Swiss designer Fabienne Felder has worked with University of Cambridge scientists Paolo Bombelli and Ross Dennis to develop a way of using plants as “biological solar panels”.
“Theoretically any photosynthesising plant could be used as a biological solar panel”, said the team, which has developed what it calls Photo Microbial Fuel Cells (Photo-MFCs) to capture and harness the electrical power of plants.
The team has prototyped the world’s first moss-powered radio to illustrate the potential of its Photo-MFCs. Moss was chosen because its photosynthetic process makes the plants particularly efficient at generating electricity.
The radio is the first time Photo-MFCs have been used to run an object demanding more power than an LCD screen.
The Photo-MFCs consist of an anode where the electrons generated by photosynthesis are collected, a cathode where the electrons are finally consumed, and an external circuit connecting the anode to the cathode.
The moss grows on top of a composite of water-retaining materials, conductive materials, and biological matter.
The team has high hopes for the potential of this emergent technology. “We may assume that in five to ten years the technology is applicable in a commercially viable form,” they said. Currently the technology used in the radio can only capture about 0.1% of the electrons the mosses produce.
Felder compares the technology behind biological solar panels to the very early days of experiments with photovoltaics. “Biological solar panels will go through a similar development phase: determining optimal conductive materials; the right plants; and watering and maintenance systems that guarantee stable flow of electricity”, she explained.
“Finding the right plants will be a study in itself,” said Felder. “Mosses are extremely desiccation resistant, but they don’t like direct sunlight. Other plants, which might also fulfil certain criteria in their photosynthetic process to be considered efficient photo-active components, might struggle in colder weather. So the right mix of vegetation will be the solution.”
Rice paddy fields may also provide good environments for biological solar panels because of the large amount of water used in their cultivation, she added.
Here’s some more information from the team:
Moss FM
Moss FM is the World’s first plant-powered radio.
This is made possible thanks to Photo Microbial Fuel Cells (Photo-MFCs), which harness and convert electrons produced by plants during photosynthesis. Moss tufts are essentially used as biological solar panels in this emerging biophilic technology.
The radio was conceived and built by Fabienne Felder, a creative strategist and designer originally from Switzerland, in collaboration with the biochemist Dr. Paolo Bombelli and plant scientist Ross Dennis of the University of Cambridge.
Background
Dr. Bombelli has been working on Photo-MFCs for years – ever since he was inspired by a single sentence in a biochemistry textbook. These studies are now housed at the University of Cambridge and Dr. Bombelli is leading the research as a senior research associate in Prof. Chris Howe’s team.
In 2011, a collaboration with two designers, Alex Driver and Carlos Peralta, led to the first conceptual piece to showcase the technology, entitled the Moss Table.
It was also the Moss Table that first got Fabienne Felder interested and she was soon hooked, immersing herself in papers and reports published by Dr. Bombelli and his colleagues. As fate would have it, the two eventually met and Fabienne Felder presented another futuristic scenario in which Photo-MFCs might be applied. Dr. Bombelli needed convincing of the idea that aircraft cabins might one day be moss- clad, but being a scientist, the research eventually won him over and he was keen to get another collaboration started.
From aircraft to air time
The team initially began working on the premise of creating a mossy electricity- generating surface, which might indeed be used to cover aircraft cabins or other spaces in the future. A number of factors eventually shifted the focus of the project to trying to conceive an every-day object that would work today, not in 10 years’ time.
The very thing that motivated the collaborators also kept posing the biggest challenge: feasibility. It was the first time this technology was supposed to work in an object that was not as low-powered as something like an LCD screen. Flexibility was required of the designer, who wanted to respect scientific requirements, and the scientist, who sometimes had to ditch logic for reality. The result is a radio that certainly causes intrigue.
Design and performance
Whereas theoretically any photosynthesising plant could be used as a biological solar panel, the genus of bryophytes can operate as potentially better photo-active components in Photo-MFCs due to particularities in their photosynthetic process. Simultaneously, mosses also quite simply deserve good press and are consciously promoted by the team for their incredible uses and undervalued beauty. Many of those properties are explained on the project blog mosspower.tumblr.com  Moss FM consists of ten Photo-MFCs, which are embedded in a minimalist design taking strong visual cues from the world of biochemistry. They can be connected in series, parallel, or a combination thereof, depending on the performance of each cell. Gadgets such as LCD screens can run continuously connected directly to the circuit, whereas higher consumption objects are bridged via a capacitor or battery solely charged by the Photo-MFCs.
At the moment we can achieve the following electrical output: The current radio run time via a re-chargeable battery lasts a few minutes.
A serial circuit consisting of 5 Photo-MFCs has reached a peak power of ca. 3.5mW per square meter (2.9mA @ 1200mV). A parallel circuit consisting of 5 Photo-MFCs has reached a peak power of ca. 4.6mW per square meter (18.7mA @ 246mV).
What does it all mean?
As with every emerging technology, many questions are as yet unanswered. We may assume that in five to ten years the technology is applicable in a commercially viable form, mainly in emerging economies. But to give an idea of what kind of contributions this low-carbon technology could make, consider this:
If 25% of Londoners (ca. 2.7 million people) charged their mobile phone on average for 2 hours every other day with moss, we would save enough electricity to power a small town: 42.5 million kWh, amounting to a saving of £6.81 Million and 39632 Tons of CO2* a year.
