Hasta La Ideas

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pa href=”http://www.arup.com/”Arup Associates/a have just won the a href=”http://www.britishland.com/responsibility/beyondthehive”Beyond the Hive Competition/a, sponsored by the City of London, to design a Bug Hotel for its parks. This one encourages the presence of stag beetles, solitary bees, butterflies, moths, spiders, lacewings and ladybirds by combining all these species’ required environments into one./p

pThe ‘hotel’ consists of a vertical wall with cells divided into a voronoi pattern, where detritus and materials can be stuffed to creaqte the perfect environments for a wide variety of insects. The sides of the hotel are accessible to moths, and the top can absorb rain water through planting./p

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pHere are some of the species’ particular requirements. /p

blockquote Stag Beetles: Need rotting logs for their larvae to eat and grow in. The design must ensure that these do not dry out, but neither must they be allowed to get too wet. This habitat should be located at ground level.

pSolitary bees: Above the stag beetle compartments and consisting of stacked logs of varying sizes and cut bamboo, with ends facing out. Compacted sand/dirt mixed with broken terracotta is also useful./p

pButterflies and Moths: A series of vertical slots should be used as an entrance to a dry wooden space that is filled with vertical planes of bark./p

pSpiders, Lacewings and Ladybirds: A combination of materials can be used here, including discarded shredded shoes; a variety of materials to produce various grades of space, including rolled up corrugated cardboard within plastic tube./blockquote/p

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pWe’re thrilled this project won and not another over-designed but inert digital form. The lack of control over the stuffing is what makes it great. Not only does it take on the quality of science exhibit, but it can be suited to any habitat, and is just ad-hoc enough to encourage casual participation by the general, park-going public./p

pAnd yes, these are for sale, available by order from Arup./p

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pThough Arup took the prize, all the submissions were pretty great. See a few more after the jump, and read about them all on the competition a href=”http://www.britishland.com/responsibility/beyondthehive”website/a. br /
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L’agence Ogilvy Belgique s’est penchée sur la campagne publique de la Commission Européenne. A travers un tracé de craie survolant la ville et suivant la mort ou l’absence de faune ou de flore, ce splendide spot permet de responsabiliser les hommes aux enjeux de la biodiversité.

Previously on Fubiz

• Tree Hotel
• Guerrilla Architecture – La Defense
• MTV Idents

pimg alt=”needle.jpg” src=”http://s3files.core77.com/blog/images/needle.jpg” width=”468″ height=”229″ class=”mt-image-none” style=”” //p

pemGuest post by Scott Christensen./em/p

pWhat invention could be more straightforward than a needle? Maybe a hammer (stick with a rock attached) or a knife (sharp rock or bone). Ancient tools get a long time to evolve during which they generally improve and bugs work themselves out. Gimmicks get adopted and abandoned. Forms become simpler./p

pThe common hand sewing needle would seem to be fully evolved from the thorn or fish bone that it started as. But one bug remains. bOlder eyes have difficulty seeing well enough to thread a needle./b Cave men and women never lived to be old enough to have this problem. But Pam Turner did. The first time inventor from Minnesota had secretly laughed when her mother had trouble threading a needle in her middle years. But when she found herself struggling with same problem, she did that cool thing inventors do; she asked why. And she fixed it. After millennia of existence as a pokey thing with a hole in it, the hand sewing needle has now evolved into a pokey thing with an ingenious thread-by-feel side-opening slot./p

pMs. Turner’s operation is totally home-grown DIY invention. She began prototyping and sharpening all the needles herself. She buys machine time by the hour from a shop that has theprecision equipment to cut the unique slot that makes theneedlework./p

pThe Spiral Eye side threading needlesI ordered arrived in the mail a couple days after ordering them online from the inventors a href=”http://www.spiraleyeneedles.com/”website/a. They’re small, so the packaging is minimal: a greeting card. Each needle is pushed into a small felt dot stuck to a business card which is slipped into a small plastic sleeve inside the card.She designed all this herself, though she considers herself an inventor more than a designer. (The website could use some help.)br /
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Hand-knitted cases do more good than just wrapping your laptop

The latest knit product from Krochet Kids, this new zippered laptop case joins the socially-minded outfit’s line of beanies in empowering developing regions by encouraging sustainable businesses. Employing Northern Ugandan women to hand-knit the case using locally-sourced yarn, a seamstress sews the liner, zipper and label.

To extend their aid even further, Krochet Kids will give half of all proceeds to children’s education initiatives. The Steven comes in three colorways, fits a 13″ Macbook, and runs $50 from their online shop.