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The MIT FabLab House

So apparently, the MIT Center for Bits and Atoms is in the housing biz. Recently they sponsored the FabLab House, a futuristic-looking concept house designed for the Solar Decathalon Europe.

The FabLab House was designed as an ellipsoid structure prefabricated from wood that is formed into a rib-like structure. Although this specific house was designed for Madrid’s solar resource, it could easily be adapted to other climates by changing the ellipsoid. Built on top of three legs, the home has a space underneath to allow for air to circulate and help ventilate it naturally.

Smart systems help monitor and control the home’s temperature and energy use, while passive design increases efficiency and minimizes consumption. A customized photovoltaic skin coats the roof, which also acts to collect rainwater. When the home is built for the competition, it will also come with a garden capable of growing food.

Source and more:  Makezine

Laser-cut Grip Tape Inlay for a Longboard

The latest 1 Hour Design Challenge: Laser-cut Grip Tape Inlay for a Longboard brought the largest number of entries in the history of the 1HDC, with participants uploading an incredible array of grip tape graphic designs. Huge thanks to our sponsors on this challenge: Ponoko and Bustin Boards, who have been extremely generous with their offerings. It was a really tough call for the judges. See winners

Source: Core 77

Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec: Clouds for Kvadrat

The ground-breaking textile company Kvadrat is introducing another new design that revolutionises the use of textiles. Clouds is not about furniture or curtains. It is an innovation in interior design: a new typology developed by the brothers Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec.

Anders Byriel, CEO of Kvadrat, says that the soft textiles are making a comeback in the public space and in private homes. For many years there has been a trend of using fewer and fewer textiles. Curtains and carpets have vanished, and even our chairs have wicker seats and backs. Interior design has focused on glass, concrete, stone and wood, all of which are attractive yet hard materials. But this trend is turning now as more and more people discover that the soft materials are not just soft to the touch, but also have an aesthetic beauty and significant impact on sound in our rooms. In fact, we have realised in recent years how important the sound level is to our everyday well-being, says Anders Byriel.

See also Wallpaper Magazine January 2009

Source: Dezeen

Sander Mulder: Eureka Light

Sander Mulder (Veldhoven) did the Eureka Light, a flat pack light bulb, though not quite credit card sized. Made from a laser cut sheet of aluminum, in combination with a high power led, this clever designed lamp operates on 2 button cells. As a design object in traditional postcard format, it can be shipped by regular mail to your family, friends and relations. Made from off-the-shelves parts, combined with a sheet of aluminum in a clever way, it transforms with one single twist into an ambient lighting fixture.

Source: Ponoko Blog

The Outlines of Emptiness

The exhibition Outlines of Emptiness presents works by major personalities of the Design world: Marcel Wanders, Philippe Starck, Tord Boontje, Konstantin Grcic, Louise Campbell, Patricia Urquiola… Since the 1980s, under the leadership of Ettore Stottsass and the Memphis group, the so-called Post-modern design has become ornamental. Lace, interlace, plays on transparency are now part of the designer’s decorative vocabulary.

This original exhibition gathers contemporary objects and pieces of furniture which play with lace. Designers use cuts, empty spaces and downstrokes, shadow and light, and interlace. They use all sorts of materials: metal, wood, resin, textile...

Within the context of this exhibition, the Musée des Manufactures de Dentelles set a partnership with the Cité du Design in Saint-Etienne: the exhibition will be integrated to the program of the International Design Biennial event (November 15th – 30th 2008).

In view of the international design exhibition in Saint Etienne, the museum in Retournac presents the catalogue for the exhibition The Outlines of Emptiness, lace and interlace in design. Very beautifull bi-lingual book of 96 pages, 24cm square, and centre stage there will be at least two pages per item of the exhibition. Coloured pictures, taken by Philippe Hervouet. Pierre Tillet, design historian, puts his name to an in-depth article called Vaporous  Design. Texts in English and French. Order on line.

Source: Ponoko Blog

Jeth Koh: Lamp Chop

Jeth Koh set out to design a contemporary mood light that requires a minimum of material and easy production. Koh stripped back the design, chopping off unnecessary parts of a traditional lamp and redefining the functions of the different parts of the lamp. 

Lamp Chop is laser cut from a single piece of sheet metal and folded to form a wall hanging lamp. While it resembles the silhouette of a traditional lamp the stand and base is re-functioned into the bulb holder. I like the efficiency of this design, the minimal material use and a minimum number of cuts and the way it reminds me of pop-up books. It’s the kind of design you look at and think to yourself why didn’t I think of that?

Source: Ponoko Blog

Matthew Ritchie: The Evening Line

The Evening Line is the result of a three year collaboration between artist Matthew Ritchie, architects Benjamin Aranda et Chris Lasch and engineers at Arup AGU. It is both an autonomous and site-specific structure conceived for the Venice Biennial 2008 and a fragment of a much larger structure - potentially the size of the universe, through the application of fractal geometry: The Morning Line currently on view at the Contemporary Art Biennial of Seville. Both constructions are infinitely modular, they are built from a single shape called the bit that derives from a truncated tetrahedron.

Made of laser-cut aluminum modules, the architectural structure reflects Ritchie’s attempts to reflect the vastness of the universe. The Evening Line has no single way in or out, no beginning or end, no single narrative, only movements around multiple centers. Its modular units can increase or decrease around a fixed ratio, they can also expand or contract in any size or direction. See also this video in which Matthew Ritchie makes it almost crystal-clear.

The Evening Line is on view at the Arsenale, Venice Biennale until November 23rd, 2008.

Source: We make money not art

Olafur Eliasson: Your House is a Book

Your House is a book designed by artist Olafur Eliasson.Created by a German laser-cutting service called Kremo, it’s made of 454 pages - each one an individually laser-cut cross-section of the artist’s house.

Scource: Ponoko Blog

Digitally Fabricated House

Assistant Professor Larry Sass, director of the MIT Digital Design and Fabrication Group, was commissioned by the Museum of Modern Art in New York to design, fabricate and assemble the first entirely digitally fabricated house for their 2008 show, Home Delivery: Fabricating the Modern Dwelling. The exhibit features five full scale houses on the MoMA’s vacant exterior lot along with an interior exhibit which focuses on the history of factory-made and prefabricated housing throughout the world.

The design is a digital translation of the New Orleans’ style Shotgun House, complete with an ornamental front façade and a porch elevated off the ground on piers to allow flood-waters to rise and fall beneath the house. Every component of the house, from the structural members to the frieze ornamentation, was first digitally modeled and then CNC fabricated from plywood and plastic for a precise interlocking assembly.

Quick facts

• Entirely friction fit - no nails, screws or mechanical fasteners
• Composed of over 5,000 unique parts all fabricated on 2 CNC machines in 3 weeks
• 21 days for assembly by 3 people

Reviews and catalogue

• Brightcove
• Archpaper
• TED Blog
• Archecord
• Time blog
• Catalogue

Laser Cut Skateboards

Australian skateboard mag Refill has put together an interesting exhibition of laser engraved skateboards under the title Refill Seven. 80 artists were asked to design each their deck, which were then produced in a limited edition of 50 copies each. Price 500 Dollar.

Laser cutting is getting a lot of attention recently as one of the first digital fabrication technologies to become truly cheap and accessible. It can easily be used for printing images into unusual materials, or for constructing parts for complex forms. Usages include custom signage, jewelry design, models in paper or plastic etc.

Source: Generator.x