Be Open think tank

#BeOpenDESIGN Developed for those struggling to stay under the weight limit and have enough clothes to last them throughout their trip, the newly released G-Soak by MODERNg is a compact, six-liter portable and collapsible washing machine. Compact enough to fit inside your suitcase, it can completely wash four shirts or 10 pairs of underwear. It also has a spin-dry feature and a special drain valve that can easily remove used water without having to tip the whole container over.

#BeOpenARCH Displayed at the 2023 Venice Biennale, the Essential Homes Research Project is a fast-assembly emergency shelter presented by the Norman Foster Foundation and concrete company Holcim. The arch-shaped framework features a rollable outer shell that is made from mostly low-carbon concrete. Although refugee camps are initially conceived as temporary solutions, the reality and experience has shown that they become permanent settlements where families spend countless years. Therefore, the NFF’s prototype is built to be strong and rigid. It is waterproof and insulated to withstand extreme weather conditions.

#BeOpenARCH Displayed at the 2023 Venice Biennale, the Essential Homes Research Project is a fast-assembly emergency shelter presented by the Norman Foster Foundation and concrete company Holcim. The arch-shaped framework features a rollable outer shell that is made from mostly low-carbon concrete. Although refugee camps are initially conceived as temporary solutions, the reality and experience has shown that they become permanent settlements where families spend countless years. Therefore, the NFF’s prototype is built to be strong and rigid. It is waterproof and insulated to withstand extreme weather conditions.

#BeOpenDESIGN Istanbul-based design studio Kitbox Design, founded by industrial designer Tugce Sonmez Evin, has unveiled its first-ever seating furniture designed for lobbies and office areas. Named after the famous German pastry for its shape, the Berliner pouf doubles up as a storage shelf for magazines and smaller objects. Wooden container of Berliner is shaped by hand from laminated wood blocks on a turning lathe and layered with foam on the top and bottom, which is then capped with faux fur for a comfortable seating experience. The Berliner Pouf is a Silver Winner of the A’ Design Award for the year 2023.

#BeOpenDESIGN Multidisciplinary Spanish design studio Arquimaña has an ambition to reduce carbon emissions in cities by empowering people with technology. That is why they have introduced Openbike, an open source design that can be downloaded and fabricated by anyone. The affordable design incorporates storage racks to transport goods, and employs a simple construction from widely available materials like off-the-shelf plywood. The files for Openbike are licensed under creative commons 4.0, allowing the designs to be improved, modified, manufactured, and shared again by anyone across the world. More innovative city bikes designs in our blog

#BeOpenNEWS On June 8th , BE OPEN Art held an opening ceremony for the exhibition at the Centre of Visual Arts and Research in Nicosia. It displays the artworks selected by the public in the course of the BE OPEN Regional Art: the Eastern Mediterranean art competition that lasted from January to March 2023. Based on the general amount of votes, Jovanna Theodosiou, Cyprus, was selected as the Artist of the Region for the Eastern Mediterranean. She received a money prize of EUR500 and a major representation at the exhibition. The exhibition features works by other regional artists: Chrystalla Tsiamparta, Cyprus; Aya Abou Hawash, Palestine and Lebanon; Christina Kyriakou, Cyprus; Abdelrahman Mahmoud, Egypt; Jamilee Doueihy, Lebanon; Dimitrios Ikonomou, Nicolaou Pantelis and Elena Adamou from Cyprus. The event enjoyed cordial support from the Ministry of Education of Cyprus. “We are glad to see creative Cyprus youth benefit from BE OPEN's international initiative that offers much needed support to young artists. This exhibition will become a celebration of our artistic and cultural tradition. We hope that such philanthropic projects will help more of our creative young people become acknowledged and appreciated in Cyprus and internationally. Furthermore, it will contribute to the achievement of the Government's objectives of providing opportunities for all our children and young people to develop their talents and abilities to the fullest extent possible," said Minister of Education Dr Athena Michaelidou.

#BeOpenDESIGN Designing their Desert Cabin, the creative duo Sara Underwood and Jacob Witzling have drawn inspiration from space capsules and ancient Central American temples. The project is the newest addition to the whimsical world of Cabinland in the Sonoran Desert. Every material used in its construction, from the trim to the metal siding and even the saguaro bones adorning the door, has been salvaged and repurposed.

#BeOpenARCH Headed by Yunchao Xu, Atelier Apeiron has won a competition launched by the Chinese government to field proposals for building the Hengqin Culture & Art Complex, which is set to be part of a vibrant new community in the country’s third-fastest growing urban center after Hong Kong and Macao. The firm’s winning proposal is applying a geometric concept of inverted catenary to create three sweeping arches of differing shapes, combining Chinese and Western elements.

#BeOpenARCH Spain-born and Thailand-based architect Paco Garcia Moro has enveloped a chapel amidst Thailand's serene landscapes in intricate timber latticework. The design of the temple the Oratory of St Francis Xavier was inspired by the legend of St. Francis, teetering on the precipice of drowning amidst a shipwreck, when a crab emerged from the depths, bearing aloft a crucifix that the saint had previously lost in the sea. The temple was primarily constructed with Thakien wood, which was partly repurposed from demolished vernacular houses and partly sourced from local communities.

#BeOpenARCH Architecture studio Vastushilpa Consultants has created a museum and memorial in India to honour the victims of the 2001 Gujarat earthquake. The team placed the Smritivan Earthquake Memorial Museum on a steep hill below the existing relic of the fort wall, which was restored as part of the project, near the epicentre of the earthquake. The team believed it was inappropriate to disturb the landscape with a large-scale box. Instead, they designed the building around stones walls zigzagging up a sloped site. A polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) canopy with funnel-shaped structures shades the public space and directs rainwater to collection points for harvesting.

#BeOpenDESIN Founded by architect Ricardo Orts, Ulises is a Berlin-based design studio that uses AI technology tool Midjourney to produce forward-thinking designs for the future. One of their most striking projects is Kinetic Kingdom that seeks to explore how humanity can live a more sustainable lifestyle while fostering a sense of community. The project consists of a series of images depicting surreal multilevel campers that look like mobile apartment buildings that allow people to stay grounded in nature without compromising their comfort.