One of the most encouraging trends in African development work over the past few years has been an increased focus locally maintainable technologies. In contrast to some of the debacles of the 70s and 80s, in which NGOs and foreign aid groups would swoop in, build a road, hospital or dam, then swoop back out again, dooming the project to disrepair within a few years, projects that are constructed and maintained by local craftsmen are gaining a lot of attention.
A recent example, via the always amazing Afrigadget blog, is the Elephant Pump, a fantastically effective, fantastically low-tech method of getting water out of the ground, and alleviating the significant burden of long-distance water fetching that inhibits development in much of the world. The pump, based on a long-established Chinese design, is constructed from locally fabricated parts, then built on site in less than a day. The video here shows one example, in Malawi, that costs less than US$500 to build, and goes together in four hours.
It's not the only locally appropriate pump system out there either. In the past decade or so, several such designs have started making their way across the continent, including the Afripump and the partially IDEO-designed MoneyMaker. Proof that good design can be more than just pretty. It can be beautiful.
We've blogged this "competition" before, but we just got tipped that Architecture For Humanity and Lulan Artisans' project, End Human Trafficking: Sustainable Livelihoods, is only 150 votes from the next round! (Amex will fund 5 winning projects to the tune of $2.5 million--1st prize gets 1.5M, then 500K, then 300K, then 2 at 100K.)
Here's some info on the impact the project will have:
We currently support over 650 weavers, spinners, dyers and finishers using a holistic approach to produce eco-fabrics in Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and India. Our goal is to increase the number of artisans to over 6,000, thus expanding our reach to more weaving families and communities. We will work with international and local architects to build inventive, replicable off-the-grid weaving centers. Each building design will be shared through Creative Commons licensing so more communities can benefit.
Joshua Longo made his debut at BKLYN Designs last year, and he now has a show in the Kalkin house at the Shelburne Museum in Vermont: Longoland: It May Be Contagious May 18 - October 26, 2008.
Longoland: It May Be Contagious is the second installment of Shelburne Museum's Emerging Designer Series. This season Brooklyn plush artist Joshua Longo lets his imagination run wild in Adam Kalkin's shipping container house on the museum grounds.
Longo transforms the interior gallery space into an imaginative environment - Longoland - inhabited by quirky plush animals and furniture inspired by Longo's playful and off kilter take on the ordinary.
The Draganflyer X6 UAV RC Helicopter is a surveillance nut's dream come true. The compact 'copter flies steady with its three rotors, enabling the on-board camera to record smooth video of whatever it's surveilling.
While the device is cool, it isn't new; two years ago the brainiacs at MIT came up with the Swarm Health Management Program, whereby craploads of these UAV's are networked into surveillance teams that can track moving objects and hand tasks off to each other, rather like a zone defense in basketball.
The MIT footage features an older quadrotor design and their apparent sentience is well-creepy; it's not embeddable but you can watch it here.
A Times article details how ID superstar Marc Newson, who also serves as creative director for Australian airline Qantas, has designed the cabins for Qantas' A380. And while the spacious A380s are rightly called superjumbos, the devil lies in the details:
...the design language of the Qantas A380 is defined less by what the passengers see than by how they feel. Given that flat beds, cashmere blankets and other airline "innovations" are instantly copied by the competition, Mr. Newson has tried to distinguish Qantas's superjumbo with intelligent detailing derived from the old-fashioned design process of analyzing every component to identify how it could best be made and laid out with the latest technology.
Giving economy passengers an extra inch of leg room is a prime example. The seats in first class are 6.5 inches wider, and those in business class 20 inches longer than the ones in Qantas's 747s. But the airline was stingier with extra space in economy and premium economy. The only way to compensate was by making the seat backs slimmer. Mr. Newson's team did so by developing a lightweight carbon-fiber shell with Recaro, the German manufacturer, which used similar technology in seating for race cars.
Unlike other "flying palace" designs typical of the A380s, Newson's design is more stylistic/futuristic than pure luxe. Read the article here, and see how Newson's done everything from considering the shape of the plates to quieting the cries of babies.
If you have knack for spotting a brilliant idea in its infancy, and a genius for nurturing the idea to its fullest potential, here's your opportunity. This position plays a key role in defining and communicating Target's key differentiators: Smart design and designer partnerships, enhanced by a commitment to sustainability and an understanding of our guests' need for value. Your keen eye for crisp, intelligent advertising will oversee campaigns that inspire consumers through broadcast, print and new media; your responsibilities will include being a visionary for the Target brand.
"Inspired by a recent New York Times piece that questioned whether the Mountain View search monopoly is morphing into a media company - which it is - Finnish blogger Timo Paloheimo promptly unveiled Google minus Google. Key in the word "YouTube," and the first result is Wikipedia."
According to The Register, Google minus Google is built with the Google Custom Search Engine and "conveniently filters out domains such as YouTube, Blogger, Gmail, Knol, Orkut, and - most importantly - Jaiku. In other words, it removes Google's conflict of interest."
100 PERCENT DESIGN SHANGHAI
HAMBURG HARLEY DAYS 2008
BERLIN DESIGN FESTIVAL 2008
NEW YORK DESIGN WEEK 2008
MAKER FAIRE 2008
Project H Design (Anti)Manifesto: A Call To Action For Humanitarian (Product) Design
The Many Faces of Design Leadership
Life and the Big Screen: Media, Design, and the Apocalypse
Design Salary Survey Results
What is Exhibition Design, by Jan Lorenc, Lee Skolnick & Craig Berger
The Endless City, by Ricky Burdett and Deyan Sudjic
The Back of the Napkin, by Dan Roam
Decoding Design, by Maggie Macnab
View all the winners and notables from Core77's Greener Gadgets Design Competition!
Check out 77 Great Design Gifts, all under $77!
Read our back-to-school guide for design students. A must!
The Crowd Will Save Us
(Re)make it New
Farnborough Airshow
Ceramics and Sound Exhibition
Create the Future Design Contest
Polar Opposites
Le Corbusier Le Grande
Bottlemania, by Elizabeth Royte
Rhode Island School of Design
Art Institutes International
1 Hour Design Challenge
Doodling
100% Shanghai Gallery
Steve Portigal
It's the economy, stupid
Dunne and Raby
Buying In, by Rob Walker
