Hasta La Ideas

Imagine a future where living in close quarters will be the norm, and so will the vehicles in about five decades from now reflect that societal bond. The Arrival Chemie is a true example of a minimalist future that will revolve around simplicity, function and of course human bond!

Automotive design is going through a metamorphosis stage wherein the gradual shift to an eco-friendly set of wheels is becoming the priority of manufacturers and consumers alike. This shift in perception has had a domino effect in the basic design of vehicles since the propulsion mechanisms and their placement in the vehicle have changed. This gives more freedom to experiment with the interior as well as exterior form. More emphasis is now on the comfort and lounging experience while traversing from point A to B. While on the exterior the multifunctional approach takes precedence.

The Arrival Chemie is an interpretation of the socially oriented approach because of economic parity amongst individuals living in the year 2050. Designer Bumsoo Kim believes – we’ll be more considerate about living in groups and hence, the cars we drive will also reflect that conscious decision. The autonomous pod-like Arrival vehicle will have minimalistic, yet comfortable interiors with the ability to open up and connect to another couple of such vehicles for a cohesive approach when parked. Lounge-like seats of the vehicle will encapsulate the two riders in comfort and luxury. The rear of the Arrival Chemie gets a cargo space for hauling luggage or turn into a makeshift ladder to access the roof when in connected mode with other Chemie cars.

Bumsoo’s concept imagines three different forms for the connected vehicle ecosystem – one that has a triangular shape called Form A, the second with a more laidback lounging theme for relaxing dubbed Form B, and lastly the more technology-laden pod for entertainment called Form C. All these three vehicles will be wirelessly charged onboard the charging stations. The lounge area on top of the charging station will give riders some break from traveling to socialize and then get going to their destination!

Designer:  Bumsoo Kim

The post This transforming autonomous fleet of electric car pods is built for socializing in 2050 first appeared on Yanko Design.

A glazed courtyard occupies the centre of this Florida residence by Seibert Architects, bringing light to the interiors and organising the circulation around the building.

Completed earlier this year, the Schechter Residence is a low-slung home that offers its owners a beach-focused lifestyle in Sarasota, Florida.

Located just a few metres above from the shore, the 4,000-square-foot (372-square-metre) home enjoys a gently stepped-back garden leading down to the water.

“The pool area and waterfront yard are terraced to provide flat outdoor space for waterfront activities, children at play and to ease the transition down to the water,” said Seibert Architects, which is also based in Sarasota.

The entry sequence into the home leads into a lush courtyard. This exterior space enclosed by glass walls brings light into the building and also offers a space for the owners children to play.

“The courtyard, surrounded by glass on three sides, enriches movement through the house and enhances the entry by bringing light, vegetation, and sky to these experiences,” said Seibert Architects.

The living spaces and primary bedroom are laid out as an enfilade of spaces facing the water. These rooms have much higher ceilings and are vaulted to make room for clerestory windows.

“These curved forms contrast with the more serious rectilinear nature of the design,” said Seibert Architects. “Its inhabitants describe them as uplifting.”

Open shelving that separates these spaces helps to define each without completely enclosing them.

The western facade of the home is fronted by tall sliding glass doors that lead out to the pool deck.

This outdoor space is sheltered by a large retractable awning and a screened enclosure to protect users from harsh direct sunlight and insects.

This offers a year-round connection between the inside spaces and the pool and backyard.

The remainder of the bedrooms are located on the opposite side of the home, facing the street.

Two children’s bedrooms share a common play area away from the living room, while the guest bedroom has its entrance closer to the foyer, for more privacy.

The home’s mostly white finishes reflect Florida’s beach-oriented lifestyle. Seibert Architects provided pops of colour with bright furnishings, while the exposed wooden ceiling vaults add some warmth to the overall palette.

Other residences in Florida include an all-white home by Jeffrey Dungan that was completed in a range of different architectural styles, and a Miami Beach home for an art collector by Shulman + Associates.

