Hasta La Ideas

EOOS has developed a prototype for a “zero-emissions utility vehicle”, or ZUV, which can be 3D-printed locally rather than having to be shipped around the world.

Created by EOOS NEXT, the social design arm of Austrian studio EOOS, the vehicle was commissioned for MAK‘s Climate Care exhibition as part of the Vienna Biennale for Change. The tricycle is made from 70 kilograms of plastic packaging waste sourced from supermarkets.

“We wanted to design around local, affordable production,” EOOS founder Harald Gründl told Dezeen.

“Because of the high labour costs in Europe, almost every bike frame is produced in Asia. But we want a local ZUV production facility in every city around the world.”

Created in collaboration with additive manufacturing company The New Raw, the ZUV is powered via a rear-wheel hub motor without the need for pedals or a bike chain.

To produce the simplified design, Gründl envisioned a local economic cycle, which would allow users to 3D-print the polypropylene chassis at a fab lab with large-scale robot printing.

From here, they could go to any bike workshop to bolt on a motor at its predefined position alongside the handlebars, brakes and three wheels.

This would allow individual components to be repaired and replaced close to home to extend the vehicle’s lifespan. And ultimately, the chassis could be shredded and re-printed to form another ZUV.

“What we envision is a circular economy of mobility,” Gründ explained.

“Service schemes with a designed ‘take back’ will be the future. And it’s way easier to close the loop if you do it locally rather than sending around ships full of waste as we do today, which is stupid.”

Even the 3D printing process itself was designed to minimise waste, as The New Raw uses custom machinery built from a disused industrial robot.

This is capable of printing diagonal layers rather than vertical or horizontal ones, which means that no additional falsework is needed to support the structure while it is being printed.

Despite its compact design, which weighs in at only 100 kilograms, the ZUV can carry two adults on its bench seat alongside two children or an equivalent amount of cargo in the transport box at the front.

The hope is that it could help to fulfil some of the heavy-load, short-distance journeys, for which we traditionally default to a car.

“A car has maybe 800 kilogrammes of battery while a bicycle has eight and it does the job for many of the journeys that we want to make in a city,” Gründ said.

“A lightweight vehicle has the benefit of having less effort in the production but it also uses less energy to transport people,” he added. “The more sustainable you want to make a mobility system, the less weight it should have.”

Whether the final electric vehicle will truly be “zero emissions” in use is dependant on the energy mix in the city where it is being charged and how much of it comes from renewable sources.

By making use of local fabrication and waste materials, Gründ also hopes the project goes some way towards lowering the emission associated with producing the EV in the first place.

“The reuse of post-consumer plastics is a big step towards net-zero carbon emissions,” Gründ said. “Every new vehicle will be, in a way, carbon neutral as long as the 3D printer is operated with energy coming from renewables.”

This does not consider the emissions associated with producing the supermarket packaging in the first place, which could only be avoided if the industry moved away from single-use plastics.

But Gründ argues that recycling does eliminate end-of-life emissions when the plastic is incinerated.

“When supermarket plastic in Vienna goes to recycling, they’re just burning it,” he said. “And this creates another three tonnes of CO2 emissions, which we could avoid.”

Another brand on a mission to cut the emissions associated with EV production is Swedish carmaker Polestar, which is aiming to produce a climate-neutral car by 2030.

Reusing materials from scrapped cars will play a key part in achieving this goal, the company’s head of sustainability Fredrika Klarén told Dezeen as part of an in-depth interview for our carbon revolution series.

“If you look at a car, you have a very high recyclability but somehow we are not completing the loop,” she said. “We don’t have a large recycled content today in cars so that would be a challenge going forward.”

Photography is by Studio Theresa Bentz.

The post ZUV is an electric tricycle that can be 3D-printed from plastic waste appeared first on Dezeen.

