Here’s a little taste of what the next year has in store in the world of building design:

Merdeka 118

Conceived by the Australian design firm Fender Katsalidis, Kuala Lumpur’s Merdeka 118 will soon claim the title of the world’s second tallest tower. When completed, the 118-story edifice will reach 2,227 feet high, complete with a double height observation deck to provide stunning views of Malaysia’s capital city. The inside will house a mix of residential, retail, and hospitality offerings while the exterior is comprised of a geometric prism of windows, all set at angles that mimic traditional Malaysian craft patterns.

University of Illinois Campus Instructional Facility

This 122,000-square-foot educational building is blazing trails for colleges everywhere, mostly in that it’s designed to be completely carbon neutral. With a commitment to full campus net zero carbon operation by 2050, the University of Illinois has pulled out the stops with all-electric construction. Additionally, a ground source heat exchange system buried underground will meet roughly 65 percent of the structure’s energy demand.

Designed by global architecture firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), the interior features a multi-story staircase with surrounding stadium seating for informal gathering and collaboration. Additionally, there are classrooms of all sizes to accommodate classes of between 24 and 500 students, where subjects revolving around the future of education and its support technologies will be taught.

Abrahamic Family House

Located on Saadiyat Isalnd in Abu Dhabi, the Abrahamic Family House is the fruit of the Higher Committee of Human Fraternity’s work to increase tolerance and interfaith understanding. Shiek Ahmed el-Tayeb was one of the signers, alongside Pope Francis and the Grand Imam of Al Azhar, of the February 2019 Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together. This inspired him to commission the project, a religious complex made up of worship centers for Christians, Jews, and Muslims with a shared garden space.

Designed by Adjaye Associates, each building is distinctive in its architectural features but stylistically similar enough to produce a unifying effect. Said principal architect Sir David Adjaye, “I want to create a building that starts to dissolve the notion of hierarchical difference – it should represent universality and totality – something higher that enhances the richness of human life.”

The Spiral

Perhaps the tallest building going up in Manhattan in 2022, the 1,031-foot-tall Spiral tower is the brainchild of Danish architectural group Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG). Its most distinguishing feature is the corkscrew of open-air terraces twisting around the building from top to bottom. Pharmaceutical company Pfizer announced plans back in 2018 to move its world headquarters to the Spiral, while the other floors will be occupied by other global businesses, as well as restaurants and hospitality services.

Rwanda Institute for Conservation Agriculture

In an effort to raise up a generation able to solve their own food scarcity problems, the Howard G. Buffet Foundation is installing a new academic and research campus for the surrounding inhabitants of Gashora, Rwanda. Designed and built by nonprofit MASS Design Group, the Rwanda Institute of Conservation Agriculture (RICA) is located in one of the country’s most drought affected areas, with minimal farmland and a population expected to double in the next 30 years.

The teaching facility will be energy-independent and carbon neutral, thanks largely to its solar farm (the largest in the nation), and 90 percent of the labor and materials will be sourced locally. The structure is arranged in two connected circles that will have space for education, storage, research, and housing for both students and employees.

The post A Sneak Peek at 2022’s Best Architecture Offerings first appeared on Dornob.

The RoboMaster S1 was inspired by the international robotics competition DJI RoboMaster. Since being founded in 2015, over 20,000 students from more than 400 schools have participated in this thrilling event that tests wit, engineering, and problem-solving skills. The S1’s creators wanted to embody the spirit of the contest in a single robot, and the result is both part toy and part STEM classroom.

The educational robot arrives in pieces on purpose, immediately giving the student a lesson in both assembly and design. Following directions and online videos as needed, you can put the RoboMaster S1 together in a relatively short amount of time, even attaching some additional accessories if you like.

With the bot assembled, you’ll want to fire up the accompanying RoboMaster S1 app (available for iOS, Android, and Windows). This is the mechanism through which you’ll actually control it. Oh, and while it is technically a robot because it is robotic, it looks and acts a bit more like an RC car, with mecanum wheels that move in all directions for both side-to-side and front-to-back mobility options. Combined with its chassis and front axle suspension, this allows for virtually unlimited movement capabilities — in stark contrast to old-school remote-controlled cars that basically only moved from front to back or in circles.

The technology behind the S1 is advanced and impressive, supporting both Scratch and Python programming languages. This allows the student to learn coding on an easy-to-use interactive interface. Once in the app, simply drag and drop blocks to program the chassis, gimbal, and blaster and then test them out to see the effects of your inputted data.

You didn’t misread it when we said “blaster,” either. Even more than its RC car base or robot-looking upper, the most fun aspect of the RoboMaster S1 is undoubtedly its blaster, which shoots red infrared light or actual non-toxic gel bead “ammo” as the robot races across the floor. This makes it the perfect tool for races or battles with friends. You can even throw in some bonus abilities like electromagnetic interference or dizziness to throw opposing bots off their game. Pressure sensors on each Robomaster react to different “hits,” but you can always code a custom move to outpace the competition with an unexpected figure eight or full stop. To top it all off, you can film all the action with a touch of a button and share it with the world.