The photography is by Ryan Gamma.

Project credits:

Architectural firm: Seibert Architects
Architect of record: Samuel C Holladay
Project architect/designer: Michael Epstein
Structural engineer: Hees & Associates
Contractor: Yoder Homes

The post Seibert Architects designs Florida home for indoor-outdoor living appeared first on Dezeen.

Currently, the Apple Watch is the most popular watch globally, and this honestly doesn’t come as much of a surprise when you consider the number of people you see jogging or walking on the street with their Apple Watch armed on their wrists. In celebration of this one-of-a-kind watch, and in anticipation of what its latest version may unveil, we’ve curated a collection of nifty accessories that will perfectly complement your beloved Apple Watch. From the most inventive Apple Watch charging dock you’ll ever see to an accessory that lets you wear your Apple Watch as an armband for an improved workout experience – we’ve put together a range of diverse and interesting Apple Watch accessories that even hardcore Apple lovers will go gaga over!

1. The NightWatch

The NightWatch is a pretty simple accessory that enhances your Apple Watch’s abilities. It doesn’t come with its own charger but will let you hook your Apple Watch’s charger into it. Once assembled, you can easily slide your Apple Watch into its unique design, and that calibrated glass lens on the front enlarges the screen like a magnifying glass would, making numbers much more visible when your watch is in Nightstand mode. It comes with a patented system that even lets you tap the glass surface to ‘wake’ up your Apple Watch’s display, so you can read the time clearly… and when your watch’s alarm begins ringing, special acoustic channels designed in the NightWatch charging dock’s base help amplify your watch’s audio, making that alarm much louder. The NightWatch, unfortunately, doesn’t have a snooze button, so you’ll need to pull the smartwatch out of its dock to stop or snooze your alarm!

2. The ActionBand

While we use our Apple Watches outside of the gym, keeping an eye on our workout’s progress with activity tracking always helps to push our limits. Designing a new wristband made specifically for working out with your Apple Watch, Apple-inspired design group Twelve South created the ActionBand, a sweatband that can hold your Apple Watch. When working out, our grips make all the difference. So when sweat comes into play, a tight grip around dumbbells, barbells, and kettlebells becomes harder to maintain. No one wants to lose out on activities that might close our rings though, so Twelve South developed a solution.

3. Bellroy’s Apple Smartwatch Straps

The smartwatch straps from Bellroy come with a durable elastomer base for comfort and to prevent slipping, but are then finished off with a wonderfully eye-catching eco-tanned leather top. The leather-elastomer blend gives the watch the best of both worlds. The leather brings back the watch’s most trusted strap material, giving the watch an authentically classic appeal, while the elastomer base on the strap prevents it from slipping on your wrist. Since the Apple Watch’s main hardware is fairly heavier than most regular watches, it succumbs to the effects of gravity, which is why having a rubbery base to the strap helps. A texture on the underside also promotes breathability, so the strap never makes your skin feel sweaty.

4. The ActionSleeve 2

Apple accessory designer Twelve South has released the ActionSleeve 2. The ActionSleeve 2’s unique design ensures the Apple Watch Series 4 (and later) always remains in constant contact with the body, so there is no discrepancy in tracking parameters on the Fitness app. Most of us would prefer wearing the Apple Watch in its default position and deem the band worthless. In fact, that would be the case until you want to put on a pair of boxing gloves! The ActionSleeve 2 armband is meticulously designed to give people more flexibility to keep using the Apple Watch when an activity or sporting gear may restrict wearing it on the wrist or lead to discomfort. “If you’ve ever changed your Apple Watch band, you already know how ActionSleeve 2 works: 1. remove your current Apple Watch band, 2. push the Apple Watch “body” into the back of ActionSleeve 2 and 3. strap ActionSleeve 2 on, tighten and go. Your screen, crown, and button remain fully accessible and functional.” Twelve South explains.

