The Hourglass

Marc Newson's latest creation for Ikepod sees the Australian designer interpret the most iconic timepiece of all: The Hourglass. Director Philip Andelman traveled to Basel, Switzerland, to document the designer's modern take of the classic hourglass inside the Glaskeller factory. Each hand made hourglass comprises highly durable borosilicate glass and millions of stainless steel nanoballs, and is available in a 10 or 60 minute timer. LINK

Melting Wooden Sculptures

French design duo rémy clémente and morgan maccari of Bonsoir Paris have designed 'duramen series', consisting of three sculptures. For each piece, the shape of a picture frame has been manipulated to a point where it can no longer function as such, but still remains recognizable. the forms have been carved, sanded and finished by hand, out of various types of woods such as oak and fir. The contrast between the natural colors of and textures of the material help define the detailed contours of the carvings. LINK

Architect Leonard Parker, 88, designed Minnesota landmarks

Leonard Parker, an award-winning Minnetonka architect who designed many well-known public buildings in Minnesota and other civic structures around the world, died of lymphoma Monday. He was 88.

Parker and his firm, Leonard Parker Associates, designed the University of Minnesota's Mondale Hall, which houses the law school, and the Humphrey School of Public Affairs. They also designed the Minneapolis Convention Center and, in St. Paul, the Minnesota Judicial Center and Minnesota Public Radio's headquarters. Parker's 50-year career also included designs of the South Korea embassy in Ottawa and the U.S. embassy in Santiago, Chile.

"All kinds of people in the construction industry can put up buildings," Parker, whose Minneapolis-based firm is now known as Parker Design International, told the University of Minnesota Alumni Association for a 2005 article. "But we architects don't just build buildings. We create works of art."

After earning a master's degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Parker worked in Michigan for six years with famed modern architect Eero Saarinen, who designed the Gateway Arch in St. Louis and Christ Church Lutheran in South Minneapolis. It was with Saarinen that Parker learned the ethos he brought to architecture, said his son B. Aaron Parker, a fellow architect.

"He would exhaustively examine design alternatives at the beginning of the design process," B. Aaron Parker said. "He was thorough and exacting in his follow-through

and having the details the way they were supposed to be."
Parker won hundreds of awards, including the American Institute of Architects Fellowship and the Gold Medal from the group's Minnesota chapter. When it was built in 1978, the U's law school building incorporated one of the first known large-scale "green" roofs in Minnesota, B. Aaron Parker said.

Parker, a 1948 University of Minnesota graduate, taught architecture at his alma mater for 34 years.

"Few people have had as big an impact on the School of Architecture as Leonard Parker," said Thomas Fisher, dean and professor in the College of Design. "For decades, he ran a successful architectural practice and taught as an adjunct in the school, showing generations of students not only how to become skilled designers, but also how to work in ways that would help ensure their own success in the profession."

Parker's ambition to become an architect started at age 14 after he and a friend biked from their hometown of Milwaukee to Racine, Wis., according to the U of M Alumni Association article. The destination was a building his friend wanted to see.

"I didn't care about the building," Parker said in 2005. "But I thought riding a bike to Racine sounded good!"

After six hours and 45 miles, Parker and his friend arrived at the Johnson Wax headquarters, whose iconic building was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

"I'd never seen a building like that," Parker said. "It was incredible! The building engineer showed us around, and he spoke of Mr. Wright with such deference. I thought, 'Wouldn't it be great to design buildings like this and have people talk about you with such respect!' I made up my mind right there. I was going to be an architect."

Services for Parker will be held at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday at Temple Israel in Minneapolis. LINK

BGM-109 Tomahawk Land Attack Missile (TLAM)

The Tomahawk Land Attack Missile (TLAM) is a long-range, all-weather, subsonic cruise missile. Introduced by General Dynamics in the 1970s, it was designed as a medium- to long-range, low-altitude missile that could be launched from a submerged submarine. It has been improved several times and, by way of corporate divestitures and acquisitions, is now made by Raytheon. Some Tomahawks were also manufactured by McDonnell Douglas.

