Hasta La Ideas

Dezeen Showroom: Pritzker Architecture Prize-winning architect Toyo Ito has designed Mayuhana, a collection of cocoon-like fibreglass lamps for Japanese lighting brand Yamagiwa.

The Mayuhana range by Japanese architect Ito for Yamagiwa takes the form of a spun thread woven into delicate shapes.

Each one is handmade by Japanese craftworkers reeling fibreglass string around a mold into two or three layers to provide a soft, warm glow reminiscent of traditional paper lanterns.

“The soft light that evokes traditional paper lanterns knowns as Bonbori brings an airy elegance to modern interior living areas,” said the brand.

“It provides a warm glow above a dining table and dynamic installation in high ceiling rooms,” it added.

The collection includes pendant lamps, floor lamps and table lamps available in white or black colour options.

Its name is a portmanteau of “mayu”, the Japanese word for cocoon, and “hana”, the word for flower.

Product: Mayuhana
Designer: Toyo Ito
Brand: Yamagiwa
Contact: press@yamagiwa.co.jp

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Apple’s ultimate electric car dream is beating alive with Project Titan in the works for a very long time now. The prototype of the next-generation EV is projected to be revealed in 2024 if everything goes to plan, and the production model will debut sometime in 2025 – 2028.

This gives independent automotive designers an open invitation to give Apple fans a taste of what the Apple Car could and should be like when finally materialized. The Apple Car 1 concept is yet another iteration of the Cupertino giant’s most anticipated project to date that’s longing for fruition.

Designer: Atif Chaugule

The core idea of Apple’s concept car gravitates around a minimalistic and elegant form. That Magic Mouse resemblance is deliberate, defining the flowing lines of the next-generation car that’ll most probably be an evolved self-driving vehicle. The Magic Mouse inspiration lends the Apple Car 1 a dropping motion to the front and rear for balanced volume. Another inspiration comes from the Airpods Pro for a heightened sense of power and dominance on the road – hence the bulged-out wheel section for muscular profile and overall contrast.

Apple Watch and iMac influence also shout out with the flat surface definitions and the spicy ting of sharp aesthetics. The designer keeps in mind the timeline of the Apple Car launch timeline, hence comes the inclusion of advanced cameras and LiDAR sensors for proposed Level 5 autonomy. The futuristic wireless charging with the integrated clads is another element adding conviction to the EV’s technological aspect. Atif’s concept proposes a network of iDrive paths that’ll keep the Apple Car charged without the need to plug in often.

The Apple Car 1 can be easily mistaken for a high-performance sportscar (not that it couldn’t be), making the set of wheels more desirable than (dare I say) the Tesla Roadster or the cheesy Polestar 6 (codenamed Polestar O2 concept) slated for a 2026 delivery timeline. The world eagerly waits for the official Apple Car prototype, or any teaser looks of what’s cooking at the Apple design house. Till then, we get the spicy concepts by visionary automotive designers, who’ve let their imagination loose.

The post Apple Car 1 concept embodies brand’s winning design philosophy + exciting self-driving function first appeared on Yanko Design.

Rare, monophonic reel-to-reel master tapes of The Velvet Underground’s 1967 debut album, The Velvet Underground & Nico, have been uncovered by The Andy Warhol Museum. The tapes contain “alternative versions and mixes” of the nine songs from the record, and will be public in an exhibition at the Pittsburgh institution next year. Matt Gray, manager of archives at the museum, says, “You’re hearing the album as the band originally intended. The track listing alone is a retelling of the album. The quality of sound is remarkable; it gives you a new perspective.” Find out more at ARTnews.

Image of The Velvet Underground & Nico cover art 

Despite the justified controversy surrounding AI art, architects need not worry about being usurped by software that can generate images of buildings, argues Will Wiles.

These are uncertain times, but we can be sure of two things. The first is that art made by artificial intelligence (AI) is here to stay. (Many will feel that the word “art” in that sentence needs the protective embrace of quotation marks; some will feel that “artificial intelligence” does as well. Please feel free to imagine those marks if you prefer.)

