The unnamed singer purchased a three-bedroom apartment in a 25-story Foster + Partners complex on the banks of the River Thames, and though it had amazing views, it was basically a blank slate full of way too many beige surfaces. He wanted its interiors to be more engaging than the city outside, a perfect setting for parties full of movers and shakers. It also had to be substantially different from his other home, a converted barn in the countryside.

The artwork, itself a tight closeup on Bowie’s face, is a collage-style portrait with a faceted geometric effect. Its soft tones of blue, gold, and the dark red shock of hair provided the mood and the base palette for the space. Though the inspiration is retro, the designers still wanted the apartment to feel contemporary, so they started by ripping out the old wood floors and replacing them with marmoleum, an eco-friendly natural material that’s easy to clean. This new surface is covered in a custom pattern, with black and pale blue shapes dancing across an off-white background.

“The open and adventurous nature of the brief allowed for a bold use of color and form,” the designers explain. “Sculptural, flowing shapes echo the curved lines of the architecture, while bespoke-made pieces such as a coral-colored drinks cabinet add moments of surprise. The lively design vernacular carries through the whole apartment, including a glittering sequined toilet (complete with disco ball) that plays David Bowie’s ‘Let’s Dance’ on a loop.”

With a bathroom as eccentric as that, the rest of the apartment had to have its own elements of delight. They come in the form of unexpected shapes and colors, like the triangular bookshelves in the living room, a graphic rug, and new kitchen tiles in a bold grid pattern. In fact, bold geometric patterns are virtually everywhere in the home, including the wallpaper, curtains, and headboards in the bedrooms, a series of custom black-and-white closet doors, and additional wall art.

“The principal bedroom was a really difficult shape as well,” Gordon adds. A bed takes up most of the room’s footprint, so the designers framed a custom headboard directly against the wall. “Its curve mirrors the shape of the room, as do the bedside tables.” Both are a rich, deep red, since “monochrome always brings a room together,” as she explains.

The oversized green velvet sofa is custom (naturally), as is the dining table, which is ringed by Noom’s Gropius chairs in a mouthwatering shade of orange. The inside of the bar cabinet echoes that color in a slightly softer hue. Fun shapes like Sella Concept’s Ladies Pond stools in the blue-gray shade of “Jesmonite” carry the abstract sculptural feel through each room.

Ultimately, the apartment does feel like a space that would make David Bowie proud. Check out the singer’s own slightly more subdued personal taste with a glimpse of the New York City apartment where he lived before his death in 2016, which sold for $16.8 million.

The post This Wild David Bowie-Inspired London Apartment Does the Late Singer Proud first appeared on Dornob.

Located in a field outside Stockholm, One Tree Four Seasons is a collaboration between Ulf Mejergren Architects (UMA) and Finnish artist Antti Laitinen. The project encircles a solitary alder tree set on a small hill with a giant nest-like structure, which will be periodically modified to represent the four seasons. The team uses only natural materials they can find in the immediate area to build the installation, making the results seem almost like a natural growth upon the tree.

The first part was completed earlier this year and unveiled in May, displaying the starkness of the leafless tree in the cold winter and early spring seasons. The tree was already surrounded by rocks, thanks to an old agricultural practice involving clearing obstacles from the adjacent fields. The team gathered dead branches and wove them together to form a circular nest that’s open at the top, with a huge round window looking out. Curious passersby will no doubt see the structure and the opening and approach out of curiosity, perhaps climbing inside to discover that the floor is also woven.

In August, the creative team revealed Season II. This time, a new natural material was available for them to work with: hay cut and collected from the fields. Not only did they pack the hay into the woven branch structure to give it more solidity, they crafted it into a slightly curving upper wall that focuses a tight view on the canopy of the tree overhead.

They also integrated a circular hay bench lining the perimeter. Stacked bales became temporary stairs outside the entrance. As such, this enormous nest became an organic concert space. Local string quartet Julikvartetten was invited to conduct a performance inside, playing not to an audience of humans but to the tree itself, and any wildlife that might be nearby. Season III will be underway shortly, and one imagines that it will include some fall leaves, or perhaps corn stalks or other agricultural byproducts from the scene.

The fact that the work looks like a nest calls to mind the architectural works of certain animals and insects, from termite mounds to beaver dams. Structures built by animals can be quite elaborate, blurring the lines between nature and art. Projects like One Tree Four Seasons remind us that we too are animals. Plus, there’s a very particular sense of comfort that comes from building architecture that works with nature instead of against it.

