Be Open think tank

#BeOpenDESIGN International brand consultancy Landor & Fitch @landor_fitch has conceptualised a collection of adaptive toothbrush add-ons that can be applied to any toothbrush to make oral care accessible and desirable.Aptly named {Access}ories – One Size Fits One, the series comprises a bespoke solution that adapts to individual needs, a one-size-fits-one approach.

#BeOpenDESIGN Seeking to encourage young students of elementary schools to finish their milk, Japanese brand Seki Milk has partnered with agency VML & Ogilvy Japan to create a series of milk bottles imprinted with manga comic strips drinkers can read only after consuming the contents. The more you drink, the more manga stories are revealed – as a result, children receive the recommended nutritional balance.

#BeOpenARCH Local architect William Samuels has addressed the growing housing crisis in New Zealand and its prices and land values that are too high for much of the population of the country, with his new project – a double-volume home that can be loaded onto a trailer and transported to any place, if you feel like changing the setting. The compact structure comprises a timber frame clad in corrugated metal and provides a floorplan of 42 sqm to accommodate a kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, study, a living space, and even a compact mezzanine.

#BeOpenDESIGN Central Saint Martins College of Arts and Design and China Academy of Arts graduate Yang Zhao grabbed design community's attention with her graduate project, which combined furniture and clothing. Named SharkMan, the innovative wearable "soft furniture" can be altered to provide various levels of privacy, depending on whether the user is on a laptop, reading a book or taking a nap. Two interior zips at the top and front allow the user to easily transform the piece into different shapes and use it use it while standing, sitting, or even lying down. The design can also serve as a carrier of personal belongings for moving from one place to another.

#BeOpenDESIGN Designed for use in public Japanese spaces like offices and other common areas, Giraffenap nap pod comes with four-point cushioning and internal controls that allow to adjust these points for the user while resting upright. Despite its standing configuration, the design provides adequate space for the user to rest their feet, knees, butt, and arms. The solution is an incomparable space-saver, for it allows to arrange several such pods close to one another in the middle of a public area. More ingenuous nap devices in our blog

#BeOpenARCH Kyoto-based studio SUO, founded by architect Takashi Suo, has revitalized Yashima Mountaintop Park with a 220-metre-long glass corridor that winds around and creates a central courtyard and small garden spaces. The pavilion's sculptural design is inspired by the area's topography and it follows the site's shapes. Supported by a concrete base on thin, white-steel columns, the winding structure rises and falls to negotiate a three-metre change in level on the site. The building houses a cafe and spaces for events and exhibitions, and offers views over the surrounding mountainous landscape.

#BeOpenNEWS We are happy to announce that based on the amount of votes by the public and BE OPEN’s art community members, the September winner Awshitttttt has become the Artist of the Region for Southeast Asia. The artist will be offered a grant of 500 euro from BE OPEN. Every month over July – September 2023, works by 20 emerging artists from the countries of Southeast Asia: Brunei, Cambodia, East Timor, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam were posted at the online gallery for the public to select the Regional Artist of the Month. Born in 1996, Awshitttttt is a self-taught artist focusing on digital painting and large-scale public murals. Portrait paintings, illustrations, and urban art are his artistic fields of expertise. His trademark is incorporating the delicate and iconic daisy flower as a representation of peace, love, and positivity. On the 1st of October, the focus of the competition moved to Central Africa. Visit art.beopenfuture.com to vote!

#BeOpenARCH British architecture studio Foster + Partners has topped the underground galleries of the Datong Art Museum in China with four interconnected pyramids clad in weathering steel. By sinking the building into the new plaza, the 32,000-square-metre venue relates in scale to the three other major buildings within Datong New City’s cultural plaza. The peaks comprising the roof increase in height and fan outwards towards the four corners of the plaza. A clerestory between each volume creates a dynamic play of light and shade internally, while illuminating the building from within to create a beacon for the new cultural quarter at night. around the perimeter of the museum arranged around sunken courtyards , there are more exhibition spaces, as well as a children’s gallery, group entrance lobby, café, restaurant and support spaces.

#BeOpenARCH Norway's first treetop walkway has been developed in Hamaren Activity Park in Fyresdal by Copenhagen-based architecture studio EFFEKT. Raised 15 metres high in the air, it meanders through the park to culminate at a circular viewpoint at 60 a height of meters, which provides a spectacular 360-degree view over the surrounding landscape. The Treetop Walkway comprises a one kilometer long and two meters wide plank boardwalk made from locally sourced pinewood, which blends with the tree canopies and helps add to the existing pine tree forest rather than destroy it. More spectacular elevated walkways in our blog

#BeOpenDESIGN Marrying the tech and fashion worlds, the Humane Ai Pin by innovator and ex-Apple design director Imran Chaudri and Stephanie Garcés is a wearable AI assistant that looks like a high-tech lapel pin. One of its most interesting features is a projection display that beams user interface elements and buttons onto your hands.

#BeOpenDESIGN Teaming up with iconic furniture company Artek, Industrial Design students from the Swiss design school ECAL, under the guidance of designer Julie Richoz, have conceptualized a collection of playful objects for children made from offcuts and production rejects from the factories of the Finnish company in order to save them from a landfill. Staying true to the spirit of Artek and its founders, the products promote conscious manufacturing and seek to highlight the natural materials that have gone into producing these designs.

#BeOpenDESIGN B.L.U.E., Japanese architecture design office based in Beijing, has introduced Symbiotic Urban Furniture, a range of ‘parasitic furniture’ that need railings, pillars, steps, and bollards of the city to root themselves, allowing a temporary communal space to be formed and thus encouraging the act of congregation and therefore community in modern cities. The pieces are constructed from bamboo and are built in blocky geometric forms with missing legs or hooks to link themselves to those parts of the city fabric.

#BeOpenARCH Japanese architect Junya Ishigami has created an unusual residence/restaurant for his friend, chef Motonori Hirata who wanted “an architecture whose heaviness would increase with time” and which he could pass on to his children and grandchildren. The extraordinary mud-covered building was crafted by pouring concrete into holes in the ground that were dug manually by construction workers according to the 3D data. More unusual subterranean dwellings in our blog.beopenfuture.com

#BeOpenARCH Architecture and design studio The Line creates stunning visualisations, delving into solutions like 3D modelling, high-quality rendering, CGI animations, and VR technology. Among their CGIs are fascinating architectural designs where architecture, interiors, and landscapes come together in surprising ways – from islands with bedrooms to pools cantilevering over the ocean.

#BeOpenARCH German designers Julian Krüger and Benjamin Kemper have developed a novel approach to digital fabrication for the Digital House, a prototypical micro home in Wismar, Germany, that is entirely digitally designed, fabricated, and assembled by two people without using any tools or hardware, such as screws or nails. The sustainable, cost-effective wood construction system is based on innovative plug-in construction methods. The wooden structure rests on six ground screws, enabling quick and traceless disassembly and eliminating the need for concrete or groundwork. It is clad with plywood panels inside and a vapor-permeable wood fibreboard on the outside, while its parametrically designed façade is made of recycled aluminum sheets. via Archdaily

#BeOpenARCH Shanghai-based practice DUTS Design has completed a ‘floating’ headquarter building for Techstorm in Lingang, Shanghai. The project combines architectural planning, interior and landscape architecture. The corporate headquarter office comprises a 40-meter super-scale cantilevered building with a T-shaped walkway floating on the water surface of a ‘mirror’ pool under it. The fluidity of the water mass enhances the strong look of the structure above.