The second is that AI art will remain controversial, and rightly so. Human artists fear, quite reasonably, that it will consume much of the bread-and-butter work on which they depend. To add insult to injury, the AI is something of a plagiarist.

Nevertheless, it’s here. Barriers to use are falling: in September, OpenAI ended the waiting list for its Dall-E image creation platform, so it can now be immediately used by anyone who signs up. And earlier in the same month an image created by Jason M Allen using Midjourney, another AI art application, won the digital art category of the Colorado State Fair’s fine arts competition.

Art made by artificial intelligence is here to stay

Sites such as Midjourney, Dall-E and Stable Diffusion use AI to create original images from text prompts. The “intelligence” involved is more to do with learning, and computational brute force, than intuition – the technique essentially based on training computers to scramble and unscramble images until they “know” how to create an image from noise, as Daniel Fein writes in this handy explainer.

Even at their best, the images created have a characteristic sludgy quality, and some subjects, such as the human hand, appear to defeat them. Nevertheless, they are just good enough to prompt widespread fears that they will deprive perennially undervalued human artists of a lot of the commercial work on which they depend, while ripping off their work as human users tell programs to ape the work of creators they admire.

AI architecture feels like a more remote prospect. Architecture, after all, is a discipline that extends far beyond the visual – some day a single program might conceive a building, render it as a constructable set of drawings, detail its drains and gutters, and all along work with a client and an assortment of contractors and officials, as we expect of a human architect.

But are there signs already that software-created images of buildings are encroaching on the architect’s prized ability to generate architectural ideas? That they might remain unbuilt does not mean that AI-generated concepts would be without influence – paper architecture can be of great moment.

Allen’s award-winning AI-generated image, Théâtre D’opéra Spatial, comprises gowned performers in a cavernous, grand interior dominated by a huge circular aperture. And increasing numbers of people are using these platforms to create architectural imagery in the same vein.

There are more than 32,000 images on Instagram using the hashtag #Midjourneyarchitecture, and the Instagram account Midjourney Architecture, which collects interesting examples, has more than 34,000 followers. The “architecture” showcased is mostly fantastical, but sometimes eerily real.

Increasing numbers of people are using these platforms to create architectural imagery

Sometimes Midjourney architecture can be convincing enough to create real-world ripples. The California-based Egyptian artist and designer Hassan Ragab has been using Midjourney to experiment with ideas, but also to create exaggerated tributes to the traditional Islamic architecture of Cairo and Alexandria.

One of the images from his “Cairo sketches” series, an Escher-esque wall of windows, connected by complex and implausible interwoven stonework and decorated with Islamic tracery, was seen by an extraordinary 8.5 million Instagram users. On Facebook, a post claiming this image was from an actual building went viral, and journalists started contacted Ragab asking him to verify if it was real or not.

“It went beyond Egypt: people in Iran claiming that it’s a Persian tomb, others claiming it’s a Spanish building,” Ragab wrote on Instagram. “Also, what was really ironic was how people were arguing (backed up by their own beliefs and ideologies) about the whatabouts of that building.” Fact-checking news stories about the image followed, including from the AFP.

 

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A post shared by Hassan Ragab | حسن رجب (@hsnrgb)

It usually takes no more than a second to determine if an image emanates from AI or not, but it seems that few internet users can spare that second, especially in the abattoir of truth that is Facebook. So there is potential for confusion and deliberate mischief – but not of a new kind, even if it is using new technology.

For the time being, AI architecture is simply another form of architectural vapourware: the bling-bling never-to-be-realised concepts and dubious utopianism that spread online like visual fungus. But even that fungus has a little nutritional value, as small and ambitious design practices and render studios use it to promote their work and get attention.

And the same applies to the fantastical architecture created as art by the energetic and often brilliant digital artists who gather in places like online community DeviantArt. If some people mistakenly take the images as real buildings, or projects that might shortly be realised – if some studios slyly encourage that impression in their copy – that’s a matter for their own conscience.

For the time being, AI architecture is simply another form of architectural vapourware

AI architecture slots in besides these fields, producing shakier results. Allen’s architectural backdrop is superficially impressive, but there’s less than meets the eye. It is just an impression of baroque ornamentation and sophisticated structure, an interpretation lacking an original. It has the quirks that can be seen throughout AI architecture: a distinctive smeariness; the inability to follow a line; a strange blindness to symmetry; and fudged, impossible edges, joins and details.

