The winners of this year’s British Ecological Society Photography Competition captured animals interacting with the world around them in bold and breathtaking ways.The annual contest aims to showcase the wonder of ecology across six categories. The 2022 entrants focused on everything from prey-predator relationships and wildlife affected by human changes to the beauty of biology on a microscopic scale.

Overall Winner: A Light in the Shadows by Roberto García Roa

“Like two beacons in the dark, the striking eyes of a Helena’s treefrog seem to glow in the darkness of the night,” says García Roa, a conservation photographer and evolutionary biologist at Sweden’s Lund University.

“This image reveals the beauty of nature hidden in Tambopata, [Peru,] a region that is currently threatened by gold mining. It is paradoxical to see the eyes of this frog as small golden pearls, because in reality, the true treasure lies in ensuring the protection of this area and its inhabitants.”

Student Winner: Takeout by Sam Eberhard

Shot on the shores of Oregon’s Cannon Beach, this image depicts of a group of western gulls surrounding and squawking at a bald eagle trying to carry off its latest meal, a common murre.

“’Takeout’ is a frozen moment of intense action at Haystack Rock in Cannon Beach…,” says Sam Eberhard, an environmental studies and biology student at the University of California, Santa Cruz. “While photographically documenting tufted puffins at Cannon Beach, I did not hesitate to capture a few shots of this bald eagle.”

Up Close and Personal Winner: Wild Pearls by Javier Lobon-Rovira

Javier Lobon-Rovira, a Ph.D student in biodiversity, genetics, and evolution at the University of Porto and CIBIO-InBIO, zoomed in on an endangered gold-striped salamander working its way through a nursery of eggs, their color and luminescence reminiscent of precious pearls.

Dynamic Ecosystems Winner: Invasive Battle-Fire Fierce by Javier Lobon-Rovira

Lobon-Rovira also took top honors in this category demonstrating interactions between different species within an ecosystem. “Isn’t it utopian that two invasive species cross paths in the race for survival?’ the photographer notes. “That is the case that crossed my lens when I found an army of fire ants immobilizing, killing, and causing the disappearance of a house gecko in my backyard in Florida…Eat or be eaten is the only mission in the struggle for survival.”

Individuals and Populations Student Winner: The Shrike Strikes Again! by Jennifer Holguin

“A round-tailed Horn Lizard impaled by a yucca stalk in the Chihuahuan Desert, New Mexico, USA. The culprit? A gray, medium-sized songbird known as the Loggerhead Shrike or Butcherbird,” says winner Jennifer Holguin, a student at the University of Texas at El Paso.

Ecology in Action Winner: Bruma by Roberto García Roa

García Roa picked up another award for his image of a dead female eagle lying face down after flying into overhead power lines. The GPS that Bruma the eagle was fitted with at birth helped scientists and authorities determine which power line caused her demise and allowed them to fix it to keep other birds from meeting the same fate.

People and Nature Winner: A New Plastic Home by Andreas Eich

The terrestrial hermit crab in this image shows its adaptability by claiming a discarded plastic bottle cap as its new shell. The scene contrasts with the idyllic beach scene in the background, according to winner Andreas Eich.

The Art of Ecology Student Winner: Diwali in the Forest by Naitik Patel

The light from a congregation of fireflies near India’s Kaziranga National Park reminded student winner Naitik Patel of the joyful feel of Diwali. He explains: “Diwali is a festival of lights. These adorable little fireflies were creating their own festival of lights by gently glowing green and creating undulating trails of light on the forest floor.”

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“It’s well known that we have a problem with plastics in the environment,” says Mackintosh. “We face the challenges of figuring out ways to reduce and prevent it as well as clean up the water that’s already out there.”

Held by the University of Surrey, the brand new public competition solicited entries from anyone who had an idea for a bio-inspired robot. Mackintosh’s proposal was a simple drawing showing how the robot fish could swim through the water, its internal cavity opening and then compressing to force water over the gills in order to collect plastic particles. The winning entry was selected and built by a group of senior engineers and scientists with years of experience bringing robotic concepts to life.

“We don’t know where the vast majority of the plastic that enters our waters ends up,” says Dr. Robert Siddall, lecturer at the University of Surrey and initiator of the competition. “We hope that this robo-fish and its future offspring will be the first steps in the right direction to help us find and eventually control this plastic pollution problem.”

The roboticists assisting with the competition turned Mackintosh’s proposal into a remote-controlled robot about the size of a salmon. It swims by flapping its tail while keeping its mouth wide open to collect water (and microplastics) in its internal cavity. Once the cavity is full, the robot closes its mouth and opens its lamellar gill valves, pushing the water out of the valves and lifting the bottom of the cavity. Its features include pectoral fins, a gill and mouth motor, a gill raker, particulate mesh, a separate motor for the fins, a tail fin actuation rod, a tail fin motor, battery and microcontroller, and sensors that detect light levels and turbidity (clarity) of the water.

You can now make your very own Gillbert Robo-Fish, as the plans for the current iteration of the design are available as free, open-source CAD files on GrabCad.com. Future revisions will make the fish autonomous instead of remote-controlled so they can be deployed in groups. The public is encouraged to make their own changes and improvements as they experiment with the design.

Other entries in the 2022 Natural Robotics Contest included a forest-protecting robot bird, a hermit crab rover, a robotic sea urchin, and a plastic-collecting dolphin. You can see them all and apply for next year’s contest at the Natural Robotics Contest website.

“We chose Eleanor’s both because we really liked the idea and the way it used bioinspiration, but also because cleaning up ocean plastic was the most common purpose among all the entries we received, so we thought our winner should reflect that,” Siddall told FOX Weather.