The post Living Tree Converted into a Nest-Like Concert Space in Rural Sweden first appeared on Dornob.

YouTuber Tchiks Guitars says he started the project as a joke. “I remember going upstairs and telling my wife, ‘I’m gonna make a guitar out of Zoé’s old bed.’ She rolled her eyes to the ceiling and asked me, ‘Why?’” It’s a fair question, but the YouTuber proved his creative recycling idea was worthwhile, as silly as it sounded at first. He used wood salvaged from his six-year-old daughter’s old crib (IKEA’s Stuva cot) as well as a Henriksdal chair and Lack shelf to create the guitar’s top and back.

The intrepid upcycler made the fretboard of the guitar from a picture ledge, the jack output plate form a Lilangen door handle, the strap buttons from a Kallax cupboard knob, and the tone and volume knobs from an Aptilig chopping board — all items you can find at IKEA. You wouldn’t guess any of this from looking at the finished product, of course.

“This idea came to me while I was making a Brian May’s Red Special replica: while I was following the footsteps of Dr. May, like anyone who’s ever made a Red Special I guess, I kept asking myself the following questions: ‘what the ….?’, ‘how did he …?’, ‘wait a minute …’, ‘no way, that’s brilliant!.’ Having access to the plans felt a little bit like cheating so I started wondering how I would personally do it in 2022? e.g design and build a guitar from scratch, using nothing but what’s available around me.”

“Truth is, ever since the Electric Shelf 335 became viral (4 million views, thank you), I’ve been wanting to make something like this,” he says. “In my original design, I was trying to emulate an actual solid body guitar, so I had to find a way to make bent sides, which is not an easy thing to do when all you have is stuff from IKEA. Another problem I had was that, to my knowledge, the only tone wood that IKEA uses is acacia, which they use in some of their outdoor furniture (and I don’t have any of those at home). Anyway, I kept finding excuses not to make the final jump, but the Red Special really opened up my eyes: Brian May taught me that they are no rules, as he demonstrated by making a legendary guitar with a body that is essentially pine and oak.”

The YouTuber and amateur guitar builder first started experimenting with unusual materials during COVID lockdowns in Belgium in April 2020. His usual lumber store was closed, so he decided to make a guitar out of wood from an old shelf. Since then, he’s made several more DIY guitars, all impressive in their own ways. In addition to subscribing to his YouTube channel, you can also follow Tchiks Guitars’ creations on Instagram @tchiksguitars.

The post The Ultimate IKEA Hack? YouTuber Makes Incredible DIY Guitar from an Old Crib first appeared on Dornob.

The new textile and wall-covering collection from designer Catherine Martin is just the latest reminder of Presley’s continuing influence. Dubbed the “Royal Menagerie,” the collection was made for the luxe brand Mokum, itself a division of James Dunlop Textiles.

The set designer for the new movie Elvis, Martin’s vision is a sumptuous and gloriously maximalist exploration of plush, bold fabrics and eye-popping patterns — the height of 1970s opulence. The designs capture signature sights from Elvis’ world-famous Graceland home in Memphis and reimagine the lavish suite he occupied during his famed Las Vegas residency in 1969 at what was formerly the largest hotel/casino in the world, the International Hotel (now the Las Vegas Hilton).

Upon seeing the Royal Menagerie, one can almost imagine him lounging amidst its velvety landscapes, with or without his blue suede shoes. Dominated by bold, bright botanicals and immersive patterns that even Elvis himself wouldn’t sneer at, Martin’s vision is full of depth and delightfully 1970s grandeur that is as showy and complex as Presley was himself, both as a performer and as a mainstay of the American cultural consciousness.

Of course, the designs were not only inspired by Elvis’ palatial home and Las Vegas suite. They also pay tribute to the king’s penchant for audacious, fashion-forward prints that defined his on-stage persona as much as his smooth, silky voice and gyrating hips. The “Panthera” pattern in particular, with its leopard print amidst a deep gold backdrop, is a chic homage to Presley’s distinctive duds.

Meanwhile, Graceland looms large as its colorful, stained-glass peacock windows are playfully evoked by “Royal Peacock” — fabrics and wallpaper prints dominated by green jungle hues. And don’t forget the ever-present deep shag carpeting, another iconic mainstay at Graceland.

Deep hues offset the rich textures of the fabrics and textiles, but the star of the show is definitely the plush patterns, which are pure Presley. As Martin, “a child of the 70s,” herself recently noted, “I have an affinity for pattern.” Indeed, just one look at the over-the top pieces featured in this collection is enough to satisfy any Elvis fan’s wildest dreams.