Intended to help young people practice coding, the RobosMaster’s easy-to-use programming software allows you to train your robot to identify people and objects or move along a specific path. The S1 also boasts six programmable artificial intelligence modules that allow you to work some hands-on AI coding into your education, too.

It’s a lot of software, engineering, and technology to take in at once, but the company website is loaded with tons of support material to back you up as you learn. This includes video courses and tutorials with detailed instructions, downloadable documents, a FAQ section, and even a comprehensive programming guide.

The post Part Toy, Part Companion: The RoboMaster S1 is All Robot first appeared on Dornob.

Amid the pandemic, so many teachers and students started using the video game Minecraft as a virtual learning space that Microsoft created an official Minecraft: Education Collection marketplace. The game allows multiple players to come together in a virtual space, which they can build together into anything they want using the digital equivalent of LEGO bricks. The downloadable content in the marketplace lets them refine the content of the worlds they build even further, adding things like “Marine Biologist Role Play,” explorations through “The Human Body,” and a model of the “International Space Station.”

Suddenly, this relatively simple game with a retro style modeled on old 8-bit games has become highly relevant to everyday education in the United States. Though it was used in schools long before anyone heard of COVID-19, its popularity has exploded in the virus’ wake, with a whopping 63 million pieces of content having been dowloaded from the Minecraft: Education Collection marketplace since March. Since its release in 2011, Minecraft has amassed an incredible 126 million active players around the world, a number that undoubtedly continues to grow as the fall school season ramps up. More specifically, Minecraft sales are expected to jump at least 25 percent by the end of 2020.

Minecraft owes part of its educational popularity to the fact that it’s a virtual blank canvas, allowing users to build whatever their imaginations can come up with, including models of their own schools. But what this moment also reveals is how looking at schooling through a different lens could actually encourage students to be more engaged and active as they learn. Why shouldn’t learning be fun?

Luckily, Microsoft already spent years creating Minecraft lesson plans in all kinds of subjects, including computer science, math, writing, and even art. Teachers can choose from the library of lesson plans or create their own specific assignments. The education version of the game functions the same way as the regular version, just with different objectives in mind. Students as young as six years old can use it to learn basic concepts, while high school students use it to learn how to code or see how complex mathematical problems play out in three-dimensional space.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcEIlD4VHUM

Here’s a rough idea of how it works, from Microsoft:

“Spatial thinking and pixel art in Minecraft create an excellent opportunity for students to work on mathematics and visual arts objectives in an engaging environment. Additionally, pixel art is a medium that’s already engaging to students and one that allows educators to take their first steps with the game without being the expert. Students open up a Minecraft world to use as their canvas. Their pixel art creations range from portraits to landscapes to patterns and language. Students take care to transfer their plans to the immersive space.”

“For this pixel-art lesson, students turn in not only screenshots from their Minecraft creation but also their grid diagram from their plans. The educator also includes questions about scale and ratio to push student thinking. After the first year using Minecraft: Education Edition, educators can adapt, edit, and learn from the successes and missteps along their way. Each new year brings with it the opportunity to deepen their practice and refine their students’ learning experiences with Minecraft.”

Of course, there are a few downsides to watch for. Like its direct competitor, Roblox, Minecraft: Education Edition is an open social platform, so teachers and parents have to take an active role in preventing potential predators from accessing their children’s digital worlds. Plus, there’s the fact that students’ ability to access computers and Wi-Fi at home is highly unequal, a big problem in today’s environment of remote learning. But as long as those ideas can be addressed, leveraging gaming for educational purposes could be expanded long after the current pandemic is over.

The post Minecraft Education is Making School a Lot More Fun This Fall first appeared on Dornob.

The dog comes as a kit of puzzle-like parts you assemble yourself. Then, whether you’re already well-versed in code or a complete beginner, you can download demo code from GitHub to get the Bittle moving. The process will teach you how to code or help you refine your skills, and you can experiment with writing your own code to teach the dog new tricks.

Bittle is an open platform with a customized Arduino board coordinating all movements, and you can add various types of sensors and artificial intelligence capabilities through Raspberry Pi and other AI chips. Its four legs have springs that give the dog an adorable little jaunt, allowing it to navigate uneven terrain and express “the joy of life whenever it moves.”

If you’re familiar with bigger robot dogs like Boston Dynamics Spot, you probably already know that researchers have only recently been able to achieve this kind of maneuverability, even with the best of the best engineering and components. Spot costs a whopping $74,500, making this kind of robot out of reach for most people. But not only does the Bittle look a lot like a scaled-down Spot, it’s also super affordable.

The whole Bittle Kit is offered as a Kickstarter special for $225, or you can purchase parts individually if you’re already a well-equipped robotics enthusiast. The system comes with five major components: body frame, actuator, electronics, battery, and the software to coordinate the hardware’s tasks. The interlocking frame is like a 3D puzzle, making assembly fun, and it takes about an hour to put it together. The frame is compatible with most 9g servos.

The company explains that they “also designed Bittle to be soft. Besides the elasticity of the material, the spring-loaded upper legs flatten the shock on joint servos to protect their gears. Bittle usually survives regular collisions. In the extreme cases, it will disintegrate at the designated ‘weak link in the chain,’ which is easy and cheap to reinstall or replace.”

