The concept of flight has always held humankind’s imagination captive—yet making that concept a reality continues to baffle even the most ingenious innovators. We recently got a few insights and a lesson in aerodynamics from NYU Professor of Mathematics at the
Sawdust, duo composé de Rob Gonzalez and Jonathan Quainton, réalise aujourd’hui une typographie pour le Shanghai Jiao Tong Top 200, qui recense les meilleures universités à travers le monde. Elle s’inspire des rubans et médailles donnés pour récompenser l’excellence. Un projet très réussi à découvrir en images.
During Nike’s recent Nature Amplified summit at their Beaverton, OR headquarters, we were presented with a series of innovations that comprise the next palette for product development from the sportswear giant. A visit to the Nike Sports Research Lab meant a deep…
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Brooklyn’s community biotech lab, a place for experimentation and learning
In our latest video we explore Genspace, a community biotech lab based in Brooklyn. When most people imagine a research laboratory they usually don’t envision it living in an unassuming building on a major urban thoroughfare, but Genspace—one of the first labs of its kind in the US operating…
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Warm water wetsuits built with an innovative recycled polyester fabric
Having mastered innovative wool-lined wetsuits designed for near-Arctic conditions, Patagonia unleashed their research and development team and returned to their Southern California roots with the recent release of the R1 warm water wetsuit. By taking everything they knew about building suits for cold water and applying it to warm water, Patagonia was able to swap the merino wool for a specially developed recycled polyester blend to create a wetsuit unlike any other currently existing on the market.
Designed specifically for surfing non-frigid spots like those in California, Hawaii and Australia, the R1 is a thinner, less restrictive and less insulating alternative to its wool-lined big brothers. While the insulation has been cut down, the material construction itself is still top notch. Patagonia enlisted a renowned—and rather secretive—Japanese mill to produce the unique grid pattern using a circular knit machine only found on the island nation. “If you were to take our R1 wetsuits and flip them inside out and compare them to our wool-lined suits, you will notice that we have not taken away any attention to detail in terms of construction, seam-taping, gluing, bonding, and stitching,” said Patagonia wetsuit developer Billy Smith.
After researching bamboo as a possible fabric option, Patagonia found the production process to be too wasteful, as nearly half of the heavy solvents used often end up as environmental waste. So they chose to develop the recycled polyester, a clean, low-energy intensive fabric previously unused in apparel. This recycled polyester makes up 100% of the R1’s exterior while the grid-lined interior is made up of 50% recycled polyester mixed with virgin polyester and spandex.
To aid in the development process Patagonia builds all prototypes on site, from patterning to construction. “Being a quarter-mile from the beach and surrounded by some of the world’s best point breaks and beach breaks has helped tremendously in the hands-on R&D process. As a team, we are able to build prototypes, surf, make adjustments, and do it all over again the next day,” says Smith.
The always forward-thinking Patagonia sees the use of recycled polyester as an advance in wetsuit design and Smith indicates that the development team has been experimenting with several different knit constructions and blending techniques for potential use down the road. That said we’re already looking forward to what Patagonia has in store for 2013.
For more information on the R1 check out this comprehensive video or head to Patagonia online and check out their full range of warm and cold water wetsuits.
Connect Legos, Tinkertoys, Lincoln Logs and more with downloadable 3D adapters
There exist few limits to a child’s potential for creativity, and the blocks that accumulate on the playroom floor may seem equally boundless as kids are left to explore. Breaking down the boundaries between various branded construction sets like K’Nex, Legos and Lincoln Logs, two prominent technology-focused research and development labs—Free Art & Technology (F.A.T.) and Synaptic Lab—teamed up to create the Free Universal Construction Kit, a set of 3D adapter bricks that offers complete inter-operability between up to 10 children’s construction toys. With nearly 80 models available for free download, the kit can be printed one at a time using open-hardware desktop 3D printers like Makerbot.
The Free Universal Construction Kit takes the “best of all worlds” approach to designing each 3D model, choosing construction sets for their level of market penetration and diversity of features. Each individual piece in the kit can be combined with other traditional pieces to create a combination of kinetic movements and radical geometric designs or, as F.A.T. Lab describes it, “a meta mashup system”.
