Hasta La Ideas

For lovers of classic Braun designs, Phaidon has published Braun: Designed to Keep, which they say is the company’s “most definitive monograph to date.”

“Since 1921, Braun has been shaping the way we live through timeless designs that are simple, useful, beautiful, and designed to keep. Unlike many brands before it, and many more that followed, Braun created a culture of design – underpinned by a set of functional and aesthetic principles – that went on to have worldwide impact.”

Braun factory II, Ru¨sselsheimer Strasse, Frankfurt, 1950s. Picture credit: courtesy © copyright BRAUN P&G and Braun Archive Kronberg (pages 66-67)

Braun factory, Mainzer Landstrasse, Frankfurt, circa 1938-1944. Picture credit: courtesy and © copyright BRAUN P&G and Braun Archive Kronberg (page 53)

Home Recorder, BMF 2020, Recorder and microphone, 1935 and 1932, Max Braun. Picture credit: courtesy Gerhard Kellermann / © copyright BRAUN P&G and Braun Archive Kronberg (pages 38-39)

“Across 3 sections and more than 500 images, the book charts the company’s defining moments, core identities, and key characters, together presenting the most comprehensive history of Braun ever published.”

S 50, Electric shaver, 1950, Max and Artur Braun. Picture credit: courtesy Gerhard Kellermann / © copyright BRAUN P&G and Braun Archive Kronberg (page 60)

PK-G, Audio cabinet, 1955, Hans Gugelot. Picture credit: courtesy Gerhard Kellermann / © copyright BRAUN P&G and Braun Archive Kronberg (pages 108-109) Also known as ‘Langer Heinrich’ (Long Henry) on account of its breadth

Advertising photograph demonstrating how to make baby food with the KM 3, 1957 or 1958. Photograph by Braun photographers Marlene Schneyder and Ingeborg Kracht-Rams. Picture credit: courtesy and © copyright BRAUN P&G and Braun Archive Kronberg (page 119)

“Featuring brand-new photography of Braun’s most iconic products alongside never-before-published archival images, drawings, advertisements, internal documents, and correspondence, in-depth narrative texts interweave the Braun story with the cultural and political history of Germany, providing new context and insight into one of the most famous product design brands in the world.”

Reinhold Weiss, Dieter Rams and Roland Weigend in the Braun design department, around 1961. Picture credit: courtesy and © copyright BRAUN P&G and Braun Archive Kronberg (page 131)

combi, Combined radio and record player, 1955, Wilhelm Wagenfeld. Picture credit: courtesy Gerhard Kellermann / © copyright BRAUN P&G and Braun Archive Kronberg (page 83)

Pocket, Electric shaver, 2020, Braun Design Team. Picture credit: courtesy Gerhard Kellermann and © copyright BRAUN P&G and Braun Archive Kronberg (page 318)

“With profiles on key members of the creative and leadership teams that reinforce Braun’s design legacy and the importance of the people behind the process, Braun: Designed to Keep unpacks the brand’s core values – such as simplicity, usefulness, and longevity – that changed the way household products are perceived, designed, and used.”

Wall-mounted Hi-Fi unit: TS 45, TG 60 and L 450, Controller, tape recorder and flat loudspeaker, 1964 & 1965, Dieter Rams. Picture credit: courtesy Gerhard Kellermann and © copyright BRAUN P&G and Braun Archive Kronberg (pages 204-205)

Braun products from 1960 to 1974. Picture credit: courtesy and © copyright BRAUN P&G and Braun Archive Kronberg (page 169)

Braun product portfolio in the late 1990s. Picture credit: courtesy and © copyright BRAUN P&G and Braun Archive Kronberg (page 269)

Braun: Designed to Keep is available now and retails for $80.

