A team of Rhode Island School of Design students and researchers have created tesselated, floating planting beds made of a mycelium biomaterial to cleanse waterways of pollutants and restore wetland habitat.

The floating Biopods act to introduce native plants back to degraded wetland systems while cleansing the water through bioremediation, or the re-introduction of microorganisms that naturally decontaminate their environment.

Centred around the Rhode Island School of Design’s (RISD) local waterway, the Providence River, the Biopod team sought to create a small-scale, community-oriented purification system that would help to cleanse the river of historical pollution using organic processes.

“The Biopod project aimed at the introduction of miniaturized wetlands to the Providence River,” project co-lead Avantika Velho told Dezeen.

“Because of the urbanization of the Providence River itself, a lot of the wetland that acts to actively remediate plastic pollution had been removed. So the project is really about reintroducing this new biology to kick start these ecosystems again so that the river might repair itself.”

“We were looking a lot to wetlands,” co-lead Manini Banjeree told Dezeen. “We’ve been referring to them as the ‘kidneys of the Earth’ because of how well they accumulate toxins between changing topographic situations like the water, land and the intermediary. They have evolved to hold on to and decontaminate water systems.”

The Biopods are constructed from a hexagonal, 18-inch by 18-inch (45-centimetre by 45-centimetre) floating “mat” made of Reishi mycelium, the root system of the mushroom, that contains several cup-holder-sized pockets. Native, wetland plants were harvested and placed inside each opening so that their roots dangle through to the water below.

The mat acts as an organic, compostable bed that will degrade over time to slowly release the plants into the surrounding waterway. Simultaneously, the mushroom network eats away at heavy metals, heavy oils, pesticides and other toxins found in the water.

“Mushrooms are really good at breaking down stuff,” said Velho. “They really do a lot of digestion outside their bodies, that’s their main goal in the food web. They’re like the decomposers of the natural world.”

The wetland plants additionally work to filter out toxins, cleansing pollutants through a process similar to how humans metabolize our food, according to Velho.

Additionally, their submerged roots create a small ecosystem for algae and microbes.

The team sought to make the Biopod system accessible; if the project is further developed it will be available for community members to make it themselves.

The Biopods are constructed by tightly packing mycelium into a hexagonal, plexiglass mould with reusable plastic cups placed in the centre to create small, cylindrical planting beds for the wetland plants.

Coconut oil and beeswax are then used as a coating and for reinforcement.

Once in the water, the structure can float individually or interlock with other Biopods to create what the team describes as a “mat of floating marsh”.

The mycelium base of the Biopod will go on to “live” for an estimated fiver months before it fully degrades to disperse the plants inside.

The team set several Biopods afloat in the Providence River before having to pull them out after two months.

Results showed microplastic accumulation within the pods under magnification, as well as “shoot morphology”, or buds, from the wetland plants–indicating a healthy ecosystem.

Velho and Banjeree explained that there are several routes the project could take, although the first step is to prove the Biopod’s efficacy to organizations like the EPA.

“It’s interesting, the relationships that we have to biomaterials and the way that we are connected to systems that have the potential to remediate in a way that isn’t electricity intensive or chemically intensive,” said Banjeree.

“It’s about having that shift in perspective to solve problems in a way that is not very technologically intensive. Thinking about a product that can be grown but not built.”

The Biopod project was supported by RISD’s Inaugural Somerson Sustainability Innovation Fund (SSIF) grant, which funds research projects combining art and design. 

Dezeen put together a round-up of technology that mitigates river pollution, including bubble curtains and a googly-eyed trash boat.

The photography is courtesy Biopod unless otherwise stated.

Project credits:

Rhode Island School of Design team
Faculty lead: Dr. Katia Zolotovsky
Biodesign co-leads: Manini Banerjee, Avantika Velho
Graphics and visualisation: Varun Mehta
Post-award research administrator I: Niko Lazarakis
Director of research: Soul Brown

Advisory:
Founder of Living Systems Laboratory: Eugene Bernat
RISD gradutate student: Skylar Perez
Design researcher: Vrinda Mathur

Edna w. Lawrence Nature Laboratory team:
Interim director: Jennifer Bissonnette
Staff biologist & collections manager: Benedict Gagliardi
Visualization and imaging research associate: Georgia Rhodes
Botanist, RISD lecturer: Hope Leeson

Waterfire Providence team:
Founder: Barnaby Evans
Arts management intern: Emily Gray

Stormwater Innovation Center team:
Education and outreach coordinator: Rebecca Reeves
Stormwater center Director: Ryan Copp
Director of restoration: Wenley Ferguson

Community volunteers: Akhil Kulkarni, Phoenix Inouye, Shamika Velho, Anjini Banerjee

The post RISD students create floating mycelium pods to cleanse waterways appeared first on Dezeen.

