Treehugger

Images credit Arch Group/Ivanov Ilya. When I first wrote about the Sleepbox two years ago, I was dubious that it would ever see the light of day, noting "It is an interesting exercise in seeing how small a space one can comfortably live in, but one suspects that the opportunity for, um, misuse might keep this idea of the 15 minute hotel room from going mainstream." But it has, with a working prototype set up in Moscow. Designed by the Arch Group, about the only change from the original proposal is that it is made of wood instead of plastic (common for prototypes, and the minimum time has increased from 15 minutes to half an hour. They appear to have given up on one my favourite features of the original concept, the automatic bed-changing system: [bed] is equipped with automatic system of change of bed linen. Instead they have gone for conventional linen. The architects write: Imagine the situation where you are in a modern city, you are not a local resident, and you have not booked a hotel.

Public Art Concepts - Dan Sternof Beyer 2011 - StumbleUpon Download the PDF of these ideas : Public Art Concepts - Dan Sternof Beyer 2011 (2mb) [ New American Public Art ] 15 Awesome And Inspiring Offices I’m sure you’ve seen this office plenty of times on the internet. This office is all about fun: it has a lot of specially decorated rooms in which employees can do their work. There’s even a game room for relaxation and a gym where you can work out. Check it out: The Selgas Cano Architecture office, designed by Iwan Baan, makes you feel like a part of nature. Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past five years, you’ve probably already heard of Twitter. Saegeling Medizintechnik is a German company that produces high-end medical equipment. This office somehow reminds me of the nuclear bunker in the end of Terminator 3. Yahoo has several offices around the world. TBWA Hakuhodo is a Japanese advertising company. You probably know Pixar from great animation films such as Toy Story, Finding Nemo, Wall-E and The Incredibles. Pallotta Teamworks asked Clive Wilkinson Architects to create a one of a kind office. This is probably one of my favourite offices.

T-shirt charges your phone by absorbing ambient sound First there were tie-dyes, then there were hypercolors. Could piezoelectric fabrics that charge your mobile phone while you wear them be the next big T-shirt fad? That's what the French telecom company, Orange, is counting on, reports the Telegraph. The shirts utilize ambient sound as a catalyst to produce electric voltage, and are being rolled out just in time for the Glastonbury Music Festival in Britain. The material used in the shirts is made from a product called piezoelectric film, which is capable of transforming sound waves into an electric charge via the compression of interlaced quartz crystals. Prototypes for the technology are being called "Sound Charge." After a weekend of mosh pits and camping out, the shirts will undoubtedly need to be washed. The shirts' charging ability may eventually be boosted by being combined with other wearable piezoelectric items. Check out this short video about the Sound Charge shirt to get a better idea for how it works:

Hanse Colani Rotor House - StumbleUpon Designer Luigi Colani has created a space-saving house with a six square meter cylinder inside that contains a bedroom, kitchen and bathroom. + hanse-haus.de The cylinder rotates left or right bringing the room you want into view of the main living room. There's a separate toilet and a small hallway, and everything is controlled with a remote. View of the cylinder from the living room. The house was designed for young professionals who need minimal space while they focus on career. The bathroom. The bedroom. The kitchen.

Moving Walls Transform Apartment: Four Minutes of WOW! (VIDEO) A year ago we wrote about Gary Chang's Domestic Transformer, an incredible 344 square foot apartment that could change into any of 24 different designs. We showed pictures and plans, but more than any house I have seen, this one needs a movie. Planet Green visited it for the World's Greenest Homes, and it is truly four minutes of wow. Get a bigger version on Planet Green.I repeat the plans below the fold for reference while watching.... all photos: Marcel Lam for The New York Times One learns a lot from the video that we didn't know last year- that swinging hammock is really in the center of a huge home theater setup. The wall units, which are suspended from steel tracks bolted into the ceiling, seem to float an inch above the reflective black granite floor. A simplified drawing of the apartment from AFP. Chang also explains why this kind of design is so important in a world of diminishing resources, particularly when one of those resources is space: Plans of the uniit:

What Do You Do With Old Bumper Cars? - Yes, you read that right; these little beasties are street legal. Yes, you read that right; these little beasties are street legal. They run on either Kawasaki or Honda motorcycle engines and co-opt vintage bumper car bodies into the most awesome form of mini-car we've seen in too long. There are seven of these little monsters floating around California , and they're all the creation of one man, Tom Wright, a builder in the outskirts of San Diego who figured the leftovers of the Long Beach Pike amusement park needed a more dignified end than the trash heap. They were originally powered by two cylinder Harley Davidson Motorcycle engines but they rattled like heck because of the two cylinder vibration and Tom replaces them with four cylinder Honda or Kawasaki 750's and a couple have been measured as capable of 160 MPH, which is terrifyingly fast in machines with such a short wheelbase. By the way, they are almost indestructible in accidents!

Sky Garden House I think one of the reasons that many are skeptical about environmental design is because they think its terribly complex and costly. It does take a bit more effort on the front end, but it's definitely not rocket science. This architecture by Guz Architects is a wonderfully developed minimalistic design with a curvilinear flare that really brings out the organic coverings. I'm most impressed with how design facilitates the needs of the plants and shrubs located throughout the house. See more at Guz Architects Body Painting by Craig Tracy | Pondly Article by James Pond I am the owner of Pondly.com / art lover / electrical engineer / software developer / MBA in e-business student. I blog for pleasure and love to share my Internet findings. Web site: Body painting is form of art in which Craig Tracy excels. Website You may want to check out Body Painting by Barbara Pichiecchio and Alessio Frederico Sample: Do you want more visual fun? You might also like