Israeli designer Dor Tal has designed a set of gadgets that monitor data generated on social networks to help users predict the future and take action ahead of time (+ movie).
Predictions and recommended actions would be projected onto the hand by a smartwatch
Dor Tal’s Future Control project imagines a personal horoscope built on your data that could predict everything from when you’re most likely to go to the gym, to what mood your partner is going to be in when they get home.
Dor Tal‘s concept works in two ways. The first requires the user to download an app on to their smartphone that scours social networks for any data generated about the user, or other people and organisations that might affect them. An algorithm then detects any patterns of behaviour that could be forecast ahead of time. The more accounts the user adds, including credit card information, Google, Apple and Facebook, the more intelligent the device becomes.
Pico projector shows predictions and recommended actions on a wall
“When it identifies a predictable action, a recommended response for solving the problem or enhancing the experience is calculated and presented,” explained Dor Tal.
The second part of the project is called Predictables: two devices that present that data to the user. The first uses a pico projector, which displays a timeline with a series of floating bubbles indicating actions the user can take.
Designs for the smartwatch strap
The colour scheme highlights how far in the future the action might be: green indicates behaviour days ahead, where as red tells the user these actions should be taken today.
If the user is moving around, the same display can be projected on to the their hand via a smartwatch. Both displays utilise gesture control, allowing the user to interact with the display with his or her hands.
The pico projector and smartwatch
“One interesting aspect of the interaction, similar to what happens in the Back to the Future films, is that the predictions continuously change as the user acts and reacts in present time,” said Tal.
Future Control was part of Tal’s graduation project from Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem. The designer wanted to explore our obsession with trying to predict the future.
Designs for Pico projectors
“From the movement of the stars to modern technology, man has searched for patterns that can indicate the imminent future,” explained Tal. “The biggest challenge of this project is to create the forecasting algorithms, but I believe this will happen sooner than expected.”
Paris studio Atelier Zündel Cristea has added a glass-walled extension that projects from the rear of this hundred-year-old house in the Vincennes suburb (+ slideshow).
Atelier Zündel Cristea was asked to reorder and optimise the interior of the early-twentieth-century property and began the renovation by removing existing annexes and interior walls that were reducing the usable living space.
“The distribution of spaces was very awkward, and any rapport between the house and the garden was nonexistent,” said the architects, who claimed that the original layout had restricted the potential 120 square metres of useable floor space to just 90 square metres.
Adding the extension and opening up new spaces including the attic and basement increased the home’s total occupied area to 220 square metres.
Annexed rooms at the rear of the house were replaced with the glass-walled addition that projects out towards the garden and incorporates full-height doors that can be slid open to connect the open-plan living area with the outdoors.
A roof terrace on top of the new extension can be accessed through doors from the master bedroom and incorporates two skylights that provide additional daylight to the dining room and kitchen.
The en suite bathroom of the master bedroom also opens onto the roof terrace so the occupants can look out at the garden from the bathtub.
A corridor leads from the front door past the living room and staircase to the dining area, with its glazed doors providing views of the trees in the garden from the entry.
A staircase connecting the entrance corridor on the ground floor with bedrooms on the first and second floors features curving walls and banisters, and is naturally lit by dormer windows at the top of the house.
The wood-panelled living area at the front of the house features a corner sofa and a fireplace built into the fitted cabinetry that continues along one wall into the kitchen.
Stairs leading from the living area to the garden continue down to a basement that houses an office with a window squeezed in under the extension.
A geothermal heat pump was installed in the basement at the front of the house to extract warmth from the ground for heating, while a double air flow ventilation system helps control air circulation and provides additional energy savings.
The house’s dilapidated front facade was updated and painted white, with additions including a second dormer window, new ironwork on the windows and a canopy above the door completing the new look.
The object of our renovation work is a house located in Vincennes, within the radius which surrounds the Château de Vincennes, a radius monitored by architects of historical monuments.
Before the renovation
The building seems to have remained largely in its original state since the beginning of the 20th century, and has not been renovated at all for at least thirty years. The distribution of spaces was very awkward, and any rapport between the house and the garden was nonexistent. In regards to an energy plan there was no insulation (neither within the walls nor within the attic spaces), and only single, non-waterproofed windows. The means of heating the house being individual gas burners. Almost a caricature.
In brief, the project consisted of: – the demolition of annexes damaged beyond repair – the completion in their place of an RDC extension around the preserved area of the house, which will open entirely upon the garden by means of a large bay window – the general overhaul of the house with restoration of the cellar and attic spaces
If the successful execution of a high-efficiency project, one that sought low emission levels, was in clear evidence of being pursued, we never forgot the primary aim of an architect that is to conceive of a beautiful structure with quality spaces in which people feel good. There is also the fact that a project seeking high-efficiency is not something readily apparent, that all the elements contributing to such efficiency are almost invisible, yet remain perceptible.
