ARA by Motorola

Led by Motorola’s Advanced Technology and Projects group, Project Ara is developing a free, open hardware platform for creating highly modular smartphones. They want to do for hardware what the Android platform has done for software: create a vibrant third-party developer ecosystem, lower the barriers to entry, increase the pace of innovation, and substantially compress development timelines. Their goal is to drive a more thoughtful, expressive, and open relationship between users, developers, and their phones. To give their clients the power to decide what their phone does, how it looks, where and what it’s made of, how much it costs, and how long you’ll keep it.

The design for Project Ara consists of what we call an endoskeleton (endo) and modules.  The endo is the structural frame that holds all the modules in place. A module can be anything, from a new application processor to a new display or keyboard, an extra battery, a pulse oximeter or something not yet thought of!

 

 Images & Info via Motorola Blog

ARA by Motorola

BUILD modular shelving

BUILD permits you to design your own composition. Designed by Jack Godrey Wood & Tom Ballhatchet for MOVISI, a single modular element is the essence of this lightweight shelving and an endless variety of configurations and forms can be constructed by using it. As shelving or partition, freestanding or mounted on the wall, BUILD adapts to your needs. You can get even more creative by giving BUILD new functions. An individual element can perfectly double as transport box or seating. BUILD is installed and reconfigured in minutes, with any number of units, anywhere. No instructions, no tools.

 

Each BUILD unit is identical, allowing you to extend the system by adding units as you move into bigger houses, buy more books, DVDs ecc.

 

 

 

With its unique design and ability to be changed instantly, BUILD provides a beautiful and flexible interior solution. Here are a few ways you can use BUILD:

- wall rack or hanging rack

- room divider (with back or open)

- temporary seating /low table

- transport box: to carry documents to the office or pack your grocery shopping or keep your drinks cool (thermal insulation)

- storage box (stows away safely and compactly when unused)

 

 

 

BUILD has insulating properties. It will cool your drinks and your hot snack warm.It is waterproof, resistant to chemicals and esay to clean.

 

As shelving BUILD is a place for your everyday objects. Turn the units around and they will become a set of stools – perfect for when guests arrive at home and you need some extra seating.

 

BUILD is also suited to the contract market, where its design will lend itself to pop-up stores, rented offices and frequent workplace re-designs (incl. co-working spaces) and events.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Info and images via BUILD and MOVISI

BUILD modular shelving

Studio Dewi van de Klomp Soft Cabinets

Studio Dewi van de Klomp designs soft foam cabinets that take unique shapes when filled and keep your China safe.

The Soft Cabinet Green is a cabinet that moves sidewards, right or left, depending on the volume inside the cabinet. Put it next to a wall or another cabinet and fill the cabinet with your stuff. Watch how the cabinet forms and becomes an unique model.

The Soft Cabinet High is a cabinet with long weak legs but strong enough to stay straight up. Place your precious cups, books, or plants in the incisions of the belly to protect or to show them with pride.

The Soft Cabinet Small is the smallest cabinet of this collection. But that doesn’t mean it is really the smallest. Place your tableware in this cabinet and let the small cabinet show you how strong he is.

The Soft Cabinet Classic looks like a regular cabinet but nothing is what it looks like. The Soft Cabinet Classic is made of a strong but still soft foam-rubber.

Info and images © Studio Dewi van de Klomp

 

Studio Dewi van de Klomp Soft Cabinets

Reinventing the bookmark by Paperlux

In the era of iPad and Kindle Paperwhite, Paperlux thinks that it is important to hold a real book in your hands from time to time. To turn the pages, to feel the paper, and to smell the printing ink.

Arjowiggins Creative Papers handed it to the designers as a “blank check”, giving them a completely free hand on the condition that this bookmark would be included in the FIAC 2013 catalogue.

They began their work based on the concept, that in today’s age of high-technology, a bookmark can easily mark any place in a book; a paragraph, a line, or even a single word. The aim for this project was to merge all of these options together with a generously playful element. The selection of the material turned out to be a huge challenge: the punching had to be very precise in order to achieve the desired flexibility and haptics, because the thickness of fine paper is not as uniformly even as technical paperboard used for packaging. They also had to implement two additional punched lines in order to achieve greater flexibility and to dramatize the playful effect. Three color variations were printed in offset technique on Conqueror paper.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Info and images © Paperlux

Reinventing the bookmark by Paperlux

The Upper House from Hong Kong

 Swire Hotels has been created to manage intriguing urban hotels in Hong Kong, Mainland China and the United Kingdom, providing a characterful experience for travellers who seek individuality, style and personalised service.

The Opposite House, Beijing, opened in 2008 and was followed by The Upper House, above Pacific Place, Hong Kong, in October 2009. The Temple House will open in Q4, 2014 in Chengdu.

Swire Hotels opened a 345-room lifestyle business hotel called EAST, Hong Kong in Hong Kong’s Island East on 25 January 2010. The 369-room EAST, Beijing, located within INDIGO in Jiangtai, opened in September 2012. EAST, Miami, offering 263 rooms and 89 serviced apartments, will open in Brickell City Centre in 2015.

Swire Hotels has launched a new collection of locally inspired and stylish hotels in the heart of great British towns and cities called Chapter Hotels. The first hotel in the collection, The Montpellier Chapter, Cheltenham opened in 2010. The second hotel, The Magdalen Chapter, Exeter opened in June 2012.

 AFSO : Natural materials, original sculpture installations and seamlessly proportioned spaces are integrated to create a sophisticated and modern “Asian influenced” residence.  “With an intention to create a small intimate hotel reminiscent of a private residence, I have purposely conjured a sense of tranquility throughout the design and ambience of the hotel,” says André Fu.  The result is a sophisticated modern-oriental residence, designed with respect to balanced geometry and symmetry, providing all the comforts of a stately home. The palette is restrained, with the use of bamboo, lacquered panels to create an oriental sensitivity, yet the flavour of the scheme, when viewed in its entirety, remains international.

 All Images & Video © The Upper House

Info via The Upper House & AFSO

The Upper House from Hong Kong