20 most recent innovations in architecture

Pod Hotel

Wed, 04 Mar 2015 00:00:00 Z

A new hotel in Japan is offering nine-hour rentals on small cubicles with a single purpose—to put you to sleep. Inside the hotel, the sleeping pods are stacked, with plenty in each room. For Japanese cities running out of space and affordable rooms, the approach from the aptly named ninehours hotel makes perfect sense.

To check in, just approach the counter and pay the bill. A key will be given for your locker together with the number for your assigned pod. Shared bathroom facilities are also available to use within the period with complete toiletries for a bath already provided. Vending machines within the premises make cheap quick meals possible. Inside each pod is a tiny TV screen and a panel to control everything including alarm clocks, lighting and air conditioning. After the nine-hour period, each guest is required to check out of the hostel even if they’re planning to stay for consecutive nights.

According to their website, the capsule beds have served over 700,000 nine-hour rests for citizens of over 50 countries. Currently, the chain has two locations. One within the Narita International Airport and a second, cheaper one in the growing city of Kyoto.

The capsule-type hotel isn’t new to Japan. With soaring costs of living, many travelers on a budget in Tokyo and Osaka find home in tiny pods they can’t even stand-up in. The capsule room concept began as a solution for businessmen who missed the last train or too drunk to travel home which evolved into temporary abode for the homeless.

ninehours is a tool designed to offer more freedom to our guests from around the world. Guests can check in 24 hours a day and use the facilities for as little as 1 hour. - ninehours website

The time limit and tiny space isn’t so much a problem for Japan’s renowned minimalist culture but the ninehours hotel chain wants to makes a mark for foreign travels and to other crowded cities in the West.

Spherical Glass Solar Energy Generator

Mon, 13 Jan 2014 00:00:00 Z

German architect André Broessel developed as a stand-alone power charger station for electro-mobility, the project uses the advantageous strategy of implementing a ball lens and specific geometrical structure to improve energy efficiency by 35% when compared to existing photo-voltaic panels. by combining symmetrical and transparent spherical geometry as a concentrator lens and emitter, the unique dual axis tracking system can be fully incorporated into any building surface, improving existing efficiency and offering up to 99% transparency.

Solar Fiber

Mon, 24 Jun 2013 00:00:00 Z

The idea behind Solar Fiber is a flexible photovoltaic fiber that converts sunlight energy into electrical energy. We aim to develop this as a yarn that can be worked into all sorts of fabrics. This “smart material” will be able to be used in all sorts of applications where textiles are currently used, but with the added advantage of being able to produce an electrical current.

EWICON bladeless wind turbine generates electricity using charged water droplets

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 00:00:00 Z

Where most wind turbines generate electricity through mechanical energy, the EWICON (short for Electrostatic WInd energy CONvertor) creates potential energy with charged particles – in this case, water droplets. The current design consists of a steel frame holding a series of insulated tubes arranged horizontally. Each tube contains several electrodes and nozzles, which continually release positively-charged water particles into the air. As the particles are blown away, the voltage of the device changes and creates an electric field, which can be transferred to the grid for everyday use.

According to the developers, the system could easily be installed on land or sea, much like regular wind turbines, but the design is particularly suited to urban areas. Expansive wind farms usually aren't feasible in big cities due to a lack of space, but one or more EWICONs could be incorporated into existing architecture just by altering it's shape. Also, with a lack of moving parts, it would require less maintenance while producing less noise and no flickering shadows.

So far, only a few small-scale prototypes of the EWICON have been produced: two that are incorporated into a sign on top of the Stadstimmerhuis 010 building in Rotterdam and another standalone version that was erected on the Delft Technical University campus. The designers are currently testing the device's capabilities, but are trying to gather funding for a larger model that could produce more power.

New Demolition System Shrinks The Building

Wed, 16 Jan 2013 00:00:00 Z

Visitors to Japan are often struck by its clean streets and efficient transport, so it might not be such a surprise to see the country come up with an elegant solution to the messy problem of demolition. The Taisei Ecological Reproduction System (Tecorep) is designed to safely bring down buildings over 100 meters (328 feet) high, and involves bringing cranes inside the building to take apart each floor.

