Hasta La Ideas

The recently released 100 Women: Architects in Practice book showcases the work of 100 architects from around the world. Here, the authors pick 10 that have never before been featured in Dezeen.

Launched this month, 100 Women: Architects in Practice was written by academics Harriet Harriss, Naomi House, Monika Parrinder and Dezeen editor Tom Ravenscroft, to draw attention to the work of women architects that is often overlooked.

“There are still very few well-known female architects”

“The architects in this book, who happen to be women, should all be household names, but the reality is that they are not and that beyond Zaha Hadid there are still very few well-known female architects,” the authors told Dezeen.

“In almost every country in the world, architecture is still a very male-dominated profession. This book aims to be a small part in the process of correcting that imbalance, while also looking at what architecture is, who it is for and what it can do.”

The book contains interviews with 100 architects from all across the world along with images of their work. Along with the obvious focus on gender, the book aimed to be geographically diverse and features women from 78 countries.

“We divided the world following the UN geoscheme, meaning that every region is equally represented, unlike the majority of books on architecture,” said the authors.

“We know of no other book that captures the work of architects from Botswana, Congo, Cuba, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tajikistan, Trinidad and Tobago,” they continued. “Even ignoring gender diversity, we believe this book presents numerous intriguing perspectives on current, global architectural thinking.”

“We can’t wait until books like this are not needed”

According to the authors, the publication is needed as the majority of architecture books still predominantly feature male architects.

“We can’t wait until books like this are not needed,” said its authors. “Throughout this process, we have been asked numerous times if we would write a book focused on male architects, and the answer is no, as this has, and is, already being done.”

“We hope this adds to the growing awareness of women’s rich contribution to architecture and adds much-needed geographical diversity.”

The authors aimed to include currently practising architects with interesting perspectives on architecture.

Alongside some of the world’s best-known architects – Liz Diller, Frida Escobedo, Tatiana Bilbao, Mariam Issoufou Kamara, Sofia Von Ellrichshausen, Tosin Oshinowo, Lina Ghotmeh, Francine Houben, Rossana Hu and Dorte Mandrup – the book features numerous women that have not yet received extensive global attention.

“Discussion of women architects often revolves around a small group of women, many of them dead – Zaha Hadid, Lina Bo Bardi, Eileen Gray, et cetera – this book aims to expand this list and on a practical level move can act as a bluffer’s guide and who’s who for those writing articles or putting on lecture series,” said the authors.

“Of course, we also hope it acts as inspiration for women architects and inspiring architects.”

Here, the authors pick 10 women architects that have not yet featured on Dezeen:

Rahel Shawl, Ethiopia – “I care, not only about the building, but also about the process”

“Ethiopian architect Rahel Shawl believes that her buildings are often more than the sum of their parts, something that she attributes to the fact that she truly cares about how each of her buildings will be experienced and the process by which they are created.

“‘I care’, she says, ‘not only about the building, but also about the process and how the people around me work.’ And she will ask herself, ‘How can I get the people on the ground inspired by my vision?’

As part of this desire to inspire, Shawl runs the mentorship programme abRen through her studio RAAS Architects, which is aimed at young professionals in the industry, especially female architects.

Suhailey Farzana, Bangladesh – “I love to see the world through the people of different communities and co-create with them”

“Bangladeshi architect Suhailey Farzana is one of many architects we interviewed who share a profound concern for equality across the built – and unbuilt – environment.

“She is co-founder of Co.Creation.Architects, a practice which responds to the needs of the local community, in particular the women, enabling them to work towards the renewal of their shared environment. The relationships that Farzana has brokered in this process are built upon trust and care.

“Farzana describes the work she is engaged in as ‘very organic’, co-designing and co-creating with communities who are mostly self-funding any building that takes place. ‘In the co-creation process everyone will find their own role,’ she says. ‘When we work, it’s always the people’s project, not our project.'”

Verónica Villate, Paraguay – “If we don’t modify our ways of living, our planet’s resources are not going to be enough”

“Verónica Villate is a founder-member of Mínimo Común Arquitectura based in Asunción, Paraquay, which designed one of the coolest-looking buildings in the book – the Nordeste office building in Curuguaty.

