IKEA PS Collection for 2012 - Pictures of working people by Anna Efverlund - $39-$99 (Click Image To Enlarge)
IKEA TO ITS DESIGNERS: MAKE OUR OLD STUFF BETTER.
Furniture designers don’t often get the chance to correct their mistakes: Their products are on the market for a couple of years and, with few awesomely popular exceptions, eventually get dropped from their manufacturers’ catalogs to make room for new stock. But Ikea, the go-to big box for affordable Scandinavian design, has given its designers the opportunity to revise their work (as well as that of their predecessors), adding increased functionality and sustainability. Janice Simonsen, Ikea’s design spokesperson, says.
“[We] challenged our designers to bring their designs forward with innovative products that belong in the future.”
IKEA PS Collection for 2012 - Bamboo dining table by Jon Karlsson - $179 (Click Image To Enlarge)
IKEA PS Collection for 2012 - Bamboo frame side talbes by Henrik Preutz - $29-$49 (Click Image To Enlarge)
IKEA PS Collection for 2012 - Chest of pine wood drawers by Ehlen Johansson - $399 (Click Image To Enlarge)
The results make their debut at the Milan Furniture Fair as part of the company’s PS collection, a curated series released every three years. This time around, the 60-year-old company decided to revisit its past as a way of creating pieces that address today’s needs for more flexible solutions to small spaces: chairs stack, furniture can transition from indoors to outdoors, a children’s table contains built-in storage, and various products have been upgraded using green materials such as bamboo.
IKEA PS Collection for 2012 - High-back armchair by Ebba Strandmark - $89 (Click Image To Enlarge)
IKEA PS Collection for 2012 - Pendant lamp with LED light diodes by Henrik Preutz - $99.99 (Click Image To Enlarge)
IKEA PS Collection for 2012 - Sofa by Nike Karlsson - $899 (Click Image To Enlarge)
Whereas the brother-and-sister design team Knut and Marianne Hagberg reimagined one of their own designs from the ‘80s, turning a children’s foam indoor chair into a plastic, stackable armchair that can also be used outdoors, Nike Karlsson updated a ’70s metal tube sofa with pocket springs, which not only add comfort but are easy to recycle.
IKEA PS Collection for 2012 - Three pot vertical plant stand by Nicolas Cortolezzis - $39.99 (Click Image To Enlarge)
IKEA PS Collection for 2012 - TV bench by Lisa Widen and Anna Wallin Irnarchos - $179 (Click Image To Enlarge)
IKEA PS Collection for 2012 - Armchair made from wood plastic composite - $59.99 (Click Image To Enlarge)
And while the inspiration for these and the rest of the 46-pieces are from the past, they should not be mistaken as being from another era. Peter Klinkert, Ikea’s PS project leader, says in the press announcement.
“In the design world, it’s sometimes fashionable to talk about vintage and release new products in old styles. We always said that we don’t want to relaunch old things. It’s not IKEA PS. It’s not new and developing IKEA onward.”
The PS Collection will roll into stores in August.
COMMENTARY: Ikea's PS Collection is stylish and chick and priced just right for today's contemporary consumers. I love the sofa an TV stand the most. If you have a small space, and don't have a lot of money, IKEA is the way to go.
Courtesy of an article dated April 18, 2012 appearing in Fast Company Design
The Nest Thermostat prominently mounted on a wall in a modern day home
THE NEST LEARNING THERMOSTAT, INVENTED BY THE IPOD’S ORIGINAL PRODUCT MANAGER TONY FADELL, IS A GOOD CASE STUDY IN MAKING SMALL, THOUGHTFUL IMPROVEMENTS THAT HELP USERS.
When we first sat down with Tony Fadell, the CEO of Nest and the inventor of the Nest Learning Thermostat, we asked him what made Steve Jobs so great. Fadell is, perhaps, one of the best-qualified people on the planet to answer. He’s the one who first pitched the idea of an iTunes/iPod ecosystem. He’s the one who Steve Jobs hired to bring the iPod to life. And, working with Jobs, he shepherded 18 generations of iPods, and the first three generations of iPhones. At the time, Fadell simply said
"Steve had a way of scoping the problem bigger. He could just look at a problem and find the solution by thinking larger."
Tony Fadell, is the Father of the Apple iPod, and now runs Nest, creator of the Nest Learning Thermostat (Click Image To Enlarge)
That lesson certainly explains how Fadell arrived at the Nest Learning Thermostat, a simple, high-end device which has about as much in common with a regular thermostat as the first iPod had with an iRiver MP3 player. Unlike the thermostats you know, it learns your living patterns and senses whether you’re at home, managing your energy use. Programming it is a matter of adjusting a dead-simple, dial interface. When combined with an iPhone and web app, Nest is a solution to a much bigger problem of how much we know about our energy use, and how we learn about it.