According to set buying and selling property regulations the house originally consisted of an inhabitable 120m², but in fact only 90m² were liveable. After the completion of work, thanks to attic spaces, a semi-recessed basement, and an extension, there will be approximately 220m² in which to live.
The heating is geothermal, with the installation of a heat pump. Interior comfort is ensured by double air flow ventilation. On the roof we envisioned solar panels as a means to produce clean, hot water.
Built: 2010 Client: private Architects: AZC Consultants: Choulet Construction cost: 0.3 M€ (ex VAT) Gross area: 220 m² Mission: Conception + construction Project: House
Dublin practice GKMP Architects has added two tiny extensions to a nineteenth century terraced house in the city, one of which incorporates a wooden window seat looking out onto the garden.
GKMP Architects was asked to renovate and extend the three-storey house in the south of Dublin by replacing an existing bedroom and scullery with an enlarged kitchen, dining room and play room.
Instead of adding an extensive new structure that would have imposed on the garden at the rear of the property, the architects proposed two single-storey extensions with a total footprint of just seven square metres.
“The main architectural problem we identified with the existing house was the great disproportion between living and sleeping areas,” architect Jennifer O’Donnell told Dezeen.
“Since the existing area of the house was considered sufficient to meet the needs of the family, we decided that the challenge in this case was to build as little as possible, to the greatest possible effect,” the architect added.
The new additions are constructed from concrete, which O’Donnell said “was chosen to act as a contemporary addition to the hard cement render of the existing rear facade.”
Bright blue tiles introduce a hit of colour and are used for the surface of a bench built into the concrete of the extension closest to the garden.
“The glazed Italian ceramic tiles were chosen in consultation with the clients and are used as a lining in those places where the wall thickens to form a seat or sill,” O’Donnell explained.
The tiles also appear inside the playroom, which adjoins the new kitchen and dining area and features windows that wrap around two sides.
A corner bench with upholstered sofa cushions is fitted below the windows, while new glazed double doors lead from this room out to the garden.
Both of the new extensions feature large skylights that introduce natural light into the open-plan lower ground floor.
The window seat in the dining area is built from iroko wood, which contrasts with the pale interior walls and frames views of the garden.
The architects also added an oak staircase to connect the new kitchen with an existing living room on the upper ground floor and a new den on the first floor.
The staircase is lined on one side with a bookcase and wraps around a utility room tucked away in an otherwise dark and redundant space at the centre of the house.
The architects sent us the following project description:
House Extension at Belmont Avenue, Donnybrook
This project involves the restoration and extension of a three-storey terrace house built towards the end of the 19th century, which has a red clay brick finish in a Flemish bond to the front elevation and a hard cement render finish to the rear. It is one of 6 identical terraced houses, grouped in handed pairs and with identical roof lines, eaves and architectural treatment both to the front and rear.
The existing layout of this house did not lend itself to providing kitchen/dining/living space that was proportional to the rest of the accommodation and so it was proposed to address this imbalance through modifications and a small addition to the existing house rather than through building a large extension in the rear garden.
The new addition consists of two small single-storey extensions, one to the rear of the main part of the house and the other to the end of the existing return on the footprint of the existing lean-to kitchen, that open the lower ground floor of the house to the garden. The new-build is made of cast in-situ concrete with blue glazed tiles.
Inside, a large corner window brings light into the play-room, while a new oak stairs forms a second, more direct connection between ground and first floor living spaces. A new utility space is built into the dark central section of the house, with the new stairway wrapping around and above it as a discrete element, hidden between the old house walls.
Architects: GKMP Architects Contractor: Sheerin Construction Engineer: David Maher & Associates
These hanging plant pots by Dutch designer Roderick Vos incorporate overhead lighting and plug sockets for a space-saving approach to adding greenery to the office.
The Bucketlight features two LED lights situated and sealed at the bottom of two plant pots joined together. A reinforced electrical cable is then used to hang the Bucketlight from the ceiling.
“Because we did not have enough floor space at our office and showroom, and were in desperate need of light, the Bucketlight was born,” explained Vos.
The combination of light and plant life then gave rise to a novel way of distributing electricity throughout the designer’s office and showroom in s’-Hertogenbosch, 30 kilometres outside Eindhoven.
