NATURE IN DESIGN - HORIZONS

Nature in Design has proven to be a very popular topic across various forms of media in the present and past, and evidence that nature in design, as far as functionality and a way for sustainable design, is still very much in its early steps, though in fast development.

I will now continue to explore Nature in design's exposure in different types of media and its popularity in the near future.

I will begin with one of the most fascinating discoveries I have encountered during my research, and that is the works of a company named FESTO.
Festo is a German company that specialises in designs based of nature. I will, in particularly, be looking at two of their designs, and the success of these, to prove that their continuing efforts to merge nature with design will still be relevant and popular in 2012.

Festo's projects are gaining a lot of recognition due to several awards, including German Future Award 2011 and 2010 respectively. Through exposure in websites like TED and Youtube, magazines like Gizmag and many others, and the fact that Festo is continuing today with the development of new technologies inspired by nature should ensure that the popularity of these creations is maintained or even increased through 2012 with the reveals of their latest work.

The work shown in the following examples is a

The first of these projects is Smartbird (Festo KG & Co, 2011). This is a flying robot that mimics the flight of a Herring, from the weight distribution to the way the wings move. Its completely eco friendly and really just a step forward in aerodynamic engineering. "The robot's minimal use of materials and lightweight construction will help increase efficiencies in resource and energy consumption" (Smartbird Brochure, Festo, 2011). This video speaks for itself:

        FIG1: (Skip to 2:00 to see Smartbird in action)

                                             

FIG2: Smartbird. Festo.

The other project by Festo that I speak about is their "Bionic Handling Assistant" (Festo KG & Co, 2010). This incredible piece of technology bases its design on the trunk of an elephant. It is completely flexible in 360 degrees and can pick up and handle various types of objects, including complex objects.

FIG3: Bionic Handling Assitant, Festo.

                                                      FIG4: Video of Festo's Bionic Handling assistant.


However, the horizons of nature in design do not only look at robotics and aerodynamic. Architecture is one of the medias that have taken the most advantage of natures designs. Buildings like the Eden Project (Eden Trust, 2011),with a lot of planned exhibitions for 2012 ensure that the popularity of these nature inspired buildings is maintained or increased in the near future.

FIG5: Upcoming events at the Eden Project, Cornwall.

FIG6: Eden Project, Eden Trust, 2011.

Another very exciting project is the FC Bate stadium in Belarus (OFIS Acrhitects, 2009 - 2012), which is scheduled to open in 2012 and is designed based of nature. It takes inspiration from coral, honey combs, cellular organisation, bubbles, etc... to create a stellar looking design that is also energy efficient.
With a 4 star rating by the UEFA association, 13.000 seats, and future international exposure with TV retransmission of European football competition, this design inspired by nature will be exposed to a very wide audience and its popularity should be vast, not only through the mentioned media, but architecture magazines and journals like "Newarchitecture" and "Archiscene" who praise the design of this stadium.

FIG7: Inspiration and concept of the FC Bate Stadium.

The next topic I want to cover is the military Recon drone being developed by the MIT and the US military is the COM-BAT (University of Michigan, 2008) "That's the Army's concept, and it has awarded the University of Michigan College of Engineering a five-year, $10-million grant to help make it happen." ( Nicole Casal Moore, MIT News, March 13 2008)
This recon drone has been in development since 2008, and with a time frame for development of 5 years, it is expected that the first prototypes of the project will see the light in 2012, increasing the popularity of this design.

FIG8: COM-BAT robot conceptual design.

Another design scheduled for a 2012 release that bases its construction around nature's workings is the FISKER KARMA (Fisker automotive, 2012). The Fisker Karma is a car which borrows design elements from windswept sand dunes and the muscular distribution of a cheetah.
The 2012 Fisker Karma was showcased at the 2011 LA auto show, which ensures that its popularity will be high when the car is released in 2012.

FIG9: 2012 Fisker Karma.

Looking further into the horizon of nature in design as a sustainable alternative and really as a way forward in design, I came upon some books that are scheduled to release in 2012. Some of these explore the nature of designing with polymers, other as eco friendly fuels, etc ... "Enlightened polymer clay" (Rie Nagumo, May 2012), Eco Architecture IV: Harmonisation between architecture and nature,( C.A.Brebbia, 2012) The diversity of advancements being produced by this type of design proves to be a topic that expects great popularity in the following year:

FIG10: Enlightened Polymer Clay, Rie Nagumo, 2012.