But just a few months after the Nest’s introduction, it’s clear that Fadell and his new company also took another Apple lesson to heart: the constant need for tiny tweaks that are laser focused on making the user’s life easier. And also: the need to introduce big changes to the consumer slowly, over time. By looking at how Nest’s second-generation thermostat has evolved, we can see those two crucial ideals at work.
As Fadell has told Fast Company, one crucial element of its success was that its unboxing experience immediately worked hard to enchant the user with its ease and refinement. It was (and is) the iPod’s very first statement about how the device itself works, and its attention to detail. Along those lines, Fadell’s team made the Nest unboxing and install easier with a custom, ergonomic screwdriver for hanging the thermostat, and a level for indicating whether the device was hanging straight. Fadell told us.
"This isn’t cheap. But when you take it out of the box, you want it to be easy to install--at all costs."
Along those lines, the second-gen Nest boasts clever improvements. For one, the connectors on the backplate, which link the thermostat to your HVAC system, have been rethought. Previously, the layout meant that you’d have to push down on the connector with one hand, while threading the wire with the other. (You can see this layout on the left, below.) But the problem was that the push-down tab was too close to the opening for the wires, meaning your fingers would bump into each other. Now, they’ve solved that by placing the push-down tab on the opposite end of the assembly. Check out the new design (on the right below):
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Another subtle, but rather thoughtful detail that Nest thought about was the actual act of screwing it into the wall. Virtually every home today is dry wall; unfortunately, dry wall is an annoying surface on which to hang things. If you’re screwing into it, you usually have to use an anchor. If you’ve ever used one, you know they’re fussy and messy, and if you don’t get the hole right, you simply tear up the wall completely, leaving behind a divot nearly as wide as an iPod Shuffle. So instead, Nest actually engineered a new type of screw, which can grip into dry wall directly, without needing an anchor at all. Note how widely spaced the threads are. This is so that they can grip into the powdery dry wall, without having it crumble around the screw:
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To some people, those two changes would seem basic, perhaps even minor. But then again, how many companies can you think of that would spend so much time thinking about how users place their fingers when installing their product, and what the entire experience is like, from the very first unboxing to the screwing-in? As important as those human-centered solutions are, what’s just as important is the fact that they were a priority. Again, how many companies would have even thought to make these changes? And how many would think to release these changes fewer than six months after their first-generation product hit the market?
"If we’d come out with the iPhone of home-energy management, people would just get confused."
Meaning that if the very first Nest thermostat had boasted all of the functionality and features that Nest plans for it, it would have been too confusing a product to get mainstream adoption. You have to let people buy into a device first, before building a world of functionality around it. Thus, Nest 1.0 was basic by design. And the current generation introduces a far richer set of features. But they live behind some very simple changes to the mobile and laptop apps.
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Nest clearly wants to move in the direction of becoming not just a thermostat but a central nexus for managing your energy use. (Think here of the way an iPod is not merely a music device but is also connected to a famously well-developed iTunes ecosystem.) They’d like for the thermostat to be a smart device, capable not just of reacting to your commands but helping you live better, using less. Along those lines, look at the new app for managing the thermostat. One bar tells you how much heating or cooling you used on each day. (Green Arrow.) If your energy use is relatively high or low, an icon tells you what was behind the changes. (Blue Arrow.) And if you want to see an energy bar with finer detail, there’s an expanded view that tells you exactly what went on. (Red Arrow.)
A skeptic about all of this would point out that thermostats aren’t at all like iPods. You don’t buy them every two years. You don’t want to think about them. They’re designed to be taken for granted. But Nest--along with any top-notch designer--would probably say that wanting to interact with a product is precisely the problem that design is supposed to solve. By offering delight where there was once annoyance, the hope is that you can draw your customers in closer. And once you have them close? Well, look at what Apple did. How many people who first bought iPods then upgraded to iPhones? How many people with iPhones later bought a Macbook Air?
Sure, there’s a sense in which the Nest seems almost over-designed--all of this care for a one-time experience of screwing it in might seem excessive. But the fact is that user-focused design is also a form of good will--and a better sort of marketing than any ad could ever be. What happens if Nest starts creating all kinds of other products, for keeping track of your home or, hell, even managing your entertainment and utility bills? Consumers won’t forget the experience they had. And it will sell them on the next new thing.
COMMENTARY: I first covered the Nest Learning Thermostat in a blog post dated October 26, 2011, and was very impressed with the amount of venture capital (estimated at $50 to $80 billion) that Tony Fadell had raised from VC's, including Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Myers. You see folks, it helps to be a former Apple alumnus and creative genius behind the iPod. I described Tony's new thermost as a "hot idea, whose time has come." Was I right?
I don't have any sales figures to give you, as Nest is very glum on this topic.
The Reviews
The Nest Learning Thermostat reviews are very good to excellent:
The N.Y. Times says:
"The Nest is gorgeous, elegant and very, very smart."
Slate says:
"If you're in the market for a new thermostat, get this one."
