Solar Roadway

"The Solar Roadway is a series of structurally-engineered solar panels that are driven upon. The idea is to replace all current petroleum-based asphalt roads, parking lots, and driveways with Solar Road Panels that collect energy to be used by our homes and businesses. Our ultimate goal is to be able to store excess energy in or alongside the Solar Roadways. This renewable energy replaces the need for the current fossil fuels used for the generation of electricity. This, in turn, cuts greenhouse gases literally in half.

Each individual panel consists of three basic layers:

Road Surface Layer - translucent and high-strength, it is rough enough to provide great traction, yet still passes sunlight through to the solar collector cells embedded within, along with LEDs and a heating element. It is capable of handling today's heaviest loads under the worst of conditions. Weatherproof, it protects the electronics layer beneath it.

Electronics Layer Contains a microprocessor board with support circuitry for sensing loads on the surface and controlling a heating element. No more snow/ice removal and no more school/business closings due to inclement weather. The on-board microprocessor controls lighting, communications, monitoring, etc. With a communications device every 12 feet, the Solar Roadway is an intelligent highway system.

Base Plate LayerLayer - While the electronics layer collects energy from the sun, it is the base plate layer that distributes power (collected from the electronics layer) and data signals (phone, TV, internet, etc.) "downline" to all homes and businesses connected to the Solar Roadway. Weatherproof, it protects the electronics layer above it.




Overview
When multiple Solar Road Panels are interconnected, the intelligent Solar Roadway is formed. These panels replace current driveways, parking lots, and all road systems, be they interstate highways, state routes, downtown streets, residential streets, or even plain dirt or gravel country roads. Panels can also be used in amusement parks, raceways, bike paths, parking garage rooftops, remote military locations, etc. Any home or business connected to the Solar Roadway (via a Solar Road Panel driveway or parking lot) receives the power and data signals that the Solar Roadway provides. The Solar Roadway becomes an intelligent, self-healing, decentralized (secure) power grid."
Sources: http://www.yert.com/video.php?post_id=3723954#SignTop & http://solarroadways.com/intro.shtml

The Glasshouse: A Beauty in South Africa

From Nico VanDer Meulen Architects website: "In Johannesburg, South Africa, Nico Van Der Meulen Architects designed this spectacular 26,000 square foot home. They are the versifiers of enchantment, the makers of splendor in house designs, creators of fairy tale like habitats, spreading their pixie dust of mastermind over this mesmerizing Glasshouse planned to infuse charisma into the hearts of its viewers.
It is an open, light filled house where views of the backyard are seen from all rooms. The architects devised a massive complex of living spaces, arranged in a semi-circular pattern to envelope the garden. Immense concrete framework is arranged in a radial pattern, emanating from the center of the home. The framework complements outdoor living spaces, including the decks, patios, pools and fountains.

To meet the owner’s demand, this house was built with a modern, glamorous, open plan, light-filled with views from all rooms into the garden. The shape on the south side is a half circle, forming a horseshoe on the north side. Approaching the house from the gate, the driveway is elevated to allow glimpses through the 

house to the garden and raised water feature on the other side of the house.

You can jump from the main bedroom into the pool, swim to the gym, swim back and use the steel spiral staircase to go back to the main bedroom, or tip a tipsy friend into the pool from his barstool!

A basement under the house has parking for about twelve cars, with a view into the pool, and a top-lit art gallery which forms the passage between the garages and the lift.

The kitchen leads off the family room and dining room, with a pair of automatic, frameless sandblasted doors leading from the dining room to the kitchen. A breakfast area and playroom are adjacent to the kitchen, allowing the younger children to be supervised from the kitchen and family room, and allowing direct access to the bar and barbeque area from the kitchen."

Source: http://www.nicovdmeulen.com/2011/10/05/nku-bryanston/ &  http://www.nicovdmeulen.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/GlassHouseTouchMagazineBeirut.pdf

Bioprinting, Printing Synthetic Human Tissue

 Bioprinting uses a 3D printing process to create synthetic human tissue. One day it could therefore be used to print replacement human organs. This video by Christopher Barnatt explores future medical and cosmetic bioprinting applications.

For more information, please see http://explainingthefuture.com/bioprinting.html

Go Topless Shoes!

Maybe putting your shoes on seems like a reasonably simple task, but for some people it is impossibly difficult. Those who are disabled or have back pain or arthritis might be completely unable to bend down and pull on even a simple slip-on pair of shoes. A group of designers fashioned this odd-looking solution as an entry in the 2011 Red Dot design competition.

Aptly named Topless Shoes, the invention is – for lack of a better comparison – sort of like sinking your feet into twin tissue boxes and walking around with them on. There are small gripping parts inside each shoe that hold onto your feet and keep you from walking right out of the shoes.