These are interesting values, given the huge amounts of electricity that are wasted during generation and transmission, for example. And even more interesting, if we consider that at the moment we capture only about 0.1% of the electrons the mosses potentially produce.  *Figures based on input and output values of a Nokia charger consuming 180mA @240V, 2012 N-Power electricity rates, and 2013 UK electricity consumption figures.
Weighing just 800 grams, the chair is handmade from party balloons filled with compressed air. The balloons are then wrapped in strips of carbon fibre and hardened with epoxy resin.
The netting for the seat is made from a grid of carbon fibre that is also hardened with resin.
“[The Carbon Balloon Chair] was conceived by Marcel as a challenge to all designers to create the world’s lightest chair,” said the studio. “Working with carbon is favoured by Marcel for its weight minimization possibilities. The chair requires fewer materials, generates less waste and is highly durable.”
The balloons are clearly visible in the design, which is reminiscent of the designer’s breakthrough Knotted Chair, for which Wanders used epoxy resin to harden macramé thread used for the frame.
The Knotted Chair was a lightweight design, also hardened with resin, that marked Wanders’ international breakthrough in 1996
Marcel Wanders: Pinned Up at the Stedelijk comprises a collection of Wanders’ work from the late 1980s to the present day. More than 400 objects are on display in the museum’s new lower-level gallery space, including furniture, lamps, cutlery, wallpaper, packaging and jewellery. The show will run until 15 June 2014.
Chilean studio MAPA referenced local vernacular building techniques by placing two sheds within a larger one for this family house in the forests of the Andes mountains in Chile (+ slideshow).
When MAPA received the commission to create a family house in the El Buchén area of the Andes mountains the studio looked at the construction of timber sheds built nearby.
In most of these simple structures the roof is constructed first and then the interiors are built as separate units within the weatherproofed shed.
Having decided that their building would also follow this approach, the architects decided to build two free-standing separate volumes within the larger shed.
“We chose to build two smaller sheds inside the larger one, which grouped the bedrooms on one hand and the bathrooms on the other. These differ in colour and materiality from the rest of the construction,” said Cristian Larrain of MAPA.
This allows each room to meet different temperature requirements according to what it will be used for, and there are three different types of space throughout the building’s interior.
The first of these is the vestibule space, which sits between the point in the roof where the two gables meet. This can be used as a terrace in the summer, allowing cross ventilation through open doors on each side, and in the winter it can be used as an enclosed hall.
The common living, dining and kitchen area takes up the whole of one side of the building and is a mid-temperature space. Unlike its mirror on the other side of the vestibule, the living area has exposed roof trusses and an unlined soffit.
The warmest parts of the house are the bedrooms and bathrooms, located within the two interior sheds.
The position of trees nearby and the dimensions of the forest clearing the building sits in defined the length, width and height of the structure.
Photography is by the architects.
Here’s a project description from MAPA:
MR House by Mapa
The commission consisted of the construction of a shelter for a family that will house two large areas. In the first, the space around the fire and the kitchen to be constituted as a module without divisions, with the fireplace, wood stove and a play room. And in the second, a module for the bedrooms and bathrooms.
Site
The project is located in the forests of the Andes, in a place called “El Buchen”, in the region of Maule, Chile. It is a place of ancient trees and difficult access. The project is located in a forest clearing in order to avoid interfering with existing trees, an element that defines the length, width and height of the volume.
Habitability
From the commission of building a shed arises the problem of how to inhabit it, understanding that it is a single undivided space. We propose the construction of spaces differentiated by lower volumes containing the various program requirements, which in turn are able to differentiate the temperatures necessary to inhabit them, obtaining different areas that are climatically controlled.
This led to three types of spaces: » Vestibule space, mediating between interior/exterior. It can be used as a terrace in the summer, opening its doors and allowing cross ventilation. It can also be used as a hall in winter, behaving as the first barrier of climate control. » Common area, living/dining/kitchen, which takes advantage of the full height of the building, establishing itself as a mid temperature space. » Private space, bedrooms and bathrooms. With low ceilings and openings controlled by their orientation, in order to achieve thermal comfort.
Form/Sheds
The study of forms arose from the observation of wood sheds in the area, which yielded as a result the following set of rules: » The idea of working with closed volumes, without eaves and with controlled openings, wherein the roof is constructed first to protect from the weather, and then the interiors are built. » One form within another. As a result of building the roof as the first action, the idea arose of organising the program through smaller volumes within the overall volume. For this, we chose to build two smaller sheds inside the larger one, which grouped the bedrooms on one hand and the bathrooms on the other. These differ in colour and materiality from the rest of the construction.
Huge round cushions in shades of mustard yellow and cornflower blue add colour to the pale concrete and timber interior of this kindergarten in western Austria by local studio Bernardo Bader Architects (+ slideshow).
Bernardo Bader Architects designed Kindergarten Susi Weigel for the small mountain town of Bludenz and named it after the late children’s book writer and illustrator Susi Weigel, who lived and worked locally until her death in 1990.
The two-storey building has a raw concrete structure, which is left exposed in parts of the interior. The architects sourced local fir to clad the outer walls and used acacia wood to line interior surfaces.
The entrance to the kindergarten sits within a wide recess at the northern corner of the building, leading into a central lobby where children can hang up their coats and bags.
A row of glass doors forms a second entrance to this space, leading out to a playground lawn at the side of the building, while a wooden staircase provides a clear route up to the first floor.
Spaces are divided up into different zones to create five classes. There are two on the ground floor and three upstairs, each with their own storages areas and toilets.
The ground floor also features a sub-dividable space that functions as a canteen or group activity area, as well as a small office and meeting room.