Nite Jewel‘s first new album since Real High four years ago, No Sun is rooted in grief and catharsis—both personal and collective. In 2018, LA-based singer, songwriter and producer Nite Jewel (aka Ramona Gonzalez) began her PhD in Musicology and also found herself dealing with the breakdown of her 12-year marriage and creative partnership. In her studies at UCLA, she focused on women’s laments throughout music history—something that takes the album to meaningful, oftentimes arresting, places. Written using just a Moog sequencer and keyboard, No Sun blends synthpop with R&B and beyond, all buoyed by the artist’s featherweight vocals.

Keeping your kitchen spick and span honestly takes a lot of effort, but it is definitely worth it! A clean kitchen encourages a smoother and efficient cooking process, and also helps you keep things organized…so you know where exactly that damn spatula is placed! As much as I want a spotless kitchen, it often feels almost impossible to accomplish that. And to help those of you in the same boat as me, here’s a collection of kitchen appliances that are the cleaning hacks you’ve been waiting for! These cleaning appliances work perfectly for your kitchen, helping you maintain a kitchen that is neat, organized, and Marie Kondo-approved. Enjoy!

Joseph Joseph’s BladeBrush tackles the problem with the company’s signature innovative style. The U-shaped brush comes with bristles on both ends, strong enough to scrub any grime off the blade, even getting in between serrations. The bristles make a perfect choice not only because they do a remarkable job cleaning the blade, but also because the blade doesn’t really slice through them, since they flex. The BladeBrush works perfectly with any sort of blade and even with cutlery, making the cleaning process easier… and it keeps your hands clean too, since you’re holding a textured rubber grip around a plastic frame, and not a soapy sponge!

Vita Neo was designed and built to create space in the kitchen by merging the kitchen sink and dishwasher. Looking at the rapidly shrinking world and home space, this merger creates a much-needed breathing space. The countertop sink features a stainless steel finish that mimics the jet-black, reflective nature of classic induction stovetops. Whenever users choose to activate the dishwasher, a sensor-operated LED display screen brightens up to reveal the different functions of Vita Neo, including vegetable and crustacean-washing along with dishwashing. Built with what appears as a soft-close lid, Vita Neo enacts the use of embedded swing hinges and cushioned, suctioned lining to open and close.

We love multifunctional designs, and when the combinations are this unique, it gives us a whole new thrill! The ‘Keling’ is a conceptual air purifier combined with a kitchen lamp. The bottom is designed to absorb the fine dust generated while cooking while the top emits purified air. The height is adjustable and replacing the filter is more convenient than cleaning the bulky exhausts. You can also sync it with your smartphone to get control lighting, fine dust, cooking, filter, and wind direction through the mobile app.

We eat more times than we brush, so it is natural that we use far more dish scrubbies, dish sponges, and dish brushes which just adds to the mounting plastic waste problem. With the Everloop dish brush’s design, you can continue to maximize the functionality of your product while reducing waste. The head of the brush has a concave lid mechanism that compresses the bristles against the inner part of the brush. The bristles are snapped into place and you can clean effortlessly. This concavity also works as a soap container and dosifier while you clean your tableware – can you hear the Monica Gellers of the world scream with joy at this?

1N9 helps cut all that down by condensing your bottle of cleaning liquid into a single compacted pill of dry ingredients. Pop the pill into a regular plastic spray bottle filled with water and the pill disintegrates, turning the water into cleaning liquid… when the liquid runs out, just pop another pill in and repeat the process. You save up on money (because a pill of dry ingredients doesn’t cost as much, and you end up reusing the same spray bottle instead of buying a fresh bottle every time! Plus, 1N9’s cleaning pills are made from 100% natural ingredients, making them safe for you as well as for the environment!

The Cuisipro Magnetic Spot Scrubber helps you clean up dried spots on glasses in the really hard-to-reach corners! The scrubber consists of two magnets that are attracted to one another. You drop it into the glass container and guide it to the dirty spot using the handle. You move the scrubber around, and the stain disappears!

If your house is populated by kids and pets (or clumsy adults), you know that your precious home is prone to spills, spots, and messes. Marinara sauce on your favorite rag, pet food scattered on the floor, juice dripping off a table corner – these may be common sights in your household. In such a scenario, Black+Decker Spillbuster is a blessing in disguise! The nifty appliance is perfect for cleaning and picking up messes, whether they’re dry or wet! It soaks up any wet spills, whether it’s food or drinks, as well as any dry spillages, owing to its powerful suction and wide nozzle. Once it picks up any mess, it sprays the area and scrubs it away using its handy little scrub bush, getting rid of any stains that may have been left behind. The battery-powered device is a wireless boon to keep your house neat, tidy, and spill-free!

