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
Another innovative idea from Tao Ma, “Say Time Watch” is a concept where a watch can give you warm sentences instead of time. You can create words that describe each specific time, change the color and the type of font the way you like it. You can write “it’s 5 pm, time to go home” and set the watch to display it at 5:00 pm. Each sentences can be edited or inserted using usb line connected to a computer. My question is, from the picture you can see that the user setup the sentences for each hour, what about at for e.g. : 5:15pm, what will the watch display for me? is it the same sentences ? I prefer if this watch has the ability to actually display the time, and make the warm sentences display as an optional features.
Designer : Tao Ma
Designed by Alex Bradley, SPC is a smart cooker for people who are living alone and hate to prepare their own meals, they prefer junk food. This compact cooker goal is to encourage people in bedsits and bachelor pads to prepare healthier meals. Combination of a hob, chopping board, utensils and a WiFi-enabled screen (futuristic cooker, huh?) to make users easier to access recipes from the internet. As one of Concept Product Competition Finalists, hopefully this Single Person Cooker prototype can win the competition.
The Intended user is primarily the single person and or commuter, where time is precious and preparing a meal is more of a chore than an experience to be savoured. Families, with busy schedules could benefit, together with wider ranging demographics.
Taking styling cues from current trends the concept aims to deliver a contemporary take on kitchen appliances and remove those initial semantic values associated with kitchen appliances, to give an air of ?what is that??
Looks like we have more choices for our kitchen in the future, modular kitchen by Fevzi Karaman is still a concept, hopefully this compact cooker by Alex Bradley can be mass produced.
Designer : Alex Bradley via Dezeen
SkyTran is a concept for high-capacity and high-speed personal rapid transport developed by an American Company UniModal Transport Solutions. This SkyTran system is two-passenger vehicles, propelled and suspended by maglev system. These are laid out in a one mile by one mile networked grid throughout the city. A large number of small departure and exit portals are placed underneath the guideways at approximately every 400 metres or at every city block.
SkyTran has no fixed routes or timetables. Users can simply enter any departure portal, get into the first empty vehicle in the queue and select their destination. The vehicle then speeds up on the acceleration lane and enters the high-speed overhead guideway.
Great concept, this will definitely reduce traffic jam, but with only two passengers for each pod, what about families ? Using SkyTran they have to sit separately. Hopefully UniModal will come up with new model or updated version of the SkyTran pods.
via TheContaminated
The idea of this concept was to exploit the internet ability in a mobile device. Touch screen, built in camera, scanner, WiFi, google map (hopefully google earth), google search, image search? all in one device. See a building through it, it will give you the image search result right on the spot.
Choose a building and touch a floor and it tells you more details of the building. You can use it when you want to know a car model, an insect name, what kind of food is served at a restaurant and how much, who built a bridge, etc. With detail informations like that, this gadget might only be used by secret service agents. Very futuristic concept.
Designer : Mac Funamizu