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Set on the grounds of Fiskars, an art and design hub, the KOJA treehouse has been realized in 1:1 scale for the Fiskars Village Art & Design Biennale. Made of sustainable materials like wood and wool, the treehouse captures Polestar’s design language and planet-protecting values, “symbolizing a shift in both the way we use materials and the way we define a space,” as the brand explains.

Designer Kristian Talvitie was inspired to create a structure that allowed people to immerse themselves in nature without traveling far. The idea is that while it’s important to make the technologies we use to travel more sustainable, it’s also important for everyone to travel less in order to respond to the climate crisis. The treehouse nestles up into a tree canopy, which can be located virtually anywhere — even in a backyard, or a public park in a major city. That makes the experience of relaxing among the branches more accessible, reducing the need to intrude upon the wilderness.

The design is a black capsule with a nearly 360-degree ribbon of glass along the facade, granting occupants sweeping views of their surroundings. Stairs at the back grant access, and inside, visitors will find a bench wrapped around the tree trunk, essentially turning it into a sculptural focal point. Padded benches and work surfaces also line the interior walls. The roof is made of glass, too, so you can look up and gaze at the stars. This modern treehouse is made of locally sourced materials to help it blend in with its environment but has a futuristic aesthetic, demonstrating that sustainable design can be sleek and interesting, too.

“It’s amazing how well it embodies our brand values,” says Martin Österberg, Head of Marketing for Polestar Finland. “It’s beautiful in its simplicity, and the fact that it’s made from locally sourced spruce really emphasizes our focus on sustainability. We think we found the perfect home for it here at the Biennale.”

KOJA wasn’t the only sustainable micro-house displayed at the Fiskars Village Art & Design Biennale. As part of the exhibit “House by an Architect,” it joins six other mini-homes which are available for rent through Airbnb. KOJA will remain open to the public through September.

The two other winning designs of the 2021 Polestar Design Contest are “Glad to Be Dirty” by Mingwei Liu in the Student category and “Polestar H_UB” by David Vultaggio in the Professional category. The former is a small, geometric car which an architectural take on Polestar’s design vocabulary that actively filters dirty air as it goes, “allowing the user to feel proud of driving a dirty car.”

The H_UB is both a brand experience center and a place to hang out while charging your Polestar vehicle, which generates its own electricity and produces hydrogen from a biomass roof. The design is “a comprehensive reimagining of what once might have been called a garage.”

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“Many aspects had to be taken into account when selecting the winning design,” explains Michal Sedláček, chairman of the competition’s jury. “The site for the philharmonic hall currently complicates the opportunity for people to meet instead of encouraging it, so the emphasis was not only on the architecture and operation of the building, but also on the design of the public spaces in the surrounding area. The Vltava Philharmonic Hall will become a vibrant center of life in Vltavská street — a new city park will stretch eastwards from the building, the south side will open up access to the water, a square will be created on the west side, and there will be a view of the new Bubny-Zátory district to the north. The building itself will be accessible from all directions and levels.”

To fortify Prague’s reputation as a European capital of culture, BIG architects embraced elements of music and rhythm in the 1,800-seat concert hall’s layout and details.

“The new Vltava Philharmonic Hall will be a symbol of openness, accessibility, and exploration,” says BIG partner Brian Yang. “From the Vltava square, streets ascend upward connecting interior balconies with exterior colonnades and terraces. Like eight, quarter, half, and whole notes, the step, the benches, facade, and colonnade are perfectly on beat, offering its resident orchestras effective and extroverted rehearsal areas, while bringing audiences within the halls closer to the source in an environment that is both majestic and intimate.”

Concert goers and other visitors can use the walkable rooflines to climb up the building’s exterior to reach a future rooftop café. Inside the building, three separate performance halls will serve as the home base for both the Prague Symphony Orchestra and the Czech Philharmonic. The concert hall will also house the music archives of Prague’s Municipal Library on one floor.

“The Vltava Philharmonic Hall is composed as a meandering journey from riverbank to rooftop,” explains BIG founder and partner Bjarke Ingels. “Public flows and belvedere plazas unite the city life of Prague to the music within…Expressive yet pragmatic, the new Philharmonic will ascend to form a key landmark for Prague from river to roof.”

Ingels founded BIG in Copenhagen in 2005 and has since expanded its offices to London, New York, Barcelona, and Shenzhen. The firm’s team of architects, designers, and engineers have become famous for their innovative designs and technologies, like the Amager Bakke in Copenhagen, a cutting-edge power waste-to-energy site that doubles as a recreational ski slope. Their current projects include a metaverse space for media company VICE, a new “folding” neuroscience research center in Aarhus, and $600 million film studio for Robert de Niro in New York.

The post BIG Blows Judges Away in Competition to Design Prague Philharmonic Hall first appeared on Dornob.

“We were excited to see such an exciting and imaginative use of color in this year’s entries,” says Andrea Lucena-Orr, Dulux Color and Communications Manager. “Architects and designers have really pushed the boundaries with color application to create inspiring, engaging — and often surprising — interior and exterior spaces.”

According to the Dulux website, the annual competition “is Australia and New Zealand’s premier showcase of inspirational color application in interior and exterior residential, public, and commercial spaces.”

Each year, the Australian paint company selects a panel of design professionals to judge entries from architects, designers, and students to “[recognize] their creative and innovative use of color” with Dulux shades. The contest spans six categories: interior residential, exterior residential, commercial and multi-residential exterior, public and hospitality commercial interiors, workplace and retail commercial interiors, and students.

Company executives noted an inclination toward moodier home colors this year. “Deeper tones of blue and green were popular amongst residential interiors, showcasing diverse moods in areas and differentiating functional use in a space — from deep and dark, to bright and lively — applied to cabinetry, trims, and walls to create a peaceful, relaxing interior setting,” Lucena-Orr says.

