The Pioneer station will have a capacity of 28 guests, with areas for work and recreation. The Voyager will be much larger, with room for 400 guests, and will open sometime in 2027. Both space resorts will offer some semblance of gravity for patrons, thanks to their spinning circular designs.

“The station rotates, pushing the contents of the station out to the perimeter of the station, much in the way that you can spin a bucket of water — the water pushes out into the bucket and stays in place,” said architect and Orbital Assembly COO Tim Alatorre in an interview with CNN. This engineering will allow for comfortable dining and bar experiences as well as traditional sleeping positions.

However, the fun of weightlessness will still be an option for extraplanetary travelers. The gravitational pull will decrease as one moves along the station’s spokes toward the center. The degree of gravity will also depend on the hotel’s rotation speed.

“The interiors of Pioneer station, in particular, are designed to function in both zero gravity and partial gravity,” Alatorre explains. “They are highly flexible to respond to the needs of a variety of tenants on the station.”

The Voyager plans also call for a zero-gravity basketball court where guests can fly through the air and dunk like their favorite NBA stars.

In terms of the length of stay, the company envisions guests coming for a long weekend among the stars. “We expect the duration to be as little as four days or as long as two weeks,” says Rhonda Stevenson, Orbital Assembly CEO. “It depends on cost and also the ability to acclimate to a space environment.” Both space inns will include office areas for those seeking longer-term accommodations.

While no daily price has been announced, it is likely to be prohibitive in the beginning. The Voyager Station itself will run $200 billion in construction and launching costs. Travel + Leisure reported that a three-and-a-half-day stay might be as much as $5 million. However, that may not be as outrageous as it sounds, as it currently costs $55 million to stay at the International Space Station for any length of time. And Virgin Galactic is planning to charge $450,000 for a trip into the Milky Way that lasts just 90 minutes.

Orbital Assembly maintains that space travel will eventually become accessible to enough people that prices will be comparable to those of cruise tickets. Alatorre assures, “The goal has always been to make it possible for large amounts of people to live, work, and thrive in space.” The Pioneer hotel especially will allow “people [to] start to experience space on a larger scale, faster.”

Interested vacationers can sign up on the company website to reserve a spot on the Pioneer station.

The post Need a Post-Pandemic Getaway? Check Out the Luxury Space Hotel Opening in 2025 first appeared on Dornob.

Commissioned by the Taipei City Government in 2009, the project was led by Pritzker Architecture Prize-winning architect and OMA founding partner Rem Koolhaas alongside OMA managing partner David Gianotten. Their goal was for the center to stand out from “standardized” contemporary theaters in major cities around the world, and it looks like they’ve achieved it.

Located at Taipei’s vibrant Shilin Night Market, the complex includes a Public Loop that’s free to access, so visitors can tour the interior even if they aren’t there to see a performance. It starts in the landscaped plaza outside and runs through the infrastructure and performing arts production spaces that are typically hidden. Portal windows open to view inside the three theaters.

“The configuration of three theaters plugged into a central cube has resulted in new internal workings of the performing spaces to inspire unimagined productions,” says Gianotten. “The Public Loop exposes visitors with and without tickets to these new works and their creative processes. We are excited by how the building constantly generates new relationships between artists, spectators, and the public.”

Rather than having a front and back like a typical performing arts center, OMA’s creation features multiple facades defined by the protruding volumes. The way these monumental metallic elements interact almost makes the complex look like a spaceship that crash-landed into the heart of Taipei. The 840-seat Blue Box theater, the 1,500-seat Grand Theater, and the spherical 800-seat Globe Playhouse all have mysterious opaque facades, appearing to be “docked” against the animated and illuminated central cube clad in corrugated glass.

The entire building is lifted off the ground, creating a public plaza underneath. Up until now, its true form has been disguised by the scaffolding clinging to its exterior during the construction process. But upon its completion, we can finally get a sense of how surprisingly light and otherworldly it appears, with the three dramatic theaters seeming to float.

“This new building not only presents itself to the world as a brand new and unique configuration of theater complexes, it also sits perfectly in its location — right at the center of where the plebeian life of Taipei happens,” says Kris Yao, founder of KRIS YAO | ARTECH, the Taiwanese design collaborating architect. “It’s informal, unpretentious, and raw architecture spaces echo the spirits of how citizens of Taipei approach art.”

