Do you think this would be the “Next Big Thing” in interior design ? Well, seeing the recent buzz of this product prototype, I believe so. FootLume basically is a rug that lights up when you step on it, pretty futuristic. The co-inventor Leona Dean said that the glow that the rug emits was very soft. “It can provide ambient mood lighting or flash in time to music as talking point at a party”, Leona Added. Footlume, powered by rechargeable batteries, works by responding to the weight applied when a person walks across the carpet.
Electroluminescence relies on an electric field to generate visible light. Other light producers include photoluminescence, which is used in many glow-in-the-dark toys; and chemoluminescence, which involves light-producing chemical reactions (as in the body of a firefly).
Source : LiveScience
How do you see San Fransisco in 2018 ? Apparently IwamotoScott Architects has a totally futuristic vision of San Fransisco that made them won $10,000 grand prize in the City of The Future contest. Their winning entry was a Hydro-Net concept that includes a ?Geothermal Mushroom? at located on the top of Bernal Hill and a ?Fog Flower? on Ocean Beach. Here?s their full series of Hydro-Net concept illustrations.
HYDRO-NET provides an underground arterial traffic network for hydrogen-fueled hover-cars, while simultaneously collecting, storing and distributing water and power tapped from existing aquifer and geothermal sources beneath San Francisco.
At key waterfront and neighborhood locales, HYDRO-NET emerges to form linkages between the terrestrial and subterranean worlds. Here new architectures bloom as opportunistic urban caves and outcroppings, fostering new social spaces and densified urban forms, fed by the resources and connectivity provided by HYDRO-NET.
What a stunning vision, San Fransisco already become one of the greenest cities in the US, but this vision totally remake San Fransisco into ecotopia in 2018.
Designer : IwamotoScott Architects via Inhabitat via LaughingSquid
Finally, Pinifarina Sintesi is fully revealed and gong to on display at Geneva Motor Show 2008. Sintesi concept car is a four door vehicle with an advanced fuel cell power source. The Sintesi (means ’synthesis’ in Italian) which describe the attributes of the concept. The beauty, sportiness and functionality combine into one. Pinifarina designed Sintesi to predict the future of car design, stylist, comfort, practicality, and power.
Designer : pinifarina sintesi
This solar notebook concept is a laptop with complete power independent. Its independence is due to powerful batteries that are recharged by wide Solar Panel attached to the computer. Equipped with satellite link GPS, internet access, and satellite telephone which makes this device not only power independent but also universal tool for communication and exchange information literally from any spot on the planet.
The solar panel may be completely detached from the main body to be put away for recharging, then smaller battery inside the computer is on. This small battery is recharged with solar power too when DC is plugged in.
This sure do will come in handy for scientists or researchers who work far away from civilization and power source.
Designer : Nikola Knezevic
Another innovative design concept from Nokia, the morph concept. Featured in The Museum of Modern Art ?Design and The Elastic Mind? exhibition, the Morph concept device is a bridge between highly advanced technologies and their potential benefits to end-users. Developed by NRC (Nokia Research Center) in collaboration with the Cambridge Nanoscience Centre (United Kingdom), Morph is a concept phone that using nanotechnology which enables materials and components that are flexible, stretchable, transparent and remarkably strong. Users should be able to transform their cell phone into different shapes.
From the website :
“Morph concept technologies might create fantastic opportunities for mobile devices: * Newly-enabled flexible and transparent materials blend more seamlessly with the way we live
* Devices become self-cleaning and self-preserving
* Transparent electronics offering an entirely new aesthetic dimension
* Built-in solar absorption might charge a device, whilst batteries become smaller, longer lasting and faster to charge
* Integrated sensors might allow us to learn more about the environment around us, empowering us to make better choices”
We probably see this technology another 5-7 years in the future, by using nanotechnology, hopefully can lead to low cost manufacturing solutions and the possibility of integrating complex functionality at a low price.
Source : Nokia
