John Thackara: Cycle Commerce: The Red Blood Cells of a Smart City
by: Design Observer: Main Posts, 2013-02-04 18:17:40 UTC
Dehli's many millions of bicycle and rickshaw vendors embody the entrepreneurship, sustainable mobility, social innovation and thriving local economies, that a sustainable city needs. How can that be traslated to European cities?



The New Vipp Dining Table
by: design milk, 2013-02-13 17:00:47 UTC

Vipp, the ruler of the bathroom and kitchen world, enters a new universe with this beautiful table made of untreated, recycled teak planks and powder-coated aluminum.

Because each table top is made using recycled wood, each table will be unique with its own character. The base feels industrial, using a steel wire stabilizer and countersunk screws for construction.

“Now that we have a whole Vipp kitchen concept, it seemed very natural to extend the collection with a table to complete the look. The table frame is the same used for the kitchen modules, ensuring stability and visual coherence. For the table top we chose natural wood that can stand daily wear and tear – it will actually develop a beautiful patina over time and create contrast to the smooth aluminum”, Morten Bo Jensen, Vipp Chief Designer.

The table is available with a frame in matte black or gloss white, and is sold in the Vipp flagship store in Copenhagen.

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© 2013 Design Milk | Posted by Jaime Derringer in Home Furnishings | Permalink | 1 comment



3D printed houses are "not that far off"
by: Dezeen, 2013-02-13 20:20:01 UTC

Interview: earlier today, London studio Softkill Design unveiled plans for a 3D printed house. We spoke to Softkill's Gilles Retsin about the viability of printed architecture and how he intends to print a plastic dwelling in just three weeks.

"When we started this research, it was a kind of science fiction," he says. "It's not actually that far off any more." (more...)

Sorry green design, it's over
by: Dezeen, 2013-02-14 16:47:10 UTC

Opinion: in a special Valentine's column, Dezeen editor-in-chief Marcus Fairs explains why designers have dumped dowdy green design in favour of glamorous robots. (more...)

Ezio Manzini: Small, local, open and connected. Resilient systems and sustainable qualities
by: Design Observer: Main Posts, 2013-02-06 16:51:11 UTC
How do we design a resilient socio-technical system? Let’s look to natural systems; their tolerance of breakdowns and their adaptation capacity (that is, their capability of sustaining over time) may give us direction.



Reinier de Jong's Steel Folding Chairs Have a "Handle" on Re-Use
by: Core77, 2013-02-14 09:00:00 UTC

If the raw materials used to create these chairs appear ugly at first blush, well, they've earned the right; for all of their useful lives they've served as broom, rake or spade handles, helping people keep their floors and yards tidy. Core77 fave Reinier de Jong has turned these cast-off items to the more aesthetically pleasing, if equally ignominious, task of supporting your ass.

De Jong's Steel folding chairs retain their original hard-earned patina on their unworked surfaces, but we dig how he's scalloped out the parts that come into contact with your body, revealing the "clean" wood within while bowing to ergonomic considerations.

Got some old brooms of your own? Get in on the action:

You can also contribute to this chair. Donate your old wooden handles of brooms, rakes, spades, flagpoles etc (28 to 29 mm thick) and have it turned into a chair for yourself.

(more...)

Compostmodern 2013
by: Sustainable Design News, 2013-02-13 02:54:41 UTC


A Deeply Thought-Out Plan For EV Charging Stations
by: Co.Design, 2013-02-14 15:45:00 UTC

Currently, the best estimates suggest that upwards of 80% of electric vehicle charging happens at home. Which means we’re basically treating our electric cars like any other gadget; we plug them in at night and however long their batteries last the next day, well, that’s how long they last. If we want to see wider adoption of EVs, however, one thing is obvious: We need to make it possible for drivers to charge in places other than their garage. It’s a more complex problem than it might seem, but a series of reports by the New York-based architecture and design studio WXY will at least give urban planners and prospective charging station entrepreneurs a place to start.

The studies, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, address a major obstacle standing in the way of more ubiquitous charging--namely, that no one knows exactly what ubiquitous charging looks like. And in fairness, that’s because it doesn’t look like any one thing. Whereas gas stations, generally speaking, all follow one template, EV charging can and will take a number of forms in the years to come. Supermarkets will offer charging stations in their lots; offices might let you plug in on parking decks. You could even conceivably juice up while parallel parked on a city street.

There are a number of companies that are eager to piece together this network, but the sheer number of new variables involved makes it a complicated endeavor. "Nobody’s really figured out how to profit off of installing charging stations," says Adam Lubinksy, a managing principal at WXY. But the studio’s work to isolate and identify those variables won’t just be handy for those hopeful companies in the here and now--it will be hugely beneficial to drivers down the line. Without a common design language, it’s easy to imagine how things could get messy quickly. Think about how inconvenient it would be if gas stations weren’t so uniform--if the pumps at Sunoco stations, say, worked differently than the ones at Shell.

To avoid these sorts of complications, WXY dedicated a report specifically to design guidelines for prospective EV sites, a clearly delineated list of things that should be considered as proposals become real sites in the built environment. Essentially, it’s a manual for building an electric-car charging station.

The study identifies 22 design elements in all, divided into three categories: installation, access, and operation. The first looks at the infrastructural nuts and bolts of the site, including factors like physical dimensions of the station and its proximity to the power grid. Access deals with the factors that shape the basic user experience, things like proximity to traffic and building entrances, lighting, and signage. The operation category is concerned with the particulars of the site--the agreement between the host and operating company, say, or the price drivers will be charged for their juice. In subsequent pages, all of these elements get further elaboration--and illustration. WXY includes diagrams that show how an EV charging station might be distinguished from, say, a regular parking spot (a white battery icon on a painted green background, similar to the way handicapped parking spots are designated), and even what the user interface of the station could look like (complete with space for a video advertisement).

With the report, WXY does its best to bring the "how" of electric charging stations into focus. Lubinksy mentioned a different study, conducted in Tokyo, that illuminates the "why." Researchers wanted to see how a spate of new charging stations would affect the behavior of EV drivers in the area. They built them, Lubinksy says, "and usage of electric vehicles just skyrocketed. Even though a lot of people would still charge at home, it helped people deal with that range anxiety, just knowing that they were out there." Those results suggest that as essential as charging stations are for refueling, they provide something else important, too: reassurance.

Check out the full report here. The other reports in the series can be found here.

Green Week 2013
by: Centre for Sustainable Fashion, 2013-02-13 21:08:44 UTC

University of the Arts London Green Week 2013 Film

As we are in the middle of Green People and Planet Green Week watch the short film below to see some of the most exciting, creative practice exploring sustainability at the University of the Arts London. Focusing on the impact of ecological issues, it highlights the vital role creatives have to play in sustainability and features Dilys Williams, Director of the Centre for Sustainable Fashion:

UAL’s Green Week takes place 4-8 March during which the Centre for Sustainable Fashion will be running a full timetable of events, to be released next week.

"Homeworkers" can customize this clever desk
by: TreeHugger Design, 2013-02-14 12:00:00 UTC
Designed for the home-based office or studio, this fully adaptable desk lets you add on different dedicated surfaces, accessories and storage as you need it.