Temporary columns are used to prop up the roof, and are progressively lowered by jacks — the effect makes it look like the building is being constructed in reverse, coming down step by step. The technique has been used on the 139-meter (456-foot) Grand Prince Hotel Akasaka, which closed down nearly two years ago.

As Hideki Ichihara of Taisei Corp told the Japan Times, "It's kind of like having a disassembly factory on top of the building and putting a big hat there, and then the building shrinks." The advantages of the technique go beyond safety and aesthetics, too — Tecorep cuts down noise by 17 to 23 decibels, reduces dust by up to 90 percent, and is said to be more environmentally friendly. For example, energy generated by the cranes' hydraulics can be used to power on-site equipment such as lights.

Bigelow's inflatable space station

Mon, 14 Jan 2013 00:00:00 Z

NASA has announced that it has awarded a US$17.8 million contract to Bigelow Aerospace to provide the International Space Station with an inflatable module. The BEAM is an inflatable torus-shaped storage module based on NASA’s abandoned TransHab design that NASA and Bigelow claim could be sent into orbit within two years.

If the final design is similar in size to the Bigelow BA 2100 module, then the BEAM will weigh 65,000 kg (143,000 lb) and, when inflated, will have a length of 17.8 m (58.4 ft) with a diameter of 12.6 m (41.3 ft). If so, it will be two and a half times the volume of the ISS itself. However, there are alternative designs available.

NASA is interested in the Bigelow inflatable modules because of its desire for cheaper, lighter space assets and because ground tests have indicated that the vectran fabric from which the modules are made shows superior resistance to micrometeors compared to rigid module walls.

Swimming pool boat

Wed, 08 Aug 2012 00:00:00 Z

One of the world’s largest open air floating pools opens mid-August in Antwerp’s island Kattendijkdok. The design by Sculp(IT) is 120m long, can welcome 600 people, and includes the swimming pool, two event spaces, several stories and a restaurant with lounge terrace. The platform will welcome swimmers every summer for the coming ten years. It turns into an ice rink in the winter.

A mechanical roof tweaks concert acoustics in real time

Wed, 02 May 2012 00:00:00 Z

Since humans started building large buildings, we’ve been obsessed with the acoustics of our theaters and concert halls. And despite all that time to get it right, we’re constantly deploying new materials and computer-calculated designs to create perfection in the sound of live performance.

Resonant Chamber feels like architectural acoustics has, at last, met its natural conclusion. In a huge collaboration spearheaded by design firm RVTR, engineers, composers, and designers have constructed what are essentially transforming roofs that can adapt to the sound of performers and reshape themselves to complement and amplify the audio.

“The goal is not ‘perfect’ acoustics, but rather variable acoustics for different applications,” explains RVTR’s Geoffrey Thun. “To enable a single venue to provide ideal conditions for a range of music performance and audience configurations would be fantastic.”

The system is described best as “rigid origami,” a collection of triangle panels that hang from a track, driven by motors to shift positions on command. The panels themselves come in three varieties: One is bamboo plywood, which reflects sound. Another is porous polypropylene, which absorbs it. And the third is actually a hollow panel that’s been filled with a speaker. With these three counterbalancing tools at its disposal, the Resonant Chamber can play chess with sound waves, creating a strategic structure to match any style of performance.

But the real promise of the system is its potential to go live. “We are currently developing a customized software interface that can track, control, and predict the physical systems performance in real time,” Thun explains to Co.Design. In this next model, microphones follow various frequencies to make immediate tweaks to the physical and aural landscape. Imagine a rock concert that could add a real chamber reverb to select songs, or an orchestra that could accentuate a melody without changing the volume at which it played.

As of now, RVTR is also looking to scale their prototype, with the goal of creating a 1,000-square-foot installation. “Our early system simulations suggest that the system is scalable,” writes Thun. “We also anticipate that specific geometric patterns utilized to date will likely be modified as will the actuation logics moving forward--that’s why we iteratively prototype.” So the Resonance Chamber of today may look much different than that of tomorrow.

