In 2016 Columbia University's campus on Haven Avenue between West 171st and 172nd streets will welcome a striking new Medical and Graduate Education Building. The 14-story, 100,000 square foot center will be used by students from all four CUMC schools, P&S;, Nursing, Dental Medicine and the Mailman School of Public Health, as well as the biomedical departments of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. To encourage interaction between the various schools, Diller Scofidio + Renfro designed the "Study Cascade," a single, interconnected space that spans the full height of the building with a completely transparent glass façade.
The massive stairwell includes "a network of social and study spaces distributed across oversize landings... conducive to team-based learning teaching." The "Study Cascade" will be dotted with outdoor rooms and terraces clad with cement panels and wood. DS+R's plans also include a "high-tech medical simulation center" to enable hands-on learning. In addition to introducing a fresh, innovative approach to academic architecture, the building will also serve as a university landmark at the northernmost point of the medical campus. I love how the façade exposes the interior like a cross section of the building, but looking at the renderings in the 90° weather we're having in NY at the moment, I just wonder how they'll combat the heat let in by all that glass. Thoughts?
We've touched on this topic only briefly before, so I'd like to hear impressions on the topic of limited-edition goods—impressions specifically from the industrial design community, as ID's raison d'etre, of course, is mass production. We all have our different views and opinions of things, but I'm starting to worry than mine is veering so far outside of what's currently normal that I'm in danger of no longer being able to comprehend the normal consumer's thinking.
As you'll see in the quick vid below, the bag looks beautiful and appears nicely functional:
It was intended for a small production run, but "unprecented demand" meant the bags sold out extremely quickly. This prompted Deus and Maker to order up another production run, which seems logical. But what struck me was this comment left on their page by a purchaser of a first-run bag:
Glad I brought one before they sold out! I hope thought [sic] that there is a point of difference between these and your next re-run. I brought one because there was potentially only 50 available—that justified the price I paid for it. Please don't dilute the value of these awesome rolls by producing more than was promised (in this design anyway).
I understand the part of society where we pay more for things that are scarce, a model based on the allocation of natural resources. I get that we make houses out of wood and engagement rings out of gold and diamonds. What I'm not keen on is the notion of contrived scarcity, where seemingly every manufacturer with a stylish product artificially limits the production run purely to justify a higher price tag. I understand this practice's value in fashion, where two society women at a party don't want to show up in the same dress; but I'm having a problem mapping this notion onto machine tools.
Nau is seeking a Photographic Art Director who will work closely with the Creative Studio Team to develop and execute the visual tone of the Nau brand. This will include directing, editing, and proofing all studio and lifestyle photography for nau.com, seasonal workbooks, look books, trade show booths, social media, blog, marketing campaigns, emails, PR, POP and all brand-related imagery. Additionally, he or she will be an active member of the creative studio and provide input for the creative direction of the Nau brand.
» view The best design jobs and portfolios hang out at Coroflot.
When the martial arts school I was affiliated with began to expand, I learned something interesting about space usage. Let's say you could open a yoga studio, a martial arts academy or a gym in New York City. If membership fees and space rental rates were identical for each business, which would be the most profitable?
Answer: The yoga studio. Why? Because you can fit the most bodies into the space. A room that holds 20 yoga practitioners might hold just six tumbling grapplers and three fitness machines. MMA schools and gyms need to charge higher fees (or more "churn") to turn a profit.
This model mirrors the way airplanes are laid out. For yoga schools and Economy class to make cents, they need to hold as many bodies as possible. The fairly standard 30-by-72-inch yoga mats in rows give you a hard figure you can map to square footage, as do rows of cramped Economy seats. So I'm always interested to see concept work done with airplane seating—even if it rarely seems practical—because the church-pew seating model is such a difficult box to break out of.
UK-based recent ID grad Matthew Cleary has a proposal that might be better-suited to public parks than airplanes, but it's worth a gander nonetheless.
Fresh off a one-year internship at British aircraft interior firm AIM Aviation, Cleary has conceptualized a triangular airplane seat that seats three, and effectively scatters passengers around the plane in an unusual way.
Two of the seats are pivotable, allowing passengers traveling together (at least in twos) to get a little cozier.
Violence Prevention Through Urban Upgrade in Khayelitsha, Cape Town
Reporting by Nadine Botha
Cape Town has officially accepted the title of World Design Capital 2014 (WDC2014). It's a first for Africa and a first for the Global South. Another World Design Capital first is that Cape Town's mayor has appointed an industrial designer to help the municipality to internalise design thinking, taking the WDC2014 program beyond simply a year-long festival.
An industrial design engineering Masters-graduate from the Royal College of Arts in London, Richard Perez also holds an engineering degree and a MBA from the University of Cape Town. In order to facilitate this design-enabled environment within The City, Perez will be taking a three-year leave of absence from his position of director at ...XYZ industrial design consultancy. ...XYZ has distinguished itself internationally with its 4 Secs Condom Applicator and Freeplay Wind-up Radio.
