Test Ride: Canyon’s New “Grizl” Gravel Bike

This user-friendly bicycle proves its capabilities in the Canadian Rockies

Bikepacking is undeniably having a moment, with every element—from bikes to bags, tents and apparel—not only improving, but also transitioning from fringe to the mainstream. Part of this mini revolution is Canyon’s new Grizl gravel bike, the second dedicated gravel bike offered by the German company. Their first was the Grail (released in 2018) which has a longer, lower, more race-geared geometry, whereas the Grizl has a tighter, higher geometry that gives the bike a beefier and more adventurous capability—not to mention a more sustained comfort level.

by Sherri Castiglione

Equipped with three water bottle mounts on the triangle and two handy “anything” mounts on the forks, the carbon frame means the rider needn’t rely solely on velcro-fitted accessories. (Speaking of velcro-fitted accessories, bikepacking bag brand Apidura collaborated with Canyon to create sleek, lightweight and waterproof bags that fit perfectly on the frame.)

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Courtesy of Canyon

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Courtesy of Canyon

Since gravel rides and bikepacking bicycles are highly personal, the Grizl offers loads of versatility. The adjustable headset allows for a more comfortable upright position, while the seat post features a leaf-spring design that provides plenty of flex for riding over tech-y and bumpy trails. In North America, there’s also an option to add a dropper post. Even if you aren’t a bikepacker yet, the Grizl is a fantastic entry-point bike that’s well-suited to single tracks, fire roads or even a daily commute that has a little dirt.

<img data-attachment-id="266530" data-permalink="https://coolhunting.com/design/test-ride-canyons-new-grizl-gravel-bike/attachment/img_9951/" data-orig-file="https://i2.wp.com/coolhunting.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/IMG_9951-scaled.jpg?fit=1707%2C2560&ssl=1" data-orig-size="1707,2560" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"6.3","credit":"","camera":"Canon EOS 6D","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1626810653","copyright":"","focal_length":"16","iso":"250","shutter_speed":"0.003125","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="IMG_9951" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="

by Sherri Castiglione

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by Sherri Castiglione

While the Canadian Rockies might not be the first place people think of when it comes to gravel-riding, there’s some important bikepacking history associated with the area. Perhaps most significantly, Ryan Correy—a pioneer of the sport, who passed away in 2018—wrote about routes in the guide book Bikepacking in the Canadian Rockies and founded Bikepack Canada. With this in mind, we head out on this showstopper bike to the Canadian Rockies on Treaty 7 Territory—home to the start of the definitive bikepacking trail in North America, the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route.

On an easier trail around the iconic Lake Minnewanka, the bike handles beautifully and catches the attention of many. Other rides, like Kananaskis Country’s High Rockies Trail, which people may assume they need a mountain bike for, are no problem for the capable Grizl.

<img data-attachment-id="266533" data-permalink="https://coolhunting.com/design/test-ride-canyons-new-grizl-gravel-bike/attachment/canyon-bikes-grizl-us-06/" data-orig-file="https://i1.wp.com/coolhunting.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Canyon-bikes-grizl-us-06.jpeg?fit=1280%2C720&ssl=1" data-orig-size="1280,720" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="Canyon-bikes-grizl-us-06" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="

Courtesy of Canyon

” data-medium-file=”https://i1.wp.com/coolhunting.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Canyon-bikes-grizl-us-06.jpeg?fit=300%2C169&ssl=1″ data-large-file=”https://i1.wp.com/coolhunting.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Canyon-bikes-grizl-us-06.jpeg?fit=1024%2C576&ssl=1″ class=”size-large wp-image-266533″ src=”https://i1.wp.com/coolhunting.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Canyon-bikes-grizl-us-06.jpeg?resize=1024%2C576&ssl=1″ alt=”” width=”1024″ height=”576″ data-recalc-dims=”1″ />

Courtesy of Canyon

It also proves ideal for round-trip rides like the Goat Creek trail—from Canmore to Banff by way of a wide dirt trail on the backside of the iconic Mount Rundle, and back via the paved Legacy trail. On this ride, the bike handles the rough sections of the trail, but also offers a fast, comfortable ride on the paved return. Not only appealing in terms of function, Canyon’s Grizl is an eye-catching bike for gravel-riding enthusiasts.