Ultimately, with such a duplicable and adaptive system, RVTR could take over, not just the concert space, but any live environment in need of dynamic adjustment (busy restaurants come to mind). But until then, we’ll all have to do what we always do: ignore that obnoxiously loud bachelorette party at the next table over, and pretend the band we’re about to see won’t inevitably sound worse than they did on their studio album.

Spiral Cellar

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 00:00:00 Z

As there is extremely limited space for designing and decorating in our houses, we may avert our eyes onto the ground or even under the floor… Thus these spiral wine cellars are created. Available in several patterns, the Spiral Cellar can be built anywhere you’d like, from your kitchen to your office, and other places. To ensure the cellar an optimum temperature for wine, the Spiral Cellar also uses the company’s air flow system with the earth’s natural surroundings to provide insulation. Basically one cellar can store up to 1,900 bottles of wine, and the price may vary depending on your needs.

Paper tubes for display area

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 00:00:00 Z

Architects Eureka have made a bicycle shop in Hong Kong where recycled paper tubes can be pushed in and out to make an ever-changing display wall.

Eureka were inspired by the Pinscreen executive toy, creating a wall of 5,412 recycled paper tubes so that products can be cradled in, nestled into, rested against or hung off a display that is different each time.

Transparent Church

Fri, 28 Oct 2011 00:00:00 Z

The church is 10 meters high and made of 100 layers and 2000 columns of steel, which create four see-through walls and thus bring the church with a romantic name of “Reading between the Lines”. When viewing in the landscape, the church seems to dissolve in the air. If you look at the landscape from within the church, well, all the surrounding scenery is redefined by abstract lines.

Grain Silo Hotel Suites

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 00:00:00 Z

Silo Stay is a family venture: Stuart Wright-Stow dreamt up the concept and hired his son and daughter, Pippin and Ella of F3 Design, to execute it. The initial plan consists of eight single units, (each with a kitchen and living area on the bottom floor and a queen-size bed on the top), a family suite, and a manager’s quarters (consisting of two silos connected by a glass-enclosed hallway). Contrary to previous reports, the designers are not recycling disused silos but rather proprietary units customized to their specifications.

The hotel also has a fair share of eco-fixings: Each unit will be cooled by natural ventilation through the doors and roof latch and heated by a gravity-fed wood-pellet boiler. The peak has a glazed lid to give guests a glimpse of the night sky from bed.

Transformer House Shapeshifts According To The Weather

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 00:00:00 Z

Take a gander at the D*Haus, a shapeshifting residential marvel. Placed on circular rails, it has the ability to pivot open and closed. In the process, the house goes from the archetypal square to a seemingly more spacious house with distinct wings and a heck of a lot of windows.

“The dissection of the square into four distinct shapes allows it to be rearranged to form the triangle," Daniel Woolfson of the D*Haus Company says. "This concept alone is fascinating, but the possibilities are endless when applying this formula to the world of architecture and design.” Yes, yes. Math + architecture = good design. But show us the morph!

This house was developed as an ecologically sensitive prefab home for Sweden and Lapland. Sensitive in what way, you ask? The house is designed to shift so that it can adjust to the areas’ harsh weather conditions. For instance, the changing geometry of the house can be pulled into a tight square when it’s cold and you need to conserve heat. Conversely, the house can open its wings to collect the sun's rays.

An open source kit for designing and building a home

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 00:00:00 Z

The brainchild of London design firm 00:/ along with Espians and Momentum Engineering, WikiHouse is an open source construction set that aims “to allow anyone to design, download, and ‘print’ CNC-milled houses and components, which can be assembled with minimal formal skill or training”. Included on the site are a series of house and component designs created by participants around the world and shared under a Creative Commons license. Any of these can be downloaded and modified using Google SketchUp software before WikiHouse generates a complete set of corresponding milling drawings. The drawings can then be used by a computer numerical control (CNC) cutter to create the actual parts of the house from locally sourced plywood. The user then can assemble the house without any power tools, and WikiHouse claims the result can be made weathertight using cladding, insulation, damp-proof membranes and windows.

