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Posts Tagged ‘Modular’

Phonebloks Unlocked: Google Backs Modular Mobile Phone

08 Nov

[ By WebUrbanist in Gadgets & Geekery & Technology. ]

animated-mobile-modular-pho

More than the sum of its parts, the conceptual swappable-piece mobile phone design that went viral but is now being backed by Google-owned Motorola and is suddenly much closer to becoming a reality. Instead of recycling your cell, imagine switching in new pieces as needed to customize, repair and upgrade the same device indefinitely.

modular device assembled disassembled

Dutch design student  Dave Hakkens set off a chain reaction when he released his initial concept video online featuring Phonebloks, a simple but powerful idea for future-proofing mobile phones and creating an open ecosystem around such devices.

modular upgradeable phone concept

Motorola, meanwhile, was already working on a free, open-hardware device (think: Android for physical objects) along similar lines, and have now teamed up with this suddenly-famous designer. Like app makers in the digital marketplace, developers of physical components can make their own puzzle-piece parts for the devices.

modular concept pieces parts

Thunderclap helped Hakkens reach a huge audience quickly, with fans lending their social reach to promote the idea. Engineers, technicians and designers around the world showed interest in Hakkens’ design immediately as he racked up tens of millions of video views. He then began shopping around for partners to work on the project.

modular kit of parts

For its part in the partnership, Motorola brings technological research, experimentation and expertise to the table. In turn, Hakkens has built a huge fan following, showing his ability as innovator, designer and marketer.

modular phone motorola google

modular mobile phone design

Project Ara, Motorola’s name for the overarching and ongoing project, will be deployed along the same lines as Google Glass to beta testers. The first Phonebloks will be released to a limited audience who will in turn provide suggestions and feedback on the devices.

Want More? Click for Great Related Content on WebUrbanist:

Borrowed from Libraries: Mobile Shelving for Modular Rooms

To save space, libraries employ a rolling stack system that allows access to only one or a few aisles needed at one time. How about the same in homes or …
Click Here to Read More »»


Cooking Lean: 13 Mini, Mobile, Modular & Motorized Kitchens

Designed to fit into the smallest of spaces, these 14 super-compact, ultra-efficient kitchen designs pack lots of function into a tiny footprint.
Click Here to Read More »»


Walky Talky: 12 Concept Mobile Phone Telephone Booths

These 12 concept mobile phone telephone booths recapture the isolation old public phones provided while enhancing the experience of conversing in the city.
Click Here to Read More »»


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Phonebloks Unlocked: Google Backs Modular Mobile Phone

06 Nov

[ By WebUrbanist in Gadgets & Geekery & Technology. ]

animated-mobile-modular-pho

More than the sum of its parts, the conceptual swappable-piece mobile phone design that went viral but is now being backed by Google-owned Motorola and is suddenly much closer to becoming a reality. Instead of recycling your cell, imagine switching in new pieces as needed to customize, repair and upgrade the same device indefinitely.

modular device assembled disassembled

Dutch design student  Dave Hakkens set off a chain reaction when he released his initial concept video online featuring Phonebloks, a simple but powerful idea for future-proofing mobile phones and creating an open ecosystem around such devices.

modular upgradeable phone concept

Motorola, meanwhile, was already working on a free, open-hardware device (think: Android for physical objects) along similar lines, and have now teamed up with this suddenly-famous designer. Like app makers in the digital marketplace, developers of physical components can make their own puzzle-piece parts for the devices.

modular concept pieces parts

Thunderclap helped Hakkens reach a huge audience quickly, with fans lending their social reach to promote the idea. Engineers, technicians and designers around the world showed interest in Hakkens’ design immediately as he racked up tens of millions of video views. He then began shopping around for partners to work on the project.

modular kit of parts

For its part in the partnership, Motorola brings technological research, experimentation and expertise to the table. In turn, Hakkens has built a huge fan following, showing his ability as innovator, designer and marketer.

modular phone motorola google

modular mobile phone design

Project Ara, Motorola’s name for the overarching and ongoing project, will be deployed along the same lines as Google Glass to beta testers. The first Phonebloks will be released to a limited audience who will in turn provide suggestions and feedback on the devices.