“Thanks to the Arduino and Raspberry Pi community, you can find many customization ideas for Bittle. There are four Seeed Grove sockets on NyBoard V1 for extensible modules. To make installation easier, we designed Bittle’s head as a clip to bite on those modules. That explains why we created a dog out of OpenCat this time. We will compile a ‘sensor pack’ perk, including an intelligent camera module, a gesture sensor, a PIR motion sensor, and some other useful sensors. There’s also a screw hole inside Bittle’s head for fixing additional modules.”

If you’re interested in the nitty-gritty of how the Bittle works, like the customized Arduino board, the robot’s Kickstarter page has lots of great info. The campaign closes on Thursday, October 8th, and rewards will start to ship in December 2020.

The post Palm-Sized Robot Dog Does Tricks and Teaches STEM first appeared on Dornob.

Hoping to shine a spotlight on Reich’s under-recognized skills as a designer, the Mies van der Rohe Foundation recently launched the second phase of a grant program set up in her name. The foundation previously set up a research grant along the same lines, and the resulting exhibition by Laura Martínez de Guereñu, “Re-enactment: Lilly Reich’s Work” still occupies the Barcelona Pavilion (designed by Reich herself), where it will remain on display until July 15th, 2020. Specifically, the research-based exhibit represents Lilly Reich’s influence by reconstructing two display cases similar to the ones she designed herself for the International Exposition of 1929. It also transforms the spatial experience of the pavilion by reclaiming its connection with Reich’s work on the Noucentista Palaces of Montjuïc.

The Foundation has previously stated that “the results of the first-edition research show the need to continue studying the person and work of Lilly Reich: the Lilly Reich Grant of Academic research will insist on deepening the knowledge and dissemination of this essential figure in the history of modern architecture.”

The Mies van der Rohe Foundation has a special reason to honor this particular designer, since she worked in a partnership with Ludwig Mies van der Rohe on several notable projects in the past, including the aforementioned German section of the 1929 World Exhibition in Barcelona. The two also collaborated on the acclaimed Tugendhat House in Brno, Czech Republic and, perhaps most notably, the masterpiece of modern architecture that is the Barcelona Pavilion.

Marking the 135th anniversary of Lilly Reich’s birth (June 16th, 1885, Berlin), the second edition of the Lilly Reich Grant for equality in architecture is focused on high-school aged students in an effort to encourage further research into the designer’s life and work.

“We are thrilled to present the new call of the Lilly Reich Grant for equality in architecture, and we are especially happy to include the teenage community in this fight for equality through research and knowledge,” says the foundation’s Executive Director Anna Ramos.

A total of five grants will be awarded with a cash value of €300 each, with winners also receiving bibliographical or educational material worth €200 for the educational center of their choosing. Each winning project will also be published on the official FMVDR website.

The brief regarding the project reads: “Lilly Reich Grant for Senior High School Students Research Projects focuses on the study, dissemination, and visibilization of contributions to architecture that have been unduly relegated or forgotten, or carried out by architectural professionals that have received discriminatory treatment, and that promote equal access to the practice of architecture worldwide.”

With any luck, grants like these will continue inspiring youth, encouraging an interest in the history of design as a foundation for the future, and honoring equality within all professions.

The post Mies van der Rohe Foundation Launches New Research Grant in Honor of Lilly Reich first appeared on Dornob.

If you want to prepare your kids for success, getting them interested in technology and coding now is a great start. A new robot called Clicbot aims to make that task easier, teaching family members the fundamentals of coding through games like trivia, red light green light, ghost catcher, ball chaser and distance keeper, and 10+ video courses.

Part of the fun is building the robot. It’s made up of several small modules that are easy to assemble into various configurations, including joints, wheels, distance sensors, foot pressure sensors, graspers, phone holders, and mounts. You can set it up to sit on a table and interact with you, or put it on wheels so it can zoom around in the driveway.

The bot’s official crowdfunding page reads: “Clicbot is your family’s newest friend. He listens, he thinks, and he even reacts. His personality is contagious, and his playful design makes him even more lovable. More than that, he’s an engaging teacher that knows how to make learning fun. Clicbot’s personality adjusts depending on how you build and code him — each setup (and there are more than 1000 setups) has its own unique combination of use cases, ensuring that Clicbot is forever-engaging and always fun. Clicbot is an entire universe. He’s got more than 1000 different setups, so you can build yours to climb, dance, crawl, drive, or even serve you your morning coffee.”

“Clicbot has more than 200 reactions like nuzzling up to you when you pet him, trying to find you when you cover his eye, and getting excited when you put him in the charging station. There are two setups with predefined personalities according to their specific setups — you don’t even need to code them. Clicbot starts super basic. Build your new robot and get a grasp on robotics by clicking pieces together. You can then assign movement directions by moving your Clicbot and selecting the direction in which its moving. Or you can record a sequence by simply hitting record and moving the bot. It’s that easy. Now you can play that sequence over and over — no code required.”

Fully programmable with a drag-and-drop coding interface based on Google’s Blockly, the educational robot isn’t just for kids. Once you get past the basics, you can enter the “Advanced Coder” mode, which is compatible with Python, a high-level programming language.