Amazon.com listed 24 reviews averaging four stars (out of five stars) and it broke into Top 100 in Home Improvement.
CNET says:
"The Good: Easy to install and easy on the eyes, the Nest Learning Thermostat learns your heating and cooling preferences over time, so you don't have to set it. Wi-Fi networking and a tasteful app let you control and monitor your Nest from afar."
"The Bad: At $250, the Nest is so very expensive."
"The Bottom Line: The Nest Learning Thermostat makes home climate control, yes, interesting. With lovely design, charming extras (it reports the weather!), and integrated Wi-Fi, this thermostat of the future can restart an industry."
Honeywell Sues Nest
On February 6, 2012, Honeywell, a company long known for its commercial and residential thermostats, filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Nest Labs.
The suit claims the Nest Learning Thermostat infringes on seven of Honeywell’s patents, spanning categories as generic as a “natural language installer” (a set-up menu, by any other name) to an “HVAC controller,” a standard component of any temperature control system.
Honeywell environmental and combustion controls president Beth Wozniak said in a statement issued the same date as the lawsuit filing.
“Competition is good and we welcome it, but we will not stand by while competitors, large or small, offer products that infringe on our intellectual property.”
As for Nest, the company is keeping mum on specifics: Nest Labs spokeswoman Kate Brinks said in an e-mail to Wired.
“We have not yet reviewed the actual filing, which we learned about this morning through Honeywell’s press release. We will provide comment once we’ve had the opportunity to review it.”
Tony, welcome to the world of patent infringements.
Courtesy of an article dated April 16, 2012 appearing in Fast Company Design
USING TECHNIQUES IMPORTED FROM TOYOTA, HERMAN MILLER HAS ACHIEVED STUNNING EFFICIENCY WHILE EMPOWERING ITS WORKERS.
Amidst all the doom-and-gloom about the death of American manufacturing, the one, simple fact that’s usually forgotten is that we’re still the world’s No. 1 manufacturer. No joke, and not a typo: We produce one fifth of the world’s total manufacturing output.
Herman Miller factory worker assembles Aeron chair (Click Image To Enlarge)
Herman Miller puts all Aeron chairs through stringent quality control tests to insure quality and reliability (Click Image To Enlarge)
Herman Miller puts all Aeron chairs through stringent quality control tests. Here test chairs backs are pulled by cables numerous times to insure quality and reliability (Click Image To Enlarge)
The difference between how Americans once made stuff and how that stuff is made today is that manufacturing in the U.S. has reached a stunning level of efficiency that can be hard to really comprehend. Unless, of course, you visit a factory like the one that makes Herman Miller’s Aeron chair. We recently did, and saw a process which has yielded a 500% increase in productivity and a 1,000% increase in quality since 1998. Those numbers sound made up, but bear with me for a second, and I’ll explain.
The Kaizen ("continual improvement") process that yielded all those results was imported directly from Toyota, in the 1990s. At the time, Herman Miller was hoping to bring down costs in order to stay competitive across the world. And Toyota was hoping to build better relationships in the U.S., as part of its effort to build more cars in America. Herman Miller’s present EVP of operations, Ken Goodson, eventually cajoled Toyota into making Herman Miller one of the first companies in a pilot program to teach American companies Japanese manufacturing techniques. Toyota eventually sent Hajime Oba, a legendary manufacturing genius, to lead the lessons. (Oba himself, humble to the end, prefers that he be called sensei or coach.)
The sloped feeder that delivers chair bases to the worker use gravity rather than machinery to do the job--thus decreasing the breakdowns. (Click Image To Enlarge)
Herman Miller assembly worker places paper wrapping on completed Aeron chair for packing (Click Image To Enlarge)
Herman Miller assembly worker takes notes on production performance to insure everything is going according to plan (Click Image To Enlarge)
Kaizen, as many people will tell you, isn’t about grand ideas or huge structural changes. Rather, it’s about tiny improvements that accrue over time. So for Herman Miller, these involve adjustments as minute as the placement of a bin of washers so someone has to reach over 6 inches less, or the height of an assembly line, so people don’t waste a fraction of a second bending over.
The process is as important as the results: It’s the individual employees on the line that are suggesting these improvements. At Herman Miller, they average 1,200 "plan-do-check acts"--that is, little proposed changes to the assembly process--ever year. Eric VanDam, Herman Miller's director of operations in seating says.
"The biggest thing is to empower people to change the work in ways that matter to them."
All of these tiny improvements, in the course of 13 years, have meant that a new Aeron chair, which used to come off the line every 82 seconds, is now boxed and finished every 17 seconds. A decade ago, an Aeron took more than 600 seconds in total to build. Today, it’s about 340. Meanwhile, safety metrics have improved by a factor of 6. Quality metrics have improved by a factor of 10. A single Aeron takes one fifth of the labor to make that it once did. The actual factory itself is 10 times smaller.
