber, is located on 33 Parliament Street just south of the district.

Designed by German duo Alexandra Grieß and Jorel Heid, Throbber is a rainbow-coloured wheel of socially distanced benches.

Its name and design come from the name given to loading graphics on computer software, and it was designed as a metaphor for how people’s lives have been put on hold during the pandemic.

The pavilions will be in place until late July, with the Winter Stations organisers hoping to move them to a spot on the beach for the rest of the summer.

Normally the pavilions are built to help Torontonian’s enjoy the beach even during the harsh Canadian winters.

“The circumstances of the last year have forced us to get creative, but thankfully creativity is in the DNA of Winter Stations,” said Winter Stations co-founders Roland Rom Colthoff.

“I can say that this year’s launch is certainly the warmest we’ve ever had in the seven years that Winter Stations has been active.”

Winter Stations was founded by architecture studios RAW Design, Ferris + Associates and Curio. Previous years pavilions have included a giant wind chime and a mock-up border wall with a bridge over the top.

The photography is by Khristel Stecher.

Winter Stations 2021 is on display at the Distillery Historic District and 33 Parliament Street until late July. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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In an edition of 200, this unframed print of Silence=Death Collective’s powerful poster—which was wheat-pasted across NYC starting in 1986, as part of the crusade for support in the fight against the HIV/AIDS crisis—continues to represent queer perseverance, unity and protest. All proceeds from the sales of each print benefit the charitable arts organization Visual AIDS. This is the first-ever fine art production print of the poster, and it’s sold through David Zwirner’s recently launched independent art gallery discovery site, Platform (and aligns with Zwirner’s multi-exhibition series, More Life).

A community centre for the homeless that overlooks Canterbury Cathedral and a cafe designed for people with disabilities are included in Dezeen’s latest school show by students at the Canterbury School of Architecture.

Also included is a “lush haven” aiming to encourage younger generations to adopt more wholesome ways of living, and a project that reimagines a derelict car park as an urban farm.

Canterbury School of Architecture

School: Canterbury School of Architecture, University for the Creative Arts Canterbury
Courses: BA Interior Architecture and Design
Tutors: Anna Maria Baranowska, Daniel Tollad and Kim Thome

School statement:

“The BA Interior Architecture and Design course at UCA Canterbury takes a multi-disciplinary approach to the transformation of unused and undervalued spaces and places. It encourages the students to embrace traditional means of designing whilst exploring the role of ‘narrative’ as a tool to unlock imagination and develop new design possibilities.

“Understanding the long-term impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on our everyday lives will take time and deep investigation to grasp. But there is a growing interest in the food that we’re eating, the natural world, and the environmental crisis that hangs heavy over all of us. There’s much more progress to be made, but as designers, this provides us with an opportunity to test, experiment and present new ideas that will one day make a positive impact on the world around us.

“Our graduating students have explored the future of hospitality, thinking about the tools and rituals involved with food and eating, the facilities that these requirements, and their ability to bring people together. How do we use hospitality to educate and reconnect people to their immediate environments? To rethink how and what we eat? And ultimately, bring people together again?”

Safe Neighbourhood by Adesola Omole

“My final project focuses on the homeless community of Canterbury. It addresses the rising cases of homelessness found in the city. Whilst some pre-existing organisations and facilities do excellent work to help them, the one thing that this specific community lack is a ‘chill’ zone – a space specifically for them.

“I wanted to remove the pressure of any preconceived social hierarchies, and I developed a community centre where they could come together, sit, eat and relax, without feeling like outcasts from the wider community.”

Student: Adesola Omole
Course: BA Interior Architecture and Design
Email: adesolaomole@hotmail.co.uk

Sunshine Dream by Anna Bacso

“Working with the Dreamland Heritage Trust, my project looks at the redevelopment of Dreamland’s Sunshine Cafe in Margate (UK). Engaging with the trust’s brief and Margate’s rich culture, I propose a space that brings the community together to promote creativity, local history and tradition.

“I wanted to represent the name ‘Sunshine Cafe’ by using the natural sunlight and colourful acrylic walls to create a playful and bright environment. The space is multifunctional and can be used for workshops, exhibitions and film screenings. There is a cafe bar and a place where archive documents are safely stored.”