Hero image by Sherri Castiglione

Airstream’s Pottery Barn Travel Trailer is here to elevate your outdoor glamping experience!



When Pottery Barn and Airstream join forces to create a travel trailer experience, it is bound to be remarkable. Airstream has long been associated with staycations and camping experiences; however, the pandemic has brought on a wave of wanderlust, and the influx of glamping culture means the humble RV was due for a luxury revamp just about now! Named the Pottery Barn Special Edition Trailer, this design showcases “casual sophistication” and is meant for adventure addicts who fancy the style and luxury of living life king-size. According to Marta Benson, President of Pottery Barn, “We were as excited as our customers to see how we could apply Pottery Barn’s design expertise to Airstream’s live anywhere mentality, and we couldn’t be more excited about the results.”

A study conducted by the RV Industry Association (RVIA) reveals that RV ownership has increased by more than 62 percent in the past two decades. The Pacific Coast Highway inspires this special edition and is based on the Airstream’s 28-foot International model. The trailer is built for couples and solo travelers as it features queen or twin bed sleeping configurations. In addition to that, the airy interior space can accommodate up to 4 guests in the rest of the cabin. The interiors of the travel trailer are draped in Pottery Barn’s matte-black pull-down faucet, a stainless-steel flat apron sink, and solid walnut cutting board sink cover. Pottery Barn influences everywhere, right from the 16-piece Mason Stoneware Dinnerware Set, solid oak dinette table inspired by their Benchwright Dining Collection, to the couch with custom cushions inspired by Pottery Barn’s Big Sur Collection the bedroom’s single queen/two twin beds enveloped in Belgian Flax linens.

On the outside, the Airstream gets an outdoor folding table joined to the exterior and armchair set. It is shaded by the specially designed pull-out awning, making it an ideal spot for evening meals. According to Airstream President and CEO Bob Wheeler, Pottery Barn has an eye for comfortable, functional beauty, and they’ve applied their prowess to the Airstream lifestyle perfectly. The travel trailer weighs 7,600 pounds, so you’ll need to hook it on to a full-size truck or a powerful SUV to tow it around for your road trips. Eager buyers can get the Airstream Pottery Barn Special Edition Travel Trailer at a starting price tag of $145,500 via dealers all across the U.S.

Designer: Airstream and Pottery Barn

Click Here to Buy Now!

According to Bob Wheeler, Airstream’s President and CEO, industry sales are on track to hit 500,000 units in 2021, a figure more modest than the 575,000 already forecast by RVIA.



Pottery Barn included what they call a “party ledge” (a tray that hangs off the windowsill next to the door designed to hold your drink or appetizer) for hanging out around the trailer. Adding to the Pinterest-worthy charm, the bottom panel of the door on the interior side has been swapped out for a blackboard.

Dezeen launches £15,000 Redesign the World competition with Epic Games

Redesign the World logo

Dezeen has teamed up with Epic Games to launch Redesign the World, the ultimate design competition that calls for new ideas to rethink planet Earth.

The competition is free to enter for people over the age of 18 of any profession and from any country in the world. It is open for entries until 15 September 2021.

The 15 best proposals will be published on Dezeen in November during our Dezeen 15 online festival celebrating Dezeen’s 15th anniversary.

The contest has a top prize of £5,000 and total prize money of £15,000.

Click here for more information about how to enter, including the full brief and submission requirements.

Redesign the World is “ultimate design challenge”

We are looking for radical new solutions to ensure that planet Earth remains habitable for hundreds of years to come.

“The problems the world faces are huge in scale and they demand equally epic solutions,” said Dezeen editor-in-chief and CEO Marcus Fairs.

“So we have set the ultimate design challenge and asked architects and designers to redesign the world. We’re looking for big, bold ideas that show visionary thinking.”

“We firmly believe that design can make the world a better place. We’re challenging creatives to come up with ideas that will generate debate, optimism and excitement around the greatest design problem of our time.”