When you think of musical instruments, you will probably first think of things like pianos and guitars. Electronic musical instruments, on the other hand, conjure up images of keyboards, electric guitars, and complicated synthesizers. Suzuki’s Omnichord, on the other hand, is an odd yet curious duck that stands somewhere in between these two extremes. First launched in 1981, this electronic device empowered anyone to make music or accompany a song even without previous musical experience or even reading notes. The Omnichord’s distinctive electronic sounds and novel design made it quite a hit, but the product faded into obscurity back in 1996. To commemorate its upcoming 40th anniversary, Suzuki decided to give today’s generation a taste of that unique experience with a new model that recreates the original so faithfully down to using the same analog circuits.

Designer: Suzuki

Imagine just pressing a few buttons and sliding your finger on a flat surface and then suddenly producing wonderful music. That’s pretty much the experience that the Suzuki Omnichord offered, presenting people, whether musically trained or not, the joys of creating music with ease and freedom. There are no wrong notes, just new harmonies and beats to be discovered and incorporated into your masterpiece. It’s like an adventure for novices but also a new territory for veterans who want to add a unique flavor to their music.

The new Suzuki Omnichord OM-108 tries to bring that 80s experience to the 21st century, reproducing the tonality that characterized that period while also adding modern features that cater to today’s more demanding audience. To accurately recreate the same tones of the OM-84, perhaps the most popular Omnichord ever released, Suzuki opted to go completely old school and apply the same analog circuitry that gave the original its distinctive electronic sounds. It also has that popular harp sensor or strumplate that lets you easily slide or tap your finger to produce the “notes” that will make up your music.

The new OM-108 model boasts 108 chords, hence the name, as well as many new functions, like a switch that changes the way chords and rhythms are played. There’s also a drum pad mode that turns the chord keys as well as the sturmplate itself into beats. And like with many modern electronic musical instruments, you can connect the Omnichord to external MIDI devices to mix tones to your heart’s delight. Plus, the built-in speaker can be turned on or off when you connect an external speaker, useful when you want to monitor your own sound during a live performance.

The Suzuki Omnichord OM-108 may look like a toy, but the unique sounds it lets you produce are pure joy, at least to fans of the electronica genre. Its revival coincides with the retro craze gripping many industries and is a perfect example of a design that manages to remain relevant decades after its last appearance. That said, you’ll have to wait a bit before you can get your hands on the newest Omnichord, as sales aren’t expected to start until July, with the price and market availability still unknown.

The post Suzuki Omnichord is back to offer a fun and interesting way to make music first appeared on Yanko Design.

This is the strangest invention story I’ve ever heard.

In May 1930, a young couple from Carmel, California vanished during their honeymoon. William H. Albee, a 23-year-old geologist and his 20-year-old bride Ruth, had decided to hike from Vancouver, Canada, to Fairbanks, Alaska on foot. They each had a backpack full of provisions and a rifle, and brought a dog that also carried provisions. They were cautioned against the endeavor by both local police and trappers, but Albee, a capable outdoorsman, disregarded the warnings.

Image: UCLA Charles E. Young Research Library Department of Special Collections, CC. 4.0

By June there was no trace of them anywhere, and various newspapers began following the story. Headlines ranged from “Newlywed Carmel Pair Feared Lost in Canada” to the eventual “Honeymooners Perish.” Though no bodies were found, the Dawson Daily News reported the Albees “were believed to have perished in an isolated area from cold or starvation.”

Image: Dubuque Telegraph Herald And Times Journal, June 26, 1930, p 4

By October, it was revealed the Albees were alive–and still trekking. A letter from William reached his parents, explaining that they’d gotten lost and run out of provisions after five weeks, but had survived for the past month by eating meat from moose that they’d hunted. The adventure was still on.

By 1932 the Albees were living in Fairbanks, where they gave birth to a son. Before long, they resumed trekking.

Eventually they hiked all the way to an Inuit settlement on the Bering Strait. Settling down in the Inuit community, the Albees found employment as teachers, and had a second child.