The post Long Live the King: Catherine Martin Debuts Elvis-Inspired Fabrics for Mokum first appeared on Dornob.

Enter the newest offering from Yamaha Design Laboratory. “Stepping Out of the Slate” is comprised of four interactive music devices that aim to make playing music on your phone feel like a more tactile and immersive experience — an orchestra in your pocket that goes way beyond a simple push of a button.

Yamaha recently introduced prototypes for the devices, each with a snazzy name befitting its symbiotic function with your smartphone: the “TurnT,” “Winder,” “MusicLight,” and “RhythmBot.” The group aims to expand on the already burgeoning market for digital accessories and experiences that bring music to users’ pockets. But rather than solely relying on an app to replicate more traditional music experiences, these gadgets provide music lovers with a more interactive (and fun) way to play their favorite tunes.

The TurnT is just what it sounds like: a turntable, or record player, for your phone. Using your screen as the record, the TurnT’s stylus is positional and can be used to switch songs and albums, while also signaling the record to start playing. As the company recently said, “The step of carefully placing the stylus over the record [brings] back the nostalgia” of choosing your vinyl of choice and the anticipation of waiting for it to play.

If the TurnT is nostalgic, then the Winder plays even more on those retro analog feels. A key functioning as a music box, the user need only wind it to begin playing music on their smartphone. Here, the sound works directly in tandem with the movement of the spring, producing a distinctive flutter that is full of depth and texture for a more intimate interaction.

MusicLight is a candle that interacts with your smartphone. When lit, the music begins to play, as the sound itself changes gently with the flickering of the flame. The music even fades when the candle goes out. This accessory is all about creating a mood that works with the music, “Like listening to a song around a bonfire, the flame flickers in unison with the sound, creating a rich atmosphere,” says Yamaha.

Finally, the RhythmBot is a futuristic metronome that’s meant to accompany performers while they’re playing. But unlike its predecessor, the RhythmBot consists of four small bots that each play their own distinct percussive instrument. Able to sync with your phone, the bots are highly intuitive and can tune themselves to the players’ tempo. They can even accompany you as you play; the Garfunkel to your Simon, if you will.

Which new Yamaha toy are you most excited to try first?

The post Yamaha’s New Music Devices Make Smartphone Apps More Hands-On first appeared on Dornob.

“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.

“Music has always been part of our core at Apple, and bringing it to hundreds of millions of users in the way iPod did impacted more than just the music industry—it also redefined how music is discovered, listened to, and shared,” said Greg Joswiak, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing.

“Today, the spirit of iPod lives on. We’ve integrated an incredible music experience across all of our products, from the iPhone to the Apple Watch to HomePod mini, and across Mac, iPad, and Apple TV. And Apple Music delivers industry-leading sound quality with support for spatial audio—there’s no better way to enjoy, discover, and experience music.”

It’s been obvious for a while that the iPod touch was eventually going to be removed from Apple’s website. Announced just moments after the very first iPhone in 2007, the iPod touch hadn’t been updated since 2019. But for a long time, it was one of the company’s most beloved items. It could perform most of the same functions as the iPhone, minus cellular connectivity, and was thinner and lighter. It also cost a lot less at $199 and up, offering the cheapest way to enter Apple’s ecosystem of devices. During its first three years on the market, the iPhone didn’t come close to toppling the iPod touch’s position as Apple’s best seller worldwide.

But times change. Saying goodbye to the iPod touch in 2022 feels like the belated end of an era. If you’re feeling nostalgic or find that the iPod touch still plays an important role in your life, you can grab one while stock remains in Apple retail stores and through Apple Authorized resellers. Once they’re all gone, the lowest-priced portable Apple device with access to music will be the Apple Watch SE, which starts at $279, and the iPad, which starts at $329. At home, the HomePod mini does the job for $99.

Apple also recently declared a host of iPads obsolete, which means production has been stopped for seven years. That includes all third and fourth generation iPads as well as the iPad Wi-Fi in its various forms. Next up will likely be the original iPad Air, iPad mini, and iPad mini 3 in both Wi-Fi and cellular versions. These are considered “vintage,” since they haven’t been produced for between five and seven years.

Last year, Apple discontinued a long list of devices including the iPhone 12 Pro and 12 Pro Max, the Apple Watch Series 6, the iPhone XR, the iMac Pro, and more. ZDNet predicts that in 2022 we’ll see a host of additional devices discontinued to make way for new versions, including the iPhones 13 Pro, 13 Pro Max and new generation SE. Check whether your devices are on the list.

