Around The Home

The Final Countdown: Electrolux Design Lab finalists announced

The Final Countdown: Electrolux Design Lab finalists announced
The eight finalist s in the Electrolux DesignLab 2010 have been announced
The eight finalist s in the Electrolux DesignLab 2010 have been announced
View 22 Images
The Kitchen Hideaway concept lets you think about the food you would like to eat and transmits this to robots, who cook it for you.
1/22
The Kitchen Hideaway concept lets you think about the food you would like to eat and transmits this to robots, who cook it for you.
The Kitchen Hideaway - want a burger? Let the robots in your building make it for you.
2/22
The Kitchen Hideaway - want a burger? Let the robots in your building make it for you.
The Eco Cleaner dishwasher cleans and composts food from cooking and eating vessels
3/22
The Eco Cleaner dishwasher cleans and composts food from cooking and eating vessels
The Eco Cleaner is designed to save space in the kitchen and reduce food wastage
4/22
The Eco Cleaner is designed to save space in the kitchen and reduce food wastage
The Eco Cleaner dishwasher cleans and composts food from cooking and eating vessels
5/22
The Eco Cleaner dishwasher cleans and composts food from cooking and eating vessels
The Snail is designed for heating food in small vessels like pots and cups
6/22
The Snail is designed for heating food in small vessels like pots and cups
The Snail concept saves space in the kitchen and heats your food
7/22
The Snail concept saves space in the kitchen and heats your food
The eight finalist s in the Electrolux DesignLab 2010 have been announced
8/22
The eight finalist s in the Electrolux DesignLab 2010 have been announced
The External Refrigerator utilizes the cooler air at night and during cold seasons to keep food fresh
9/22
The External Refrigerator utilizes the cooler air at night and during cold seasons to keep food fresh
The External Refrigerator concept is designed to save space by putting food outside
10/22
The External Refrigerator concept is designed to save space by putting food outside
The Elements Modular kitchen will connect appliances wirelessly
11/22
The Elements Modular kitchen will connect appliances wirelessly
The Dismount Washer uses an "energy stick" to dispense steam to clean clothes
12/22
The Dismount Washer uses an "energy stick" to dispense steam to clean clothes
The Dismount Washer is mounted on the wall to save space
13/22
The Dismount Washer is mounted on the wall to save space
The Dismount Washer uses steam to help clean your clothes
14/22
The Dismount Washer uses steam to help clean your clothes
Clean Closet is designed to clean clothes without water
15/22
Clean Closet is designed to clean clothes without water
Clean Closet is designed to clean clothes without water
16/22
Clean Closet is designed to clean clothes without water
Cool your food with gel in the Bio Robot refrigerator
17/22
Cool your food with gel in the Bio Robot refrigerator
The Kitchen Hideaway is designed for community living
18/22
The Kitchen Hideaway is designed for community living
19/22
20/22
The External Refrigerator incorporates solar panels
21/22
The External Refrigerator incorporates solar panels
The Elements Modular kitchen connect appliances using wireless technology
22/22
The Elements Modular kitchen connect appliances using wireless technology
View gallery - 22 images

It’s down to the final eight in the Electrolux Design Lab 2010 competition. Around 1,300 designers from all over the globe entered the competition this year, with the brief being to create space-saving home appliances that would be suited to life in the heavily-populated urban environments expected by 2050. The finalists will present their designs to a jury in London on the 23rd of September with cash prizes and an opportunity of a six month paid internship at an Electrolux global design center up for grabs. Will it be the virtual kitchen helmet, the gel refrigerator or the portable ultrasonic dishwasher that impresses the judges, or will it be one of the other five fantastically futuristic designs?

The eight have been chosen from the 25 semi finalists announced in June. Last year’s winner - the Cocoon - was a conceptual cooker that “created” meat and fish and, by the look of this year’s creations, the final eight designers have been just as forward-thinking.