Glass doors create visibility through the building and are embellished with illustrations from Weigel’s books.
Architects including Zaha Hadid, David Chipperfield and John Pawson, and designers such as Tracey Neuls, BarberOsgerby and Konstantin Grcic have been named on the shortlist for 2014’s best design, which encompasses the categories of architecture, product, furniture, fashion, graphic, digital and transport.
All 76 projects will be shown in an exhibition at the Design Museum from 26 March to 25 August 2013, and winners from each category and one overall winner will be announced later in the year.
Here’s the full list of nominated projects from the Design Museum:
Architecture
Child Chemo House, Osaka – designed by Tezuka Architects, Takaharu & Yui Tezuka A place where children undergoing chemotherapy treatment can live with their families, Child Chemo House aims to facilitate an ordinary lifestyle in a beautiful, calm space.
Façade for Paul Smith, London – designed by 6a Architects The cast iron used for this facade references London street furniture and creates a sharp contrast to the neighbouring Georgian townhouses. A sinuous pattern of interlocking circles puts an abstract spin on a classic Regency shape, while curved windows nod to the glass in nearby arcades.
FRAC Centre, Les Turbulences, Orléans – designed by Jakob + MacFarlane Conceived by the architects as both a landscape and a topographic surface, this faceted pavilion of concrete and aluminium conveys a perpetual flow of digital information. Volume, light and image fuse together to create a dynamic form of architecture that communicates, reveals, provokes, stimulates and informs.
Heydar Aliyev Center, Baku, Azerbaijan – designed by Zaha Hadid and Patrik Schumacher Elaborate undulations, bifurcations, folds and inflections modify this plaza surface into an architectural landscape that performs a multitude of functions. The building blurs the conventional distinctions between architectural object and urban landscape, building envelope and urban plaza, interior and exterior.
La Tallera Siqueiros, Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico – designed by Frida Escobedo Originally conceived as a muralist workshop, the home and studio of Mexican artist David Alfaro Siqueiros is transformed into a new museum and cultural centre. Siqueiros’s huge murals are repositioned to create an open courtyard, and a geometric concrete grid composed of triangles clads parts of the museum, blurring the boundaries between interior and exterior space.
Makoko Floating School, Nigeria – designed by NLÉ, Makoko Community Building Team A prototype floating structure, built for the historic water community of Makoko, Nigeria. The school takes an innovative, cheap and sustainable approach to address the community’s specific social and physical needs.
Mont de Marsan Mediatheque – designed by archi5 Standing in an austere military quadrangle drill yard, the Media Library is an uplifting cultural symbol. Designed as a covered cultural square, its transparent planes generously open to the view of the public.
Museo Jumex, Mexico City – designed by David Chipperfield Making full use of a difficult triangular site this elegant new museum is clad in locally-mined travertine stone, and features a distinctive saw-tooth roof which floods the top floor gallery with natural light.
Newhall Be, Harlow, Essex – designed by Alison Brooks Architects This 84-unit scheme in Harlow, Essex integrates a mix of new and familiar house typologies, prefabricated timber construction and a highly efficient masterplan to maximise living space and flexibility for individual homes. The scheme challenges the presupposition by housebuilders that we want very traditional looking houses.
Praça das Artes Performing Arts Centre, São Paulo – designed by Brasil Arquitetura A new complex, in an area that has suffered from economic decline for decades, Praça das Artes incorporates historic buildings alongside new volumes built in exposed concrete and coloured with red pigments. Sheer walls guarantee flexibility of the internal spaces and unobstructed external spaces, while outside there are generous open spaces and new public passageways.
St Moritz Church, Augsburg, Germany, Interior renovation – designed by John Pawson Taking in aesthetic, functional and liturgical perspectives, the renovation saw the painstaking paring away of selected elements to achieve a clearer visual field, drawing the eye to the apse ‘the threshold to transcendence’ which is designed as a room of light.
The New Crematorium at the Woodland Cemetery, Stockholm – designed by Johan Celsing Built on an undulating terrain in a wild wood section of the Woodland Cemetery, the New Crematorium features exposed white concrete and white glazed bricks in a building which is at once robust and sensitive.
Wa Shan Guesthouse, Hangzhou, China – designed by Wang Shu Pritzker Prize-winner Wang Shu’s guesthouse and reception centre draws on the traditions of the China Academy of Art and the city of Hangzhou itself. The new building is one of 22 designed by the architect on the Academy’s Xiangshan Campus.
Aerosee – designed by Paul Egglestone, Dr Darren Ansell, Dan Etherington, Patterdale Mountain Rescue A crowd-sourced search and rescue drone designed to save lives in the Lake District mountains. AeroSee’s contribution to search and rescue operations comes directly from members of the public who can become ‘virtual search agents’ – joining live operations from their desktop computers, tablet devices and mobiles.
Citymapper – designed by Azmat Yusuf, Gilbert Wedam, Joe Hughes, Nicholas Skehin, Emil Vaughan Describing itself as the ultimate transport app, Citymapper aims to make the world’s most complicated cities easier to use with A to B journey planning that includes everything from cost to calorie burning.
Generations – designed by One Life Remains A mobile gaming app designed to be deployed over many centuries – unlike a conventional video game, it is impossible to finish a game of Generations in your lifetime. The player decides to whom the game will be passed on and if one day they want someone to be able to reach the top of the level. Generations questions the inevitability of death, the meaning of legacy and the nature of progress.