The post Say Goodbye to the Iconic Apple iPod, Which is Officially Dead first appeared on Dornob.

The Playground

Designed by architectural firm architensions, “The Playground” is a conglomeration of arched towers, connecting frames, mirrored walls, and ground-level benches and piazzas. The colorful towers reach up 56 feet into the air, creating much-needed shade for festival-goers. Architects Alessandro Orsini and Nick Roseboro, from Italy and Brooklyn, respectively, intended for their art to create connections.

Says Orsini, “It’s a place to gather and a place where we hope that our differences will be at ease.”

Buoyed

In this installation, three 36-foot-tall buoys appear to float over a grassy surface, each incorporating a whimsical mix of design elements. “I needed to build something optimistic,” explains Dutch designer Kiki Van Eijk, adding that “My buoys are joyful totems that metaphorically prevent you from sinking when we come together.” The blue buoy is topped by a Dutch-style windmill, the white one has a neck like Seattle’s space needle and sports a pair of butterfly wings, and the green buoy is capped with a mosque-like dome and mini palm tree.

Circular Dimensions x Microscape

Exploring the significance of water in the desert, Coachella Valley-native artist Christopher Cichocki used 25,000 feet of PVC pipe to create a 50-foot-tall shell-shaped pavilion with three tunnel walkways. Inside the walkways, highly magnified images of barnacles, salt, water, and algae cover the walls, while a soundscape of original musical compositions fills the ears of visitors.

“My art calls attention to the natural world and industrial mutation. This I want to reflect upon the permanence of change and transience, where visual and aural elements transform between levels of perception,” Cichocki says. “Are we looking through the microscope or the telescope? I find these elemental perceptions become indistinguishable at times.”

Cocoon (B.K.F.+H300)

The designers at the Argentinian firm Estudio Normal used their installation to honor the iconic B.K.F. Chair that was initially conceived in Buenos Aires in 1938 by designers Antonio Bonet, Juan Kurchan, and Jorge Ferrari Hardoy. Over time, the origin story of the now ubiquitous sling-back chair has been obscured. “For us, it’s very important because it’s going back to the place where everything happened and the chair became very popular,” says Estudio Normal’s Martin Huberman. “But at the same time, it got copied and the original names behind it vanished, which were two Argentinian architects and one from Catalonia, Spain.” The studio combined 400 reproductions of the B.K.F. chair to create a nine-story white cocoon to be appreciated in 360 degrees.

Mutts

When brainstorming ideas for her art, Romanian architect Oana Stănescu pondered on the unconditional love and support of her dog, Perry. She constructed three dog outlines in primary colored steel, the tallest of which stands 18 feet high. The insides are stuffed full of indigenous greenery in a celebration of nature.

La Guardiana

A 30-foot-tall statue of a woman topped with horns and a club in her hands towered over Coachella as a guardian looking out for the world’s refugee populations. The sculpture, created by LosDos (husband-and-wife Ramon and Christian Cardenas), was based on previous artwork made in collaboration with the band Rage Against the Machine.

“We definitely want to send a message of solidarity for the refugee and migrant communities with what’s happening every day and all around the world due to many different things,” says Ramon Cardenas.

Spectra

“Spectra” by UK-based design studio NEWSUBSTANCE has been in place at the Coachella festival since 2018. By day, the visitors can climb the spiral tower’s seven stories to get a different colored view of the event from every floor. By night, LED lights illuminate the structure, leading guest up to the top for a full bird’s-eye view.

The post 7 Stunning Art Installations from Coachella 2022 first appeared on Dornob.

OurSong is marketed as a “social commerce platform” allowing users to create NFTs they call “Vibes.” The company says they want to change the way musicians and artists release their music and get exposure, using the Vibes like trading cards that grant access to exclusive perks like unreleased music and private chatrooms. The idea is to cultivate a new kind of digital fandom that takes advantage of the popularity of NFTs and encourages fans to actually pay for music and other content.

Instead of buying Vibes with standard cryptocurrency like Bitcoin or Ethereum, users will purchase OurSongDollars (OSD) using their credit card, debit card, wire payment, or USD Coin, a digital stablecoin pegged to the United States Dollar. That means users don’t have to have a cryptocurrency wallet to start buying and trading NFTs, a choice that indicates OurSong is hoping to make its product feel a little more accessible to newbies.

