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On the long, boring summer days of childhood, creativity tends to run wild. That creativity, however, doesn’t always manifest itself in the safest ways. For example, we can remember riding down the stairs in sleeping bags, laundry baskets, cardboard baskets, and trash bags. As fun as that was, it was exceptionally dangerous and often ended in pain.

Inventor Trisha Cleveland could save current and future generations of kids from bodily harm with her invention, the SlideRider. It’s more or less one very long plastic-covered foam mat that stretches over your stairs to turn them into an indoor slide. It features safety bumpers on the sides to ensure your little ones don’t go sliding off of the side and into the stair railings and a soft landing pad at the bottom.

When you and your kids are done playing with the slide, it folds up very neatly into a handy little package held together with a storage strap. The folded package even has handles on either side to help you move the SlideRider around and put it away.

Cleveland is developing the product with Quirky, the public think-tank that makes regular people’s inventions into real products. So far the development process seems to be moving along, but there is one unanswered question: how will kids get back up the stairs once they slide to the bottom?

Logistics aside, it’s easy to see there’s a demand for a fun and safe product like this. Quirky is reportedly looking for a manufacturer who can transform this concept into a real product for sale, and they’re soliciting opinions from the public about how much it should cost. Pretty cool, huh?

Are you an ordinary person with a cool idea for an invention, but just not sure how to actually bring it into existence? That’s exactly what Quirky is for, so give their website a look.

The post Kit Transforms Your Staircase Into a Slide first appeared on Dornob.

These 40-by-8 foot, 96-square-foot steel boxes can be found virtually anywhere in the world, bought for $5,000 USD or less and easily moved to the location of your choice. While the installation of an in-ground swimming pool can run you between $35,000 and $60,000, a finished DIY shipping container pool will be just a fraction of that cost, not including any decks you might want to add on.

Since they’re rectangular, they’re perfect for lap swimmers or just soaking on a hot day. And best of all, you can take them with you when you move. If 40 feet is too big, a 20-foot container will do the job. The look of a shipping crate in your backyard isn’t for everyone, but if you have a contemporary home, it could even add to the aesthetics.

To make your own, you’ll probably want to start by getting a permit from your local authorities. You’ll also need a proper foundation. Some people just lay out an even pad of gravel, but a concrete slab is ideal. Since shipping containers aren’t designed to hold water, the walls will also need to be reinforced to withstand the pressure, and you’ll have to waterproof the inside with welding, waterproofing paints, a fiberglass insert, or a concrete liner. The cheapest option is simply a thick vinyl pond liner. More details on the process are available at iContainerHome.

For an example of a DIY shipping crate pool, check out this one created by Brooke in Austin, Texas. She treated it “like an inside-out ship,” making it waterproof from the inside with a product called Water Weld.

“It took buying an above ground pool skimmer (I buy everything online at Doheny’s – free shipping!), hiring a welder to cut a hole in the side of the pool and fabricate a frame, then coating and painting all the raw metal (and doing a quick re-coat of the bottom of the pool since it was drained anyhow) with Sani-Tred’s multi-step no rust paint system and then Olympic’s Zeron.”

If all of that sounds like too much work but you love the look, you can always have a shipping container swimming pool made for you. Modpools specializes in shipping container pools, and their results speak for themselves. They sometimes insert glass panels so you can see through the sides, build decks around them, or integrate them into the design of an existing home. You can add on smart features to control temperature, jets, and lighting from your smartphone.

“Unlike conventional pools that can take weeks to pour and cure, your Modpool can be up and running the day of its arrival. Add a mod pool divider to quickly convert your pool into a hot tub and back again.”

Want to start a little smaller? A dumpster pool might be more your speed. That’s right, we said dumpster — but we swear it’s way cooler than it sounds.

