Alveosis
Why is this project worthy of an award?
Alveosis is a novel methodology of modelling and fabricating any instance of multi directional, hollow and tubular mesh fabricated out of fiber-reinforced concrete on tensile fabric formwork. It is derived out of the same logic radiolaria or radices form as omni-directional networks, a formal language that make up the current structural, architectural and design world.
What else would you like to share about your design? Why is it unique and innovative?
The digital model is formed by a generative code that partitions space in a Voronoi principles, and forms the branching structure out of instantaneous algorithmic relationships on the fly. It is similar in principle to nature. The fabric formwork is part of the standalone structure therefore is not wasted, the tubular structure can make a space and has interstitial space inside its tubular branchi, can open for habitation. During the installation we planted mycelium inside its cavities.
Who worked on the project?
Urban Atolye Alveosis Installation Team: Nilüfer Kozikoğlu, Orkun Beydağı, Gulay Elbasdi, Nicola Iavarone, Tuna Öğüt, Gizem Kozanoğlu, Nevzat Kuru, Damla Soyseven, Hande Kocabaş. ATEKNIK Structural Design- Ahmet Topbaş, Burhan Kaplan. Special Thanks to our fabrication partner Fibrobeton Precast GRC Panels Production Company.
View the project video: https://youtu.be/-v0Qq9mcq94, https://vimeo.com/235070458, https://vimeo.com/237371727, https://vimeo.com/244031300
ARENA – Agnostic Real-time Extended Reality Network Application
Company Fjord, Design and Innovation by Accenture Interactive
Introduction Date March 10, 2018
Project Website
Why is this project worthy of an award?
While Extended Reality (XR) offers the potential for incredible, immersive experiences in both the gaming and professional spaces, they’ve generally been inherently solitary — until now. ARENA – Agnostic Real-time Extended Reality Network Application – is a real-time, synchronous, collaborative tool where multiple users can interact in the same virtual space at the same time, regardless of their hardware platform. It empowers users from opposite sides of the globe to drop into the same virtual 3D environment to interact, collaborate, and communicate in real time. For businesses, this decreases travel time and cost, while accelerating decision making — benefits that are relevant in all industries. For example, take a company selling huge machinery — let’s say tractors. It’s clearly difficult to bring or send a tractor to someone, but instead, a company could send an iPad and a headset to a prospective buyer. Using ARENA, a sales rep could join the buyer in the virtual environment where they could walk up to and around the tractor, and the rep could point out its features. Consider training for medics, law enforcement officials or members of the military. You can’t throw members of these highly-skilled professions into the field without training, yet until now there hasn’t been a way to properly simulate the high-stress scenarios they will face in their work. With ARENA, trainees could be dropped into a virtual environment similar to the one they will encounter in real life, where they must practice and collaborate in dangerous and stressful circumstances. Not only does this help them prepare fully for the realities of the job, but it gives them the opportunity to train with anyone else, regardless of location or platform — even from the comfort of their own home. And these examples are just scratching the surface. ARENA is worthy of this award because it demonstrates how XR could be used to completely transform the way we work, connecting people across the globe and allowing them to collaborate more efficiently and effortlessly than ever before.
What else would you like to share about your design? Why is it unique and innovative?
By its nature, AR/VR has so far been an inherently solitary experience, usable through just one device per user. We wanted to ensure we created a platform that embraces all hardware, making it accessible to all users, and opening the door for mass adoption. ARENA has adopted all major XR hardware devices, with a tailored experience for each device. Each user’s experience in ARENA’s 3D environment is unique to their chosen hardware, so users in a VR headset view the experience from a first person point of view, while PC users interact through their mouse and monitor, and tablet and smartphone users interact through augmented reality and their touchscreen.
Who worked on the project?
Hunter Woodlee, XR Program Director Charles Price, 3D Artist Robert St. Aubin, 3D Artist/Concept Artist T.E. Christensen, Lead Programmer Joshua Opel, 3D Artist Christopher Mahoney, XR Programmer Ryan Goodrich, XR Programmer Jordan Savage, XR Programmer
View the project video: https://vimeo.com/258735943
Aria Therapeutic Vapor Inhaler Concept
Company THRIVE
Introduction Date February 15, 2017
Project Website https://thrivethinking.com/case-studies/aria/
Why is this project worthy of an award?