“Theater has a very long tradition,” explains Koolhaas of OMA’s vision. “We have seen contemporary performance theaters increasingly becoming standardized, with conservative internal operation principles. We want to contribute to the history of the theater. Here in Taipei, we were able to combine three auditoria in a particular way. We are interested to see how this architecture will have an impact in terms of extending what we can do in theater.”

The post OMA’s Sci-Fi Performing Arts Center in Taiwan to Open This August first appeared on Dornob.

Designed by Beijing-based DAGA Architects, the Metal Hands Coffee house was intended to be an “immersive space café journey.”

The firm describes the background in detail to give patrons the full picture. “Interstellar passengers have traveled the vastness of space and the infinity of time in search of a new home for humanity to escape from a devastated Earth. Finally, awakened from hibernation by an alarm. Climbing out of the fallen space capsule, the world was uncannily familiar, with Earth-like plants and oxygen to breathe. Everything was so beautiful, but there was a vague sense of something different.”

“Cutting through the trees, instead of the familiar wood fibers, is a smooth, mirror-like metallic substance. The trees float in the air, eerie cross-sections reflecting this wonderful but strange world. Eventually, the frustrating reality is discovered: there are no humans here, and no nature either, this is not real-world, everything is unreal.”

The main focal point of the 970-square-foot shop is the giant metal space capsule with its flipped-up hatch. Customers can climb inside with their steaming cups and study the peeling aluminum wall panels and the vines and flora that have started to grown in-between all the ship’s cracks, taking over its mechanical attachments.

A large, metallic column supports the pod on the inside, while the exterior is adorned with electrical ports that look just right for R2D2 or BB8 to come along and tap. The capsule’s hatch has been converted into an overhead light, delivering a comfortable wash of illumination over the nearby folding chairs and crate-like coffee tables.

Another soft glow is added to the room by the split log situated along one section of the floor-to-ceiling windows. Half of the log is suspended from above with rods and includes a bank of LED lighting to brighten its lower half, which is floating above the ground at bar height. Its mirrored surface reflects the beams above, and low-backed barstools make it a perfect sipping spot. The dissected tree trunk also frames a view of the modern high-rise skyline just outside.

Orbs of organic material mimic the shape of the abandoned capsule and hang from the ceiling at random lengths, creating a mini solar system of greenery to soften the sterility of the space motif.

The DAGA Architect group was founded in Beijing in 2015 and has since designed, renovated, or constructed over 90 projects in 25 cities worldwide. A quote from Albert Einstein tops their website’s About Us page, reading “creativity is intelligence having fun.” The firm seems to have integrated that idea into their work on the Metal Hands Coffee job as well.

“It is a journey through time, where all one has to do is sip coffee, empty oneself, and enjoy a moment of peace in the universe,” the company says of its latest build. “The design incorporates exploration and consideration of time, taking people away from the worries of life and voyaging in their thoughts.”

The post Shanghai’s Metal Hands Coffee Offers an Immersive Trip Through Time and Space first appeared on Dornob.

Shengge, also known as “The Tireman” on his YouTube channel, actually modeled this fearsome creature after a fandom addition to the Alien universe, the “Alien King.” In 2016, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the thriller movie franchise, designer toy studio Sideshow Collectibles created an Alien King maquette – an artist’s preliminary rendering – of the rare form of Xenomorph, meant to complement the famous Queen character from the movies.

Even though it has not yet been added to the official Alien history, Shengge used that grizzly maquette as the basis of his savage, rubbery monster. The original figure was just 20 inches tall, but this new iteration towers six feet above the ground.

In a video of the process, Shengge shares how he first started with his own mini polymer clay replica before moving on to the giant, real-life version. Next, the Tireman shaped a Xenomorph skeleton out of wire before wrapping that huge form with bike inner tube pieces for stability and a layer of “muscle.” Then, with 200 used tires, he got to work on the painstaking art of applying the “skin.”

“Unlike ordinary aliens, Alien King has more tentacles. He has a lot of gully and scales on his body. It is necessary to cut the tires into very thin strips to simulate the texture of his skin, which is very difficult to make. But I feel quite satisfied with the presentation of the finished product,” the artist said in a statement on his YouTube channel.

The Xenomorph is one of the most iconic and villainous extraterrestrial species of all time, and Shengge has done an exquisite job in recreating it. The final artistry is stunning in its incredible detail. Thanks to its piercing claws and teeth and a real sense of movement, one could almost believe this Alien King could attack at any moment. And to top it off, Shengge says the sculpture took him only 20 days to complete.