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Design Bar, Note Design Studio

Swedish design firm Note was invited to create the Design Bar, a restaurant and bar within the fair that aims to highlight a particular Nordic designer. In a romantic palette of pinks, blushes, and burgundys, the Design Bar exemplifies the best that Scandinavian design has to offer: class, purpose, and generosity. With the idea of making a warm and inviting zone to contrast the harsh Swedish winter outside, Note created a variety of seating areas, from round tables with plush seating, to linear bars upholstered with woven fabrics, attended to by wood and leather high stools, all immaculately detailed.

Maissi Bench, Studio Kaksikko

Finnish design firm Studio Kaksikko presented their Maissi Bench, an exercise in precision and craftsmanship. The bench is a purist’s dream, with asymmetrical, curved rails and a simple wooden plane for the seat evoking the stair balustrades and industrial pipes on which the bench was modeled.

Prison Furniture Prototypes, University of Bergen Students

A slightly unusual, yet highly commendable, set of furniture was debuted at the design festival. Students from Bergen’s faculty of design worked with staff from Norway’s correctional services to create a range of furniture designed to be more hospitable to inmates. A curved daybed aims to promote relaxation, a twin-backed chair offers to ease anxiety post-release by “hugging” the user, and a minimal standing lamp has been created with an easy design that can be replicated in a prison workshop.

Best Stand, Kinnarps

British office-furniture designers Kinnarps took away the prize for best stand. Their multi-platform construction was clad in blue, semi-opaque panels and acted as a testament to the brand’s 75 year history. The stand won for what the judges considered its reinforcement of the brand’s core identity, the fundamental purpose of a stand at a trade fair.

Outdoor Furniture, Tom Fereday

Australian-born industrial designer Tom Fereday channeled his outdoor lifestyle to create a collection of sturdy, durable and water-resistant chairs and a table designed for outside use. Created for Australian brand SP01, the furniture adheres to principles of honesty in their design. The chairs are formed by overlapping slender strands of metal wire to form ergonomic shells.

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Skip the stylish brands on the shelves and overlook the stylized logos — this brand is speaking right to you in direct (and rather humorous) statements printed in simple font against bare one-color backgrounds. It’s a creative solution that proves graphic design doesn’t have to be flashy to be effective.

This is not exactly debranding in a pure sense, but close to it. The ‘logo’ – if it can be called that – is not in any special typeface and simply tells you the store name and web address. The ‘brand’ is built on sayings that are generic and overused to the point of being funny only when employed with this simple implied sarcasm.

Mucca Design (photos via EatMeDaily) wanted to do something different to make a local store stand out from its surroundings – and let you bring the sense of humor imbued in their packaging designs back home to stock in your own cupboards for future use.

By appealing to the trendy anti-brand movement these designers manage to blend kitsch, cliche and humor in a creative new way. This is a trend that might feel overplayed very soon, but for now, it’s fun and fresh, and might just get thousands of Brooklynites and tourists to stop at this little market instead of the mega store down the street.

“Mucca was asked to develop a brand strategy for a new gourmet market opening in Brooklyn. Our competitive analysis and neighborhood survey revealed that Brooklynites preferred the personal attention and service of local stores. So our branding strategy positioned this new grocery store as the go-to resource for the locals – one that was just as approachable as the bodega down the street.”

“Following a detailed naming process, we established an engaging copywriting tone that become the star of the brand. Its sharp, irreverent New York voice asserts itself across all applications, from digital to environmental.”

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The winning projects range from the ultra lightweight, carbon-fiber “LessThanFive” chair to the life-changing “Assistant Glasses Set”—which uses hearing aids to help the deaf visually interpret sounds—to an app that helps you find your way around London’s Tate Britain and Tate Modern galleries. All 75 award recipients will have their projects added to the online World Design Guide, which features every one of the almost 40,000 winning designs from the last 64 years. Winning entries will also go on to join their predecessors as parts of a year-long exhibition in Hamburg’s HafenCity, on display from March 11th, 2017 to February 18th, 2018.

iF’s HafenCity exhibit will also showcase the winners of their Design Talent Awards, which, according to the company, aim “to put good designs by young people in the spotlight and connect future designers with business owners, established designers, and each other.”

