The Living Pixels, Lighting Collection are in fact the product of an imaginative assemblage of recycled and eco-friendly materials. Created by a collective of designers based in Hong Kong from SDWorks, the ‘Living Pixels‘ lamp takes antique and junk light stands, low-energy bulbs, and a diffuser made up of recycled banners and turns them into a colorful feast for the eyes.
As the banners are printed in one side only, the lamps appear to be white and pale when switched off, but the plain appearance radically changes once the lamps are lighted on and the colors emerge from the inside.
Due to the properties of the material, the light is smoothly diffused through the fabric creating a balloon of multi-colored light, but at the same time, the small banner swatches sewed together create a surface filled with holes from where the light escapes and scatters the surrounding environment with a vivid luminous pattern.
The vintage stands were rescued from antique stores from Cat Street in Central Hong Kong and kept in their untouched original conditions.
Conceived by designers Michal Vlcek and Klavir, the “Photosynthesis Car” is a revolutionary vehicle that is powered by nothing but pipe dreams and plants. The Photosynthesis Car would integrates a special kind of solar panels, generating energy from the natural photosynthetic process. For the vehicle concept grows its own turf and plants that not only produces sustainable energy for the car but also seat passengers in a natural environment. Running on an electric engine, the futuristic vehicle features nano plastic body and joystick controls, allowing a safe and easy driving. The design element of the car does seem great, but the technological aspects have mostly been untouched. Though photosynthesis can be used to produce sugars and later biofuel, but how will that biofuel power the vehicle is unclear.
Hélio Radio uses colourful solar Grätzel panels that are transparent. The Grätzel solar panels get their color from vegetal ink, upping the green quotient. The LED panel and Speakers compliment the radio and are in sync with the form.
“A new generation of solar cells has been born: thin, colored, translucent and even flexible. The source of this revolution is EPFL (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne), where Professor Michael Graetzel, inspired by plant photosynthesis, began to use molecules from colorants to transform the sun’s light into electricity. His work drew heavy praise from the scientific community, resulting in a World Technology Award. While many other technological developments have followed, designers need to take advantage of the extraordinary potential of these “dye-sensitized” solar cells.”
The giant media-wall called SolPix created by SPG Architects is the largest prototype of its kind. Embedded with LED lights and a photo-voltaic array, it combines energy efficient lighting, solar power and bling, and it can also function as a set of heavy blinds: each piece shifts according to the focus of sunlight.
Monitoring its own energy performance, SolPix is self aware. The LED display flashes graphics with energy collection and consumption. Its designers hope architects will make use of SolPix for large-scale building facades in the future.
[Simone Giostra and Partners]
via [inhabitat] & [fastcompany]
Italian fashion brand United Colors of Benetton launched the international competition Designing in Teheran to develop a design for two multi story buildings in Iran’s capital city of Teheran. Designers were called to integrate the new structures in the local urban and commercial setting while taking in account cultural and technical aspects. The two new towers will house Benetton offices, as well as retail space.
Benetton’s two 12-storey buildings will occupy two separate 1,500sq m sites in the city. Both will have four floors underground, while the ground and first floor levels will be divided into three commercial units. The remaining space will be for offices and flats.
The designers’ approached the project as a way to create not just a dynamic modern retail area, but as the opportunity to address the shopping behavior of modern users. The designers address the social change of how modern retail spaces lack the dynamic atmosphere the old markets had with their lively chatter and friendly atmosphere. In an effort to inspire that same kind of shopping space, a passageway that functions as an “inner street” runs through the building. The two green areas that boarder the passageway give more of a private feel to the space and also create a lush environment for the shoppers. ”The passage idea…is nothing new. But the way of shopping is. It forces customers to think about other people in the shop,” explained the architects. “A big slide fixed to the ceiling. Clothes are hanging on it. If you want to see some item you have to move also some other clothes to get yours. This could cause inconvenience to the others. If you want to avoid it, you have to negotiate with other customers interested in this group of items how you can move all the clothes not to disturb them,” he added.
Emergency shelters should always be an important and prescient subject for designers. Austrian architects Gregor Pils and Andreas Claus Schnetzer have hit upon an idea which not only gives wooden pallets a second life but can also provide simple, cost-effective and energy efficient housing for people in need and those wanting a greener home. Unsurprisingly, given the raw material, the idea came from a building site.
The international architectural studio based in Hong Kong, Cheungvogl has designed Umarmung. A floor-level-couch. This project is inspired by the ancient tradition of floor-sitting culture in Japan.
The designers kept the idea that traditionally, the connection between the body and the conversation must not be restricted to “universal seat height and conventional definition of the sofa.”
The design is basically a backrest supporting the body in many comfortable positions, while that person is either sitting up or leaning back. Its steel structure is covered by reinforced polyester resin and eco-friendly flame-retardant polyurethane foam.
Xten architecure created a new open house concept in the Hollywood Hills. The designers integrated the whole Openhouse building into the landscape. They created really big space inside and they opened every room to the outside world.
Xten architecure created a new open house concept in the Hollywood Hills. The designers integrated the whole Openhouse building into the landscape. They created really big space inside and they opened every room to the outside world.