A Desk for Industrial Designers Who Sketch?

Canadian inventor Mitch Krahn suffers from a herniated disc. He finds that leaning far back in his chair helps to alleviate the pain, but finds it difficult to work from that position. He thus conceived of this Ergo Desk, a sitting and standing desk that can also recline, in the manner of a drafting table.

It occurs to me that such a desk might appeal to the ID'er who sketches often. Nothing beats the ergonomics of drawing on an inclined surface, which provides full freedom of shoulder motion; I always found that having to rest...

EC3 adds "inspired rental housing" with trees to Core City development in Detroit

Architecture studio EC3 and developer Prince Concepts have created The Canopy, a series of duplex buildings in Detroit with rooftop murals, native gardens and over 100 new trees.

The Canopy involved transforming an abandoned, 17,000-square-foot (1,579-square-metre) lot into a residential complex with five buildings that vary in size and shape. Each building is a duplex with two units.

It is located in Core City, where several other projects developed by local company Prince Concepts have been built. Others include The Caterpillar and True North, both featuring Quonset hut designs.

The architects said that early on in the design process,...

Not Good: Robot Vacuums are Now Growing Arms

https://invidious.privacyredirect.com/watch?v=FTbHp6G0EVA

I am all for floor-cleaning robots ; they can't do you much harm from down there. But Australian manufacturer Roborock decided to give their Saros Z70 robo-cleaner a freaking five-axis arm and a claw.

The idea is that when it encounters an obstacle blocking its path, it lifts it out of the way to continue cleaning.

It can also pick up things like your snotty tissues and throw them into a wastebasket (provided you program in the location of the wastebasket).

It can perform these feats thanks to its dual-camera system—one on the chassis,...

Tombot and Creature Shop create "hyper-realistic" robotic puppy for dementia patients

US robotics company Tombot has unveiled Jennie, a battery and AI-powered robotic pet designed to provide companionship and comfort to those struggling with cognitive health.

With artistic design by Muppets creator Jim Henson's Creature Shop, Jennie was created by Tombot CEO Tom Stevens in response to his mother's dementia, which resulted in the pair re-homing a dog after she could no longer properly care for the pet. The robotic dog was presented this week at tech fair CES in Las Vegas.

Jennie follows the size and shape of a small, reclined Labrador Retriever puppy....

Multibasket in Teshima: Where rules don’t matter

Llobet & Pons – Multibasket – No one wins, 2013, silicone resin, wood, metal, 403 × 433 × 92 cm, installation view, Teshima, Japan, photo by Jing Liao 廖品淨

Can basketball be more than a game? On the small island of Teshima in Japan’s Seto Inland Sea, Multibasket – No One Wins invites visitors to reconsider competition, collaboration, and the intersection of art and play.

Created by conceptual artists Jasmina Llobet & Luis Pons for the Setouchi Triennale art festival, this playful installation experiments with sculptural form while encouraging human interaction and creates a personal and memorable experience akin to an art...

MKM Museum Küppersmühle

A masterpiece of industrial heritage and contemporary design, the Museum Küppersmühle für Moderne Kunst (MKM) in Duisburg has undergone a remarkable transformation since its origins as a grain mill in 1860. Redesigned by Herzog & de Meuron in 1999 and extended in 2021, the museum blends historic brickwork with modern architecture, creating a stunning dialogue between past and present. At the heart of this evolution is the new visitor staircase, a striking vertical element crafted in red-toned concrete. Its tone-on-tone design, featuring terrazzo treads and clay-plastered walls, echoes the industrial character of the museum while adding a modern sculptural quality. The staircase...

Serie Architects adds "memorable and timeless" hall to Indian monastery

Architecture studio Serie Architects has used interlocking walls cloaked in hand-chiselled bricks to outline Raj Sabhagruh, a complex dedicated to Jainism in Dharampur, India.

Raj Sabhagruh comprises 16,000 square metres of space for discourse, study, rest and meditation, and takes visual cues from the architecture of India's Jain temples.

Described by Serie Architects as "an ambitious complex", the building forms the centrepiece building in Shrimad Rajchandra Ashram – a 100-hectare monastery on top of a hill in Dharampur in India's Gujarat state.

Raj Sabhagruh was designed for followers of Jainism, an Indian religion,...

Zaha Hadid's Bergisel Ski Jump was the most significant building of 2002

The next instalment in our 21st-Century Architecture: 25 Years 25 Buildings series looks at Zaha Hadid's Bergisel Ski Jump, which was the turning point in Hadid's career.

Although it's hard to imagine now, at the beginning of the century Hadid was still called a "paper architect", known primarily for her drawings and numerous striking, but unrealised, schemes.

Towering above Innsbruck in Austria, the Bergisel Ski Jump marked a turning point for Hadid as her first major completed project, clearly demonstrating that her ambitious designs could be built.

Hadid's studio,...

Nikken Sekkei and BIG's Toyota Woven City unveiled in Japan

Car brand Toyota has revealed the first phase of its Woven City project in Japan, which was designed by Japanese studio Nikken Sekkei as part of a masterplan by Danish studio BIG.

Woven City is currently being built near the base of Mount Fuji at the former site of Toyota Motor East Japan's (TMEJ) Higashi-Fuji Plant in Susono City, Shizuoka Prefecture.

Buildings for the first phase have now been completed and approximately 100 residents are expected to move in around autumn 2025 or thereafter. Phase one will accommodate 360 people, Toyota said, with...

Kennon adds 1,182 solar panels to facade of Melbourne office building

Architecture studio Kennon has completed the 550 Spencer office building in Australia, forming the "first building in the country" to be powered on-site by a solar facade system.

Located in Melbourne, the office building is defined by pleated glass facades that sit atop a brick base.

Seeking to challenge current approaches to energy use in buildings, Kennon integrated 1,182 solar panels into the building's transparent facades – effectively reducing its annual carbon emissions by 70-tonnes.

Drawing on advanced European glazing tools, Kennon worked with both local and international experts to create 550 Spencer's intricate system.

"550 Spencer...