And, of course, we remain firmly in the realm of the visual, not the actual. The machine is wielding pixels in two dimensions, not materials and space. Architects can rest easy that AI isn’t coming for their jobs just yet, although it’s not impossible to imagine AI images winning a student or drawing competition, if allowed.

In general, architecture auditions new technologies on its avant garde and then construction employs them in the boiler room. Prefabrication briefly let the metabolists dream of endless reconfigurable flexibility, and today delivers cheap uniformity. CATIA was popularised by Gehry and has become part of the background. Having promised parametric exuberance, 3D printing will probably end up being used for service cores or something similarly unglamorous.

Artificial intelligence is more likely to find a role generating apartment floor plans or resolving service layouts – that is, exactly the areas where computers are most heavily used already – than any visionary creative application.

The visionary is naturally what draws the eye, though, and it’s worth considering the appeal of the imagery on #Midjourneyarchitecture. That might begin with regarding some of the quirks listed above as qualities rather than shortcomings.

Obviously the outcomes depend on the inputs of the human user – which, generally, we don’t know – but it is interesting that there are recurrent resonances with the work of a few particular architects with very strong individual styles: Gaudi‘s biomorphism, Eisenman‘s uncanny geometries, liquid Hadid.

But, most enticing, the AI is a stranger to orthodoxies. The fascination it generates should be discouraging to architecture’s hardline ideologues and style partisans, who fixate on rigid objective conceptions of beauty, and who regard deviation as a moral as well as aesthetic failing. The machine disagrees. Generative architecture is thoroughly degenerate, and all the more interesting for it.

Will Wiles is a design writer and the author of four novels, most recently The Last Blade Priest.

The top image is by Hassan Ragab.

The post “Architects can rest easy that AI isn’t coming for their jobs just yet” appeared first on Dezeen.

Ahead of the 2022 Fifa World Cup commencing in Qatar on Sunday, we have rounded up the kits of all 32 teams playing in the international football competition.

Though not a catwalk, the World Cup is arguably the biggest stage a fashion designer could ever hope to see their work exhibited on.

This year’s strips include jerseys made with ocean plastic or recycled polyester and a kit designed to protest against the circumstances surrounding the tournament.

Below are kits from all 32 nations that will be on display in Qatar, arranged in alphabetical order:

Argentina by Adidas

As with previous home shirts, Adidas‘ design for Argentina features the Argentinian coat of arms and the Argentine Football Association crest set within the team’s traditional pale blue and white stripes.

The slim-fitting jersey is made with 50 per cent ocean plastic from Parley for the Oceans.

Australia by Nike

Australia’s sunny home kit for the tournament by Nike is made up of gold, yellow and green hues that reference the sandy landscape of the Australian outback as well as the wetlands and forests in the countryside.

On the breast, the shield of the Commonwealth Coat of Arms – one of the symbols of the Oceanic nation – is framed by an emu and a kangaroo.

Belgium by Adidas

Red and gold flames lick the raglan sleeves of Adidas’ shirt for Belgium, which represents a fresh take on the team’s usual black, yellow and red argyle print shirt.

The fiery design references the Belgian team’s nickname, the Red Devils.

Brazil by Nike

This vibrantly coloured shirt by Nike for Brazil has a jaguar, or onça-pintada in Portuguese, pattern printed all over. According to Nike, the print reflects five-time-World-Cup-winner Brazil’s famously flarey “style of play”.

While the body is yellow, it is set off against contrasting green edges and blue piping around the neck and sleeve. The yellow shade is a slightly brighter version of the team’s usual shirt colour.

 

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Cameroon by One All Sports

Motorsports clothing manufacturer One All Sports has designed this shirt as a deconstructed Cameroonian flag.

Thick green stripes fan diagonally out from the centre, while bands of black, yellow and red line the sleeves.

Canada by Nike

The Canada kit is the same design that the nation has worn throughout the past year, making Canada the only Nike team without a new design.