Student: Anna Bacso
Course: BA Interior Architecture and Design
Email: annabacso11@gmail.com

The Safety Net by Armita Vajdi

“Connecting with your personal culture can be an issue for those that are bi-cultural. Living with two cultural identities can often lead to an individual prioritising one over the other, depending on the culture that they are currently interacting with.

‘The Safety Net aims to bring aspects of Persian culture to Iranians who have migrated to the UK in order to maintain the connection to their second identity. Members of The Safety Net are provided with exclusive benefits and services, such as a dining area with specialised cuisine, a library of cultural knowledge, a communal social space and a giant backgammon set.”

Student: Armita Vajdi
Course: BA Interior Architecture and Design
Email: armitavajdi@hotmail.com

The City Exchange by Rebecca Rumsey

“It’s 2025, and the pandemic has spiralled out of control! The severe job shortages and lack of support have meant that families cannot pay their rent and their mortgages. Homelessness is now the biggest issue that we are facing as a country.

“I propose a members club for Canterbury’s homeless community, in the city centre and in view of the famous Canterbury Cathedral. We will provide essential hygiene facilities, a laundrette and personal mailboxes and space for skills-based workshops from CV-writing to culinary classes, to help people reconnect to their former lives.”

Student: Rebecca Rumsey
Course: BA Interior Architecture and Design
Email: r.rumsey@hotmail.co.uk

Civil Agronomy Centre by Cherry Mafutala

“The year is 2030 and the continuing Covid-19 pandemic has caused extreme isolation to become the norm. To combat the negative impacts of social isolation, I am proposing a new pavilion – a new community centre that contains a cafe, marketplace, library and a therapy room to bring people together again.

“With a shared interest in farming and agriculture, there will be workshops in ecology and bee-keeping, as well as space for group therapy sessions. A circular economy to ensure that the pavilion’s organic produce is used in the café, in addition to using solar energy to power the centre.”

Student: Cherry Mafutala
Course: BA Interior Architecture and Design
Email: cherry.mafutala@yahoo.com

The Skylight Cafe by Christiane Gerges

“The Skylight Cafe has been designed for people with disabilities such as partial or complete blindness. The intention is to provide this group of people with a modern space that is easily accessible and sensitive to their needs.

“Double-height ceilings and specific materials that play with levels of transparency are key to exploring the way that light moves through the building. For those with less sight-visibility, the texture becomes an important tool to help navigate the building to create a new spatial experience. People with disabilities deserve to have a safe but also a modern space they can find comfort in.”

Student: Christiane Gerges
Course: BA Interior Architecture and Design
Email: christiane-gerges@hotmail.co.uk

New Cafe by Ineui Park

“With a newly emerging virtual culture that can be interlinked within previous architectural culture, space can be designed to allow for more enthusiastic and interactive activities and occurrences.

“Beyond the conventional cafe, providing more than just refreshments to customers, the space will offer a full experience, a virtual environment physically embodied to awaken customers senses and kickstart a new trend of hospitality hotspots.”

Student: Ineui Park
Course: BA Interior Architecture and Design
Email: ineui.park01.gmail.com

Feast! Eat the Rich by James Porritt

“The year is 2030, and the battle against Covid-19 has been lost. Food supplies are limited, and the soil in the UK has turned sour, making it difficult to meet the demands for essential nutrition. Nearly all fresh produce is imported from neighbouring countries, which is becoming increasingly more difficult due to the incompletion of Brexit.

“Society is starting to rebuild itself. However, the class divide between those who have and those who don’t is polarised. Poverty and an extreme uncertainty of when they’ll next eat. A resistance group has claimed an abandoned building in the heart of Canterbury, hijacking imports to give to those in need, and this is where we resume the story.”

Student: James Porritt
Course: BA Interior Architecture and Design
Email: James.porritt.designs@gmail.com

Lush Haven by Julia Venpin

“The narrative occurs in 2030’s Mauritius, where globalisation has led to one homogenous culture. The omnipresence of fast-food corporations offering processed foods has sucked people into the unhealthy habit of eating out.