That was especially evident in “The Pad” by architect Suzanne Hunt, an entry in which all the walls were shrouded in slate gray as a backdrop to a set of indoor-outdoor Zen gardens. Natural light filters through the palm leaves and ferns, further balancing the seriousness of the dark grays.

Other darkly pensive residential entrants included the “Malvern House,” with its wall-to-wall sage kitchen cabinetry and green marble countertops and backsplash. “The Grid House” highlights its stairwell with a navy blue that perfectly matches the carpet-lined steps.

Lucena-Orr also found that “impactful tones and washed walls are also making a presence, bringing a sense of moody sophistication to interiors.”

For example, the “Nelson Road House,” named one of the year’s most stylishly colorful Australian homes, uses a tranquil pastel pink in the primary bedroom but switches it up to a night-sky blue in the formal living room, allowing for a full array of ambience throughout. The designers from Bloom Interior Design in Melbourne said they “treated each room as its own space,” which gave them the freedom to “play with a range of different colors giving each space its own persona.”

Neutral-themed residential dwellings also made the 2022 list. The “Bondi Terrace,” designed by Studio Quarters, is a flow of understated whites and beiges with only touches of contrast in each room. The mildness of the paint lets the original period details like the marble fireplace and crown molding take center stage. The designers explain that they used full, half, and quarter strengths of the same color in different rooms to create an “overall calmness that permeates the whole house.” The “Sorrento House,” submitted by the Fiona Lynch Interior Design firm, also drew on a cream color palette for a soothing, restful effect.

On the other hand, some finalists went bold and bright to earn their spot. For instance, the designers at Pac Studio used sunny yellow to liven up the kitchen of “Heron House,” giving it extra punch by painting the surrounding walls an azure blue.

The Dulux website says that all colors in the Dulux range were considered, even black and white. The final selections will be based on both the use of color and the designers’ reason behind the choice. The winners will be announced in announced in just a few months, so be sure to check back with us for updates!

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Tesla has challenged teams of university students and researchers in China to develop a battery pack based on its 2170 battery cell, which it uses in its Model 3 and Model Y electric vehicles. Though Tesla has since developed a more powerful battery that will eventually replace the 2170, it’s perfect for applications like the Cyberquad. The winning team will get the equivalent of $30,000 USD. Why China? Probably because the Cyberquad will be produced there, while the Cybertruck is currently in production at Tesla’s new Giga Texas facility.

https://youtu.be/4DakAvRHu-g

Representing Tesla’s first time manufacturing a vehicle smaller than a standard car, the Cyberquad was originally supposed to be released in 2021, along with the Cybertruck. Both have been delayed (with the Cybertruck now expected to hit the market in 2023). Last December, Tesla released a $1,900 mini version of the Cyberquad designed for kids aged 8 and up, which sold out almost instantly. The mini ATV features a lithium-ion battery that can run for about 15 miles and takes about five hours to reach a full charge. However, no details have been released about the full-sized Cyberquad since the scant info we got in 2019.

Producing the Cyberquad solely as an add-on to the Cybertruck is a smart strategy, since it’ll help boost the hype around the vehicle once it finally hits the streets. But hopefully, Tesla will eventually offer it on its own, too. Anyone who’s driven or been around gas-powered ATVs knows how loud these vehicles typically are, and an electric version would definitely be welcome purely for reductions in both air and noise pollution.

Whatever battery pack innovation Chinese inventors might come up with for the Cyberquad could also be applied to new Tesla creations of similar sizes, like snowmobiles, golf carts, jet skis, and boats. Tesla’s competitors, like Taiga Motors, are already doing just that. Tesla undoubtedly enjoys a lot more brand name recognition than those companies, but it still might want to keep up with consumer demand, lest it eventually get left behind.

So if you’re itching to get your hands on a Cyberquad of your very own, you’re going to have to pony up for the Cybertruck, too. Better get on the wait list, which requires a deposit of a mere $100. As production nears, you’ll be able to customize your order, including add-ons. In the meantime, you’ll also have to satisfy your curiosity about specs by checking out the details of the kids’ version and imagining how they might look scaled up.

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With a goal of establishing a “platform for continuous development of photographic culture,” judges look for both striking images and new talent.

“Creativity and originality were very important in choosing a winning image, and it was terrific to see the excitement and joy of the photographers when they captured the moment,” says Hideko Kataoka, who spearheaded the judging for this year’s Open competition. “The photographs in this competition each make a coherent visual statement about a situation or particular circumstance in an elegant visual way.”

While the overall winners will be announced April 12th, the victors of the National Awards, a category that highlights regional photography, were announced in February, with entrants from over 61 countries.

One standout from the National Awards was “Bike with Flowers” by Thanh Nguyen Phuc from Vietnam, which features a woman cycling past a street mural where the flowers in her basket appear to whimsically float up and onto the wall behind her.

Wonyoung Choi from the Republic of Korea won for “A City Among the Clouds.” Set in the Bukhansan Mountain in Seoul, South Korea, Choi says, “Lots of people climb the mountain to view the sunrise, but it’s a rare sight to see the city covered in clouds as the sun rises. I’ve gone there many times and was lucky to finally see it. I feel gratitude towards Mother Nature for changing Seoul’s architecture from monotonous to colorful.”

In the portraiture category, Hungary’s Edina Csoboth won for her use of light and shadows across a woman’s face, framed with foliage for extra drama.

It’s important to note that finalists don’t necessarily have to present photos of their home region. Mazin Alhassan from Saudi Arabia won for his astrophotography landscape “Stars over Yellowstone,” which shows a glittering night sky reflected on the hottest geyser in the park. And Turkey’s winner Cigdem Ayyildiz captured “Le Mont Saint-Michel at Sunset,” calling it the “eighth wonder of the world.”