FIG11: Eco Architecture.

This talk about polymers also brings me back to the work that's being done by Ross Lovegrove at Lovegrove Studio. His design with polymers is simply astonishing, and the way he uses biomaterials to make objects is remarkable. Ross lovegrove is expected to give a speech at the 2012 Business Airport expo (Business Airport world expo, 2012) about "designing the 21st century". This should mean that the popularity of his incredible designs should still be relevant in 2012 and that his current developments will still be covered by media.
One of his proven designs is the "Supernatural Chair" (Lovegrove Studio, 2005) ,the success of this and many of his other designs through exposure like TED, youtube and designs magazines ensures that Lovegrove's new designs will gain popularity in 2012.

FIG12: Upcoming talk by Ross Lovegrove.

FIG13: Supernatural chair, by Lovegrove studio, 2005.

Another topic we covered in the present that relates, and really embodies the whole idea behind nature in design is Biomimicry. The future of biomimicry looks very bright, and with the Biomimicry institution even organising competitions like "Biomimicry Youth Design Challenge " (Biomimicry Institute, 2012) for young designers and kids to ensure that they grow with the knowledge of these technologies shows that Biomimicry's popularity during 2012 will be guaranteed.
The Biomimicry Institute also has projects that are currently undergoing development and are being kept secret for now.

FIG14: Biomimicry institute young designers 2012 competition.

Nature, design, their combination and the possibility for them to coexist without one setting the other back is one of the holy grails for engineers and architects. This is one of the reasons that the "International Conference on relating Design in Nature to Science and engineering" (Wessex Institute of technology, 2012) will take place for the 6th time in A Coruna, Spain, in June 2012. It has been held before in many other cities, and is proof that the popularity of this subject is relevant at an international level. This event is also being covered by several journals including "Design & Nature and Ecodynamics". "The Design and Nature conference is to be reconvened in 2012 following the success of previous meetings, the first of which was held in Udine, Italy in 2002; followed by Rhodes, Greece (2004); the New Forest, UK (2006); the Algarve (2008); and the last one in Pisa (2010)."(Design & Nature and Ecodynamics, 2011)

FIG15: Design & Nature and Ecodynamics Journal.

If we look at the London 2012 Olympics and the events surrounding it, we see that again, the 2012 London Design  Festival (London Design festival Ltd, 2012) is  hosting what will probably be one of the most important design festivals in the world. It comes to no surprise to see that many of the landmark projects of the 2012 celebration are designs based and inspired by nature. Some of these include the 2009 Marc Newson  - Supercell (Marc Newson, 2009, 2012 London design festival). Although this was made in 2009, the fact that it is going to be showcased in the 2012 design festival shows that this design will still be popular."The starting point of this project was the underlying structure of Biological growth" (Marc Newson, London design festival).
Another project that can be seen is the Timber Wave constructed by A_LA architects (Amanda Levete, 2011). Its is a structure based on a wave in the ocean made out of timber. Again, even though it was built in 2011, its showcasing in the 2012 design festival ensures its popularity in media throughout the next 12 months.

FIG16: Supercell.

FIG17: Timber Wave.

Nature in design is not only a topic that has been relevant and popular for a long time, but a topic that aims very much to be at the forefront of design in the next years, and that is proven by the advances and exposure that are planned in several types of media for the next year.With openings of new stadiums, the release of many books and the 
knowledge that new exciting products are being developed now and will be ready to see the light next year, nature in design will be more popular in 2012 than it is now, and therefore, more accessible to the general public.

CREATION: THE ART OF MAKING - HORIZON

Creation is a topic widely covered by different types of media. But where does the immediate future lie for new developments that have creation as a center piece or inspiration?
I believe that Books about the creation of a certain product and the process involved to get there will have a rise in popularity, due to the amount of films and games that have announced will have a special edition with books about the making with them. I believe that the success of other games and films doing this (like Avatar, Skyrim, Assassin's Creed: Revelations, etc) will be enough fuel to support these releases and that the popularity of these items can only get bigger. One of the most immediate and obvious releases of this kind is Max Payne 3's Collectors edition (Take Two Interactive, 2012), which will be out in March 2012, and will feature a making of book and the actual soundtrack of the game.