Today, Herman Miller is doing far more with the same labor force that was once producing a sum total of five different office chairs. Today, they produce 17, using roughly the same number of people. And all the while, lead times have shrunk from two months to as little as 10 days.
You might think that all this means that Herman Miller should be running into a practical limit in how efficient they can be. But they’re still getting improvements of a quarter to a half of a second at a time, month by month. They’re on track this year to beat all their records--again.
COMMENTARY: I wish I could put together a new office chair in 340 seconds. If you have ever had to put together an office chair, or even a wodden desk, it can be a very time-consuming and frustrating experience, even with a set of written instructions to work from. SmartFurniture, Herman Miller's San Francisco distributor, makes it look easy in this video.
I do love Herman Miller office furniture, especially those ergonomic and comfortable Aeron chairs. I view them as a form of art, not just office furniture. Plus, they are 100% made in the U.S.A. They are a bit pricey, but you get what you pay for. Herman Miller products are sold only through authorized office furniture distributors.
The basic price for the Aeron chair is $629.00, and can be customized with lumbar support adjustment, leather arm rests, fully-adjustable arm support and other goodies. It costs $50.00 extra to buy one fully-assembled. Beware of cheap foreign imitators. There are several of them out there, but they are just not the same thing.
Courtesy of an article dated March 28, 2012 appearing in Fast Company Design
"Nano House," a new book by Phyllis Richardson, compiles outstanding examples of small-scale living.
Studio-apartment dwellers may feel reasonably content living a small-scale existence. But if transplanted in the country, how many would opt for a similarly sized house?
Driven by a commitment to reduce energy consumption and built space, there’s a growing trend among the eco-conscious to build tiny homes. A new book, Nano House by Phyllis Richardson (Thames & Hudson), gathers 40 of the best-designed examples from around the world--all of which showcase an appreciation for the efficient use of space, materials, and resources.
Will they inspire “real housewives” of Beverly Hills to abandon their McMansions, short of a foreclosure notice? Not very likely. But they may get a few die-hard city slickers wistfully contemplating a simpler life.
Fablab House, IAAC with MIT Center for Bits and Atoms, Spain, 635 sq. ft.
The pointof Fablab House is to get as much solar energy and provide as much living space in a compact, thermally efficient, and low-cost structure. According to the team, it's a "paraboloid section positioned for suitable solar tracking and deformed in appropriate steps aimed towards an optimal orientation for summer (narrowing to the west, widening eastward, and flattening towards the zenith of 70˚)." Since the project was designed for the hot Madrid summer, the group created shaded outdoor space by raising three legs of the building off the ground.
Since the project was designed for the hot Madrid summer, the team created shaded outdoor space by raising three legs of the building off the ground. The legs contain services, equipment, and water.
The house is built solely of wood, cut from laminated timber using CNC technology.
It took a contractor six months to hand-craft the ovoid shape of Blob, a guesthouse out of polyester. The interior is lined with a gridlike storage system, which also has compartments for lounging and sleeping. The nose of the blob and a side door can be opened to create an airy pavilion.
The interior includes 360 degrees of shelving stacked four levels high, skylights and windows to let in natural lighting and a built-in shower.
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Blob looks a lot like a big Easter egg. Here's the exterior view with the sidedoor and front open to let in air and sunlight. The bottom image shows Blob fully-closed to reveal its egg shape, almost spaceship-like in appearance. Imagine a cluster of Blobs in different colors. Just wished there were more windows.
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Villa Hermina HSH Architekti Cernin, Czech Republic, 635 sq. ft.
This box on a hill has two attention-grabbing features: its Pepto-colored exterior and its interior slant. The color refers to the designers’ favorite building, Ludwig Leo’s Versuchsanstalt fur Wasserbau und Schiffbau, in Berlin, whose external pipework is painted pastel pink. The steep incline is in part a response to the client’s request for a movie theater with raked seating. The lower level is connected to the upper by bright-green ramps, which provide more floor space than traditional stairs. The floors are covered in an anti-skid material common in sports facilities.
The steep incline is in part a response to the client’s request for a movie theater with raked seating. The lower level is connected to the upper by bright-green ramps, which provide more floor space than traditional stairs. The floors are covered in an anti-skid material common in sports facilities.
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Roll-It Institut fur Entwerfen und Bautechnik University of Karlsruhe, Germany, 6 ft., 6 inch x 10 ft.
Designed by students Christian Zwick and Konstantin Jerabek as a competition entry, Roll-It is the ultimate mobile home. Not only does its barrel shape allow it to be easily transported but its interior rotates like a round Rubik’s cube. It’s broken into three rings: at one end is a sleeping/living area, at the other is a kitchen and bathroom hub, and in between is the “corridor,” which can the user can turn by walking up its slope like a hamster wheel. Apart from providing exercise, the middle wheel functions as a dial to rotate either of the outer rings into the desired position.