“We created sockets in the objects, enabling us to connect our computers and our workstations, avoiding heaps of tangled cords,” the designer said.
The result is the Powercube. This variant of the Bucketlight features a multi-plug adaptor attached to the pot via a 1.5-metre-long electrical cord.
Each Bucketlight is made from cast aluminium and covered in a textured green powder-coating. They are in use at the designer’s own studio and available through their website.
This apartment conversion in Bilzen, Belgium, by C.T. Architects is designed as a stylish home for a wheelchair user and features practical storage including shelves built into either end of an angular dining table.
Local office C.T. Architects adapted a space which was previously used as storage for an apartment block into a compact home that incorporates several accessible features.
Architect Nick Ceulemans wanted to create a home “that does not look at all like a dwelling for a physically challenged person.” Ceulemans said: “In fact, while many of the design solutions were inspired by necessity, they would all be welcome in any urban small loft.”
The first thing to be done was to adapt the building’s main entrance by adding a ramp to the owner’s front door and provide a new communal entrance to the other flats.
Inside the small apartment, a bright living and dining area is connected to the bedroom by a corridor that is wide enough to comfortably accommodate a wheelchair.
Wet areas and storage spaces are grouped together to free up as much floor space as possible inside the 80 square-metre apartment, which also includes a small terrace accessed through sliding glass doors from the bedroom.
As well as the shelving incorporated into the dining table, the headboard of the bed functions as a desk with integrated storage.
A specially designed hybrid lighting fixture and electrical hub on the desk in the bedroom features a rotating beam that can direct light towards the work surface or the bed and provides convenient charging points.
Materials and finishes used throughout the interior were chosen to enhance the apartment’s bright and relaxed feel, with the textured floors and doors adding warmth and tactility.
“A sense of unity and calm is created by using white walls and ceilings combined with rough-sawn oak floors and sliding doors hiding the storage space, bathroom and toilet,” explained the architects.
Electrically height adjustable kitchen units drop down to make the cupboards easier to reach, while the position of a lamp in the living and dining space can be adjusted by swinging it away from the wall.
Here’s some more information from C.T. Architects:
A home without boundaries
The project includes the conversion of a ground floor apartment, previously used for storage, into an accessible and wheelchair friendly living space for an accident victim. The result is an apartment that does not look at all like a dwelling for a physically challenged person. In fact, while many of the design solutions were inspired by necessity, they would all be welcome in any urban small loft.
To create an accessible residence, C.T. Architects changed the main entrance of the building block to create a ramp to the client’s front door and a new communal entrance for the upstairs neighbours. The apartment itself was transformed completely.
By clustering the wet areas and storage space into two compact volumes, the architect was able to bring natural light into the long and narrow canyon- like layout that is organised into a conventional succession of increasingly private spaces: living room and dining area near the main entrance, a central corridor – at a comfortable width for wheelchair passage – and with an efficient kitchen on one side and the bathroom on the other side, and then the bedroom/study in the rear.
Sliding glass doors lead from the bedroom/study onto a small back terrace. A sense of unity and calm is created by using white walls and ceilings combined with rough-sawn oak floors and sliding doors hiding the storage space, bathroom and toilet. The kitchen designed by C.T. Architects is electrically height-adjustable which provides a wheelchair-bound user with the ability to reach everything easily.
Nick Ceulemans from C.T. Architects also designed key pieces of the furniture to meet the client’s specific needs and preferences and to comply with Belgian disability codes. He designed the dining table with built-in shelves at both ends and a flexible swing-arm wall lamp above this table (also presented at this year’s Salone del Mobile in Milan).
In the bedroom, Nick Ceulemans designed the double-duty bed with a desk at its head, an adjacent wall of bookshelves and a hybrid light fixture/electrical hub that swivels to illuminate both bed and work surface and to provide outlets at a convenient height for the user.
London architecture studio Orproject has installed a forest of illuminated papertrees that join up to form a continuous canopy at a gallery in New Delhi (+ slideshow).
Called Vana, meaning “forest” in Sanskrit, the hanging installation by Orproject features four trunk-like structures designed to mimic natural growth patterns.
To achieve this, the team developed a series of algorithms that mimic the veins found in leaves.
“When the leaf grows, the veins develop with it in order to reach each cell on the surface of the leaf and supply them with nutrients,” said Christoph Klemmt, one of the founders of Orproject.
“Also when a tree grows, it tries to get an exposure of each leaf to the sunlight, so a similar mechanism drives the branching of the tree,” he explained. “We wrote a computer algorithm to simulate this development, in order to grow architecture.”
