Turning the humble stringed instrument into an entire ecosystem, the LAVA ME 3 is easily the most advanced guitar you can get your hands on. Aside from being a semi-acoustic guitar that works equally well as an analog instrument and a standalone electric one, The LAVA ME 3 also comes with its own dedicated touch-sensitive tablet panel on the top that lets you access a host of features for both amateur and professional uses. From simply learning chords and playing the metronome to actually letting you create loops and add effects, the ‘Smart Guitar’ packs everything you need in a guitar… whether you’re jamming in a room or performing on stage.

Debuting just 7 months after the LAVA ME 2 was announced, the ME 3 sports the same iconic carbon-fiber body with the vivid color schemes and the offset acoustic chamber-hole that makes the guitar so unmistakably memorable. Like its predecessors, the LAVA ME 3 sports a honeycomb internal structure that gives the guitar its sheer strength (there’s no smashing this bad boy on stage) while also creating an acoustic chamber that emits a rich, balanced sound when you play the instrument. However, the most significant upgrade as far as the LAVA ME 3 goes is the iPad-esque tablet that comes built right into the guitar’s upper surface. This tablet is what effectively turns the ME 3 from a regular semi-acoustic guitar into a smart guitar… probably making it the first-ever guitar to have its own dedicated Operating System – and while that sounds incredibly gimmicky, in reality, it’s probably the most game-changing feature a guitar could have.

The 3.5-inch touchscreen interface runs LAVA’s HILAVA OS, equipped with a myriad of apps that let you do everything from tune to learn, practice, jam, perform, compose, and even record. While there’s a lot to unpack there, the guitar itself is still quite traditional in the way it works. You can use it as an acoustic instrument, jamming on the guitar just like if it were a regular wooden Spanish guitar, or you could ‘switch it on’ and have the guitar’s internal speakers play your music with amplification, just like an electric guitar. The internal speakers pump music out of the offset acoustic chamber hole, or conversely, the LAVA ME 3 even sports a traditional 1/4-inch audio output like most electric guitars, letting you hook it to an external amp.

Onto LAVA ME 3’s most exciting feature – its ‘computer’. The touch display measures 3.5-inches diagonally (about the same as an iPhone 4) and runs on LAVA’s own HILAVA OS that packs a treasure-trove of features. Just off the bat, the touchscreen lets you do the basic stuff like providing a metronome and helping you tune your guitar (to even alternate tuning arrangements), but it also unlocks a bunch of other features, notably working as a tutorial machine that lets people learn notes, scales, arpeggios, chords, and even songs. A built-in microphone can even track progress in real-time, alerting you when you’ve made a mistake and ensuring you hit all the right notes. The LAVA ME 3’s Practice App turns the guitar into a teacher, helping novices learn chords to their favorite songs while also guiding them through chord transitions, strumming patterns, and scales… all skills needed to go from amateur to seasoned veteran.

For the seasoned veterans, the LAVA ME 3’s touchscreen practically functions as a built-in DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) to let you experiment with effects, loops, and even multitracks. The Effects app is an ever-expanding library of filters and effects that you can layer onto your sound (making the guitar effectively sound like any instrument you want), and you can modulate each individual parameter too, from EQ to frequency, envelope, etc. Once you’ve got the sound you want, you can either jam to preset background music preparations (almost like guitar karaoke), or create your own by designing loops, layering samples, remixing riffs, and creating multitrack arrangements… all without a laptop, a phone, or a single cable. The guitar handles everything internally and even lets you record your sets and export them as stems or tracks, or even share them with LAVA’s own online community of budding artists and musicians.

The Smart Guitar comes priced at $999, which sounds absolutely batshit outlandish to begin with, but makes sense when you realize what you’re paying for. It’s not just the carbon fiber outer body, the semi-acoustic nature, the touchscreen, or that diverse ecosystem of features housed within the HILAVA operating system, it’s all of them combined, which effectively turns the guitar into a one-stop piece of equipment that replaces every other musical gear you’d need, from amplifiers to microphones, expensive pedals, software, or even a guitar teacher for that matter! The LAVA ME 3 also comes with a built-in 8000mAh battery that provides 9 full hours of continuous play-time or 2 weeks of standby… although when it’s discharged it can still be used as a regular acoustic guitar. The ME 3 also sports a USB-C charging port on its side (right near the 1/4-inch audio input), and if all that jazz wasn’t fancy enough, LAVA also sells an uber-futuristic $129 wireless charging dock for your fancy smart guitar!

Designer: LAVA

The post The LAVA ME 3 ‘Smart Guitar’ comes with its own built-in touchscreen that lets you add effects and view tutorials first appeared on Yanko Design.

US architecture firm DUST has completed an accessory dwelling unit for a family in Marfa, Texas, who decided to relocate permanently during the coronavirus pandemic.

The 1,300-square-foot (120-square-metre) building was added to a property in the desert city, which is located roughly halfway between Ciudad Juarez and San Antonio.

Despite a population of only roughly 1,900 people, the town has established itself as an arts hub for the Southern United States, and is home to Donald Judd’s Chinati Foundation and Ranch amongst other cultural institutions.

“With the onset of Covid and lockdowns, the owners decided to change up their life plans, packed up their belongings in Tennessee, and move full-time to Marfa,” said DUST, which is based in Tucson, Arizona.

The ADU is built from compressed earthen blocks, drawing cues from some of the local area’s vernacular construction techniques.

It encompasses a bedroom and toilet, which are private, and a more public lounge and patio where the owners can host visitors.