Comprised of the country’s traditional vivid red and white colour scheme, the kits feature the maple leaf, the nation’s most widely recognised symbol, on the chest. As with all Nike kits, the shirts are seamless and make use of the brand’s dri-fit ADV drying technology.

Costa Rica by New Balance

Costa Rican players – also known as Los Ticos – will sport a red jersey with blue trimmings made from 100 per cent recycled polyester and New Balance’s dry technology, which is designed to keep players comfortable in the hot Qatar climate.

“Every time I step out onto the pitch for my country is an incredibly proud moment and I can’t wait for the first game in these new kits,” Costa Rica defender Kendall Wason said. “These are the perfect jerseys for us to show the world what we’re made of.”

Croatia by Nike

As with past home jerseys, Croatia’s kit for the World Cup is dotted with its signature red and white squares. However, the brand claims that the design takes a “modern” approach to the traditional shirt.

While the red and white home shirt has a clear-cut checked pattern, the away kit’s blurry squares pay homage to “the ebbs and flows of Croatia’s Adriatic coastline”, it said.

Denmark by Hummel

Denmark’s home shirt is predominantly red and deliberately minimalist. Save for a few stripes on the cuff, the Hummel logo and the Danish badge, the top has few other details.

Sports brand Hummel designed the kit as a protest against the event being hosted in Qatar and wanted to reduce the visibility of the shirts.

“We’ve toned down all the details – including our own Hummel logo and chevrons – because even though we love football and the feeling of togetherness it gives us, we don’t wish to be visible during a tournament that has cost thousands of people their lives,” said the brand.

 

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Ecuador by Marathon

Ecuadorian sports company Marathon’s yellow shirt for Ecuador was designed to celebrate the country’s flag. On the back is a subtle silhouette of Ecuador.

The inner hem carries the word “Ecuador” written in six different languages.

England by Nike

Nike’s home kit for England is a departure from its 2018 World Cup design and instead bears a closer resemblance to the team’s Euro 1996 kit. The slimline shirt has large blue gradients on the shoulders and is noticeably free of any red colouring.

Meanwhile, the retro-style red away kit features a statement collar, a signature of the English team, which hides the famous three lions symbol underneath.

France by Nike

Nike’s kit for current World Cup champions France draws on the country’s heritage and its future, in what the brand described as a vision of “the New France”.

The home shirt is lightly adorned with graphics of oak leaves and olive branches that represent strength, solidarity and peace, whereas depictions of the cockerel, the Arc de Triomphe and Clairefontaine decorate the away.

Germany by Adidas

Taking inspiration from Germany’s first ever national football shirt, Adidas added a circular gold team badge in the middle of the otherwise simple home jersey.

The updated version also features thick vertical stripes while the colours of the German flag – red, black and yellow – run along the neck and sides.

Ghana by Puma

Ghana will be playing in a striking kit designed by Puma to reflect Ghanaian pride. A graphic in the middle of the top reinterprets the national flag and incorporates traditional Ghanaian textile patterns.

The Black Star of Ghana and the word “Ghana” in a unique black typeface are also visible across the chest.

Iran by Majid

The Majid Iran 2022 World Cup jersey has a plain design in white with trim in the colours of the Iranian flag on the collar and cuffs.

Raglan sleeves have grey splodges printed all over while the hem is solid red.

Japan by Adidas

Made by Adidas, Japan’s blue-and-white home kit is informed by origami.

It has a three-legged-crow pattern printed all over which the designers said represents self expression. The irregular shapes are said to convey speed, supposedly echoing the pace of Japan’s play.

Mexico by Adidas

With the Mexico home kit, Adidas chose to reference the country’s ancient civilisations and Mixtec art, using swirling lines in a deep maroon hue that contrast the shirt’s beige base.

Hidden among the swirls are symbols such as legendary figure Quetzalcoatl – an Aztec god that takes the form of a feathered serpent.

Morocco by Puma

Like many of the shirts being worn in Qatar, Morrocco’s kit incorporates the colours of the country’s flag with red and green lines finishing the arms and neckline.

The white shirt is decorated with graphics that recall traditional Moroccan mosaics, while the team emblem is positioned in the middle.

