Hyde Group, a social housing landlord, has led a project to retrofit conventional housing in the Mottingham suburb of London with the goal of reducing carbon emissions by 80%. Pli was happy to donate a Reee Chair and a Grass Media Cabinet to the interior-fit out in time for the launch last week by Dr Phyllis Starkey MP.

Hyde Group Retrofit and Replicate project

This looks like a great project - it demonstrates the potential for eco housing to be made available to all sections of society and the way retrofitted materials and equipment can make the existing built environment more sustainable.

Here’s the Hyde Group press release for a detailed explanation of the project…
Read more »

Here at Pli we love lightweight designs so when I found BMW’s GINA Light Visionary Model, fabric skinned, concept car on Core77 last week I just sat there in awe. I have always admired BMW’s design department for coming up with innovative and challenging concepts, but also the way BMW aren’t afraid to translate them into production. Unlike GM for example, who bring out some great concepts but are still chucking 1970’s mechanics into their current offerings. Anyway I digress, the reason I posted the GINA concept is its the way it uses the lightweight fabrics flexible properties and an articulated space-frame to give the car life-like expression that could not be achieved out of convention metal or even plastic skins panels. The video below shows the concepts various party pieces in action, my favorite is the headlamps (2:20). Hopefully it won’t be to long before we something similar on the road.

Read more »

A daily digest I received from a design mailgroup highly praised a new phone concept called Morph, which has been recently developed by the mobile giant Nokia. The introductory post went into further detail to prove how breakthrough the concept was: “works with solar energy, calculates the hazardous substances on the apple you’re going to eat, never gets dirty and cleans the dirt around it, the Nokia of the future…”

While it is just one of the features proposed by this interesting concept, the ability to calculate the hazardous substances on the apple one is going to eat has especially caught my attention.

With all due respect to the hard work being put into nanotechnology and similar scientific developments, sometimes I find it impossible not to stand aghast at how they’re being translated into consumer products by designers, in the name of ‘adding value’. It reveals a good deal about the flaws of our civilization—and, in particular, the design profession.

Read more »