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The Design blog

The Design blog

Compact utility type I 'CUB' envisions a petite light pickup truck for the cities

Posted: 14 May 2012 03:30 AM PDT

Asmita Prasad:

The Compact utility type I ‘CUB’ Concept by designer Francis Gomes is a brand new approach towards designing utility vehicles for the modern user. The compact structure of the vehicle is better suited to the needs of inner city users like smaller business that needs to deliver products to buyers through streets which cannot be navigated by regular sized pickup trucks and when the cargo is too big for delivery bikes.

CUB utility vehicle
CUB utility vehicle

The Compact utility type I ‘CUB’ Concept is created to be flexible as well as lightweight and robust. At its center, the cabin is graced by a v-shaped frame which is rigged over by all the other components. For cargo beds, the extremes of the frame reach outwards to provide mount points in opposite direction. To keep the vehicle as lightweight as possible, plastic components are used extensively throughout the structure. Rather than a full metal framework and metal panels, plastic monocoque components are fixed around the chassis. A monocoque interior base is enclosed by an outer metal framework which allows the cabin to be affixed with other components.

An external combustion engine powers the vehicle which allows the vehicle to adapt to various fuels. To allow access to harsher terrain, portal axles are used in the vehicle along with tough plastic composites that are better equipped to handle wear and tear and do not rust. Flexible toughened glass is used throughout the vehicle in windows to provide better visibility.

Source: Rigfes

Sleek and playful Block.210 coffee table to keep your kids engaged

Posted: 14 May 2012 03:22 AM PDT

Radhicka S Saxena:

People who have zippy kids back home, tots who refuse to limit their play area to their own rooms, will absolutely love this idea. The playful coffee table will keep your kids thoroughly engaged and that too right in front of your eyes. What makes the table so appealing to kids are the blocks on the top and the fun games slotted in.

Block.210 Coffee Table
Block.210 Coffee Table

Dubbed as the Block.210 coffee table, this one is crafted by the Swedish artist Jessica Arosenius. Though the table holds games for kids, it looks quite chic and will easily fit into your trendy living area. The top of the table holds 210 wooden blocks. When your kids move around these blocks, they will discover the 8 different hues hidden beneath. What fun!

But kids are really sharp these days and though the game above is delightful, it is not tricky enough for the smart kiddies of today. So, tougher contests have also been slotted in. Like the one in which your kids can slide under the table and network with anyone who is messing around with pieces on the table top. By shifting the blocks around, 14 different patterns are revealed, which help the two people to interact.

Block.210 Coffee Table
Block.210 Coffee Table

This is a real fun way to talk to your kids and mingle with them. Moreover, the games will hone your child's creativity and communication skills. Besides the living room, you can also put this table in the games room, activity room, family area or even the kitchen. The swell looking table is made from MDF and solid birch. It has top notch finishing and even its blocks are made from solid birch.

Via: Inhabitots

NASA’s next gen Mars rover Curiosity due to land

Posted: 14 May 2012 03:19 AM PDT

Radhicka S Saxena:

Aptly named Curiosity, this jet is the next generation Mars rover, which will land on the planet on the evening of August 5th this year. To make sure that the rover completes its slated mission, its engineering model Scarecrow is currently being tested. The prototype is being tested by drivers as well as engineers from NASA's Mars Science Technology at the Mojave Desert, Baker, California. Its mission is to locate the evidence of an ancient dry lake on the red planet and hopefully even microbial life.

Mars rover
Mars rover

To collect the evidence, this flying plane will have to drive around, gather samples and even take pictures. The 2000 lbs rover can attain a speed of 300 feet per hour. But conditions on the red planet make things tough and this has been proved by missions carried out in the past. The Martian winter completely halted the operations of Mars Opportunity Rover sent out earlier by NASA.

To iron out all the difficulties, Scarecrow is being tested out on the Dumont Dunes located in the Death Valley. The topography here is bumpy and uneven, just like on Mars. In fact, the area is popular among adrenaline junkies, who come here often to enjoy a thrilling ride. The engineers testing out the prototype will have to find a way to navigate through the sand traps, which are quite challenging.

The machine currently in flight, took off on November 26th 2011. It was launched from Cape Canaveral last year and will touch base on the foot of a mountain located on the Martian equator inside Gale Crater three months from now. Curiosity is 10 feet long and roughly the size of a Mini. The ingenious name of the rocket ship was given by a sixth grade schoolgirl who won an essay competition. The mission will cost a whooping £1.6billion.