There have been several variants of the BGM-109 Tomahawk employing various types of warheads. The operational versions include the unitary conventional land attack TLAM-C, the bomblet-dispensing land attack TLAM-D, the nuclear land attack TLAM-A and TLAM-N, and the Tomahawk Anti-Ship Missile (TASM). Ground Launch Cruise Missiles (GLCM) and their truck-like launch vehicles were destroyed to comply with the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.

The Block III TLAMs that entered service in 1993 can fly farther and use Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers to strike more precisely. Block IV TLAMs have a better Digital Scene Matching Area Correlator (DSMAC) system as well as improved turbojet engines. The WR-402 engine provided the new BLK III with a throttle control, allowing in-flight speed changes. This engine also provided better fuel economy. The Block IV Phase II TLAMs have better deep-strike capabilities and are equipped with a real-time targeting system for striking moving targets. LINK: Youtube

"Magic Carp-pet" - Rug Design by CHC

The magical rug literally animates!!

When the rug is viewed through the specially designed glass coffee table, an animation of carp appears through a moire effect providing a surprise element of natural liveliness to the interior. The graphic apparition, replacing the traditional fish tank, is also a nod to the decreasing abundance of our most precious natural resource - water. Mythologically, the carp symbolises bravery and fortune. Linguistically, the "carp" becomes a humorous extraction of the "carpet" that reveals this intriguing little conversational piece on the floor. LINK: Youtube

Designed by John Leung at ClarkeHopkinsClarke Architects.

Russian Helicopters Mi-38 flies

Mil Moscow Helicopters and Kazan Helicopters - part of holding group Russian Helicopters - have flown the second prototype of the M-38 medium twin-turbine helicopter, designed to replace the Mi-8/17. Production is planned to begin in 2013. LINK: Youtube. More at http://rus-helicopters.ru/en/

Be-200 MULTIPURPOSE AMPHIBIOUS AIRCRAFT

The basic configuration of the Be-200 amphibious aircraft is indended for fighting the forest fires using the fire extinguishant fluids. While doing this, the aircraft can fulfill the following tasks:

Stop and restrain the spread of the big forest fires by developing the protecting strip due to multiple drops on the fire edge;
extinguishing the small fire and fire which only starts to develop;
delivery of fire brigades and fire extingushing equipment to the fire region by landing on preselected water area of aifield, and return to the base. LINK: Youtube

THE PALLET HOUSE

“The Palettenpavillon by Matthias Loebermann is a structure made entirely from shipping pallets, ground anchors, and tie rods. Designed to be easily assembled and dismantled, and then entirely recycled at a later date, the resulting building is intended as a temporary meeting place. As the architect writes, the shipping pallets are ‘characterized by a complex geometry of open and closed surface portions,’ with the effect that a staggered stacking of each unit produces ‘interesting netlike structures.’ They add that the deceptively curvilinear form becomes a cave.” LINK

"Twister" wind driven kinetic sculpture

Inspired by the artwork from the movie Twister, this sculpture captures the energy of moving air to create a mesmerizing and dynamic viewing experience. Designed and Built by Cody Wilson of http://www.tablemountaintrimworks.com. The sculpture is eight feet tall and weighs approximately 100 lbs. The structure is fabricated entirely by hand using a metal cutting band-saw, a belt sander. Wooden blocks, dies, and fixtures were used for shaping the metal. LINK: Youtube

Mirrored Treehouse Hotel Makes You Invisible in the Forest

This crazy structure is part of the Treehotel, a new hotel in northern Sweden consisting of multiple treehouses all designed my different architects.

That one up there is the Mirrorcube, named thusly because, well, it's a mirrored cube. It allows you to see out from the inside at the forest and animals around it, who won't even know you're there.

Other treehouses include the Cabin, the Blue Cone and the Nest, with the UFO and A Room With a View scheduled to open in October. [Treehotel, Via: BornRich], Via: Gizmodo

Incredible Designed Book Shelves

We’re always looking for new and creative ways to store our DVDs, and these shelves made by Italian design company Lago sure qualify
Link, Via: Neatorama

Chakra Chair

Chakras are centers of energy and consciousness within the human body according to various Hindu traditions. There are six basic, physical chakras as well as a higher, spiritual one. This chair, designed by Karim Rashid, is made to accommodate those pressure points.