5. The WristCam

With all the possible goodness – health and fitness tracking and everything – Apple Watch cannot click pictures standalone, it remotely triggers the iPhone to pull off the trick. This is where the Wristcam steps in, giving Apple Watch the ability to click pictures by itself. The front-mounted 8MP camera can shoot images in 4K resolution while recording videos in Full HD. The selfie camera can be used for video calling – or either camera for live-streaming. The Wristcam comes with its own 8GB of storage and a battery good enough for a day’s fun. According to the company, the Wristcam is water-resistant up to 1-meter, it connects to the Apple Watch over Bluetooth Low Energy, and with the iPhone via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi.

6. Satechi’s Magnetic Dock

Like all of Satechi’s products, the USB-C Magnetic Charging Dock comes with Apple-certified MFI charging and works across all generations of the Apple Watch. The dock plugs right into the side of the iPad Pro or the MacBook Pro, although you could just as easily use it with any power bank too. The sleek aluminum design does a pretty good job of blending in with Apple’s design language, while inbuilt magnets securely hold onto your watch as it charges, allowing you to dock your iPad on a stand without worrying about the watch slipping or falling off. Neat, eh? Maybe you could even use it as a small extended display too, running a timer, your clock, or the weather app right beside your screen as you work or browse the web!

7. The 2 in 1 Apple Devices Charging Stand

Inspired by the daily sunrise, industrial designer Taesung Yoon has thought of the 2 in 1 Apple Devices Charging Stand (yes, that’s the name of this accessory) that does what it says. Designed after feedback from the data-driven research and realizing what people actually want in their unified Apple charging stand, this accessory has been cleverly designed for form and function. The charging stand’s vertical stance with a slightly arched top means that the iPhone sits comfortably without the fear of accidentally toppling it over with an accidental shove. Likewise, the possibility of using it for watching multimedia content is also there. The same port is used for charging the AirPods Pro when needed. Right behind this port is the space for setting up the Apple Watch for refueling in style. So, you can charge your iPhone and Apple Watch at the same time.

8. The Omnia Q5

The OMNIA Q5 is a nifty docking and charging station that replaces your drawer of cables. Designed as a slick, compact dock that can fit on even the smallest night-stand, or the corner of your work-desk, the OMNIA Q5 lets you organize and charge all your Apple gadgets at once, supplying the right amount of power to each one of them to charge them rapidly and simultaneously. Designed to be an integral part of your ecosystem of Apple products, the OMNIA Q5 acts as an organizer for your gadgets. It docks them in individually assigned areas (so they’re always neatly arranged) and charges them too – wirelessly for the most part, except the iPad which needs a cable with USB-C input.

9. The Wristfit

Elago’s products are just sensible and help you use your Apple products more efficiently. Take for instance the Wristfit, a band for your Apple Watch that lets you conveniently dock your Airpods in them too. At the time of their release, the Airpods were criticized for being too ‘easy to lose’. This spawned a wide variety of products like the Elago Airpods strap that helped you secure your expensive earpieces in place, eliminating the danger of losing them. The Wristfit is another such ‘sensible’ product that simply gives you the ability to dock your Airpods on your Apple Watch. Keeping them in a place that’s easy to access, the Wristfit secures the Watch around your wrist, and the Airpods right on the strap like a sort of holster for your earphones. Push them right in when you’re not using them and you won’t have to worry about them at all.

10. Nisbet’s Apple Watch Packaging

Inspired by the packaging design for the iPod, Nisbet adopted a clear and transparent package for the Apple Watch as well. The transparent packaging comes in two parts, one protects the screen of the watch, whereas the other part forms a protective layer around the strap. But here’s where it becomes interesting, the packaging of the strap has been designed in such a way, that you can slide it on and off! This allows you to try on straps of different styles, letting you mix and match, till you settle on a combination that you like. You can try on the various packaged straps on your hand, so you can see how they would actually look on you! The clear protective layer ensures that no one actually ends up touching the straps, and they are in pristine condition, preventing them from getting dirty or contaminated before they are even sold (especially useful in these COVID-19 times).