“We made creating and buying NFTs super easy,” says OurSong. “Everyone can now turn stories, music, photography, and any kind of art into NFT trading cards called Vibes. Do it any time, anywhere! NFTs are way more than GIFs you buy and keep in a crypto-wallet. Vibes allow you to unlock exclusive updates and access private chat communities where you can meet like-minded others. Celebrate things that make you unique. Discover and follow different types of creators. Collect and build a Vibe collection worth showing off. Earn credibility as a tastemaker and not a clout chaser.”

That’s literally all the website currently explains about OurSong, Vibes, and any other aspects of the platform. To people who aren’t already hyper-connected to all things blockchain, NFTs can still seem pretty murky, no matter how much we read about them. So it wouldn’t hurt for a new platform that wants to attract the public at large, like OurSong, to spell things out a little more clearly. Perhaps you have to download the app for that.

There are a couple other things the site doesn’t mention. One is how OurSong plans to deal with people uploading content that doesn’t belong to them, which would defeat the whole purpose of the platform. Another is the right-click-save problem that allows anyone to parade images all over the internet that someone else bought for hundreds of thousands of dollars. While the buyer might have exclusive rights to the original, others can copy the digital file all they want, and the artist often still retains copyright and reproduction rights.

Some people see NFTs as the future of serious art collecting, while others find them more akin to Pokémon cards. In a few short years, we’ll likely find out whether this whole thing is a passing trend or the beginning of a whole new digital world we can’t quite wrap our heads around yet.

The post John Legend Launches “OurSong,” a New Platform for Musical NFTs first appeared on Dornob.

Using special probe lenses and high-resolution cameras, the artist peers into the cavities of a Steinway and Fazioli piano, a 14-karat gold flute, a 240-year-old flute, and even an Australian didgeridoo. But what makes this collection so breathtaking isn’t just the fact that it offers a view into typically unseeable spaces, but that it has been manipulated into brilliant, eye-dazzling art.

“I use a special technique called focus stacking, which has the effect of making these small spaces seem vast,” Brooks, a New Zealand native, says on his website. “This is a simple optical illusion. Our brains are wired to expect close-up macro shots to have a shallow depth of field. By combining dozens, sometimes hundreds, of shots, I ensure that the photo is sharp from front to back. This tricks the mind into believing that the image is of something much larger than reality.”

Indeed, his photos of the insides of a 1780 Lockey Hill cello look “vast and cavernous,” with the instrument’s f-holes casting light and shadows around what appears to be an underground chamber.

Brooks’ picture of the “sublime action” inside a Fazioli grand piano, considered by many to be the finest piano ever made, feels like it could be in the hallway of some glorious manufacturing plant with its gleaming, larger-than-life metal tubes and rivets. He revels in exposing a part of the instrument that is usually “familiar only to technicians.” With such an up-close view, even the smallest markings and imperfections are visible.

In other photos, the interior of a golden flute creates a seemingly infinite corridor of reflective circles, while the hollow of a saxophone bell gives the illusion of hidden moonlit caves.

The project turned up some surprises for Brooks. For instance, when examining the innards of a didgeridoo, he was amazed to find that “these ancient instruments are not carved by hand but are hollowed out by termites. The resulting grooves and channels give each instrument a unique sound.”

One photo even pays homage to the humble dust bunny. Introducing the viewer to “Fritz the dust mouse,” a cluster of microscopic dirt found inside a century-old Hopf violin, Brooks says such creatures exist in most string instruments. “When they are cleaned or restored, many musicians will ask for the dust bunny to be left in place for luck!”

Brooks spent 20 years as a preeminent orchestral cellist, playing principal positions in places like China, Australia, Brazil, and Chile. During his musical career, he took advantage of his world travels to hone his photography skills, getting noticed by National Geographic in 2011. His nature shots and portraits of famous musicians later earned him an affiliation with Panasonic Lumix in 2018.

More of Brook’s “Architecture in Music” photos, as well as his other works, can be found on his online shop and Instagram profile.

The post Photos Reveal the Inner Architecture of Musical Instruments first appeared on Dornob.

But what about your everyday, run-of-the-mill laser printer? Could such a device be used to create technologies that make it possible for us to interact with our electronics in an entirely different way?

Prelonic Technologies thinks so. The company envisions a future where paper-printed objects like keyboards could serve as the interface for our phones, tablets, and smartwatches, all without the excess waste that’s created with other wireless, more temporary hardware. Take wireless keyboards, for example – a popular alternative for those that want to work exclusively on their phones or watches, but require a keyboard to handle more complicated tasks like editing photos, building spreadsheets, or even performing music. But while these wireless keyboards are affordable, they’re not always practical, used a little only to be quickly discarded, and creating waste that our already beleaguered planet certainly doesn’t need.

