[Press Release]

Ancona, Italy. September 22, 2009. WHY, Wally Hermès Yachts, today unveils a revolutionary
approach to cruising in motor yachts with the presentation of a full size model of its first born, an
innovative 58 metre-long 38 metre-wide yacht, in Ancona’s shipyard.

Wally Hermès Yachts: a joint-venture.
WHY is the result of the joint-venture signed in June 2008 between Hermès and Wally, to develop a new type of motor yacht redefining the art of living on the sea. The iconic Parisian house and the iconic Monaco yacht brand formed an equal partnership whereby each company is fully involved in all aspects of the conception and design of each project. Pierre-Alexis Dumas, Artistic Director of Hermès says : “When we met, in autumn 2007, Luca Bassani Antivari, President of Wally had thought about asking Hermès to accessorise the interior of one of his boats. I was impressed by the daring of his projects. My instinct was to get on board with him and go and seek out new territories in yacht design, but I had no interest in speed.”

Luca Bassani Antivari explains: “What I’ve always liked about Hermès, aside from its intrinsic quality, is its audacity and radicalism; its desire to go beyond trends, to make no compromises and to maintain the authenticity of the house. Wally shares the same values, ‘Hermès-on-Land’, ‘Wally-on-Sea’: inevitably our paths had to cross.”

WHY 58×38
The common values of the two brands have led to a first yacht that offers an unparalleled living space at sea. WHY was developed to give life to this concept assembling a team of dedicated talents in design, engineering, and naval architecture.

Then the tried and tested Norwegian Ramform hull characterised by exceptional and unprecedented stability and volume and spotted by Luca Bassani Antivari, revealed itself as the ideal choice to be adapted to the WHY 58×38 project.

Following this unique adaptation, the decks and the interiors were developed in accordance with the fundamental credo of WHY, ‘form-equals-function’. Thus were born other innovations in the world of mega yachts: patios generously flooding the interior with natural light, photovoltaic panels on the glass hull sides, as well as on the roof opening, like Venetian blinds, a 25 metre-long forward end swimming pool, and a 36-metre aft deck beach.
WHY 58×38 offers comfort, privacy, stability, space, independence and sustainability.

Sustainability
“We are very interested in creating a yacht that will have a low environmental impact”, says Pierre-Alexis Dumas. “Its relationship with the sea must be respectful and easy. WHY intends to offer a new way of moving over water by creating an innovative way of managing and recycling its sources and uses of energy.”
“If you want to go totally ecological, it’s only sailing yacht. The reality is that today, 90 % of the market is powerboats, echoes Luca Bassani Antivari. Our aim is to reduce diesel consumption per year and per yacht: 20 to 30 % for propulsion and 40 to 50 % for generation.”

Thanks to its specific hull, WHY 58×38 requires less power at cruising speed than a boat of equal size. Its diesel-electric propulsion is the most efficient motorisation today, and the surface of the photovoltaic panels, almost 900 square metres, covers most of the boat’s auxiliary system needs.

WHY Research and Development plan to optimize this project’s energy consumption by improving the isolation of the yacht and the heat recovery of its engines, and is also investigating the latest wind energy production and wind propulsion system technologies.

In comparison to a yacht of the same size, WHY 58×38 has been conceived to reduce drastically its energy consumption, saving up to 200 tons of diesel per year.
The WHY R & D program includes tank testing for hull stability in the SSPA facilities in Sweden, and the construction of a full-scale mock-up in order to allow the design team to fine tune the living areas correctly in accordance with the hull’s unique shape.

“The WHY 58X38 yacht looks very unfamiliar but it remains on a human scale. Space is the greatest luxury on the sea, but I believe the new luxury will be the time to enjoy it”, concludes Pierre-Alexis Dumas.

Designer : Pierre-Alexis Dumas, Luca Bassani Antivari, Gabriele Pezzini, and MauroSculli

Passengers will have great view over the big window located at the front of the boat, stretching to the roof from the floor. The on top LED light integrated lantern will make it easy to dock the boat at night. Upper deck is surrounded by glass to provide easy controlling the boat without disturbing pillars. This gives a much better view as well while giving a more open feeling. Outside the deck, there are security rails as a part of the hull structure that elongates backwards with the wings. A thin glass is designed to rise from the hull at the front to attach the wings at the back, making the boat simple and clean.