The post Top 10 Apple Watch Accessories of 2021 first appeared on Yanko Design.

To conclude our review of 2021, editor Tom Ravenscroft takes a look back at this year’s most-read stories, including Richard Rogers’ final building, a transparent mid-air pool, Dubai Expo pavilions and a Virgil Abloh-design car.

January – Supertall skyscrapers linked by planted terraces to be built in Shenzhen by Zaha Hadid Architects

The year began with news that Zaha Hadid Architects was designing a pair of interconnected skyscrapers in China called the Shenzhen Bay Super Headquarters.

The buildings were part of a trend for the world’s best-known architects to design supertall skyscrapers. Alongside Zaha Hadid Architects, BIG, Foster + Partners and Dorte Mandrup are among the leading architects designing these tall buildings.

Read more about Shenzhen Bay Super Headquarters ›

February – Richard Rogers balances his final building over Provence vineyard

In February, Prizker Architecture Prize-winning architect Richard Rogers revealed photography of his final building designed before his retirement from Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners.

Named The Richard Rogers Drawing Gallery, the building cantilevers 27 metres out from a hill at a vineyard in southern France. The year ended with news that Rogers, who was a pioneer of high-tech architecture, had passed away aged 88.

Read more about The Richard Rogers Drawing Gallery ›

March – IKEA unveils Allen key lamp in homage to “the most iconic IKEA item of all”

IKEA made headlines in March when it unveiled a lamp shaped like an oversized Allen key.

Created as a nod towards the company’s flat-pack furniture, it was designed by Gelchop so that “arguably the most iconic IKEA item of all” could have its time in the spotlight.

Read more about IKEA’s Allen key lamp ›

April – Ten domestic interiors featuring statement plants that help bring nature indoors

The most popular story on Dezeen in April was our roundup of domestic interiors that contain carefully chosen plants.

The piece was part of our Dezeen Lookbooks series providing visual inspiration for the home.

Read more about interiors with plants ›

May – Photos reveal Thomas Heatherwick’s Little Island in New York ahead of opening

In May, the long-awaited Little Island designed by Thomas Heatherwick opened on the Hudson River in New York.

Originally called Pier 55, the elevated park supported on 132 mushroom-shaped concrete columns was completed following a lengthy delay to construction amid a campaign opposing the project by advocacy group The City Club of New York.

Read more about Little Island ›

June – Fully transparent Sky Pool provides “a swim like no other” between two housing blocks in London

A video showing a transparent swimming pool that spans between two buildings at the Embassy Gardens development in Battersea, London, was the most popular story on Dezeen in June.

Designed by architecture studio HAL, the 25-metre-long Sky Pool was suspended 35 metres above the ground. According to HAL, the pool was designed to have “a sense of fun” and give people “a swim like no other”.

Read more about Sky Pool ›

July – Planting trees “doesn’t make any sense” in the fight against climate change due to permanence concerns, say experts

During June and July, we ran our carbon revolution series, which aimed to explore how the element could be removed from the atmosphere and put to use on earth.

In interviews conducted as part of the series, key figures told Dezeen that afforestation is an unreliable way of permanently sequestering atmospheric carbon. The story was the most read in the month of July.

Read more about the carbon revolution series ›

August – Amanda Levete designs world’s first magnetised fusion power station for the UK

A prototype power plant with a nuclear fusion reactor, which is set to be built in England, drew global attention in August.

Designed by architect Amanda Levete’s firm AL_A, the Fusion Demonstration Plant will be built to prove the viability of nuclear fusion technology as a carbon-free energy source.

It is one of a growing number of power plants that combine architecture and innovative energy solutions.