However it is unlikely that Perez will be designing any gadgets in City Hall. In fact, we ask him, what is there for an industrial designer to do in City Hall?
Retreat Railway Police Station. Designed by Makeka Design Studios
Core77: What is the design brief for your new position at the City of Cape Town?
Richard Perez: There are two sides to the job. One is very much focused on identifying and showcasing existing design-based municipal projects for the actual WDC2014 program. These projects such as the Violence Prevention through Urban Upgrading project in Khayelitsha and the Biodiversity Garden in Greenpoint Park.
The other aspect is about bringing design thinking into the organization. South Africa is going to be 20 years into democracy and we're still faced with the same problems. Executive mayor Patricia de Lille has bought into the concept of design as a tool to try something different. She really believes that design, and I would agree with her, can enable us to look at these problems through a different lens and really understand new ways of solving these problems.
What are some of these problems?
The mayor is interested in things like densification and the speed of urbanization, in terms of how we deal with that and solutions that accommodate that sort of growth. The city is also still very segregated, so the mayor would like to see how we can use design to make it more of an inclusive city.
These are really big "wicked problems" and the thing about wicked problems is that you can't solve them. The key is to understand them and then manage them through design interventions. We're not looking for silver bullets to solve these problems forever. It's about using a design thinking mind to understand the problem, engaging with the stakeholders, engaging with the people that live in the system and then starting to look at solutions.
MyCiTi Bus Service reconnects a divided city. Photo by Bruce Sutherland
The Faraday Porteur electric bicycle has elements of all of the above—and then some—and is now available for pre-orders via none other than Kickstarter. From a practical perspective, the electric bike is expressly designed for stylish-yet-sensible city-dwellers, worthy of its designation as the "ultimate modern utility bicycle," its virtues duly noted by the Transportation Jury of the Core77 Design Awards, which named the Faraday Runner-Up in the category.
Yet the Faraday Porteur also hits that aspirational sweet spot: the thoughtfully-designed machine is no less than a dream bike, and it should come as no surprise that the Faraday Porteur won the People's Choice Award when it debuted at the Oregon Manifest last September (back when it went by its first name alone).
The Faraday Porteur looks and feels like a high-end city bicycle, but it performs in a class of its own. The bike appeals to a broad range of consumers, from bike lovers to commuters, baby boomers, techies, gadget gurus, and anyone with hill phobia. Inspired by the classic European delivery bikes of the 1940s and 50s, the Faraday Porteur has been updated with state-of-the-art components and construction techniques. An integrated, all-weather computer manages the intelligent pedal assist system that senses the rider's output and powers the front wheel. A 'boost' switch provides an extra surge of power, but only when desired. High-powered, integrated front and rear LED lights turn on and off automatically, and the batteries are hidden seamlessly within the frame. At just under 40 pounds (without the removable rack), the Porteur is light enough to easily carry up stairs or load on the bus.
The Faraday, v1.0, on display at the PNCA during the Oregon Manifest
A first look at the integrated controller box, August 2011
The process and feedback have been so rewarding that lead designer Adam Vollmer recently left IDEO to found Faraday Bicycles. "Only a year ago we were documenting the creation of the bike on the Design/Build Chronicles for Core77. The reaction to the bike when we unveiled it at Oregon Manifest was tremendous, and it's incredible to be launching Faraday on Kickstarter just a short year later."
Paul Sadoff of Rock Lobster inspects the geometry as Adam looks on, September 2011
"Their teeth look great," the vet said, during a recent check-up of my two pooches. "How often do you brush them?"
I don't brush my dogs' teeth; I think that's an insane thing to do. And I'm not about to pay somebody $600 to do it. I just regularly give them marrow bones, as the act of using their teeth to rip raw meat off of a bone, followed by scraping every last inch of that bone clean, keeps their teeth clean naturally.
It would be awesome if eating corn on the cob would automatically keep human teeth clean, but sadly that's not the case. And I'd never heard of an alternative to the toothbrush, toothpaste and water we all use to keep our teeth clean--until now.
A British company is busily flogging their Rolly Chewable Toothbrush, a small, fugu-looking thing that you pop into your mouth and manipulate around using your tongue. The bristles are coated in Xylitol and flouride, and there's no water needed.
I know, it sounds crazy. But it's so crazy that it just, might, work.
Presumably the company sank most of their money into R&D;—and decided to save a few bucks on advertising:
Walk into any skate shop, and you'll see a plethora of shoes with every color under the sun. Blue, red, black, gray, green, all mixed together in a variety of high tops, low tops, slip ons, lace-ups and what have you. But walk into any skater's house, and you'll see that same variety of shoes, piled up on top of each other. Wouldn't it be great if you could just mix all the elements together yourself and own fewer shoes?