“The impetus behind the project was a desire to build a new private primary suite for a couple to seek refuge when their children, grandchildren, and friends visit,” said the studio.

“The suite became a calm respite and a place to work remotely, full time.”

Within the lounge, a long desk runs along an entire wall and faces a large window.

There is plenty of room for two people to set up a workstation overlooking the property’s cacti and shrubbery.

“The living and work lounge receives early morning light and offers a place for the owners to view the reverse sunset, as it opens to the east and allows for unobstructed viewing across a soft grass and gently sloping valley towards Haystack Mountain,” said DUST.

In the bedroom, a large skylight is centered over the bed, which the architects said is useful for letting off excess heat built up during the day. Additionally, it offers an opportunity for stargazing in Marfa’s clear night skies.

A full-height sliding glass wall opens the bedroom to a small courtyard, where the owners keep a vegetable garden and can relax away from their guests if desired.

The compressed earth bricks are left exposed throughout the interiors, creating a contrast with the simple concrete flooring found throughout the home.

DUST is led by Cade Hayes and Jesús Robles, who founded the studio in 2007.

The team has completed several desert homes in Arizona, including a property with concrete walls made using volcanic residue, and a rammed-earth home in the Sonoran Desert.

The photography is by Casey Dunn.

Project credits:

Architects: DUST, Cade Hayes, Jesus Robles
Structural engineer: Dan Ray
Builder: E&C construction, Eric Martinez
Compressed earth block: Dave Moshel
Millwork: Architectural Surfaces
Millwork install: Jimmy Magliozzi, Laszlo Thorsen
Plumber: Trever Warren

The post DUST designs Marfa ADU for isolated desert living in Texas appeared first on Dezeen.

With a sleek aluminum exterior that offers a stunning visual upgrade to most plastic-body earbuds, the Porsche Design PDT60 TWS Earphones aim at creating an experience that’s as good in the visual department as it is at handling audio. Porsche Design’s repertoire features a whole host of hi-end audio gear, although the PDT60 is easily the smallest in that bunch, fitting snugly into your ear to deliver immersive, balanced audio directly into your head.

Sure, one could make the case that Porsche Design is a little too late in the TWS department (with practically everyone making TWS earphones nowadays), although the earbuds are clearly designed to make a style statement more than anything. The earphones champion a minimalist design, featuring a matte aluminum body that has the same premium appeal as the matte metal finish on most high-end laptops and computers. The earphones come with the Porsche Design logo emblazoned on their front, and sit in a case that’s partly matte metal too, with the same PD monogram embossed on the case’s sliding leather lid.

On the feature front, the PDT60 performs just as well as other TWS earphones in its class. It comes with hybrid noise-canceling – combining active noise-canceling for removing background and ambient noise while listening, and electronic noise-canceling that allows for crystal clear conversations during calls and video chats. On the inside, the PDT60 is outfitted with 8mm neodymium drivers (considerably smaller than the 11mm drivers on the AirPods Pro which are within the same price range), and connects to devices via Bluetooth 5.0, pretty standard for TWS earphones nowadays. The PDT60 accommodate for touch-based input, letting you tap, hold, and slide your finger on the earphones to answer/reject calls, control music playback + volume, and summon your phone’s virtual assistant. The earphones even have a battery life of 5 hours, with an additional 15 hours when placed back in the charging case. They also support fast-charging and have the ability to charge wirelessly, allowing you to use any Qi-compatible wireless charging mat to juice the buds when they’re low on battery. The TWS earbuds ship in the charging case along with a USB-C charging cable and 3 earbud-tips for different ear sizes, although even though they provide a snug fit, with an IPX5 water-resistance rating, they’re just about good for exercising and I’d caution against wearing them in heavy rain or near a pool.

At $299, Porsche Design’s PDT60 easily falls in the ‘premium’ spectrum of the TWS market. They aren’t strictly for audiophiles (whether they sound great too is still yet to be determined), although for people who want earphones that rank higher on the style quotient, the metal-bodied PDT60 makes for a pretty compelling purchase! They look significantly more premium than Nothing’s earbuds too.

Designer: Porsche Design

The post Porsche Design ‘drifts’ into the TWS market with its sleek noise-canceling PDT60 Truly Wireless Earbuds first appeared on Yanko Design.

Imagine a future where people would only buy 1kg of textile per year and per person to reduce their impact on the planet : What would fashion become?

Extract from the book “1kg of textile” 2

Extract from the book “1kg of textile” 3

Extract from the book “1kg of textile” 4

Extract from the book “1kg of textile” 1

The book “1kg of Textile” collects ways of reducing our textile consumption

Credit: Iris Rijskamp

1kg of textile represents approximately four pieces of clothes

Credit: Laurianne Da Rocha

A detail of the book

Credit: Alice Watel

A detail of the book

Credit: Alice Watel

View the full project here

L’artiste italienne Giulia Bernardelli aime le café et au lieu de se contenter de le boire, elle l’utilise également comme un moyen de créer de l’art. « Mon avenir commence quand je me réveille chaque matin. Chaque jour, je trouve quelque chose de créatif à faire de ma vie », ecrit-elle dans sa bio Instagram. En effet, la boisson chaude a un fort potentiel créatif et c’est renversé qu’elle l’utilise comme de l’aquarelle. Ses œuvres sont très détaillées et leur création a commencé par hasard, un jour où l’artiste a malencontreusement renversé du café sur sa toile. Au lieu de l’éponger, elle a pris sa petite cuillère et l’a utilisé comme un pinceau afin de disposer de façon harmonieuse et figurative le liquide dans l’espace.

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