“The goal of ‘Lush Haven’ is to allow younger generations to encounter a more primitive and wholesome way of living – reviving home-cooking and rediscovering one’s cultural identity through a communal cooking process.

“Using locally-sourced ingredients and eco-friendly materials, the eatery encourages self-sustainability by implementing horticulture and rearing livestock, creating a circular eco-system. Greenery fills up space and grows throughout the building, nature taking over and reclaiming past farmland.”

Student: Julia Venpin
Course: BA Interior Architecture and Design
Email: juliaiadstudio@gmail.com

Conquest House by Rachel Carabine–Clarke

“The Conquest House Project was inspired by the impacts of lockdown and tackling issues relating to food poverty within the local area of Canterbury. I was inspired by the local architecture and history of Canterbury so chose a building deeply rooted in the city’s history to host my final proposal.

“My final proposal is based around the narrative of the Conquest House Society, a place where people experiencing poverty and the aftereffects of the pandemic, for example, loneliness, could come to a safe space for support and equality without prejudice or societal status. I am a designer who is interested in narrative as well as materiality and texture.”

Student: Rachel Carabine–Clarke
Course: BA Interior Architecture and Design
Email: rachelcclarkedesigns@outlook.com

Vision by Radhika Chagane

“Vision is an interactive space that provides independence and a reformed reality for the blind community. The objective of this concept is to bring communities together by informing, teaching, and entertaining. It is recreating an atmosphere that reflects the old ‘normal’ through the play of light, smells and intricate clay textures.

“The space provides events, talks, therapy sessions, sensory activities, various forms of entertainment, and a play area for guide dogs. It also offers opportunities for employment by educating the blind community on cooking and serving. Making the spaces not just for the blind community but run by the blind community.”

Student: Radhika Chagane
Course: BA Interior Architecture and Design
Email: Rad_iad@hotmail.com

Network by Volen Andreev

“This project explores a future narrative of the installation of 5G towers and its controversial relation to the virus, which has triggered a fear amongst the citizens of Canterbury, Kent. In my work I depict a new establishment of safe towns where all radio wave transmission devices have been abandoned in favour of a return to analogue technology. Over time, citizens have put together an intricate and cryptic telecommunication system of towers using scavenged objects that were found in the historic streets of Canterbury.”

Student: Volen Andreev
Course: BA Interior Architecture and Design
Email: volen.andreev@gmail.com

Project 02049 by Xuchen Zhu

“As we move forward in time, the rise in popularity for public transportation gradually replaced the use and demand for private transportation. A side-effect of that is that now there are plenty of vacant underground parking lots, empty and unused. Simultaneously there is the development and promotion of renewable energy.

“Project02049 is made from 80 per cent reclaimed materials – cement, resin, reinforced concrete – and reengineers them into components for light industry and units for urban farming. A facility that inhabits empty parking lots to grow produce and provide sustenance for the urban population. Project02049 presents a sustainable path for future life.”

Student: Xuchen Zhu
Course: BA Interior Architecture and Design
Email: mikezhu2000@outlook.com

Oystcrete by Yen Ling Lee

“This project explores a future of a heavily populated world struggling to control food consumption and waste production. Small towns are forced to find methods to self-sustain and create ecosystems to manage food production and decrease waste.

“This project proposes a hub in Whitstable, Kent that uses local sources like oysters to create farming environments and converts its waste, in particular shells from the food industry, to useable construction materials.”

Student: Yen Ling Lee
Course: BA Interior Architecture and Design
Email: sarayen.archi@gmail.com

Courtyard Houses by Yihan Chen

“China’s rural villages are emptying, with more and more people leaving every day to start afresh in the city. As a result, there are large numbers of unused houses and properties being abandoned.

“Because of Covid-19, many are becoming aware of the situation and are looking to the redevelopment of these places, working to combine nature and architecture for a sustainable lifestyle for contemporary young people.

“My project reimagines the traditional Chinese courtyard, adding natural elements and modern design styles to reimagine how the courtyard can be used, combining a youthful atmosphere with respect for the natural world.”

Student: Yihan Chen
Course: BA Interior Architecture and Design
Email: 1030885859@qq.com 

Partnership content

This school show is a partnership between Dezeen and the Canterbury School of Architecture. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.

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