Hasta La Ideas

ChatGPT powered Rabbit R1 is a pocketable personal assistant that has a lot under its belt, even though in unpolished software version right now. Sized nearly half that of an iPhone, the device co-designed with Teenage Engineering has a very clickily feel to it and can do a range of tasks independently without relying on phones or smart home gadgets.

This cute little gadget has garnered a lot of interest and popularity for its compact form factor and the signature papaya hue. Some concept designs have also been inspired by the R1 for its pocket friendly appeal. These pair of headphones are yet another example of what modern day gadgets could be like.

Designer: Rithik Ravi

Dubbed the Rabbit AI Headphone, this audio accessory breaks the predictable design language of both over-the-ear headies and open-ear design ones. The playful yet sophisticated aesthetic of the concept headphones is blended with the AI-driven features for an enhanced user experience. Visual language of the Rabbit’s design brings an eye-catching persona to the bold pair of headphones. There are displays on the outer surface of the headies on each side to display the Rabbit’s logo and Now Playing elements like play, pause, next tract and visualization. How comfortable the square-shaped cans are going to be for extended duration of use is left to anybody’s imagination.

Apart from the visual goodness, the headphones come with features like adaptive sound modes, personalized audio profiles and intuitive touch controls. The designer has made no mention of the hardware specifications of this proposed concept for a Rabbit product that could some day be a part of the brand’s line-up. But hey, that’s where we at Yanko Design come in, fueling the imagination of budding designers who could shape the unknown future of what’s going to be mainstream. To that accord, we believe the headphones to have a major Teenage Engineering influence with potent drivers knitted deeply with the software ecosystem.

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Design studio Crafting Plastics has created a kinetic, car-shaped structure from 3D-printed bioplastics for Lexus based on the brand’s AI-driven software that integrates multi-sensory elements into the driving experience.

Displayed at the ICA Miami as part of the city’s art week, the Liminal Cycles installation features a skeletal representation of the all-electric Lexus LF-ZC model made of Crafting Plastics‘s Nuatan bioplastic, as well as three neighbouring sculptures that explore different senses and elements of a vehicle.

It interpreted SDVs (Software Defined Vehicles), an in-development software from Lexus that aims to enhance a driver’s experience through the integration of multi-sensory design, such as personalising smell, haptics, and lighting for an individual.

In the case of electric vehicles, this might mean using a surge of interior lighting and specific tones to demonstrate the sensations of a “performance” vehicle, similar to how the smell and sound of an engine revving are traditionally associated with high performance.

“For example, when it comes to the five senses within the car – especially with the electrified vehicle – sometimes we have to consider what is the alternative stimuli replacing the engine sound and engine smells,” Calty Design Research chief designer Sellene Lee told Dezeen.

“So in an electrified vehicle, we don’t have those things, but [the user] still wants this kind of exciting vehicle, and we want to offer that kind of experience for our users.”

Crafting Plastics explored this concept with its Liminal Cycles installation by integrating sound, lighting, material responsiveness and movement into its various sculptures.

The central piece represents an LF-ZC is made of kinetic panels of the 3D-printed Nuatan bioplastic covered in a reactive coating that changes colour depending on its exposure to UV.

The panels are motion-activated and respond to passerby, expanding and contracting to create a “breathe-like” movement to reflectic the organic nature of their materiality, according to Crafting Plastics co-founder Vlasta Kubušová.

“Since all these materials are made from natural resources, we wanted to show their origin of nature and [that] they will become a part of nature when they are decomposed.”

Building upon their work with bioplastics, Kubušová also noted the installation was the first time they used the Nuatan material with a large-scale 3D printer in the exploration of producing the material at a larger scale.

“It could be [used] for everything from big interior pieces to even facades,” Kubušová told Dezeen. “I think 3D printing is definitely the technology of the future, because it can be customized, but you can also do mass-produced with this technology and it doesn’t leave any waste.”

Three other sculptures explore senses such as touch and smell, such as a “flower-like” sculpture representative of a steering wheel that when touched, generates fluctuations in the installation’s sound composition and seating that emanate a “Lexus-inspired” scent.

The installation also showcased objects from designers Suchi Reddy, Michael Bennett, Germane Barnes and Tara Sakhi, who were tasked with creating a vessel for an exclusive candle made in collaboration with Lexus and Philadelphia product brand Dilo.

Previously designer Marjan van Aubel created an installation for the car brand from photovoltaic panels. This year Crafting Plastics showcased their UV reactive material at Milan design week.

Liminal Cycles is on display at the ICA Miami for the Miami art week. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

The photography is by Steve Benisty

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Swiss designer Yves Béhar has collaborated with Italian shipyard Rossinavi to create Solsea, a concept for an electric hybrid catamaran superyacht, which is capable of an 80 per cent electric transatlantic crossing.

Unveiled at this year’s Design Miami, the Solsea concept features a combination of large solar panels and an onboard AI-monitored battery.

According to Béhar, this solar system would reduce the yacht’s fuel consumption and operating costs by 80 per cent when cruising. While shorter journeys could be powered entirely electrically, Solsea could make transatlantic trips using 80 per cent electric power.

Solsea could be fully recharged on shore in only five hours.

“The yacht’s catamaran eco-displacement hull is designed for maximum hydrodynamic efficiency, enabling full-electric cruising,” said Béhar.

“This would not only reduce emissions but also minimise noise, vibrations and odours, while enhancing onboard comfort and a connection to nature,” he added.

Solsea would also include a hibernation mode when the catamaran was moored, minimising energy consumption.

The solar panels would have the capacity to distribute the energy collected over a day to sources at the marina when the vessel was moored, or power an entire villa, according to Béhar.