Read more about the Fusion Demonstration Plant ›

September – Bjarke Ingels designing “new city in America” for five million people

News that Danish architect Bjarke Ingels is master planning a city for five million people in the US desert was the most popular story in September.

Named Telosa, the city is the brainchild of entrepreneur Marc Lore and is set to be built “from scratch” on a yet-to-be-announced, 150,000-acre site in the western United States.

Read more about Telosa ›

October – Ten must-see pavilions at Dubai Expo 2020

In October, the coronavirus-delayed Dubai Expo officially opened in the United Arab Emirates.

Our roundup of the 10 most interesting pavilions, which were designed by architects including Foster + Partners, WOHA and Santiago Calatrava, was the month’s most-read story.

Read more about Dubai Expo pavilions ›

November – Architect resigns over mostly windowless Munger Hall dormitory at University of California

Architect Dennis McFadden made headlines in November when he resigned from a University of California committee to protest the design of the Munger Hall university dormitory.

Set to be built on the university’s Santa Barbara campus, the block would reportedly house over 90 per cent of its 4,500 students in windowless rooms.

Read more about Munger Hall ›

December – Virgil Abloh and Mercedes-Benz create solar-powered car with transparent front hood

The end of 2021 was marked by the deaths of a trio of architecture and design greats with fashion designer Virgil Abloh, and architects Chris Wilkinson and Richard Rogers passing away.

A Mercedes-Benz with a transparent front hood containing solar cells, designed by Abloh and revealed shortly after his death, was the month’s most-read story.

Read more about Virgil Abloh’s Mercedes-Benz ›

The post The biggest architecture and design stories of 2021 appeared first on Dezeen.

Using air to cut off potentially virally infected air sounds a lot like fire fighting fire, but there just might be some truth to it all. Air curtains are undoubtedly effective at creating an invisible barrier that keeps cold air inside an air-conditioned room from mixing with the hot air outside a room. When correctly installed, an air curtain actually saves energy in the long run by providing an essentially open entrance that allows people to pass through but prevents outside air from mixing with inside air (and potentially putting a higher load on your ACs), and it essentially even prevents mosquitoes from passing through too. So if an air curtain can create a very effective air barrier with large spaces, why can’t that technology be scaled down to work on your face too?

What this conceptual face mask proposes isn’t too far-fetched, honestly. Scientists are actually researching the viability of using air curtains to effectively ‘deactivate’ the coronavirus. If successful, maybe that face mask you’re currently wearing goes the way of the dinosaurs, as everyone essentially begins wearing fans on their foreheads that push filtered air towards your face, and keep bad air out.

In this research paper, physicists Alexander S. Sakharov and Konstantin Zhukov even propose a similar head-worn air curtain that essentially cuts off external air flow for the wearer without the discomfort of a fabric or N95 mask pressed against their faces. At least for the aerosol-based transmission of the coronavirus, an air curtain can be reasonably effective at pushing away particles (both from outside as well as from the wearer) to prevent proximal viral transmission… all while still allowing the wearer to breathe air comfortably.

The Airable is, at least on paper, a rather slim AR-headset-shaped device with air vents on the forehead facing downwards, and a clear plastic visor to prevent the gust of wind from blowing directly in your eyes. One could easily imagine that the Airable has a built-in filter of its own, which ensures that the air curtain only blows pure air (another research paper debates the use of ionized air to kill viruses instantly). Sounds pretty great on paper, and I definitely hope a team of designers and engineers are building or prototyping such a device. Unless the folks at Dyson could come up with a solution, my only concern is the overwhelming noise most air curtains currently make.

Airable is a winner of the Red Dot Design Concept Award for the year 2021.

Designers: Kim Seulgee, Ko Sungchan, Lee Wonho, Park Hyein

The post This bizarre face mask concept proposes using an air-curtain instead of a physical filter… and it just might work first appeared on Yanko Design.