Hasta La Ideas

Designs by studios Foster + Partners, Arup and Page & Turnbull have been unveiled for the first four train stations of the California High-Speed Rail line, slated to be the first high-speed rail system in the US.

Foster + Partners and Arup contributed to the design of four stations for the California High-Speed Rail, which will connect San Diego in the south of the state with Sacramento in the north, as well as a number of cities in between.

As part of Phase 1 of the project, which will run from San Francisco to Los Angeles, the stations will be located in Merced, Fresno, Kings Tulare and Bakersfield, with initial designs announced last year.

According to Foster + Partners, the four Central Valley stations will be linked by an architectural language “that reflects the sustainable ethos of the wider project” and will feature “soaring” canopies.

“We are developing an architectural language for the four Central Valley stations, including soaring canopies that draw in fresh air and shield waiting passengers from harsh sunlight,” said Foster + Partners head of studio Stefan Behling. “The station design reflects the sustainable ethos of the wider project.”

Renderings show each station’s exteriors and interiors capped by ripped volumes of metallic bronze or matte white, integrated with louvred wood and stone walls, heavy columns, and pergola-style roofs hanging over large entrances.

The project’s Fresno station will include an elevated pedestrian crossing connecting Chinatown and Downtown Fresno Station near Mariposa Street, as well the restoration of the historic depot on site conducted by US architecture studio Page & Turnbull.

Built in 1872 and listed in the National Register of Historic Places, the depot is a Queen Anne-style building with slate bellcast hip-roof and cupolas and a structure of red brick.

Updates to the station will include bringing the building up to fire, life-safety, structural, seismic and accessibility codes, as well as the restoration of architectural features so that it can serve as an “ultramodern transportation center”.

“The historic depot will be an iconic and economically vital part of Downtown Fresno and of the high-speed rail system,” said Page & Turnbull president Peter Birkholz.

Located north of Fresno, the Merced station will also include a pedestrian bridge linking the city’s downtown, and serve as the main connection to the greater San Francisco Bay Area.

A “flexible outdoor plaza” on 16th Street is also included in the plans.

“Building on the historical link between Merced and Yosemite Valley, this city with a rapidly growing university and college will benefit from high-speed rail connections to the Central Valley and the future connection to the San Francisco Bay Area,” said the team.

The Kings Tulare station is pictured with an expansive outdoor plaza and is designed to create “a streamlined experience” for bus, car and bicycle traffic, with its services located in a rectangular volume directly beneath its tracks.

As the southern terminus of the line and the connection to Los Angeles and Anaheim, the Bakersfield station will feature a variety of shaded outdoor plazas, with renderings picturing outdoor amenities beneath elevated tracks.

“The design creates a linear park that runs underneath a new viaduct, directly connecting downtown Bakersfield and the Kern River Corridor with a variety of shaded outdoor public spaces and recreation facilities,” said the team.

Once completed the 119-mile Central Valley line will connect San Francisco to Los Angeles in less than three hours, according to the team.

Up to 24 stations are planned for the greater California High-Speed Rail, linking more than 800 miles of track. Funding was granted to the project in 2008 after decades of advocacy.

First proposed in 1979 under Governor Jerry Brown, California’s high-speed rail has since suffered a number of funding setbacks and controversies, resulting in the current two-phase construction plan for the rail.

Phase 1 of the project refers to the completion of the 520-mile San Francisco to Anaheim route, while Phase 2 refers to extensions that will connect Sacramento and San Diego.

According to the New York Times, due to “political compromises”, the project’s budget has bloated to an estimated $100 billion with “little chance” of completion – although construction on viaduct structures and overcrossing is underway according to updates from the California High-Speed Rail Authority, a body tasked with facilitating the project.

As of now, service of the Central Valley line is expected to start in 2030.

The opportunity to learn more about the rail stations, see 3D renderings and speak with rail authorities will be available to the public during the California State Fair in Sacramento running from 12 to 28 July, according to Foster + Partners.

Elsewhere in the US, a historic train station in Detroit recently received a renovation, while New York’s subway station risks “falling behind” after budget cuts.

The images are courtesy of Foster + Partners

The post Renovation of historic station among designs unveiled for California’s high-speed rail appeared first on Dezeen.

Local studio Ménard Dworkind has retrofitted a 1960s building designed by IM Pei with an office interior for a tech company in Montreal.