Competition powered by Twinmotion

Entrants are required to present their concepts using Twinmotion, an architectural visualisation tool powered by Unreal Engine, which is a game engine developed by Epic Games.

“We’re thrilled to be part of Redesign the World, a competition which seeks to explore creative solutions for the future of life on our planet,” said Belinda Ercan, Twinmotion product marketing and strategy at Epic Games.

“I can’t wait to see how our entrants will use Twinmotion’s intuitive capabilities to unleash their creative thinking and convey their imaginations in the form of compelling digital stories.”

A free trial version of Twinmotion is available for entrants who do not already use the software.

Ercan and Sam Anderson, technical marketing manager at Epic Games, will be leading an online workshop at 2:00pm London time on 5 August providing an overview of Twinmotion, giving practical advice on how to use it and sharing tips and tricks for getting the best out of it. Click here to register for the workshop.

Brief and judging criteria

Entrants must submit a video animation and still image created using Twinmotion, along with up to 500 words of text about their proposal.

Entries will be assessed by a judging panel comprising Fairs and Ercan alongside a selection of industry experts that will be announced in August.

Redesign the World is primarily an ideas competition. Judges will be looking for visionary concepts and are less concerned with technical mastery of the Twinmotion software. However, the quality of the execution of the idea will also be considered.

Architects and designers turning their attention to planet Earth

Architects and designers are already turning their attention to planet Earth as the ultimate design project. In an interview with Dezeen last year, Winy Maas of MVRDV called on architects to design new planets to help understand how to solve problems on Earth.

“It would be wonderful to design more planets and to compare them because there are different dreams,” said the Dutch architect.

Architect Bjarke Ingels has proposed Masterplanet, a planet-wide design approach that will “prove that a sustainable human presence on planet Earth is attainable with existing technologies”.

Meanwhile, speculative architect Liam Young has proposed housing the entire population of the Earth in a single metropolis called Planet City. This would free up the rest of the Earth’s surface for rewilding and the return of stolen lands.

Designer Jalila Essaïdi called on designers to propose audacious solutions to global problems in a talk with Dezeen in 2018. “I would say yes please, more science fiction,” said Essaïdi. “Let’s keep dreaming big and doing the impossible.”

Competition closes on 15 September

Entries for Redesign the World close at midnight on 15 September 2021.

The 15 finalists will be announced as part of Dezeen 15 from 1 to 19 November.

First place will receive prize money of £5,000, with £2,500 for second place, £1,000 for third place and £500 each for 12 remaining finalists.

For more information about how to enter, including the brief and rules, entry form and full terms and conditions, go to www.dezeen.com/redesigntheworld.

The post Dezeen launches £15,000 Redesign the World competition with Epic Games appeared first on Dezeen.

BREEAM and LEED green certification schemes are "meaningless" says Andrew Waugh

Photograph of Andrew Waugh

Environmental certification schemes for buildings overlook embodied carbon and encourage architects to add unnecessary “systems and gizmos” to achieve high ratings, according to architect Andrew Waugh.

Schemes such as BREEAM and LEED focus overwhelmingly on operational emissions rather than emissions from the construction supply chain, Waugh argued.

However, embodied carbon emissions make up around half of all emissions from buildings. The percentage is rising as buildings become more energy-efficient and renewable energy becomes more prevalent.

“The certification systems still focus on operational carbon,” said Waugh, who is founding director of London architecture studio Waugh Thistleton Architects and a member of the steering committee of climate action network Architects Declare.

“They’re meaningless. They are awards that prop up the existing systems.”

BREEAM and LEED don’t focus on embodied carbon

To achieve BREEAM’s highest Outstanding rating, a building needs 85 credits, Waugh said. But only nine or ten credits are available for approaches that tackle embodied carbon, he claimed.

To achieve Platinum under the LEED system, a building needs 80 points. But only three are available for embodied carbon, according to Waugh.