The Tireman states that his goal “is to bring new life to those disused tires.” It is unclear where he gets his supply of discarded tires from, but the fact that all his magnificent creations are made from recyclable materials gives them an extra “wow” factor.

Shengge has produced more than a dozen full-size characters out of tires since 2020 and has gathered a following of 100,000 viewers. His “War Elephant” from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms XIV video game is spectacular with its red and gold paint, while his Kong versus Godzilla sculptures are nothing short of epic in their texture and kinematics. His model of Eren Yeager from the Attack on Titan manga series is his most popular conception yet, racking up over 12 million views so far. An oversized statue of a Lycanthrope from the Chinese anime Incarnation is also well-liked, with the Youtube video receiving over a million views in six months.

The post Recycling Sculptor Makes Life-Size “Alien King” Out of Used Tires first appeared on Dornob.

Well wonder no more, because this series of “e-imagined” vehicles literally draws it out for us. Dreamed up by Money.co.uk, these fantasy makeovers transform the A-Team van, Herbie the Love Bug, the Ghostbusters Ecto-1, Back to the Future’s DMC DeLorean, and James Bond’s Aston Martin DB5 into electric cars without sacrificing the look that makes each one iconic.

The E-cto-1

Who you gonna call when you need some eco-friendly ghostbusting? The reimagined Ghostbusters Ecto-1 brings this film and TV franchise’s unforgettable 1959 Cadillac into the 21st century. It’s the very same vehicle we all know and love, but subtle new additions hint at what’s going on under the hood. The designers explain that “while the new movies still feature a petrol-powered ghostbusting machine, we opted to give our heroes a cleaner, greener way of saving the city, with Slimer-approved (and inspired) lime green lighting.”

The E-Lorean

Arguably cinema’s most famous sci-fi car, Doc Brown’s time-traveling DMC DeLorean has got to be the coolest car from any 1980s movie, period. At the time, it was also the most futuristic car design on the market. Produced for just two years between 1981 and 1982, the rear-engine, two-door, two-passenger sports car by the DeLorean Motor Company was best known for its gull-wing door style and stainless steel body panels. It was ultimately the only model produced (with about 9,000 units sold) by DMC before the company filed for bankruptcy and shut down.

Part of what sunk the DeLorean was its lack of power, especially for the high price. This fantasy “E-Lorean” overcomes that issue with an electric engine, and of course, the doors are still a primary feature. The Money.co team notes that “these days, the DeLorean has enjoyed cult appeal and is still popular with collectors due to its short life span and association with the franchise. While rumors of a Back to the Future reboot have never come to fruition, with our 2021 concept E-Lorean we hope Doc Brown might one day fire up the ‘Musk Capacitor’ to go back to the 80s and warn DMC.”

The Volkswagen E-tle

There’s a lot to love about the adorable Volkswagen Beetle, especially the 1960s iteration so beloved by the hippies. There’s simply no other car like it. The Beetle had a long and historic production run between 1938 and 2019, when it was finally discontinued, and now, vintage models are highly sought by collectors who want to restore them to their original glory (and/or convert them to run on electricity). On the big screen, the Beetle is most often associated with the 1968 Disney hit The Love Bug.

“Our E-tle concept oozes cool and 60s chic, while staying true to the ‘flower power’ essence of the 1960s. With Volkswagen firmly declaring their future as electric, with its new I.D range and success of the E-Golf, we’re hoping that our concept E-tle might not be too distant of a dream.”

The E-Team

Okay, so this one is definitely unlike any GMC Vandura you’ve ever seen. Instead of taking the subtle route, this electric makeover totally changes the A-Team’s classic ride, which was probably the most awesome Chevy van to ever exist. And what provided the inspiration? No less than the controversial Tesla Cybertruck.

“Originally a GMC Vandura, which ran production from 1964 to 1996, our reboot takes inspiration from the upcoming Tesla Cyber Truck, allowing the E-Team to supercharge their van in between their escapades.”

Aston Martin EB5

James Bond has had no shortage of luxury vehicles over the decades, but none say “007” quite so distinctly as the Aston Martin DB5 featured in Goldfinger (1964), Skyfall (2012), and other films from the franchise. 25 of them were commissioned for the latest film No Time to Die, which is set to premiere in October 2021. When you can find one of these rare classics, you’re looking at a price tag of around $1 million USD.

The designers had no intention of messing with perfection on this one., explaining that “unless you’re James Bond or Q and you’re fitting rocket launchers or an ejector seat to it, it’s probably best to leave the iconic DB5 alone. Our EB5 retains all the classic features of the car, with just a touch of EV styling and modern curves, including a Porsche-style front storage trunk for gadgets or golf clubs.”

