This ID case study is by Fluid Design, a consultancy based in Munich.

LB 300 Plus Air Humidifier

The Challenge

Designing an air humidifier that seamlessly blends into contemporary home interiors while exuding a sense of high performance.

The Solution

Beurer LB 300 Plus air humidifier masters the balance between softness and modernity and comes in a fresh and appealing design. Its geometry aligns harmoniously with typical elements found in modern interiors.

Uniting aesthetics and functionality

Designed for the renowned German wellbeing and lifestyle brand Beurer, this air humidifier series combines aesthetics with practicality. It complements modern home interiors, resembling a high-end consumer electronic product, while maintaining a cozy, inviting feel.

Reducing the draft angle to achieve a vertical and straight appearance presented a technical obstacle that was solved through a close collaboration with the engineers.

We developed a fresh and appealing design with a well-defined cross-section and an interface that is thoughtfully elevated.

The interface is elevated for user convenience and appears seamless, resembling a solid glass piece when the product is off. The attention to detail is consistent throughout, ensuring a well-designed 360-degree experience.

At the top, a copper-colored air grid pattern contrasts with the matte black main housing. This design adds a touch of sophistication and draws attention to the main features of the product.

A strategic partnership

As Beurer’s strategic partner, we developed the company’s newly defined design language and product design guidelines to ensure a consistent company portfolio.

This air humidifier is an excellent example to represent the new aesthetics of Beurer’s design language.

Highlights & Capabilities

Seamless interface

The interface design was developed in parallel with the physical product design, aiming to craft a seamless user experience centered around simplicity and user-friendliness.

Contemporary blend

LB 300 Plus air humidifier is crafted to seamlessly integrate with modern home interiors, evoking a sense of high-quality consumer electronic products.

You can see more of Fluid’s work here.

An excellent, affordable amplifier that’s far friendlier for non-audiophiles while still cranking out the brand’s powerful, warm signature sound

The Stereo 70s integrated receiver/amplifier isn’t celebrating the 1970s. Instead it’s a commemoration of 70 years of making amplifiers; in 1953, Saul Marantz founded the company in New York City. The Marantz brand is, today, quite different; the company’s wares are largely Japanese, manufactured in its Fukushima facility that’s been there for the past 22 years. That transition from NYC to Japan happened over decades, thanks to devoted audiophiles in that country and manufacturing capacity that was growing in the 1960s and ’70s, while it was shrinking in the US.

You should care about the Stereo 70s because it’s affordable for an item from a brand with a fairly legendary audiophile pedigree, and it’s dead-simple and un-intimidating to use. “Unfortunately,” Gary Dayton, Senior Product Planner at Marantz says about the reputation of better audio components, “there’s been an impermeable intimidation wall regardless of whether you can afford better audio products. Consumers have just been taught it’s a pain in the ass.” 

In response to that perception, Marantz designed the Stereo 70s with paper instructions that were simple to follow. Unbox the unit and it tells you what to plug in where. As soon as you’ve strung an HDMI cord from your TV to the clearly labeled HDMI port you’re able to follow on-screen instructions, and getting the unit to work with a pair of speakers (or a soundbar), turntable and/or CD player is all super-simple. In fact it’s almost breathtakingly antithetical to the rest of the electronics world. Once setup was complete, it was also simple to add the Marantz to a home network and then enable AirPlay (so you can send whatever’s playing on your phone to the receiver). Further, if you use a higher bitrate streaming service, such as Roon (which we like, because it enables control of our own library as well as higher-fidelity streaming) the Marantz will auto-populate it as an output. 

Plus, an app called HEOS (for Android and iPhone) is integrated with the Stereo 70s. It lets you communicate with the receiver from your phone and stream from sources like Spotify, Tidal, SiriusXM, SoundCloud and about 10 more services, as well as from tracks natively stored on your phone. Your phone becomes your remote, too, since you can choose from all the amp’s wired sources like phono or CD, as well as video sources, such as an Apple TV. The included remote is far less necessary with HEOS. 

Dayton explains two decisions about this one-stop app solution. “First, we’re not making judgment calls for customers,” where, without naming names, other more hidebound brands might want to curate what you can stream. “I download a lot of stuff from Bandcamp or just self-published or otherwise under-available on streaming services sources. I can play that just as easily through my Marantz equipment as I can a Spotify playlist that my daughter sends me.” 