Via: Dailymail

Bless mobile platform to restore terrestrial telecommunications in emergencies

Posted: 14 May 2012 03:08 AM PDT

Jaspreet Kaur Walia:

Natural calamities can take a toll. It gets a bit hard to get to the disaster struck area speedily because of missing communication links and other troubles like rubble and difficult terrain. This slows down the rescue operation, which in turn means proper help won't reach on time and can lead to some seriously grave situations. Understanding the importance of telecommunication links in such situations, industrial designer Patrick Suriani has designed Bless. It is a recovery system of telecommunications that will prove to be a true blessing in case emergency strikes.

BLESS recovery system
BLESS recovery system

This mobile platform will help bring back the terrestrial telecommunication systems, which will make it easy for rescue forces to reach the site. Bless comprises of a balloon shaped product that will be inflated at the disaster site. The surface of this balloon comes fixed with LTE antennas and satellite. This satellite in the design is further responsible for creating a link between the network and the balloon, while the balloon itself acts as an LTE receptor. These antennas are great for a broad coverage, making the product utterly useful. The system gets all the power to function because of the high efficiency solar panels that are present on the surface of Bless.

The base of Bless has been fashioned out of a standard container that us very easy to move around for efficient use. All the control instruments are placed inside it and even the hydrogen fuel cell generator is found in the base that makes sure energy is available for Bless to function even when dusk sets in. recovery system of telecommunications will aid in faster rescue, which is all victims want when trapped in treacherous conditions.

Dancing Dragons Complex blends traditional Korean culture with modern architecture

Posted: 14 May 2012 03:05 AM PDT

Jaspreet Kaur Walia:

South Korea is about to get another architectural marvel in the form of Dancing Dragons, which will come enveloped in a very modern appeal but will still ooze traditional traits borrowed from Korean culture. The design will comprise of two towers (to be erected in Seoul) and was unveiled by Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill, a design firm based in Chicago. These mixed use towers will bow down to a lot of needs, which includes spaces for office, retail as well as residential use.

Dancing Dragons Complex
Dancing Dragons Complex

The towers have a scale-like appearance from the outside just like the mythical dragons, from which it has fetched the name Dancing Dragons as it seems as if the towers are rhythmically dancing around the core. These towers will be planked around a common central nucleus and will have a lean appearance mixed with a sharp angled look, creating an attention grabbing appeal. The towers have a different size, which have a measurement of 390 meters and 450 meters. These are not mirror images of each other but do speak the same architectural language.

Living spaces has been dramatically created with the presence of massing cuts in the design and these float outside the basic frame of the structure. Korean tradition can be seen just everywhere in the design, right from the geometry and appearance of the outer skin to the canopies that project outwards, a reminiscent of roof space of traditional temples of Korea. The skin that looks like scales is perforated, which will keep the building well ventilated in a clean and green way because of the gaps that form as a result of overlapping panels.

Out of the two, the taller tower has 88 stories and has V shaped massing cuts both at the top and bottom. On the other hand, the smaller one is a 77 story tower in which the cuts stretch all across in a diagonal fashion sans any broken lines. The relationship between cuts of both the towers creates a fine impression as if they are dancing when seen, giving it a rhythmic expression. The towers come injected with sustainability, which is much needed in this polluted world. Heat loss will be kept down to a minimum because of the use of triple glazed window units that will be designed by PositivEnergy Practice. A shading effect will be beautifully created because of an overlapping exterior wall.

When it gets really hot outside the inside of these towers will still remain cool and bearable because of natural ventilation, killing the strong dependency on air conditioning hence saving a lot natural resources as well as electricity. The roofs will come caked with solar panels that will harness solar energy to be used in various ways. Apart from this, radiant heating, daylight linked lighting controls and electric centrifugal chillers for heat recovery add to its prettiness. Dancing Dragons will be spread over an area of 23,000 square meters and will also unfurl the magic of a retail podium and sunken garden among many other features.

Via: Bustler

Seraku's new Android powered mirror comes with RF proximity sensors

Posted: 14 May 2012 03:04 AM PDT

Sahil Khurana:

Washing hands can never be more informative, after one lays his/her hands on the new smart wash basin by Chinese technological giant, Seraku. The wash basin has been powered by Android and incorporates a new technological edge in its wake. The advancement in the mirror comes to the fore when it gives you a very accurate picture of the weather, the water flow and other details.

Seraku's Smart Wash Basin
Seraku’s Smart Wash Basin

The device has been made out of a semi transparent piece of reflective glass. Apart from the glass, the whole device has been powered by an Android tablet along with a LCD monitor. Furthermore, the Android mirror has been fixed with RX proximity sensors to figure out where the position of your hands. The concept is so unique; it comes across as a very fresh concept when it comes to design.

As Google’s strong technology is backing Seraku, there would be little doubt in the minds of the people about the working condition of the Android powered mirror. Even despite the fact that the idea has still not been developed, the guarantee appears that the product will ensure it delivers the maximum output. But once it's launched into the market, there will be just no stopping Seraku and their really ubiquitous creation.