The 3,330-square foot (310-square metres) space houses the offices of TEC Energy inside IM Pei’s 47-storey Place Ville Marie tower, a cruciform skyscraper completed in 1962 as headquarters for the Royal Bank of Canada.

“TEC Energy’s new offices blend the timeless charm of 1960s aesthetic with the sleek lines of contemporary design,” Ménard Dworkind (MRDK) told Dezeen. “We played with a mix of old and new – Mad Men meets Apple store.”

Taking up a corner position on one floor, the rectangular office is glazed on two sides.

“Upon entry, visitors are beckoned through a vestibule enclosed by a geometric screen wall composed of blocks inspired by the brutalist aesthetic of a nearby power station,” the team said, referencing the slanted black panels that separate the entry from the light-filled office.

This nod to Montreal’s architectural history serves as a gateway into the workspace.

A reinterpretation of a traditional open-plan workspace for a refined, welcoming atmosphere, the office is divided roughly in half.

Rows of desks sit along the interior wall, while the exterior half is composed of a conference room, open kitchen and dining room, collaborative lounge, and two corner offices.

With muted tones and stainless steel accents, the kitchen and dining area allow sweeping views of downtown Montreal to take centre stage through nearly floor-to-ceiling windows.

Glass blocks are arranged in a more contemporary format, creating a linear screen between the kitchen and the lounge.

The lounge area was designed to provide “home comforts” and includes greenery planted behind a beige wraparound sofa. Booths for collaborative work are separated from the lounge by the greenery.

A small phone booth – offering privacy for conversations and maintaining a quiet work atmosphere for employees in the larger office – is tucked into the centre of the office, while breakout areas allow teams to collaborate and interact in small groups.

“The two private offices, nestled in the glazed corner of the suite, draw inspiration from the distinctive form and materials of the Place Ville Marie Tower,” the team said. “Utilizing travertine and aluminum, these spaces exude a timeless elegance that resonates with the site’s iconic identity.”

The offices also include a mix of stainless steel and lime plaster, creating a neutral-toned space defined by sharp planes and edges.

“We sourced certain vintage lights and chairs from local pickers and contrast that with sleek custom furniture and office furniture from Haworth,” the studio said.

Felt baffles in a soft grey colour are suspended in an open grid-like lattice, dampening noise while echoing the rhythm of surrounding office buildings.

Three large abstract art pieces by Caravane Studio spell out TEC, where they are mounted on the grey Tectum acoustic panels applied as wainscoting in the open office space.

Other studies have carried out renovations of the tower, including a project by Sid Lee Architecture’s installation of offices at the base of the structure.

Other interior projects that MRDK recently completed in Montreal include a French restaurant with a custom wine cellar, a sports apparel store with rounded walls and archways and a beauty product boutique with interior planted garden beds.

The photography is by David Dworkind and Alex Lesage.

Project credits:

Contractor: Hu-Nic Construction
Suppliers:
Ceramic floor tile: Mutina
Wood flooring: Unik Parquet
Lighting: Arancia, Artemide, Flos, AND lighting, Edison lighting, Hamster
Furniture: Haworth, Jussaume, FOUND
Fabric: CTL leather, Kravet
Artwork: Caravane Studio
Florals: Studio Sveja

The post “Mad Men meets Apple store” at Ménard Dworkind’s revamp of IM Pei tower interior appeared first on Dezeen.

German company Pipe Lighting is revolutionizing the way things are shot. They’ve perhaps taken a page from lighting designer Ingo Maurer: The company’s offerings consist of inflatable, lightweight LED fixtures.

As someone who used to run a photo studio, I can attest to how laborious it is to stage large amounts of lighting. Set-up and breakdown was time-consuming. You needed boom arms, sandbags, counterweights, etc., each of which posed a safety hazard if not properly rigged. In contrast, this gargantuan Pipe Lighting fixture was installed without a truss:

Hanging a fixture this large, over a child, in an actual house where you can’t drill into the ceiling, would have been impossible with conventional lighting:

Massive, full-body-size light panels can easily be held by grips, saving time in rigging and allowing for fast re-sets:

As the company describes themselves: “Pipe Lighting is all about light light. We make your life easier and lighter.”