“Built from bricks from local earth that surrounds it, the building encapsulates the studio’s principles of creating collaborative architecture using simple materials and local labour. Villate and her studio are keen to emphasise their collaborative approach to designing the environment, utilising what they describe as simple materials and local labour.

“‘If we don’t modify our ways of living, our planet’s resources are not going to be enough,’ she told us. Her practice is looking to future-proof its approach to making architecture, whilst simultaneously foregrounding the role of local communities in establishing sustainable building practices.”

Takhmina Turdialieva, Uzbekistan – “Just as nature heals and empowers us, architecture should do the same”

“One of the most exciting young architects in a part of the world that isn’t often highlighted for its architectural innovation, Takhmina Turdialieva is an Uzbek architect who believes that architecture has the power to change behaviour.

“Alongside running her recently established studio in Tashkent, which has created an outdoor events space at the city’s Centre for Contemporary Arts (CCA) and working on the refurbishment of several offices, she aims to draw more young people and women into discussions on the city’s urban future.

“To do this she established Shaharsozlik To’lqini – an organisation dedicated to ‘raising the voice of young architects’ that has organised flash mobs, public talks and even a government-backed architecture competition to encourage a younger generation to engage with the profession.”

Dorel Ramirez, Nicaragua – “Architecture should be the reflection of an organic creative process”

“Nicaraguan architect Dorel Ramirez aims to create architecture that deeply engages its users in the design process, while also responding to the, often dramatic, nature of their sites. Over the past 25 years, she has designed over 100 houses, commercial buildings, schools and holiday residences in Nicaragua, including a home that bridges a lake and one on the side of a volcano.

“She summed up her ethos as ‘a fusion of ideas and solutions from the architect with the wishes and means of the client, while always capturing the spirit of the site’.”

Mélissa Kacoutié, Ivory Coast – “We are a young country, so you can change people’s point of view”

“One of a growing group of young African architects who have left the continent for education and returned to their home countries with the aim of making a lasting impact, Mélissa Kacoutié is focused on carrying out small-scale interventions in the Ivory Coast capital, Abidjan.

“‘We have a huge amount of construction, and we are a young country, so you can change people’s point of view and really make an impact,’ Kacoutié told us. ‘In Ivory Coast, people like what I propose; it is different from the norm.’

“Her modern aesthetic is rooted in the culture of the Ivory Coast. ‘In Ivory Coast we have this way of seeing things instinctively – we call it technology, because it is a mix of technique and symbolism.’

For Kacoutié this is ‘an expression of a type of African cultural wealth’.”

Takbir Fatima, India – “I want to make architecture and design universally accessible and applicable”

“One of the directors of the Hyderabad-based studio DesignAware, Takbir Fatima aims to create awareness through design by leveraging interdisciplinary processes to create socially relevant, community-building projects.

“The studio recently designed the Bright Horizon Academy for children from disadvantaged backgrounds in Hyderabad. Built at the heart of the 800-year-old Golconda Fort, the principles were to preserve the existing terrain, to respect the built heritage of the fort and to ensure the sustainability of the project in the future.

“Fatima’s work is essentially what she calls ‘architecture without architects’. It also emphasises an open-source, participatory design process, where anyone can apply the system. Now DesignAware is researching how these processes can be applied to recyclable architecture, using strategies that are circular and sustainable.”

Svitlana Zdorenko, Ukraine – “We still care about each project as if it was our first”

“While many of the architects in the book are in the early stages of their careers, Svitlana Zdorenko is a veteran who has been practising for over 30 years, but still cares ‘about each project as if it was our first’.

“She has designed over 100 buildings at the studio she co-founded with her husband – A. Pashenko Architects, which was one of the largest in the country before Russia’s invasion. Her studio was hugely impacted, with several of her buildings shelled and staff joining the army.

“‘It is amazing how this horrible disaster has rallied people,’ she told us.”