The Clicbot is currently available for preorder through Indiegogo, with the starter kit running $349 (though it’s expected to retail for $449). This kit includes everything you need to get started for a basic setup, and other kits like the “Full Kit” and the “Maker Kit” include additional parts like infrared sensors and extra joints and wheels.

The post This Educational Robot Can Teach Your Kids to Code While They’re Stuck at Home first appeared on Dornob.

BeOffice Architects has created a Turkish mosque that celebrates the accouterments of yore in Sanliurfais, where numerous ancient Seljuk- and Ottoman-age mosques are presently being renovated. Instead of a conventional building, the new mosque is spherical, surrounded by no human-made boundaries, and centers on serenity, the natural environment, and openness.

The Circle Of Synergy

BeOffice Architects defied tradition by designing a circular mosque, which highlights its endless nature, instead of the customary square or rectangular shape. With no defined borders or pointed edges, the 8,073-square-foot structure is welcoming and beckons to all. Paths and halls all lead to the inner sanctum of the central courtyard and heart of the mosque.

The journey to the center of the mosque is otherworldly. The view of the sky seems to reach into infinity. Trees and other greenery thrive all around the globular structure, and visitors are calmed and comforted by seemingly infinite water channels and a spiritually stimulating reflective pool.

The Neighboring Knowledge Niches

The Istanbul-based firm plainly understood that the mosque would be much more than a place for veneration and introspection. Most mosques include a madrasah, a place of learning, where children and adults alike are schooled in Islamic beliefs, customs, and history.

To create cohesiveness between the outside and inside of the mosque, BeOffice Architects fashioned paths between learning and worship spaces based on the topography of the site. Learning centers, classrooms, and structures dedicated to solitary, focused study are interspersed with the lush greenery of the surroundings, abiding the euphoric atmosphere throughout the spiritual education-social center.

In addition to the designated educational buildings, there is a canteen/snack bar where visitors can gather to break bread and mingle. A private hall near the women’s designated place of devotion hosts lectures and gatherings and also offers a variety of educational resources. All of the areas are designed to optimize the natural light of the day as well as utilize the prevailing local tradewinds for optimum aeration. The walkways and foundations for the landscape are made from crushed stone gathered from local quarries.

Accomplishing a Goal

When the principals of BeOffice Architects took on the project, the Turkish architects had a specific vision in mind for the 21st-century landmark. They said, “Rather than defining the mosque as a place of worship, it is to create an education-social center supported by different functions as a teaching of the madrasah, to draw the urbanite here and to provide a state of solidarity. In this context, landscape design is developed with the motto is ‘using every value in place and as necessary, avoiding wastage which constitutes the basic philosophy of design.’” Mission accomplished.

The post BeOffice Architects’ Fresh Take on the Typical Turkish Mosque first appeared on Dornob.

Based in Ho Chi Minh City, Kientruc O is a young firm led by both an architect and an industrial designer, with a mission to create architecture “that facilitates and embraces a coherent symbiosis between humans and the environment.” TTC Elite Saigon Kindergarten, TTC Elite Ben Tre Kindergarten, and Chuon Chuon Kim 2 Kindergarten all illustrate this philosophy.

Each building’s appeal to children is obvious upon first glance. The newest school, TTC Elite Saigon, is a fusion of childlike and modernist elements that never feels patronizing. Its monolithic, rounded white mass is punctuated by windows in all sorts of shapes and sizes, each one framed in a vivid color. Enormous pink, orange, and fuchsia blobs seem to float randomly across the facade.

Located close to the city’s railway station, the kindergarten is built upon an existing foundation inherited from the previous building, which gave the architects their starting point but clearly didn’t limit them. The firm says they wanted to provoke a sense of curiosity from the kids as they approach it each day.

They explain: “The windows are apertures that peer the view from inside to outside, stimulating emotion, imagination, and curiosity, establishing a direct relationship between the kids playing inside and the living, ever-changing external environment. Through the openings, light runs along the colored windowsill, highlighting and washing over the interior space with its dyed color, reciting an enchanted and fairytale-like atmosphere.”

TTC Elite Ben Tre, completed in 2017, aims for a peaceful atmosphere emphasizing the mild, pleasant tropical climate and interaction with nature. The architects implemented principles from traditional Vietnamese architectural language, including an open plan, but the coolest part is the rounded, grassy roof that creates an elevated playground.

“In its presence, the hill is the cornerstone that helped found the architectural identity of the school. It was conceived as a place that juggles the senses and tickles the curiosity inside each kid, leaving them wondering and anticipating of what excitement is awaiting them beyond the hill.”

Chuon Chuon Kim 2 Kindergarten, located in Ho Chi Minh City’s District 2, looks only slightly more conventional than the others thanks to its brick facade. But there’s nothing ordinary about it, particularly when it comes to the protruding, telescope-like volumes on top and the window openings shaped like archetypal gabled houses.

“Like a giant LEGO building, the kindergarten is constructed entirely in bare brick forming patterns and openings that are playful to the eyes, conveying a unique aesthetic value and promoting natural ventilation. Classrooms and utility rooms are organized around a playful core. Each floor is arranged in an alternating pattern to enhance vertical interaction, encourage children to be more receptive to their surroundings, and stimulate their inner creativity.”