FIG1: Max Payne's 3 Special Edition will launch with an Art Book.

Another area that I believe can only be developed more and more is the creation of self Assembling technology. The popularity of this subject is ever growing due to the many advantages it offers in sustainable design, and the pending releases of a large number of books focusing on this kind of technology proves that this subjects popularity won't die down withing the immediate future:

Although pictures of the covers of these books aren't available due to the unreleased status of the books, here are the links to some of these near future releases:

"Disordered Semi conductors: Self assembly techniques of circuit synthesis" - (Sanjiv Sambandan 15 Aug 2012)

FIG2: Biological Self Assembly.

"Janus particle synthesis, self assembly and applications" - (Yang.Z, Muller.A, Xu.C, Doyle.P, Desimone. J, Lahan.J 30 Nov 2012)

FIG3: Self Assembly methods in engineering.

"Advances in Chemical Physics: Kinetics and Thermodynamics of Multistep Nucleation and Self-Assembly in Nanoscale Materials: 151" - (G. Nicolis 01 Jun 2012)


These are just a few books amongst many that specialise self assembly from a practical point of view even at molecular levels.

Looking at the toy industry in our research, we discovered that creating based toys are extremely popular with the LEGO and Meccano series. However, evidence of the success of these products can not only be seen in the toy media. Lego is stretching out to other medias, in particular, videogames and films. This can be seen with the near release of the LEGO City Stories (TT Games, Warner Brothers, 2012) show that the popularity for these toys is not only seen in their parent media, but they will extend into other medias to try and leave their mark as well.

FIG4: Lego City stories being unveiled at E3 2011.

Another aspect of creation which only appears once a product achieves great popularity is Re-creation or Re-release.
This happens rarely and usually due to a product being so successful in the past that it can still be relevant in the near future when adding some more "up to date" features to it. One perfect example of this is the February 2012 re-release of the 3D version of Star Wars: Episode 1 - "The phantom Menace" ( Lucasfilms, 2012)

FIG5: Star Wars 3D remake.

Let's focus a little more on creation and look at future releases that show the process of creating, and are focused on an educational point of view.
If we look at tutorials as a starting point, we will find that the internet is full of websites that are dedicated to educate about a process. But to keep this media even more relevant to our topic, I will look at tutorials that focus on the execution of an idea and help create.
Looking at the "making of" releases that the videogame industry makes me wonder about furture releases that explain the process in a tutorial form... and it was easy to find.

The first example is 3Dmotive's tutorial for rigging bipedal characters (2012-2011 3D Motive LLC). Not only does it focus on the rigging, but the creation of a solid rig that can be used in proffesional environments. The first in the series is scheduled for release on December 3rd 2011, and future releases are scheduled for the next 2-4 months.
Looking through this website I also find other series that are still incomplete and have other tutorials scheduled for release in the next 6-12 months.

FIG6: 3D Motive tutorial collage.

Other sites like Digital Tutors (copyright 2002-2011 Digital-Tutors, PLL Studios) or eat 3D (Copyright 2011 Eat 3d, LLC) also have ongoing tutorials and releases scheduled within the next 6-12 months.

FIG7: Digital tutors Logo.

FIG8: Eat 3D Logo.

These are just a few of the websites that offer this kind of training, and with their imminent new releases, it proves that this way of looking at creation through the media of tutorials will still be popular in the near future.

In my research for the present of "The art of making", I looked into the exhibition created by Grayson Perry which showcased pottery made by anonymous artists. I will now look into the future exhibitions that Grayson has prepared within the following months.

The most obvious example I can find is his film "The british guide to showing off" (Verve Pictures, 2011) (although it was released into cinemas in November 201,1it will be released on DVD and Blu Ray on the 23rd of January 2012.

FIG9: Grayson Perry's New DVD.

This makes me think about the links between creation, and human tendency to exhibit their accomplishments. Maybe creation isn't just about making, but showing it to the world and let the world know about it.