The interior of the lower deck is separated in two different parts, one is a private section and another one is an open lounge area, allowing the passengers to rest for a while or participate in social activities as they want. The master bedroom is located in the center which is the best place to be maximum comfortable because of the stability during any directional movements of the yacht. This concept won the award from azimut, and was shown at Piazza San Carlo in Turin ITALY in a big Azimut Event.

Specs:
LENGHT OVERALL(incl.pulpit) 22.05m
HYLL LENGHT(incl.platform) 21.73m
BEAM AT MAIN SECTION 5.12m
DRAFTS(incl.props. at full load) 1.79m
DISPLACEMENT(at full load) 33.2t
ENGINES 2×1410mHP (1036kw) MAN 12V CRM
MAXIMUM SPEED(at half load) 39 knots
CRUISING SPEED( at half load) 32 knots
FUEL CAPACITY 3.300L
WATER CAPACITY 980L
CABINS 3+1 CREW
BERTHS 6+1 CREW
BUILDING MATERIAL CARBON FIBER/VTR/GPR
KEEL V-shape with angle of deadrise 15,4 degrees aft.

Designer : Anders Gloslie

[Press Release]

MIT unveils EyeStop: an iPhone‐like interactive bus stop for the City of Florence

May 14, 2009. MIT architects and engineers have unveiled EyeStop, an interactive bus stop designed for the city of Florence. On Saturday 16 May the project will be presented officially at the Genio Fiorentino by the President of the Province of Florence Matteo Renzi (dubbed ‘The Italian Obama’ by TIME Magazine).

EyeStop, developed by MIT’s SENSEable City Lab, is an exploration into the next generation of smart urban furniture; it aims to enrich the city with state of the art sensing technologies, interactive services, community information and entertainment. The project is partially covered with touch sensitive e‐INK and screens, so that it can deliver information to people seamlessly. Users can plan a bus trip on an interactive map, exchange community‐relevant information on a digital message board, surf the web, monitor their real time exposure to pollutants and use their mobile devices as an interface with the bus shelter. “Interacting with EyeStop could change the access to urban information in a similar way to how the iPhone has changed our mobile life” commented Carlo Ratti, Head of the SENSEable City Lab at MIT.

At the touch of a finger users can indicate their desired destination; the system will then display the shortest bus route from where they are and the position of all relevant buses real‐time. The EyeStop will glow at different levels of intensity to signal the distance of an approaching bus. Riders and passers‐by can also post ads and community announcements to an electronic bulletin board placed on the bus stop, enhancing its functionality as a public space ‐ a place to gather and exchange community relevant information.

In addition to displaying information, the bus stop also acts as an active environmental sensing node, powering itself through sunlight and collecting real time information about air quality and the urban environment. “EyeStop is an experiment into urban computing: it may be considered an “info‐tape” that snakes through the city, rising up like a pole or cropping out of the sidewalk like a shelter. It senses information about the environment and distributes it in a form accessible to all citizens” – commented project leader Giovanni de Niederhousern.

A generative parametric model produces a unique design for each bus stop, providing both optimal sheltering for users and maximum sunlight exposure for direct photovoltaic powering. Unlike the typical mass‐produced bus stop, EyeStop is designed to fit the physical characteristics of its surroundings, with each unit being slightly different from the others. Furthermore, simple materials like shiny steel, extra clear glass and gray local stone (pietra serena), together with its minimalist design, serve to optimize how it blends into the historic urban fabric of Florence.

“Since the Renaissance, there has been an interplay between the physical form of the city (urb) and its citizenship (civitas),” added Carlo Ratti. “Today’s technologies are adding new possibilities to that age‐long relationship, thanks to the addition of digital information to physical space. It is as if a new materiality were emerging in architecture, with the seamless blending of bits and atoms…”

EyeStop was developed at the SENSEable City Laboratory by Giovanni de Niederhousern, Shaocong Zhou, Assaf Biderman and Carlo Ratti, in collaboration with the Province of Florence and the local public transportation authority ATAF.