iF has come a long way since its inception in 1953. Founded in a post-war Berlin at a time when Germany was trying to re-establish itself as one of the world’s industrial powerhouses, it was an organization committed first and foremost to “Die Gute Industrieform,” or good industrial form. Inspired by the Bauhaus movement and its insistence on “good form,” the company eventually shortened their name to “industrial form” (hence iF) and began their efforts to show the public the extent to which design could improve daily life. iF provided a positive way for Germany to reconnect with the rest of the world: by stressing the importance and efficiency of German art and innovation. Today, their website reads, ”The iF Design Award has long become a symbol for excellent form, for aesthetic quality, and for user-focused, ergonomic and efficient design in all disciplines, by companies around the world.”
Any companies, design studios, organizations, NGOs, groups, or individuals interested in changing society through good design can now enter the contest to win iF’s Social Impact Prize 2017. Each contestant has a chance of winning 50,000 euros and of having their project immortalized in the company’s prestigious World Design Guide. The contest doesn’t require any kind of entry fee and is open to all except students.

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In keeping with that reasoning, local firms Taylor Cullity Lethlean and Wraight + Associates chose not to remove all traces of industry from the 4.4-acre site, instead shining a light on some of the area’s weathered and rustic patinas. Visit the waterfront’s Wynward Quarter today, and you’ll find disused pipes coming out of the ground, with pedestrians sauntering all around them on a concourse embedded into the concrete. By keeping the shipping, ferrying, and fishing activities of Jellicoe Harbour in plain sight, the industrial workings of the waterfront create a one-of-a-kind atmosphere around the public spaces.

There are no real monuments on the site — only multifunctional public spaces like small-scale picnic areas, playgrounds, and a marketplace that accommodates hundreds of people. Here, melodies trickle out of community pianos to mingle with the savory scents of steamed fish, creating a joyous atmosphere that’s only punctuated by the occasional blast of a far-off boat horn. Whenever a festival is held on the waterfront, surrounding silos and shipping structures are used as projection surfaces for visuals.

A recently opened school in Copenhagen was built near the docks of that city so that its students would gain an appreciation for the global economy and better understand the importance of shipping in Denmark. Like that project, the North Wharf Promenade and Silo Park are intended to instill a sense of national pride and cultural understanding in the locals, helping them see exactly why life by the water is important to their city and country. A similar scheme is currently being planned for Oakland, California, but with a baseball stadium as the focal point.

The authenticity of the waterfront, with its rusted metals, crumbling concrete, and scratched stone, is exactly what people like about it. A more sanitized version that presented cleaner public spaces would have been far too boring and corporate for people to enjoy. By keeping the area’s industrial elements and processes in view, the area feels natural —and not like a forced destination that relies on run-of-the-mill designs.

The renovated Wynward Quarter is just one of many projects that proves that an industrial waterfront does not have to be transformed into another pricey enclave to be successful. Such a project would not be popular, solely because people would not find it interesting.

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Elevating the Concept

Raised floors are nothing new. Countless office buildings around the world have installed them on top of solid substrates (usually concrete slabs) to house everything from electrical and mechanical systems to computer rooms, IT data storage centers, and technological command hubs. These hidden spaces typically range from two inches to four feet in height.

Banchini collaborated with French designer Laure Jaffuel to take the raised floor model one step further, ultimately naming their creation “3-8.” Instead of using hidden spaces to mask unsightly wires and IT stations, the pair created spaces large enough to accommodate entire meeting rooms and conventional workstations — not to mention a kitchen and garden.

The Amenities of 3-8

Permanently installed on the fourth floor of the Centre Pompidou, 3-8’s primary function will be to host educational lectures and workshops put on by the museum. Hinged floor panels open to reveal the rooms underneath, to which a set of easily navigable stairs provides quick access. Although each new space was assigned a specific use, all of these underground floors can be easily modified as their occupants’ needs change.