As for making playback easier, that was critical to Marantz’s thinking, especially for video integration. “Historically there has been a pretty high degree of inconvenience; you couldn’t just turn on the TV and have it automatically switch to your amplifier. Now it automatically switches.” This is regardless of whether you were just playing music through a streaming service or the amplifier was off. Likewise, switch off your TV and the whole system powers down. “This restores the expectation of convenience that we’ve had with sound bars or with the TV without sacrificing any sound quality.” 

Not that any of that would matter if the sound was garbled—but just the opposite is true. During testing, whether listening to Joe Cocker’s amazing 1970 live cover of “The Letter,” a lossless recording on Apple Music, or Hank Mobley’s version of “Dance of the Infidels” on a Blue Note LP we picked up on vinyl in Tokyo, the sound staging and reproduction were superb. Dayton attributes the clarity and warmth to a bit of in-house technical wizardry, noting that over time Marantz, like most other larger-scale producers, switched from “analog” amplification to chip-based circuitry—but that introduced its own headaches. 

“Ideally amplifiers would just use a power supply to make a facsimile of the incoming audio signal but bigger, right?” Dayton asks rhetorically. “Unfortunately with chip-based amplifiers there are problems. One, they’re usually unable to respond to voltage changes very quickly, and that introduces distortion.” There are other issues, but Dayton explains this led to Marantz’s decision to build their own custom Hyper Dynamic Amplifier Modules (HDAMs). These are custom tuned by Marantz engineers, are comprised of individual resistors, capacitors, and inductors, and allow Marantz to continue with its signature “warmer” sound, without losing accuracy. 

“People think that there are competing objectives; that you can’t have crispness without a kind of cooler temperature. But it’s not true. We want you to hear that inherent warm character in recorded music without overdoing it so it’s dripping with syrup, which is not fun.”

The final piece of the puzzle is simple design. Going all the way back to 1960, when Marantz came out with the Model 9 amplifier, a chunky block of metal that collectors still chase, the company has used a signature, center “porthole” on the face of their amps that’s like a cyclops eye. Dayton says that on the Stereo 70s, as with past units, it’s meant to convey information simply (such as showing you that you’re streaming over AirPlay), rather than to introduce distraction with dancing lights. This is especially true if you want to use the unit with a minimal soundbar in front of a TV, where moving meters would be a visual bother. This is also why the unit is slim—only 4.1 inches tall—so it can fit into your life rather than dominate a bookshelf.

There are some subtle but lovely design elements to the piece, however. Smoothly surfaced dials for treble and bass, as well volume, balance, speakers and input source grace the facade face plate, while that sits against a slightly concave, Fibonacci patterned, dimpled metallic surface. “That’s meant to suggest some order in our universe,” Dayton explains. “Think of concentric circles formed from rain on a pond.” But, he adds, the idea is meant more to convey timelessly classic minimalism. “At its fundamental level this is not a scientific instrument. It’s there to help communicate art.” 

The Marantz Stereo 70s is $1000 direct from the brand or at select retailers.

The UK’s levelling up secretary Michael Gove is believed to be considering calling in the planning application for the MSG Sphere London in Stratford after mayor Sadiq Khan blocked it earlier this month.

Gove has the right to overrule the decision made by Khan, which was to block the application for the Populous-designed music venue on the edge of the Olympic Park.

The levelling up secretary’s department has written to the London Legacy Development Corporation – the planning authority for the Olympic Park and its vicinity – asking that the application is now “referred to him for determination”.

Plans blocked over risk of “harm to hundreds of residents”

The planning application for the illuminated sphere had been blocked by Khan earlier this month over fears the venue would cause “unacceptable harm to hundreds of residents”, his spokesperson told Dezeen.

Gove’s department has written a letter instructing the London Legacy Development Corporation not to deny planning permission until he has reviewed the application.

“The Secretary of State hereby prohibits Your Local Planning Authority from implementing the Mayor’s direction of November 20 to refuse permission,” the letter states.

“The direction is issued to enable him to consider whether he should direct under section 77 of the Town and Country Planning Act that the application should be referred to him for determination,” it continued.

If Gove decides to call in the application, there will be a public inquiry chaired by a planning inspector, or lawyer, who will make a recommendation to the Secretary of State, as per the procedure for calling in planning applications.

The MSG Sphere is proposed for a site near the Olympic Park in Stratford and, if built, it would be 90 metres tall and 120 metres wide.