Urshuz makes that part a little easier for you. Marketed as "modular shoes," they're available in a wide variety of styles and colors, marked for different types of events and purposes. Take a basic sole—in any color you want—and then select what types of shoes you need. That could range from flip flops to boots, all interchangeable and workable using the company's "patented looping system."
In a world of unlimited choice, the most popular shoe is... a white sneaker with gray sole.
According to their web site, designer Grant Delgatty modeled the shoes after the beloved Legos: "Grant thought it would be cool if people could enjoy playing with options and being creative with their own shoes, just as he has been able to for the past fifteen years in his design work. He wanted the consumer to have that same youthful feeling of inspiration and limitless possibility."
There's a sustainability angle to this, too. The soles, which no doubt receive the most wear and tear, are made of thermo-plastic rubber, a recyclable material. Simply return the soles to Urshuz for a discount on your next soles. You'l be able to continue mixing and matching the tops you've already purchased. This hopefully means less waste overall, and perhaps more comfortable shoes that are molded to your feet over time.
The biggest surprise? Despite all the customizabiltity, the company's top three designs end up along the usual spectrum of white, black and brown. But the best part is that if you want more variety, you can just make the shoes yourself.
In this digital age, an encyclopedia seems downright archaic. Especially in the context of modern manufacturing techniques like EBM ("Electron Beam Machining"), where a beam of electrons bores holes denominated in tens of microns through thin materials—in a vacuum no less, because the electrons could be thrown off by air molecules (!). Into this neo-futurist world, Chris Lefteri has provided the second edition of Making It: Manufacturing Technologies for Product Design to catalogue all of the manufacturing tools modern designers have at their disposal. While it may be possible to find more detailed or technical information on the processes he describes, Making It stands as a robust resource for a product designer looking into a new manufacturing technique, an eye-popping compendium for a scientifically minded student, or, perhaps most valuably, as a vehicle for increasing designer awareness of new innovation in manufacturing.
Designers live in a mildly cloistered world where they can concentrate on form factors with a vague awareness of parting lines and minimum thicknesses, but really leave it to the engineers to complete their visions. Making It reads like a layman's engineering primer, not a product design book. Each manufacturing technology gets its own 2–4 page spread with a glossy product shot, accompanying text, our favorite buzzword "process shots," and a highlighted info box of the characteristics of the technology.
Raise your hand if you know what a "title block" is.
I don't think I've physically touched a blueprint since the '90s, but apparently they're still around, presumably unfurled at job sites and the like. Hence Geoffrey and Valerie Franklin, the Oregonians behind Walnut Studiolo, designed this spiffy leather blueprint case.
Originally designed as a one-off for a map-carrying friend, the Franklins figured their had to be a market for those who carry rolled goods, and the leather-tanned tube is now for sale on their Etsy page. But good things come to those who wait, and their Blueprint Carrying Case is no exception—being hand-stitched, it's got a one-month lead time.
Core77 Design Awards 2012 - See the Winners!
Case Study: Creating the 21st Century Jean
RCA Graduate Show 2012
Metal Molding in the South of Brazil
graphic Modern
Sappi Ideas That Matter Grants
Making It: Manufacturing Techniques for Product Design, by Chris Lefteri
Learn for Life: New Architecture for New Learning
Suspending Disbelief for Student Concept Designs
Howest Industrial Design Center's Upcoming Creative Prototyping Summer School
Neat Car - DeltaWing Le Mans Racer
Ouya by fuseproject
Core77 Design Awards 
SHIFTBoston 2012 Glow Competition 
Violence Prevention Through Urban Upgrade in Khayelitsha, Cape Town
Retreat Railway Police Station. Designed by Makeka Design Studios
MyCiTi Bus Service reconnects a divided city. Photo by Bruce Sutherland
The Faraday, v1.0, on display at the PNCA during the Oregon Manifest
A first look at the integrated controller box, 
Paul Sadoff of Rock Lobster inspects the geometry as Adam looks on, 
Biomimicry 3.8: What Would You Ask Nature
Changing the Face of Motocross
20 Years of Kikkerland
Discovering Chinese Design
In a world of unlimited choice, the most popular shoe is... a white sneaker with gray sole.
SHOW RCA 2012
METAL MOLDING IN THE SOUTH OF BRAZIL
DMY Berlin 2012
NEW YORK DESIGN WEEK 2012
Book Review - "Learn for Life: New Architecture for New Learning"
Book Review - Introducing: Visual Identities for Small Businesses
Wallpaper's City Guide: What's Hip in Tel Aviv
7
Visualizing Change: An Interview with The Noun Project
Apple, EPEAT and Design for the 21st Century
Case Study: Creating the 21st Century Jean
Engineering Efficiency: Q+A with Alex Knox, Dyson's Industrial Design Director
London Olympics 2012: Nike Unveils Pro TurboSpeed & Medal Stand Collection for US Athletes