Designer : Giovanni de Niederhousern, Shaocong Zhou, Assaf Biderman and Carlo Ratti via Core77

From Patrik:

The Reason Why
In Sweden, inviting friends over to one’s home for coffee is a very common social gathering. During my research, I found that people who have espresso machines don’t use them during these social coffee gatherings but serve conventional coffee instead because it’s more simple, more time efficient, allows easy refills, and it brews at a touch of a button which doesn’t take the host away from the party.

The making of an espresso beverage is a procedure that is traditionally taken with much pride and joy. Originating in Italy, espresso drinks have grown popularity all over the modern world. I wanted to create an espresso machine that will allow all participants to experience this procedure of creating their own espresso drink, rather than the host being in charge of everyone’s beverages and be left out of the conversations. And the procedure should be simple enough so that all people, regardless of knowledge of espresso making, can use and enjoy.

How It Works

Docking mode
The barista espresso machine consists of a docking station, brewing unit and five espresso cups. One of the main features with the Barista is that it allows multiple users to be in charge of their own espresso brewing, instead of just only one person in conventional espresso makers. To enhance the portability and make it easier to carry, the Barista works in two modes, carry mode (collapsed) and brewing mode (raised). The Barista is connected to the wall outlet when in docking mode, and functions as conventional espresso machine, where beans are grounded for each individual cup in the kitchen.

Portable mode
To make it portable some task are divided up to optimize the power consumption; the coffee beans gets pre-grounded in the kitchen and the water is pre-heated into a thermos at the same time to eliminate unnecessary energy consumption. Collapse the brew unit by pressing down the top part, to raise it, give the handle a push and the machine will raise by itself to brewing mode. The turning top allows the users to access the machine from all directions. Place cups on the tray and rotate the turning top part to move the nozzle over to the other cups.

Designer : Patrik Petersson

Anders says:

“Since most of the worlds power supply comes form water, I wanted to use this as a concept. Th!nk is a Norwegian brand, so I also got inspiration from arctic clima. Arctic clima+water=Ice. Freezing water creates natures most powerful force. So that would be good to use for an electric car as an inspiration and concept for clean power. I wanted to create something different from all other works i have seen, mixing sports car looks with off road set up.

Using the non symmetric structures of ice as styling inspiration. Creating hard edgy and non symmetric surfaces. I wanted the car to look different, when its seen from different angles. The cracks in the body, hides signal lights over each belt, as the original think cars do. The huge fans at the back, controls air onto the cockpit also, and adjust the engine and cars temperature. The information hose at the back sends data about weather,temperature and all information thats needed, viewed from inside the car, and also outside. The data information will be shown on screens near at the fans, at the back of the car. That means you can operate the data info from the outside.

This 2 seater car has AWD, 4-wheel steering, independent suspension and hydraulic wheel extenders, for maximum traction and maneuverability.”

Designer : Anders Gloslie

Designer : Kazim Doku

Text from designer :
The bike is designed taking eco-commuting to the next level. The research and prototyping was built upon cleaning (fishing bikes from) the river Po’ in Turin, Italy, to get material for the first prototype. Cheap and as fast as possible. In the same time it directed the project towards the “No Oil” manifest and the integration of nature and it’s material in the bike. Laminated wood and aluminium was chosen for the frame. This gave the bike chock-absorbing character, and integrated fenders into the frame. The bike has it target among a hi-end, trend sensitive public, looking for fun while commuting short distance. You can carry a second passenger behind you, and the “surf deck” between pedals and front fender allows you to use it as a kick-bike. Very useful crossing streets and in crowded places were pedaling is difficult or even dangerous.

Designer : Pär Blanking

Designer : Robert Brady

Designer : Jake Eadie

Bearing those discoveries in mind, Gosha Galitsky set to design a bicycle which will operate seamlessly with public transport. It might not fold to the smallest possible size as other bikes of the same nature do, but when it is folded, there are no sticking-out wheels, sprockets or cables that can get entangled with other passengers and make them dirty. The delicate (and greasy) components are all enclosed inside the suitcase-like body of the bicycle, forming a neat rectangular package that can fit easily between your legs when you ride the subway or on the luggage rack in the train. You can even lock it in place so you can snooze through your commute without worrying about the bike being stolen. When you get off and need to get out of the station, the bike can be easily dollied along using the small front wheel. And when it is unfolded, you can ride it just like any other bicycle.

Designer : Gosha Galitsky