Apr 17
Co-working can be tough: regular users of a space have their natural sprawl, while those spending just a few hours at a desk would prefer a minimum of clutter. This desk has hidden depths to cater for all.
Apr 16
Man it feels good to sit down at a desk where everything is in order—or so I’ve heard. Mine is always a disaster, what with the cords and cables and scattered reminder notes I’ve scrawled on bits of paper that will undoubtedly get lost in the shuffle. But this lovely specimen from Artifox looks like it would seriously help whip things into shape.
Apr 16
Walmart, the leviathan of the U.S. retail economy, has had a tough year. So tough that the company’s new CEO is prescribing a surprising strategy to slow decaying sales: Build smaller stores. And, in at least one case, put housing on top of them.
Apr 16
At a symposium held by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers this week, a team of MIT engineers will present an idea that seems to tempt fate: A floating nuclear reactor, anchored out at sea, that would be immune to tsunamis and earthquakes. Is it really that crazy of a plan?
Apr 16
There are already portable battery packs that have solar panels for recharging. The Trinity is a new kind of portable charger that uses a different renewable source of energy: the wind. It recharges its 15,000 mAh battery through its built-in wind turbine. Although it’s quite promising, I don’t think you should support it just yet.
Trinity weighs just 4lb. and when collapsed it’s just 12″ long, so it’s fairly portable. It has three aluminum legs that can either stay in a tripod arrangement or lie flat. Inside Trinity is a 15W generator and its battery. The current prototype has a 5V/1A USB charging port, although inventor Skajaquoda is considering adding an additional 5v/2A USB port for more power hungry devices like tablets. Here’s where it starts to get iffy. Skajaquoda also added a miniUSB port that’s meant to charge Trinity’s battery… via an outlet.
Why would they add a way to charge the battery that doesn’t use the built-in wind turbine? If you’re going to plug it in to charge it you might as well get a conventional battery pack that’s much smaller. The only reason I can think of for the addition of the mini-USB charging option is that Skajaquoda isn’t confident about Trinity’s charging speed through the wind turbine. Commenters on the fundraising site are asking the same question: How fast does it charge through wind power? Sadly, Skajaquoda didn’t include that vital data on their Kickstarter page and on their pitch video.
Breeze on over to Kickstarter to find out more about Trinity. The device can be yours for a pledge of at least $249 (USD), but again I don’t think you should back the project yet. I’m not saying this is vaporware or a scam. It’s an interesting and promising invention, but at the same time there are important details about it that need to come to light before you plunk down your hard-earned cash.
[via GadgeTell]
Apr 16
“Lebbeus Woods, Architect” opens at New York’s Drawing Center later today, kicking off with a public
Posted in: Today's Chili
"Lebbeus Woods, Architect" opens at New York’s Drawing Center later today, kicking off with a public reception at 6pm. Woods was widely celebrated as a fearless designer and incredible draftsman, an architect whose prolific and conceptually relentless work explored unstable and even dangerous conditions, such as war zones, tectonic faults, and geopolitical borders. Woods passed away during Hurricane Sandy; "Lebbeus Woods, Architect" looks back at a lifetime of incredible work. [Drawing Center]
Apr 16
Lamborghini’s new Huracán looks incredible in photos, but there’s nothing quite like getting up close with a 610HP supercar in the metal to see how design shapes the experience. The … Continue reading
Apr 15
Let’s take rooftop farming to a whole new level—a microscopic level. Unveiled at Expo Milan this week, the Urban Algae Canopy is a living, breathing alternative to our inert roofs and facades. Could algae be the next hip trend in urban agriculture?
Apr 15
The world is running out of space. Truth be told, the world is running out of a lot of things, but some very simple tweaks to our lifestyle could make the space issue less of an problem. That’s why students at the Savannah College of Art and Design built the SCADpad. It’s tiny. It’s cheap. And it’s actually kind of cool-looking.
Apr 15
New York Times architecture critic Michael Kimmelman is on a roll lately in his quest to hold architects accountable
Who's in charge here?
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.