Filip Hrebenda, the winner from Slovakia, took an incredible shot of an erupting volcano in Fagradalsfiall, Iceland, complete with a spewing top in the distance and a glowing lava river in the foreground. Entitled “Born of Fire,” the scene could be something out of a J.R.R. Tolkien epic, giving viewers a glimpse into the forces that shape our world.

The Sony team also introduced a new prize this year: the Latin American National Award, which highlights the best work from Mexico, Central America, and South America. The top honor in this new category went to Bernardo del Cristo Hernandez Sierra of Colombia for his black and white motion shot of a diver fighting for perfect form mid-flight.

The National contest winners all receive Sony imaging equipment plus the honor of having their work displayed at the Sony World Photography Award exhibition at London’s Somerset House from April 13th to May 2nd, 2022. The overall winners will receive the title of “Open Photographer of the Year,” as well as a $5,000 prize.

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Now, more than 500 years later, a team of engineers at the University of Maryland have proved that his concept actually works.

Built and tested as part of a student design competition, “Crimson Spin” is an unmanned quadcopter drone that uses da Vinci’s aerial screw to take flight. Led by Aerospace Engineering student Austin Prete, the team spent two years refining the design. Prete used simulators that demonstrate how the aerial screws work, with vortexes of air spiraling down the structure while generating vertical thrust. He found that da Vinci’s design actually improved upon standard propellers by generating less of a downward gust that can blow dust and debris into the air. It’s also quieter.

Prete’s version uses modern motors to enable the slight propeller speed changes that allow drones to navigate. The corkscrew-shaped wings are made of plastic instead of linen, giving them better resistance against the air. Using just a single aerial screw, as in da Vinci’s original design, would have been too complex. Instead, four mini screws get the drone off the ground and give it the kind of nimble handling you’d expect from a similar-sized drone with conventional propellers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZoV-N51J2VU

A flight test was performed at the 2022 Transformative Vertical Flight meeting in San Jose, California. Attendees, both in-person and virtual, watched as the drone lifted off, its wings spinning into little red blurs. “I was absolutely surprised it worked,” Prete told CNET. While this model is about the size of a consumer drone like those made by DJI, the concept could theoretically be scaled up, maybe even enough to carry a person. Prete built the drone for his master’s degree and doesn’t plan to continue working on it, but his research might continue at the University of Maryland if others are interested.

“It can be a practical hover machine capable of potentially scaling up to human-carrying capability, but I don’t see it being used in modern company designs until more research is conducted on the function, reliability, and performance,” Prete told Gizmodo, adding that “It may end up working in similar positions as ducted rotors though.”

The aerial screw isn’t the first of Leonardo da Vinci’s inventions that turned out to actually work. Though they must have seemed absolutely nutty at the time, the artist dreamed up such creations as the parachute, the tank, a diving suit, a rudimentary machine gun, and even a robotic knight considered the first-ever humanoid robot. Roboticist Mark Rosheim used the knight concept as the basis for his designs for NASA. He also created a flying machine known as the Ornithopter, which takes inspiration from bats and birds to flap a pair of enormous wings.

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In fact, there’s now such a huge selection of strange Chinese buildings to choose from, Archy.com started an annual Ugliest Building Survey, and its 12th annual contest has a whopping 87 contenders in the running. That number may dwindle in the years to come, since President Xi Jinping issued a government directive calling for an end to “oversized, xenocentric, weird” projects, and that’s part of the point of the contest. The organizers hope pointing out ugly architecture will “promote architects’ social responsibility” and cut back on wastefulness.

Voting is open until December, when a commission of architects will select the final 10 winners. Here are some of the projects currently in the lead:

Donping Poly Plaza, Foshan, Guangdong

Nobody really wants a big imposing building in their city to look sort of like a modernized Eye of Sauron, do they? Incorporating a four-story atrium with a flying staircase design, a basement level, and four towers, this complex is supposed to be a lively gathering place for residents of Foshan New City. The reasons Archy listed for nominating this project include “extremely inharmonious with the surrounding environment and natural conditions,” “idolizes Western culture,” and “weird and vulgar.” Voters mostly just think it’s depressing.

Xi’an International Children’s Art Museum, Shanghai

Some people think this school inspired by the “Arabian Magic Carpet” is cute and fitting for its purpose, with its undulating roof and facade full of round cut-outs. Others seem to be experiencing a touch of trypophobia (fear of holes). It has been called “really psychologically uncomfortable,” “disgusting,” “vulgar” and even “secret terrorism.” One voter wrote of the building’s pale beige curves and orifices, “it’s like a breathing monster composed entirely of flesh and blood.”

Glass Bridge Tower of Jiuhuanghsan Mountain in Mianyang, Sichuan

Something about the monumental figures standing on either end of this glass bridge in the Jiuhuangshan Scenic Area seems to make it extra terrifying for many onlookers. Comments include “Really insulted the beauty of this mountain,” “nightmare-inducing,” and “don’t look at me, I’m afraid.”

Hainan Danzhou Hengdahaihua Island Complex

There are so many outlandish structures on this series of three manmade tourist islands that the Ugly Buildings contest organizers couldn’t choose – they just lumped them all together as one big anger-inducing mass. “This is the garbage dump,” wrote one voter. “A game of capital, making a pile of rubbish, what a bad thing to do with this money,” wrote another.

Violin Church, Yanbu, Foshan, Guangdong

This local church isn’t even the only violin-shaped building in China, but locals hate its garishness, its overuse of concrete, its high cost, and the way it has apparently overshadowed more demure adjacent buildings. It was nominated because “the function of the building is extremely unreasonable.” Fair enough.