The four trunks branch upwards and outwards from “seed points” on the floor towards “target points” on the ceiling where they join up into a single surface, creating a suspended tensile structure.
The installation is made from triangular segments of paper connected via stitched joints and backlit by LEDs. When the lights are turned on, the light glows through the gaps and highlights the vein-like structure of the piece.
Vana was designed for last year’s India Design Forum and is currently on display at The Brick House in New Delhi.
Photography is by Sumedh Prasad and Orproject, copyright of Orproject.
Here’s a project description from Orproject:
Vana
Orproject developed a series of algorithms that digitally generate open and closed venation patterns, which can be used to simulate the growth of topiaries. The systems consist of a set of seed points that grow and branch towards target points in order to maximise exposure to light for each leaf. The resulting geometries fulfill these requirements and provide a suitable structural and circulatory system for the plant.
The structural system of topiaries acts mainly in compression and bending. Reversing this, we can obtain a geometry that performs as a tensile system. The installation Vana is designed as a single surface in tension that hangs from the ceiling and descends into the space as four columns of light. The surface is tessellated into triangular segments which are connected by stitched joints. Back lit with LEDs, light shines through the gaps and illuminates the space below with an immersive glow.
As the prototype for a large scale canopy construction, Vana has been developed as an iso-surface around an anastomotic network diagram, as the cortex around the venation system. In a continuous transformation, nature merges into architecture, columns merge into the sky and solid merges into the ephemeral. Vana appears to grow as tree-like branches blending into a continuous canopy that floats above the visitor.
Title: Vana Architects: Orproject Project Architects: Rajat Sodhi, Christoph Klemmt Project Team: Sambit Samant, Manu Sharma
Melbourne practice Architecture Architecture has altered the orientation of a house in the Australian city so the main living areas get the best of the northern sunlight (+ slideshow).
The young couple who own the house initially intended to extend it along one boundary only, but Architecture Architecture convinced them to utilise the space at the rear of the plot by removing an existing bathroom to make room for a north-facing courtyard.
The additions surrounding the courtyard increase the interior dimensions of the Victorian house and provide a new bathroom and small study, as well as an open-plan kitchen and living area with folding windows that can be opened to connect it to the courtyard.
“Constructing along this rear boundary maximised the solar orientation, blocked the neighbouring townhouses from sight and provided a private internal courtyard that could be enjoyed from many vantage points within the house,” architect Nick James told Dezeen.
Architecture Architecture added a steeply pitched roof that bypassed planning restrictions and allowed them to introduce high ceilings and louvred clerestory windows to increase light and space inside the new rooms.
As the clients like to entertain regularly, the architects designed the living and kitchen space as a social area with benches in the windows providing seats where guests can sit facing inside or outside.
“The outdoor courtyard has the feel of a room, with bench seats on two sides and a fireplace that allows for outdoor entertaining on cooler evenings,” said James.
The fireplace was revealed during the demolition of the bathroom and the original brick was uncovered by stripping back a layer of plaster which had been concealing it.
Brick is also used to clad walls surrounding the courtyard, and the architects said they chose recycled bricks to add character and to reference the industrial history of Melbourne’s Abbotsford district.
“The exciting thing about these bricks is that every palette you receive is different, so no two walls you construct will appear the same,” explained James. “They vary slightly in colour, size and imperfections, so there’s a real character and history within each one and bringing them together creates an extremely interesting patchwork.”
White timber boards contrast with the red textured surface of the brick, with both materials recurring inside the house to enhance the connection between indoor and outdoor spaces.
A concrete slab floor used in the living areas was specified for its thermal efficiency as it absorbs and releases heat, helping to maintain consistent temperatures in summer and winter.
Here’s some more information from Architecture Architecture:
THE ‘TURNAROUND HOUSE’ TURNS TO FACE THE SUN
This project is an extension to a Victorian‐era house in Abbotsford, Melbourne. The brief called for new open‐plan living areas, a new kitchen, bathroom and study nook. Against the odds, this modest extension has turned a dark, cramped residence with little backyard to spare, into a light‐filled house with fantastic indoor and outdoor entertaining areas.
The existing house was south‐facing, casting itself into shadow, with unsightly neighbouring buildings imposing on all sides. By creating a U‐shaped extension along the property boundaries, Architecture Architecture has turned everything around. Now the house enjoys a generous private courtyard, with great northern sunlight throughout the year.
From the outside, the steep, raked roof deftly negotiates planning regulations, allowing for generous ceilings and high‐level clerestory louvres. In stark contrast with these windows, an unapologetic blank brick wall hovers over the courtyard, boldly declaring a distinction between the two sides of the living areas within. One side, more intimate, opens up to the courtyard, the other, with views to the passing clouds, admits northern sunlight in the wintertime.