The post From Ghostbusters to James Bond: 5 Classic Movie Cars Get Electric Makeovers first appeared on Dornob.

The home sprang from the imagination of its owner, plastic surgeon Dr. Jean Cukier, who has long had a fascination with science fiction. He drew the concept on paper and gave it to architect Lynn Swisher Spears to bring to life. The neighbors reportedly weren’t in love with the design at first, nor its tendency to draw curious onlookers from around the world. But Star Wars fans are obsessed, and as it turns out, there are a few vaguely sci-fi features inside the house, too, though most of it just looks like your average Texas mansion.

At the center of the home is an angular atrium fit for a supervillain. There’s a grand staircase near the front door, soaring ceilings, and floors made of concrete and stone that were hand-cut and painted in black and white for a jagged effect. A huge sunken conversation pit is perhaps the home’s most divisive feature, set adjacent to the living room and kitchen and at the base of two floating staircases. It’s lined with rope lights that glow neon blue after dark and has an oddly antisocial sofa at the center, with four seats facing in different directions.

For its massive size, you might be surprised to learn that the Darth Vader house only has 4 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms, but each room is generously sized, especially the master suite. Other love-it-or-hate-it features include jagged stone countertops, oversized sculptures, and a totally open master bathroom tucked behind a partial wall.

Texas Monthly’s Paula Mejía got to tour the inside in person, reporting that it felt like “being on the set of a retro space-age B movie, à la Barbarella.” Of the atrium, she says, “This space strikes me as one that’s pitch-perfect for plotting. It’s a lair from which you might wheel and deal, perhaps scheming to take over the world. Cukier didn’t use it as an office at all when he lived here, though. It housed his music studio, which included a Moog synthesizer, organ, and piano.”

Believe it or not, when Dr. Cukier drew out his concept, he wasn’t imagining Darth Vader. His inspiration was aviation. He did, however, ask for it to be “dark and mysterious,” says listing agent Carron. “He wanted the inspiration around the house to be the stealth fighter, the aircraft. He just thinks out of the box, and he didn’t want something that you would see in every home. You get the dark and mysterious on the front side of the house, and then you get the wide-open and oversized second-story windows [on the back]. We were pleasantly surprised, because from the exterior, you would think it would be dark, but it’s the complete opposite.”

“There’s nothing else like it in the area,” the realtors write in the listing. No kidding. And who might actually purchase such an extraordinary (and expensive) home? According to rumors, rapper 50 Cent recently moved to the area, and he’s interested.

The post Houston’s Mysterious “Darth Vader House” Can Be Yours For $4.3 Million first appeared on Dornob.

It all started when Neuralink co-founder Max Hodak said on Twitter, “We could probably build Jurassic Park if we wanted to. Wouldn’t be genetically authentic dinosaurs but [shrug emoji]. Maybe 15 years of breeding + engineering super exotic novel species.”

He followed that tweet up with another musing about whether humans going to unprecedented lengths to play God might actually help conservation efforts. “Biodiversity (anti-fragility) is definitely valuable; conservation is important and makes sense. But why do we stop there? Why don’t we more intentionally try to generate novel diversity?”

Some interpreted these statements as a declaration of Neuralink’s ability to pull such a thing off. While their work is impressive (and kind of scary), as far as anyone knows, the company is nowhere close to achieving that level of technology. Neuralink’s primary project is developing “ultra high bandwidth brain-machine interfaces” that connect humans with computers, a pretty bold goal in its own right. They’ve successfully implanted these chips into the brain of a pig and of a monkey, recently releasing footage showing the monkey playing video games using only its brain.

Hodak hasn’t stepped up to clarify his remarks, but it’s likely that the “we” in his statement referred more broadly to humanity as a whole rather than to his own company. As CNET explains, actually resurrecting dinosaurs is virtually impossible. While the films (and source material, author Michael Crichton’s books of the same name) are premised upon retrieving dino DNA from mosquitoes in amber, that genetic information has spent millions of years degrading and would almost certainly be unusable. However, some more recently extinct animals could be candidates for “de-extinction.”

“We can still extract DNA from these creatures and could theoretically build and implant a mammoth embryo in a modern-day elephant,” says CNET. “The question is: should we? Jurassic Park offers a pretty good reason not to, but mammoths aren’t quite as bloodthirsty as Tyrannosaurus rex.”

