When it comes to functional pieces of furniture, we probably go for items that are able to serve their function (and are most likely affordable) and are not really that concerned with the design or aesthetics. But the past years, a lot of people have also been concerned with how these items are made, specifically with the materials used to create them as we become more conscious about our personal carbon footprint and the things taht we consume.
Designer: Alexander Latersztain for Derlot
The original Stump stool from Derlot were already interesting enough with their “bold, minimalist and uncomplicated” take on this piece of furniture that lets us sit. Now the newest version is the Stump Recycled which carries the same basic structure of the stool but is now made from 80% recycled post-industrial plastic LDPE. And if you’re the type that would go for furniture that’s made sustainability then this should be right up your alley.
Because of the material it’s made from, you also get a different design. The patterns on the stools feature a terrazzo-like design which makes it more textured and colorful look. The original Stump stools had pretty solid colors but this time around you have the option to have a seat with a kaleidoscope-like finish. This is their “fresh interpretation” of how you can use recycled materials to enhance your design as well.
Derlot says that more than just a stool that you can sit on, this is a symbol of their commitment to pursue more sustainable design and production. I don’t know how long I can last sitting on this stool though as it’s small and doesn’t look that comfortable but sure, for sustainability, it’s a pretty interesting piece of furniture to have.
If you were driving through the small provincial town of Tianshui, China, you wouldn’t be wrong to stop dead in your tracks as you passed the Tianshui Kindergarten, a school designed to capture and captivate the fancy and whimsy of its young occupants. Designed by SAKO Architects, the kindergarten stands out with its incredible kaleidoscope-inspired design that looks just as impressive on the inside as it does from the outside, boasting an impressive 438 pieces of colored glass that are sure to have children wanting to spend more time in school than ever before!
Designer: SAKO Architects
The kindergarten’s design philosophy revolves around stimulating children’s imagination and creativity. During the day, sunlight filters through the colored glass, casting a vibrant tapestry of lights and shadows across classrooms, invoking a sense of play and discovery. At night, the scene transforms as the building’s interior lights emit a beautiful glow, creating a stunning visual spectacle from the outside.
A central feature of the design is the three-story open atrium, crowned with a massive glass ceiling. This space is multifunctional, suitable for activities throughout the year, thanks to its floor heating and air conditioning systems. Moreover, windows around the atrium can be opened for ventilation during summer or closed to retain heat in the colder months.
The heart of the building is its atrium, where sunlight, refracted by colored glass, dances across the interior, creating an ever-changing kaleidoscopic effect. The glass, applied to handrails and windows, forms colored shadows in various shapes that morph throughout the day as the sun’s angle changes. This dynamic interplay of light and color makes the space an engaging and stimulating environment for the young minds it nurtures.
Architecturally, the kindergarten pays homage to the local heritage. The use of arched openings throughout the building draws inspiration from the traditional cave-like dwellings of the Loess Plateau, on which Tianshui City is situated. These arched windows, varying in size and scattered across the building, give it a whimsical appearance, reminiscent of a birthday cake.
The Tianshui Kindergarten’s architecture focuses on sustainability too, with the strategic use of natural light significantly reducing the reliance on artificial illumination. Additionally, the building’s design includes adaptive features like windows that can be opened for ventilation in summer or sealed to conserve heat in winter, demonstrating a keen awareness of the local climate. This thoughtful integration of sustainable practices ensures that the kindergarten’s architecture is a broader lesson for its occupants too, allowing them to appreciate how sustainability is seen less as a compromise and more as a wonderful design direction!
Lastly, the rooftop playground offers a safe and enjoyable space for children, providing panoramic views of Tianshui City. This feature ensures that as the children grow, they will carry with them memories of a unique and inspiring learning environment, fostering a deep sense of pride in their hometown.
Never before has it been easier to create things at home thanks to 3D printers, but we’ve barely scratched the surface of what’s possible. There are still some limitations, especially for desktop 3D printers, dictated by economies of space or price. Something that may sound as basic as 3D printing objects with multiple colors turns out to be quite a chore because most of these printers are designed to handle a single filament at a time. Most of the time, you’re forced to print different colors as separate pieces and then just assemble them after the fact, a process that takes more time than necessary and is prone to error. You could buy a larger, more expensive multi-filament 3D printer, or you can upgrade your trusty machine with this revolutionary module set that makes printing different colors or materials at the same time easy as pie.