Along both sides of the courtyard, a pair of long bench seats soften the threshold between indoors and out. One serves the living areas, the other serves the courtyard. At the back of each bench, bi‐fold windows draw back, allowing the house to throw itself open to the outdoors or to close‐off – adapting as required.
The material palette further assists in relaxing the otherwise clear geometries of this house. Exposed recycled brick (an echo of Abbotsford’s industrial heritage) and white timber boards (a staple of the modest residential extension), subtly breach the delineation of indoors and outdoors, weaving the two together.
The optimised solar orientation along with the use of brick walls and a dark concrete slab for thermal mass ensure that this is a high‐comfort, low‐energy house all year round, ideal for entertaining. A true turnaround.
Dezeen Music Project: artist Isobel Knowles used cut-out paper shapes to create the animated underwater scenes of dancing swimmers and fish in this music video for Australian singer Sally Seltmann’s single Catch Of The Day.
Knowles used stop-motion animation to give movement to the paper shapes, shooting each element separately and building up the synchronised compositions digitally.
“The animations are shot frame by frame using a camera and a light box,” Knowles told Dezeen. “I shot most of the elements separately and then composited them, changed colours and added effects digitally, layering up each scene from small parts.”
Without a brief from Seltmann, Knowles was free to create her own interpretation of the track, which is the second single taken from the singer’s forthcoming album Hey Daydreamer.
“The music is quite rich sonically, but still quite simple and pop,” Knowles said. “I wanted to reflect this richness and playfulness with the visuals.”
“The cascading harps at the beginning of the song just instantly made me think of underwater scenes from movies and cartoons, so I followed my initial reactions.”
Cow-bladder lights, fish-skin stools and plastic made of beetles all feature in an exhibition of work by Eindhoven design duo Formafantasma.
The Prima Materia exhibition, at the Stedelijk Museum in the Dutch city of ‘s-Hertogenbosch, looks back at work by Italian-born designers Andrea Trimarchi and Simone Farresin of Formafantasma.
The exhibition is organised in two parts. Videos, sketches and material samples along the entrance corridor give a behind-the-scenes look at the duo’s work processes before the finished pieces are viewed in the main space.
“We wanted the exhibition to be more than just about the final pieces or the making of the objects,” Trimarchi told Dezeen. “It was important to show how our projects are ‘vessels’, and show the context and concept behind the work without being too literal.”
The designs are displayed on simple wooden tables and stands, arranged in clusters around the gallery. The exhibition opened on 15 February and runs until 15 June. Photography is by Inga Powilleit.
Read on for more information from the museum:
Prima Materia – design by Studio Formafantasma Exhibition 15 February – 15 June 2014
After Wieki Somers, Maarten Baas and Scholten & Baijings, the Stedelijk Museum ’s-Hertogenbosch presents the design duo Studio Formafantasma: Andrea Trimarchi and Simone Farresin– two Italian designers from Eindhoven.
The exhibition Prima Materia – design by Studio Formafantasma is the first survey of the oeuvre of Studio Formafantasma. Since graduating from the Design Academy Eindhoven, these two Italian designers have received invitations from all over the world for their unusual use of material, forms and design concepts.
Studio Formafantasma is highly productive: within a period of five years they have presented 14 projects and collections, worked for design labels like Fendi, Droog and Vitra Design Museum, and put on presentations during the Salone del Mobile in Milan, Art Abu Dhabi and Design Miami Basel. Museums such as the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and the Art Institute of Chicago have purchased their work. This retrospective will focus not only on objects and installations but also on the creative process of Studio Formafantasma.
The title of the exhibition Prima Materia refers to alchemy: the transformation of everyday raw materials into precious goods. Andrea Trimarchi and Simone Farresin do something similar as designers. An extensive research and work process results in products and installations that raise questions about the role of industry, globalisation and sustainability. Thus the Botanica collection arose from the question of what plastics can be made of when there is no more oil. For this purpose they developed their own vegetable polymers (plastics) for making vases, bowls, a coffee table and lamps.
The designs of Studio Formafantasma offer an alternative vision to today’s consumer society and the role that design plays in it. Their unique, handmade products (table service made of a flour based material, stools made of fish leather and sea sponge, bottles made of resin) are statements about material and function. By opting for natural materials and pre-industrial (traditional) techniques and combining them with new possibilities of use, Studio Formafantasma makes suggestions for an alternative, democratic design method: what they offer is a kind of manual for getting to create yourself.
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