Now that actually does make sense, especially considering the fact that the sixth mass extinction of wildlife is currently accelerating, and it’s mostly our fault. We’re about to lose a heartbreaking number of creatures, with about 500 species of land animals likely to go extinct within twenty years – the same number we lost over the whole of the last century. But rather than trying to bring back dead animals, how about we try a little harder to protect the ones we have, and keep our planet alive while we’re at it? Just a thought.

The post Neuralink Co-Founder Sets Sights on Real-Life Jurassic Park first appeared on Dornob.

Some of the best sci-fi-inspired design captures both, conjuring a feeling of awe tinged with the heaviness of all that might be lurking just outside our perception. A new furniture collection by designer Dmitry Kozinenko walks that line. It’s simple but dynamic. Monochromatic but engaging. Best of all, it features a slightly unusual arrangement of forms without feeling fussy or pretentious.

Named “Spacetime,” the collection has been likened to the feel of Christopher Nolan’s 2014 sci-fi film Interstellar, in which a team of astronauts uses a newly discovered wormhole to travel deeper into our solar system than ever before. Rectangular tables are adorned with lines that warp around voids cut into one side. Slightly taller matte black stools tuck into the open space, or pull out when in use. The tables come in a variety of rectilinear shapes with one or more stools, and when put together, they can be used to create all sorts of configurations.

“Spacetime” also calls to mind imagery from the 2009 science fiction film Moon, starring Sam Rockwell as a man who experiences a breakdown near the end of a solitary mission mining helium on the far side of the moon. That film’s memorable movie poster featured Sam in the center of a series of white concentric circles on a black background (and would actually look pretty awesome in a room with this particular furniture collection).

Kozinenko says he took inspiration for the series from the way an accretion disk in space warps around a black hole, thereby bending the light. An accretion disk is a structure formed by diffuse material in orbital motion around a massive central body, and “friction causes the orbiting material in the disk to spiral inward towards the central body.”

“I spend a lot of time in thinking about the visual side of our life and how it affects our personalities,” says the designer. “Always drawing a lot in searching of new ideas. For this moment I live and work in Kiev, Ukraine. I’m trying to create not just new objects, but rather new principles and design patterns that may sometimes go beyond [the] product design area. In my projects, I always try to establish some deep idea and some kind of philosophy, [because] to me just functionality is not enough usually.”

“Sometimes I clearly feel that the object which I keep in my mind just should exist and its form is obtained by itself. I love to work with simple and clear shapes, [and] try to look at them by another way. I have a special vision of things and think its very important for me not only as a designer but as a human also.

The post “Spacetime” Furniture Collection Warps Light Around a Black Hole first appeared on Dornob.

Can the holiday season be the same without a new Star Wars movie? Fans of the series may mourn the lack of a live-action flick this year, but they’ll still have something new to celebrate. A special titled The LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special will premiere on Disney+ November 17th, referencing the Star Wars Holiday Special that aired on the same date all the way back in 1978.

The original 90-minute holiday special, which followed Luke, Leia, Han, and Chewie after the events of Star Wars: A New Hope, wasn’t exactly a huge hit for CBS, and it’s never been made available again. But it did introduce the concept of “Life Day,” an important holiday for the Wookiee planet of Kashyyyk, which happens to fall on November 17th.

The new animated 45-minute special will reunite Rey, Finn, Poe, Rose, R2D2, BB-8 and, of course, Chewy for a “joyous feast.” It’s the first LEGO special to debut on the Disney streaming service, and with it comes a host of new holiday-themed merchandise like the 2020 LEGO Star Wars Advent Calendar and sticker book.

An official synopsis for the special explains: “Set after the events of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Rey leaves her friends to prepare for Life Day as she embarks on a new adventure with BB-8 to gain a deeper knowledge of the Force. At a mysterious Jedi temple, Rey finds herself hurled into a cross-timeline adventure through beloved moments in Star Wars cinematic history, coming into contact with Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, Yoda, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and other iconic heroes and villains from all nine Skywalker saga films. But will she make it back in time for the Life Day feast and learn the true meaning of holiday spirit? You’ll have to watch to find out!”

It’s unclear whether the entire cast from the most recent live-action films is returning for the special, including Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, and Kelly Marie Tran. The animated film is directed by Ken Cunningham and written by David Shayne, who’s also co-executive producer.