Patama Roonrakwit, Thailand – “The most important thing is to get people involved in every step of the process”

“One of many architects we interviewed that highlighted the importance of participation, Thai architect Patama Roonrakwit has spent her entire career working to improve people’s housing in underprivileged communities across South East Asia, establishing her studio Community Architects for Shelter and Environment (CASE) in 1997.

“‘My way of working is to communicate with the user as much as I can,’ she told us. ‘So that I can understand them, they can understand me, and we don’t waste anything, as we cannot afford to make mistakes.’

“Roonrakwit believes that influencing government and housing policy can have the greatest impact on people’s lives. ‘We need to look at the root of the problems,’ she says. ‘What we can do is encourage the government to listen and explain that you can spend less money to make better solutions.'”

Valérie Mavoungou, Republic of the Congo – “We have to design in response to the place”

“One of a handful of women architects working in the Republic of the Congo, Valérie Mavoungou is the founder of the Pointe-Noire-based studio Atelier Tropical. With projects in four countries in the region, Mavoungou describes herself as a ‘Pan-African architect’.

“With her work, she aims to discover and create architecture that has its roots in central Africa, but is modern and appropriate for a rapidly urbanising country. ‘We cannot go back to what is traditional, we are all living in big cities,’ she told us. ‘We are globalised, but we cannot design a place in the same way we’d design in Europe.'”

The post Ten women architects “who should all be household names” appeared first on Dezeen.

The foldable phone market is still very young, which means there’s plenty of room for design improvement across the board. We can expect manufacturers to experiment with different combinations that try to cram as much hardware as possible inside super-thin bodies. Change is inevitable but not every change will be welcomed with open arms. Some are bound to be controversial, especially when they involve removing something that people have grown fond of. That might be the case with Google’s second foldable phone, which will trade its somewhat iconic “visor” camera design for a rather unusual spin on the common camera bump that might prove to be quite unappealing if these unofficial renders are correct.

Designer: Google (via Smartprix, @OnLeaks)

Granted, the Google Pixel’s rear camera bar isn’t exactly loved by everyone, but it still gives the smartphones a distinctive appearance that can be considered Google’s signature design. That’s not exactly easy to pull off on a foldable phone like the Pixel Fold, so Google had to modify it to be less elegant but still shouted “Pixel” nonetheless. Whether you liked that design or not, it might not be sticking around on Google’s foldable for long, and maybe not even on its future smartphones.

Renders based on leaked information reveal the alleged Pixel Fold 2 design that is so different from the first-gen foldable. Gone is the horizontal bar, replaced by what almost looks like a more conventional rounded square in the corner. That illusion quickly breaks down, however, when you notice the two horizontal pill-shaped cutouts for the camera lenses. In addition to possibly being very thick, this could easily be one of the least attractive camera designs today.

The more subtle changes can be found in the sizes of the two screens. Not only are they larger, they also have different aspect ratios. The external Cover screen, for example, is a bit narrower and taller, resulting in an unfolded shape that is more square than the first Pixel Fold. The bezels around the internal display are also much thinner, which leaves no room for a camera. Apparently, this could also be Google’s first phone to use an under-display camera as well.

None of these details are guaranteed, of course, and Google might surprise us with a Pixel Fold 2 that looks almost exactly like the Pixel Fold 1, except more refined. It is definitely within Google’s right to change its designs as it sees fit, but there are also times when you’re just left scratching your head at the oddity of it all. Fortunately, the Pixel Fold is hardly the only foldable phone available, especially with OPPO confirming it’s still in the race.

The post Google Pixel Fold 2 renders say goodbye to a distinctive design first appeared on Yanko Design.

Scientists from South Korea’s Yonsei University have invented what they believe to be a sustainable, high-protein food in the form of “beef rice”, made by growing cow cells in grains of rice.

Tinged a pale pink from the cell culturing process, the hybrid food contains more protein and fat than standard rice while having a low carbon footprint, leading its creators to see it as a potential future meat alternative.

The beef rice was made by inserting muscle and fat stem cells from cows into grains of rice and leaving them to grow in a Petri dish.

Because the rice grains are porous and have a rich internal structure, the cells can grow there in a similar way to how they would within an animal. A coating of gelatine – in this case, fish-derived – further helps the cells to attach to the rice.