Designer: Huseyin Ozen of Co Print
Click Here to Buy Now: $349$580 (40% off). Hurry, less than 72 hours left! Raised over $410,000.
Commercial 3D printers, especially the most popular FDM or Fused Deposit Modeling kind, are designed to be quick, efficient, and easy to use. Given the parts and processes involved, that means limiting the printer head to handle a single filament of material at a time. With this technique, you can only print a single color or use a single type of material for a single pass, switching filaments when you need to print out a different color or material. After that, you have to glue the pieces together, which relies on your own precision and steady hands to achieve the desired design. This has been the status quo for many years now, not unless you buy an actual multi-filament 3D printer, which is bulkier and more expensive, especially if you already have a working 3D printer or two.
ChromaPad – Excels in color, material, speed, and control, unlocking limitless potential.
Fastest Multi-color Printing Experience – ChromaPad pushes the usual boundaries of 3D printing speed for both single and multi-filament projects. Accelerate your print up to 300+ mm/s and get your project in hand three times faster.
ChromaScreen Advanced Klipper Software – Comes with features like the ability to control multiple extruders, a helpful setup wizard, and the ability to manage multiple printers at once.
Manage Multiple Printers Effortlessly – ChromaPad allows you to control up to 8 printers in a single simple panel.
The Co Print ChromaSet is a collection of modules that basically upgrades almost any old 3D printer to be able to handle multiple filaments in one go. It allows you to use the same trusted machine you’ve been working with for years and, with just a few easy-to-install parts, turn it into a multi-color, multi-material 3D printer that is just as easy to use as any other regular 3D printer. Instead of being forced to print multiple parts because they’re made of different materials or colors, you can save time and a lot of work with a single printing pass that can use a variety of colors as well as filaments, including PLA, ABS, PETG, TPU, ASA, Wood, and more.
ChromaHead – Designed to match your needs on multi-filament 3D printing. When combined with ChromaPad or KCM, it minimizes all the issues that can occur such as jamming and clogging.
Filament Cutter for High Quality Prints – Powered by a robust servo motor with up to 20 kg of force and supported by a durable Japanese blade, ChromaHead’s precise filament cutting mechanism achieves a success rate of 99.9% in clean cuts.
Universal Rail Plug System – The design allows you to match with different brands and different models, and solves the compatibility issues.
Supports all the Materials you Need – Different colors, different materials. Your creative journey knows no bounds.
The different pieces of the ChromaSet work together to accomplish this seemingly magical feat. The ChromaHead with the embedded ChromaHotend, for example, attaches easily to almost any 3D printer thanks to its unique rail plug system, making it compatible with different brands, models, and mechanical setups. It is designed to support at most four filaments at the same time, with a special design that minimizes jamming and clogging, as well as employing a Japanese blade for precise and clean filament cuts. The CX-1 Extruder, engineered with Titanium gears, a dual-drive system, and high-torque features, is responsible for pushing those four filaments and can be just as easily installed on any 3D printer.
KCM (Klipper Chroma Module) – For users who already have a Klipper-based 3D printer. KCM gives you all the great features of ChromaPad right out of the box, so you don’t need to buy ChromaPad separately.
ECM (Extended Chroma Module) – Designed to increase your extruder limits. ECM allows you to add up additional 4 extruders into a single output via USB.
If you need more than four filaments, the ECM or Extended Chroma Module adds four more extruders into a single output for a total of eight. You can have up to five of these extruders for a whopping 20 filaments, each carrying a different color or type of material for an even faster workflow. Making all these different parts work together in harmony is the job of the ChromaPad, the world’s first multi-filament 3D printing pad. Running the ChromaScreen software based on Klipper Screen, the tablet gives users unprecedented control not just over multi-filament printing but as many as 8 printers at the same time as well. But if you already have a Klipper-based 3D printer, you can use the Klipper Chroma Module (KCM) instead, delivering the same features without the extra cost.
The Co Print ChromaSet was made in collaboration with major 3D printer brands, ensuring that it will work with almost all 3D printer models in the market. A $349 discounted bundle lets you get the ChromaSet with the Klipper module instead of the tablet, while the $499 set includes the ChromaPad without the KCM. Whichever bundle you choose, the ChromaSet is guaranteed to upgrade your 3D printing experience, allowing you to make magnificent colorful designs in a fraction of the time and with less effort.