WikiHouse is currently “an experiment in its early stages” still in need of prototyping and further development, its creators say; “all the information shared on WikiHouse.cc is offered as an open invitation to collaborators and co-developers who are interested in putting open source solutions to these problems in the public domain."

Self compacting cement

Fri, 08 Apr 2011 00:00:00 Z

SCCROC (from Holcim) is a highly fluid concrete mixture that has self-compacting properties, due to its special composition, as well as a very homogeneous structure and good resistance to segregation.

SCCROC is suitable for filling concrete form work of complex shapes, filing forms with a dense structure or reinforcement or the under filling of tram and train tracks.

Asymmetrical Shaped Home

Mon, 04 Apr 2011 00:00:00 Z

Ysy House was designed by Nagoya-based studio Auau and is located in Seto, Japan, in a beautiful but populated forest, on top of a small hill. The charming asymmetrical shape of the residence is well adjusted to the building site and is interesting to observe from every angle. With a matte white finish, the home is very well differentiated within its neighborhood and is quite an attention-grabber. The main entrance seems partially hidden by original panels which wrap the whole building in a shell-like surface. The home is structured on two levels and the asymmetrical walls make the interiors unique. The arrangements are minimalist and modern, the contrast between the floors and white walls creating an appealing visual effect.

Flat-Folding Shower

Fri, 01 Apr 2011 00:00:00 Z

Showers are used for maybe a few minutes a day, so why should they displace space the rest of the time? This ingeniously simple solution proposes that a shower should not have to take up excess room when not in use.

Duravit titled this piece OpenSpace and, indeed, it opens up space as it folds almost completely flat against the all of a bathroom, saving occupants precious area that can be used when standing before the sink or sitting on the toilet.

As an added bonus, the shower drain is thus also opened up to the rest of the room, making mopping an easy task when cleaning time rolls around. There is no profound mechanism here, just a clever deployment of standard hinge, door and wall systems that locks away your soaps and showerhead behind compact glass when not actively needed.

Folding Concrete Block

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 00:00:00 Z

Engineers would call the QuaDror a "space truss geometry," a wonky term for a sort of geometrical jujitsu: a structural joint that looks a little like a sawhorse, but can fold flat, making it both stunningly sturdy, remarkably flexible, and aesthetically pleasing.

The form is constructed of four identical L-shaped pieces, in which the angles are all the same, that operates with a kind of yin/yang action through a unique corner hinge. That allows it to open up for its full expression, or fold flat. It's always parallel to the ground and identical from all four sides.

White reflective roofing

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 00:00:00 Z

As a result of the sun rays, the surface temperature can rise to 70 or 80°C, in the summer, on the top of a flat roof covered with a dark roof membrane. As a consequence, the temperature in the building rises and so does the need for cooling systems.

Thanks to a patented exclusive coating, DERBIBRITE NT reflects up to 76% of the sun's rays. Thus, it diminishes the temperature in the building to 5°C, the equivalent of 2 Euro per sqm per year in cooling systems.

Due to its exceptional reflectivity DERBIBRITE NT also increases the efficiency of photovoltaic installations from 2 to 4%.

Reflectivity after aging remains high (71%), thanks to the "easyclean" effect and exclusive DERBIGUM technology.
DERBIBRITE NT is also:

* long-lasting: DERBIBRITE NT is composed of a copolymer bitumen
* easy clean: the surface repels water and dirt thanks to nanotechnology
* Ph neutral: allows the use of rain water for cleaning purpose
* fire resistant
* fungus resistant
* 100% recyclable

Sun Tracking Skylights

Tue, 25 Jan 2011 00:00:00 Z

The Sun Tracker skylights follow the sun to direct light into the interior of the building throughout the day.

The Sun Tracker uses a set of mirrors to track the sun and redirect its light, reducing the need for artificial light and heat more significantly than traditional skylights. Each unit replaces 800 watts of fluorescent lighting and can virtually eliminate the need for artificial lighting during daytime hours.