Link, Via: OhGizmo, Via: Neatorama

Personal Flying Suit

Forget the Segway. Leave that jet pack behind. NASA is working on a personal flying suit. Conceptual designs for the experimental vehicle, called Puffin, were introduced at a meeting of the American Helicopter Society in San Francisco.

The Puffin is designed to be 12 feet in length, with a total wingspan of 14 and a half feet; it would weigh in at 300 pounds. The pilot would actually step into the suit, which has a cockpit-like area and helicopter-style blades, allowing for high-altitude flying. Of course, the Puffin is just a theory at the moment. It might be best used for covert military missions or rescue operations. LINK: The Presurfer

Recycled Food Packaging Lights

Anke Weiss, a talented Dutch artist, has designed a series of beautiful lights made from recycled food and drink packaging. Enjoy!

Packaging lights show the transformation of a mass-product into a unique item. The packaging survives the point where it usually turns into garbage and becomes a product itself. LINK

World's first fire-powered lava lamp

'If you buy my lamps, you won't need to buy drugs' said Edward Craven-Walker, inventor of the lava lamp and founder of lava lamp purveyor Mathmos.

The psychedelic, hypnotic, addictive nature of lava lamps may go some way to explaining why they exploded in the 60s and 70s, and are still popular with students today.

Mathmos' designers have been continuously tweaking and updating the original 1963 lamp, and their latest offering is a world first - a fire-powered lava lamp.

The new Fireflow lava lamp range features two new styles, each in a variety of colours, but instead of plugging them into the mains you simply slot a humble tea light in the bottom and sit back to watch the fluorescent melted wax float around inside.

Both lamps are available from the Mathmos website.

Link, Via: Neatorama

Sinusoidal Door

This door by the architectural firm Matharaoo Associates is designed to resemble a sine wave. Now in the home of a diamond merchant in Surat, India, the door measures 5.2m high and 1.7m wide and is made from 40 blocks of teak. Thanks to 160 pulleys and 80 ball bearings, it pushes open easily, despite its weight. More pictures at the link.

Link, Via: Fast Company, Via: Neatorama | Photo: Dinesh Mehta

The Mood Chair Knows Exactly How Your Buttocks Feels

The Mood Chair is designed by a company called Aether & Hemera and while it doesn't look too comfortable, it's pretty fun because it changes color based on its environment and users. The only trouble is that there doesn't appear to be a chart explaining which color corresponds to which mood.



[Aether & Hemera, Via: Generate, Via: Technabob, Via: Gizmodo, Via: Youtube]

The Senster - Robotic Sculpture from the late 1960's

Today and Tomorrow has some photos and a video of a cool robotic sculpture from the late 1960s, designed by Edward Ihnatowicz. Senster would be right at home at Maker Faire!

The Senster was a robotic sculpture developed by Edward Ihnatowicz in the late 60’s. It was commisioned by Philips and part of their permanent showplace, the Evoluon, in Eindhoven between 1970 and 1974. It was the first robotic sculpture to be controlled by a computer and could react to the behaviour of the visitors with its sound and movement sensors. The computer used to control The Senster was a Philips P9201 and had only 8K of core memory. Now, almost 40 years later, every interaction student could make something like this and fit the logic in a small box. But this is still an amazing project.

The Senster (Via: Mt. Holly Mayor's Office,Via: Boingboing, Via: Youtube)



Edward Ihnatowicz was a Cybernetic Sculptor active in the UK in the late 1960's and early 1970's. His ground-breaking sculptures explored the interaction between his robotic works and the audience, and reached their height with The Senster, a large (15 feet long), hydraulic robot commissioned by the electronics giant, Philips, in Eindhoven in 1970. The sculpture used sound and movement sensors to react to the behaviour of the visitors. It was one of the first computer controlled interactive robotic works of art.

Blaas General Partnership Building

The new head office for Blaas, a company specializing in electro-mechanics. Designed by Monovolume. LINK: Unstage

Abandoned bowling alley becomes furniture

An abandoned bowling alley finds a second life in this beautiful series of furniture by LA-based designer/woodworker William Stranger. Crafted from reclaimed strips of wood salvaged from a local defunct Tava Lanes Bowling alley, the collection springs to life in a variety of forms including a series of wall hangings and a low coffee table. LINK: Boingboing

Recycled Bowling Lane Furniture is Right up Our Alley