Bloomberg HQ by Foster + Partners
Above: Foster + Partners Bloomberg building is an example of a project that prioritises operational carbon over embedded carbon. Top: Andrew Waugh Architects founder Andrew Waugh

Waugh said that UK regulations covering operational carbon are already “pretty good” in the UK and achieving zero operational emissions is achievable, particularly since the electricity grid is rapidly switching to renewable sources.

“For heating, lighting and air conditioning, building regulations are pretty good,” he said. ‘They drive pretty hard targets and the more we green our energy systems, the less of an issue it becomes.”

“There’s no accounting for future decarbonising of power”

But he said “there’s no accounting for future decarbonising of power” in the certification schemes.

This means that schemes such as BREEAM and LEED are misguided, he said, since they encourage architects to focus too much on adding unnecessary energy-saving technologies in order to increase their certification ratings. “The return is so incremental,” he argued.

Waugh cited Foster + Partners’ Bloomberg headquarters in London as an example.

Completed in 2017, the office building was dubbed “the world’s most sustainable office” and achieved the highest-ever BREEAM rating for an office building. It claims to require 35 per cent less energy than a standard office building and won the 2018 Stirling Prize for the best building by a British architect.

Bloomberg building by Foster + Partners
The Bloomberg achieved the highest ever BREEAM rating for an office building

However, the £1 billion building was criticised at the time for its extravagance and its reliance on complex systems which include hundreds of moveable bronze fins to regulate solar gain and ceilings covered in 2.5 million bespoke aluminium petals that reflect light and help regulate acoustics and temperate.

The Stirling Prize jury’s sustainability adviser Simon Sturgis told the Architects Journal that the building’s victory was a “disastrous result” that he hoped would be “the last flourish of a high-resource approach to design and construction.”

“The embodied carbon footprint of the finished building is going to be a significant multiple of a standard high-quality office building, even taking longevity into account,” he said.

Foster + Partners itself admits that certification systems overlook embodied carbon.

“The existing certification systems focus on the operational energy which is expended by a building in use, but do not fully address the implications of embodied carbon emissions resulting from the energy required to construct a building and during manufacture,” it writes in its sustainability manifesto.

“The Bloomberg building is a great example,” Waugh said. “They’ve reduced operational carbon over and above building regulations to meet BREEAM targets with all these systems and gizmos, layering more and more stuff onto an existing architecture.”

BREEAM and LEED are two of the top certification schemes

BREEAM and LEED are two of the world’s leading certification schemes, with both claiming to be the world’s most-used green building certification system.

BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method) was launched by UK research institute the Building Research Establishment in 1990.

LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) was launched in 1993 and is administered by the US Green Building Council.

Both BREEAM and LEED have made modest changes recently to take embodied carbon into account.

In 2019, BREEAM introduced credits for architects that carry out lifecycle assessments (LCA) to establish emissions over both the construction and use phases of a building.

Conducting an LCA and choosing low-impact materials can now earn half the available credits in the materials category, according to a blog post on the BREEAM website. In addition, the weighting of materials in the overall scoring system has been increased to 15 per cent.

Version 4.1 of LEED, which was introduced in 2019, includes new credits for LCAs, building reuse and environmental product declarations (EPDs), all of which can help lower embodied carbon.

“These credits incentivize real reductions in embodied carbon at multiple scales throughout the building lifecycle,” said a LEED blog post announcing the changes.

BREEAM said the schemes help projects achieve net-zero

Dezeen approached BREEAM and LEED to respond to Waugh’s claims but had not heard back by the time of publication.

However, a spokesperson for BREEAM said that the scheme “does help projects to achieve net-zero”.

“BREEAM building schemes have credits promoting operational energy efficiency. There are also credits encouraging low embodied carbon.”

But the spokesperson admitted: “At the moment these aren’t pulled out into a single carbon metric and BREEAM doesn’t capture all the potential “net” options of net-zero carbon.

A future update “will provide a more comprehensive assessment of net-zero carbon.”

But Waugh argued that buildings were assessed “as designed, not in use. So there’s no telling if the carbon savings are even made.”