In the United States, asthma is on the rise, with more adults being diagnosed every year. The form and function of the common Albuterol rescue inhaler, however, has hardly changed in the past few decades. The devices are about as subtle as a sledgehammer: bulky, bright plastic that manages to scream “medical-grade” and “cheap” all at once. How, we wondered, can we use updated technology and smart thought about form and function to help users feel better—health-wise, but also about their inhalers in general? We started by interviewing and observing current rescue inhaler users to get a sense of their pain points and how they work around the device's shortcomings. We found that people don't like using them in public (they attract attention), that dose timing is difficult with the current compressed canister delivery method (timing dose with breathing in), and that the disposable nature of the device made them worry about sustainability (the whole device is thrown away every month-29 million per year globally). Our team crafted four (4) different Aria inhalers based on four (4) prominent personas and their needs: Youth, Contemporary, Heritage, and Active. The Aria Youth is smaller (for kids) and has a rubberized body to increase grip and precision during dosing, as well as survive drops. Its large paddle actuation makes the whole process easier-further removing precision from the equation. Aria Contemporary looks clean and modern-more like everyday tech than a medical device. Its Polished aluminum and silicon body read as high design, emphasizing discretion. Its horizontal orientation allows for a more discrete holding position, while its tech-forward aesthetic blends into the current technology landscape. Aria Heritage connects with longtime asthma sufferers through a timeless inset wood and aluminum body and features a larger paddle actuator. The body is meant to weather over time, picking up character and bonding with its owner, much like an old compass or pocket knife. Aria Sport is designed for active asthmatics, having a miniaturized anodized aluminum body, attachment clip and waterproof body for ultimate durability on the go. Its large diameter actuation pad gives users a bigger area to depress, removing the need for focus and precision during a time of emergency when engaged in a physical activity, usually when end-users are at their most distracted.
What else would you like to share about your design? Why is it unique and innovative?
The major problem with the use of inhaler devices is the lack of coordination between the device activation and inhalation due to lack of patient training. In general, aerosols generate the medication faster than the patient can inhale leaving the majority of the medication in the upper airways rather than the desired deeper deposition in the lungs (most efficacious for treatment). Coordination between device actuation and patient inhalation is especially difficult in children and the elderly. Aria's Vapor-based technology eliminates the need for coordination between the device and actuation improving the patient outcome. The proper dose is extracted from the glass pod and rapidly heated (3-5 seconds) until it becomes vapor, which travels through a guided tube until it reaches the user requiring no coordination between breath and actuation. The vapor-based technology also removes Aria from the vertical configuration required when using compressed gas technology lowering the profile of the product, enabling greater discretion for the end-user. To officially bring the inhaler into the 21st century, we added an app that works in conjunction with the inhaler. The dashboard features information about weather and air quality conditions in a user's geographic area that can impact their breathing. And the digital humanization is taken one step further: With data inputs unique to the user’s ailments and lifestyle, it synthesizes this information and customizes it through the filter of their life, providing insights and recommendations that are tailored to them and their needs. 29 million Asthma rescues inhalers are thrown away each year globally with the average asthmatic disposing of one (1) inhaler per month. Our research with asthmatics provided us with the insight that users were both concerned by the environmental impact of the inhaler (plastic waste) as well as being unsure of how to correctly dispose of them. All the users we studied were unaware that you cannot just throw inhalers away. Why? 1. There may be medication left in them. 2. The cans explode when compacted or heated too much (like sitting in a garbage truck for a few hours). GlaxoSmithKline did a study that showed 29% of inhalers that have been disposed of have leftover medication in them. If these inhalers go into a landfill, the medication will leak out and contaminate our local water supplies. Also, some inhalers, when broken open, will release greenhouse gasses. Inhaler related greenhouse gasses are responsible for about 5 million tons of CO2 emissions across the world. Aria's single size glass refill pods (200 doses) solves these issues. The proper dose is extracted from the pod and rapidly heated (3-5 seconds) until it becomes vapor. It then travels through a guided tube until reaching the mouthpiece and down the user's windpipe. As a result, no medication is left over in the pod because it is liquid and not powder based. The glass pods can easily be recycled within the household waste stream along with other glass products reducing the impact on the environment.
Who worked on the project?
THRIVE
View the project video: https://player.vimeo.com/video/214229843
Arthur
Company Pentagram
Introduction Date January 1, 2017
Project Website
Why is this project worthy of an award?