Click Here to Buy Now: $349$580 (40% off). Hurry, less than 72 hours left! Raised over $410,000.
The interplay between color, light, and temperature has long been a subject of scientific exploration. The colors we perceive are the result of how objects absorb and reflect light, with white being the most reflective and black being the least. Harnessing this science, researchers at Stanford University have pioneered an eco-friendly solution to regulate indoor temperatures and significantly reduce energy consumption, providing a promising alternative to traditional air conditioning systems. This breakthrough comes at a critical juncture, as the global demand for cooling and heating places immense strain on energy resources and contributes to greenhouse gas emissions.
Designer: Stanford Research Team
I am someone who lives in Dubai and don’t even get me started about how hot it gets here throughout the year, and in the summers, it’s honestly unbearable. Living in hot climates like Dubai often means facing sweltering summers where air conditioning becomes a necessity rather than a luxury. However, the environmental consequences of heavy air conditioning usage cannot be ignored. There are many such cities with a similar issue especially with the global temperatures rising. Isn’t it so ironic that the medium we use (AC) to cool our environment momentarily, increases the temperatures in the longer run? In response to this dilemma, scientists have been tirelessly working to develop innovative solutions, and one such breakthrough is the newly invented range of paints from Stanford University.
In October of the previous year, researchers at Purdue University made headlines with their iteration of the world’s whitest paint, reflecting a remarkable 97.1% of the sun’s rays. Building on this achievement, the team at Stanford University has gone a step further by creating a palette of colors, including orange, yellow, blue, and white. This collection of pigments is designed to regulate temperatures, making spaces cooler during summer and warmer in winter, thus reducing the need for excessive heating and air conditioning.
The significance of this invention cannot be understated. Currently, heating and cooling consume around 13% of the world’s energy, contributing to approximately 11% of global greenhouse gas emissions. The innovative paints developed by Stanford researchers are poised to address this energy challenge head-on, substantially reducing energy consumption and environmental impact.
Key to the success of these paints is their unique composition. Unlike conventional paints, these new colors employ a dual-layer design. The bottom layer utilizes aluminum flakes to create an infrared reflective surface, while an ultrathin, infrared transparent upper layer is made from inorganic nanoparticles. This innovative structure allows the paint to reflect a significant portion of high mid-infrared light, a major contributor to heat absorption. This dual-layer design has practical implications for both cooling and heating. For instance, when applied to exterior walls and roofs, the paint reflects sunlight, preventing heat buildup. Conversely, when applied to interior walls, the lower layer reflects infrared waves, helping to retain heat within the space.
Tests have demonstrated the remarkable effectiveness of these paints. In cold conditions, energy usage for heating was reduced by 36%, while in warm conditions, cooling energy requirements were decreased by nearly 21%. This level of energy savings has the potential to revolutionize the way we approach climate control in buildings and vehicles.
One of the most appealing aspects of these paints is their aesthetics. Unlike traditional low-emissivity paints that are limited to white, metallic silver, or gray, this new range offers a variety of colors. The infrared transparent upper layer enables a broader spectrum of hues, allowing for energy-efficient designs that do not compromise on appearance. This development is particularly important for architecture and design, where aesthetics play a significant role in building construction and urban planning.
Importantly, the new paints are also durable and versatile. Both layers of the paint are water-repellent, ensuring stability even in humid environments. Cleaning painted surfaces is a breeze, requiring nothing more than a wet cloth or water flushing. Moreover, these paints have demonstrated resilience in extreme conditions, from high temperatures to acidic environments, without compromising their performance or appearance.
As this revolutionary technology continues to evolve, the research team is committed to further refining the paint formulations for real-world applications. They are exploring the possibility of replacing organic solutions with water-based alternatives, which would enhance eco-friendliness and commercial viability.
In conclusion, the innovative paints developed by scientists at Stanford University hold the promise of transforming the way we approach temperature regulation in buildings, vehicles, and beyond. By harnessing the power of color and light reflection, these paints offer an environmentally friendly solution to the growing energy consumption associated with heating and cooling. As we continue to strive for sustainable living, such groundbreaking innovations provide a glimmer of hope for a cooler, greener future.