While hanging with the Inuits, William witnessed some of their indigenous ingenuity:

He watched a fishing party reach shore with a boat loaded up with an estimated 4 tons of catch. Rather than unloading the fish, the Inuits broke out a number bladders made of sealskin—essentially giant blubbery balloons. They lashed these to the bottom of the boat, pulled it ashore, and were able to drag the heavy boat up a rocky slope, as it essentially floated across the terrain on the tough bladders.

By 1935, the Albees, now with two kids, returned to California. In 1937 the Albees co-wrote a book about their five-year adventure, titled “Alaska Challenge.” It was published in 1940.

William subsequently began working on an invention based on the sealskin bladders he’d seen. By the early 1950s, he’d produced what he called the Rolligon. It was a gigantic bag-like tire. The invention attracted military interest, and William had a fabricator in Stockton, California fit out a Dodge Power Wagon with Rolligon wheels. They were low-pressure, inflated with just 2 to 6 p.s.i., and were soft enough to run over a human being. Both William (and I assume Ruth, in the color photo) were happy to demonstrate this.

Running people over without crushing them aside, the real value of the invention was its ability to easily cross difficult terrain. Here’s the Army testing a Rolligon-equipped vehicle in 1953:

Same video but with narration:

The Army found the concept promising enough to try it on a jeep:

Image: Popular Science, June 1953

The vehicles were expensive to produce, and with the Korean War winding down, the Army didn’t have a huge need. Albee managed to keep his Rolligon company going until 1960, but eventually sold it.

Today the Rolligon trademark is owned by National Oilwell Varco, a Texas-based company that produces machinery for the oil and gas industry.

While the original Inuit sealskin invention was used to haul fish in a zero-emissions way, today the Rolligon tire is used to transport oil- and gas-harvesting vehicles across Arctic terrain.

Image: Nick Bonzey, CC BY-SA 2.0

Although foldable phones are now a hot topic in the smartphone industry, they are hardly the hottest-selling products in the market. There’s still significant pushback on buying these form-changing phones, partly because of durability concerns but mostly due to the price tags attached to them. There are more affordable foldable phones from brands like OPPO, Vivo, and OnePlus, but most people still look to Samsung as the golden standard for these devices, warranted or not. The Galaxy Z Flip clamshell style foldable almost fits the bill, costing almost as much as a high-end smartphone, but it also doesn’t embody the potential of foldable phones. For years now, there has been a lot of talk about Samsung launching a more affordable version of the Galaxy Z Fold, but nothing has come to pass yet. If industry rumors are correct this time, however, that cheaper Samsung foldable might finally hit the market really soon.

Designer: Samsung (via The Elec)

What makes a foldable phone more expensive than regular smartphones? Branding and R&D costs aside, the biggest cost in making these phones comes from the specialized hinges and, more importantly, the flexible displays. The latter alone can make up a huge chunk of the phone’s so-called build cost because of their low yield rates per production run, expensive materials, and expensive equipment used to put them all together. Finding a cheaper way to make these foldable screens without drastically downgrading their quality and durability could help drive down the prices of the final product.

According to sources in the industry, Samsung is close to achieving this objective by switching to a different method to produce the flexible display panels it uses for making its foldable phones. Without going too deep into the technical details, the insider tip claims that Samsung has found a more affordable process to make the bezels that will hide the circuitry of these foldable panels, which is apparently one of the reasons why these screens are expensive. This is the same process Samsung Display uses for iPhone screens, so there’s little concern about the quality, at least for regular rigid screens.

Making the flexible panel less costly will have a rippling effect that could help make it possible to save off some digits from the retail price as well. It’s not a done deal, though, especially if the cheaper displays turn out to also be less reliable. Furthermore, Samsung could also use the opportunity to add more features and upgrades to the foldable phone, offsetting the cost savings and keeping the product’s premium price tag in the end.

That said, it would definitely be in Samsung’s best interest to offer a more accessible foldable phone, especially the “regular” book-type Galaxy Z Fold. Its competitors have almost caught up to it with more affordable designs, and Samsung’s only advantage now is the weight of its brand in a very small number of exclusive features. When it comes to the foldable experience, however, some might even say that Samsung is the one trying to catch up, so any advantage, especially when it comes to price, will help it regain its lead.