A large section of seven hinged floor panels exposes a working kitchen, complete with a storage area, sink, and a rack rail to hold cups, cooking utensils, pots, and pans. A similarly-sized floor section conceals a seating area illuminated by an undulating neon red light.

Beneath these submerged levels is a compact garden, with small plants thriving in rich soil all throughout. Adjacent to this area, two more panels cover up an advanced speaker system. Open other subtly installed panels to find an assortment of desks for visitors alongside a big flat-screen TV.

Banchini’s Vision

Banchini was always impressed with the vision of Richard Rogers and Renzo Piano, the men who designed the original Centre Pompidou. He believes that the innovative upgrade reflects the progressive architectural concepts that inspired the original building and helps the world of office design move forward.

He explains: “raised floors are a common element of office architecture. However, they seem to be disregarded by architects and are rarely used outside of their primary function. Hiding all the functional elements under the surface allowed us to completely free the space, but it is also a reference to utopian architectures developed at the same time as the beautiful architecture of the Centre Pompidou.”

Banchini hopes his creative use of larger submerged spaces will motivate other designers and architects to develop unique ways to utilize underused office space. He adds: “The installation is not trying to provide a new model for offices, it is merely meant to question the alienating office culture that we take for granted. The misappropriation of the office space should encourage us to high-jack daily life objects and emancipate design from preconceived usages.”

An Encore Extra

In 2016, Banchini created an inflatable PVC nightclub in his studio Bureau A, when he hosted the yearly party of the Federation of Swiss Architects. He incorporated this whimsical addition into the Centre Pompidou project. The inflatable structure extends out from under a raised tile of office flooring.

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Got junk? Of course you do. Everyone has junk that they want to get rid of. Maybe it’s a bicycle you no longer ride, a broken fan, or a piece-of-junk car riding out its last miles. But before you rid yourself of your so-called useless items, consider their usefulness in their second lives. Items that you may think are too industrial or outdated to be repurposed into practical household objects can in fact be reborn. Many pieces of so-called trash go on to become unique pieces of furniture and home accessories. You, too, can repurpose junk into cool objects you actually love.

If nobody wants your old bike, consider using the frame as a clock. Strip the paint away until the metal returns to its original color, or just paint it a neutral color. Then find a clock that’s similar in diameter to the bike’s wheels, and swap one wheel out for the clock. Of course, since having a whole bike in a living space is impractical for most people, you could simply add a few numbers and clock mechanisms to the center of a wheel to create an unusual timepiece. For instance, the blades from a malfunctioned fan and a bike wheel could be combined to make a very special clock.

Additionally, bicycle pedals and gears can be used to add flare to an old bar stool. In one instance, Barak 7, a duo of industrial furniture designers based in the UK, adorned a vintage stool with some bike chains. By turning the cog set and crank perpendicular to the floor and fixing the pedals in place, a once simple stool suddenly had footrests. This fitting addition to an existing object was achieved by using elements of an old bike that would normally be cast away. Sometimes, it’s the smaller pieces of larger objects that we tend to overlook that have the greatest potential for repurposing.

Think of the large springs that might have come from a child’s toy or an old sofa, or maybe even the gears that came from a winch or clock. Both items could be used to create lamp stands. At Machine Age Lamps in Lakeville, Minnesota, antique items and industrial equipment are salvaged and turned into exclusive handcrafted products. For instance, the store made a lighting fixture from a 1940s fan that was originally manufactured by the Emerson Electric Company. They removed the four fan blades and replaced them with four vintage 40-watt Edison bulbs.

Many of the aforementioned examples are small items that can fit easily into a home, but large industrial parts can also be transformed into distinctive pieces of furniture. Even the junk that comes from a scrap yard or factory can find new life as a chair, table, or home accessory.

At Oska25, a boutique store in Montreal full of quirky industrial furniture, they can’t get over the barrel. They sell oil barrel chairs, loveseats, stools, coffee tables, and side tables. Admittedly, you wouldn’t sit on these products for too long, even if they were cushioned, but they would be guaranteed conversation-starters when entertaining guests.