Enter Prelonic Technologies. Founded in 2007, the company’s aim is to create “flexible printed electronics” to produce cheaper hardware that’s more eco-friendly, according to Gizmodo. Temporary, more affordable hardware that’s also recyclable? Who couldn’t get on board with that?

The company recently demonstrated this technology, dubbed Prelonic Interactive Paper (PIP), by posting a video on their site of a set of printed piano keys created by a standard laser printer. So much more than a piece of paper, however, the sheet is adapted with a circuit layout sandwiched between layers of conductive carbon, with a tiny NFC (near-field communication) chip in between. This is actually less complicated than it sounds, as the layout itself is relatively simple. And unlike NFCs that usually drain power quickly, this printed paper keyboard actually gets all the power it needs from your smartphone. Just place it atop the board, pair it with the accompanying app, and you’re ready to jam.

This application, while useful and impressive, is nothing compared to the possible applications of PIP. Think not just piano keyboards, but full-on QWERTY keyboards that make it easier to interface with your smart devices without having to bust out the laptop. And it could also be used to create custom interfaces for specific applications like Photoshop, an already existing technology that’s not nearly as cost-effective as PIP. Printed, custom keyboards and interfaces created on-demand that are also environmentally friendly and have the capability to be powered by your smartphone? Now that’s what we call making beautiful music.

The post This Printed Paper Piano’s Power Comes from Your Smartphone first appeared on Dornob.

So why have calculators recently jumped to the forefront of the popular imagination? Is it because aliens finally came to Earth and confiscated our phones, rendering these adorably quaint pieces of plastic necessary again? The real answer is robots (of course). More specifically, a musical robot has just jumped onto the scene, demonstrating its musical virtuosity and technological prowess on these calculators by playing the songs of one of the most famous composers of all time.

The robot, dubbed A-HOGE, is apparently the brainchild of Mr. Hitome, who himself is no stranger to using calculators to perform music, though it was actually built by Twitter user @goto_statement, according to designboom. After posting a video of A-HOGE playing Mozart’s “Turkish March,” the robotic savant predictably went viral, with its musical prowess taking calculator compositions to the next level. Previously a genre dominated by people getting creative with multiple calculators and re-creating famous tunes like Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up” (as seen in this video by YouTube user Chaco), the robotic rockstar is able to create even more complex melodies because, well…it’s a robot.

Being a robot means A-HOGE can hit the calculator keys wayyyy faster than a human could, as is evidenced in some of the later YouTube videos. In them, the robot plays other famous pieces with dexterity and skill, including “Canon in D” (Pachelbel’s Canon) and the opening theme from the anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion.

Rapidly striking the keys with a speed unable to be matched by even its most skilled human counterparts, A-HOGE wows in these videos due to its ability to produce complex melodies and time signatures. Consisting of four robotic arms that come to life via a combination of stepper and servo motor mechanisms, the robot not only sounds great, but is actually fun to watch, too.

Taking calculator music to the next level, this clever construction by @goto_statement is a wonder of both design and creativity that’s music to our ears. An elegant robotic virtuoso resulting from human ingenuity, this internet star has gained mass appeal due to its ability to impress and entertain. While robots will definitely not be replacing humans anytime soon at the New York Symphony Orchestra (we hope), it’s still fun to watch A-HOGE’s robotic arms jam on those keys with tremendous speed, creating musical magic with the likes of Mozart.

The post Watch as Robot Musician A-HOGE Recreates Mozart with Its Calculator Compositions first appeared on Dornob.

The design for the Rady Shell began with the award-winning temporary Soundforms Mobile Acoustic Performance Shell (MAPS) the firm created for the London Olympics in 2012. Soundforms reinterpreted that project into a customized, upscaled, and permanent version that’s able to accommodate the entire San Diego Symphony Orchestra, a chorus, and soloists. It also contains a backstage artist support space, three professional kitchens, underground restrooms, and a sloped seating area for up to 10,000 guests. The shell opens up to a public park with views of the bay in one direction, and the San Diego skyline in the other.

The shell-shaped performance venue reaches a peak of 57 feet and measures 92 feet in width at the front of the stage. Australia-based Fabritecture oversaw the design, fabrication, and installation of the tensile structure, while Brooklyn-based Meyer Sound installed special acoustic panels that create a similar sound experience for the performers as indoor concert halls. San Francisco-based sound engineering and audiovisual company Salter added their own acoustic panels that are both reflective and absorptive, lining the inside and outside of the shell. All of that translucent tensile material gives the shell an ethereal appearance, with sunlight shining through to the stage by day and built-in lighting glowing softly after dark.