Hello Lamp Post – designed by Pan Studio Hello Lamp Post is a playful SMS platform, inviting people to strike up conversations with familiar street furniture using the text message function of their mobile phones. The project launched in Bristol during the summer of 2013. Thousands of residents and visitors shared their thoughts and stories with the streetlights, parking meters, bridges and boats of the city, sending over 25,000 text messages in just eight weeks.
Lego Calendar – designed by Adrian Westaway, Clara Gaggero, Duncan Fitzsimons, Simon Emberton The Lego calendar is a wall mounted time planner invented for a studio, with colour coded bricks representing time spent on projects. The calendar is made entirely of Lego, but when you take a photo of it with a smartphone all of the events and timings are synchronised to an online calendar.
Metro Trains – Dumb Ways to Die – designed by McCann Melbourne A song, a book, a smartphone game, interactive outdoor posters, radio advertising and tumblr GIFs – all designed to get young people to care about safety. Dumb Ways to Die uses black humour to make the point that there are many dumb ways to die, but perhaps the dumbest is doing silly things around trains – in the process it has become an internet phenomenon and Kate Moss’ favourite app.
Oculus Rift – designed by Oculus VR The Oculus Rift is a ground-breaking virtual reality headset for immersive gaming. It is being developed by Oculus VR, who launched a highly successful Kickstarter campaign to help fund its development.
Peek (Portable Eye Examination Kit) – designed by Dr Andrew Bastawrous, Stewart Jordan, Dr Mario Giardini, Dr Iain Livingstone A tool with the potential to revolutionise the prevention of blindness in low-income countries, Peek is a smartphone-based system for comprehensive eye examinations. It is easy to use, affordable and portable, meaning that it can bring eye care to even the remotest of settings.
Public Lab Foldable Mini-Spectrometer – designed by Public Lab contributors 2011-13 The Public Lab Foldable Mini-Spectrometer folds up in minutes to transform your smartphone into a visible and near-infrared spectrometer. Developed after the BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, it is part of an ongoing effort by the Public Lab collaborative community to make analysis of pollutants such as crude oil cheaper and more accessible.
Sidekick Creatives – Crowdfunding Great Art & Design – designed by Oscar Lhermitte, Philipp Figueroa, Yoav Reches, Arne Zacher, Molly Anderson, Tommaso Lanza Sidekick Creatives is a collective set up to support individuals and companies to realise their crowdfunding campaigns. Sidekick Creatives collaborates with fellow designers, artists and makers by offering them the necessary tools and expertise required to successfully fund their projects. Their services range from conceptualisation to video production and campaign promotion.
Touch Board: Interactivity Everywhere – designed by Bare Conductive The Touch Board is a way to turn almost any surface or material into an interface – light switches painted on walls, interactive books or hidden sensors that can detect a person from up to 20cm away. Connect any conductive material to one of its 12 electrodes and you can trigger a sound or other event through touch or proximity. The Touch Board is a pre-programmed, open source platform designed all levels of expertise.
DAS Collection – designed by Reem and Hind Beljafla A Dubai-based fashion label founded by two Emirati sisters, DAS Collection was the first abaya (a garment covering the whole body except the face, feet, and hands) brand to be stocked at Harrods. The designers set out to update the abaya, making it a fashion statement whilst always respecting its heritage and traditions.
PRADA S/S14 – designed by Miuccia Prada Pop-art prints meet sporty details and structured shapes in this boldly coloured, powerful collection. Vogue said of the show “By next summer we’ll wonder what we ever wore before.”
Rick Owens S/S14 Show Presentation – designed by Rick Owens Rick Owens presented his collection with teams of female step-dance crews, all of whom the designer discovered on YouTube. They modelled Owens’s clothes in an entirely new way and their sensational performance brought a freshness and diversity to the Paris runway.
The Hinterland of Ronaldo Fraga – designed by Ronaldo Fraga The signature of the caatinga, the natural scuffing of the cattle that the market considers a defect, becomes a sign of sophistication in this collection from the Brazilian designer.
‘Totemic’ Collection by Sadie Williams – designed by Sadie Williams A collection of dresses in stiff 3D embossed textiles created by a multi-step, multi-layered process developed by the designer. Inspired by the graphic masculine print arrangement found in biker clothing, helmets and satin racing vests, the high-impact textiles are balanced with elegant A-line silhouettes.
Tracey Neuls BIKE GEEK – designed by Tracey Neuls BIKE GEEK is a hybrid of a dress shoe and a casual shoe with the performance of sportswear. It is designed to be simple, easy and suitable for all occasions. The sole is a hard wearing, one piece, rubber unit which gives shock absorption and endures many walking or biking miles, and a reflective half moon ‘cat eye’ tab makes the wearer safely visible at night.
Furniture
Bodleian Library Chair – designed by Barber & Osgerby The three-legged oak chair balances a strong sense of craft heritage with sculptural form and the needs of readers. A strong vertical timber, echoing the spines of books on shelves, forms one of the three legs that attaches to the sled base. Strong but remarkably light, it is only the third new chair developed specifically for the Bodleian since 1756.
Iro – Jo Nagasaka for Established and Sons Named after the Japanese word for colour, Iro is a family of vibrant yet elegant furniture which remains true to Nagasaka’s minimalistic style, whilst making bold use of brightly coloured resin. The smooth finishing highlights the natural grain of the wood enclosed within the resin.
Pro Chair Family – designed by Konstantin Grcic The Pro chair which Konstantin Grcic has developed for Flötotto features state-of-the-art ergonomics and pioneering design. The construction of the chair not only allows movement in all directions, but actively stimulates it thereby promoting healthier sitting.