Although beef rice might sound like a form of genetically modified food, there is no altering of DNA in the plants or animals. Instead, this process constitutes a type of cell-cultured or lab-grown meat but with the beef grown inside rice.

In a paper published in the journal Matter, the Yonsei University researchers explain that their process is similar to that used to make a product already sold in Singapore – a cultured meat grown in soy-based textured vegetable protein (TVP).

Soy and nuts are the first foods that have been used for animal cell culturing, they say, but their usefulness is limited because they are common allergens and do not have as much cell-holding potential as rice.

The nutritional gains for their beef rice are also currently small, but the researchers from Yonsei University’s Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering say that with further optimisation, more cells and therefore more protein could be packed in.

The hybrid rice contains 3890 milligrams of protein and 150 milligrams of fat per 100 grams – just 310 milligrams more protein and 10 milligrams more fat than standard rice.

“Although hybrid rice grains still have a lower protein content than beef, advances in technology that can improve the cell capacity of rice grains will undoubtedly improve the nutritional content of hybrid rice,” the researchers said in their paper.

The scientists also believe the product could be inexpensively commercialised and tout the short time frame required to boost nutrition through culturing.

Whereas beef production usually takes one to three years and rice 95 to 250 days, they say their cell culturing process took less than 10 days.

“Imagine obtaining all the nutrients we need from cell-cultured protein rice,” said researcher Sohyeon Park. “I see a world of possibilities for this grain-based hybrid food. It could one day serve as food relief for famine, military ration or even space food.”

If commercialised, the hybrid grain is expected to have a low carbon footprint, similar to growing standard rice, because there would be no need to farm lots of animals. While the stem cells used for the process are extracted from live animals, they can proliferate indefinitely and don’t require animal slaughter.

An obstacle for some may be the taste; the cell culturing process slightly changes the texture and smell of the rice, making it more firm and brittle and introducing odour compounds related to beef, almonds, cream, butter and coconut oil.

However, lead researcher Jinkee Hong told the Guardian that the foodstuff tastes “pleasant and novel”.

The team is now planning to continue their research and work to boost the nutritional value of the hybrid rice by stimulating more cell growth.

Lab-grown and cultivated meats have been a subject of great interest and investment since 2013 when the world’s first lab-grown burger was eaten live at a press conference.

However, scaling up production, clearing regulatory hurdles and creating an appealing taste and texture have proven a challenge, and there are few examples on sale anywhere in the world.

In the meantime, speculative designers have explored the issue. Leyu Li recently created three conceptual products that, similar to beef rice, combine lab-grown meat with vegetables, calling them Broccopork, Mushchicken and Peaf.

All images courtesy of Yonsei University.

The post Scientists develop hybrid “beef rice” as future meat alternative appeared first on Dezeen.

Malmö studio Lab La Bla unveiled Surface Club, a bar and mini-golf course made from waste materials including Tetra Pak packaging, at the Stockholm Furniture Fair.

The practice, which was founded by Victor Isaksson Pirtti and Axel Landström, designed Surface Club as one of the fair’s two design bars where visitors could rest and have a drink.

Lab La Bla constructed the bar using wall panels made from recycled Tetra Paks – a type of packaging normally used for milk and juice cartons – as well as making a miniature golf course for the fair.

The duo decided on the playful design to let the “shy Swedes” kick back and relax while networking.

“These commercial fairs can sometimes come across as controlled and unsentimental places, so we’re bringing a bit of chaos and nostalgia into the mix,” Landström told Dezeen.

“Making a mini-golf course lets people gather, we have these shy Swedes and then having a sports activity to hide behind is a nice little icebreaker.”

The flooring for the miniature golf course was made by Swedish company Bolon and given an innovative new surface by Lab La Bla, which used a patented coating process to apply denim fibres using a modified spray gun.

“We have this recycling station that recycles old denim to become new jeans, but in this process, they have a fall out [of material],” Isaksson Pirtti told Dezeen.

“So that is what we use, the dust that gathers up in the factory.”

The process can be adapted to suit a variety of different materials, according to the designer.

