Design

Chrysler showed an interesting concept without much fanfare at Detroit's NAIAS this week. The 700C is being evaluated by Chrysler as the design direction for the next generation minivan. It's a bold effort to give some style to the boxy people mover market and public opinion will now decide if the angled B-pillar and huge wheels will see production. Read More

So you are in holiday mode, probably lounging down at the beach or by a big open fire with the snow falling outside, depending on where you live. There’s nothing on TV and you have read all the books of interest, so now what? Well, if you fancy yourself as an artist, you might like to enter a competition to design the livery for the first of the new Pipistrel Panthera aircraft and stand to take home 1,000 euro (approx. US$1,290). You have until January 10, 2012. Read More

Recycling an old car seems like a reasonable idea, but what about recycling it into clothes? Lexus recently challenged four designers to create fashion masterpieces out of a dismantled Lexus CT hybrid as part of an advertising campaign. Photos of models wearing the final products will be pictured in the January 2012 edition Vogue. Read More

There's a bit of controversy surrounding MVRDV's design for a luxury residential environment in South Korea. Some people are concerned about the resemblance of MVRD's “Cloud” to the 9/11 twin towers explosions. Whether it is a 9-11 lookalike is immaterial because it's meant to be a cloud, and it's an ingenious reinvention of the skyscraper using glass and sky and light and sun to create a unique and compelling environment, with many material advantages to the community. Read More

With two thirds of the world's population now carrying a mobile phone, the only functional aspect of the wristwatch is redundant. The appreciation of fine bespoke mechanical computers however, is stronger than ever - more than US$46 billion this year - three times the tablet computer marketplace. Last Saturday evening, the timepeice industry gathered for the Grand Prix de l'Horlogerie de Genève, where the industry awards the best timepeices in a dozen categories. The "Aiguille d'Or" was awarded to the US$87,000 De Bethune DB28. Another leaureate keeps time to one thousandth of a second and another keeps the true length of the day, both achieved mechanically. They cost more than a Ferrari, and are equally as complex. Showing this story to a loved one might cost you a lot of money. Read More

Madrid-based A-Cero architects are a big deal in Spain with public and residential projects across the country plus South America and the Middle East. Lead architect and principal Joaquin Torres is bit of a celebrity and recently appeared on Spanish TV's equivalent of "The Secret Millionaire" (giving away money of course, not receiving it). Unashamedly modernist, the A-Cero house style generally involves sweeping curved gestures in gleaming white. With the latest residential project however, Joaquin seems to have embraced the dark side and produced a dwelling of such stunning brutality and "otherness" that it could easily be an alien fortress on a distant planet. We love it. It's also one of the few buildings that actually looks good illuminated by multi-colored LEDs. Read More

Can you imagine the power of 50,000 steps a day? Well, Laurence Kembell-Cook, the director of Pavegen Systems imagined it and created Pavegen tiles - a low carbon solution that aims to bring kinetic energy harvesting to the streets. Not surprisingly, the tile is receiving a great deal of attention as a solution for power-hungry cities with a lot of walking traffic. Read More

Ducati's new generation v-twin 1200cc sports bike will be announced at the EICMA International Motorcycle Show in Milan this November. What we know for sure is that it will be named the "Ducati 1199 Panigale" and that it will not use the traditional Ducati trellis frame but a roadgoing version of the frameless design which has been raced and evaluated rather unsuccessfully by the world's best rider - Valentino Rossi. It seems like a massive gamble for a company that has traditionally attracted customers with its race-winning superbikes. Rumours suggest that the new road bike will weigh in at 176 kg wet and produce 195 bhp. How well it will handle will be the issue. Read More

In a raft of announcements, Honda has developed a highly fuel-efficient, very torquey 700cc twin cylinder engine with a second-generation Dual Clutch Transmission which it will show in three different motorcycle designs at the EICMA 2011 International Motorcycle Exhibition in November in Milan, Italy. The motor will also be paired with a manual six-speed transmission in at least one of those bikes and as it delivers better than 3.7 l/100km and its motor is designed for on-road usability, it is almost certainly the first bike designed for western markets to take advantage of the world's coming gas crisis. Also on display will be Honda's new 125 engine which will be used in its 125cc scooters around the world starting next year and contains an idle-stop system and delivers 25% better fuel economy than current generation scooter engines. Both the 700cc and 125cc engines contain considerable technological wizardry to achieve their goals. Read More