Nura’s newest audio product, the wireless NuraTrue earphones improve noise-cancellation along with the sound quality. Providing exceptional bass and clear phone calls, the buds are ideal for audiophiles. They’re also water-resistant, with an IPX4 rating—meaning they’re safe from splashes and sweat. They come with a fast-charging case as well as four sets of different sized silicone ear-tips.
French-Canadian singer, songwriter and producer MUNYA (aka Josie Boivin) returns with a new single, “Pour Toi.” The dreamy tune matches synths with Boivin’s delicate vocals, as she sings wistfully (in French and English) about long distance love. She also directed the video with Josh Aldecoa, which was shot in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
With a lack of creativity, people do not have the inspiration to live life to the fullest. From Out of Nothing aims to help people daydream again, encouraging exploration within the ordinary. Through creative problem solving, FOON disrupts users’ mental routine and inspires play without judgment.
As part of an ambitious new survey of the cosmos, the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) will analyze light collected by the ultra-powerful Mayall telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory. “DESI will record not only a galaxy’s light but also its spectrum,” according to Smithsonian Magazine, “by measuring how much light a given object emits at particular wavelengths.” It intends to compile this information into the most detailed 3D map of the universe—incorporating up to 40 million galaxies—and use the data within to probe questions about dark energy and gravity at the largest scale. Read more about the “galaxy-grabbing” instrument and its stellar efforts at Smithsonian Magazine.
Image courtesy of DESI Collaboration
Elon Musk has his eyes set on colonizing Mars, and given the visionary he is, it is not looking like a pipedream after all. While the natural catastrophes show no sign of muting down on planet earth, a company like Tesla can design a rescue module capable of remote emergency healthcare to the affected people. This makes even more sense in third-world countries where rescue missions need to be handled with more finesse. With this motive in mind, designer Víctor Groten Rico has envisioned the Tesla Module Rescue concept.
This futuristic-looking machine is a mobile health camp capable of housing medical personnel and space for rehabilitating patients in remote areas. The exterior of this module is inspired by the concept designs of supercars but in a much bigger proportion. The whole thing moves on tank-like treads, making it capable of conquering any harsh terrain or weather conditions given its reinforced structure. On the inside – it is all about comfort, spacious areas, and a luminous environment. There are compact sections that house the beds on the upper section, a private section on the bottom, and storage on the middle half of the module.
The Tesla Module Rescue’s crew has a command center to devise all the strategies and action plans for the mission. It is nothing less than a sci-fi movie’s setup, and with this being a Tesla-inspired design, it is electric-powered with solar panels on the roof, providing extra juice for long journeys. The size of this automotive is tailored to accommodate a large number of people, and roam around freely over vast open areas, although I can’t think of it treading the treacherous mountainous regions. On top of that, it would have been better if the designer penned it as a concept that could disintegrate into separate modules depending on the region’s terrain and the needs of the reuse mission.
Designer: Víctor Groten Rico
Given the angular design sported by the CyberTruck, the Tesla Module Rescue’s bulky design seems like a logical aesthetic upgrade.
The interiors of the Tesla Module Rescue seem almost inspired by a starship/SpaceX interiors – sporting a simple black and white design.
The interior holds a command center that seems to control the navigation of the ship, along with information needed by the captain for making informed decisions.
Whatever the terrain, we hope the tank-like tires can easily traverse the difficult locations as rescue is always a venture into the unknown.
Solar panels keep the vehicle up and running even in the harshest conditions.
We’re at an exciting point in history, where a multitude of companies are trying to figure out flying cars, and practically no two design approaches seem alike.
A startup called Lilium‘s approach is to use conventional jet engines, since their reliability and maintenance needs are well understood. The company’s innovation is to go with extremely small and simple jet engines—and to spread 36 of them along multiple wing surfaces, fore and aft.
By having the wings rotate 90 degrees, the company reckons, they can easily achieve VTOL (vertical take-off and landing).
The zero-emissions, battery-powered jet is not intended as a personal vehicle, but intended for taxi-like service. The jet’s interior will seat six, with the pilot in a separate cabin up front. Luggage space is comparable to the “volume of a van,” according to the company.
With a maximum range of around 155 miles, Lilium envisions setting up regional networks of high-speed travel, with trips booked via app, and rides shared to keep costs down. In essence, a more literal version of Lyft.
Alas, the service will not quite have the convenience of Lyft; the Lilium jet cannot just drop out of the sky and into the street. Instead, passengers will have to travel to a “Vertiport,” the company’s miniaturized version of an airport—i.e. the very structure, and process, that flying cars are supposed to free us from.
A – Landing pad. B – Gate equivalent. C – Terminal
Perhaps it would be better if we all lived in Airparks.
Reza Baluchi, a 49-year-old Florida man, built a human-sized, floating hamster wheel out of aluminum and plastic balls for buoyancy. He then attempted to use it to walk—on the ocean, of course—from St. Augustine, Florida to New York City.
Impressively, he made it some 25 miles before beaching due to “complications,” according to the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office, who began receiving calls from startled beachgoers.
As the Times reports,
“The man, Reza Baluchi, said in an interview on Monday that he had spent thousands of dollars and nearly a decade on making improvements to the homemade craft, called a hydro pod. It was equipped with a satellite phone, a water filtration system, a solar array, neoprene wet suits and a stockpile of granola and ramen noodles for when he embarked from St. Augustine on Friday for what he expected would be a three-week trip.
“But the next day, when Mr. Baluchi, 49, realized that his backup GPS device and charging cables were missing — he said they were stolen — he cut short his Homeric odyssey. His aborted adventure startled and bemused beachgoers.
