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Design

Collected Rainwater Powers the World’s Tallest Indoor Waterfall at Singapore’s Jewel Changi Airport

A seven-story waterfall designed by Safdie Architects has become the shining focal point of Singapore’s Jewel Changi Airport. The 130-foot “Rain Vortex” is supplied by collected rainwater, and flows at the center of a greenhouse topped by an inverted glass dome. Nearly 10,000 gallons of water are pumped through the circular installation per minute from a centralized oculus in the middle of the space. The overhead dome is composed of a gridded glass thick enough to absorb any noise created by the aircrafts taking off and landing, and was tested to ensure it wouldn’t give off any distracting reflections to nearby air traffic controllers.

The new addition also includes five stories of shopping, a netted play area, and a terraced garden called the Shiseido Forest Valley that is dotted with smaller waterfalls accessed by trails. Although the waterfall at Jewel Changi Airport has just opened, it will soon be eclipsed as the tallest after the 2020 completion of a 164-feet-tall waterfall installed at Grimshaw‘s upcoming Qingdao Eden Project. (via dezeen)

Colossal Design Illustration

Buggin’ Out: New DIY Insect Stamp Kits

Sorry to bug you, but we wanted to let you know about these just-released stamp kits from Princeton Architectural Press. Each kit contains ink pads and 25 stamps, ranging from wings and limbs to antennae and abdomens, designed by Hamburg-based illustrator Barbara Dziadosz. Use the component parts to form your favorite critter, or invent an entirely new one. See some examples below to spark your insect imagination, and find the DIY Bug Stamp Kit in The Colossal Shop!

Art Design

Interactive Beams of Light Examine Movements of the Human Body During Milan Design Week

All images by David Zanardi

Ergonomic design company Humanscale analyzes the structure of the human body to create health-conscious furniture that eases tension during long office hours. For this year’s Milan Design Week the company invited collaborator Todd Bracher to design an interactive installation that would speak to how our bodies operate in space. The piece, appropriately titled Bodies in Motion, mirrors the movements of its guests with 15 spotlights that swirl in tandem with users’ limbs.

The work is a reinterpretation of the original scientific method of motion perception developed by Swedish psychophysicist Gunnar Johansson in 1973. Johansson observed movements by placing lights on different points of actors’ bodies and then recording their movements in the dark so he could interpret their actions without distraction. Bodies in Motion uses a more complex system developed by Studio TheGreenEyl to bring the experiment into the 21st-century. The collaborative installation is open from 10 AM – 6 PM daily through April 14, 2019 at Salon del Mobile. (via dezeen)

Design

A Paper Camera Comprised of Complementary Colors Includes Interchangeable Lenses and a Removable Flash

Seoul-based design studio DOTMOT has constructed a faux camera composed of a graphic array of blue and orange paper. The model might not be able to capture images, but the sturdy imitation has a few of the same basic functions of an operational camera, including interchangeable wide angle and telephoto lenses and a detachable flash. Take a look behind the scenes of the camera’s construction in the video below, and learn more about the creative studio’s other projects on their website and Instagram.

Design

A 3D-Printed Press Brings Printmaking to the People

Last year, Martin Schneider rolled out the Open Press Project, which provided printing plans for the world’s first fully functional 3D-printed printmaking press, and was downloaded by more than 12,000 people. As a follow-up to that successful open-source endeavor, Schneider is offerings folks who don’t have their own 3-D-printing abilities the option to get a press through a new Kickstarter campaign. Traditionally, printing presses are prohibitively expensive and extremely heavy. Schneider has managed costs in part by shrinking the press down to a 5.7 by 2.95 inch printing area, but includes the usual steel roller and woven blanket found on a full-sized press. The cost of each petite press available through Open Press Project’s Kickstarter comes out to around $60. You can follow the project on Instagram, and download plans to use with your own 3D-printer on the Open Press Project website. (via Colossal Submissions)

Design

Build Your Own Robotic Cat with An Open Source Kit by Petoi

Try your hand at robotics with Nybble, a programmable cat that walks, bats its paws, and even regains its balance after a jump from a tall surface. The cat is the brainchild of RongzhongLi of Petoi, who built the feline robot on an open source platform that runs on an Arduino micro-controller, and funded the project on Indiegogo. A wooden puzzle forms the cat’s basic frame, while a small computer imbedded in its torso directs its movements. Instructional videos for how to put the kit together can be found on Petoi’s website, and an overview of the robotic animal’s tricks and abilities can be found in the video below. (via Laughing Squid)

 

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Nycrobat. Now Nybble plays high bar better than me! #nybble #opencat #petoi #robot #quadrupedrobot #stem #robotcat

A post shared by RongzhongLi（李荣仲） (@petoi_camp) on Feb 21, 2019 at 4:33pm PST

Art Design

Dimensions Blur in Aakash Nihalani’s Minimalist Optical Illusions

Aakash Nihalani (previously) is known for his illusionist interventions that push the boundaries between two and three dimensions. Though he started off using using tape to form ephemeral installations, in the last few years Nihalani has moved into more permanent territory, working with wood and metal to form free-standing and wall-mounted sculptures. Throughout his practice, the artist works with simple geometric shapes and minimal black and white color palettes accented with neon. Nihalani, a Queens, New York native, graduated from New York University’s Steinhardt School in 2008. Discover more of his mind-bending installations on Instagram.