Pelix’s bright break is actually a cloth holder, so hang up that dishcloth while the body of the pelican is a cup for your sponge. Pelix makes it easy to keep dish cleaning essentials right where they are needed with its suction cup bottom, but unlike Ross Geller, it can pivot and make your life easier! Usually, we always look for a blind spot in our kitchen that guests cannot see to keep dishcloths and sponges because having them dry right there can ruin the interior aesthetics of your space, however, this handy pelican will fetch many compliments for its form while being super functional.

Rena is a conceptual bottle designed to specifically solve the above issue – one bottle fits all! Rena’s aim was to create an innovative bottle that could be a bank for all the cleaning liquids we needed. It has a reservoir tank and replaceable cartridge that holds concentrated chemicals that are mixed and diluted in specific ratios to clean different surfaces or dispense for laundry. It takes the guesswork out so that your surfaces and clothes are protected from your chemical calculations (let’s be real, ‘one cap’ is not a measurement). The bottle has an ergonomic design and using it is simple – insert the cartridge, fill in the water, select the surface you intend to clean on your Rena mobile app, and via Bluetooth the bottle will collect that data configure a detergent mix based on it.

Cleaning out the hard-to-reach chambers of traditional coffee pots is a losing game. Translated from Spanish, Florecer means ‘to bloom,’ which underlines the coffee pot’s two-part and easy-to-clean build. Striking a balance between a minimal and modular design, Florecer is a coffee pot separated into two parts, resembling the bloom of a flower at its lid. The larger canister contains Florecer’s interior water chamber, which can be extracted and washed out before and after coffee brews. Dividing the canisters into removable parts gives each of them a fuller body, streamlining the cleaning process and avoiding the prospect of bacterial accumulation.

The Coral UV Sterilizer and Dryer countertop sanitizer can be used to clean all your kitchen equipment! The appliance uses UV-C light to kill the bacteria and viruses on the objects. In fact, it’s so safe, you can even use it on baby products! The countertop sanitizer kills germs and bacteria within 10 minutes. It’s an energy-efficient device, which doesn’t need water or heat to function. How cool is this product?

A three-storey cross-laminated timber and glulam pavilion designed by London studio Alison Brooks Architects is set to be built as the entrance to Homerton College at the University of Cambridge in England.

The wooden building, which will have copper-clad upper floors, will serve as a multi-purpose student hub and contain facilities for the college’s library.

Alison Brooks Architects‘ design was the winning entry of a competition held by Homerton College that called for “a pioneering example of sustainable design”.

To achieve this, the studio collaborated with Price & Myers to use its PANDA software, which identifies construction materials with low embodied carbon.

Mass timber was chosen for the entrance building’s main structural elements in recognition of its sequestered carbon, which the studio said will reduce the carbon impact of the building’s construction.

Sequestered carbon refers to the carbon dioxide a tree removes from the atmosphere as it grows and subsequently stores carbon when it is logged for use as timber.

“The starting point of our design was to work with an expressed timber frame with its inherent sequestered carbon,” the studio told Dezeen.

“This will more than offset the emissions from regulated carbon emissions produced from building services installations and unregulated carbon emissions from day-to-day building use.”

Mass timber describes structural wood that has been engineered for high strength. In this project, it will take the form of ribbed cross-laminated timber floor plates and glulam columns and beams.

The timber will be exposed internally to help create a warm internal atmosphere and enhance the building’s acoustics and thermal comfort.

To minimise the entrance building’s operational carbon, it will be built with a “high-performance envelope” and include rooftop photovoltaic panels and a ground source heat pump.

A compact footprint, high ceilings and large arched windows will minimise artificial lighting requirements, in tandem with glazed clerestories and fanlights in rooms at the centre of the floor plan.