Here’s some more info about Life Day, via Star Wars Fandom:

“Life Day was a Wookiee holiday celebrated by the inhabitants of Kashyyyk. It was a celebration of the planet’s diverse ecosystem and the many forms of life it encompassed. It was also a time to remember family members who had died, and the young ones who continued to bring new life to a family. Life Day was a sacred holiday, and many Wookiees considered it their duty to return to Kashyyyk in order to celebrate it. Life Day was held once every three local years for many generations, but it became celebrated more frequently as its popularity slowly grew to the wider galaxy. By the time of the Galactic Civil War, Life Day’s importance to the Wookiees had become more pronounced.”

The new holiday special is just the latest crossover between the toy company and the sci-fi franchise, who have also released collaborative films, television specials like The Padawan Menace, six video games, and many, many themed LEGO sets.

The post LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special Coming to Disney+ This Fall first appeared on Dornob.

Appropriately named “2020: A Spa Odyssey,” the day spa set on a bustling street in Caracas, Venezuela, feels surreal yet serene. Retro-futuristic science fiction visuals merge with soothing pastels and a few grounding earthly elements for an effect that looks a lot like a set for a contemporary film, or the wellness center of a utopian space colony on Mars.

“Considering that the location is in a considerably busy area of the city, [the clients] desired it to act as a pleasant hermetic bubble, an airtight space isolated from the noise of the city where its frequently polluted environment simply would not exist or apply,” say the architects.

“Contemplating the concept of ‘outer-worldly’ led us very quickly to consider analyzing and dissecting the visual aesthetics of Stanley Kubrick’s seminal sci-fi movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, in its staging and scenarios, and we decided to undertake architecture following those cues. We would endeavor through the deconstruction of the sets and scenography created by Kubrick and Harry Lange to generate more than a spa, to create a space of surreal perspectives, a diffuse threshold between earth and outer space.”

To keep it from feeling too much like a medical facility — or the probing room of an alien spaceship — the architects also added some warmth into the color palette. The walls and ceiling glow a comforting salmon pink, while pipes and translucent privacy screens enhance them with pops of red. Natural terrestrial materials like wood and stone, along with the occasional oversized leaves of philodendron, give the space a sense of gravity.

The sci-fi elements are there in the form of glossy white plastics, giant frosted oculus-shaped windows meant to evoke the movie’s sentient computer HAL, and capsule-shaped openings in formica walls. Bright white strips of LED lights mimic those seen in the film, but they’re softened and broken up into asymmetrical arrangements. You’ll also find the occasional sinister visual, like a tiled room with an Astroturf floor, a ceiling light fixture dangling by its wire, and even a fake skull in one corner. If you’re familiar with the film, more references make themselves known; even the rock supporting the reception desk is meant to evoke a meteorite.

Would you feel relaxed and ready for a spa experience in these surroundings? Perhaps, if you’d just entered from the chaos of the urban environment outside, you’d feel relieved for the temporary break from reality, even if it comes with a vague sense of foreboding.

Atelier Caracas was founded in 2015 by Julia Kowalenko and Rodrigo Armas, drawing “strong influences from pop culture and everyday, as-found objects to create alluring spaces and objects at once humorous, thought-provoking, and symbolically charged.”

The post Caracas Spa Interiors Recreate the Sci-Fi World of “2001: A Space Odyssey” first appeared on Dornob.

Architectural design comes to life in a variety of ways, often standing out against a landscape of traditional elements. Strong characteristics of buildings, houses, and other dwellings add eye-catching appeal and provide unique features that make their designers easily identifiable. This type of innovation garners attention and praise from other architects, journalists, and design enthusiasts — but of course, what might initially appear to be ingenious details can also be the very things that turn potential buyers and investors away down the road. That’s because extreme designs often come to be associated with trends, although that fact doesn’t come to light until some time has passed and it becomes obvious that the work isn’t timeless after all.

Although there will always be people with the money and appreciation for extremely unique architectural works, most eccentric features find a difficult time gaining acceptance over time.

Take, for example, the Aqua Star floating house in Southeast Portland’s Oregon Yacht Club Marina, located on the Willamette River. This disco-era vessel covers nearly 3,000 square feet and boasts stainless steel ceilings, along with an anodized aluminum wrap around its exterior. Starting out at nearly $1 million, the realtors selling the Aqua Star quickly realized they would need to attract the attention of a very specific buyer. After over 1,000 days on the market, the price dropped $145,000 to $850,000. Architect Robert Oshatz, who built the two-story metal vessel for the original owner, gave it the look of an observatory and allowed for ample outdoor viewing from the interior.