Ripple, an ultra light timber table – designed by Benjamin Hubert Ripple is a 2.4 metre-long dining table constructed from corrugated Sitka spruce plywood. The rippled construction allows for a very high strength to weight ratio whilst still utilising a natural material. In reducing the amount of timber used the table’s carbon footprint is decreased and it can be easily assembled and manoeuvred.
‘Simple’ exhibition at ProjectB Gallery, Milan – designed by Philippe Malouin The works displayed for the ‘simple’ exhibition span two years of design and experimentation around the theme of simplicity. Timber slats, positioned in the right rhythm and proportions create benches, a table, a library. A Simple chair, exhibiting modest geometry and simple boxes, bookends and a lamp are composed of a readily available and humble material such as MDF.
A Magazine curated by Stephen Jones – designed by Stephen Jones Stephen Jones dedicated his issue of this cult fashion magazine to Anna Piaggi and the art of illustration. It featured a centrefold with Dita Von Teese by David Downton, the designs of Zaha Hadid, Raf Simons and Ron Arad, and fashion illustration from Gladys Perint Palmer, Howard Tangye, Barbara Hulanicki and Tony Viramontes.
ArtDirectorsClub: Art Directors Annual 91 – designed by Rami Niemi (Illustrator), Joao Unzer (Art Director), Juan Carlos Pagan and Brian Gartside (Graphic Designers) Illustrations for the Art Directors Annual 91 – the best-selling international review of the year’s most innovative works in visual communication.
Building Stories – designed by Chris Ware A ground-breaking graphic novel from American comic book artist and cartoonist Chris Ware, Building Stories follows the inhabitants of a three-flat Chicago apartment house. Taking the form of a boxed set, it consists of fourteen distinct printed works—cloth-bound books, newspapers, broadsheets and flip books.
Castledown Primary School Type Family – designed by Anthony Sheret, Edd Harrington, Rupert Dunk Originally commissioned in 2011 as a bespoke typeface for Castledown Primary School by headmaster Neil Small, the project soon evolved into collaboration with a vision to unify typography throughout UK primary schools. Creating a dyslexic friendly package that allows for use in every aspect of educational life – from letters the school would send to parents to a Cursive version that children would use to learn joined-up handwriting.
Chineasy – created by ShaoLan Hsueh with Illustrations by Noma Bar Chineasy is an illustrated Chinese language methodology created by entrepreneur and author ShaoLan Hsueh. Chineasy’s aim is to bridge the gap between the East and the West. The system is built on a building block methodology which allows students to learn a small number of commonly occurring characters, which can then be combined to create more complex compounds and couplets. These illustrated and animated characters aim to provide both a memorable interpretation of Chinese and also a glimpse into the culture behind the language.
Creation and realisation of the visual identity and the signage system of the FRAC Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur – designed by Jean-Marie Courant, Marie Proyart, Olivier Vadrot The creation of this identity and signage system is very much routed in the architecture of the building. It uses two typefaces and a white-to-grey palette with some uses of red. Different circles were designed to symbolise the different actions of the Frac.
Drone Shadows – designed by James Bridle / booktwo.org The Drone Shadows are a series of installations consisting of a 1:1 outline of a military unmanned aerial vehicle, or Drone. They have appeared in the UK, Turkey, the USA, Brazil and elsewhere.
Escuyer Undergarment Brand Identity – designed by Modern Practice Modern Practice created a visual solution based on the heraldic system for this men’s undergarment brand. This typographic reinterpretation of heraldry is not only strongly linked to the brand’s name (which derives from the old French word for ‘Esquire’), it also conveys the brand’s world.
Grand Central – designed by Thibault Brevet Grand-Central is an open internet platform that lets people express themselves freely through a tangible output device. Users can submit text via their smartphones which is then ‘written’ in marker pen by a mechanical printer – creating a physical embodiment of a digital message.
M to M of M/M (Paris) – designed by Graphic Thought Facility A large-format 528-page book surveying the work of French graphic design duo Michael Amzalag and Mathias Augustiniak. The alphabet, a re-occuring theme in MM’s work, provided an appropriate way to organise the projects and interviews. Like the cutting and re-stacking of a pack of cards, the pages are re-arranged so that the letter M opens and closes the book.
Serpentine Galleries identity – created by Marina Willer in collaboration with Brian Boylan Willer’s team created a new identity for the Serpentine Galleries to express a spirit of openness. The logo acts as an aperture, opening for different content and different ideas in an ever-changing way, and also as a bridge – echoing the actual bridge over the Serpentine that links the two Galleries in Hyde Park. The team created the graphic language, imagery, colour palette and all other brand elements. Pentagram’s Daniel Weil worked with Willer to create the signage system for the Galleries both externally and internally.
The Gourmand – a food and cultural journal – created by David Lane (Creative Director), Marina Tweed & David Lane (Founders/Editors-in-chief) The Gourmand is a food, arts and culture journal, printed bi-annually. It prides itself on high production values – combining exquisite printing with a variety of materials, more akin to book publishing than traditional magazines. All of the content is specially commissioned with submissions from well respected writers, photographers and illustrators as well as up and coming talent.
Whitney Museum Identity – designed by Experimental Jetset and the Whitney Museum Called the ‘Responsive W’ by its designers this graphic identity specifically references the museum’s name, while also communicating openness and representing a non-linear approach to art. The apparently simple ‘W’ has a huge number of variations and potential applications.