“It’s an amazing, spectacular outdoor venue,” says Maestro Rafael Payare, Music Director and Conductor of the San Diego Symphony. “We can hear each other wonderfully and you feel like you are in one of the top-notch concert halls in the world. The Shell has a mind-blowing organic quality…you actually can hear all the (different sound) balances and perform the way you would in a concert hall, not an outdoor venue.”

“Local San Diegans and visitors to San Diego will be able to attend world-class music performances by The San Diego Symphony and other events when the San Diego Symphony isn’t performing,” says Greg Mueller, CEO and Design Principal of Tucker Sadler Architecture. “The Rady Shell with state-of-the-art acoustic technology, lighting effects, and architectural design elements, as well as the San Diego Bay as a backdrop, creates a unique concert experience.”

In progress for five years, the Rady Shell finally opened to the public in August. When concerts aren’t in session, the venue serves as a landmark for the city’s revitalized downtown area, and its terraced guest seating transforms into steps from which to watch the sunset. Jutting out over the water on a peninsula, this unusual venue is postcard-ready, looking especially majestic when illuminated at night.

The post Seashell-Shaped Concert Hall Hosts Thousands by the San Diego Seashore first appeared on Dornob.

Villa Trap consists of four linked spaces that progress from public to intimate as you move deeper into the building. The first, a large street-facing room, features a dining table and curving built-in concrete banquette seating encircled by a retractible neon yellow accordion-style screen, which mimics the actual security screen outside the glass front doors. This permeable enclosure can be fully opened to make the room feel bright and accessible, or drawn completely closed almost like armor around the seating area.

Just inside the main entrance, a small kitchen with deep blue cabinetry and a sculptural stainless steel vent hood is tucked into a circular alcove. The yellow security screen either grants or denies access to the hallway and brick stairs beyond, and from there, one can either descend into the basement studio or turn into Cain’s highly unique bedroom.

Lined with matte black tiles, the bedroom almost has a funhouse effect to it, its proportions blurred and multiplied by mirrors that stretch from halfway up the walls onto the ceiling. The first thing you see upon entering is a tub sunken into the floor, with curving pink screens separating this area from the bed for extra privacy.

Downstairs, past a graffitied wall and a red door, the spacious recording studio offers a second bathroom, another bed, a seating area, a desk, and a central recording booth. Covered in street art and slapped with a “Metro” sticker, it looks a lot like something you’d find at a transit station, and that’s exactly the point. Rooted in urban contexts, trap often makes references to the literal streets in which it originated. Iniesta’s design for Cain’s home and studio brings the textures, colors, objects and art you can find throughout Madrid and arranges them into a sort of elevated bachelor pad – just the kind of space you’d expect a rapper on the rise to inhabit.

Javier Jiminéz Iniesta graduated from the Alicante School of Architecture in 2007 and later founded Studio Animal, based in Barcelona and Madrid. He explains that “Studio Animal addresses the development of proposals related to ultra-contemporary thought and its links with the habitat in which we live; the rethinking of the spaces inhabited by the contemporary subject and the atmospheres I breathe are the center of [my] work, in pursuit of a super optimistic future for the potential inhabitants of his architectures. With a progressive specialization in the design of all types of interior spaces, Studio Animal moves from the small scale of industrial design, through the planning of the brand image, to the integral design of the spatial proposal, offering tailor-made projects for each client always under a very architectural vision.”

The post Inside the Street Art-Inspired Home Studio of European Trap Star Kaydy Cain first appeared on Dornob.

Being called a “palace of musical wonders,” the unique museum and concert hall space consists of mostly transparent walls and an organically-rounded roof perforated with dozens of holes. Trees will one day grow up from the ground floor and out of those rings, producing a beautiful synchronization between the artificial and biological elements. As Japan native Fujimoto says, the structure is an attempt to harmonize “the nature of sound and the sounds of nature.”

Part of the Liget Budapest Project, an ambitious urban initiative to revitalize the 300-acre City Park with “cultural content,” the Hungarian House of Music comprises almost 97,000 square feet and three floors.

“It is incredibly inspiring to work in one of the world’s first public parks, and the task of designing the building was especially exciting since we not only created an edifice but also brought the park experience into the building,” says Fujimoto.

The ground and second floors will be wrapped in 94 heat-insulated glass panels, some reaching as tall as 40 feet, leaving a view of the interior exposed to the outside world. The main floor will be mostly open and feature two separate music venues. A lyrical spiral staircase crescendos up to the second floor (situated within the roof construction), which itself will house a library, office space, classrooms, and an archive of Hungarian pop music.