Mini PCs are becoming quite the trend these days, but despite their small and seemingly portable sizes, they’re not exactly meant or easy to carry around. Their boxy shapes, while space-efficient, aren’t conducive for carrying around, not to mention they need to be plugged into a power source, monitor, keyboard, and mouse to even be usable. There are exceptions to this formula, of course, and one manufacturer had the rather unconventional and somewhat outlandish idea of a portable mini PC that you can carry with you without a bag because the PC itself becomes something like a glamorous purse or handbag just by adding a shoulder strap to its sides.

Designer: SOONNOOZ (via Mini Machines)

You can already tell at a glance that this isn’t your run-of-the-mill mini PC. It has a retro-futuristic vibe going with its round rectangle shape, glossy plastic finish, front grille, and chromed levers and feet. The lever at the top is a rather physical volume control that adds a little fun to the act of adjusting the volume. The design is both simple and elegant but actually hides a few tricks that set it further apart from other mini computers.

For starters, the design has two chrome buttons at the sides where you can attach a matching strap to carry it on your shoulders. You’ll probably still want to put it inside a large carrying bag for protection, but you can still carry it directly if you’re just transferring locations quickly, like moving from one room to another in the same building. That said, the SOONNOOZ Mini is not exactly that small, so it might look awkward carrying it like that. And at 1.5kg, it’s not lightweight either.

You’d still need to connect it to some peripherals to use it, of course, but you might not need to have it always plugged in. It has a built-in battery, not unlike a laptop, which could allow you a few hours of use before you need to recharge it. This makes it convenient as a portable entertainment system when paired with a portable projector, though you’ll still need a way to navigate the computer, like with a portable keyboard and mouse.

Its last trick is that its fascia is actually a detachable Bluetooth speaker that can be used on its own. As far as specs go, it’s a pretty standard mini PC that won’t really stand out in terms of performance, though certain configurations could definitely support some light gaming. Interesting as it might be, the SOONNOOZ Mini isn’t something you can acquire outside of China, so its novelty will probably never reach global renown.

The post Stylish mini PC with a detachable speaker can be carried like a luxury bag first appeared on Yanko Design.

Dezeen School Shows: a thesis that examines the relationship between Las Vegas and the city’s surrounding desert is included in Dezeen’s latest school show by students at Carleton University.

Also included is a research project that investigates clay and a project that explores the renewal of heritage buildings in Barcelona.

Carleton University

Institution: Carleton University
School: Azrieli School of Architecture and Urbanism
Course: MArch thesis, graduate and undergraduate studios
Tutors: Jake Chakasim, Sheryl Boyle, Lisa Moffitt, Jerry Hacker, Anne Bordeleau, Piper Bernbaum and Mariana Esponda

School statement:

“The Azrieli School of Architecture and Urbanism (ASAU) offers undergraduate programmes in design, conservation and sustainability and urbanism, as well as a professional MArch programme.

“With generous funding opportunities, including teaching and research assistantships, our accredited MArch programmes offer paths for students holding degrees in any undergraduate discipline, as well as for students with pre-professional degrees in architecture from anywhere around the world.

“Through speculative thinking and material craft, the ASAU faculty and students work to address critical societal issues.

“Projects shown include responses to the climate emergency, community-led design-build projects as well as land-based and socio-spatial inquiries.”

Dirt: Making with Contaminated Lands by Ju Huang

“My thesis explores dirt in the contemporary world and its place in architecture through a series of ceramic-making exercises. My sense of touch helps me explore clay, tackling the critical problem of discarded waste sites called brownfields in Canada.

“The experiments have created a new sensory order from which a tectonic expression of architecture rooted in a particular place is created – a process that trespasses the taboos of the contaminated and embraces the uncertainties contained in land in the technological age of the Anthropocene.”

Student: Ju Huang
Course: MArch Thesis
Tutor: Sheryl Boyle
Email: juhuang[at]cmail.carleton.ca

Toronto’s Terrestrial Reefs: BioRock’s Infrastructural Biogeochemical Futures by Cameron Penney

“This thesis explores the design potential of BioRock, an underutilised accreting material that simulates the reef-building processes of corals.

“It is a highly sustainable alternative to concrete, able to act as an ecological scaffold and sequester pollutants. The thesis proposes three speculative applications of BioRock within Toronto, Canada.

“They include the reintroduction of alvars as a landscape strategy extending from aggregate infill, an industrial remediation for obsolete water treatment reservoirs, and the in-situ repair of concrete bents supporting the Gardiner Expressway.

“Design is explored through experimental models and test fragments of BioRock forming a library of artefacts that traverse biogeochemical scales of speculation.”