If having oil barrels in your living room or den is still too industrial for you and you prefer something more subtle, Barak 7 sells furniture made from the wheels of mining and factory trolleys. These rustic tables aren’t always flat, but they’re still practical. The fact that some of them have wheels instead of legs makes them seem movable, even though they aren’t.

Now these are slightly larger industrial goods, but what about that piece-of-junk car we mentioned early on? Surely it has no future other than being sent to the scrap yard and rummaged for parts, right? Well, you’re partially correct. Companies like Oxyd Factory specialize in producing industrial furniture from car parts and whole portions of vehicles.

Machine Age Lamps takes the grilles of jeeps and tractors and turns them into table supports. For instance, they used the grille from a 1950s Willy Jeep, re-wired the lights so that they’d continue to work, removed all the chrome, and got some barn wood from a 1900s box car for the table top. The company also used the radiators of 1930s tractors and some pipe fittings to create other tables and consoles.

Finally, for the few of you who have really large obsolete vehicles like small planes, do your best to at least keep the nose. It can be repurposed into a distinctive wall sconce. Machine Age Lamps uses the engine cowling from planes manufactured by the Piper aviation company and turns them into wall sconces. As is the case with most of the company’s products, the propellers are replaced with Edison bulbs.

Just by using your creativity, being resourceful, and getting inspired by the products of others, you too can repurpose your (and other people’s) junk into valuable pieces of industrial furniture.

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A new proposal by London’s Curl la Tourelle Head Architecture aims to prove what tidal power can really do. The Thames Tidal School is to be placed on the Thames River’s wharf side, extending out over the waterway on a series of large underwater turbines. The architects say that the energy generated by these turbines would be enough to power the entire five-story building.

“The school will be a recognized center of excellence at a European level, providing world-class facilities through its sustainable design and use of materials,” reads the Curl la Tourelle Head website. “The site is located directly at the narrowest section of the Thames – meaning that the velocity of the tidal flow at this point will be the highest in the river. The plan is to capture this four-times daily energy through submerged tidal turbines as the primary means to supply the building with carbon neutral power.”

Currently, the proposed site of the Thames Tidal School is being used as a place to store trash before it’s picked up by ferries and floated down to a dump in Essex. This location is also purported to have been the spot where the Romans first landed in London. However, the city is already planning to relocate the waste storage facility to free the spot up for a new purpose. The area seems particularly well-suited to a sustainable cause, as it’s proximity to the Thames gives it cleaner air and naturally cooler temperatures than other parts of London.

The architects hope that their design will go on to become London’s greenest public building thanks to its low embodied energy and its use of natural, bio-renewable construction materials — all of which have been sourced from local supply chains. It’s designed to meet both the Passivhaus standard and BREEAM’s “Outstanding” rating, two globally recognized measurements of sustainability in architecture. To keep an eye on its carbon footprint, The Thames Tidal School will also be equipped with a set of carbon monitoring systems.

The UK is already home to the world’s first marine energy test facility, based in Orkney, Scotland, which assesses turbines and other green technology in real sea conditions. A 2011 energy test conducted in the Thames determined that a tidal energy farm could potentially generate enough electricity to power 35,000 homes.

If it were built, the Thames Tidal School would certainly stand as a beautiful and inspirational example of creative thinking in the field of renewable energy. With any luck, it might even inspire its students to create groundbreaking products of their own that will help propel the world into a sustainable future.

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One of the project’s most contentious aspects has been its method of procuring funds for its chimney. In 2015, BIG launched a Kickstarter campaign asking for $15,000 in public donations to fund construction. Many questioned why this money hadn’t been included in the building’s initial budget and whether the steam ring generator was truly an architectural consideration or an artistic one. However, a lot of people still believed that BIG was trying to create something beneficial for the environment. The firm’s initial goal was reached less than a week after their campaign began. In total, 399 backers came together to pledge nearly $30,000 toward the completion of the smokestack.

Be sure to check out our site for updates on this monumental feat of design and architecture.