South Gate of Zijingang Campus, Zhejiang University

You might be surprised to learn that this comparatively tame-looking structure has earned the most votes by far. But Chinese voters are annoyed that such a high-cost, high-profile project is both painful to look at and dysfunctional. Apparently, the unnecessarily extravagant gate impedes both vehicular and pedestrian traffic, forcing everyone to stare at it even longer while they’re stuck in the area. “When the design plan came out, the teachers and students in the school objected to the curse,” wrote one voter.

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So what does this bustling medieval city have to do with the dynamic and foward-thinking Zaha Hadid Architects? While Tallinn itself remains beautifully preserved, its layout has been described by some as somewhat problematic for being isolated from its own very important port.

Enter the Tallin Port Masterplan 2030: a design competition aimed at better connecting Tallinn to its port, improving under-built areas, creating better opportunities to utilize existing resources, and bringing the whole town into the modern age.

And who better to complete this ambitious project than Zaha Hadid Architects? The firm has long been known for its futuristic bend and geometric shapes that often seem to defy the laws of physics. Among the firm’s most famous recent projects is the Zugló City Centre in Budapest, a mixed-use development that connects green spaces with urban residential and commercial areas, seamlessly blending the two into a oasis that’s both sustainable and synchronistic. That project, announced in 2017, is set for completion in 2029, according to the firm’s website.

Much like the Budapest City Centre project, the focus for the Tallinn Port seems to hinge on connectivity. “Our vision for the harbor redevelopment master plan is to create a new recognizable and distinct gateway to the city of Tallinn, a new city fabric interconnected with the adjacent city districts,” ZHA recently said in an official statement.

The new area will consist of mixed-use structures including residential, commercial, and leisure-focused properties meant to revitalize the Old Town area, though none of the oldest buildings will themselves be changed. Dubbed “Streamcity” by ZHA, the area will, like many of their other projects, also contain a green space, this time in the form of a public park.

According to reports, the famed architectural firm plans to work with several other firms to bring the project to fruition, including landscape design consultant Tyrens UK and Latvian firm RemPro. Also working closely with the Port of Tallinn, ZHA will transform the Baltic Sea port and the surrounding area into a modern, dynamic space that will most certainly bring the UNESCO World Heritage Site into the 21st century while still maintaining its medieval charm and character. While there have been no recent updates for the city’s Masterplan 2030, we can most likely expect this dynamic project to be completed sometime in 2029 or 2030 — yet another feather in the Zaha Hadid’s world-renowned cap.

The post Zaha Hadid Architects Wins Contest to Modernize One of Europe’s Oldest Ports first appeared on Dornob.

Opinions are mixed on whether the real Cybertruck is a massive step forward in vehicle aesthetics or more akin to the vaguely car-shaped drawing your five-year-old might bring home from school. But one would imagine that when the Cybertruck is spotted on the road, it’ll look a little more pulled together than its hillbilly cousin. The Plybertruck is crudely assembled, its body covered in visible nails. But that’s all part of the fun.

Cromwell designed the car explicitly for the Gambler 500, a mostly off-road rally in which “cheap, impractical, and fun vehicles” roam through the countryside to pick up trash and remove abandoned vehicles and boats. Participants are supposed to spend no more than $500 on the vehicle they enter in the 500-mile rally, which began as a challenge to see how far cars that cheap could go. The first year had 14 participants, but since then, the event has spread all across the country, with thousands of attendees taking part. In 2018, enough “trail trash” was collected to fill three 40-foot containers.

The rally’s official website explains that “Gambler 500 started in Oregon 2014 by Tate Morgan and the OG Gamblers, a small group embracing cheap fun in all forms. Now dubbed ‘Gamblertown’ the original event in Oregon is the global meetup for what Gambler has evolved into as a brand encouraging people across the world to go have adventures using Gambler 500 as a call sign. We allow people to use the term ‘Gambler’ as long as it’s free and participants embrace the ideals of stewardship while having cheap fun in the outdoors.”

Unsurprisingly, the Plybertruck has gotten a lot of attention both on the road and on the internet, and now it even has its own Facebook page. The car underwent some upgrades this summer after the last Gambler event, including a new windshield, battery, and exhaust system, and it’ll hopefully be rejoining the fun when the next Gambler 500 happens in Oregon next June.

The Plybertruck certainly isn’t the first participant in the Gambler 500 to turn heads with its unusual looks, and it won’t be the last. Another notable entry this year was the “Double Trouble” Ford Ranger pickup by Gage Van, which is made of one red pickup and one purple, joined together cab-to-cab. In an interview with The Drive, Van explained that the project took just three days to complete. The newer red cab is the front, which powers the Frankentruck with a 4.0-liter V6 engine. It’s often accompanied on the road by an equally wild Chevy Suburban-based boat car.

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Enter the 2021 Index Award, a biennial accolade with a focus on design and its potential for creating solutions that tackle (and perhaps solve) critical global issues. There’s even a category that focuses exclusively on the body, creating an opportunity for entrants to address gendered issues within the world of medicine — especially those that may often be considered taboo. Index Project CEO Liz Chong spoke about the importance of these new and innovative designs, explaining that: “there is still so much shame around female, trans, and non-binary bodies that impose harmful barriers to healthcare…[which serves] to sideline vital conversations and deny people access to helpful and even life-saving resources.”

But the finalists in the body category are hoping to change that through their design projects, all of which seek to create a more equitable future in medicine for all genders.

