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Posts Tagged ‘Grows’

Fujifilm plans to increase interchangeable lens production capacity as demand grows

26 Jul

Increased mirrorless digital camera demand has prompted Fujifilm to ramp up its interchangeable lens production capacity, the company has announced. New facilities at its existing Taiwa Factory in Miyagi prefecture, Japan will start in September, the ultimate goal being a 70% production capacity increase by 2020, the year when Fujifilm expects all of the new facilities to be fully operational.

Fujifilm reports that its annual interchangeable lens sales are growing by more than 20% per year. The company currently offers 36 interchangeable lenses for its X and G mounts, including its newly announced XF 8-16mm F2.8 ultra-wide zoom scheduled to launch in November.

Fujifilm reports that its annual interchangeable lens sales are growing by more than
20% per year

The company revealed plans to install a large-scale cleanroom facility with a “cutting-edge” analyzer, as well as other facilities that will include AI-based optical adjustment technologies. The launch of these facilities, says Fujifilm, will increase lens production efficiency while maintaining a high level of quality. Fujifilm says the Taiwa Factory’s “Made in Japan” interchangeable lenses will be distributed globally.

Via: Fujifilm

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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Baubotanik: German Botanical Architect Grows Buildings Out of Trees

04 Jan

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Public & Institutional. ]

living-building

Taking arbosculpture to the next level, German designer Ferdinand Ludwig is working to build not just sculptures but bridges and buildings from living trees. Many of his designs will take years or even decades to fully unfold.

building-envelope

His largest project yet in Nagold, Germany, was a multistory structure made up over over 100 trees slowly combined into a single organism, coaxed into place with a steel framework that will eventually be redundant. The lattice of interconnected tree trunks and branches ends up forming its own self-supporting truss system.

plant-structure-interior

nature-architecture

The support beams are labeled with the years in which they can be removed, allowing the structure to stand on its own by 2028. Like a conventional curtain wall on an ordinary architectural facade, this system could be used to wrap other buildings as well.

hybrid-nature

seasons-change

Even now, though, the slow-growing ‘building’ makes for a shady and cool space in the summer. Through each season, of course, it changes with the natural cycles of spring, summer, fall and winter.

living-tree-structure

nature-over-time

A pioneer of what he calls ‘Baubotanik’ (think: Bauhaus using botanical techniques), Ludwig’s living plant constructions were inspired in part by native tribes that grow living bridges out of trees over time.

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Public & Institutional. ]

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Desert Farm Grows Food Without Soil, Groundwater, Fuel or Pesticides

28 Oct

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Offices & Commercial. ]

sundrop-farm-aerial-view

Using the sun and the sea, renewable sources of energy and water, a desert farming operation in Australia show how organic food in a fresh new and sustainable way.

The soil-free hydroponic systems of Sundrop Farms use solar energy to filter brackish water for use on crops, growing 17,000 metric tons of food annually. The sun’s energy also powers, heats and cools the greenhouses as needed, reflected via a series of 23,000 mirrors. In contrast, a “conventional greenhouse uses groundwater for irrigation, gas for heating, and electricity for cooling.”

sundrop-farm-tomato-row

The “plants are grown hydroponically, which is the technical way of saying we don’t use soil. Our plants flourish on nutrient-rich coconut husks instead.” Additional climate and irrigation controls allow the farm to maximize outputs with minimized inputs.

sundrop-farm-solar-tower

The desert location as well as natural control strategies allow Sundrop to accomplish their goals without harmful, expensive or polluting inputs as well. “Unlike traditional agriculture we use no fertilizers and no weed killers. We control plant eating bugs with carnivorous ones, just the way nature intended.”

sundrop-farms-hydroponics

Sundrop’s success illustrates the possibilities of working in a world where water, land and energy are all scarce and valuable. Moreover, the farm shows that fruits and vegetables can be produced year-round in any conditions thanks to hydroponics and green energy, from rural wastelands to urban food deserts.

“Because we do everything in a controlled environment, we know what our input costs are, and we’re doing everything on a renewable basis, we can provide real consistency of supply and a higher quality product at a better price year ’round,” said Philipp Saumweber, chairman and CEO of Sundrop Farms.

sundrop-farm-systems

“Existing farming practices are unsustainable,” explains Sundrop. They generally use fossil fuels, excessive groundwater and require appropriate soil and weather conditions. “Yet by 2050 rising populations will see a 50% increase in food demand. Climate change is increasing the number and the severity of catastrophic weather events. And water scarcity is becoming more acute in arid regions. We need to look at alternative ways to create energy and to produce food. That’s no longer a preferred option but a necessity. Fortunately however, things are starting to change.”