Don’t they make you wish all schools were so thoughtfully designed?

Of course, the firm didn’t necessarily set out to be a designer of kindergartens. Their other work includes homes, offices, and restaurants that are no less creative than their school designs. See it all at KientrucO.com.

The post 3 Imaginative Kindergarten Designs by Vietnamese Studio Kientruc O first appeared on Dornob.

With the new school year on the horizon, students are slowly starting to dust off their laptops and anticipate new challenges. But aside from more powerful, faster, and lighter portable PCs out there, there are some other really cool new gadgets that make learning easier and more fun.

Livescribe 2GB Echo Smartpen

Think your head will explode trying to catch every word of a lecture? With this nifty tool, you can rest easy knowing you won’t miss a thing. The Echo Smartpen records everything you hear and write and automatically saves it to your computer. It also comes complete with software for Mac or Windows, a 50-page Starter Notebook, two ink cartridges, and a micro USB cable to transfer data and keep your pen charged. The pen is so compact (6.8 inches long) it fits in your pocket, so you’ll have no problem taking it around and recharging in between classes.

Astrohaus Freewrite

If you enjoy taking notes but hate the bulk of a tablet, Freewrite is the tool for you. It’s a word processor that connects with the Cloud, so whatever you type is automatically saved. Whether you’re taking notes in Psych 101 or composing iambic pentameter for poetry class, this tool allows you to write on with the confidence that nothing will be lost. The Freewrite’s advanced e-ink screen is clear even on sunny days, too, so you can relax on the beach while you compose if you so please. The battery life lasts for over a week with regular use, so there’s no need to constantly recharge either.

ThirdEye Gen X1 Smart Glasses

Many lecture halls are massive, so if you’re not in the front few rows, it’s difficult to see formulas on the board or other visual aids used by educators. Slip on a pair of these Smart Glasses, and you’re guaranteed to have the best view in the room. These spectacles transform your view to one comparable to viewing a 90-inch screen from a distance of 10 feet, with a whopping 13 megapixels making sure that everything is clear as crystal. If necessary, the X1’s photochromatic lenses can also be replaced with prescription ones.

Garmin vívosmart 4

No matter how many gadgets and tools you bring to a classroom, you always have to be of sound mind and body to maximize learning. vívosmart helps keep you on track. Besides offering standard info like daily steps and exercise, notifying you of medication and supplement schedules, and tracking the number of calories you’ve burned, the device also keeps track of your sleep quality, stress levels, and pulse oxygenation. Before you head out the door for an all-night session, the compact vívosmart can tell you if it might be better to chill and relax at home.

TI-84 Plus CE

Of course, there’s more to education than writing and listening, especially if your passion is math, science, or engineering. The Plus CE graphing calculator displays connections between data, equations, and graphs in full color and includes graph lines for easy reading. The 2019 model is also 30-percent thinner and lighter than past versions, and is ideal for Use for Pre-Algebra, Algebra I and II, Trigonometry, Statistics, Business & Finance, Biology, Chemistry, Geometry, Precalculus, College Math, and Linear Algebra. Last but certainly not least, the TI-84 is also approved for IB exams, AP exams that permit graphing calculators, and the PSAT, SAT, and ACT college entrance exams.

The post 5 Electronics Every Student Needs for Back to School 2019 first appeared on Dornob.

After years of ideas and proposals from the community to resuscitate the Harlem riverfront in New York City, Foster + Partners recently announced a major renovation project in the area’s Sherman Creek Park. When completed, the new boathouse there will help Row New York’s free and inexpensive youth programs prosper, which means more kids will be able reap the physical and character-building rewards of competitive rowing. Even better, they’ll have access to new educational programs designed to guide them through the college admissions process.

Harlem River History

For many years, the nine-mile Harlem River tidal channel between Manhattan and The Bronx has been dubbed “New York’s Forgotten Waterfront.” As recently as the early 20th century, the river was a thriving fishing and crabbing community, with many timber boathouses lined up along its banks. But time eventually turned the area into a desolate mixture of communal dumps, abandoned vehicles, freight trains, chop shops, and struggling small industries.

Community Efforts

Locals and city officials alike have been racking their brains trying to figure out how to breathe new life into the district, with new parks, restored marshes and beaches, and a even labyrinth of bike paths slowly popping up over the last few years.

The new Foster + Partners boathouse is expected to bring even more people to the shore, and make sure the Harlem River waterfront is remembered fondly into infinity. Most importantly, it’ll allow Row New York to significantly increase its influence, helping up to five times as many students, including those with learning disabilities and physical limitations. Plus, for the first time ever, the organization will be able to house all its programs in one central location.

New Beginnings with Classic Features

The 1,600-square-foot Foster + Partners design, spearheaded by the firm’s iconic Founder and Executive Chairman Norman Foster, is made exclusively from wood. A huge plaza surrounds the main structure, with folding ramps leading to all levels. Flood-resistant boat storage on the lower level is topped with an oversized multi-use hall, which itself is flanked by classrooms and changing rooms and opens to a broad terrace with panoramic views of the river.

