Hasta La Ideas

A team of mechanical engineering students at the University of Pennsylvania have spent the better part of the past year designing and fabricating the ultimate concept bike, which they’ve called “Alpha.” Thanks to rapid prototyping technology, the bike was realized almost entirely at UPenn’s engineering school.

Many of the innovations lie in the drivetrain: besides being fully enclosed within the frame, an electronic clutch allows the rider to switch between fixed-gear and freewheel settings. Every aspect of the bike is described in further detail on the dedicated website, but here’s a handy rundown of the specs…

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The nutty Safe House, designed by Polish architecture firm KWK Promes, is a Modernist structure with a James-Bondian trick: Flip a switch and a series of sliding walls and rollgates buttons you up tighter than troops in a bunker.

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I recently stumbled across the wonderful Flickr page of Stuart Kerr, a Scotland-based exhibit designer and illustrator. Kerr runs his own firm, Stuco, but puzzlingly the Stuco website names a Glasgow street address while Kerr’s blog entries refer to an Edinburgh base. His client base is split between the UK and Japan.

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Time and time again, we see how technology has both inspired new possibilities for aspiring designers and generally democratized the design process. While some of these products are themselves a reflection of the digital age (the Glif comes to mind), Spain’s Los Tres Juanes remind us that technology can also be used to revive traditional designs.

The video below documents their approach to preserving the gorgeous “Nasrid-inspired roof frameworks, Alfarjes (polygon-shaped painted ceilings) and Mudéjar-style coffered ceilings.”

I don’t know about “tasty” (1:34), but definitely quite elegant…

As per the video, machinery certainly facilitates the process, though Los Tres Juanes take a great deal of pride in their work, where their work embodies a high level of craftsmanship. Even better yet, they opt to use reclaimed lumber whenever possible, another nod to heritage as a design principle.

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Artist Scott Weaver spent 35 years designing and assembling “Rolling Through the Bay,” a trippy representation of San Francisco made entirely from toothpicks. Weaver incorporated a kinetic element into the structure in the form of winding tracks that accommodate ping-pong balls, which “lead” the viewer on tours through the city that hit different points of interest. Check it out:

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