Be Open think tank

Aiming to have aesthetically-designed homes without the guilt for buying new things and creating clutter, designer and artist couple Ales and Tereza Boem of Boem Studio have developed a new way of decorating our houses. On their website, they offer an array of downloadable designs of minimalist and sustainable homeware, which can be purchased as a single price tag and recreated using a 3D printer and recycled/recyclable 3D filaments. Their recent range named Nothing Else includes planters, key holders, jewellery displays, desk organisers, watering cans, hanging lamps and even manual juicers, for people who like to keep it simple but aesthetically delightful.

Fascinated by the transient beauty of sunsets and sunrises, Amsterdam-based solar designer Marjan van Aubel has created a self-powering light that mimics the sun's transitions. Designed to hang freely from two steel wires in the window, this solar-powered lamp named Sunne harvests solar energy by day, stores it in an integrated battery and transmits the serene glow of ambient light by night. The three illumination settings — Sunne Rise, Sunne Light, and Sunne Set — aim to resemble the colours visible at sunrise, during daylight, and at sunset. More light sources inspired by the sun’s transitions in our blog

Valldaura Labs, a team of students, professionals, and experts of the Institute of Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC), has developed the Voxel project, a prototype off-grid cabin designed to be inhabited by a single person under quarantine conditions. The habitat comprises a cubic volume made from 40 pine trees, which were dried, cut into lamellas, and held together by lap joints and dowels. It took five months to build the habitat in Barcelona’s Callserola Natural Park. The self-sufficient cabin features everything to ensure that a single occupant can hold out in the Voxel for 14 days, including solar panels, independent battery storage, a rainwater collection and water recycling system, and a self-contained biogas system. There is also enough space for provisions and materials needed during the quarantine.

Japanese creative studio Lucent founded by Takahiro Matsuo, who is known for his installations that use light, technology, and programming to alter one’s perception of a space, has designed a fragile garden of sparkling flowers that seem to be floating in mid-air at the entrance of Sennyū-ji Temple located in the Sennin no Niwa garden. Aptly titled Transparent Flowers, the installation is made of steel wires, delicate enough to sway in the wind, and prism-like transparent flowers that reflect light and add visual complexity to the historic site. In a minimally invasive way, the project celebrates the beauty of the garden originally developed by modern Japanese landscape architect and Japanese garden historian Mirei Shigemori. More Japanese garden installation in our blog

For her thesis dedicated to the theme of Sustainable Design for a Better World, Architecture graduate of the Singapore University of Technology and Design Pang Yun Jie has proposed a sequence of spaces for tranquil experiences in high-density cities. Titled Urban Tranquility, the project tackles the issue of noise pollution in the cities, offering one sound source at a time. It aims to reduce the level of mood and anxiety disorders of city dwellers caused by the lack of such restorative spaces within urban landscape.

Ice is a constant inspiration to British Columbia-based artist Nicole Dextras, who uses it to create eye-catching installations that pursue such thought-provoking themes as environmentalism and ephemerality. For her outdoor Bouquet installation, which resembles an alluring bunch of flowers from the outer world, she has transformed vintage dresses into a frozen floral arrangement. She sprayed water over a selection of 15 dresses from the 1940-50s over a course of several days, so that ice began to cloak each individual garment, freezing their frills and full skirts into fabric petals. After that, the artist arranged the garments into a colossal bouquet bursting with the “bright colours and the delicate details found in the biodiversity of the natural world.” More frozen flowers art in our blog

As its name suggests, Not Just a Library by Taiwanese J.C. Architecture is a multiple-use cultural venue set in a renovated bathhouse for female employees of a closed tobacco factory in Taipei. Transforming the concept of an original bathhouse into an experimental showcase of literature, the studio has retained the original wall and floor tiles of the bathhouse, filling cracks in them with golden details to present the beauty of wabi-sabi, a notion in traditional Japanese aesthetics celebrating imperfection. Above the preserved bath structure, which is now used to display books and called a “book pool,” the studio has created a suspended circular light feature made of woven steel cable. Among other eye-catchers is a sunken reading place with in-built shelving and free-standing tables that encourages visitor to “bathe in spirits and knowledge,” creating an interplay between the space’s history and its new use. Other amazing libraries in our blog

Creature Ark is a Biosphere Skyscraper, designed by architecture students Zijian Wan, Xiaozhi Qi, Yueya Liu from the University of Liverpool, for eVolo Skyscraper Competition. The team proposed creating a stacked nature reserve with a central research station at its core. Referring to the relationship between latitude and climate zones, the skyscraper divides and simulates each climate group at a different height, while the monitor system locates at the heart of the structure. Motivated by the trends of contemporary biomimetic architecture, the structure is intended for endangered animals living within the simulation environment, while the research team and public tourist should be only considered as temporary visitors.

London-based artist Almudena Romero uses leaves of plants from former British colonies as a canvas to host images that reflect on the links between plant trade, colonialism and migration, and the legacy of these in modern-day Britain. Romero makes the photographic prints by the bleaching action of sunlight on the chlorophyll pigments of a plant leaf, without any chemistry or inks required. The prints on actual plants reference questions of nativity, trade and exchange. The project is titled Growing Concerns, which references to 21st-century challenges, such as the creation of new barriers (the Trump wall, Calais wall, Brexit, etc.) as well as the growing inequality, anger and support for extreme political parties. With the series, the artist aims to draw a parallel between the historic interest in facilitating the movement of goods and capitals and the increasing interest in restricting the movement of people. More incredible leaf art in our blog

Tati Ferrucio, a Brazilian industrial designer, currently living in United States, has developed a set of sand toys that aims to teach children how to take care of their own food, encouraging the new generations to build a more sustainable living future. Named Veggies, the set encompasses four toy vegetables, which can be filled with sand, and two shovels with three interchangeable heads and interchangeable foliage that act as handles for the child to hold. Developed for children between 2 to 5 years old, the set is meant to stimulate outdoor play as well as enhance children's curiosity for exploring nature.