Below are some standout projects among this year’s Index Award finalists:

Creating Change Through Strategic Redesign

Some of the finalists’ work focuses on finding new, more innovative takes on already existing tools, devices, and technologies For example, the Hegenberger Speculum is a silicone device designed to be more comfortable for patients who require perineum stitching after childbirth. The current model is made of metal and has not been updated in over 100 years. The updated version’s creator, Malene Hegenberger, feels that the “taboo subject” of this common (9 out of 10 women experience perineum tears post-childbirth) health concern has contributed to the tool not being updated, or even discussed, in past decades.

Another finalist, Cirqle Biomedical, is looking to test a new form of birth control that is both non-hormonal and far less invasive than many current birth control methods. The product, a gel capsule called Oui, could provide more flexibility and comfort for women seeking to avoid the discomfort of implants like IUDs, and the unpleasant side effects of hormonal birth control treatments. Here too, a lack of innovation has left women with few options, many of which have side effects that can be anything from uncomfortable to life-threatening.

“Women’s health has been under-prioritized and neglected for decades,” said Cirqle’s CEO in a statement. With developments like these, the Index Project’s finalists hope to change that.

Creating Change to Tackle Systemic Issues

Another incredibly important redesign featured among this year’s Index Award finalists is improved rape kit for DNA collection. Complete with color coding, easier instructions for health care providers, and an accompanying instructional app, this kit, designed by Antya Waegemann, is just the first step in reimagining the whole system and creating a completely different culture around how rape kits are tested, making it easier for law enforcement officials everywhere to process them. Her company Margo also wants to work on other products and services, including increasing the widespread availability of kits, improving the tracking of processed kits, and providing much-needed support for victims.

DNA collection kits are incredibly important tools in sexual assault cases, and they often remain untested. In the U.S. alone, there’s an alarming number of backlogs for testing DNA in these cases, and the whole process, from collection to testing, tracking, and storing, is riddled with issues that are less localized and more widespread and systemic in nature. But at a time when nearly one in three women over the age of 15 and one in two transgender people have experienced sexual violence, the process needs to be reexamined and, in some cases, overhauled. Waegemann knows the importance of her task and remains hopeful, stating that she “really believe[s] that a product itself can change a system in a way that policy sometimes cannot.”

She’s not entirely wrong, either. New and reimagined technologies, products, and innovations in health care have the capacity to change and improve people’s lives, especially those who are historically under and misrepresented in these arenas. Through the efforts of these Index Project finalists, issues previously thought of as “taboo” enter the forefront of design strategy, spurring important, necessary action that has the capacity to make a real difference.

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Thousands of designers and firms around the world participated, producing a dazzling array of proposals in four categories: environment, health, society, and work. They range from fun and lighthearted distance-encouraging wearables for kids to inclusive sustainable villages and everything in between. We’ve gathered 10 of our favorites here, and you can see the rest at the Biennale’s official website:

Homes for All by Saorla Hanley

For designer Saorla Hanley, the pandemic demonstrated a dire need for a push in building social housing in the United Kingdom. She proposes wheelchair-accessible housing for a small brownfield site in Greenhill, Harrow, England that can serve the diverse population, including large families with multiple generations. The four-bedroom houses are centered around a communal garden.

Inclusiveness by Design by Shiro Muchiri

Shiro Muchiri calls on the design community to find ways to introduce diverse socioeconomic groups to each other through design work and projects. “I believe that a more dynamic and active platform for idea sharing and collaborations should be created. Making the process of transforming great ideas into reality faster, more effective, and inclusive,” he says, adding that “we should form a type of institution or organization that can bring together brilliant ideas, extraordinary skills, advanced technology, and technical know-how to a central hub. A hub where design professionals can reach out to each other as a resource that can enable them to put together, showcase, and bring into our living spaces, workplaces, homes and other living environments, worldwide artistry, skills, and craft.”

Active Classroom by Boris Lancelot Tichelman

A description for this project on the Biennale’s website explains that “the ‘Active Classroom’ is a series of ergonomic children’s furniture designed for the school of the future. As a diverse alternative to the deep and unhealthy habituation in chair sitting, the four stools encourage a frequent alternation of different postures to increase muscular diversity, starting with the youth.”

Pop-Up Ecosystems by Mudd Architects + Airlab

Mudd Architects and Airlab joined up with young designers to propose a series of “Pop-up Ecosystems” that add green spaces to existing buildings to improve mental health. These ultralight spaces mimic proven techniques that have already been deployed in public pavilions and installations, but subvert their usage for growing plants with roots that grip directly onto the fabric as they grow.

Symbiotic Futures by Romy Snijders

Disconnection with nature is a growing problem in many societies around the world, contributing to neglect and destruction of the planet. Designer Romy Snijders believes that we should be learning more about “the language of trees,” learning by way of nature’s example. She says: “We know that trees communicate with each other through a network of mycorrhizal fungi. The designed tools would allow us to listen to this communication and see which trees are connected. Insight in the communication between trees can help us protect the forest and improve environmental health.”

Co-Food by Megana Mikuciauskaite

Most correctional facilities focus more on punishment than reform or restorative justice, perpetuating cycles of crime instead of breaking them. Megana Mikusciauskaite believes we could change the way incarcerated people view their roles in society by nurturing their relationships with their families. “Co-Food” connects inmates with volunteers to learn new skills and share in food-based and gardening projects that their family and friends can also participate in. She adds that “participatory design would attract not only family members, but also different audiences, creating an opportunity for bridging social capital.”

Reclaim Women’s Space by Eva Storrusten

The Biennale website hails this “master project in architecture” as “interpreting the potential architecture of the lost women’s spaces in Old Stone Town, Zanzibar; how can architecture support female empowerment? Through a collaboration with local stakeholders, this project considers women’s position in a Muslim context were there has been a distinct gender separation traditionally.”