The various configurations within the innovative kit open a whole new world of building possibilities, encouraging children to create across platforms and brands. By making the kit entirely downloadable, inspired adults are encouraged to share designs and reproduce models of their own through personal 3D printers.
The Free Universal Construction Kit also includes a single, baseball-sized Universal Adaptor that offers connectivity between each of the 10 supported children’s construction systems. The kit can be downloaded in its entirety from the F.A.T. Lab site and through Thingiverse.com.
A new book delves into the future of urban development through three of the world’s fastest growing cities
Among all the chatter about the future of urban development, “Living in the Endless City” stands out as a refreshing voice with its collection of clear-eyed info designed to help grapple with the some of the big questions facing today’s cities. Culled from the London School of Economics’ “Urban Age” conferences, the massive book may seem like a daunting academic read meant only for architects and city planners, but extraordinary photographs and comprehensive infographics make for a thoroughly engrossing book picking up where the ideas in “The Endless City“—which examined NYC, Shanghai, London, Mexico City, Johannesburg and Berlin—left off. “Living,” edited by the same team of London Design Museum director Deyan Sudjic and London School of Economics professor Ricky Burdett, continues with an in-depth look at the world’s three most rapidly expanding cities (Mumbai, São Paulo and Istanbul), using them as examples for a deeper discussion about urban sprawl and the value of the city in its potential to shape our culture and way of life.
The weighty book is filled with astonishing statistics, like that only 2% of the Earth’s surface is covered by cities but 53% of the world’s population currently occupies those areas (a number that will grow to 75% by 2050). Thoughtful essays on transportation, emergency aid and grave economic shifts detail how to prepare for these numbers.
A rational look at urban dwelling in the twenty-first century, the book is a gainful read for anyone interested in how the increasingly global world will fare during such rapidly developing times. “Living In The Endless City” sells from Phaidon and Amazon.
All images courtesy of Phaidon
From Thonet to Pinanfarina, the evolution of deskside seating
Of all the far-reaching implications of the information age, technical innovations in office chair design define an era that could be named the desk-bound age. Here to put the contemporary mesh panels and lumbar supports in context, “A Taxonomy of Office Chairs” surveys the evolution of the workplace staple, beginning with the start of the Industrial Revolution. Amassed by design consultant Jonathan Olivares, the book details over 130 office chairs, classified by their distinguishing features. Chapters include “Headrest,” “Seat-Stem Joinery” and other thrilling topics, breaking down the design into components to show its chronological progression with over 400 technical drawings and a catalog of color photos.
To better define the broad topic Olivares created one stipulation—the chair’s design must have introduced at least one novel featuret. Funded by Knoll, Olivares researched his subject by meeting with designers, manufacturers and furniture experts and archivists, who lent not only technical information, but also insight on the cultural impact the office chair has had on work itself.
But his meticulousness didn’t end there. Olivares collected, inspected, compared and contrasted over 2,000 chairs, using scientific methodology. Toward the end of his search he was able to take advantage of Google Patents, which—though still in its infancy—helped him locate two chairs from the 1800s that “only exist in their patent applications.”
Other standouts include chairs by Charles and Ray Eames, the Bouroullec brothers, Richard Sapper, Mario Bellini (who claims the three greatest moments in office chair history are the Industrial Revolution, his 1984 Persona chair and 2005 Headline chair), Frank Lloyd Wright and many more highly-revered designers and architects.
“A Taxonomy of Office Chairs” is available online from Phaidon and Amazon.
Looking for some design inspiration? Check out some of these video’s on the TED.com website (some new, some old, worth watching more than once). There are dozen’s more than this, of course, these are just a few that I’ve been watching lately:
Faux nostalgia, by Illustrator and humorist Bruce McCall
Comedian Ursus Wehrli tidies up art
Malcolm Gladwell on spaghetti sauce
Tim Ferriss: Smash fear, learn anything
The paradox of taking “play” seriously means that there has been very little academic research on the importance of play until very recently. Dr. Stuart Brown’s research shows play is not just joyful and energizing — it’s deeply involved with human development and intelligence. Click here to see the video.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