“These certification systems encourage a ‘keep digging’ mentality to get us out of this very man-made hole,” he added. “It’s very much business as usual, just with more stuff and systems. And all those systems can be ruined if you open a window, or if you take your jacket off.”

“What’s required is a complete paradigm shift to predominantly passive, resource-conscious design,” he concluded.

The built environment is said to be responsible for 40 per cent of global CO2 emissions

Last week, a UK construction industry group called Part Z called for mandatory reporting of embodied carbon for new building projects to tackle “hidden” emissions caused by construction supply chains.

“Regulating embodied carbon is vital for the construction industry in tackling the climate crisis,” the group said. “The industry is ready for this.”

In total, the built environment is thought to be responsible for around 40 per cent of global CO2 emissions, with embodied carbon accounting for around half of this.

Built-environment emissions will be on the agenda at the UN’s COP26 climate conference in November, which for the first time will feature a day dedicated to the sector.

However, UN climate champion Nigel Topping has expressed frustration at the lack of engagement by architects in the drive towards a net-zero economy.

Meanwhile, just six per cent of RIBA architecture firms have signed up to the body’s 2030 Climate Challenge, which is aimed to help them deliver net-zero buildings. Foster + Partners, Grimshaw Architects and Zaha Hadid Architects are among practices that have failed to sign up.


Carbon revolution logo

Carbon revolution

This article is part of Dezeen’s carbon revolution series, which explores how this miracle material could be removed from the atmosphere and put to use on earth. Read all the content at: www.dezeen.com/carbon.

The sky photograph used in the carbon revolution graphic is by Taylor van Riper via Unsplash.

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MOKO MOKO DOKI DOKI

Published by Montreal-based Anteism, the limited edition MOKO MOKO DOKI DOKI by Misaki Kawai is both a book and an artwork. Every one of the 108 copies available (18 in each color—yellow, green, blue, red, pink or white) has a handmade fur cover. With images from the multidisciplinary artist’s fourth solo show at The Hole, this saddle-stitch bound book provides inspiration and off-kilter escapism.

Art Installation to Draw Attention on Nature

Katy Biele est une artiste pluridisciplinaire originaire du Chili, actuellement basée à Victoria en Colombie Britannique, au Canada. Son langage visuel explore au-delà du support et de la couleur pour créer des mondes imaginaires et intuitifs, souvent habités par des êtres spirituels, communiquant entre la peinture et la fibre. Dans son installation d’art temporaire « Blending Nature », Katy a créé des œuvres d’art textile temporaires qui apparaissent « sporadiquement dans divers environnements extérieurs pour attirer l’attention sur l’importance de la nature« . Le caractère éphémère de son installation la rend encore plus spéciale à voir. De plus, cette derinière ne nuit à aucune nature et l’artiste ne laisse aucune trace par la suite.

Pour en découvrir plus, rendez-vous sur son site internet ou son compte Instagram.





Heatherwick "isn't involved" in designing national Covid-19 memorial

Thomas Heatherwick

British designer Thomas Heatherwick has rejected claims that he is working on creating a coronavirus memorial following a meeting with representatives of the UK government.

London-based Heatherwick Studio confirmed that the British designer met with the UK government, but has not been commissioned to design a Covid-19 memorial.

Heatherwick “approached in an advisory capacity”

The studio stated that Heatherwick isn’t currently working on the project and was only asked to advise the government on the commemoration.

“Despite recent reporting, we’d like to confirm that Heatherwick Studio isn’t involved in designing a national Covid memorial,” the studio told Dezeen.

“As designers who have experience creating moments of national significance, we were approached in an advisory capacity.”

According to the studio, the meeting was solely “about exploring appropriate ideas” rather than any plans for a memorial.

“Covid has affected us all and finding the best way to commemorate those who lost their lives and those who gave so much to save lives is a huge and serious matter requiring the thoughts of many,” it continued.

“Unlikely that the studio would be the right choice”

British prime minister Boris Johnson has established a UK Commission on Covid Commemoration, to develop ideas and a timeline for a future memorial.

“I also know that communities across our whole country will want to find ways of commemorating what we have all been through,” he said.