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Offices & Commercial. ]

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Study: Instagram interactions declining as user base grows

18 Jun

User interactions on Instagram decreased an overall 33% from the first quarter of 2015 to the first quarter of 2016, according to social media analytics company Quintly. Video interactions decreased more substantially than image interactions, with video interactions down 39% and image interactions down 27%. The changes affected accounts with a high number of followers more so than accounts with less followers.

The study is based on an analysis of 13,000 Instagram profiles, and considers both ‘likes’ and comments as forms of interaction. While the decrease in interactions is ‘tremendous,’ according to Quintly, it doesn’t necessarily indicate anything dire for the image-sharing app. Rather, the company speculates that a combination of increased posting frequencies among users and a growing user base has crowded users’ feeds while their interactions with the content remain relatively stable, causing a natural decrease in interactions.

Additionally, Quintly points toward more brands joining Instagram as a potential cause, saying the brands may be alienating their followers with various advertising methods, causing the followers to interact less often. The company summarizes its findings, saying, ‘The takeaway should definitely not be that Instagram is losing traction but more that it starts to get harder to achieve success in the “fight for interactions” on increasingly fast timelines.’

Via: Quartz

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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Mushroom Materials: DIY Kit Grows Custom Compostable Products

30 Mar

[ By WebUrbanist in Design & Products & Packaging. ]

mushroom lamp

Turning agricultural waste and fungal mycelium into construction materials, this do-it-yourself kit lets you grow your own compostable bio-plastic objects, from packaging furniture to surf boards and architectural building blocks.

mushroom award winning architecture

Providing a natural alternative to synthetic options, Ecovative’s Mushroom Materials line competes on cost with petroleum-based equivalents and can be shaped in all kinds of ways using custom and reusable molds.

bag of mushrooms

mushroom in a mold

Their latest creation is this home Grow It Yourself kit – they will ship you the organic components (a mixture of crop waste, like corn husks and stalks, and the vegetative part of mushroom fungus). Upon receipt, you can wait and leave things in a dry dormant state, or add water and fit the mixture into a mold to build whatever you want – nature and time take care of the rest.

mushroom as product pacakging

surfboard surf organics

So far, Mushroom Materials have been used to make everything from award-winning architectural creations (using blocks made out of organic matter) to biodegradable surf boards, flower pots, lamps and other everyday objects.

plant pot mushroom

pendant lamp mush lume

From Evocative: “We grow materials made from agricultural byproducts and mushroom mycelium. Mycelium is a natural, self-assembling glue, digesting crop waste to produce cost-competitive and environmentally responsible materials that perform. Our large-scale grow factories are truly revolutionary. We harness the power of nature – the cleanest technology on Earth, eliminating the pollution generated across the petroleum-based plastics supply chain.”

[ By WebUrbanist in Design & Products & Packaging. ]

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Power Grows on Trees: Wind Energy via Leafy Green Turbines

19 Jan

[ By WebUrbanist in Conceptual & Futuristic & Technology. ]

urban wind farm designs

Addressing noise and visual pollution associated with wind energy generation in urban contexts, these new trunk-style towers support suspended leaf-shaped turbine housings, hung from organic-looking branches.

energy generating tree design

Inspired by the movement of leaves in the wind, New Wind founder Jérôme Michaud-Larivière developed this project with technology and aesthetics equally in mind, conceiving of the design as part public art and part civic infrastructure.

urban wind tree generator

The technology behind the design is robust, sophisticated and efficient. Even the tiniest gusts of wind (starting at a few miles per hour) will turn the small blades secreted away within each individual leaf making them well-suited to all sorts of city environments. Each blade can rotate and generate power in both directions and thus more versatile. According to New Wind, “With 72 artificial leaves serving as micro-turbines spinning on a vertical axis, the Wind Tree is designed to harness more gentle winds. The developers say this can extend to breezes blowing as slowly as two meters per second, making the turbine useful across more than 280 days of the year. Its power output is calculated at 3.1 kW.”

urban wind turbine tree

A prototype has already been deployed in Paris and the idea is to eventually roll out small pockets (or perhaps: forests) in various public spaces, from gardens and parks to squares and shopping centers. Of course, potential applications in non-urban areas exist as well, particularly as future iterations evolve even greater levels of efficiency.

urban wind tower prototype

Currently, the plan is to power street lamps or energize electric car charging stations. Eventually the hope is to add photovalics to the trunks and branches, adding energy-harvesting capacity in another form to the same structures. Ultimately, these creations may supplant the need for power grids in localized areas like parks where bringing in energy adds more infrastructure that well-placed generators could provide instead. For now, the price tag still seems a bit steep: just over $ 36,000 USD, but that could come down in time as the production process is refined and if sufficient buyers express interest in scaling the strategy.