Works That Work, a magazine of unexpected creativity – designed by Atelier Carvalho Bernau Works That Work is an international magazine, covering a mix of diverse subjects connected by the theme of unexpected creativity that improves our lives. It features original, in-depth essays and stories on subjects connected with design, presenting projects that challenge and change the way the reader perceives them.
Product
75 Watt – created by Revital Cohen and Tuur Van Balen (Artists), Alexander Whitley (Choreography) and Siya Chen (Film production) In 75 Watt, a product is designed especially to be made in China. The object’s only function is to choreograph a dance performed by the labourers manufacturing it. The project seeks to explore the nature of mass- manufacturing products on various scales; from the geo-political context of hyper-fragmented labour to the bio-political condition of the human body on the assembly line.
ABC Syringe: A behaviour changing syringe – designed by Dr David Swann The ABC Syringe is a frugal innovation to combat the prolific use of non-sterile syringes. The syringe remains colourless when stored inside a sterile pack. However exposure to air triggers a controlled colour change that transforms the syringe barrel from colourless to red within a few minutes. This visual transformation alerts and empowers both literate and illiterate patients to make better risk decisions, and provokes doctors into clinical compliance.
Alba Collection of Vases – designed by Massimiliano Adami A collection of vases in archetypal forms enriched with a soft colour change, giving the object an unusual lightness. The effect drives rotational moulding technology to reach a new aesthetic potential.
Bloom Helmet – designed by Tokyo Safety Strong enough to protect against falling debris the Bloom helmet can also be folded down, making it easily transportable. When in its closed position a cord attached to the back of the protective gear can be pulled-outward, expanding the adaptable panels into a concave form.
Chair 4 Life – designed by Bruce Renfrew, James Williamson, Shaun Phillips, David Fawkes, Ken Poberezny, Minghao Zhou, Michael Phillips ‘See the Child, Not the chair’ was the motivation behind this modular wheelchair system which grows with the child and allows later modifications through a standard catalogue of attachments and bespoke components. It centres on a standard chassis which is retained throughout a child’s journey, greatly reducing disruption to their lives caused by lengthy waiting times for new chair systems.
Clever Caps – designed by Claudio Patrick Vollers (Co-inventor & Designer) and Henry Suzuki (Co-inventor) Clever Caps are bottle caps which also work as building blocks. They can be collected and used on their own, but are also compatible with the world’s most popular building blocks. In this first commercial version, they were designed to fit PCO 1881 standard bottle necks, and include a tamper evident safety seal.
Fairphone – designed by Bas van Abel Fairphone is a social enterprise that uncovers complex systems with the aim of changing how things are made. The Fairphone is made as fairly as possible. Its transparent supply chain looks at every mineral, component, person and process to reveal the real impact of electronics production.
Formlabs Form 1 High-Resolution Desktop 3D Printer – designed by Formlabs Inc. The Form 1 is a high-resolution desktop 3D printer. It uses reversed stereolithography technology to create highly-detailed models, using a light-sensitive liquid resin and a focused laser beam. The Form 1 combines simple, intuitive design with ground-breaking technology, in a union that is at once striking and accessible.
GoPro Hero 3 Black – designed by GoPro The GoPro Hero 3 Black makes producing professional quality video easy and affordable, allowing amateur film makers to achieve unprecedented results.
Luffa Lab – designed by Mauricio Affonso Luffa Lab explores the inherent qualities of Luffa fibres as an alternative to synthetic materials for a wide range of applications and durable consumer products. ‘Luffa cylindrica’ is antimicrobial, biodegradable, lightweight and highly absorbent – features that make it a viable material for applications such as low cost splints or as acoustic insulator, it can also be used as absorber of toxic dye waste from denim processes.
Lunaire – designed by Ferréol Babin Lunaire is a wall lamp with a surprising light effect, reminiscent of the phenomenon produced by eclipses. A smaller front disc containing the light source is set inside a large concave aluminum diffuser. Two different effects are possible depending on how the small disc is positioned with respect to the diffuser: back lighting when the front disc is closed, or from inside the diffuser when the disc is pulled forward.
Nest Protect: Smoke + carbon monoxide alarm – designed by Nest Nest set out to transform people’s feelings about their smoke alarms from one of dislike to trust and even enjoyment. This alarm has several features: it integrates with mobile devices and sends a message if the batteries run low; it shows you its sensors and batteries are working with a green glow; its LED lights act as a night light; and false alarms can be stopped with a wave of the hand.
Pet Lamp – designed by Alvaro Catalan De Ocon Hand woven from strips of discarded plastic bottles, each lamp is a durable object which combines one of the planet’s most industrial products with one of the most down to earth artisanal techniques found in every culture.
Phonebloks – designed by Dave Hakkens Every year millions of mobile phones are thrown away because just one part is broken. This mobile phone consists of separate components that can be ‘clicked’ together. Every component has its own function – WiFi, battery, display – and when an upgrade or repair is needed only that part is affected. The phone can also be customised for specific functions.
Plume Mudguard – designed by Patrick Laing & Dan McMahon Plume is a recoiling bicycle mudguard which maintains a thin, sleek profile when protecting the rider’s back; when not needed it recoils into a tight circle under the saddle. Plume can be pulled out and recoiled while riding and is constructed from resilient materials.
Risk Centre – designed by Onkar Kular & Inigo Minns Over the course of three months, the Risk Centre transformed the Arkitekturmuseet, Stockholm into a risk assessment facility and educational performance space. Part film set, part educational facility and part theme park, the centre recreated familiar scenes and places from the suburbs and the inner city that were then used to host a civic programme for local school groups and the general public.
