Why Design Now

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Why Design Now?: Norwegian National Opera and Ballet
Why? The first purpose-built home of the Norwegian Opera and Ballet is both a bridge and anchor for the Oslo community. As part of the first phase of an extensive transformation of the waterfront, the Opera is a monumental gateway to the harbor. Its most distinctive feature is a white marble roof that serves as...
Why Design Now?: Masdar development
Why? Masdar is a self-contained, sustainable city currently being built on the desert outskirts of Abu Dhabi. Its design pushes new approaches to alternative energy applied to architecture and engineering on an urban scale. A vast experiment, it aims to be the worlds first car-free, carbon-neutral, zero-waste city powered by renewable energy sources.
Why Design Now?: Loblolly House
Why? Loblolly House is comprised entirely of readymade components and elements fabricated off-site, reducing assembly time while increasing energy efficiency. The house comprises four key architectural elements: scaffold, cartridge, block, and equipment. The aluminum scaffold system provides the structural frame as well as the means to join the other three elements, using only a wrench....
Why Design Now?: Learning Landscape
Why? Learning Landscape is a universal, adaptable approach to elementary math education. This simple grid of half-submerged tires can be built anywhere in the world from cast-off materials. Using chalk to mark numbers on the tires, teachers and students play games that mobilize the natural excitement of group competition and physical movement. The concept comes...
Why Design Now?: Eco-Machine at the Omega Center for Sustainable Living
Why? The Eco-Machine is a carbon-neutral and environmentally safe wastewater-treatment system at the OCSL. In a 10,000-gallon anaerobic tank, microbes digest the sludge, and the wastewater travels to four constructed wetlands, where plants, microbes, fungi, and algae scrub the water. After passing through a final filter, the water is ready for non-potable use.
Why Design Now?: SunShade
Why? SunShade is an outdoor solar floor lamp. With solar cells embedded in the canopy and acting as sensors, the umbrella opens and closes automatically like a real flower in relation to the shifting sun. During the day, the SunShade opens to provide shade and harness sunlight, and as the sun goes down, the parasol...
Why Design Now?: Power Aware Cord
Why? Most people have no sense of their energy usage until they receive their monthly utility bill. The Power Aware cord is a poetic gesture that indicates energy is flowing to an appliance through glowing pulses and intensity of light. For instance, changing the volume on stereo equipment becomes immediately visible, as does the silent...
Why Design Now?: AGV (automotrice รก grande vitesse) [high-speed self-propelled train]
Why? Trains are among the most sustainable forms of transportation, and the AGV is at the forefront of high-speed, energy-efficient train design. Ninety-eight percent of the train is built from recyclable materials, its traction systems and low weight are energy-efficient, and its permanent-magnet synchronous motors and regenerative braking system create electricity and minimize energy loss.
10 Membership Moments in 2010
2010 was a year to remember for Cooper-Hewitt Members. Check out the 10 Membership Moments in 2010 slideshow below. Around town, Cooper-Hewitt Members were among the first to access fairs—from historic to contemporary design—New York Auto Show, ICFF, International Fine Art & Antiques Dealers Show, and IFPDA Print Fair. Throughout the year, Members took a...