Hasta La Ideas

Core77 had the opportunity to be invited into Dror Benshetrit’s Studios to take a glimpse at QuaDror, his new structural joint. QuaDror is a lap joint construction that provides for limited freedom of movement without the use of a traditional pin. The design is elegant enough to prompt wonderment that it hasn’t already been built in the world, even as forgotten carpentry. By superimposing two lap joint frames with miter cuts, Dror makes the formation of a collapsible structure possible. Once a load is applied to the top of the two frames, it spreads out to an optimal angle for load distribution. Dror said that the finished structure could attain the strength of a correspondingly wide concrete or steel structure while using only 20% of the material.

Just unveiled at the Design Indaba conference in Cape Town South Africa, Dror sees a future where his joint could be used in everything from modular housing to wind absorbing highway barriers. As is appropriate for the Indaba conference, QuaDror can also easily be deployed as the basis for emergency housing. Using only the “knuckle” of his joint as a jig allows the fabrication of a strong foundation upon which local sustainable materials (bamboo, wood, etc.) could be used as trusses. Manufacturing the precision high load “knuckles” in steel would make emergency shipping extremely manageable. Further, due to the weight efficiency of his product, even QuaDror made of steel I-beams on a housing scale can be lifted by a few human beings without the need for additional equipment.

Dror plans to release the joint as a shareware license for distressed areas while the aestheticly oriented (and correspondingly wealthier) developed world would need to pay to see it in deployed in contract furniture, or as rapid prototyped shells for lighting. We look forward to QuaDror being unleashed into the world. Check out the below Quadror Video.

QuaDror from Dror on Vimeo.

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Most able-bodied folks probably don’t spend a lot of time thinking about how people with disabilities navigate the world, particularly in developing countries. However, Amos Winter did, and still does. Winter, a recent PhD graduate from the MIT department of Mechanical Engineering, went to Tanzania as part of his work in 2005. He wanted to understand how people who needed wheelchairs got around and how well current wheelchair technology met peoples’ mobility needs. Winter’s work was part of an internship with Whirlwind Wheelchair International, a group that designs wheelchairs in developing countries. He learned that people in wheelchairs often just didn’t get where they needed to go.

In fact, according to the Wheelchair Foundation, it is estimated that the number of people who need wheelchairs will increase by 22 percent over the next 10 years, with the greatest need existing in developing countries. And USAID estimates that 20 million people in the developing world need a wheelchair.

For instance, wheelchair-accessible buildings and roads are rare in countries like Tanzania. Beyond that, individuals must overcome narrow doorways, steep hills, bumpy, muddy roads and long distances to destinations like school — often upwards of two to three miles. All of these issues combined make it virtually impossible to get anywhere with a conventional wheelchair. Beyond that, they were too expensive for individuals who often can’t work due to their disability, or make about $1/day if they do work.

Hand-powered tricycles were the other existing option in developing countries. But they’re too large for indoor use and too heavy to maneuver over rough terrain.

In Winter’s mind, the chair he wanted to create would offer individuals:
+ Independence – the ability to live with as little assistance as possible
+ Empowerment – the ability to get to where they want to go, when they want to go
+ Access – the mobility that allows them to access resources and employment when these things won’t come to them
+ Affordability – a tool that’s at a price that they’re able to afford

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Andrea Mangini, a lead experience designer at Adobe Systems has written a fabulous article for Core77 that is worth a read. The piece reflects on the ideas and concepts that were shared at the Designers Accord Global Summit on Sustainability and Education that went down in late October in San Francisco.

Excerpt from article:
“We were facing the ambitious task of co-creating and publishing a toolkit for integrating principles of sustainability into design education. In a sense, we were being challenged to collaboratively design the next generation of designers.”

To read the full piece click here.

Impressive eco-friendly packaging for Lacoste. See below for a few words from Mind Design the designers behind it all.

“In collaboration with Tom Dixon we worked on the branding and packaging for two very different types of polo shirts commissioned by Lacoste. The most eco-friendly way to package a shirt was not to print on the packaging at all but use embossing instead. For the techno polo we designed a speaking label that plays Tom’s voice at the push of a button – very techno.”

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Taipei 101 mainly known for being one of the tallest structures built to date will be teaming up with SL+A International Asia Inc., Siemens and EcoTech International Inc. to incorporate eco-upgrades in hopes to reduce annual cost by almost 20 Million annually. Harace Lin, Chairman of the Taipei Financial Center Corporation, said on Monday, “As the world’s tallest [completed] building, Taipei 101 aims to raise people’s awareness about our environment and be a pioneer of international green building certification for existing buildings.”

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