“For this particular technique you need a spray gun,” Isaksson Pirtti said. “But the spray gun can move anywhere, so you might as well source whatever waste you have.”

“For the coating, we only work with materials that are going to landfills or being burned for energy, so it’s really end-of-life material use.”

While the denim-waste coating gave the floor its blue colour, the orange stripes came from another waste material source.

“It’s old wine corks gathered up from restaurants that we grind into a powder,” Isaksson Pirtti explained.

“From a distance, it kind of looks like suede,” Landström added. “But when you get closer it has an abrasive quality that reminds me of brick.”

In addition to the flooring, Lab La Bla also created furniture pieces from recycled materials for the installation. Square stools and chairs dotted throughout the golf course were constructed from waste mattress material.

“It’s a new business that just started that has a method of recycling mattresses and foam,” Isaksson Pirttti said. “Old pieces of foam are rearranged, ground down and repackaged.”

The tables and the bar were covered in mining dust, another material that the studio has worked with extensively.

“For Stockholm Furniture fair we did a Swedish theme, so that’s the mining dust,” Isaksson Pirtti explained.

Following the end of the fair on 11 February much of the furniture will now be returned to the restaurant, from which it was borrowed.

Meanwhile, the specially constructed flooring and furniture pieces will be reused for a construction fair that will be held in the same fair building later this year.

“The bar was done with this cardboard sheet material that is circular, so we can just tear off the coating and turn it into a new coating, while the sheet material goes back into Tetra Pak,” Isaksson Pirtti added.

Lab La Bla has previously created an interior for an energy operator’s headquarters and designed more products from waste materials for an exhibition in Malmö.

Surface Club was on show as part of Stockholm Furniture Fair, which took place between 7 to 11 February 2024. See Dezeen Events Guide for more architecture and design events around the world.

The post Lab La Bla constructs miniature golf course from recycled denim and mining dust appeared first on Dezeen.

Last year, a global survey crowned KeyShot as the “Best Rendering Software,” with 88% of designers overwhelmingly picking it for its incredibly photorealistic rendering capabilities. Now, with KeyShot’s newly unveiled Physics Simulation and Camera Keyframe features, the software is growing even more powerful, bringing real-world physics and camera effects to make your renders pop even more.

Click Here to Participate in the 2024 KeyShot Animation Challenge. Hurry! Challenge ends March 10th, 2024.

I put KeyShot’s Physics Simulation feature to the ultimate test by rendering a dramatic domino chain reaction scene. Setting up the simulation took hardly any time, with incredibly easy controls that took mere minutes to get the hang of. The results were jaw-dropping if I say so myself. In this article, I’ll show you how I managed to pull off one of my most exciting KeyShot rendering experiences ever. I’ll walk you through how I set the domino scene up, what parameters I input into the Physics Simulation window, and how you can recreate this scene, too. I’ll also share tips and tricks that can help you create some incredibly real simulations with objects falling, bouncing, and colliding with each other, absolutely enhancing your KeyShot rendering experience to a level like never before.

The entire scene was modeled in Rhino 7, starting by building one single domino, creating a spiral curve, and arraying multiple dominoes along the curve. The dominos were spaced at roughly 2 centimeters apart, ensuring the chain reaction would go smoothly from start to finish. The entire scene has a whopping 1182 dominoes in total; a little ambitious considering I was going to render the simulation on a 2022 gaming laptop.

Tilt the first domino to help kickstart the physics cycle

To use the simulation feature, import your scene into the latest version of KeyShot (2023-24) (get a free trial here), set the scale, add the materials, and pick the right environment. Before you use the physics feature, however, you need to prime your scene – in this case, it meant tilting the first domino forward so gravity would kick in during the simulation. The Physics Simulation feature can be found in the ‘Tools’ section on top. Clicking on it opens a separate window with a preview viewport, a bunch of settings, and an animation timeline on the bottom.