Silk Pavilion – designed by Mediated Matter Group at the MIT Media Lab The Silk Pavilion explores the relationship between digital and biological fabrication on both product and architectural scales. The primary structure was created of 26 polygonal panels made of silk threads laid down by a CNC machine. 6,500 silkworms were then released on to the structure where they worked as biological ‘printers’ spinning as they moved across the panels.
String Lights – designed by Michael Anastassiades Inspired by perfectly parallel strings connecting pylons and the strings of lights used to mark outdoor spaces, these simple lights can be suspended in multiple configurations to create striking shapes.
The Alchemist’s Dressing Table – designed by Lauren Davies A collection of analog tools for the production of natural cosmetics at home, inspired by ancient rituals and the transformative powers of alchemy. The palette of copper and maple wood are chosen for their traditional and folkloric symbolism respectively. Cork is used for its insulating properties, borosilicate glass for its heat resistance and stainless steel for strength. All components are fabricated in collaboration with London-based craftsmen.
The Bradley Timepiece – designed by Hyungsoo Kim, Nick Gu, David Zacher, Amanda Sim, Maeve Jopson, Cynthia Poon The Bradley is a tactile timepiece that allows users to not only see what time it is, but to feel what time it is. Created in collaboration with product designers, engineers, and people with vision loss, The Bradley changes the way users interact with their timepieces. It is named after Bradley Snyder who lost his vision completely in Afghanistan in 2011 serving as a bomb defuser and went on to win two gold medals and one silver in Paralympics in London in 2012.
The Seaboard Grand – designed by Roland Lamb and Hong-Yeul Eom The Seaboard is a reinvention of the piano keyboard, re-imagining the keys as soft waves that enable continuous and discrete real-time, tactile control of sound through three-dimensional hand gestures. The design combines contemporary minimalism and traditional handcrafted quality.
A Journey Redefined – designed by A2B The A2B hybrid electric bike range is the result of the engineering innovation and loving attention to detail.
IFmove Bicycle – designed by Section Zero Pacific Inc’s 9-speed, 11.5kg IFmove unfolds in seconds and combines striking looks with rigid aluminium construction. It can also be rolled along on its 20” light weight wheels whilst folded.
ME.WE: Forward-Thinking Car – designed by Massaud & Toyota ED2 ME.WE’s philosophy combines flexible geometry, a customisable look and environmental responsibility. It features an aluminium tubular structure, expanded polypropylene panels, electric power wheels, and a bamboo interior.
Single Seat Alright – designed by e-Go e-Go aeroplanes has created this striking new single seat aircraft, which costs dramatically less to fly than traditional aircraft. It uses novel technologies to boost performance, and achieves a low cost of development and operation by exploiting the newly deregulated environment in the UK. Very lightweight but strong construction is achieved using ultra-thin carbon fibre and foam – the empty aircraft weights just 115kg.
London studio Hayhurst and Co. used pale white larch to wrap walls and furnishings both inside and outside this beach house-inspired extension to a family residence in Hampstead, north London.
Hayhurst & Co. added the two-storey extension to the rear of a four-storey Victorian property that had previously been converted into a pair of maisonettes. Named Hampstead Beach House, it replaces an older brickwork extension to provide extra rooms for the downstairs residence.
“Our clients wanted to reconfigure their home over the ground and first floors of the property to enable a better use of space for them and their young children,” explained architect Nick Hayhurst.
The white-stained larch cladding covers the garden-facing elevation of the new structure. Window shutters are fronted with the same material, allowing them to camouflage with the wall, and a pair of large glass doors open the interior out to the garden.
A large family kitchen and dining room takes up the ground floor of the extension and features a tiled concrete floor that extends beyond the exterior wall to create a new patio in the garden.
Hayhurst describes this feature as “a rug” that “pulls the organisation of the internal and external areas together”.
This concept is reinforced by the addition of larch benches and planters along the edge of the garden, which form a continuation of the larch-fronted cupboards that run along the edge of the kitchen.
A new double-height study was slotted into a space in the central section of the house. Lined internally with plywood, it benefits from a skylight overhead and can be closed off from the kitchen to provide a private workspace.
New spaces on the first floor allowed the addition of a second bathroom and an extra bedroom.
Here’s a project description from Hayhurst and Co:
Hampstead Beach House
Hayhurst and Co. have extended and reorganised a house in north London to create a series of bright, well-connected spaces with new windows and light natural material finishes.
For the design and reconfiguration of this ground and first floor property in Hampstead, north London, Hayhurst and Co. started with the placement of a clear, clutter-free new space in the centre of the plan; like a rug in the middle of a room around which furniture and activities are organised. This rug – the tiled surface – extends to the outside and pulls the organisation of the internal and external areas together.
A white-stained larch cladding wraps around the inside and outside of the spaces to form seats, planting beds, storage areas and the kitchen units similar to the way that furniture is arranged around the perimeter of the rug in a traditional cellular room. The cladding extends to form the rear elevation of the extension and includes openings for windows with larch-clad shutters.
The reconfigured maisonette created a new kitchen, dining area, space for an armchair and has a ply-lined study in the middle of the plan lit from a skylight that can be closed off from the rest of the living areas to provide a private workspace.
Originally built as a single Victorian house, this four-storey property just south of Hampstead Heath had been converted into a pair of two-storey maisonettes in the 1970s and the lower floors extended to create extra space. These extensions created a series of dark, cellular spaces with little sense of fluidity between the existing rooms or connection to the garden.