The interior of the shoes is flexible enough to expand slightly to allow the foot in, then it contracts around the foot to hold it securely. However, it doesn’t look like the interior material comes across the top of the foot completely, leaving it exposed. This fact may make the shoes unsuitable for certain weather or climates. Even so, the Topless Shoes seem like a sturdier alternative to house slippers for those who can’t handle pulling on or tying regular shoes. Just don’t expect to win any “best dressed” awards.

Source: http://gajitz.com/

Beautifully Renovated Residence in South Africa

From freshome: "An outdated residence in Limpopo,South Africa, became a sleek semi-transparent modern residence the owners can be proud of. The Aboo Makhado Residence (or House Aboobaker) was designed by Nico van der Meulen Architects. Their task was to reconstructing an old residence while taking into account the excessive heat and need for natural light. Welcoming the inhabitants and guests with a special water feature on the facade, this South African home benefits from a 1132  square meters plot. The renovation increased the living surface from 343 square meters to 494 sqm.



The vaulted roof with heavy masonry was replaced with steel and glass and the spaces were opened to the outside, where a wrap-around set of water features – including a swimming pool- were given the chance to offer relaxation. Here are a few words from the architects: “Extensive use was made of steel in varied forms, and large expanse of opening glass and double volume areas, to allow as much natural light in as possible, with sun control to allow sun into the house only in winter as well as a lightweight, well insulated structure that cools down fast in the evening, thereby enhancing the feeling of space while creating natural cooling through the use of water features and the pool.” "
 

For more photos check out: http://freshome.com/2012/02/16/completely-transformed-south-african-residence/

Muskoka Boathouse / Christopher Simmonds Architect

Architect: Christopher Simmonds Architect
Location: Muskoka Lakes, Ontario, Canada (approx. 170 km North of Toronto, Canada)
Photographs: Peter Fritz Photography

This project for the renovation of an existing boathouse and new 600 sq.ft. second storey guest suite is located in the Muskoka Lakes region of Ontario. Situated at the end of a narrow bay, the design of the new boathouse mediates between extended views out to the wide vista of the distant lake and the immediacy of the enclosed forested shoreline of the bay. The design provides a lens for these varied views as well as a sheltering foil to the open lake breezes and water traffic. The project called for the renovation of an existing two slip boathouse and the addition of a second storey guest suite and roof terrace.

More at Christopher Simmonds Architect.

Source: Mocoloco, Archdaily

Bas van der Veer's "Raindrop Mini" Watering Can

"Interesting update form Studio Bas van der Veer; the charming rainwater harvester and plant watering concept has now gone into production in miniature—on sale in garden stores across Europe according to the young man's website. The mini version is clearly intended to suit the balconies and more modest gardens of urban dwellers."



Raindrop Mini comes in several fresh colours and it also sold separately in two sizes: 3,5 liter (mini) and 5 liter (regular).

Source : Core77 , Studio Bas van der Veer

VW DoubleBack by Overlander Motorhomes

"Volkswagen mostly began submiting “pop tops” on its camper vans. In the decades since, the soft-sided interior height-extenders suffer become a ubniquitous sight on VW vans parked in campgrounds all throughout the world. Now, Welsh organization Overlander Motorhomes is presenting how it sees as the rational compliment to the pop top – it is the DoubleBack, a sliding insulated pod so extends the interior length of Volkswagen's T5 Transporter van."

"Inspired by a desire to deliver a truly spacious and comfortable camper, the T5 DoubleBack delivers the drivability of a camper van along with the extra exclusive space of a motor-home. This electrically extendable rear pod constructed from aircraft industry standards stays tucked up inside the back of the vehicle while you are on the move. Once you stop to settle, the pod electrically extends out to add 2 meters of useable interior space in the rear."

"Featured with two folded legs on the bottom of the pod that extends and gets self-leveled on uneven terrain is able to support over 600 kilograms of weight. T5 DoubleBack comes equipped with a fold-out double bed in the pod, an elevating roof and a kitchenette along with other home amenities required on the road. The whole sliding process is visually impressive, and it just takes 45 seconds."

"However, it’s even unclear if the pod makes the interiors of the van, but the firm alleges so a driver and one passenger can be accommodated in captain’s seat, or a driver and two passengers can sit if the customer selects the bench seat option."

Source: Interesting Engineering, BORNRICH

Four Eyes House by Edward Ogosta Architecture

Located in California this house has been designed by Edward Ogosta Architecture.
"A weekend desert residence for a family and their dog, the Four Eyes House is an exercise in site-specific experiential programming. Rather than planning the house according to a domestic functional program, the building was designed foremost as an instrument for intensifying a number of onsite phenomenal events.