A great folding timber canopy floats over the entire boathouse, protecting both its terrace and plaza from the harsh summer sun. The unique lattice design of the covering casts mottled shadows over the structure, and over the bordering landscaped areas that play host to community events and performances, casual picnicking, and overall family fun.

Natural Bonuses

It appears that nature uncannily “knows” that a new era is dawning for the Harlem River shore. Locals claim that fishing has never been better in the area, with ample numbers of eel, catfish, toadfish, porgies, flounder, and striped bass being caught there in recent months, along with crabs, mussels, oysters, and clams. There have also been reports that about 45 assorted species of birds have been frequenting the shore as of late.

Foster’s Vision

Norman Foster’s visualization of what his group seeks to accomplish with this project is clear. He explains: “In envisioning a design for a boathouse that will serve a diverse population and be a resource to the community at large, I wanted to create a building that was both functional and accessible, but also one that responded to the Hudson River’s long history as a busy transportation hub. This timber boathouse will fit naturally into the landscape of the riverfront and will transform this stretch of the Harlem River into a lively gathering place for people from all communities.”

The post Foster + Partners Unveils Proposal for New Timber Boathouse on Harlem River first appeared on Dornob.

In perfect conjunction with the initial reveal of a new merit badge aimed at sustainability, the Boys Scouts of America teamed up with Seattle-based Mithun Architects to create the 5,800-square-foot treehouse as both an example of eco-friendly design and an educational center.

The idea spawned from the history of the surrounding land, a 10,000 acre-plot in the forested slopes of the Summit Bechtel Reserve. Situated on a former coal strip-mining site, the area speaks volumes on the need for sustainability awareness, and the architecture is beginning to respond accordingly.

The five-story treehouse is vertically oriented to minimize its ground footprint and environmental disruption to the area. Spiraling 125 feet into the air, its steel frame provides views and interactive displays that teach people about sustainable living practices. Teaching by example, the treehouse is also a net-zero structure thanks to the use of strategically-placed solar panels and wind turbines. Plus, its incorporation of unfinished natural materials like Corten steel, reclaimed oak, and locally-sourced black locust in the siding and floors means a lot less upkeep is required. It’s also attained net-zero water consumption through the implementation of water collection and filtration systems. Campers rely on composting toilets to further conserve water and create a full-cycle system that’s completely free of waste.

The team from Volume Inc. was tasked with making the educational spaces as interesting as the surrounding activities at the adventure camp. To pique interest in youth while competing against ziplines and a skate park, they integrated information throughout the building in both in and outdoor exhibits meant to engage passersby. For example, a message draws the eyes up while climbing the stairs, revealing more words on the backdrop of each step that eventually reads, “Climbing stairs could generate enough energy to power a laptop, a phone, anything really, (Just climb).” Other words and phrases jump out from the corridor walls sending messages related to water consumption, electricity savings, and resource conservation.

Inspiring scouts towards environmental stewardship, the exhibits not only encourage awareness, but explain how systems work with art-like tactics. A camping cup rain chain exemplifies water collection, while a see-through glass display gives a visual representation of how power generation works.

The Sustainability Treehouse hosted the first Jamboree for the Boy Scouts of America in 2013, an event that takes place every four years and draws over 50,000 scouts from around the country. Since then, its design has caught the attention of several organizations and earned several awards, including:

AIA Northwest and Pacific Region Design Awards, Citation Award, 2015

Society for Experiential Design Exhibition Awards, Honor Award, 2014

CORE77 Design Awards, Professional Award, Interiors and Exhibitions, 2014

AIA Committee on the Environment (COTE) Top Ten Award, 2014

AIA Seattle Honor Awards, Award of Honor, 2013

The post Inside the Boy Scouts of America’s Sustainability Treehouse first appeared on Dornob.

In November of 2017, St. Mary Mercy Livonia began construction of a new, 2,600-square-foot chapel — one that would not only serve the same purpose as the old one, but also cater to the needs of the broader religious community that used the hospital. After all, St. Mary is a Catholic hospital, but the new chapel also provides spaces of worship for Protestants and non-Christian Abrahamic worshippers.

To create this blend of faiths within a single space, the chapel had to be given an irregular shape. Indeed, it does not have the symmetry of a conventional chapel from the outside, but an organic form that’s simultaneously subtle and expressive. The curves of the north elevation are formed by an intricate pattern of brickwork.

On the inside, the walls do not entirely follow the footprint of the plan, which makes for even more odd spaces and peculiar relationships between rooms. The architects behind the redesign, PLY+, did this so that each faith would not feel disturbed by the presence of the others. Whether or not that works from a deeply spiritual perspective is a personal question for each worshipper. However, it is understood by everyone that the chapel is a place for miracles, regardless if it is a Muslim, Jew, or Christian coming to pray. At the front of the main hall is the altar, which itself is hewn from Wisconsin Corastone.

The front of the chapel faces north, with skylights positioned for southern solar orientation. Clerestory windows hidden high in the ceiling draw light downwards onto the cherry wood pews and walnut liturgical chairs. The structure also boasts a healing garden with a Japanese maple tree and a crucifix that was handcrafted in Germany.

