When you are used to pottering canals in The Netherlands as I am, you know what a Railroad Bridge means: A place you usually have to wait for an awful long time. If you pass Amsterdam with a sailboat from which you cannot or don’t want to get the mast down, there is only one window to pass the railroad bridge that is located next to Amsterdam Central Station: Between 02.30 AM and 03.30 AM. You can have a pint of beer in the nearby Jordaan part of Amsterdam to have a bit fun during the waiting. If you are lucky there will be a folksinger in the café.
Recently a railroad bridge that lost its function was permanently put in “Open” position. Now Dutch architects have built a sort of glass conservatory on the bridge which got the combined function of a bar (café in Dutch who loaned that word from the French) with restaurant. Very aptly it was named Open
The Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA), in collaboration with Werner Sobek and engineers ABT, has won the competition for Rotterdam’s Stadskantoor, a new building for the city hall that will accommodate municipal services, offices, and residential units. The winner was announced this morning by city alderman Hamit Karakus.
Oops: There we go again: I was hitting the publish button even before I had jotted down one sentence and without being able to insert a video in here quickly…
According to The World Health Organization approximately 1.6 million persons die annually by hazards connected with indoor open fire cooking.
Philips designed a better Chulha, a stove that creates a safer environment for indoor cooking in several ways.
It traps smoke and heat inside a locally cast housing in such a way as to heat two pot-holes with a high rate of efficiency to require less fuel;
It then directs the smoke through a chimney chamber that includes a stack of slotted clay tablets – they capture particulates as the smoke moves through, cleaning the exhaust before it ever leaves the assembly; and
The Chulha’s chimney also provides for indoor access for cleaning, eliminating the need seen in previous devices for a family member, usually the mother, to climb on the roof for chimney cleaning. This has been the cause for many accidents, along with the toxicity of the smoke.
Philips offers the design for free so that the stove can be made locally in clay casting.
Here is page of Philips where the design can be downloaded for Free. However note the rules of engagement…and I downloaded the package, but it is password protected…
Recently this design of a Chulha was awarded with an INDEX award. INDEX was founded in August 2002. It is a Danish non-profit organization under the patronage of HRH The Crown Prince of Denmark to inspire design worldwide that responds to the needs of people.
There are other Chula designs around the web.
I would say a clever way of marketing your brand sustainable..and…Mind you! The money involved with the Index award is Euro 100,000.-!!!
Recent Design Academy Eindhoven grad Bas van der Veer’s beautiful “A Drop of Water” is a simple rain-collection system with an integrated plant-watering bottle. The barrel is large enough to catch plenty of overflow, and a tap at the bottom lets you refill the bottle some more after draining its initial catch.
You guys know how we love production shots; below is van der Veer painstakingly making the mold, and he’s got plenty more on his site.
Maarten Baas is the youngest designer to receive the Design Miami/ Designer of the Year Award. New work commissioned for the award along with a theatrical retrospective will be presented in Miami later this year.