Video streaming has become its own entertainment category and industry, allowing almost anyone to reach out to millions across the world and maybe even make some money while doing so. The barrier to entry is quite low, at least when it comes to equipment, as long as you have a smartphone or even a computer with a webcam. As you grow your content and your audience, however, you will eventually find yourself looking for tools that are made to support such activities, like a webcam that can help bring out the best in your video content and presentations. Of course, webcams are a dime a dozen, especially if you consider the cheap and unsurprisingly basic options out there. You might think you need to spend big bucks for a really good webcam, but the new OBSBOT Tiny 2 Lite says otherwise. Compact yet packing quite a punch, the 4K PTZ webcam promises AI-powered features at an affordable price, and that naturally piqued our curiosity to see if it’s really good as it sounds.

Designer: OBSBOT

Aesthetics

Webcam designs are myriad and varied, and most of them are meant to sit on top of computer monitors or laptop lids for use in video chats. That often means using clips or, worse, adhesives, and they take on shapes that are designed to blend in with the monitor, leading to rather uninspiring designs. It might be called a webcam, but the OBSBOT Tiny 2 Lite is really a versatile gimbal camera that can be used for almost any purpose and in almost any setting as long as you’re connected to a computer, of course.

As such, it’s no surprise that the OBSBOT Tiny 2 Lite looks more like one of those gimbal cameras than a webcam, and for good reason. It’s a PTZ or “pan, tilt, zoom” camera, after all, and its base and arm work to move the camera as needed. Yes, you don’t have to position the camera yourself, but more on that later. What this means is that this webcam hardly looks like a webcam at all. Its rounded square base and the square camera hanging from its arm make it resemble a miniature professional video camera, and that’s a comparison that’s more than just skin deep.

All in all, the OBSBOT Tiny 2 Lite has a compact and minimalist design that is distinctive but not distracting. It’s small enough to take with you anywhere your laptop and your work need to go, while still packing quite a collection of powerful features. The camera itself barely has any physical controls, creating a clean and professional-looking aesthetic. That means you’ll have to rely on indirect methods of control, like the OBSBOT App, hand gestures, or the optional remote control.

Ergonomics

You won’t be holding the OBSBOT Tiny 2 Lite in your hand, not unless you put it on a selfie stick or handle. It’s meant to either mount on top of you a monitor, stand on a desk, or attach to a tripod, and the camera’s design supports all three. Rather than relying on a separate clip that you might lose, the Tiny 2 Lite features a built-in stand that unfolds from the bottom, forming a simple cantilever-like mechanism that uses gravity and physics to stick to the top of a computer screen. It is, however, a very simple mechanism, and it might struggle to support older, thicker monitors as well as very slim laptop lids.

When in use, you won’t be touching the camera directly either, since there are no buttons in the first place, other than turning the camera down to activate its privacy mode. Your primary control method will be through the computer app that configures the camera’s settings, but OBSBOT really wants you to rely on automatic operations powered by its AI. For more precise control from a distance, however, you might prefer to spend an extra $49 for the optional remote control slash presentation clicker. Depending on your workflow, you might find this absence of direct control liberating or extra work.

Performance

OBSBOT made a name for itself with 4K webcams packed in tiny designs, and the Tiny 2 Lite is no different. What is different, however, is that it selects only the hardware and features that deliver the best possible experience without asking too much from the consumer’s finances. For example, the 1/2-inch CMOS sensor is quite capable, enabling 4K 30fps as well as 1080p 60fps video recording with crisp and clear details. It supports HDR, though not the PixGain HDR that the more expensive non-Lite OBSBOT Tiny 2 boasts of, and it only has a single ISO for all kinds of lighting conditions.

While the video quality that the Tiny 2 Lite produces is already good, the camera’s real selling point is its intelligent hands-free controls. Of course, this newer model leverages plenty of AI so that you can leave it to decide what it thinks is the best shot, whether it’s zooming up close or using a more panoramic shot. The camera tracks you as you go around, making presentations and demonstrations look more dynamic and natural. It also supports auto framing, where it pans or zooms to adjust to the number of people going in and out of view. If you need more direct control, you don’t have to reach for the remote and just use hand gestures to adjust the camera to your liking. As for that movement, it’s pretty smooth and quick, easily adjusting to your own movement as if you have a human behind the camera.

