Parametric design is an algorithm-based process that allows you to test the various outcomes of a design concept within a set of parameters. Today, however, it is no longer merely a useful computer-based tool, but a deliberate response to an increasingly heterogeneous society. Patrik Schumacher of Zaha Hadid Architects describes parametricism as an entrirely new kind of architecture, a new aesthetic, which avoids simple repetition of elements, straight lines, right angles, and corners.
With 1.5 million people joining the global urban population each year, and cities becoming increasingly cramped, living environments can be somewhat struggling for enough space to fit everything you might need at home. Instead of making the furniture smaller, designers and architects find new smart ways to reconfigure even the tiniest of rooms into versatile spaces that can be used for multiple purposes maximizing the compact layout.
Sneakers have long ago gone beyond being just ordinary footwear. Collecting coveted kicks is now a booming mainstream passion. But what would you say to turning this element of pop culture into artworks? The featured sneaker-inspired sculptures look so awesome, it is almost a pity you can’t wear them.
Compared to solid materials, perforated metal allows light to shine through, creating unique effects depending on the perforation pattern specified. The diversity of perforation motifs and metal material means it can be easily manipulated into any shapes and utilized for all sorts of buildings, both residential and commercial.
Facades of perforated metal can be as eye-catching as they are practical. As advanced computer based manufacturing methods allow creating stunning patterns on metal sheets, the perforated screens are no longer utilized solely as a way to provide ventilation and shielding from glare.
Insecticides, repellents and insect traps are used massively around the world every day. Doing so, we forget that insects play an indispensable role in the environmental balance. As a result, bee populations have been declining worldwide, while without their pollination 1/3 of the food we eat would be threatened. Concerned with the fact that a lot of pollinators, such as solitary bees and wasps, lack places to live in the urban context, designers create manmade shelters for the insects that encourage biodiversity and increase the ecosystem productivity.
Insect behaviour has been a rich source of inspiration for the field of robotics. Tiny insect-inspired robotic creatures could perform a great variety of tasks including surveillance, search-and-rescue missions and environmental monitoring, and even aircracft engine maintenance.
With this post, we continue our exploration of unexpected takes on concrete furniture designs. This time, we have focused on the contrast between the concrete’s true properties and bespoke designs that endow it with softness and fluidity generally not associated with this hard and resistant material.
Concrete is an extremely durable and resistant material, suitable for indoors and outdoors, domestic and public use. Due to rapidly evolving setting and molding techniques, it is now possible to utilize concrete in furniture design creating sophisticated shapes that would bring the material into the home in a very modern way.
The lockdown caused by the coronavirus outbreak showed to many of us how crucial social gatherings outdoors are to us. Now, that outdoor spaces around the world are beginning to open, it turns out that it might be tricky to remember to accurately interpret or even keep a recommended two metres distance. As a response to this problem shared by many, designers and architects develop creative solutions which would enable different forms of collective expression and the spaces they take place in, to continue to serve their function in our societies.
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