The interior is broken into three rings: at one end is a sleeping/living area, at the other is a kitchen and bathroom hub, and in between is the “corridor,” which can the user can turn by walking up its slope like a hamster wheel. Apart from providing exercise, the middle wheel functions as a dial to rotate either of the outer rings into the desired position.
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Sunset Cabin Taylor Smyth Architects, Lake Simcoe, Ontario, Canada, 274 sq. ft.
Sunset Cabin's architect Michael Taylor describes this one-room house, located on the southern shore of Lake Simcoe, as a “simple but sophisticated Canadian bunkie.” Despite its seemingly complex pattern of louvers, the entire structure was constructed from prefabricated sections in four weeks.
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Lumenhaus, Virginia Tech University, Solar Decathlon Europe 2010, Spain, 667 sq. ft.
Lumenhaus beat out 17 other research universities for the Solar Decathlon title. This unit adapts to changing weather conditions with high-grade insulation, solar panels, and a centrally controlled energy system. A series of sliding doors was inspired by the mushrabiyahfound on traditional Arab houses. The stainless-steel screens feature a sophisticated pattern of disk-shaped cutouts; The rotation of each of the 9,000 disks was determined by Grasshopper software, which was used to calculate the angle of the sun and the degree of visibility in different areas of the house. The higher the disk placement, the more light is let in.
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House Arc Joseph Bellomo Architects, Hawaii, 753 sq. ft.
The idea for this house has its origins in a bike shed. The eco-minded California architect Joseph Bellomopartnered with the cycling enthusiast Jeff Selzer to design a bike-storage unit that could be installed in parking lots, parks, and city centers. The result was the Bike Arc, a structure made of curved steel ribs and covered in semi-opaque polycarbonate. Bellomo adapted the model for housing, using the same basic shape but with the addition of cedar cladding (which can vary depending on what’s locally available) and sliding glass doors. The house can consist of two modules--one with a kitchen and living area, the other with sleeping quarters--that are joined by a breezeway. Bellomo envisions the Arc being used as a prefab housing solution for people who have been displaced by natural catastrophes.
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COMMENTARY: Now that's what I call compact living at its finest. The Nano Houses are sleek, modern, minimalist in their design concept and designed to optimize limited space. Small by normal home standards, but sufficient for a single person willing to live in tight quarters, but at a very low price. If you can find a small plot of land, let's say somewhere on a bluff overlooking the sea or valley below, that has plenty of trees, plants, flowers and shrubbery, now and that would be heaven for a guy like me. I could blog there all day in absolute comfort. Bar-B-Q on the wooden desk or small balcony, and we are in business.
So instead of having to buy a new house when you have to move, you simply take your Nano House with you. Now that's what I call mobile housing.
Courtesy of an article dated November 12, 2011 appearing in Fast Company Design
Our new restaurant concept is called Hollow Restaurant and was conceived by two Russian designers Sergei Makhno and Vasiliy Butenko. What do visitors expect from the new restaurant? Delicious meals? - No doubt. Comfort? - Of course. Coziness? – is a must! A place where you want to spend time with family, loved ones, friends and colleagues. Come to Hollow Restaurant!!
The concept of Hollow Restaurant is defined by its interior. After entering, you will feel the merger with nature. The "Hollow" in the name is the key of the interior. The restaurant is divided into two floors.
First Floor - This is the dining area with a spectrum of delicious cuisine that will delight even the most refined tastes.
Second Floor - This is the lounge area that conveys a feeling of comfort and complete security from the outside world. Here you will feel peace, solitude and seclusion from the bustle of everyday life.
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Hollow Restaurant's decorative elements include large windows to allow lots of natural light, high vaulted ceiling with a skylight drenchs the restaurant with lots of natural sunlight, decorative flower art pieces hanging from the ceiling, and cone-shaped lighting fixtures to lightup each table. Everything in Hollow Restaurant was designed to meet the aesthetic tastes of the client.
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Authorial lamps from Vasiliy Butenko complement the flower decorative pieces and remind visitors about the generous gifts of nature. Materials used in the design are wood and stone to give a sense of natural rest and comfort with the environment.
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The interior has another one pleasant feature. There you can fully devote yourself to reading your favorite book, especially as everything is available: natural light, comfortable chairs, delicious coffee and of course a wide variety of books for every taste. In the Hollow in every detail you will feel the personality, which is so lacking in today's world.
Main Floor Dining Area (Click Image To Enlarge)
Upstairs Lounge Area (Click Image To Enlarge)
COMMENTARY: I have showcased the restaurant design works of Sergei Makhno and Vasiliy Butenko before, and they have really impressed me with their unique restaurant interior ideas. I hope you like Hollow Restaurant. Looks like they gave Apple some free promo with the iMac in the upstairs lounge bar.
Courtesy of a "Hollow Restaurant" by Sergei Makhno and Vasiliy Butenko appearing in Behance
Background: Created by Danish design studio UiWE, the Pollee portable urinal for women is a star-shaped toilet system that looks a bit like a giant toy pinwheel and accommodates four girls at a time. Instead of the classic urinal, which is designed to be stood in front of, Pollee urinals are long and thin so that they can be easily straddled. Girls just do a semi-squat and go.