Update: We recently noticed the listing was removed from the Sotheby’s International Real Estate website altogether, so it may have found a new owner — or perhaps the original owners have decided disco might come back en vogue after all.

Moving down to Boca Rotan, Florida, you can find an example that is simply out of this world, complete with pricing fluctuations to match. The Star Trek-themed abode owned by tech entrepreneur and former Penthouse magazine executive Marc Bell originally landed on the market in 2014 with a price tag of $35 million. Four years later, it was priced at $34.5 million. Last year, the asking price lowered drastically to $25 million, followed by another drop to $22.9 million. Perhaps the price tag is still scaring away potential buyers, or maybe it’s more about the 20,000-square-foot custom build that completely encompasses Bell’s passion for sci-fi, with a home theater set to resemble the Starship Enterprise and doors that replicate the iconic “whooshing” sound on board.

If this Brentwood, LA home that just sold for $1,865,000 is any indication, perhaps upgrades aren’t the key to the successful sale of real estate. Although the 1952 home shows pride in ownership, it’s likely not the type you’d expect, with every detail of the home remaining in original condition. From paneled walls to rare light fixtures, shag carpet, and distinctively original cabinetry, the home held on to the midcentury aesthetic long enough for it to come back into fashion, only sitting on the market 47 days before finding a new owner.

Owning a home designed by a notable architect may simply be a matter of passion for the work, but whether it’s actually a good investment is difficult to say depending on whether the structure ends up being considered “trendy,” and eventually, outdated. One home in Illinois that’s fresh on the market will truly measure interest in such architecture, having been designed by the renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Priced at $2,275,000, it will take both the right budget and the right appreciation to re-sell the house at 170 N Mayflower Rd, Lake Forest, IL.

The post Does Trendy Design Always Stand the Test of Time? first appeared on Dornob.

The Chinese architects created a museum within Fengyuzhu’s headquarters that contains all of the miniature architectural models within a structure that itself acts as a mega-model of a future city. The museum’s hallways and rooms mimic the roads, sidewalks, and buildings of an urban environment.

But there’s one big change here from any city we’re used to. Instead of building out, Wutopia imagines building up. White cantilevered platforms stagger the smaller-scale models into airy vertical layers connected by thin steel columns that also act as translucent walls within the museum.

Li Hai, Fengyuzhu’s founder, asked Wutopia Lab to take inspiration from an architectural model museum in Tokyo called Archi-Depot. The firm’s principal architect Yu Ting explains: “When I looked through the photos of Archi-Depot, an idea popped into my head: since the museum focuses on models of various built or unbuilt projects, if we look at these vastly different projects from a macro perspective, and ignore the difference in region and time period, they can form a world together.”

“Therefore, I decided to make the entire museum into a mega model of [a] future city. The collected models become different components of the future city’s fabric, with each of them divergently predicting a different future. Such an architectural model museum is truly meaningful at an architectural level, and I defined it as ‘Models in Model.’”

Ting adds that “the dense models on Archi-Depot’s shelves remind me of A.B Walker’s comic quoted by Rem Koolhaas in Delirious New York, which was firstly published in a magazine in March 1909. Koolhaas thought it represented a utopian imagination of skyscrapers. In 2011, my PhD thesis cited this part of text and image in Koolhaas’s book. I think that the imagination of skyscrapers from Europe to North America in the early 20th century formed the prototype of a vertical city. This inspired me to make the museum as a model of a future vertical city.”

In order to maintain visual focus on each of the individual physical models, the architects kept the “city” of the museum abstract. A total of 5,653 round steel pipes became the basis of the design, which Wutopia Lab calls “Last Redoubt” in honor of the 1912 science fiction novel The Night Land by William Hope Hodgson.

The rest of the “city” spaces in the museum are also named for fictional sci-fi sources, like “Thunder Dome” from Mad Max, “Tijuana” from Cowboy Bebop, and “Pod Bay” from 2001: A Space Odyssey. A special exhibition hall with perforated walls, floors, and ceilings is even named “Tyrell” to pay tribute to Blade Runner. The mood of each space subtly shifts accordingly.

Can you guess from the photos which one is which?

The post Wutopia Lab Creates Sci-Fi-Inspired Museum Full of Architectural Models first appeared on Dornob.