Urban Hives by Nathalie Harb

Low-cost elevated modular structures could create new garden spaces in urban areas without having an impact on parking availability. This project enables urban farming, mitigates pollution, and provides open green spaces for smaller communities while also providing shade for cars in parking lots.

Insectology: Food for Buzz by Matilde Boelhouwer

“’Insectology: Food for Buzz’ is a series of artificial ongoing flowering flowers meant to serve as an emergency food source for the ‘big five of pollination.’ Together with engineers and scientists, these five colorful man-made flowers have been developed to be self-sustaining and continuously produce natural objects that form the ultimate attractions to those of the big five.”

WeAlign by Wuqing Hipsh

As we age, it gets harder to find our balance, increasing our risk of falls. WeAlign is a concept for gamified exercise that improves gaze stabilization. Your head movements control the game, ultimately helping your balance improve. Best of all, the program makes physical therapy fun, tracking both qualitative and quantitative data about your progress.

The post 10 Standout Projects from the “Design in an Age of Crisis” Competition first appeared on Dornob.

“The project is driven less by a single vision and more by shared interest, a belief in Burning Man culture and community, and mutual curiosity.” Chip Conley, one of the major contributors and early leaders in the project, summarized the organization’s vision as a question rather than an answer: ‘What happens when Burners are invited to co-create a space beyond the playa?’”

The Burning Man Project bought the expansive wetland property in Northern Nevada back in 2016 and partnered with Seattle-based Land Art Generator Initiative to create the LAGI 2020 Fly Ranch design challenge, inviting the public to come up with regenerative concepts for the new development.

An official LAGI statement explains: “Teams were asked to integrate sustainable systems for energy, water, food, shelter, and waste management into works of art in the landscape. The objective is to build the foundational infrastructure for Fly Ranch, support Burning Man Project’s 2030 sustainability goals, and engage a global audience to work together towards systemic transformation, and serve as an inspiration for the developing field of regenerative design.”

The land is pretty special in its own right, hosting Fly Geyser, hot springs, three reservoirs, animals, and more than 100 types of plants. To develop it responsibly, organizers are seeking creative solutions for power, water, food, shelter, and regeneration (i.e. waste disposal). Burning Man Project and LAGI will provide grants to their top 10 design teams to build functional prototypes on site. Those 10 projects, along with the other 42 shortlisted proposals, can be viewed on the LAGI 2020 Fly Ranch website.

The winning projects include “Lodgers,” a series of symbiotic structures made of natural materials that double as homes for wildlife; “Nexus,” a pavilion exploring the design capabilities of a sustainable alternative to concrete; “SEED Symbiotic Coevolution,” a mostly earth-sheltered development incorporating solar, geothermal, passive cooling, composting, greenhouses, and more; “The Source,” a beautiful rammed earth spiral housing a water and energy collector; “Ripple,” a bio-ceramic dome in the center of a permaculture garden, and more.

Ranging from low to high-tech, some projects incorporate ancient methods and materials while others explore exciting new ideas and components. Each one is worth looking at in depth, whether you’re one of the 70,000-odd Burners with a vested interest in Fly Ranch or just a curious onlooker. It’s always cool to see creative concepts for sustainable living that feel like they could actually become a reality soon, and it’ll be really interesting to see what the chosen projects look like after they’re all built.

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Underwater Photographer of the Year 2021: “Sharks’ Skylight” – Renee Capozzola (USA)

Capozzola captured this shot of blacktip reef sharks while in French Polynesia. An avid shark enthusiast, she’s particularly excited for the publicity her photo might bring to the need for their protection. “Since many shark species are threatened with extinction throughout the world, it is my hope that images of these beautiful animals will help promote their conservation,” she said on the UPY website.

This prize was an easy call for the judges this year. “The first time I set eyes on this image I was nothing short of mesmerized. It’s the palette of colors which first attracted me…mind-blowing underwater imagery at it’s very best,” comments judge Martin Edge.

Up-and-Coming Underwater Photographer of the Year 2021: “Tying In” – SJ Alice Bennett (Mexico)

After her careful plan to take this shot of cave training failed, Bennett had to quickly improvise before their gas reserves were depleted. She pressed the shutter just as her lighting assistants created the beautiful halo effects.

Judge Peter Rowlands explains why Bennett’s work earned the runner-up prize as such: “This strong image brought two words to mind – confidence and talent. Confident enough to pull off such an ambitious image, and talented [enough] to visualize such good composition and control complicated lighting.”

British Underwater Photographer of the Year 2021, My Backyard Winner: “While You Sleep” – Mark Kirkland (UK)

Shot in an area near Kirkland’s home in Glasgow, Scotland, the photographer used a combination of long-exposure, backlighting, close-focus wide angle, split photography, and a whole lot of patience to pull off this shot. “This final shot is a culmination 25 hours over 4 nights of lying in darkness, covered in mud, waiting on nature’s unpredictable elements to align. Time well spent? Absolutely,” he says.

And the judges agree. “I honestly think that the appearance of this image will go down in the history of underwater photography as a defining moment. Perfect yet flawed, natural in urban. I think it is a masterpiece,” gushes Rowlands.

Marine Conservation Photographer of the Year 2021: “Aerial view of a crowded island in Guna Yala” – Karim Iliya (USA)

Karim Iliya was in this region of Panama to photograph the art of making Mola, the traditional clothing worn by the inhabitants of this island. While waiting for a ferry, he sent up his drone and took this shocking aerial scene. “The importance of humanity’s relationship with nature and the need to protect it becomes very apparent when you look at our species from a bird’s-eye perspective and see how much space we take up.”