Arthur is an intelligent assistant designed to visualize a buildings energy usage and allow users to learn and interact with the information through voice commands. Created initially for the restored MacArthur Elementary school in Binghamton, New York – Arthur is the first system of it’s kind, combining the likes of energy monitoring products like Nest or the LEED dynamic plaque with a friendly and animated building persona that users can interact with through speech. There are currently no systems on the market that allow an institution like MacArthur to both monitor and understand how the school and building is sustainable in this unique way. In 2011 MacArthur Elementary School in Binghamton, NY suffered a devastating flood. Due to days of torrential rain caused by Hurricane Irene, the nearby Susquehanna River broke its banks and the existing school building was destroyed. A new contemporary school outfitted with state of the art technology and incorporating a sustainable and resilient design, was built by Ashley McGraw Architects, opening its doors in 2015. Pentagram was contacted to envision and design an interactive display system throughout the revitalized school with a focus on emphasizing sustainability and energy saving. Consisting of 8 units installed throughout the school, Arthur uses Google’s powerful open source voice recognition API to allow users to directly interact with the Arthur persona and learn about how their school is doing. Voice commands were chosen as the primary input mechanism over touch or analog controls due to the younger nature of the audience. In initial explorations around the concept it was observed how the emergence of voice assistants allow younger children to perform complex actions they might find challenging on a touch interface. Arthur constantly monitors and analyses the buildings usage of electricity, water, heating and cooling along with solar generation and flood risk tracking over time. Through interacting with Arthur, students and staff can learn about, monitor and improve the school’s energy usage. Information is given in many forms such as energy reports – daily, weekly and monthly breakdowns of how MacArthur’s energy usage has increased or decreased. Students can also compare previous energy levels with today’s through use of a comparison system (e.g. compare today to last week). All these interactions are completed through speech and answering simple yes or no questions posed by the Arthur persona. While Arthurs primary purpose is to provide information about MacArthur’s energy data he can also predict the weather, give the date and time, present a math or spelling quiz and answer basic questions about himself. When Arthur is not in use, he cycles through a number of passive information screens, including weather, date, time, energy stats, the level of the nearby Susquehanna River and messages from the school, sent through a custom built app.
What else would you like to share about your design? Why is it unique and innovative?
Early in the design process it was decided that the interface should have a persona and personality of its own, to appeal to its younger audience and serve as a literal friendly face to the concept of energy saving. Inspired by digital pets like Tamagotchi, Arthur’s mood changes and adapts regularly depending on two key factors: how much energy the school is currently using and how often the units are interacted with. If the schools energy usage spikes Arthur may get fed up or upset. If Arthur isn’t talked to in a while his mood may get sad and morose. Linking Arthurs mood to the schools energy gives students an instantaneous reference for how the school is performing and encouragement to “cheer up” Arthur through conserving energy and interacting with him. After enquiring about how Arthur is feeling, Arthur will give students actionable advice on how to conserve energy. For example if electricity usage is particularly high in a given month, Arthur will recommend unplugging devices once they’re charged or turning off all the lights in a room when you leave. Arthurs mood is expressed both through a 9 color system and his animated face which moves and reacts independently. A series of animated icons above Arthur’s head playfully display which of his various modes he is currently in. Below Arthur’s face, his body is used to display a variety of information from text while he speaks to simple graphic representations of the schools energy or the nearby river level. In total, Arthur’s face, animated icon system and display information consist of over 100 unique custom animations. The displays use a customized version of the Futura typeface – selected for the simple geometry of it’s forms. The typeface was customized to incorporate elements from K5 worksheets used to teach the alphabet in an effort to make the forms friendlier and more recognizable to students. Arthur’s physical form was developed to be both impactful and easily accessible, consisting of a large sheet of durable low reflective glass, secured within a polished metal frame. The units were mounted only a few feet off the ground to accommodate the average height of Arthur’s younger users. The reflective qualities of the frame also mean that Arthur sits cleanly into any environment he is placed, reflecting the qualities of the walls around him. Subtle detailing was also included in the frame’s ventilation – consisting of a patterned system of punched holes along the unit’s side that spell the name “MacArthur” in binary code.
Who worked on the project?
Design: Eddie Opara, Brankica Harvey, Pedro Mendes, Jack Collins; Industrial Design & Fabrication: Robert Langhorn; Development: Lertad Supadhiloke
View the project video: https://we.tl/tAGK2b95Ma
ArtLens Studio
Company The Cleveland Museum of Art
Introduction Date June 1, 2016
Project Website http://clevelandart.org/artlens-gallery/artlens-studio
Why is this project worthy of an award?