It would be the second MSG Sphere to be built and follow the MSG Sphere Las Vegas, which was recently unveiled and opened with artworks by Es Devlin and John Gerrard.

Both have been designed by Populous for the organisation that runs New York’s Madison Square Garden (MSG).

Khan’s rejection followed expert review

The application for the MSG Sphere in London had previously been placed on hold by Gove, who issued an Article 31 holding directive for the project in February.

Khan’s decision to block the planning application followed The Greater London Authority’s (GLA) commission of a review by global engineering firm WSP.

The review “identified significant errors and omissions in the applicant’s assessment” and claimed that the lights from the sphere would have “significant adverse effects” for those living in nearby buildings.

WSP also claimed “significant concerns” about the MSG Sphere’s height, massing and bulk, as well as that due to its high energy usage, the building would not be sustainable.

A spokesperson for the MSG Sphere operator Sphere Entertainment told Dezeen at the time that the company was disappointed in the decision.

“While we are disappointed in London’s decision, there are many forward-thinking cities that are eager to bring this technology to their communities,” the spokesperson said. “We will concentrate on those.”

The design has been controversial since its inception. When it was first proposed, it received 852 objections and just 355 responses in support.

The post Michael Gove prohibits planning authority from blocking MSG Sphere in Stratford appeared first on Dezeen.

For years, sportswear brands Adidas and Nike have been competing to design record-beating running trainers. As Nike officially launches the Alphafly 3, Dezeen plots a brief timeline of the so-called battle of the super shoes.

Marathon records have tumbled in the last 20 years, with most experts agreeing that advancements in running-shoe technology have played a significant role.

Spurred on by the proximity of the first officially recognised sub-two-hour marathon, Adidas and Nike have invested heavily in developing the trainer that they hope will see their sponsored athletes break the elusive barrier in open competition.

The phenomenon gained particular attention recently after landmark records were broken in quick succession – first by a runner wearing Adidas and then by a Nike athlete just a fortnight later.

At times it has proved controversial, with claims that the focus on footwear amounts to “technological doping”, but the trend shows little sign of slowing down.

Here are eight major moments in the super-shoe wars:

Adidas Adizero Adios, 2008

Exactly when the super-shoe era began depends on who you ask. Adidas would argue it dates back to around 2004, when the brand tasked Japanese shoe designer Toshiaki Omori with creating the perfect running trainer. Eschewing the contemporary preference for digital design, Omori prioritised using moulds of real feet to produce a shoe with the closest possible fit.

The result was the Adidas Adizero series. According to Adidas, Ethiopian long-distance runner Haile Gebrselassie decided to wear the first prototype in the collection – the Adidas Adizero Adios – after trying them on in his hotel room the night before the Berlin Marathon in September 2008.

He would go on to break his own world record the next day by a significant margin of 29 seconds, becoming the first person to run a marathon in under two hours and four minutes. The two-hour barrier was suddenly much closer.

Adidas Adizero Boost 2, 2014 

Adidas’s Adizero line came to dominate the marathon-running world for several years.

Kenyan Patrick Makau broke Gebrselassie’s record in 2011 wearing the new-and-improved Adidas Adizero Adios 2, and two years later, his countryman Wilson Kipsang broke the record again with the help of the Adidas Adizero Boost. This shoe featured a newly developed cushioning system using thermoplastic polyurethane foam – a significant departure from the ethylene-vinyl acetate that had previously been favoured in running-shoe design.

Then, at the 2014 Berlin Marathon, Dennis Kimetto broke the record once again, this time in the Adidas Adizero Boost 2, which combined the traction and cushioning technology of the Boost with the more breathable mesh upper of the Adios 2. Kimetto became the first person to run the distance in under two hours and three minutes. The same shoes were on the feet of the second-placed men’s finisher and the top two finishers in the women’s race.

The next year, Adidas began developing the first shoe explicitly designed to shatter the two-hour marathon barrier – the Adidas Adizero Sub2. Released in 2017, it focused on incorporating the springy support of the Boost technology into a much lighter overall product.

However, the Adidas Adizero Sub2 was not able to achieve its goal. Instead, it was overshadowed by a rival release from Nike that would lead to a revolution in elite running-shoe design.

 Nike ZoomX Vaporfly Elite, 2017 

Nike had been quietly working on a project of its own since 2014. Its research had led to two innovations: the extremely lightweight ZoomX foam, which allowed for an extra-thick sole, and the insertion of a curved carbon-fibre plate within the midsole that acted like a springboard.