Subtly integrated into the design, the solar panels would clad the yacht’s undulating roof – including a retractable cover for the swimming pool on the upper deck.

Béhar has chosen a sleek minimalist design for the interior, which would feature materials including cork flooring, wood panelling and ocean-sourced recycled plastic.

The battery would be fitted with Rossinavi‘s custom AI technology to monitor its lifespan. The technology would ensure that the battery would remain within the “optimal range” of 20 to 80 per cent, explained Béhar.

“Additionally, it would assist and interact with the crew to maintain efficient operations,” added the designer.

“This visionary vessel sets a new standard for sustainable, silent ocean exploration,” he concluded.

Béhar is the founder of design studio Fuseproject. The studio previously collaborated with tech studio Kind Humanoid to create a body for a robotic system intended for various domestic and commercial environments.

Dezeen’s features editor Nat Barker recently explored how the superyacht industry is responding to the increasingly urgent issue of sustainability.

Miami art week takes place across Miami, Florida from 2 to 8 December. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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Architecture studio Snøhetta has begun work on the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library, releasing the first construction images as well as renderings of the building’s green roof that appears to merge with the landscape.

The library is located just outside of Medora, North Dakota, and is dedicated to Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th president of the United States, who was born in New York but held property and served in administrative roles in the state.

The Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library (TRPL) comprises a long narrow structure built into the rolling Badlands of North Dakota, with a central passageway that runs through the centre of the structure. It will have exhibition areas as well as a large theatre.

From the outside, the building appears as a large berm with plantings on top and sculptural protruding lightwells.

The final structure elements for the sloping roof structure were completed last month, according to Snøhetta, which utilised a mass-timber and steel hybrid system for support.

Elements of the mass-timber structure will be left exposed, especially in the massive breezeway that will serve as the primary circulation between the two main indoor spaces.

As of last month, many of the wood exterior cladding elements as well as the rammed-earth walls that mark the primary entrance to the library have been completed.

The green roof and the natural materials, such as mass timber and rammed earth, are elements of the low-impact, sustainable brief for the project, which Snøhetta wanted to reflect Roosevelt’s commitment to preservation.

“Our design for the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library is informed by the president’s personal reflections on the landscape, his commitment to environmental stewardship, and the periods of quiet introspection and civic engagement that marked his life,” said Snøhetta.

“The design functions in harmony with the unique ecology of the region and expresses the conservation ethos for which Roosevelt is remembered.”

Outside, a 1.3-mile (2.1 kilometre) boardwalk will run in a circle around the ridge, connecting the library to overlooks and pavilions to observe the landscape, as well as to hiking trails that lead into Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

Snøhetta is also aiming for ambitious sustainability goals for the building to echo the formal and material gestures of the building towards environmental “harmony”.

“The sustainable ambition of the project’s design can be best broken down into four categories: zero energy, zero emissions, zero water, zero waste,” said the team.

“This approach relies on a carefully calibrated combination of passive strategies and active technologies throughout the site and building.”

With the onset of North Dakota’s harsh winter, enclosures are being erected to continue work on the facades and interior spaces, and the green roof installation is set to take place next year.

Limited exhibitions will begin to take place late next year, with full completion slated for July 2026.

Currently, 15 dedicated presidential libraries exist in the United States, administered by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).

However, TRPL is being driven by private non-profits, and the land was purchased for construction by the Roosevelt family.

Snøhetta was selected from a group of competing studios in 2020 that included Studio Gang and Henning Larsen.

In Chicago, work is underway on the Barack Obama Presidential Library, designed by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects. It topped out this year.

The photography and renderings are courtesy of Snøhetta. 

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With today’s more sophisticated users and complex software, the need for tools that can adapt to creators’ needs is growing higher as well. Full keyboards don’t have enough space for individual shortcuts, even those with a numeric keypad attached. It’s also quite tedious to memorize all those unrelated key combos, which is why gadgets like the Stream Deck have become quite popular with their programmable buttons.

These devices, however, don’t offer the same tactile experience as actual physical controls, and that’s the unique selling point of this concept design for a modular numeric keypad. On its own, it functions normally for fast access to numbers, but with the right parts, it can turn into a sound mixer, brush size dial, and more, adapting to whatever you need to get the job done.

Designer: Benjamin Fryc x Work Louder

For some desktop users, the numeric keypad or numpad has become an optional and almost useless part of the keyboard. They prefer to use more compact wireless keyboards to save space or offer more flexibility in where you want to move it on your desk. That is until they realize they need even more keys to keep up with all the keyboard shortcuts for the apps they use.

The KNOB numpad is a design concept that not only brings that numeric keypad, which you can use for those keyboard shortcuts but also adds more control options for an even better user experience. Mashing a single key repeatedly to increase or decrease Photoshop’s brush size isn’t as satisfying as turning a knob, and scrubbing through a video timeline feels more intuitive with a dial. A slider is also a better interface for raising or lowering levels than, you guessed it, a keyboard shortcut.

Best of all, the concept doesn’t force you to commit to having these interfaces on your desk all the time. Just like a wireless numpad that you can stash in a drawer when no longer needed, the magnetic modules can be attached and removed as needed, depending on what you’re working on. Even better, the wireless and modular design lets you place the device on either side of the keyboard, allowing for ambidextrous use.

The KNOB numpad comes with an aesthetic similar to the designs you see from Teenage Engineering or Work Louder. The silver brushed metal surface gives it that industrial appearance, while the orange accents add some points of visual interest to the design. It’s definitely a concept we’d like to see on store shelves, especially with more modular numeric keypad ideas sprouting recently.

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