When construction of the new chapel first got under way, David Spivey, president and CEO of St. Mary Mercy Livonia, said: “The new chapel is an important addition that will allow us to meet the needs of our patients, visitors, staff, and community members who seek healing for their body, mind, and spirit.”

In these polarizing times, chapels like these prove that no matter what we believe, we all have moments when we cannot control the outcome of our lives. In hospitals everywhere, there are moments of great weakness to overcome, and sometimes even grief to live with. When those times do come around, it’s comforting to know that there are spaces where we can seek out strength.

Once again, architecture has shown us that when used correctly, it can be used to bring people together, not drive them apart.

The post Different Faiths Find Hope Under the Same Roof at New Hospital Chapel in Detroit first appeared on Dornob.

Located in the heart of Manhattan, this living exhibit is modeled on the terraced paddies of Asia, which supply 90 percent of the world’s rice. Green leaves sprout up from three tiers of paddies, which are expected to produce five varieties of rice during one four-month growing season. It will remain in place through the Harvest Moon Festival in late September, according to officials, and the September 28th finale will feature dozens of chefs preparing special dishes with the rice grown on site.

The installation also shares a spirit of remembrance and renewal with the site, which itself famously contained the original Twin Towers before the terrorist attack of September 11th, 2001. The 16-acre World Trade Center campus is now home to the 9/11 National Memorial and Museum, along with three towers hosting 35,000 office workers. On top of that, millions of international visitors pass through the Oculus Plaza each year.

“Rice paddies are a common sight in Asia, yet foreign to many New Yorkers,” says LUCKYRICE founder and CEO Danielle Chang. “Our public art installation follows small rice seedlings as they go through the life-giving transformation that feeds much of the planet and that symbolized luck, fortune, fertility, and global connections through culture and food.”

The curved wooden planters of the paddies double as seating, and across their backs visitors can find facts about rice. The five varieties of rice growing inside them include Purple Jamon Upland Rice from Italy, Mamoriaka Upland Rice from Madagascar, Yukikihari Lowland Rice from Japan, Amaura Upland Rice from Uzbekistan, and Carolina Gold Rice from the United States. While the seedlings are very small now, they’ll grow up to four-and-a-half feet tall by late September.

The Rice Paddy installation is just the latest “community activation” to be staged in Oculus Plaza as part of the Port Authority’s plan to provide cultural, educational,and entertaining programming.

“The Port Authority has invested billions of dollars rebuilding this sacred site and takes its continuing stewardship of the nearly completed campus very seriously,” says Port Authority Chairman Kevin O’Toole. “We welcome unique displays and activities to this campus such as LUCKYRICE that will provide the downtown community and those who work here with a family-friendly environment that will be a dynamic destination for tourists from around the world.”

The installation was produced by a team of local and multicultural New Yorkers and minority, women-owned businesses, and was specifically designed to foster community engagement, according to its creators. It’ll also host school tours, culinary demonstrations, and multicultural public art talks throughout the summer. To learn more about the programming and the people involved in the project, be sure to check out the LUCKYRICE website.

Photos courtesy of LUCKYRICE

The post Educational Rice Paddies Flourish at the World Trade Center’s Oculus Plaza first appeared on Dornob.

To get things started, the company set us up to operate remote control cars with our minds. As strange as that concept may seem, the headband we used to do so made it feel incredibly natural. More specifically, our brainwaves were being converted into digital instructions that told the cars to move around the track they were on — an especially amusing feature given the fact that human beings can think faster than they can react. No need to remember which button did what.

Once the thrill of racing with our minds subsided, we started thinking about all the other potential applications for BrainCo products. With their FocusFIT headband, the link between mind and body is strengthened even more. Its accompanying tablet app uses neurofeedback technology to give users actionable information both before and after their workouts. The headband is put on pre-workout, with cognitive games available on the app to help sharpen your focus and achieve an ideal performance. Once your workout is over, FocusFIT uses guided meditation to help your muscles recover more efficiently. You can then track their progress over the course of several sessions.

In the classroom, BrainCo’s FocusEDU could be used to quantify a student’s level of engagement with course materials in real-time. In this scenario, each student would be given a headband to help them calm down, concentrate, and meditate on course material. If a student is having difficulty in mathematics, the teacher will instantly know exactly where the breakdown in comprehension has occurred. If they’re simply not paying attention, the educator will know that, too, no matter how hard the student may try to conceal their daydreaming.

Over the course of the school year, teachers could also use FocusEDU to critique their own teaching methods based on the brainwave data collected. Were the technology to become ubiquitous in schools, there would no longer be a need for report cards or teacher evaluations — the data would tell the students, teachers, school administrators, and parents almost everything that they needed to know.

Even if you’re not a fitness buff or a student, BrainCo’s FocusNow can help you work more efficiently, tracking your performance for you and determining the areas where the quality of your work could be better.

As double-amputee athlete Mincheng Ni showed us, even the most challenging of tasks can be done if we put our minds to it. Ni performs using one of BrainCo’s award-winning AI-powered prosthetic hands, which learn their users’ habitual motions to create a more fluid piece that feels like a real arm, further proving the company’s motto, “your brain controls everything.”