Netherlands by Nike

This shiny orange shirt is a flamboyant spin on the Netherlands’ traditional kit and is designed to evoke the mane of a lion, the historic symbol of the country.

Contrasting black elements including a black shield behind the Dutch Republic Lion and a black Nike tick pop against the bright orange.

Poland by Nike

Poland’s largely plain red home kit was informed by the elements of the country’s coat of arms, with sleeve graphics representing the nest and feathers of a white eagle.

The kit is made up of Poland’s national colours, which celebrate peace and honour.

Portugal by Nike

Portugal’s two-tone kit features block colours of peppery red and forest green, with splashes of gold hinting at the team’s previous successes. National pride is represented through the crest of the Federação Portuguesa de Futebol, which is positioned on the left hand side.

The away kit has an off-white base that is meant to stand out against the sea of white competitors.

Qatar by Nike

Host nation Qatar’s home shirt has a simple design with white triangular patterns adorning the sleeves and a plain maroon base, mirroring the Qatari flag.

The team, which is the only nation making its debut in the tournament this year, has a slightly more adventurous away kit, with printed pearls overlaid on a white background. As Qatar players run across the pitch, the kit is meant to resemble a sandstorm in the sun.

Saudi Arabia by Nike

Informed by the kit worn in 2018 and 2020, Saudi Arabia’s away kit version is green with a unique mosaic graphic print that Nike said evokes “speed and boldness”.

The home kit colourway is reversed – the white base lined with green trimmings and bearing a green Saudi Arabian Football Federation shield and falcon.

Senegal by Puma

African Cup of Nations title-holder Senegal will wear a green kit made by Puma that draws on the team’s nickname, the lions.

The national flag, federation emblem, and the words Les Lions sit alongside an image of a lion, signifying bravery and intensity.

Serbia by Puma

The white 2022 Serbia Away jersey features gold accents and traditional blue and white colours, with a subtle cross print.

Designed by Puma, the kit is emblazoned with a new crest that is made up of the Polish coat of arms and a two-headed eagle.

South Korea by Nike

The Dokkaebi – mythical creatures found in Korean folklore – were the starting point for Nike’s kit for Korea Republic.

“The fiery moniker represents the fierce mentality of a proud nation and is amplified by vibrant global red and a tiger-stripe sleeve graphic representing strength and power,” said the brand. The country’s name is written in Korean on the back of the collar.

Spain by Adidas

Spain’s minimal home kit is almost entirely deep red ,with yellow and black material used for the V-neck and along the shirt bindings. Adidas’ signature triple stripes run along the shoulders.

The away kit features a top with an undulating graphic that takes cues from the country’s 1982 logo, when Spain last hosted the world’s biggest football tournament.

Switzerland by Puma

The Swiss team’s home kit for World Cup 2022 has a gradient ombre-effect colour palette with a white top that gradually fades into grey at the waist.

A thick red band across the chest has a cross with white borders that directly recalls the country’s flag, while the sleeves have unusual mesh cuffs.

Tunisia by Kappa

Tunisian players will be clad in white jerseys with red lining that reference the history and heritage of the nation. The background design is based on armour worn by ancient Tunisian military during the Carthaginian empire.

Kappa designed the kits to be “resistant, elastic and breathable”.

Uruguay by Puma

Uruguay’s white away kit for World Cup 2022 bears light-blue stripes that run vertically across the middle with the federation emblem and the national flag at the centre.

Described by Puma as “a fresh and fearless take on the national team identity”, the top also has “Uruguay” written in cursive script along its front.

US by Nike

For the US team kits, American sportswear brand Nike looked to other popular national sports such as hockey and basketball.

The white home shirt has the pattern of a hockey jersey and double swooshes on the sleeves that look similar to those seen on American football jerseys. Bands of red and white surround each sleeve. The away kit has a slightly more vibrant pattern intended to celebrate diversity and youth.

Wales by Adidas

The Adidas Wales 2022 World Cup home jersey has a simple design with a red base colour and three white stripes on the shoulders.

Its round-neck collar has a green and white trim that also runs along the side up to the armpits. The Wales Football Association badge takes its place on the left side of the chest.

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