The Neuroon Open sleep mask uses a set of built-in sensors to collect data throughout the night, documenting how much time your brain spends emitting alpha, beta, theta, and delta waves. The mask also monitors your heart rate, blood oxygen level, skin temperature, and movement. The system processes this information and converts into an easy-to-read set of sleep analytics, which tells you exactly how much deep, light, and REM sleep you got. If you aren’t using those eight hours as efficiently as you could be, the Neuroon Open will even give you some helpful tips on how to improve your nightly habits.

The mask’s Kickstarter page explains, “After each sleep you will be given a short test in which you estimate your sleep quality and sleepiness after waking on VAS. This self-evaluation system records changes in the subjective reception of your sleep. This is then combined with metabolic and sleep-staging data in order to provide information about the best sleep pattern to suit you.”

“As a voluntary extra option, you will have the possibility to try two short games which measure your mental capacities after sleep. The working memory test will check your perception and working memory condition upon waking. The cognition test will check your cognitive capability. During the first ten days, Neuroon Open will gather data from the tests to personalize its analytic software. After this period, you will be informed about your daily results compared to the average, allowing you to choose the best sleep pattern for your top mental condition.”

To see your “sleep score,” simply put on the mask when you go to bed and check the accompanying smartphone app in the morning. If you’re not a big fan of traditional alarms, you can instruct the Neuroon Open to simulate the light of a natural sunrise when it’s time to wake up. Heavy sleepers needn’t worry, either. Anyone who isn’t awoken by the mask’s lights will be greeted by a set of gentle vibrations and a final audio alert from their phone. The best part is, the Neuroon Open lets you choose which stage of sleep you’d prefer to wake up from, meaning you’ll never have to interrupt you deepest slumbers again!

It’s easy to confuse this gadget for something out of a science fiction movie, but we assure you that the Neuroon Open is the real deal. The mask can also be programmed to emit a series of lights, sounds, and vibrations that help induce lucid dreaming, a metacognitive state in which a person realizes that they’re asleep and is able to control what happens in their dream. If that sounds a little too intense for you, use the mask to guide you through a few mindfulness meditation sessions instead.

The most sci-fi element of them all? Probably the fact that you can connect the Neuroon Open to your smart home system to control your house as you sleep. Set it to automatically turn your bedroom or bathroom lights on if you wake up in the middle of the night, or have the mask lower the temperature when you enter REM sleep.

The Neuroon Open was designed using open-source code, which allows anyone to access it and take a closer look at its inner workings. If you’re particularly tech-savvy, you can even program your own applets for it! The mask is being funded on Kickstarter until July 27th, so be sure to order one for the early bird price of $139 while you still can.

The post Hack Your Sleep with This Dream-Enhancing Mask first appeared on Dornob.

Whether the influence was subconscious or the designer a closet Star Wars fan, it is hard not to see the iconic shape of a classic science fiction vehicle in this behemoth of a home.

Like the mobile fortress in the old movie, the front of the house slopes forward toward the street and gives it the illusion of motion. It is also built with ideas of defensible space in mind – intentionally made to look, feel and be well-protected from its surroundings.

Apollo Architects clearly focused a great deal of energy into the exterior, but the interior was not forgotten in the process. Stark, white-and-black surfaces with periodic wooden elements that highlight austere modern angles.

Despite its solid appearance, slot-shaped skylights and well-spaced windows let in light and provide views to the outside though the architectural emphasis is definitely on solids and not voids.

Think the comparison is a bit of a stretch? This would not be the first time that someone created a tribute to the Sandcrawler, indirectly or otherwise. Examples include other buildings but also art vehicles, such as this one that debuted (appropriately enough) at a desert arts festival (Burning Man).

“This urban residence is located in a residential district in downtown Sendai,” say the architects. “Constructed out of wood without the use of any pilotis or other supporting structures, the building features an upper floor that protrudes dramatically outward in order to ensure adequate parking space for two cars on a lot with restricted frontage.”

“The size of the windows and other openings on the closed facade of the building have been kept to an absolute minimum as a precaution against crime, as well as a privacy feature. In contrast, the interior of the house, which centers on the internal courtyard, is an open, generous and well-lit expanse of space.The first floor houses several small, comfortable private spaces, such as a bedroom and audio room.”

“The second floor has been conceived as a single, continuous space filled with natural light, allowing unobstructed lines of sight and free-flowing ventilation. The tatami-floored living room enjoys the ‘borrowed landscape’ (shakkei) of maple trees in the courtyard, creating a tranquil atmosphere that allows the inhabitants to forget the fact that they are in the city.”

The post House Looks Like a Star Wars Sandcrawler first appeared on Dornob.