The building’s basement level will contain a permanent “history of music” exhibit, with space for rotating music-related showcases. It also holds the hemispherical sound dome, a room for special audio projections. “In the exhibition space set up on the underground level, we use state-of-the-art technology to show that music is actually present in every moment of our lives, from the cradle to the grave,” the Liget Budapest Project website says.

The entire museum is designed not only for those with well-trained musical ears, but for children, families, teachers, students, and anyone else interested in learning more about sound.

Of the distinctive circular roof, Fujimoto says it was mean to be a “visual representation of the vibration of sound: the wave.”

“There are no right angles in the roof structure, almost no two elements that are the same,” he explains. “It is all unique and the surface is punctured by close to 100 individually designed holes for the trees of the park to emerge through.”

Fujimoto also designed melodiously functional lightwells to accommodate those living boughs. They “channel the light right down to the lowest levels, thus helping to illuminate the interiors and create a unique ambience,” he adds.

The architect also wanted to be pitch-perfect in terms of the environmental impact of his design. To that end, the building is supplied with renewable geothermic energy via 120 heat pumps installed 300 feet underground. It also employs an innovative tele-cooling system and was built using several eco-friendly construction techniques.

Fujimoto’s musical palace has already received numerous honors. In 2019, it was named the best public service architecture project by the International Property Awards. A year later, in 2020, the American Music Cities Awards bestowed the title of “Best Use of Music In Property Development/Real Estate” on the building.

The Liget Budapest Project hopes that “with its diverse offering, worthy of the musical past and present of Hungary, and its outstanding personalities, the new institution will be a harbinger and forum for the greatness of music.” The Hungarian House of Music is slated to be opened to the public before the end of 2021.

The post Sou Fujimoto Creates “Palace of Musical Wonders” in Hungary first appeared on Dornob.

The enormous xylophone started out as a marketing idea. At the time of its inception in 2011, Morihiro Harano held the position of creative director at Drill, Inc, a Japanese advertising agency. The client was a telecom company called NTT DoCoMo who was preparing to launch the wood-encased Touch Wood SH-08C device, which was made using branches from overgrown trees in Japanese forests. To create excitement around the new device, Harano, along with carpenter and wood engineer Mitsuo Tsuda, sound engineer Kenjiro Matsuo, and a team of construction workers, put together the musical masterpiece. Not an easy feat by any design measure.

He explains that “the finish of the xylophone itself became an artwork, so we only put an effort into making the scene — the xylophone playing the music — as real as possible. It was a very hard project to realize, but the skills of Japanese craftsmen are just impressive. They not only made it more accurate than the blueprints, but also created a visually beautiful xylophone.”

Using gravity from a slope located in the forest of the Daisetsu Mori-no garden in Japan, the xylophone was perched upon pillars with careful consideration for each angle. By adjusting each plank in the instrument, builders were able to control the speed of the ball, which rolls down its length to release the musical notes. But it’s more than just random music emanating from the carefully stacked blocks: it’s Johann Sebastian Bach’s Cantata 147, also known as ’”Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring’” or simply as “Joy.”

“At first, we were imagining more complicated and faster-paced music, like ‘Turkischer Marsch.’ However, due to the structure of the xylophone, we noticed that it was better to choose music that had the same length of notes, and so we decided to choose Bach’s ‘Cantata.’ We worried a little that the choice might be a little too literal, but looking back, it was a necessary choice to achieve the viewer’s empathy for the wooden sphere,” Harano adds.

Music as diverse and complex as Bach is difficult to replicate, especially when relying on gravity, a ball, and some wood planks to match tempo. To ensure the ultimate coordination of timing, the ball is sent side to side down the runway, with longer and shorter boards creating pauses as needed. In one section, the ball even bumps a lever, releasing a second and third ball that create their own complimentary harmonics.

On March 11, 2011, following the installation and filming of the advertisement, a terrible earthquake and tsunami hit Japan. Due to this event, the client canceled the campaign, but the video continued to be shown and shared on social media platforms, eventually appearing on Japanese television, too.

Lucky for us all, the entire set-up was relocated to the Daisetsu Mori-no garden (located within the famous Hokkaido Garden) for all to enjoy. On a sunny day, music enthusiasts and architectural design students alike can pay to play by purchasing a ball from the visitor’s center.

The post Mile-Long Wooden Xylophone Plays Bach in Japanese Forest first appeared on Dornob.