“[Baluchi] said that he was hoping to use the attention from his trip to raise money to help homeless people and for other charitable causes.”
These days in China, you’re more likely to see one of these on the roads than an actual electric car:
Those are low-speed EVs that max out at 70 KPH (43 MPH), do not require a driver’s license to operate, are regulated to be less than 1.5 meters (4′ 11″) wide, and exist in a legal grey area, according to Bloomberg.
“Quite frequently, grandparents use them to ferry their grandkids to school while parents are working. It’s not uncommon to see handwritten signs affixed inside their rear windows stating ‘this car is used to pick up children’ — perhaps to dissuade other motorists from coming too close but also in the hope of some leniency from traffic police in the event of being pulled over.
“These little low-speed electric vehicles typically start from around $1,600 — about the same price as an iPhone 12 Pro Max in China — and their small size, affordability and convenience has made them ubiquitous. According to estimates from China’s Passenger Car Association, more than 6 million of them plied the roads last year.
“That’s a pretty startling figure, especially considering it eclipses the some 4.9 million electric cars in China that are legal.”
Well, being electric they must be good for the environment, yeah? Not exactly. They run on lead-acid batteries, which pose some environmental problems.
Looking at the photos above, it’s tough to get a sense of how tall these things actually are. Looking at the photo below, I can’t decide: Is this guy height-challenged, or do these things offer lots of headroom?
You might remember these sewing baskets we looked at a while ago:
Tatsuya Sakurai, a Product Design student at Japan’s Tama Art University, has designed a piece of storage furniture that reminds me of those baskets a bit. I do, however, prefer Sakurai’s work:
Writes Sakurai:
“The biggest feature of this furniture is that all the storage parts of each stage can be expanded by one operation of lifting the top stage, and by making the shape of the sliding rail broken from a straight line. We devised a lock so that it would not return to its original state from the unfolded state. As furniture that can be used to store and decorate your own collection, it is supposed to be used in two ways as storage on the sofa side of the living room.”
It was also fun to read the crit of the project, from Tama design professor Tatsu Ogata. It’s machine-translated, but I think I get the gist:
“Comments from the instructor:
“Furniture that can be changed easily by one movement.
“Tatsuya Sakurai’s proposal hides a great deal of hardship. When designing the mechanism and operating parts, it is necessary to solve many problems that cannot be seen without actually repeating verification such as clearance and shape maintenance after deformation. If you lean toward the mechanism, it will affect the usability, and if you try to miniaturize it, there will be a problem with the material strength, but since he stuck to the simple appearance of a wooden box until the end, it is between furniture and tools. The newness like this is appearing.
“It is difficult to feel the magnitude of the change in the height after deformation from the photographs and illustrations alone, but in reality, it is a work that is honestly surprising when you see how it expands in the height direction as well as in the front and back direction with smooth operation.
“Verification while going back and forth between structure and design presumably led to great learning for Sakurai-kun. I hope you will continue to be confident in this process.”
If I ever participate in another design crit, I am definitely going to work in the phrase “The newness like this is appearing.”
Cedar panels clad the eaves of the 68,000-seat Japan National Stadium, which Japanese studio Kengo Kuma and Associates designed for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
The structure in Tokyo’s Meiji-Jingu Park by Kengo Kuma and Associates with Taisei Corporation and Azusa Sekkei Co hosted the games’ opening ceremony last week and is set to host the track and field athletics events at both the Olympics and Paralympics.
Completed in 2019, ahead of the coronavirus-postponed games, the stadium takes the form of a large oval.
Its main structure is made from reinforced concrete and steel, sheltered by a roof structure made of steel with laminated larch and cedar trusses.
The roof is punctured with a huge oculus above the track but cantilevered to shelter three tiers of spectators seats.
Behind the seating are the circulation areas, which wrap the edges of each level and contain 47,000 plants. This greenery is visible externally and was designed to help the stadium blend in with the surrounding green environment.
To reduce the visual impact on the site, the stadium height was minimised by combining a flat roof and a compact arrangement of seats.
Externally, the structure is distinguished by a series of eaves that are clad in cedar collected from each of Japan’s 47 prefectures.
The eaves were designed by Kengo Kuma and Associates as a contemporary interpretation of the overhanging eaves of traditional wooden Japanese buildings.
They also offer functional benefits, keeping out the sunlight and rain while encouraging air to circulate and prevailing wind to enter. This helps to cool the building in hot weather in tandem with airflow-creating fans and a mist-cooling system.
Wood also features inside the Japan National Stadium, where it lines the interior spaces to help create a warm and tactile environment. It has also been used to furnish the athletes’ dressing rooms and to create benches in recreation spaces.
The stadium is complete with more than 450 places for wheelchair users, solar panels on the roof that generate electricity and rainwater collection points in underground cisterns that are used to irrigate the arena’s greenery.
The Japan National Stadium featured in our roundup of architecturally significant venues hosting the games alongside structures by Japanese architects Kenzo Tange and Fumihiko Maki.
We also featured the stadium during Dezeen’s Virtual Design Festival last year, when architecture video blogger Martin van der Linden described it as “quite simple, and definitely not iconic”.
When Japan National Stadium was first revealed in 2015 it became mired in controversy as it replaced a proposal by UK architect Zaha Hadid that was scrapped over rising costs and opposition.
It came under fire again in 2017 as tropical hardwood linked to deforestation and human rights violations was used as a mould for its concrete elements. This is one of the reasons the Tokyo 2020 Olympics has been accused of greenwashing by promising to be the greenest Olympic event ever.
The photography is courtesy of Japan Sport Council.
The post Kengo Kuma’s Japan National Stadium is the centrepiece of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics appeared first on Dezeen.
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