Underwater Photographer of the Year 2021, Behavior: “A striped marlin in a high-speed hunt in Mexico” – Karim Iliya (USA)

For his second prize-winning entry, Iliya captured this terrifying scene of small fish fleeing a striped marlin. “I went to Mexico to document these feeding frenzies but was not expecting such a fast-paced hunt, almost too fast for my brain to process,” he says, adding that “for a brief moment, this scene unfolded before me and I had to rely on all my instincts and practice underwater to take this photo.”

Underwater Photographer of the Year 2021, Wrecks: “BOWLANDER” – Tobias Friedrich (Germany)

After scrapping shoots in Tiger Beach and Bimini due to bad weather, Tobias Friedrich and his team tried a spot near Nassau in the Bahamas. They were surprised to find a totally new and precariously-perched shipwreck.

Judge Rowlands comments: “Images leap out for several reasons; David and Goliath scale, magnitude, and unambiguity to name three, and this image has all of those and more. If you want to know the secret formula for a classic wreck shot, look no further.”

These are just a few of the show-stopping 2021 victors and runners-up from this year’s contest. The rest of the awards and finalists can be viewed on the UPY Winners webpage.

Here are a few more breathtaking images for the road:

UPY Compact Winner: “Doule (Kuhlia Rupestris) near the surface” – Jack Berthomier (New Caledonia)

UPY Wide Angle Runner-Up: “Gothic Chamber” – Martin Broen (New Caledonia)

UPY Macro Runner-Up: “Larval Lionfish” – Steven Kovacs (USA)

UPY British Waters Compact Winner: “Sunrise Mute Swan Feeding Underwater” – Ian Wade (UK)

The post Dive Deep Into These Mind-Blowing “Underwater Photographer of the Year” Entries first appeared on Dornob.

2020 was a year that made us all reexamine how we define the word “home.” Naturally, architectural research initiative Arch Out Loud’s annual competition exploring the “future of home” was filled with ideas about life in a post-pandemic world, as well as solutions to more traditional concerns like climate change and scarcity of resources. The winners creatively wove their utopian desires into conceptual structures, incorporating everything from work/life balance to bio-hacking and even prison recidivism into their new visions for our most personal sanctuaries.

Overall Winner: Shadow Housing

Invented by Jeffrey Liu and Haylie Chan, “Shadow Housing” embodies the values of communal living while using the sun as a guide for daily work activities.

Pointing out that COVID-19 has ruptured the “boundary between office and the home,” the idea suggests that we no longer need to place an “emphasis on productive labor over unwaged housework.” Instead, Shadow Housing integrates an open-air live/work commons that “tethers the workday to the movement of the sun.” The development is proposed to exist in the amenable climate of Los Angeles, with each unit having a ground floor of two private rooms and enclosed patio rooms, and a shared rooftop living area divided by shadow-casting walls. Those walls would be precisely designed to alternately shade work spaces and domestic labor throughout the day, in the hopes of creating a more balanced 24-hour flow.

The concept certainly makes sense for a coronavirus-ridden world and a few arid, temperate environments, but even in sunny Los Angeles, most people don’t want to be outside until the temperatures are comfortable enough for work. Perhaps the idea could be adapted to a glass-enclosed space to still allow for light and shadow but also climate control?

Innovation Award: Biohackers Residence

This alien-looking dwelling, ideally located in the red rock deserts of Utah, is designed to be a bio-hacker paradise. For all those seeking “self-empowerment” by challenging “what it means to be human,” this commune, conceptualized by Samuel Esses and Jonathan Wong at Superficium, looks like a genetic mutation of the natural landscape. While the inhabitants mingle in the common lounge areas to use the organic 3D printers and CRISPR editing workstations, the craggy, luminous abode will provide shelter from the outside world (and the law) to help them practice self-experimentation and gene-editing.

Adaptabilty Award: Stuyvesanttown

Designer Carla Bonilla Huaroc envisions a New York City in the year 2035, where the “ratio of luxury to affordable housing causes a major recession” leading to former high-end condos like the Stuyvesant development being converted into other housing needs. Bonilla Huaroc predicts “the crisis of homelessness becom[ing] even more dire, and … the consequences of mass incarceration occurring earlier in the millennium becom[ing] more visible.”

Her vision includes transforming the extravagant apartment high-rise into Stuyuvesanttown, a transitional landing pad for citizens returning from incarceration. The brown brick facade features several cutouts filled in with receded but bulbous gray brick innards. The overall effect looks like King Kong swung through punching holes in the top of the building, but perhaps the design is intended to hint at breaking free from an old life and filling it in with a newer, more malleable existence.

The inside of Stuyuvesanttown would consist of both individual apartments and dorm-type rooms, with the aim of helping people “take one of the first steps…to find safe shelter.” There would also be classrooms and office spaces available for non-profits to help residents learn or regain self-sufficiency skills.

Pragmatic Award: House is Not a Home

With this theoretical multi-family dwelling, Qin Ye Chen and Yiwen Wang sought to answer the question “how can architecture offer a remedy to social isolation?” The buildings feature overlapping shared spaces interwoven among the private realms. It would also accommodate the inclusion of different demographics and income groups, with each complex offering a range of low to mid-range residences.

Honorable Mentions

Among the many Honorable Mention awards was “Achiparago,” by Nai-Hua Chen and Eileen Xu, itself a web of urban housing with automated farming levels for more efficient food production. “Bubble” by Sidian Tu is an emergency response to natural disaster and pandemics. With two breathable membranes for structure, the walls themselves form the necessary seating, sleeping, and working furniture. And “Bring Your Home” by Felix Kim, Pui Luk, and Zeb Saiyed would see city parks transformed into mini-Easter Islands, each chock-full of auto-piloted mobile lodgings (resembling the large stone heads from the South Pacific) that are safe for work, travel, and life.

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