Why It's Unique: Pollee urinals don't takeup much room and are very easy to setup almost anywhere they are needed. Girls can’t pee standing up, and the Pollee provides a great option to a regular toilet seat. Finally, a portable urinal that is not debasing to women.
Vertebrae Vertical Bathroom
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Location: Various
Background: Occupying a mere 4.3 square feet, this "Swiss Army Knife Bathroom" takes space conservation to a whole new level, packing a toilet, sink, cistern, two storage units and two shower heads into one compact system.
Why It's Unique: Named for its resemblance to the spinal cord, the bathroom's modules all connect to a central axis. Everything feeds from the top of the structure, which attaches to the ceiling. Users have the option of directing the waste pipes downward through a hole in the floor, or into the wall through a hole at the back of the toilet. To enable shower drainage, the Vertebrae must be installed in a sealed wet room with adequate slope to the floor, according to the brochure. "Real estate is priceless in the bathroom," says Judith Balis, an interior designer with experience constructing restrooms.
Space Bathroom
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Location: International Space Station
Background: With no gravity to ensure that water stays in the toilet bowl or to force waste down, NASA was forced to build pumps and harness airflow to create an effective and hygienic bathroom for astronauts.
Why It's Unique: Because the entire system relies on air, creating a tight seal between the user and the toilet bowl is essential. Foot straps and pivoting bars anchor the astronauts to the ground, and an intricate network of tubes, pipes and ducts handles the waste. Far removed from water treatment plants, the ISS must treat waste on its own and actually converts a large percentage into potable water. A hose-suction option is also available in lieu of the main toilet bowl.
Bulletproof Bathroom
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Location: Beijing, China
Background: The 15-ton, $100,000 public bathroom in Zhong GuanVillage Plaza may be the safest in the world.
Why It's Unique: Immune even to TNT explosives detonated from within, this bunker of a bathroom is part of a string of anti-terrorism products debuted in China after 9/11. For the Chinese, the bathroom isn't much of a draw. Originally, usage instructions posted outside were in only English and French, but even after adding a Chinese translation in 2006, the toilet remains unpopular.
Background: Here to rescue Mother Nature from full bladders everywhere is AANDEBOOM, a Dutch design studio that has invented either the world’s cleverest or the world’s grossest makeshift restroom. P-Tree is a rotation molded recycled plastic receptacle that straps onto a tree trunk, transforming your resident oak into the backdrop for a public (very public) urinal.
Why It's Unique: P-Tree urinals can be installed virtually anywhere there is a tree. The P-Tree costs very little, and can be installed in a jiffy, anywhere you need them. They are great for public parks and recreational facilities, outdoor festivals, almost anywhere you can imagine.
Aquarium Bathroom
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Location: Akashi, Japan
Background: Like many beach-side bathrooms, the Mumin Papa Cafe is decorated with deep-sea creatures. But the live three-wall aquarium enveloping the stall one-ups standard wallpaper by a large margin.
Why It's Unique: The underwater restroom cost $270,000 to build and is ladies-only, except for the giant sea turtle swimming around. The surrounding aquarium was designed to mimic the feeling of relieving yourself while swimming in the ocean.
South Pole Urinal
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Location: Antarctica
Background: This urinal was constructed just 350 meters from the geographic South Pole, and drifts 10 meters closer to the pole every year. Now that's an impressive piece of plumbing.
Why It's Unique: Chris Curtis, the photographer of this picture, says that this urinal "marks an elusive destination and goal that was not able to even be reached until the early 1900s and carries with it the suffering and the loss of life of several explorers; and one that is at a place that is not only off the beaten path but literally 'miles from nowhere' ... in fact, no other urinal in the world or even space can compete with the efforts and loss of life that went into [this fixture's] eventual permanence at the South Pole. What it may lack in beauty it more than makes up for in dignity." Hear, hear.
Disappearing Bathroom
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Location: Various
Background: This modern bathroom conceals a washbasin, toilet and shower tray beneath folding wooden shelves and benches, enabling a sleek transformation from bathroom to multipurpose room.
Why It's Unique: Though the designers say the wooden coverups add elegance, Balis says they're simply unnecessary. "You can put the most beautiful shade of lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig. You're really not fooling anyone." Purportedly, the bathroom could be installed on one wall of a larger room (such as a living room) or in a very small space so as to enable a more flexible house design process without sacrificing sophistication.
Arctic Outhouse
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Location: McMurdo Station, Central West Antarctica
Background: In a place where humans attempt to make no environmental impact, waste must be handled carefully.