ArtLens Studio is a transformative, groundbreaking space at the Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA). The CMA partnered with Design I/O to realize and implement this immersive initiative. As a highlighted feature of the ARTLENS Gallery experience, ArtLens Studio intertwines technology and art while providing an introduction to the CMA’s encyclopedic collection through gesture-based, artwork-centered play. Designed with the entire family in mind, ArtLens Studio welcomes an intergenerational audience of first-time and repeat museum visitors. In the Create Studio, visitors can make their own digital portraits, pottery, and paintings that can be accessed on CMA’s tumblr page. Create Studio interactives use a combination of time-of-flight depth cameras, custom C++ software and real-time graphics to create digital experiences that allow visitors to play with traditional artistic techniques, in an expressive, gesture-based way. Reveal and Zoom alternate on a 4K interactive video wall that uses the body as a tool to explore masterworks from the museum’s collection using innovative motion-tracking technology. Reveal and Zoom engage visitors in two different methods of investigating the collection. Reveal encourages visitors to consider composition first before details come into focus, while Zoom invites visitors to explore details closely. In Reveal, a larger-than-life-size image is at first blurry, but visitors’ movements, individually or in groups, bring the artwork into sharp focus. Sweeping gestures bring about subtle changes to the image, while smaller, focused movement extracts finer details. The process continues until the object is entirely “revealed.” With Zoom, the visitor’s body acts as a magnifying glass. Using body movement, participants can examine every detail of a work of art, encouraging visitor-led investigation. Line and Shape highlights discovery, focusing on details of different works in the CMA’s extensive holdings. Visitors draw lines and shapes on a large touchscreen, and these simple forms are rapidly matched to one of over 7,000 works in the museum’s collection. In another interactive, Matching Game emphasizes the connection between visual and verbal literacy. Working against a ticking clock, visitors are asked to find artworks containing an everyday item, like a chair, as quickly as possible. In order to accommodate varied skill levels and ages, there are multiple levels of difficulty for this activity. Modeled after the time-honored game, Memory Game invites visitors to “flip over” different cards, two at a time, in order to make a match, challenging visitors to hone their visual memory skills. When two details from the same work of art are successfully matched, the entire image is revealed. Presented as a companion for the Matching Game, the Memory Game is a quick, easy and enjoyable way to introduce visitors to some of the immense variety of artwork in the museum.
What else would you like to share about your design? Why is it unique and innovative?
Though the outward experience is more engaging than ever, the impressive work that will make ARTLENS Gallery scalable and sustainable is a significant upgrade to the backend platform. The CMA established a standardized, well-documented development environment, including: a master application programming interface used for integrating all artwork, artist/creator, and location information, a common framework for defining and testing the content structure and staff workbenches needed to manage both existing and new interactives, a consolidated content delivery network platform for digital assets for all interactives (in ArtLens App, exhibitions, collections online, or any future interactive) for ease of management and troubleshooting, and a single method for connecting interactives to user devices for favorites and saving of user-generated content. The CMA’s custom-built catalog management system pulls live content, writes it once, and then updates it everywhere, making any artwork information or interpretive content updated by the curatorial, registrar, or interpretation departments immediately accessible in all digital interactives. ArtLens Studio bridges the gap between visitors and art in a transformative experience, empowering people to learn through play and to build lasting relationships with CMA’s world-renowned collection. Visitors can take the toolsets they develop in ArtLens Studio, and apply them to works of art anywhere, even beyond CMA. The CMA never uses technology for technology’s sake and will continue to create innovative, immersive experiences that intertwine art and barrier-free digital technology. ArtLens Studio aims to minimize the intimidation of the art museum and increase engagement by introducing visitors to the CMA’s collection. Technology never distracts from the art in ARTLENS Gallery, but rather helps to scaffold impactful, personal museum experiences.
Who worked on the project?
From the Cleveland Museum of Art: Digital Innovation and Technology Services: Jane Alexander (Chief Information Officer/Project Lead), Adam Gall (Technical Project Manager) Collections: Mary Suzor (Director of Collections Management) Curatorial: Stephen Harrison (Curator of Decorative Art and Design), Sooa McCormick (Assistant Curator of Asian Art) Design: Rusty Culp (Associate Director of Design and Architecture), Jeffrey Strean (Director of Design and Architecture), Mary Thomas (Graphic Designer) Education: Seema Rao (Director of Intergenerational Learning) In order to create this innovative space, the Cleveland Museum of Art partnered with Design I/O, a creative design studio in Cambridge, MA. From Design I/O: Theodore Watson (Partner/Creative Director), Emily Gobeille (Partner/Creative Director), Nick Hardeman (Minister of Interactive Art)
View the project video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xh7KIRO4cHg