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The surrounding commercial development of Vinohrady was constructed in the 1980s and is home to many furniture and supply manufacturers. Naturally, the uniform, repetitive look of the new shell more accurately reflects the area’s architectural style and offered goods. The building was originally used as a car showroom in the 1990s but kept a drab, unmemorable exterior. While the showroom retains its original structure, CHYBIK + KRISTOF’s masterstroke of simplicity and ergonomic form has turned it into a piece of timeless architecture.



The interior design has been executed almost as skillfully as the façade’s. Three sections are encased in white, floor-to-ceiling sling curtains, which can be opened or closed to accommodate product displays of all magnitudes. Alternatively, this space can be used to exhibit multiple lines of office, school, and designer furniture at the same time. White curtains are especially useful for reflecting light and simulating the bright atmospheres of most industrial settings. My DVA group’s professional facilities, including employee offices and a warehouse, as well as technical and sanitary areas, surround the central showroom. The company’s offices are intentionally located on the outer edges of the interior to receive more natural light during work hours.

The building’s distinctive “black box” entryway and clever incorporation have earned it somewhat of a local buzz. From the outset of this project, one of the architects’ goals was to inspire more dialogue regarding architecture, form, and function. It looks like they’ve succeeded. Thanks to a thrifty fusion of clean aesthetics and free marketing, this furniture showroom now serves the same purpose that its exterior suggests: it displays furniture.
All photos taken by Lukas Pelech.

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On February 10, Netflix released a new series titled “Abstract: The Art of Design,” delving into the minds of some of the world’s biggest innovators in the design industry.

The term “Netflix and Chill” has become synonymous with a quiet night in. With its array of programming, from TV series to documentaries to foreign language films, Netflix has dominated the domestic viewing market. Shows like Stranger Things are making headlines and winning Golden Globes, and series that profile figures from niche industries, such as Chef’s Table, have proved hugely popular with viewers who want insight into the mind of the most talented in the world. Now designers can nerd out over their chosen field, too!

The series gathers together some of the design world best across a broad range of industries, from automotive to interior design and illustration. Eight 45 minute-long episodes were released in their entirety earlier this month, allowing us to accompany these designers as they talk us through their creative process, individual achievements, career highs and lows, and their design philosophy. For example, in his episode, Danish wunderkind Bjarke Ingels talks to us about his architectural philosophy, one which his studio BIG employs to push traditional architectural boundaries and challenge the limitations of the industry.

But, on the other hand, Tinker Hatfield is the master of cool in his episode, which charts his rise at Nike and how he designed some of the brand’s most coveted, novel and collectable shoes, including the Nike Mag from Back To The Future, and the staple Nike Air Max. Much like Chef’s Table, each episode has its own narrative and aesthetic, crafted by different directors such as award-winning music documentarian Morgan Neville, who also produced the show in collaboration with WIRED creator Scott Dadich.

Abstract profiles the following creative masterminds: set designer Es Devlin, graphic designer Paula Scher, architect Bjarke Ingels, car designer Ralph Gilles, photographer Platon, interior designer Ilse Crawford, illustrator Christoph Niemann, and Nike shoe designer Tinker Hatfield.

Abstract is the latest in a string of successful original programming by Netflix, who reach a global audience of more than 93 millions viewers in over 190 countries. Notable documentaries such as 2007’s Helvetica have propelled design into the mainstream, but never before has a show about design had the potential to be seen by so many people.

The accessibility and comprehensiveness of Netflix series’ such as this one has proven to be a successful broadcasting model and is being replicated online in other formats too, such as in the subscription-based educational series Masterclass. This series encompasses lectures and workshops from creative talent in the dramatic arts, offering acting classes by Kevin Spacey and screenwriting classes by Aaron Sorkin.

A Masterclass by starchitect Frank Gehry has recently been added to their roster, cementing the public interest in learning more about design from masters of the craft.

Reviews for Abstract have been generally positive thus far. The only downside? Design fans must have an existing Netflix subscription to watch. Will it be the next thing on your binge list?

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