Why It's Unique: Normally, people in Antarctica walk around with bottles for collecting urine, and then empty the day's contents into a bigger drum called a "U drum." Outhouses are for solid waste only, and contain a five-gallon plastic bucket lined with a plastic bag. After the bucket's been filled, it's sealed, placed on a pallet, and shipped off. Arctic outhouses are said to be mostly aroma-free, and the sturdily built units make for a temporary respite from cold and wind.
Ebb Bathroom
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Location: Various
Background: Taking "streamlined" to a whole new level, these combined-function Ebb designs make for a modern, almost futuristic bathroom.
Why It's Unique: Balis calls the Ebb bathroom "fabulous, both visually and functionally." The main building material for the fixtures in this bathroom, which was designed by UsTogether, a British and Irish group, is LG HI-MACS, a natural acrylic stone made out of aluminum hydroxide. The material improves impact strength, heat and scratch resistance, visual homogeneity, and thermoplastic moldability over mainstay bathroom materials such as marble, granite and glass.
Dolce and Gabbana's Gold Room
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Location: Milan, Italy
Background: Part of an A-list restaurant simply named "Gold," this opulent bathroom has been host to several stars such as Giselle, Kylie Minogue and Paris Hilton.
Why It's Unique: "It's the little luxuries we allow ourselves that probably come into play in the bathroom more than anywhere else," Balis says. Indeed, the bathroom is luxurious, with golden bamboo lining the walls, giant mirrors and marble counters; Dolce and Gabbana stays true to its high-end name. The clincher is the constant loop of Goldfinger playing inside every golden stall on plasma screens.
Bar 89
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Location: New York City
Background: The bar's bathroom doors use liquid crystals to selectively turn opaque when the customer enters and closes the stall.
Why It's Unique: The crystal innovation in this stall is called Privacy Glass, which harnesses light diffusion in order to create privacy while still allowing light to enter. The sheet of liquid crystal is sandwiched between two normal panes of glass, and the molecular array of the crystals is naturally random enough to disperse light, creating privacy. But when voltage is applied to the sheet, the crystals arrange themselves into a neat parallel formation that permits the passage of light, making the bathroom door transparent.
UriLift Public Pop-Up Toilet
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Location: Various
Background: A bold move to hamper alcohol-induced nighttime public urination, the semi-permanent Urilift Pop-Up Urinal emerges at 10 pm and disappears at 3 am, coinciding with prime bar-hopping hours.
Why It's Unique: These misdemeanor-fighting urinals cost $70,000 each; the unit consists of three adjoining 6-foot-tall stalls. The urinals connect to main water lines in order to flush away waste, and pipes lead directly into the underground sewage system. The alcoves lack much privacy (there are no doors), but users don't seem to take issue with that triviality. The toilets recede into the ground during the day in order to avoid obstructing traffic, and police are pleased with the installments so far, noting a reduction in arrests, fines and aggressive behavior following the installation.
See-Through Toilet
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Location: Basel, Switzerland
Background: This one-way glass stall looks like a mirror to an outsider, but completely transparent to an insider, leading to a nerve-wracking bathroom experience.
Why It's Unique: The bathroom was designed by artist Monica Bonvicini, who enjoys delving into public versus private life in her exhibitions. This piece is entitled "Don't Miss a Sec," and was inspired by her viewers' reluctance to use the bathroom during art shows, fearing they might miss out on something important. One-way mirrors work their magic by having one side painted with a very thin reflective coating, then strategically adjusting lighting. For the outside to look like a mirror, it must be very bright so that the mirror's surface has plenty to reflect. The inside must be kept dark so that light can't pass through the glass. If the placement of light is switched, however, the walls become windows and your business becomes everyone's business.
COMMENTARY: That's what I call some rather unqiue and outrageous bathrooms and public restrooms. If you know of any other unique restrooms or bathrooms post a comment. The saddest is that Arctic Outhouse, and the kinkiest is definitely that See-Through Public Restroom.
Courtesy of an article appearing in the January 2012 issue of Popular Mechanics
What goes with an orange Ferrari sportscar? A modular orange kitchen, of course. Modular orange kitchens are the hottest new trend in kitchen interior design for 2011.
Orange kitchens are highly stylish and reflect the warmth of the evening sun as well as a contemporary chic look. The room undoubtedly looks very inviting and inspires the owners to cook delicious dishes and serve them.Designing orange kitchens may sound as a very difficult task but with proper planning and creativity, the task can be easily accomplished. Below is a list of handful ideas to design orange kitchens –
For the backsplash region, mosaic tiles featuring tints of orange color along with a green or blue touch may be selected to emphasize the theme.The floor can be designed with the check board theme. You may employ peach colored tiles with ivory white to create the pattern.
Try and choose window treatments that feature the bright orange color. If you are looking forward to creating a bold dramatic look, you may select solid orange colored curtains for the windows. On the other hand, if a subtle look is desired, cream or white color curtains with orange colored patterns such as stripes, flowers, geometric designs or dots may be selected.