Want More? Click for Great Related Content on WebUrbanist:

Borrowed from Libraries: Mobile Shelving for Modular Rooms

To save space, libraries employ a rolling stack system that allows access to only one or a few aisles needed at one time. How about the same in homes or … Click Here to Read More »»


Cooking Lean: 13 Mini, Mobile, Modular & Motorized Kitchens

Designed to fit into the smallest of spaces, these 14 super-compact, ultra-efficient kitchen designs pack lots of function into a tiny footprint. Click Here to Read More »»


Walky Talky: 12 Concept Mobile Phone Telephone Booths

These 12 concept mobile phone telephone booths recapture the isolation old public phones provided while enhancing the experience of conversing in the city. Click Here to Read More »»


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Triggertrap shows off new Redsnap modular camera triggering system

22 Oct

Redsnap_Coke_Empty.jpg

Triggertrap, maker of several camera triggering tools, is seeking support via Kickstarter for another product aimed at trigger-happy photographers. Redsnap is a modular triggering system that starts with the Redsnap base block to which you can add sensor blocks, each designed for a different kind of photography. Four sensor blocks are currently in the works, including a high-speed laser sensor, high-speed sound sensor, high-speed light sensor and a Passive Infrared Sensor. Learn more on connect.dpreview.com.

News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Modular concept camera captures photographer and subject simultaneously

20 Jul

duogood3.jpg

It’s not uncommon for photographers to feel much more at ease behind the camera rather than in front of it. Duo, a concept from Chin-Wei Liao, a Korean design school graduate, aims to transform the person behind the lens into photographer and subject simultaneously. Each half of the Duo is an individual camera. Assembled as one unit, pressing the shutter will record and an image while capturing a picture of the person using the camera. Click through to read more about this modular camera system.

News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Sibling Spaces: Modular Rooms Made for Brother & Sister

09 Jul

[ By WebUrbanist in Design & Fixtures & Interiors. ]

modular kids room moscow

For getting things done: a static, serious and refined work space is shared by the siblings. For everything else: there is a playful flexibility to be found in movable modules, hanging hammocks, cozy nooks and hidden ladders.

modular room upstairs hammock

Designed by Ruetemple for a family in Moscow, Russia, this children-centric interior balances the need for serious engagement with studies and self-determination outside of school-related activity (plus perhaps lessons in sharing and diplomacy all around).

modular multi level rooms

On the main level, across from the work zone with its ergonomic chairs and built-in shelves, is a three-piece system of modular parts – set apart visually via the use of darker wood.

modular bedroom layout box

The constituent elements can be spun and situated on demand, turned into a hangout space, living room or bedroom (or whatever else the kids can come up with, for that matter).

modular brother sister interior

Upstairs under a slanted roof are nooks for sleeping, reading and storage that can be made into more private bedrooms, again allowing freedom for self-determination in terms of sleeping arrangements.

modular childrens room office

The hammock is naturally a permeable mesh, and allows light to pass from one level to the next while also making use of what would otherwise be lost potential floor space.

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ZIG: Modular Furniture Lets You Build to Suit Your Space

05 Jul

[ By Steph in Design & Furniture & Decor. ]

ZIG Modular Furniture 1

Assemble rectangular furniture components like building blocks to create the exact arrangement of seating, tables and storage to suit your space and lifestyle. ZIG Modular furniture by Cezign comes in four different block types – upholstered foam, solid wood, open wood and clear polycarbonate – that can be stacked and strapped together any way you like for optimal versatility and adaptability.

Zig Modular Furniture 2

Perhaps you need to make the most of a tiny studio apartment, or you need to be able to quickly and easily clear furniture away to use your living space for other purposes. Maybe you just like to change things up. Modular systems like ZIG give you control over what is typically some of our bulkiest, heaviest, most unchangeable possessions.

ZIG Modular Furniture 3

ZIG offers colorful adjustable belts that hold the foam pieces together, so you can build couches and beds of any size, or just use them as soft tables with no sharp corners to harm clumsy toddlers. Putting them together is like a creative project, challenging the user to come up with the ideal geometries for their interiors and usage requirements.

ZIG Modular Furniture 5

Available through Cezign, ZIG comes as a set of six units, and expansions are virtually limitless. “Our focus is on creating affordable spaces that have a high level of multi-functionality but that still blend aesthetically with what is unique and contemporary,” say the creators. “It is a creative force that transforms unused existing raw spaces and turns them into attractive, modern design projects at  reasonable cost.”