Openable windows will be incorporated wherever possible to facilitate natural ventilation in summer, while the building will be orientated to enable passive solar heating in winter.

Once complete, the ground floor of the pavilion will contain a foyer and porters lodge. It will be used to welcome first-time visitors and meet the needs of residents.

There will also be a veranda, study spaces and exhibition areas, which will act as an extension of the college library to which it will be connected via a glazed link.

Above the ground floor, contained in the copper-clad structure, will be the Children’s Literature Resource Centre, research rooms and a large storage area for books.

In a recent Dezeen talk with Dassault Systèmes, panellists said that advances in mass timber and digital technology are revolutionising the ways buildings are constructed and are helping to create more sustainable cities.

“When you’re thinking about timber, it’s recyclable,” architect Kirsten Haggart explained. “But it’s also got the added advantage of being renewable as well, which means it has sequestered carbon.”

“That is the big thing that makes all the difference. When you’re building in timber, your embodied energy levels go right down.”

Stirling Prize-winning studio Alison Brooks Architects was founded in London by British architect Alison Brooks in 1996. In 2020, it won the title of architecture studio of the year at the Dezeen Awards. Another recent proposal by the studio is a housing development in London that will be animated by brick archways.

The visualisations are by Filippo Bolognese Images.

Project credits:

Architect: Alison Brooks Architects
Landscape architect: Vogt
Structural engineers: Price and Myers
Services and environmental design: Skelly and Couch

The post Alison Brooks Architects unveils mass timber entrance block for Cambridge college appeared first on Dezeen.

Dezeen promotion: Living Cities Forum in Melbourne examines different perspectives on time and how they can influence urban design, in a series of panel discussions available to watch online.

Under the theme “The Long View”, the annual architecture and design forum considered the implications of varying ways of perceiving and measuring time – including from the perspective of Australia’s First Nations people and the long scale of geological processes.

Living Cities Forum took place online on 23 July 2021, with speakers including architect Anupama Kundoo and designer Maarten Gielen appearing at a mix of keynote lectures, cross-disciplinary panel discussions and Q&As.

Session One addressed the event’s theme, with Aboriginal Australian author Bruce Pascoe, a Yuin, Bunurong and Tasmanian man who has chronicled Indigenous architecture, technology and farming practices.

He was joined by British philosopher Timothy Morton, who argued for a radical rethink of how humans relate to animals and nature, and Aboriginal Australian architect Sarah Lynn Rees, who descends from the Plangermaireener and Trawlwoolway people of north-east Tasmania and curates the BLAKitecture forum.

Session Two, titled “Real Time – precarity, ownership and structural disparities” was anchored by a keynote address from the Australian-born artist and environmental engineer Tega Brain, whose previous work included systems for obfuscating fitness data and an online smell-based dating service.

Session Three, “Over and Over Again — circularity, reharvesting and re-education” brought together Kundoo and Gielen to discuss new sustainable approaches to city-making.

In Session Four, MAP Studio revealed its designs for 2021’s MPavilion, Living Cities Forum’s sister event. Both are presented by the Naomi Milgrom Foundation.

Started in 2017, Living Cities Forum aims to influence urban development in Australia by bringing in perspectives from across society and representing different realms of knowledge.

The Naomi Milgrom Foundation hopes to test old ways of thinking and pave the way for new design approaches with the event.

“The Living Cities Forum and MPavilion do an astounding job of raising the level of public discourse about the built environment,” said architect and 2019 guest speaker Mabel O. Wilson.

“Perhaps if we think about future needs in relation to where we are now and have been, taking stock of past needs, then our imagination might hold the seeds for a future that is just and equitable.”

The 2021 Living Cities Forum was moved online after new coronavirus restrictions in Melbourne meant the live event, scheduled for The Edge theatre at Federation Square, could not go ahead.

All of the 2021 sessions are available to view online for free on the Living Cities Forum website.

Partnership content

This article was written by Dezeen for Living Cities Forum as part of a partnership. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here

The post Living Cities Forum 2021 explores concepts of time and urban design in live-streamed event appeared first on Dezeen.