The Physics Simulation feature can be found in the Tools window

To begin with, pick the parts you want to apply physics to (these are the parts that will be influenced by gravity, so don’t pick stuff that remains stationary, like ground objects). The parts you don’t select will still influence your physics because moving objects will still collide with them. Once you’ve chosen what parts you want to move (aka the dominoes), select the ‘Shaded’ option so you can see them clearly in the viewport.

The settings on the left are rather basic but extremely powerful. You start by first setting the maximum simulation time (short animations require short simulations; considering mine was a long chain reaction, I chose 200 seconds), followed by Keyframes Per Second – This basically tells KeyShot to make your animation more detailed or choppy (think FPS, but for simulation). I prefer selecting 25 keyframes per second since I’m rendering my animation at 25fps (just to keep the simulation light), but you can bump things up to 60 keyframes per second, which gives your simulation smoother detail. You can then bump up your animation FPS to render high frame-rate videos that can then be slowed down for dramatic slow motion. Simulation quality dictates how well KeyShot factors the physics in – it’s at a default of 0.1, although if you feel like your simulation looks off, bump it up to a higher value.

The Physics Simulation Window

The remaining settings pertain to gravity and material properties. The gravity is set at Earth’s default of 9.81 m/s² – increasing it makes items heavier (and fall faster), and decreasing it makes objects float around for longer before descending. I set mine at 11 m/s² just to make sure the dominoes fall confidently. Friction determines the amount of drag caused by two colliding objects – setting a higher friction causes more surface interference, like dropping a cube on a ramp made of rubber, and reducing the friction enables smooth sliding, like the same cube on a polished metal ramp. To ensure that the dominos don’t stick to each other like they were made of rubber, I reduced my friction setting to 0.4. Finally, a Bounciness feature lets you determine how two objects collide – the lower this setting, the less bounce-back, the higher the setting, the more the rebound. Given that I didn’t want my dominos bouncing off each other, I set this at a low of 0.01. Once you’re done, hit the Begin Simulation button to watch the magic unfold.

If you aren’t happy with your simulation, you can stop it mid-way and troubleshoot. Usually, tinkering with the settings helps achieve the right simulation, but here’s something I learned, too – bigger objects fall slower than smaller objects, so playing around with the size and scale of your model can really affect the simulation. If, however, you’re happy with your simulation (you can run through it in the video timeline below), just hit the blue ‘OK’ button, and you’ve successfully rendered your first physics simulation!

The simulation then becomes a part of KeyShot’s Animation timeline, and you can then play around with camera angles and movements to capture your entire scene just the way you visualized it. I created multiple clips of my incredibly long domino chain reaction (in small manageable chunks because my laptop crashed at least 8 times during this) and stitched them together in a video editing app.

Comparing KeyShot and Blender’s Physics Control Panels

The Physics Simulation feature in KeyShot 2023-24 is incredibly impressive. For starters, it’s a LOT easier than other software like Blender, which can feel a little daunting with the hundreds of settings it has you choose from. Figuring out physics simulation in KeyShot takes just a few minutes (although the actual simulation can take a while if you’re running something complex), making an already powerful rendering software feel even more limitless!

That being said, there’s some room for growth. Previous experiments with the simulation tool saw some strange results – falling objects sometimes ended up choosing their own direction, making the simulation feel odd (I made a watch fall down and the entire thing disassembled and scattered in mid-air instead of falling together and breaking apart on impact). Secondly, sometimes objects can go through each other instead of colliding, so make sure you tinker with quality settings to get the perfect result. Thirdly, you can’t choose different bounciness values for different objects in the same simulation just yet, although I’m sure KeyShot is working on it. Finally, it would be absolutely amazing if there were a ‘slow-motion’ feature. The current way to do this is to bump up the keyframe rate and bring down the gravity, but that can sometimes cause objects to drift away after colliding instead of falling downwards in slow motion.

So there you have it! You can use this tutorial to animate your own domino sequence, too, or better still, create a new simulation based on your own ideas! If you do, make sure to participate in the 2024 KeyShot Animation Challenge to stand a chance to win some exciting prizes. Hurry! The competition ends on March 10th, 2024!

The post How to make a Domino Chain Reaction in KeyShot using the new ‘Physics Simulation’ feature first appeared on Yanko Design.