Considering the millions of people that stand to benefit from the convergence of machine learning and neuroscience, it’s safe to say that BrainCo’s potential is more pronounced than we can even begin to think about.

The post BrainCo Blows Minds at CES 2019 first appeared on Dornob.

Roar (formerly known as Pallavi Dean Interiors) has a completely different concept of childhood development. Officially called Ora, the Nursery of the Future, the firm’s newest Dubai project eliminates those old primary colors and giant letters in favor of an entirely modern aesthetic, imagining both how and what kids could learn in a freeform environment that promotes imagination and creativity.

A Blank Canvas Encourages Ingenuity

Instead of displaying the conventional bright colors, this nursery’s interior is decidedly more cloud-like. The illusion of the white, curved space imitating a “gentle, protective cloud” was created in collaboration with the local AR. Gallery. This look is based on research that indicates neutral color schemes and soft angles push children and educators to be their own sources of motivation rather than having to draw inspiration from their surroundings. Instead of interacting with colorful walls and furnishings, children can touch these walls and floors to activate lighted displays of nature-based images and artworks that they drew themselves.

No Kids Left Behind

Serving children between the ages of two months and three years, Ora’s educational approach is completely different from that of traditional nursery schools. The facility boasts 22 interaction sectors to stimulate growth and learning at each stage of childhood development, including:

• Feeding pods
• Weaning rooms
• Rest areas
• Smart sleeping pods
• An English-Arabic library, which includes a number of books written by the nursery’s founders
• Reading pods that aid imagination
• Mindfulness corners
• A creative soft-play area with a dedicated monochrome space
• A mini-ball pit
• A sand pit
• A supervised splash pad
• A low rock-climbing wall
• A sensory garden
• An outdoor track

Ora has also been equipped with a future-conscious Mars Lab. Inspired by United Arab Emirates’ Mars space program, this lab is a communal space where teachers, kids, and parents can all congregate. It contains a library, “reading cloud” (a huge inflatable pillow where one can curl up with a book), “Sky House” inspired by traditional tree houses, and a mini “Coding Hub” where children are introduced to the basics of computer programming.

A New Nursery School Experience

Ora’s philosophy is built on four major pillars: Leadership, Happiness & Positivity, Advanced Sciences & Artificial Intelligence, and Technology & Coding. Roar worked hard to incorporate all of these values into the nursery school’s design.

Pallavi Dean, Founder and Creative Director of Roar, explains: “The biggest challenge facing education designers is that we’re preparing children for jobs that don’t yet exist. So, we designed a space where children would not just learn specific skills such as math [sic] and reading but would fall in love with learning itself. That meant designing a learning experience that’s playful, stimulating, and social. Learning by doing is so much more powerful than a conventional lecture-style set up.”

If all goes according to plan, this could very well be one educational “roar” that’s heard all around the world.

The post Dubai’s New Futuristic Nursery School Inspires Children to Thrive first appeared on Dornob.

A new furniture collection by Tink Things uses a theory called Dunn’s Model of Sensory Processing to accommodate the diverse needs of children as they interact with their everyday environments. Physical movement and good sensory integration not only help kids focus, but they’re also crucial for learning, development, and overall well-being, explain designers Dorja and Ivan Benussi. Some kids are sensation-seeking, meaning they’re always in motion, while others might be more sensitive, requiring a little more of a buffer between themselves and their surroundings.

The Ika Swing Chair and the Mia Hoodie Chair are two different responses to two different ways of processing stimuli. The Ika features a minimalist wooden frame and a suspended, non-fixed seat, allowing kids to rock and bounce while seated so they can expend a little energy and calm themselves down.

The fabric shell of the Mia works like a cocoon that can be lifted or lowered on demand depending on how the child is feeling. The designers note that this chair offers mild deep-pressure soothing to boost serotonin levels and alleviate stress. When both models are available, kids can switch between them at will as their moods and energy levels shift throughout the day, and sitting never has to be boring again.

“Children differ in their ability to process and respond to sensory stimuli within an environment while engaging in activities,” add the designers. “One child may have difficulty sitting still during group time, while another may move little during free play outside. They react in different ways because each child integrates the information obtained through their senses from the environment differently.”

“Sensory intelligence is encouraged by sensory-rich environments that are designed based on understanding children’s neurological thresholds & their behavioral responses. Those kind of spaces are dynamic and fun, but [they] also work as a food for the brain. They help with emotional regulation and aid concentration and memory skills, as real learning always involves patterns of physical activity.”

Not only do these two chairs approach the sensory needs of kids in two completely different ways (with multiple ways to use each one), but they’re also beautifully designed. Tink Things used sustainable materials like solid FSC-certified ash wood, 3D mesh fabric, and aluminum to make them, and their production process is as eco-friendly as can be, yielding minimal waste. The Ika and Mia chairs offer long-lasting value, and they’ve already been tested by families all over Europe. Both are currently available for pre-order, with shipping set to commence in January 2019.

The post Hide, Observe, Concentrate, or Fidget: Sensory Kids Furniture by Tink Tings first appeared on Dornob.