“This national endeavour – above party politics – will remember the loved ones we have lost.”

Heatherwick Studio confirmed that there are no plans for the studio to be involved in designing a coronavirus memorial in the future.

When asked whether the studio would consider being involved in the project, the studio replied that “it feels unlikely that the studio would be the right choice”.

Covid memorials are being developed around the world. In Milan, Italian architect Angelo Renna proposed planting 35,000 cypress trees in San Siro stadium, while Latin American architecture firm Gómez Platero designed a circular monument to remember the victims.

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Zaha Hadid Architects creates 3D-printed concrete bridge at Venice Architecture Biennale

Zaha Hadid Architects has built a 3D-printed concrete footbridge named Striatus at the Venice Architecture Biennale that is freestanding and assembled without mortar.

Named Striatus, the 16-metre-long bridge was built by the computation and design team at Zaha Hadid Architects, known as ZHACODE, in collaboration with the Block Research Group (BRG) at Swiss university ETH Zurich. It was constructed from 53 hollow blocks each printed from 500 layers of printed concrete.

Striatus has an arched form
Top: the bridge was 3D printed. Above: it was assembled at the Venice Architecture Biennale 

The structure is an unreinforced arched bridge that uses compression and gravity to hold its form. The studios arranged the 3D-printed wedge-shaped elements, known as voussoirs, to form arches and vaults.

The bridge has a double-curved deck with swooping stepped entry points placed at either end of the bridge, leading up the structure from its footings.

Striatus has a wooden stepped deck
The bridge has multiple entry points

“The intention was to meet the challenges facing the architecture, engineering and construction industry by demonstrating a responsible way to design with one of its most widely-used and enduring materials – concrete,” ZHACODE co-founder Shajay Bhooshan and BRG co-director Philippe Block told Dezeen.

“To do so, we draw from and computationally enhance one of its most ancient wisdoms – masonry construction.”

Striatus is comprised of two walkable decks
Printed blocks transfer the load to the footings

The studio looked to historic masonry vaulting to inform its design, placing the printed pieces in a way that allows the load of the structure to be distributed its foundations without the need for internal ancillary support such as post-tension cables.

No glue or adhesives were used during the construction, instead, neoprene pads were placed between each of the printed blocks during assembly to control the levels of friction and stress concentration. External ties were added to the bridge to absorb the thrust tension.

It has steel and concrete foundations
The bridge is on display at the Venice Architecture Biennale

“The discrete blocks of the funicular structure are held together only by gravity in compression, so, all blocks remain compressed together along with the individual print layers, using the same principles as Gothic cathedrals or structures like Armadillo Vault,” said Bhooshan and Block.

“Striatus could literally stand happily for centuries as historic masonry construction has done, because forces are transferred in a way that is very natural for concrete, through compression only, and with very low stresses, i.e. not demanding much from the material.”

Contrasting to typical 3D-printing methods, which use horizontally layered extrusion techniques, the bridge used a single six-axis robotic arm to print non-uniform and non-parallel layers across its 53 blocks.

The 53 blocks took 84 hours each to print while its construction, including foundation casting, assembly and stair and deck installation, took 35 days.

It was built using 53 3D-printed concrete blocks
The bridge has a wooden deck

By creating hollow 3D-printed blocks, the structure aims to reduce typical material use and consumption. While its voussoir-style construction and lack of internal structural reinforcement means that the bridge to be easily disassembled and reused.

The bridge was installed at the Giardini della Marinaressa at the Venice Architecture Biennale as an opportunity to exhibit the capabilities of unreinforced concrete and computational design.

Striatus crosses a footpath
Each block was printed with over 500 layers of concrete

“We wanted to demonstrate that 3D-printed concrete elements can be used directly as structural components when designed as an unreinforced masonry system,” said Bhooshan and Block.

“Not only for a straightforward vertical, like a wall or moderately corbelling structure but for the more challenging structures that span space.”

Children pictured running under the bridge
Printed layers form a ridged texture

Although the structure was produced using concrete, Bhooshan and Block explained that they hope materials such as low-embodied-carbon concrete or earthen concrete can be developed for such printing techniques.

