Ghost Cubes and the Rest

I’m not sure yet how I will apply my new Ghost Cubes to inform my new designs, but I haven’t come across anything quite as inspirational for years!

Ghost Cubes seem like a really new trend, which I have no doubt will explode this year and next.

Its worth mentioning that the most radical designs seem to have been invented by a very young Vietnamese designer called Thắng, his company is called Virust Cube.

http://virustcube.com

I’m thinking Architecture; as in a small house in the forest, or a footwear midsole design and new upper geometries!

For further reading, other notable and earlier cube designers include Tony Fisher and also Anthony Greenhill.

Many years ago I also did a post reffering to similar radical geometry cubes on Frédéric Platéus A.K.A Recto HERE

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Generative Design – Computational Footwear

A few months back I introduced generative design in a post titled Generative Design – Learning from Nature.

Its an unusual design process where the output is generated by a predetermined set of rules, codes, algorithms, or patterns. As a digital computational design approach it provides new and interesting design methodologies for the development of product innovation and the creation of very complex forms and surfaces.

Although generative design techniques have mostly been applied in Architectural fields and 3D Sculptural Printing they are also fairly well suited to injection molding which is already a well established footwear manufacturing method.

The designs below are based on TPE injection molded footwear. Check out other examples of injected TPE footwear HERE.

Richard Rogers – Exposing the Typically Hidden But Critical Parts of Design

Architect Richard Rogers is probably best known for designing the Centre Pompidou in Paris and the Lloyds Building in London. Two designs that celebrate the critical working parts of a building by exposing them.

His functionalist design philosophy also unflatteringly known as Bowellism, places structural elements, ducts, lifts and stairs externally, this not only adds more open space internally and provides easy access to parts for maintenance, but also creates a unique aesthetic.

Having turned 80 years old earlier this week, the Royal Academy of Arts in London has mounted a retrospective exhibition called Inside Out, about Richard Rogers and his architectural thinking.

In the following interview Richard Rogers discusses some of the themes of the exhibition and his perspectives on architecture that include ethos and social responsibility, designing not only for the client but for the general public. Perspectives that interestingly tie in with his philosophy of valorizing the critical and hidden elements of design.

Perspectives that leave me wondering how many parts of a design are considered of lesser importance and under-designed, hidden and neglected? And how can they be exposed and celebrated to become the new leading design features of a product?

For example what if design features related to Environmental Compatibility and Manufacturing Skill/Technology were emphasized like the brightly coloured ducts on the Pompidou? An authentic design aesthetic derived from the function and construction of a product and not just passing trend destined to fade.

Most of all I was struck by Richard Rogers’s mention of the Ephebic Oath. An oath that was sworn over 2000 years ago by young Athenian men wishing to become citizens of Greece.

“I will not leave my country smaller, when I die, but greater and better”

Whether we like, or dislike Richard Rogers’s design philosophy and aesthetic, I think we can all agree on making the world a greater, better place and leaving a positive legacy.

Via Dezeen

The Möbius Band – A Fascinating Design Oddity

The Möbius Strip is a two-dimensional surface with only one side. This enigmatic shape was discovered in 1858 by German Mathematician August Ferdinand Möbius.

Some of the applications for this unique object have been on conveyor belts that last longer because the entire surface area of the belt gets the same amount of wear and as continuous-loop recording tapes that provide double the playing time.

Its fascinating to me how such a simple tweak can create such a radical change in the function of an object.

It’s unique form has also been the inspiration of many designers. From jewelry like the Möbius Ring by Klaus Spies, or trophies like this WFFA Design with moving bearings for the Woodie Flowers Award for Engineering.

To a variety of dramatic 3D printed iterations by Digital Sculptors Jotero and Dizingof.

In architecture a good example is the Swallows Nest by Vincent Callebaut Architects in Taichung, Taiwan.

But probably the most famous and iconic design expression of the Möbius Strip is in the Möbius footwear design by United Nude.

Paolo Soleri – Visionary Architect, 1919 – 2013

A lifetime dedicated to understanding and developing urban planning of the future, proactively designing to solve the problems humanity might face one day.

A comprehensive thinker and visionary, Paolo Soleri leaves us with many important legacies. His work has introduced us to balanced designs where nature meets technology, designs that encourage positive and healthy communities, perspectives of a lean design and examples of environmental accountability.

I was lucky to see the models of the 2 bridges below during a visit to Arcosanti 5 years ago. Arcosanti is Paolo Soleri’s experimental town in Arizona, the embodiment and research of his concept of “arcology” – the fusion of architecture with ecology.

Incredibly these bridge designs that are over 50 years old, have the same deconstructive aesthetic language that many of the most important architects are busy developing today.

Paolo Soleri – Tubular Bridges – 1959

“The use and consumption of the income of the earth, and not of its capital, is essential if we want to keep open our options for the future” – Paolo Soleri, 1970

Skylar Tibbits on Product Self Assembly

Via SJET

Sextantio – Salvaging from History to Offer a New Design Experience.

Time, fashion and progress have a tendency to relegate old designs to make room for new ones.

Some designs manage to survive and continue selling over the years to become icons, while most are forgotten. But this does not mean that all designs which are forgotten are bad, or outdated.

There are about 15,000 Italian towns and villages in near total abandonment, they’re mostly small medieval settlements that have existed for over 1000 years. But because unemployment has forced their inhabitants away to the cities and further afield to other countries in search for work, with virtually no local economy these architectural and cultural heritage treasures have been left to crumble and decay.

Until recently when Sextantio Hotels an Italo-Swedish project purchased Santo Stefano di Sessanio, a small abandoned medieval town in the Apennine mountains of central Italy. A social entrepreneurial business venture, Sextantio Hotels aims to protect the historical heritage of central Italy and has already purchased a further 9 abandoned Italian villages.

With a mission to preserve endangered architecture, heritage and help rebuild the local economy, Sextantio Hotels has carefully developed an exclusive hotel with rooms discretely scattered throughout the town to help finance the restoration of the original medieval architecture of Santo Stefano di Sessanio.  Effectively transforming the town from a crumbling ruin to a precious product and experience.

Creating a new kind of luxury rooted in rare authenticity and historical experience.

What abandoned and forgotten footwear designs are there? What footwear brands once rich in heritage and culture can be revived? And can the brand be built and developed to benefit more parties besides company employees and customers, for example can a brand also be created to benefit a local economy?

For more information visit Sextantio

“Architecture should be judged not only by the problems it solves, but by the problems it creates” – Lebbeus Woods, 1940-2012

Nervous System @ CMU Design

Nature based Algorithmic Designers Jessica Rosenkrantz & Jesse Louis-Rosenberg of Nervous System spoke on Growing Objects at the Carnegie Mellon University School of Design Lecture Series on November 1, 2011.

Michael Hansmeyer: Building Unimaginable Shapes With Generative Design

How would our designs look if we had no preconceptions?