Kitchen Hideaway

The Kitchen Hideaway by Daniel Dobrogorsky from Australia is a virtual-reality concept that sees you turning your thoughts about your next meal into real food. You simply think of what you might like to eat, your thoughts are transmitted to a team of robotic chefs contained within your communal building and voila – they prepare the meal you just dreamt of – in a real kitchen with real food. Just try not to think of a hamburger and fries too often during the day!

The Kitchen Hideaway is designed for community living
The Kitchen Hideaway is designed for community living

The Snail

The Snail by Peter Alwin from India is a micro induction heating concept for portable heating and cooking. It is powered by a high-density sugar crystal battery and is designed to be attached to small cooking items such as a pot or mug. It contains integrated sensors to determine the cooking time and temperature for certain food types and features a touch-sensitive display.

The Snail is designed for heating food in small vessels like pots and cups
The Snail is designed for heating food in small vessels like pots and cups

Elements Modular Kitchen

Matthew Gilbride from USA, designed the Elements Modular Kitchen - an all-in-one kitchen shelving concept. It’s a multi-unit and surface design that allows flexible modes of cooking, refrigeration, air conditioning and lighting in a space-friendly and environmental design. Units and surfaces are connected through wireless smart networking with solar power supplementing the wireless power when required.

The Elements Modular kitchen will connect appliances wirelessly
The Elements Modular kitchen will connect appliances wirelessly

Bio Robot Refrigerator

There are two refrigerator concepts that made it into the finals. The first is the Bio Robot Refrigerator by Yuriy Dmitriev from Russia. It is four times smaller than a conventional refrigerator and uses biopolymer gel that cools through luminescence. There are no shelves, no doors, no drawers or a motor - the food is suspended in a non-sticky, odor-free gel that creates a separate pod for easy access. It can be hung vertically, horizontally or even on the ceiling and the items are kept at their optimum temperature by bio robots. Pardon the pun...but that’s a “cool” concept.

Cool your food with gel in the Bio Robot refrigerator
Cool your food with gel in the Bio Robot refrigerator

External Refrigerator

The second refrigerator concept is called the External Refrigerator and was designed by Nicolas Hubert from France. It is designed to be fixed on the outside wall of buildings. During cold seasons and at night it utilizes the low outdoor temperatures to keep food at the optimum temperature. When it’s warm, the solar panels help to keep the food cool. The design is simple and in keeping with the external urban environment.

The External Refrigerator utilizes the cooler air at night and during cold seasons to keep food fresh
The External Refrigerator utilizes the cooler air at night and during cold seasons to keep food fresh

Clean Closet

Two laundry concepts also made the final eight. Michael Edenius from Sweden designed an all-in-one laundry concept called the Clean Closet – a cupboard that cleans your clothes. After scanning the clothes for impurities the Clean Closet uses molecular technology to remove dirt and odors. Kiss your washing machine and dryer goodbye, in fact, kiss your laundry goodbye – this concept uses no water and saves valuable space.

Clean Closet is designed to clean clothes without water
Clean Closet is designed to clean clothes without water

Dismount Washer

Equally interesting, although (for me) harder to comprehend, is the space-saving wash-and-go laundry concept from Lichen Guo of China. The Dismount Washer combines a cleaning container with a laundry basket. The laundry capsule – which is filled with dirty clothing – is placed on a wall-mounted motor or “energy-stick” that somehow cleans the clothes and dispenses steam to aid the cleaning process.

The Dismount Washer uses steam to help clean your clothes
The Dismount Washer uses steam to help clean your clothes

Eco Cleaner

The Eco Cleaner concept by Ahi Andy Mohsen from Iran is a portable, compact dishwasher and composter. Using ultrasonic waves it ionizes food and turns it into reusable waste. This concept relies on two predictions – firstly, that the food of the future will come in capsule form so there will be smaller vessels used for preparing and eating food, and secondly, time for household chores will be limited.

The Eco Cleaner dishwasher cleans and composts food from cooking and eating vessels
The Eco Cleaner dishwasher cleans and composts food from cooking and eating vessels

So there you have it - eight space-saving concepts for domestic life in 2050. Who's your pick to take out the Electrolux Design Lab prize in 2010?

View gallery - 22 images
No comments
0 comments
There are no comments. Be the first!