Student: Cameron Penney
Course: MArch Thesis
Tutor: Lisa Moffitt
Email: cameronpenney[at]cmail.carleton.ca

Designed for Deconstruction by Arkoun Merchant

“Designed for Deconstruction presents a framework for deconstruction in the context of Barrio Rodrigo Bueno, a self-built settlement in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

“It provides another path for the demolition of existing homes, using recycled material to rehabilitate houses with building methods that make the most of natural ventilation and daylighting.

“These steps take advantage of the iterative nature of a self-built home, allowing rehabilitation at a desirable pace for the family.

“Moreover, community members are encouraged to participate in the deconstruction and rehabilitation process to learn building techniques and skills they can apply in their neighbourhood and the city.”

Student: Arkoun Merchant
Course: MArch Option Studio ARCH 5106
Tutors: Natalia Escobar Castrillon and Felipe Vera
Email: arkounmerchant[at]cmail.carleton.ca

The Market Playhouse by Sam Lanesmith

“The ByWard Market Playhouse blends a public plaza, theatre and gallery space in the heart of Ottawa’s market district, featuring a raised theatre that shades and protects a public atrium and plaza from the summer sun.

“Unfolding directly across from the historic market building, the large, shaded plaza provides a space for visitors to relax, while also serving as an outdoor market during the summer.

“The building’s frame offers clues of its construction to the public. Its design celebrates the steel structure that elevates the theatre seating above the plaza.”

Student: Sam Lanesmith
Course: MArch Studio 2 ARCS 5032
Tutors: Sheryl Boyle and Janine Debanné
Email: samelanesmith[at]cmail.carleton.ca

[Tree Factory], The Urban Forestry Knowledge Centre by Caitlin Chin

“The [Tree Factory] is an urban forestry knowledge centre that aims to educate the public about climate change and rekindle the relationship between people and trees.

“It is also a collection of microclimates that choreograph interwoven paths of education, people and trees through converging moments in time.”

Student: Caitlin Chin
Course: MArch Gateway Studio ARCS 5105
Tutors: Lisa Moffitt and Jerry Hacker
Email: caitlinchin[at]cmail.carleton.ca

Lost, Found, Playground – O’Connor St. Pocket Park by Ben Merritt

“Driveways and license plates consume the built environment. Thus begins a movement to reclaim dead spaces and convert them into lively areas for the children of the neighbourhood.

“Using byproducts of local economic activity – objects like milk crates, wooden pallets and tires – an intervention can take shape with the same scale and function as a typical playground.

“Assembled by residents with craft and trades skills, improvised play areas can help reintroduce meaningful social interaction to the youth of the community.

“The aim is to return the antisocial spaces to the children and assist in the revitalisation of the modern isolated childhood.”

Student: Ben Merritt
Course: BAS Studio ARCS 4107
Tutor: Jerry Hacker
Email: benmerritt[at]cmail.carleton.ca

Erosion by Martha Woolfrey

“This drawing documents the ecological collapse during the 1990s cod fishery moratorium in Newfoundland and its rippling effect on culture for generations, which won an honour award in the school’s annual seven-day drawing competition.

“As we collectively take responsibility for addressing the climate emergency, the event invited students to illustrate how we might engage the changing climate with hope, using architecture’s arsenal.

“Students could dive into the nature of architectural drawings as narrative, foreground architectural drawings’ potential to connect multiple spatial and temporal scales, grapple with uncertainties and conditions of flux or work to make visible those invisible flows and forces that impact our planet.”

Student: Martha Woolfrey
Course: 2023 Murray & Murray Competition
Tutor: Anne Bordeleau
Email: marthawoolfrey[at]cmail.carleton.ca

Las Vegas: Vanishing Illusions of Paradise and Fantasies of Plenitude by Kaleigh Jeffrey

“Las Vegas exists in a dichotomy between its extravagant built environment and extreme desert surroundings. The city is like a mirage and the illusion presents a narrative that evades reality.

“Years of urbanisation and constant drought, made worse by a warming climate, have triggered the first-ever reduction in Nevada’s water allocation.

“This thesis investigates the past, present and future of Las Vegas as it negotiates the conditions of a changing desert, engaging with policy and notions of spectacle.

“Through various forms of documentation, speculative design work and climate fiction, the project questions the role of maintenance in architecture and to what degree it is worthwhile.”

Student: Kaleigh Jeffrey
Course: MArch Thesis
Tutor: Piper Bernbaum
Email: kaleighjeffrey[at]cmail.carleton.ca

Interfactures by Miquel Reina Ortiz

“I examine Barcelona as more than the sum of its parts, considering the relationship between the scales of the city, buildings and construction details.

“Here, I present Barcelona’s most characteristic tectonic element, the volta de maó de pla, tile vault or Catalan vault, through a series of graphic exercises named interfactures that explore their intimate relationship with making heritage buildings and urban fabric.

