Blush Radiator is Blue When Cold, Red When Warm: Beating Hearth

A couple of weeks ago we saw a car that changes color when it’s wet, thanks to a coating of thermochromic paint. Icelandic designer Thorunn Arnadottir used the same kind of paint to make a radiator that, together with its twisting tubes, makes it appear organic. She calls it Blush, and it’s easy to see why.

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Blush clearly mimics the appearance of a capillary, the smallest type of blood vessels. They facilitate the exchange of nutrients as well as waste materials and are often depicted in illustrations as having blue and red halves. Thorunn said, “Blush is a very important organ of the house. Regulates the temperature and keeps it warm and alive.”

Blush radiator by Thorunn Arnadottir 2 620x826magnify

I’d love to see more appliances that change color depending on their state. Perhaps a fridge that turns gray when there’s spoiled food inside. Or a bathroom door that turns brown to tell you that someone just dropped bombs inside.

[via Street Anatomy via Laughing Squid]

Insert Coin semifinalist: Radiator Labs wants to help you control your heat

Just about any apartment-dwelling urbanite can tell you that radiators are a bit of a necessary evil in the world of city living. What if there was a way to control the heat to individual rental units, without relying entirely on a landlord’s temperature-controlling omnipotence? The Radiator Labs team has developed a device to help realize this dream. It’s essentially housing that sits on-top of an individual radiator unit, controlling heat transfer to a room. Turn it off, and the insulation hampers the heat from making a room too hot. Turn it on, and the ducted fan spreads the heat out to the room.

Radiator Labs has a bit more info on its page, which you can check out in the source link below. You can also view graphical breakdown of the technology after the break.

Check out the full list of Insert Coin: New Challengers semifinalists here — and don’t forget to pick a winner!

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Source: Radiator Labs