Looking at my present research, I looked at guns and different ways to portray them. One example that caught my eye was the gun made out of bones by Francois Robert. Looking into his near future releases, a 2012 calendar (Francois Robert, teNues, 2012). of such artist to see the impact of creation in the near future seems to be a good starting point.

FIG10: Francois Robert 2012 calendar.

Just from the cover of this work we can already see that Francois's work is, once again, creating a contrast between reality and found objects. Once again, showing that anything can be created from anything, and it can also change the way we view things. I believe this hopes to make us try and see things in places we wouldn't normally find them, and explore our creativity in ways we wouldn't necesairily always do. In essence, I believe that these creations are there to inspire us to create.

Another type of media I haven't explored in its horizon's yet is architecture.
Architecture is a media that is ever evolving. And looking at the horizon of whats will be built and opened in the near future may give us insight as as to what new creations we will be able to find in a more distant future.
Looking at the early 2012 opening of the "Ryugyong hotel" (Orascom group, 2012), which has been under construction for over 20 years, I can see that although the building appears to be really modern in its nature, it also feels like a redesign of the already stated successful pyramids.

FIG11: Ryugyong Hotel.

I will now continue to research Creation and its media exposure through the incoming event of the 2012 London Olympics and the other events that surround it.

The first thing I will be looking at is the London 2012 Design Festival (London Design Festival Ltd, 2012), which will happen in 2012 surrounding the 2012 Olympics.
The fact that a lot of the best designers and architects of the world have been invited to attend to this event and bring their creations along proves that creation as a whole will still be popular in 2012 with the hosting of these exhibitions and personalities. I believe it will also create an impulse in popularity since the affluence of people arriving to London during the 2012 Olympics celebrations will significantly increase, thus exposing these designs and creations to a wider audience that may have not been exposed to them if the Olympics weren't taking place.

One of the creations that struck me the most is Shigeru Ban's Paper tower (Shigeru Ban, 2009), which uses cardboard tubes to create a structure in the shape of a cone. "One of the highlights of this years festival"(Ben evans, director of London Design festival). Although it was created in 2009, the fact that it will be exhibited in the 2012 Design festival proves that this creations popularity will still be present in 2012.

FIG12: Shigeru Ban's Paper tower in the 2012 London Design Festival grounds.

Another topic I discussed in my research for creation in the present and past was "creation with purpose". I will try to find out about the horizon of this topic.
Again, the 2012 Olympics are a perfect example of how creation with purpose will still be relevant in the near future. The reason being is the development of buildings and tracks for the purpose of the event and the needs of the athletes that ise the facilities. Good examples are the Olympic arena (Populous, 2011) and the Acuatics Centre (Zaha Hadid Architects, 2012)

FIG13: Olympic Arena, Popolous.

FIG14: Acuatics Centre, Zaha Hadid.

Another type of media that specialises in creation and the process of it are magazines. Usually specialised in one subject, some magazines specialise in the process and art behind the creation of an object or someones work. This is usually done to give insight as to how the person approached a creation and hopefully inspire some people to adopt their workflow or try to innovate on that concept. Magazines falling under this category are 3D Artist (Imagine publishing Ltd), 3D world (Future publishing limited), Imagine FX (Imagine publishing Ltd)... etc

FIG15: 3D artist magazine issue 27.

This magazine explores the realms of 3D art and focuses on the passing of knowledge about the programs, workflow, and everything that could make the reader become a better 3D artist. With 36 issues already shipped, 3 years behind it, and monthly subscriptions, this magazine shows no signs of dying down and its popularity is only increasing.

                

FIG16: 3D world Magazine.

 As 3D artist magazine, 3D world focuses on 3D art and how to become a better artist.

FIG17: Imagine FX magazine issue 78.

Imagine FX is a magazine dedicated to the creation 2D art and how to become a better artist in this area.

FIG18: Oh comely Magazine.

"Oh Comely"  (Adeline media, 2011) magazine focuses more on fine art and "useful objects" and their creation. Their future releases will include making shoes and portrait photography.

These are just some examples in the horizon of the expansion in media of creation. I believe creation will still have a relevant position in all types of media and the research shown above proves it.With books, films, magazines, architecture, etc focusing on creation and the method of making, all scheduled for release or construction in 2012, creation will still be popular in the following months and will show evolution based on the things that have are happening now and have happened in the past.