“Fine-grained details are essential to determine how the cycle of recovery and renewal can be balanced in the context of the whole, harmoniously contained in its parts. The city is in the details.”

Student: Miquel Reina Ortiz
Course: PhD in Architecture
Tutor: Mariana Esponda
Email: m.reinaortiz[at]gmail.com

A Night in January: Oral Traditions Storytelling Centre on Indigenous Astronomy by Ashley Mowry and Frank Hinoporos

“The Oral Traditions Storytelling Centre on Indigenous Astronomy focuses on the education of Indigenous and non-Indigenous university students and members of the public in oral indigenous storytelling, with an emphasis on stories related to the sky and stars.

“The band atop the structure traces the full moon of January (Spirit Moon), which represents a time of contemplation, grounding the architecture in myth.

“This studio centralised the role of indigenous knowledge in advanced studies. It is part of a school effort to promote an understanding of the land, ecology and culture of Canada’s indigenous peoples through the lens of architecture and planning.”

Students: Ashley Mowry and Frank Hinoporos
Course: 2023 Global Indigenous Option Studio
Tutor: Jake Chakasim
Emails: ashleymowry[at]cmail.carleton.ca and frankhinoporos[at]cmail.carleton.ca

Partnership content

This school show is a partnership between Dezeen and Carleton University. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.

The post Ten architecture projects by students at Carleton University appeared first on Dezeen.

If you’ve ever gone camping, chances are you probably had to start a fire for your cooking or smores needs. As someone who has never have done this but have seen enough movies and TV shows where people struggle with it, I can only guess that it’s pretty challenging if you don’t have the right tools or if you actually don’t know how to do it. Fortunately for those who still have to do it manually, there are a lot of tools now (and YouTube).

Designer: Zippo

The Fire Starting Multi-Tool from Zippo should be able to do the job for you as its name says. It’s basically a Swiss knife type of tool that has everything you need to start a fire and do other outdoorsy things. It has a flint wheel ignition that should be able to spark that fire and then add shavings from the tinder grater that’s part of the tool. It also has a 420 high-carbon steel knife blade and a double cut saw blade that should let you cut through things like branches which you also need to kindle the fire.

You should be able to start up to 15 fires at 1 inch each or 12 fires at 3 cm each with what’s included in this tool , which includes 1 flint. It also comes with a fire paracord and bail with an attachment point. For non-fire things, there is a bottle opener and screwdriver so you can enjoy a bottle of beer once the fire has been started.

If you often go outdoors and start campfires and such, this is a handy tool for you to always have with you. Zippo is even offering a combo kit which includes other fire starting tools that you may need if you ned to have those smores while exchanging campfire stories.

The post Zippo Fire Starting Multi-Tool will you be your best friend for those camping nights first appeared on Yanko Design.

Foldable phones are getting more common these days, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have room for improvement. Whether it’s the larger book-type foldable or the stylish clamshell flip phone, there are still lingering concerns in terms of design and durability. Admittedly, there have been quite a few major improvements over the years thanks to increased competition in this market segment. Although it was a pioneer, it almost seemed that Samsung had been stagnating instead, sticking too close to safe designs. That changed with the Galaxy Z Flip 5 this year and it will keep changing for next year’s generation that are expected to introduce new screens that address some of those complaints.

Designer: Samsung (via Ross Young)

It’s not really that puzzling that Samsung decided to focus on improving the durability and reliability of its foldable phones over fancy features. After all, those are the biggest concerns buyers have when trying to sink their teeth into such an expensive investment. But four years after it first launched the Galaxy Fold, the basic design of this foldable phone hasn’t changed. In fact, one of the biggest complaints is how the external Cover Screen is too narrow, making it awkward and even difficult to use the phone as a regular phone when folded close.

According to industry sources, the Galaxy Z Fold 6 will have a wider Cover Screen to resolve this issue. An exact figure wasn’t given, but any additional width would be an improvement to the current design and put it on the same page as its rivals. Of course, this would translate to a change in the aspect ratio of the internal main display, which might end up looking more squarish than before.

The Galaxy Z Flip 6 is also getting a bigger Cover Screen, one that spans 3.9 inches diagonally versus the current 3.4 inches. This is being compared to the 4.0-inch iPhone 5s and iPhone SE (2016), which are the last small iPhones that Apple made. In theory, that means there will be more space for content, which opens the door for more apps as well.

Of course, that isn’t always the case in practice, because the screen aspect ratio and shape won’t be the same as an iPhone. And just like the Galaxy Z Flip 5 now, the kinds of apps that you can use on that external screen are very limited. There are no signs that Samsung will open up its Cover Screen to more apps the way the Motorola Razr does, so the impact of this change could be very minimal in the end.

The post Galaxy Z Fold 6, Z Flip 6 foldable phones might finally fix pain points first appeared on Yanko Design.