Our clients wanted to reconfigure their home over the ground and first floors of the property to enable a better use of space for them and their young children. This involved creating a new, family-size kitchen to the ground floor with a direct relationship to the garden and rearranging the first floor spaces to provide a second bathroom and guest bedroom.
The property is located within a conservation area in the London Borough of Camden and is a typical example of Victorian terrace housing where the street frontage has retained its original character whilst the rear of the properties have undergone extension, alteration and adaption over time to suit the individual needs and demands of their occupants.
Our alterations to the property provided only 7m2 of new floor area – infilling the remaining return to the ground floor – but allowed the rear of the property to be opened up into a practical, full-width space without any significant loss to the rear garden. The alterations also included a separate study and created an additional bedroom to the first floor.
Dezeen Music Project: Katia Mezentseva used time-lapse photography to capture the process of flowers and pine cones drying out to make this music video for Russian artist Cetranger.
Mezentseva soaked the plants in a salt water solution and, with the help of her husband Maxim Mezentseva, took a photo every minute over a 24 hour period as they dried out.
The flowers in the video shrivel and lose their colour as the moisture within them is sucked out, while the pine cones open up to release their seeds as white salt crystals form on their surface like frost.
By highlighting the range of movement in these apparently dead objects, Mezentseva wanted to draw attention to how life persists in the natural world.
“I wanted to show that everything is alive in our world,” Mezentseva told Dezeen. “Perhaps it is not noticeable at first view, however if you look closely and observe longer, you can see life even in a small pine cone you find under your foot.”
Dutch firm Unknown Architects has modernised a small seventeenth-century house by adding a large wooden structure that incorporates a staircase, storage facilities and sofa (+ slideshow).
Unknown Architects was careful to restore some of the 200-year-old building’s character and spatial simplicity by removing the non-original partitioned walls and suspended ceilings.
Located in the Dutch city of Leiden, the house’s ceilings were purposefully left uncovered to contrast with the more modern plastered walls and bamboo furniture in the rest of the property.
Working with a limited space, the architects designed a bamboo staircase that merges into a fixed sofa with integrated storage space, similar to the design of a ship’s cabin.
The sofa also acts as a pull-out guest bed, providing views of the garden through floor-to-ceiling glass doors at the back of the building.
Keeping to their client’s preference that the kitchen was the hub of the home, Unknown Architects combined it with the living space to take over the entire ground floor.
The kitchen table, work surfaces and storage space are all made of bleached nutwood, which acts as a natural accompaniment to the white, compact kitchen units.
The first floor has a master bedroom overlooking the property’s garden through floor-to-ceiling windows, and a children’s room intersected by a bathroom.
Unknown Architects was founded in 2012 by students Daan Vulkers and Keimpke Zigterman. They are currently involved in a number of projects in both Leiden and Amsterdam, where they are based.
Unknown architects completed the renovation of a 17th century house in the historic city centre of Leiden
Unknown architects is established by two students, studying at the Technical University in Delft. During their studies they became curious about working with clients. As a part of the honours programme they started this project, where they tried to translate the ambitions and wishes of a client in a design proposal. This cooperation turned out so well that this client decided to commission unknown architects for their first project, which was completed in November 2012.
All the non-authentic parts of this monument, like partition walls and suspended ceilings, were removed to bring back the authentic character and spatial clarity. In this relatively small house three fixed multifunctional furniture elements were added.
The ground floor functions as office and second bedroom. One bamboo furniture element incorporates storage space and a platform, covering a guest bed which can be pulled out.
An important wish of the client was to make the kitchen ”the heart of the house” where all activities could come together. This was translated in two kitchen elements, made out of bleached nutwood. The central element includes a table, kitchen dresser and a fixed bench that shields the stairwell and provides the best sightlines to the outside.
Cross section
On the second floor we added one small dresser made of bamboo shielding the stairwell and providing a place to sit under the dormer.
The walls are finished with white clay plaster. The uncovered ceilings are intentionally kept as we found them and form a contrast with the new.
Client: DoorZigt B.V. Location: Leiden, The Netherlands Program: renovation of house and office Gross floor area: 75 m2 Project architects: Daan Vulkers, Keimpke Zigterman Interior design: unknown architects Contractor: Bouwbedrijf Degewij Interior fit-out: Klaas Olthoff Keukenmakerij, Intopmaat
Australian skincare company Aesop has opened a new signature store in Hong Kong that features shelving made from blackened steel, plus sinks made of oak and copper.
Designed by Aesop‘s in-house design team, the store’s pared-back theme is intended to contrast with the busy antiques shops that it sits alongside on Hollywood Road in the city’s central district.
The designers said they used the neutral colour of pale oak to create “an immersive sense of calm,” while raw materials such as steel, oak and oxidised copper attempt to create an industrial aesthetic.
Shelves made from oak beams set into blackened steel frames line one wall to display the brand’s distinctive brown glass bottles. On the opposite wall, brass garden taps are mounted over large copper sinks.
A treatment room where customers can consult Aesop’s staff for advice about the products is concealed behind a screen at the back of the store, which contains a wooden sink and drawers behind a metal mesh cupboard door.
Aesop ensures that no two store are alike. Founder Dennis Paphitis told Dezeen that he was “horrified at the thought of a soulless chain” and that he believes there is “a direct correlation between interesting, captivating store spaces and customer traffic within a store”.
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