The post Cheaper Samsung foldable phone might be on the horizon first appeared on Yanko Design.

Shaped cutouts cast playful shadows across Talaricheruvu Rural School, which Indian studio CollectiveProject has transformed from an existing school building in southern India.

Located in Andhra Pradesh, the fifteen-year-old building was refreshed with a bamboo canopy, as well as a collection of shaded outdoor spaces and openings designed to respond to the area’s warm climate.

While the building and its site were largely in disrepair, CollectiveProject retained its original structure and adapted the interior arrangement to create brighter classrooms and cooler outdoor spaces.

“The structure of the existing building is a framed RCC structure so the entire structural system was maintained and the walls were modified to rework the existing oversized classrooms and increase the school capacity from 400 students to 600,” studio co-founder Cyrus Patell told Dezeen.

Prior to the studio’s renovation, the school was divided into sixteen dark, oversized classrooms, two labs and a library, with a lack of shaded outdoor spaces.

The studio adapted the existing portion of the school to create twenty-four classrooms, three labs, two libraries and two staff rooms. Independent pavilions were added across the site to hold additional spaces, including a kitchen, dining hall, art room and bathrooms, as well as classrooms for younger students.

Spread across Talaricheruvu Rural School’s two floors, the new classrooms are smaller and brighter, lit by large windows and playful perforations that feature across the building’s new facade. This is formed of a series of jaalis, or perforated lattice screens.

“We also opened up the facade for more light and ventilation,” Patell explained. “A subtle but strategic use of colour and pattern through the jaalis helped to give each classroom an identity.”

Light colours informed by the nearby factory were added to the interior, as well as black limestone floors made from waste material produced in a neighbouring village.

“The subtle use of colour plays an essential role in the school experience, with pale pinks, greens and blues that complement the earth tones of the arid context and a light cement wash on the facade sourced from the adjacent factory,” Patell said.

Around the outside of the light-washed building, small triangular gardens are formed by walls finished with the same cement plaster as the building. These range from ground-level beds to walls that extend through the canopy to form gardens on the upper level.

“The facade was finished with a simple cement plaster, trowel finished and sanded till smooth,” said Patell. “The cement came directly from the factory next door – so it was a simple and cost-effective solution for the facade and could be executed by local labour.”

A bamboo canopy wraps around the school and is suspended above the building in places to allow for natural ventilation. Divided into repeating triangular forms, the structure is formed from 12,000 locally sourced bamboo poles and is supported by a lightweight metal structure.

The canopy extends beyond the walls to shade a wide, multipurpose outdoor space, which is open to the community outside of school hours and is used for outdoor teaching.

“The outdoor areas, previously unusable in the heat with temperatures reaching over 43 degrees Celsius, were covered by an expansive bamboo canopy,” said the studio.

“The canopy is supported by a lightweight branching metal framework,” said Patell.

“There were two considerations; first the fifteen-foot length of the bamboo poles we were able to source and second the large spans we hoped to achieve, necessitated a lattice network of triangulated light metal beams, for it to be optimally engineered.”

Intended to provide learning spaces for the children of local cement factory workers, the project was designed as a prototype to create further schools linked to cement factories across the region.

“The client brief, given by the Penna Foundation, was to create a prototype design that could be implemented at other regional cement factories, using well-designed spaces and extracurricular programs to attract teachers who otherwise do not consider relocating to the remote area,” the studio explained.

Other schools recently featured on Dezeen include a preschool formed of small brightly coloured buildings arranged around an amphitheatre and an oval-shaped girls’ school informed by symbols of femininity.

The photography is by Benjamin Hosking unless stated otherwise.

Project credits:

Client: Penna Foundation
Architect: CollectiveProject
Design team: Cyrus Patell, Eliza Higgins, Saniya Jejani

The post CollectiveProject shades renovated Indian school with expansive bamboo canopy appeared first on Dezeen.