“The challenge now is for material scientists to make [low-embodied-carbon concrete] 3D printable,” explained Bhooshan and Block.

“These materials and manufacturing improvements are being actively developed and point to positive prospects of improving on the benefits of 3D concrete printed masonry demonstrated in Striatus.”

The bridge is twelve metres wide
The bridge took 84 hours to print

Recently, a stainless steel 3D-printed bridge designed by Joris Laarman and built by Dutch robotics company MX3D was opened in Amsterdam six years after it was announced.

The bridge’s material use came under fire with architect Philip Oldfield calculating that the stainless steel used in the structure has an estimated 27.7 tonnes of embodied carbon.

Also in The Netherlands, construction company BAM Infra built what was claimed to be the world’s first 3D-printed concrete bridge in 2017.

Photography is by Naaro.

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This personal workstation retracts and unfolds with ease while working from outside!



Working from home sometimes really means working from anywhere we want. Some of us prefer a quiet coffee shop with WiFi, maybe a library or public workspace like WeWork. The rest of us will work just fine beneath a tree in a park. Industrial designer Matan Rechter developed Shelly, a personal outdoor workspace, to create some privacy and shade for the workdays we spend outdoors.

Inspired by the recent global move to working from home, Rechter designed Shelly to create a sense of privacy for concentration and productivity when working in outdoor spaces like public parks. Named after its shell-creating capabilities, Shelly features a canopy that folds in and out. Constructed from aluminum profiles and synthetic Cordura fabric, Shelly is built to protect users and their electronics from UV radiation. Rechter designed Shelly to be convenient and easy to transport, making working outdoors as comfortable and accessible as working from home. The canopy’s folding segments retract and extend like an armadillo’s shell. When users need some shade, Shelly’s bench pops into an upright position and the attached roof unfurls overhead. When packing Shelly away, the roof retracts just as easily as it unfurls and the bench folds into itself for portability.

The WFH movement has brought our laptops and notebooks everywhere but home. Working outdoors in public parks or even our own backyard has become more tempting as each workweek draws on. Rechter designed Shelly as a means for privacy and shaded comfort while we work under the sun, protecting our skin from harsh UV rays and our laptops from overheating.

Designer: Matan Rechter

Shelly retracts and unfolds like an armadillo shell to provide ultimate comfort and protection against the sun.

The workstation’s shell can be pushed back completely with the bench still intact.

Made from aluminum profiles and synthetic Cordura fabric, providing vetted protection against UV radiation.

No matter where you’d like to work, Shelly can provide enough shade and protection to keep you in the zone.

In public parks, Shelly gives provides you with your own private workspace away from the noise.

This multifunctional product has been designed to work as a clothing rack and a treadmill!

We love multifunctional product designs here but I have to admit, I have never thought of a treadmill and a clothing rack in one! But then again, we use our office chairs as an “open closet” so this concept isn’t entirely alien. ‘Walk and Hang’ is a project that functions as a basic treadmill as well as a clothing rack in one sleek design.

Both clothing racks and treadmills are usually an eyesore in any home because they look out of place and are super bulky. One of the key aspects of ‘Walk and Hang’ is its aesthetically pleasing form that looks neither like a treadmill nor like a clothing rack. In fact, it looks like a minimal standing table if I ever saw one inside someone’s house and had to take a wild guess. It rests in a folding table-like form and can be opened fully into a treadmill or only partly at the top for the racks. It saves a lot of floor area indoors, especially if it’s a shared space and even more so after the pandemic where you need more room for a work-from-home setup.

“I tried to satisfy everything of the product’s original function and user’s habits, and solved space problems and considered usability by combining the two products together,” says designer Jinyoung Noh. Since this is a concept, I will let my imagination run wild – clothing racks are often placed where sunlight hits the hardest so clothes dry fast, I would love to see this treadmill be turned into a solar-powered one by capitalizing on that same sunlight. ‘Walk and Hang’ is a slim treadmill and definitely the most beautiful clothing rack I’ve ever seen!

Designer: Jinyoung Noh