Ensure to provide ample of lighting source in the kitchen. For this, you may introduce rusty or brass chandeliers. Multiple lamps fitted with orange light bulbs may also be kept in corners and on the shelves to impart the room with a luxurious and a warmer feel.
COMMENTARY: The new modular orange kitchen trend for 2011 is beginning to catch fire. With the coming of Halloween, now is the time to update your kitchen. Think orange. Orange with black counters, orange with brushed metal kitchen appliances, orange and white. Give me any kitchen color, but make sure its orange.
The Nest Learning Thermostat is gorgeous, intuitive, and more necessary than you think. Just like a certain blockbuster MP3 player was once upon a time.
Tony Fadell invented the iPod. Okay, he didn't do it singlehandedly--but the former Apple executive conceived it, got Apple on board, and then went on to shepherd the development of 18 (!) generations of the company's signature pre-iPhone product. In 2008 he left Apple and several years later founded a stealth startup called Nest Labs, which was revealed this year to be in the... thermostat business. Wait, what?
Tony Fadell (far left) at Apple together with (from left to right) Jon Rubistein Jonathan Ive, Steve Jobs and Phil Schiller posing for forTime Magazine
Tony Fadell as he appears today
Yeah, you read that right. But not just a thermostat--the iPod of thermostats: a device so desirable and intuitive that it'll turn home energy management into a must-have symbol of sustainable living. Fadell told Co.Design he intends the Nest Learning Thermostat, which will retail for $249.99 starting in November, to be "a jewel on the wall... most people try to hide the thermostat, but we're trying to make it sexy and coveted so that you cherish it, and at parties people ask you about it and you're proud of it." Big talk--but watch this teaser video and you just might become a believer:
The Nest thermostat actually is iPod-like: The display and primary interaction are instantly intuitive and physically irresistible.
To adjust the temperature, turn a ring on the rim of the device--if you're making it cooler, the display turns blue, and if you're making it warmer, it turns red. The temperature itself is displayed in a clear, bright numeric readout--no more squinting at tick marks on a dusty dial. There's also a little green leaf that appears on the screen to guide to you into tweaking your settings for optimal energy savings. And Fadell, no stranger to the importance of a good "unboxing" experience, even went so far as to include a high-quality, custom branded screwdriver with every unit. Fadell says.
"When you take it out of the box you want it to be easy to install. Apple taught me not to cut corners, and that you don't give up on user experience--ever."
As Fadell notes, the thermostat business was ripe for disruption, and a tantalizing business opportunity as well. He stumbled upon it when he was building his own dream home, an experiment in cutting edge green design in Lake Tahoe. As he considered spending tens of thousands of dollars on a heating and cooling system, it just seemed wrong to link all that tech up to a $90 thermostat from Home Depot that barely worked as advertised, simply because it's design was so poor. So he simply waited for a better product to come along, but it didn't. Upon investigating the market further, he discovered that 10 million thermostats are sold every year. Meanwhile, only 6% of programmable thermostats are actually programmed, even though a programmed thermostat can save 30-40% in heating and cooling costs. That's was clearly a serious design problem.
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So for users, the best thing about the Nest Learning Thermostat is under that gleaming case. It's equipped with software that analyzes and tracks your usage patterns over time, so that you only have to twist that dial a dozen times before the thermostat can simply anticipate your climate-control needs and take care of it automatically. Fadell says.
"Instead of programming their thermostats, most people have given up and treat it like a light switch. But, you have to make those manual adjustments about 1,500 times a year if you want to see any real energy savings."
Nest's version elegantly lets you set it and forget it--at least after that initial learning period. But this thermostat is so sexy, you probably won't mind.
COMMENTARY: I love the sleek, elegant, minimalist and simple design of the Nest Learning thermostat. It definitely shows its Apple roots. Who would've thought that the home thermostat was due for disruption. Looks like Tony has definitely solved the home thermostat problem with a thermost that blends into the home and literally "learns" how to save energy as you set temperature settings. The installation is overcome, too. Nest sells the Learning thermostat with installation, and will even connect you with an installer located in your zip code.
A Recap of the Nest Learning Thermostat:
Venture capital has rained down on Nest Labs. In May 2010, the Nest Labs team raised somewhere in the vicinity of $50 million to $80 million from Kleiner Perkins, Google Ventures, Shasta Ventures, Al Gore's Generation Investment Management, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Intertrust to build a better thermostat. VCs close to the deal put it at a ridiculously high valuation. As Vinod Coleslaw says, "$1 billion valuations are the new black."
In October 2011, Nest Labs finally came out of stealth mode to unveil its new product, the Nest Learning Thermostat. Who would've guessed that in a world of social networks, mobile devices, and apps, that the next new cool device would be a damn wall thermostat. Okay, it's not pretty, but it's cool. No, it's Hot. I mean its a hot idea, whose time has come. We shall see if Tony Fadell and his team of engineers and designers got the wall thermostat right.
Courtesy of an article dated October 25, 2011 appearing in Fast Company Design
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