Nike chose to distribute prototypes of the resulting shoes among its elite athletes in 2016 before the model had been released, and all three podium finishers in the men’s marathon at the Olympics that year were wearing the prototypes.

It was not until March 2017 that Nike officially unveiled the Vaporfly Elite – declaring that it had been developed to breach the two-hour marathon record at the specially organised Breaking2 race in the coming May. Olympic gold medallist Eliud Kipchoge finished the race in two hours and 25 seconds – narrowly missing the sub-two-hour dream, but setting an unofficial world record.

The brand released a consumer version later in the year, named the Vaporfly 4% after research findings that the shoe improved running efficiency by four per cent compared to alternatives on the market. The chunky-soled Vaporflys were a significant design departure from the classic flat marathon trainer, and for many their emergence marks the start of the super-shoe era.

In September 2018, Kipchoge officially beat Kimetto’s 2014 marathon time by a margin of 78 seconds wearing a prototype of the Vaporfly Elite’s successor, the Vaporfly Next%, with a lighter “Vaporweave” upper. In 2019, Brigid Kosgei broke the long-standing women’s marathon world record by 81 seconds wearing the Vaporfly Next%.

By now, the Nike Vaporfly and its transformational impact on running as a sport was becoming controversial, with some arguing that the shoes conferred an unfair advantage on the wearer. Analysis of 500,000 marathon and half-marathon times by The New York Times found that people wearing Vaporflys ran between three and four per cent faster than those of similar abilities in other shoes. Sports scientist Ross Tucker declared that the shoes “broke running”.

Nike Air Zoom Alphafly Next%, 2019

While the athletics world scrambled to adjust to the impact of the Vaporfly, Nike was already developing something even more advanced.

A day before Kosgei clocked her world record in October 2019, Kipchoge attempted to break the two-hour mark once again. This time he was successful, crossing the finish line in one hour, 59 minutes and 40 seconds and setting an unofficial record. On his feet were a prototype of the Nike Air Zoom Alphafly Next%.

The shoes featured the addition of Nike Air Zoom pods under the ball of the foot, intended to provide additional cushioning and energy return, as well as even more ZoomX foam. Rumours that Kipchoge’s prototypes had included not one but three carbon-fibre plates were widely reported, but later denied by Nike.

In January 2020, governing body World Athletics took action over concerns about the impact of Nike’s super shoes on the sporting integrity of long-distance running. It published new regulations requiring athletes to only race in shoes that had been available to purchase for at least four months – effectively forbidding the use of prototypes. Sole thickness was also limited to 40 millimetres and shoes with more than a single rigid plate were banned.

In February 2020, Nike launched the Alphafly Next% officially, confirming that it complied with the new rules.

Adidas Adizero Adios Pro 1, 2020 

Following the success of the Vaporfly, Adidas joined Nike in dropping the low-profile conventional marathon shoe in favour of a thicker foam sole.

However, unlike most other competing brands Adidas did not adopt full-length carbon plates. Instead, it developed “energy rods” – five carbon-infused rods placed and curved to mirror the bones of the foot. The brand claimed this system allowed for a “more natural gait” than a large carbon plate.

The Adizero Adios Pro 1 was launched in May 2020 and in September of that year, Kenyan runner Peres Jepchirchir wore them as she broke the women’s half-marathon world record in Prague with a time of one hour, five minutes and 34 seconds – a 37-second improvement on the previous record.

After the race, Jepchirchir was pictured holding up her shoe in triumph. “I was exhausted for the last five kilometres,” she said, “But the new shoes have helped me set a record.” She went on to knock another 18 seconds off her own record a month later.

In another significant turn of events, World Athletics introduced a loophole to its rules restricting the use of prototypes following industry lobbying. The December 2020 amendment allowed “development shoes” to be worn in races once their specifications are approved by the regulator.

Nike Air Zoom Alphafly Next% 2, 2022 

Nike continued to innovate, and in June 2022 it launched the second iteration of the Alphafly.

This retained many of the features of its predecessor, but with additional foam under the air pods to assist with the transition of the runner’s stride from heel to forefoot. The heel was also widened to improve stability, while the Atomknit upper was tweaked to improve breathability, comfort and snugness.

At the Berlin Marathon in September 2022, the Alphafly Next% 2 helped Kipchoge beat the world record he had set four years earlier wearing the Vaporfly Next% by 30 seconds, this time crossing the finish line in two hours, one minute and nine seconds.