As many AI features that OBSBOT crammed in such a small and accessible device, it also had to leave out quite a number of them that you’d see on the OBSBOT Tiny 2. It doesn’t have voice control, for example, which might actually be a good thing for more privacy-concerned users, but neither does it have a desktop mode where the camera swings down to capture, rotate, and frame what you’re doing on the desk, which could be your notes or instructions for some process. The biggest “downgrade,” however, is using a slower USB 2.0 connection only, a decision that’s sure to become a bottleneck when you need fast video transfers from camera to computer. Fortunately, most of these features can be considered “extras” from a content creator’s point of view, allowing the OBSBOT Tiny 2 Lite to still deliver a solid performance at almost half the price of its older sibling.

Sustainability

One of the reasons why webcams are so ubiquitous is because of how easy and cheap it is to get the materials needed to make them. That means a load of plastic, which is admittedly lighter and more resilient than a premium but hefty aluminum chassis. Unfortunately, that doesn’t bode well for the sustainability of these products, especially the ones that feel and look cheap and are more likely to be thrown out the moment they start malfunctioning.

The OBSBOT Tiny 2 Lite thankfully doesn’t look cheap nor feel like a throwaway product, but it’s still not something that will last you a long time if you aren’t careful. You won’t want to take it on daring adventures, especially in extreme conditions. This isn’t an action cam anyway, but it could still let you do some outdoor streaming if the weather allows it.

Value

OBSBOT launched the Tiny 2 last year to much applause for the wide array of smart features packed in a compact and stylish design. The one complaint has been its rather steep price tag, and the new Tiny 2 Lite finally addresses that. For only $179, it crams many of those AI features, particularly the core functions that truly define the Tiny 2. Naturally, it had to leave some out, but did OBSBOT cut off too much?

That’s hardly the case, as the Tiny 2 Lite delivers a solid PTZ webcam experience. Admittedly, that price tag might still look a bit too high, and not all features will appeal to everyone who needs a webcam. Those who mainly use webcams for meetings will find little reason to spend more on such a camera, though there are options like sleep mode made for those times when you need to briefly step away from a meeting.

Verdict

Being stuck at home doing video meetings and chats has made us realize how webcams seem to have been stuck in the early 2000s. A whole new crop of more powerful cameras has grown from this need, some going beyond just making you look presentable for a meeting. The OBSBOT Tiny 2 Lite is designed for budding creators who need to focus on the content they’re recording instead of having to fiddle with camera controls. More than just high-quality 4K video, this small yet powerful PTZ webcam leverages AI to do the heavy lifting of framing the perfect shot to captivate your audience, clearly get your point across, or simply have fun. Best of all, you won’t have to break the bank just to get your hands on a tool that looks so simple yet packs quite a punch, helping you look professional in any video.

The post OBSBOT Tiny 2 Lite 4K PTZ Webcam Review: Budget-Friendly AI Camera Crew first appeared on Yanko Design.

When visiting a museum that’s located next to a body of water, probably the next thing you think of after you’ve completed your tour is: “Hmmm, it would be nice to have a relaxing time at a sauna”. Well, that’s if you’re tired after going around the museum. If you visit the Munch Museum in Oslo, Norway, you will get the chance to do just that.

Designer: Estudio Herreros

Trosten is a floating sauna that you can find in the fjord next to the museum as both are designed by Estudio Herreros. The idea is to bring saunas closer to the people and make it sustainable and accessible as well. They were inspired by architectural follies but aside from it being aesthetic, the structure is still also highly functional but with a “distinct volume and silhouette with a strong, colorful component”.

The sauna’s main structure is actually constructed offsite and then placed on the prefabricated floating concrete platform. It’s made with aluminum cladding with a green tone to give off a calm and relaxing vibe, combining it with the usual wooden decking you see on saunas with large terrazzo tiled surfaces plus steel balustrades and netting. Outside there’s stepped seating so users can also sunbathe before or after using the sauna. Inside there are lockers and seating spaces and inside the sauna itself you get stepped wooden seating.

At the back, there’s also a sheltered seating space and you can access the fjord from here if you want to cool off. Since this is a sustainable structure, you get an energy system and a steam recirculation system and use of natural and recycled materials. It would be nice to heat up and cool off at something like this after a long day of exploring the museum and nearby places.

The post Floating sauna beside museum is accessible and sustainable first appeared on Yanko Design.