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Tech NewsDesignOK, it didn’t win the design competition, so this proposed radio tower will never be broadcasting over a city near you, but its harp-like cables and rings sure do make a cool structure in the sky. Designed by the London-based firm Architects of Invention for a site in Santiago de Chile, the tower would have … Continued
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Tech NewsDesign
This Stainless Steel Origami Spoon Is Shipped In a Flat Paper Envelope
Perfect for scooping things out of rectangular containers with flat walls, but not so great with anything round, the real claim-to-fame of David Adler’s Kafolda spoon is that it arrives as a perfectly flat piece of stainless steel and some assembly required. But don’t worry, you don’t need an anvil and a hammer to pound … Continued
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Tech NewsDesign
12 Buildings Nominated For the Year’s Best Design
A cemetery in Sweden. A floating school in Nigeria. A cast-iron facade in the UK. The wildly divergent list of nominees for the Design Museum’s annual awards make you wonder: How the hell do you pick a single building to represent such a broad profession? A little background: Every year, the Design Museum picks a … Continued
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Tech NewsDesign
Tomorrow’s Spacecraft Could Be Made of the Same Bone You Are
Human bones are amazing—seriously, they’re incredibly cool—but up until recently, it’s been hard to engineer a synthetic material that replicates the super-strong structure of the real thing. Now, scientists in Germany are using a 3D printer to do just that—and it could mean a breakthrough for how we build everything from architecture to spacecraft. A … Continued
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Tech NewsDesign
The New High Line for Queens Could Include This Human Roller Coaster
If you could build your own High Line, what would it look like? That’s the question the QueensWay Project, an effort to turn an abandoned stretch of railway in Queens into an elevated pedestrian and bike path, recently asked designers to answer. Some of the winners announced today are truly wild. QueensWay has been compared … Continued
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Tech NewsDesign
London’s Brutalist Housing Blocks Just Got a Bright Upgrade
Housing estates in London are a little intimidating from the outside; many of the post-war structures are hulking Brutalist towers surrounded by a complicated labyrinth of monochrome concrete. But one complex in London just got an upgrade—and oh, what a difference color can make. Lambeth’s Stockwell Park, the estate in question, recently got a new … Continued
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Tech NewsDesign
Why Olympic Mascots Are Always So Goddamn Creepy
Every two years, the world takes part in a figurative dance that’s been decades in the making. First, it’s the iconic passing of the torch. Then, an epic, national-pride-filled opening ceremony. And, finally, it’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for. The holiest and most timeless of Olympic traditions: It’s time to mock the mascots. … Continued
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Tech NewsDesignNYC’s Touchscreen Subway Maps Are Finally Here, and They’re Amazing
New York subway riders first were promised futuristic touchscreen wayfinding maps a year ago. But the plan to install the futuristic infrastructure stalled as the design team took a step back to improve the hardware. Six months overdue, the first batch is finally live in Grand Central Station. They were worth the wait. Over the … Continued
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Tech NewsDesign
How to Make a More Readable Wikipedia
We love Wikipedia. The idea of a constantly updated knowledge base where everyone is welcome to read and contribute is staggering, and we dip into this great pool of content on an almost daily basis at 1910. However, having spent the last three years learning more about typography have made us aware of it’s limitations. … Continued
1910 Design & Communication -
Tech NewsDesign
17 Historic Patents That Made Winter Olympic Sports Possible
You might not expect the United States Patent and Trademark Office to be as excited about the Winter Olympics as it is. But this month, office is releasing historic patents that reveal how winter sports emerged. So, who invented the snowboard? The USPTO’s Winter Games Intellectual Protection madness will continue until the Olympics end later … Continued
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Tech NewsDesign
This Shipping Container City Above an Old Grain Silo Is Actually a Dorm
In Johannesburg, where student housing is sparse, one developer is taking extreme measures—by creating a 370-bed dormitory out of shipping containers perched atop a set of abandoned concrete grain silos. Mill Junction will open its doors to students tomorrow, offering amenities like roof decks and free Wi-Fi. It’ll also offer the chance to live inside … Continued
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Tech NewsDesign
A Simple 3D-Printed Plastic Adapter Turns Anything Into a Stool
The obvious plan of attack when you’re building a stool is to just toss a round wooden seat on the top and call it a day. It’s functional, for sure, but nowhere near as creative as Arthur Schmitt’s Anice Stool, which is a 3D-printed plastic core that lets you use whatever material you want for … Continued
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Tech NewsDesignSochi’s Giant Pinscreen Wall Is Hypnotic in Action
British architect Asif Khan’s MegaFace art installation was teased well before the athletes had even arrived in Sochi. But now that the Winter Olympics are well under way, we’ve finally got footage of the giant automated pinscreen in action—and it’s even more awesome than we’d hoped. Over 10,000 colored pistons move in and out by … Continued
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Tech NewsDesign
Three Clever Flower Vases To Hold You Out Until the Thaw
Look, it’s been a brutal couple of weeks for most of the country. It feels like winter’s never going to end. And while a single black rose might be what you feel like on the inside, that doesn’t mean you can’t put on a happier face on the outside. MoMA’s Design Store recently unveiled a … Continued
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Tech NewsDesignHow a Simple Fabric Pattern Uplifted a Post-War Finland
In the years after World War II, most of Europe was devastated, both physically and financially. From this drab reality, one country began producing bright, technicolor textiles, including a print which bolstered its economy, created national pride, and ended up becoming one of the most beloved and recognizable patterns in the world. The postwar outlook … Continued
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Tech NewsDesignHow These Magical, Gravity-Defying Doors Actually Work
Describing the sculptures of Austrian designer Klemens Torggler as “doors” feels like an insult. These aren’t doors—they’re magical pieces of engineering, half kinetic sculpture and half magic trick, that you happen to walk through. So, how do they work? You may have seen Torggler’s work around before: In his many YouTube videos, the Austrian designer … Continued
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Tech NewsDesign
A Ghostly Memorial to Lost Architecture Recreates It In Scaffolding
Some of the most important buildings of our time exist only on paper—and we’re left to reconstruct them, over and over, in our imaginations. But that doesn’t mean we can’t experience these lost structures through other means. To honor El Lissitzky—the famously unbuilt German architect who inspired a generation of avant-garde designers in the 1920s—an … Continued
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Tech NewsDesignMost Beautiful Items: January 31 – Feb 7, 2014
Starting about two days ago and lasting until about two weeks from now, it’s all Olympics all the time. That’s all fine and well, but if you’re looking for a reprieve, you’ve come to the right place. From fungus towers to slinky-like sculptures, here are the most beautiful things we showed you this week. Human … Continued
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Tech NewsDesign
These Retro-Cool Posters Let You Put Classic Movie Sets On Your Walls
Have you ever dreamed about living in your favorite movie? Maybe you want to float through space chatting with HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey, or kick it with crazy Jack Nicholson in The Shining. Well, now you can get one step closer with these posters of classic movie interiors. The retro-inspired poster series, dubbed … Continued
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Tech NewsDesignThese Modular Panels Absorb Sound, Regulate Heat, and Look Sharp
Acoustic panels, however cool looking, are usually designed to remain out of sight. But a new company called Baux is changing that with a series of functional geometric tiles that do double duty as a pretty brilliant wall decoration. Baux is made up of a quintet of Scando design dudes (also of Form Us With … Continued