Adidas Adizero Adios Evo Pro 1, 2023 

The battle of the super-shoes was ratcheted up a notch in September this year when Tigst Assefa shattered Kosgei’s 2019 women’s marathon world record by more than two minutes at the Berlin Marathon.

Assefa wore the newly launched Adidas Adizero Adios Evo Pro 1. Before the race, Assefa had described running in the shoe as “an incredible experience”. Afterwards, she was pictured kissing it on the finish line.

The Adizero Adios Evo Pro 1 was designed to pack super-shoe technology into a lighter trainer. Weighing just 138 grams, it is 40 per cent lighter than any other racing super-shoe Adidas has ever created.

Part of the weight savings was achieved through new, lighter versions of Adidas’s Lightstrike Pro foam, the outsole and the mesh upper, as well as the removal of the sock-liner. The brand also pointed to a “first-of-its-kind forefoot rocker” placed at 60 per cent the length of the shoe, which it said improves running economy and facilitates forward momentum.

The shoe was named by Time magazine as one of the 200 best inventions of 2023, but also attracted criticism over the fact that despite costing £400 ($500), it is only designed to be worn once.

Nike Alphafly 3, 2023 

Just two weeks after Assefa set her record, super shoes hit the headlines again when Kipchoge’s 2022 world record was bested by his fellow Kenyan, Kelvin Kiptum, who completed the Chicago Marathon in two hours and 35 seconds – tantalisingly close to the two-hour threshold.

Kiptum was wearing the Nike Dev 163, a prototype version of the Nike Alphafly 3 officially launched this week and on sale in January 2024. Second-placed runner Benson Kipruto, wearing the Adidas, finished over three minutes behind Kiptum, while women’s race-winner Sifan Hasan was also in Nike Dev 163s.

Nike describes the Alphafly 3 as the lightest in the series and its most extensively tested racing shoe ever, with more than 32,000 kilometres covered by runners in development. It stuck with the Air Zoom pods, ZoomX foam and carbon-fibre plate formula of the previous iterations but aimed to improve the shoe’s stability, comfort and propulsion.

The most obvious visible change from its predecessor, the Alphafly Next% 2, is the shoe’s continuous bottom, which Nike said aids a smoother heel-to-toe transition. Foam was also removed from the midsole towards the back of the shoe to save grams and concentrate the runner’s weight on the Air Zoom units. In addition, the carbon plate was widened to improve running stability, while other tweaks were made to assist arch support and reduce rubbing.

In an apparent reference to the single-use Adidas Adizero Adios Evo Pro 1, Nike has also emphasised the Alphafly 3’s durability, claiming that it was tested over a minimum distance of 200 miles (322 kilometres).

For now, the coveted official sub-two-hour marathon remains slightly beyond reach. Both Nike and Adidas will keep competing to ensure that the first foot to cross the finish line inside that time will be bearing their logo.

Main image is by Nike.

The post The race to create the ultimate running super shoe appeared first on Dezeen.

If you’re living in a small space, you’d want to have furniture that can serve multiple purposes. Modular and multi-functional designs have been dominating the scene the past few years especially during the pandemic when the line between work and private life blurred all the more. Sometimes I wake up in the morning and start working from my bed, thinking maybe I should have a desk built in there or have my desk nearer to my bed for a smooth transition.

Designer: Expand Furniture

This wish comes true with the Compatto Rotating Office Murphy Bed with Desk which is literally a bed that can be turned into a working area and even a multimedia space. And when you’re ready to pack it all up at the end of the day (or the middle), you just have to fold it away, turn it all around (literally) and rest in your Murphy bed with the Queen Italian memory foam mattress.

Of course the highlight of this piece of furniture is the fact that you can quickly turn it into a workspace with a few rotations and push and pulls. The wide desk can fit in things like dual monitors, a TV screen, all-in-one iMacs, and small computers. There is also space for file storage, decorations, books, and other knick knacks. There is also adequate places and openings for all kinds of power cords and wires to power your devices.

You will have to assemble everything yourself though as this is a DIY install. But this seems to be a pretty interesting piece of furniture to have if you can manage to put everything together. I will probably have some anxious moments thinking that I will be displacing my office stuff when I’m sleeping but at least I will have a really cool bed and work station in one.

The post Turn your sleeping area into your office with this rotating furniture first appeared on Yanko Design.