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GoGo & Multiplo: Modular Building Blocks for Kids & Adults

11 Jun

[ By WebUrbanist in Design & Furniture & Decor. ]

modular block bedroom set

Two very similar designs with somewhat different audiences, Multiplo emphasizes their kit-of-parts approach as a means toward making convertible adult furniture, while Gogo Blocks are presented as a way for children to build their own play spaces, forts and mazes.

modular blocks toys playspaces

Sinclair Smith designed the Blocks as a student project, and, when he came across Multiplo, celebrated and encouraged HeyTeam‘s development of its parallel project.

modular gogo blocks system

But the blocks can work as furniture too, writes Smith: “Gogo blocks are a children’s play system of foam pillows for building and imagining, and are specifically scaled to form a twin mattress for sleepover guests.”

modular blocks heyteam multiplo

As to Multiplo: users are welcome to invent their own configurations and transformations, but core starting suggestions include couches, beds and a square lounge pit for seating groups. Also, the color palette is a bit more passable for older users (at least: young adults), being somewhat less colorful than that of its cousin, Gogo.

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Elastic Living: Sliding Shelves Hide Modular Rooms

11 Jun

[ By Steph in Design & Furniture & Decor. ]

Modular Shelf Compact Living Rooms 1
Does maintaining a sizable amount of your living space for a single purpose that’s only required for a short period each day really make sense? What if you could simply switch out the function? ‘Elastic Living’ by Italian furniture maker CLEI makes it possible to do just that with sliding shelving units for different purposes that can be moved out of the way when you don’t need them.

Modular Shelf Compact Living Rooms 2
Modular Shelf Compact Living Rooms 4

The modular spaces all fit together into one big rectangular box when not in use. Need the kitchen? Slide it out, cook, and then put it back up when you’re done. The same goes for the living room, bedroom, bathroom, home office, gym and closets.
Modular Shelf Compact Living Rooms 5

Inspired by library wall racks, the series contains seven different room functions that can easily be ‘filed away.’ It’s meant for a large, open space, like a loft or warehouse, and would be less practical for a home that’s already divided into different rooms.

Modular Shelf Compact Living Rooms 3

CLEI is known for transformable furniture that fits lots of function into tight spaces. See more compact, modular furniture including 10 pieces of clever transforming furniture and mini, mobile kitchens.

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Borrowed from Libraries: Mobile Shelving for Modular Rooms

04 Jun

[ By WebUrbanist in Design & Fixtures & Interiors. ]

modular shelving space saving

When libraries want to save space, they employ a rolling stack system that allows access to only one or a few aisles at one time. When not in use, the walkways between disappear as the bookcases are pressed backed together to  open a new aisle. So why limit this ingenious space-saving approach to the library? Why not try out a similar compact mobile track-shelving setup with interior walls instead of bookcases? One for home, one for the office, here are two projects that do.

rolling bedrooms bathrooms kitchens

First, consider Elastic Living, a project by CLEI for Milan Design Week. Knowing you only need to access one or two rooms at a time, this system proposes you pick and choose dynamically, opening, say, one big dinning room for guests, or your bedroom and bathroom when you are getting ready to go to sleep. When you wake up, you can file your sleeping space away for the whole day, until you need it again.

rolling library stack rooms

To be fair, the presentation is a bit garish – it could do with fewer drawn figures on the outside walls, and a bit less bold of a background color scheme, but strip away backdrop and the design itself is quite compelling. Each room can be not only opened and closed, but dynamiclaly re-sized to fit its function. The kitchen can host a small an intimidate dinner or an expansive and festive one.

rolling modular office spaces

Second, let us shift from residential to take a look a similar process in play in a more formal and commercial setting: the Environmental Grantmakers Association offices designed by Taylor and Miller Architecture and Urban Design. Here we again find the stacks-on-rails system supporting in this case four workstation units.

rolling flexible office space

And also like the first project, we find infinite possibilities for deployment – space two out far enough and you can create a conference room, or pack them all tightly together and set them aside to make space for a big event.

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Botel: Floating Hotel with Modular Detachable Room Boats

30 May

[ By WebUrbanist in Boutique & Art Hotels & Global. ]

floating hotel room

You may have to move rooms when you arrive at your hotel, but has your room ever had to move you? Instead of static spaces, the sleeping areas in this hotel are dynamic vehicles you can use to depart the core structure in which you are staying.

floating hotel night dock

Ivan Filipovic‘s idea is to let people in different physical contexts to do everything from exploring remote surroundings (in regions difficult to reach by land, for instance) to watching races or other city-side events (in more urban contexts).

floating hotel rooms diagram

The core structure provides all of the expected amenities, including a reservations desks, restaurant, cafe, bar, nightclub, rooftop terrace and swimming pool, but the autonomous room modules are equipped with solar power collectors and global positioning systems to allow them to depart and return on demand.

floating hotel cove experience

Whether they can be realized in a practical way is up for debate, but the concept is exceedingly convincing from an experiential perspective. The solution is a best-of-both-worlds hybrid of adventurous semi-independent world tours and luxury scripted cruise-ship expeditions.

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