Environmental degradation has shed light on the need for new sources of energy. A shift in energy sources calls for innovative means of storing energy. For centuries, buildings have proven able to store people, objects, and systems, inviting a conversation about their untapped potential to efficiently store large amounts of energy. In this new era, can buildings go beyond being structures of function to potential reservoirs of power?
Have you ever woken up and asked yourself how many hours you actually slept? Nowadays, a variety of devices such as smartwatches or smart bands are available to track your sleep, recognizing certain patterns to interpret your circadian rhythm and boost rest quality. Besides measuring and improving sleep duration and quality, understanding current and future trends for beds (and their surroundings) can be an important strategy for architects and designers to create effective environments for sleeping and relaxing. Through the analysis of nine different typologies, the following article showcases what we expect for the beds of the future, driven by technological advances, sustainable operations and space organization strategies.
Designing building control systems for smart, flexible, and sustainable spaces is becoming more complex due to the changing contemporary home requirements. Pushing towards smart homes, electrical engineering has generated numerous advances that have improved performance while enriching aesthetics and lowering environmental impacts. In line with these global trends, JUNG’s systems for modern building technology are continuously delving into new possibilities in all areas of modern electrical installation, such as switching and control. Showcasing smart sustainability, the temporary installation INVISIBLE is a space where electrical engineering explores the hidden advantages of connections.
We are still at the dawn of the Metaverse, the next wave of the Internet. The current “mainstream” Metaverse platforms serve as experimental containers to host the wildest dreams of virtual worlds where we are supposed to unleash the imagination. However, from a spatial design perspective, they have so far been lame and ordinary. Without the constraints in the physical world, how do we draft the urban blueprints in the metaverse? I believe metaverse planners can find inspiration from Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities, in which he revealed a poetic and mathematical approach to “urban planning” in the imaginary worlds.
Nike recently acquired RTFKT, a design studio that was founded in Jan 2020, and is known for its virtual “metaverse-ready sneakers and collectibles”. Metaverse land purchases are making headlines with multi-million dollar price tags. We’ve also seen mainstream adoption for NFT art this year and the sales are expected to surge to $17.7 billion by the end of 2021.
Beneath the hype and frenzy, we can spot a fundamental shift that unlocks a new creator economy. It provides the creators with direct access to the market, builds ongoing relationships with fans, and unites strangers in self-governed communities. In this article, we will discuss why every 3D designer/architect should embrace the Web 3.0 movement to adopt a new business logic and benefit from the creator economy in the metaverse?
.jpg?1632299699)
You might have heard that Mark Zuckerberg wants Facebook to become a Metaverse Company, and earlier this year, Epic Games, the company that develops the Unreal Engine announced that it completed a 1 billion round of funding to support the long-term vision for the metaverse. Metaverse is definitely the hottest buzzword in the tech scene. In this article, we will briefly discuss what is Metaverse, who will build it, and most importantly why it matters for architects, and how can designers play a significant role in this upcoming digital economy?
Radical neofuturist architect Jan Kaplický (18 April 1937 – 14 January 2009) was the son of a sculptor and a botanical illustrator, and appropriately spent his career creating highly sculptural and organic forms. Working with partner Amanda Levete at his suitably-named practice Future Systems, Kaplický was catapulted to fame after his sensationally avant-garde 1999 Lord's Cricket Ground Media Centre and became a truly innovative icon of avant-garde architecture.
The exhibition “Yesterday's Future” juxtaposes utopias by Future Systems and Archigram. It presents extraordinary utopias created by the teams of architects at Future Systems and Archigram. It focuses on detailed technical drawings, brightly coloured collages and filigree original models.
The works by Czech architect and founder of Future Systems Jan Kaplický, who emigrated to London in 1968, date from the 1980s and 1990s and are juxtaposed to designs created 20 years earlier by the Archigram architectural group, which was made up of Peter Cook, Ron Herron, and Dennis Crompton. Whereas Archigram conceived organic architecture that ensured survival in inhospitable environments, the technoid designs by Future Systems were located in friendlier places such as deserted natural surroundings or extremely built-up cities.
Before Jan Kaplicky’s recent death, the controversial Prague National Library project by Future Systems was supposed to be shelved forever. However, there are rumors now saying it may get built, thanks to a popular Facebook group supporting the project.
.jpg?1632299688 "Courtesy of Mars House")
.jpg?1632299564 "Courtesy of Refik Anadol installation")
.jpg?1632299617 "Courtesy of User interface of City Engine")
.jpg?1632299643 "Courtesy of Townscraper, developed by Oskar Stålberg")
.jpg?1632299699)