Via: TheVerge

S.Deer's Headquarters comes smothered in style and organic expression

Posted: 14 May 2012 02:54 AM PDT

Jaspreet Kaur Walia:

What happens when a retail clothing company decides to make a corporate headquarter? Well, nothing but style and exquisiteness is what is caked all over the concrete creation that ranks high on the style graph. S.deer, a retail clothing company in Nanjing, China, wanted the building to nothing but fashionable and design house Prechteck came up with exactly what one can call fashion in terms of architecture.

S.Deer's Headquarters in Nanjing
S.Deer's Headquarters in Nanjing

The design of the building has taken quite a few cues from the lifestyle company and is not only about administration. Cubes have somehow always been present at various photo shoots, fashion shows and even has become an unofficial logo for the company. The design firm used it in an artistic way while designing the building.

Two cubes, of different dimensions, form the basis of the headquarters that fuse together in to each other in a visually appealing way. The bigger cube has a size of 25,000 square meters and comprises of the administrative area. It includes meeting rooms, offices, conference rooms, underground parking, creative areas and workshops. Creative areas form a part of the upper floors that will help people unwind.

Natural light kisses the building's lower floors as the construction gets engraved by angled sky gardens. There is another lifestyle area measuring 3000 square meter that will cater to parties and fashion shows, along with a museum that will take the visitors through the historic journey of the company. It will boast of some sustainable traits as well, like photovoltaic panels, gray water treatment and algae bio cultivation, which is quite impressive. Local materials will be exploited to the fullest while erecting the eye appealing design that have an outer skin looking like a textile pattern.

Via: Evolo

See your heart beat and feel alive all over again

Posted: 14 May 2012 02:52 AM PDT

Jaspreet Kaur Walia:

We are alive till the time our heart keeps beating. Want to see your heartbeat through blinking lights then Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital is the place where you should be heading. Steven Almond has come up with Anyone Who has a Heart, which has been commissioned for the hospital and will be an interactive tool that will attract a lot of crowd for sure.

Anyone Who Has a Heart
Anyone Who Has a Heart

The design comprises of digital lights and medical monitoring equipment that has a simple and sleek facade. The staggering piece of interactive art changes as people intermingle with it. When not being used by anyone it shimmers with a blue colored light, which is a default setting. This indicates the normal heart rate of a healthy human being, which will be indicated by a rhythmic and gentle pulsating beat through the lights of course. It will undertake various activities when in default mode. The lights will be of a serene nature that will blink in a mild fading way, which can also be used during meditation practices or tai-chi activities when the weather is pleasant.

The amazing sculpture features two stainless steel hand grips, which when held by anyone help in monitoring the heart rate. These hand grips comes embedded with electrodes that makes good use of small electric signals that pass through the surface of skin whenever the heart contracts. The lights will start flashing red, when the heart rate is monitored. Who has a Heart can be used to monitor the heart rate after various activities, like before and after coffee consumption or before and after working. Compare your heart rate with others and maintain a good health with the sculpture. It will also act as a clock as the bands of tri-chi LEDs represent one second, one minute, one hour and twelve hours, which will be easy to read.

Via: Andrews Mall

Wörthersee ebike from Audi allows cyclists to show off their gutsy mettle

Posted: 14 May 2012 02:01 AM PDT

Radhicka S Saxena:

German automaker Audi has come out with a brilliant ebike Wörthersee that will soon be unveiled in Carinthia, Austria. The trendy and svelte piece has hi-tech fittings so that you can spin out a number of tricks and stunts with it. Sporty lads and professional cyclists will totally dig for it. Here are some features of this stupendous ebike.

Audi Wörthersee E-Bike
Audi Wörthersee E-Bike

The skeleton made from carbon fiber reinforced polymer is compact and sleek. The wheels, also made from carbon fiber, have been constructed carefully for effortless maneuvering. They sport the Audi ultra blade design with broad flat spokes. The lithium ion battery charges to the brim in just 2.5 hours and the 2.3 kW electric motor is capable of wielding about 184 lb-ft of torque to its rear wheel.

The frame of this 24 pound bike has a low center of gravity, so controlling it will be a cinch. Also, there are five cycling modes that you can activate via the touchscreen. Use the “Pure” mode when you wanna workout your legs while the “Pedelec” option gives you an additional thrust, from the electric motor, to reach the speed of 50 mph.

Vroom around at 31 mph with “eGrip” that runs only on the electric motor. If you're going to roll out a challenging stunt, then you should go for the “Balanced Wheelie” mode. Fine tune the angle of your wheels if you're a learner with the “Power Wheelie” mode. While the “Training” mode ensures that your act on the ebike remains steady. You can also adjust the setting of this ebike through your smartphone.

Via: Inhabitat
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