Four "sleeping towers" are oriented towards four spatiotemporal viewing experiences: morning sunrise to the east, mountain range to the south, evening city lights to the west, and nighttime stars overhead. Each tower contains a compact top-floor bedroom, sized only for the bed, and each with a unique aperture directed towards the view. These bedrooms are equally-sized and unassigned, such that the family's sleeping locations can be rotated based on each individual's desired viewing experience. Vertical circulation within the towers is similarly particularized (e.g. ladders, spiral stair, switchback stair, or shallow-riser stair). Ground-floor common spaces form a loose connective field between the discrete tower volumes, and offer a more permeable relationship to the landscape.

The sensations of sleeping and waking are thus inflected by the building's foregrounding of intensified onsite experiential events. By sleeping in a room elevated off the ground and open to the stars, one might inhabit a deep pocket of silence for a few moments, and perhaps even perceive the movement of the Earth, as it slowly rotates beneath the stars. "

Source: http://www.edwardogosta.com/four-eyes-house.html

Timayui Kindergarten by el Equipo de Mazzanti

The monochrome, mosaic-clad classrooms at this preschool in Santa Marta, Colombia, are grouped into modular clusters around triangular courtyards.

Local architects el Equipo de Mazzanti designed the Timayui Kindergarten as an open-source project, hoping the format will be repeated in other communities.

The three concrete blocks that comprise each module contain bathrooms, two classrooms and a flexible open room, which surround each central courtyard like the petals of a flower.

The clusters are orientated to maximise natural ventilation and daylight, while each individual block features a tapered asymmetric roof.

Source: http://www.dezeen.com/2012/02/01/timayui-kindergarten-by-el-equipo-de-mazzanti/

REK - Expandable Coffee Table by Reinier de Jong

Here is a very interesting design from Reinier de Jong featured in dezeen magazine:


"This coffee table by Rotterdam designer Reinier de Jong can be expanded by sliding the middle sections outwards in either direction.

The top and two sides are finished in white while the edges are veneered in oak, birch or beech. Stoppers prevent you pulling the inserts too far.


See more work by Reinier de Jong here.

Here are some more details from de Jong:

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REK is a coffee table that grows with your coffee needs. When you have visitors, just get some chairs and extend the table any way you like. Enough space for all those coffee cups and store your book or knitting set in the spaces underneath the tops.

You can extend REK in various ways. Built-in stops make sure you will not extend the sliding parts too far. Of course you can also put REK in a permanent position that fits your interior.

The top and two sides of REK are white HPL and the edges are finished with your choice of parquet wood: oak, birch or beech. The end grain side of the wood is beveled in order to get a grip: a subtle detail.

The dimensions of REK table obviously vary with its configuration. REK is 60 by 80 cm in collapsed state, its maximum lenth is 170 cm and its maximum width is 130 cm.

REK coffee table is related to another REK by Reinier de Jong Design: the bookcase that grows with your book collection.

Reinier de Jong is designer and architect. He designs furniture, interiors, houses and other buildings. He is best known for some furniture designs like REK bookcase, KEER chair and VOLT table."

Source: http://www.dezeen.com/2012/02/02/rek-coffee-table-by-reinier-de-jong/

A New Solution for Multi-Generational Living



"New Avenue Homes founder Kevin Casey is rethinking how we live by focusing on multi-generational living, where grandparents, parents, and kids share one piece of land with two homes on it. The parents and kids live in the main house and the grandparents live in an eco-friendly backyard cottage that his company designs and builds. SmartPlanet visits Casey on one of his construction projects in Orinda, Calif."
Source: Smart Planet

New Drone Without Direct Human Control

"It's a different world from just a few years ago — we've entered the realm of science fiction in a lot of ways," said rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas).
As L.A. Times says about the X-47B:
"...It's designed to land on the deck of an aircraft carrier, one of aviation's most difficult maneuvers.
What's even more remarkable is that it will do that not only without a pilot in the cockpit, but without a pilot at all...
The drone is slated to first land on a carrier by 2013, relying on pinpoint GPS coordinates and advanced avionics. The carrier's computers digitally transmit the carrier's speed, cross-winds and other data to the drone as it approaches from miles away.
The X-47B will not only land itself, but will also know what kind of weapons it is carrying, when and where it needs to refuel with an aerial tanker, and whether there's a nearby threat, said Carl Johnson, Northrop's X-47B program manager. "It will do its own math and decide what it should do next."
Funded under a $635.8-million contract awarded by the Navy in 2007, the X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System Carrier Demonstration program has grown in cost to an estimated $813 million."
Source: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-auto-drone-20120126,0,740306.story