[ By WebUrbanist in Conceptual & Futuristic & Technology. ]

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15 August, 2014 – The Luminous Endowment Grows

15 Aug

We launched the Luminous Endowment on August 1 and it has received wide attention and enthusiastic support. The number of applications from photographers around the world increases every day. Clearly there is a need in the photographic community for financial support for worthwhile projects, and it is our intention in the months and years ahead to finance as many of these as possible. Why not visit our new site and find out more?

But we need your financial support to make these grants possible. Please visit The Endowment, spend a few minutes finding out who we are and what we are doing. Also, find out how you can receive a copy of Michael’s new 400 page book titled Michael Reichmann – A Twenty Year Retrospective as a gift in exchange for your generous donation to other photographers. The Endowment is a not-for-profit.

…
The Luminous Landscape – What’s New

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A Tree Grows Inside This Modern Cylindrical Glass House

17 Oct

[ By Steph in Architecture & Houses & Residential. ]

Tree Tower Glass House 1

Would you give up all your privacy in order to live in a spectacular glass cylinder with a tree growing up the center? Perhaps the secluded forest location will help make that decision for you. ‘Tree in the House’ by Masov Aibek is a stunning four-story modern treehouse in the woods of Almaty City, Kazakhstan with transparent walls and a spiraling staircase.

Tree Glass House 2

The staircase takes you from one floor to the next along the outer perimeter of the house, with an opening in the center of each floor that grows wider as the tree’s branches stretch out toward the top. Plasterboard inner walls provide a little bit of organization and section off areas for lounging and a bed.

Tree Glass House 4

Aibek set out to create a romantic retreat for couples that nurtures “spiritual and creative development.”

Tree Glass House 3

Real as it looks, this is currently just a concept – but it’s on its way to being built. Construction will begin in early 2014 at an estimated cost of U.S. $ 361,000, and the architect is currently taking orders for more.

[ By Steph in Architecture & Houses & Residential. ]

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Temporary Urban Coffee Farm Grows & Sells Bean Brew

10 Mar

[ By Steph in Culture & Cuisine & Global. ]

Urban Coffee Farm Melbourne 1

Coffee lovers are getting a special treat at this year’s Melbourne Food and Wine Festival: an urban coffee farm installation made primarily of pallets, which functions as both a temporary coffee shop and a learning experience. Australian design firm HASSELL created the ‘festival hub’ for the two-week annual event, placing it on the red stairs at Queensbridge Square.

urban Coffee Farm 2

While the installation won’t be around long enough for Melbournians to drink coffee grown right there in the middle of the city, it does have more than 120 coffee plants, in pots set into the stacked wood pallets. HASSELL’s Shaun Schroter and Mary Papaioannou told Habitus Living that their aim was to connect coffee consumers to the laborious and resource-heavy processes required to produce the beverage.

Urban Coffee Farm Melbourne 3

Educational signs offer coffee facts, including info on various types of beans and where they’re grown. The temporary cafe was installed in an underutilized area of Melbourne’s South Bank, inviting residents to explore their city in a new way.

Urban Coffee Farm Melbourne 4

“Coffee has become one of those consumables that is linked to a lifestyle experience and very rarely connected to the places of harvest,” says Schroter. “Embedding this narrative into the conceptual story then becomes important because it is a holistic experience.”

[ By Steph in Culture & Cuisine & Global. ]

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Temporary Urban Coffee Farm Grows & Sells Bean Brew

08 Mar

[ By Steph in Culture & Cuisine & Global. ]

Urban Coffee Farm Melbourne 1

urban Coffee Farm 2

Urban Coffee Farm Melbourne 3

Urban Coffee Farm Melbourne 4

360Photography

Posts Tagged ‘Grows’

Fujifilm plans to increase interchangeable lens production capacity as demand grows

Baubotanik: German Botanical Architect Grows Buildings Out of Trees

Desert Farm Grows Food Without Soil, Groundwater, Fuel or Pesticides

Study: Instagram interactions declining as user base grows

Mushroom Materials: DIY Kit Grows Custom Compostable Products

Power Grows on Trees: Wind Energy via Leafy Green Turbines

15 August, 2014 – The Luminous Endowment Grows

A Tree Grows Inside This Modern Cylindrical Glass House

Temporary Urban Coffee Farm Grows & Sells Bean Brew

Temporary Urban Coffee Farm Grows & Sells Bean Brew

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