How electric and driverless vehicles will change building design

 

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The world’s first affordable automobile had a dramatic impact on residential design. On October 1, 1908, the first Model T Ford was built in Detroit. Unlike horses, most people could afford to have their own private car and keep it at their home. Between 1908 and 1927, Ford built some 15 million Model T cars.

Moving on from horses and carriages, for over a century homes and apartments have been designed to cater for private car ownership where drivers are human, and vehicles are powered by petrol or diesel.

As people began driving their own private cars, residential property design changed to provide a place to keep the vehicles (garages), and commercial venues had to accommodate individuals leaving their vehicles parked, instead of being dropped off by a carriage that immediately moved on (carparks).

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The sideways elevator of the future is here, and it’s wild

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People laughed when ThyssenKrupp, a company synonymous with elevators, announced it was developing one that goes every which way. Who’d ever heard of such a thing? Everyone knows elevators go just two directions: Up and down. Some took to calling it the Wonkavator, after Willy Wonka’s wacky lift that goes sideways, slantways, and longways.

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The Jetsons’ world of 3D print

When I was a kid I always wondered about how cool it would be if we could live in the world of the popular American animated sitcom The Jetsons. The show aired from 1962 to 1963, but the cartoon was set 100 years in the future. As it sometimes turns out with sci-fi stories, the future becomes reality. The Jetsons featured 3D printing, tablets, holograms, smart watches, flying cars and other strange inventions. While the flying cars may not have become a reality quite yet – they are testing drones as a method of delivery – I used to love the Jetsons’ food replicator that could churn out anything from asparagus to stroganoff. This now is a reality with companies like Foodini and CojoJet making it possible to create delicious 3D-printed entrées and desserts with the press of a button.

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This bricklaying bot could be the architect of the future

If you want curves like this, you’ll need a robot. Designed by architects Archi-Union, the undulating exterior of the Chi She Gallery in Shanghai was made using an adapted car-manufacturing robot. “We used digital tools to transform geometry data to digital-fabrication data,” says Li Han, chief architectural designer at Archi-Union, who spent five years making the cyborg helper.

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Amazing and terrifying views from this house hidden in a cliff

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‘Casa Brutale’ is a striking house design created by two Greek architects that perfectly complements the powerful concrete style known as brutalism – they’ve embedded their luxury brutalist home into a cliff, creating a severe yet inviting structure with an at once beautiful and terrifying view.   Continue reading… “Amazing and terrifying views from this house hidden in a cliff”

Calgary’s Snøhetta-designed public library will be the Apple Store of libraries

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Library designed by architectural firm Snøhetta.

Shaunacy Ferro:  Hanging out at the library might just become cool as Calgary, Canada has plans to build a new lending library. The library will be designed by Snøhetta, an architecture firm. The library will have a  240,000-square-foot center and will be more than just a repository for plastic-protected books. Twice as large as Calgary’s existing public library, it’s designed to be both a circulating public library and a community gathering space, a combination bookstore/computer lab/cafe/event space/social hub that provides a pathway between two disconnected neighborhoods. (Photos)

 

 

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Take a look inside some of the most lavish college gyms in the U.S.

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Auburn University’s track weaves throughout the gym.

When Louisiana State University was designing its new $58 million recreation center, recently,  it was partly looking at besting its Southeastern Conference rival, Auburn University, whose new $52.5 million facility opened last August.

 

 

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Top 14 architectural trends for the future

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How do you envision the future of architecture?

The great architect, Frank Lloyd Wright said, “every great architect is — necessarily — a great poet. He must be a great original interpreter of his time, his day, his age.”  His visions of harmonious design and innovating urban planning amounted to his own brand of organic architecture. We’d argue that Wright wasn’t just an interpreter of his time — he was able to foresee the needs and desires of ages ahead of him. The architect is — necessarily — a visionary capable of seeing into the future. (Pics and videos)

 

 

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A ‘bioconcrete’ house that turns rain into drinking water

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Rain House

This concrete house turns into an oversized water filter every time it rains. Rainwater runs from the roof through a custom-designed system and ends up in a cistern, clean enough to drink. A demonstration building was on display during Milan Design Week last month, complete with a fake cloud overhead to show it in action. (Photos)

 

 

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By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.

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