SUNDAY AUGUST 29 2010
Bus lanes are a great idea . . . if you are in the bus. To the motorist, an empty lane - and they are usually empty - is just a waste of space.
Bus lanes speed up buses at the expense of cars, thus making bus travel more attractive while annoying millions drivers for whom the car is their only practical method of transport. Without bus lanes, cars have more of the road real estate at their disposal, but public transport becomes slower/less attractive so choking the roads with even more cars.
But imagine having it both ways, i.e. buses unhindered by cars, cars able to use the entire road? Well the Chinese Shenzhen Huashi Future Parking Equipment is developing a 3D Express coach that straddles the traffic lanes enabling cars to drive underneath it.
The 6m (20') coach will be powered by a combination of electricity and solar energy, and will be able to travel up to 60 kms/hr (35mph) carrying 1200 -1400 passengers.
A major benefit of the straddling bus is its short construction life cycle. It should only take a year to build 40 km compared with at least three years for a subway system. And the bus will not need the large parking spaces to load/unload passengers as it can stop virtually anywhere without impeeding traffic.
The first 200kms of track is set for construction in Beijing's Mentougou district in late 2010. The Chairman of the Huashi Future Parking Equipment company boasts it will take only a year and (and $73 million) to build the futuristic transportation system.
A tip of our hat to an innovative transport solution that should make (nearly) everyone happy.
SUNDAY AUGUST 22 2010
Steampunk is an oft abused term these days as every man and his gadget tries to jump on the fashionably retro-futuristic bandwagon; however, there is no doubting Japanese watchmaker, Haruo Suekichi's steampunk credentials. His timepieces are steampunk defined.If you are are sure what steampunk is, Suekichi's watches are it.
"Steampunk" is a sub-genre of the speculative science fiction popular in the 1980s and early 1990s. The term denotes works set in a world where steam power is widely used—usually the 19th century and often set in Victorian era England. Incorporating retro-futurism styles of fictional technological inventions like those found in the works of H. G. Wells.
Leather, copper, technical-looking parts, tubes, dials, usual curves and impractical designs.Haruo Suekichi's watches have it all!
From an interview in Ping magazine, " . . . I made a watch for a guy with only one arm who couldn’t wear a watch at all before. When you slid in your arm, the watch on the arm snaps closed by itself. From that experience, I realised a watch can be any shape and it just opened up so many creative possibilities. I’m so spontaneous that whenever I think of something, every watch has an impulse behind it. The idea comes to me and I end up just forgetting about it because I’ve made so many."
Flashes of Jules Verne, influenced by Japanese manga comics, Suekichi’s finely crafted timepieces are the epitome of the futuristic vintage style that is steampunk .
SUNDAY AUGUST 15 2010
Based in the suburbs of Yokohama, Horiyoshi works from a secluded, quiet atelier, crammed with skulls, Japanese Noh theater masks and even a dragon-print umbrella from Vivienne Westwood. His status as the most respected tattoo artist in Japan is confirmed by his adoption of his master’s honorific title, which he aims to pass down to his son, Kazuyoshi Nakano.
Horiyoshi considers each symbolic figure, dragon or floral motif as a component of one great masterpiece—for which clients will pay tens of thousands of dollars, making weekly, hour-long visits over the course of several years to obtain an indelible, corporeal artwork.
Horiyoshi for the most part draws the tattoos freehand on the body, using an electric needle for the outlines and traditional bamboo tools for filling in color.
“It’s important to remember that ‘Hori’ means ‘to carve,’” says photographer Johnnie Shand Kydd, who made the film below about the living legend for NOWNESS. “They are called skin carvers because the process involves] sharpened bamboo being pushed again and again into the skin, creating gradations like you would in a brush stroke on a painting.”
The designs stop sharply at the wrist and ankle and often a gap is left down the middle of the torso so that clients are able to entirely cover their bodywork, even when wearing a traditional kimono.
You can view a higher resolution version of the film on NOWNESS Skin Deep: Horiyoshi III
SUNDAY AUGUST 08 2010
Said to represent a breakthrough in terms of weight, safety, useability and efficiency, the T.25 is a three-seater with a footprint that is considerably smaller than the likes of the Smart fortwo or Toyota IQ, a point reflected in its 575kg kerb weight.
Like the Smart car, the T.27 can be forward parked in spaces, its small dimensions - at 1.3m wide it's 26cm narrower than a Smartcar - meaning three can fit in the space it would take one conventional car to parallel park.
A unique single door design means that it is possible to get in and out of the car even when it is parked in close proximity to another, opening up the possibility of fitting two T.27s into one conventional single garage.
This tiny width also means that - in theory - two T.27s can drive side-by-side in the same direction in one traffic lane. That should be interesting.
Despite such diminutive dimensions the T.25 is said to be incredibly strong thanks to the use of materials and technology derived from Formula One racing.
Top Speed: 105kph
0-100kph: Less than 15 seconds
Range: 80 – 100 miles
"The iStream process used to produce the T.25/T.27 is a complete re-think on high volume materials, as well as the manufacturing process and offers a significant reduction in CO2 emissions over the lifecycle of the vehicles produced using it, compared with conventional ones," said CEO Gordon Murray. "The simplified assembly process means that an assembly plant can be designed to be 20% of the size of a conventional factory. This could reduce capital investment in the assembly plant by approximately 80%."
The T.25 is scheduled to go on sale in 2012, with the T.27 to follow.
For more information, please visit www.gordonmurraydesign.com
WEDNESDAY AUGUST 04 2010
Giant traffic-straddling bus
Good public transport benefits everybody in big cities with dense populations. However, reconciling the trade-off between fast efficient mass-transit and ensuring car traffic moves smoothly isn't easy.Bus lanes are a great idea . . . if you are in the bus. To the motorist, an empty lane - and they are usually empty - is just a waste of space.
Bus lanes speed up buses at the expense of cars, thus making bus travel more attractive while annoying millions drivers for whom the car is their only practical method of transport. Without bus lanes, cars have more of the road real estate at their disposal, but public transport becomes slower/less attractive so choking the roads with even more cars.
But imagine having it both ways, i.e. buses unhindered by cars, cars able to use the entire road? Well the Chinese Shenzhen Huashi Future Parking Equipment is developing a 3D Express coach that straddles the traffic lanes enabling cars to drive underneath it.
The 6m (20') coach will be powered by a combination of electricity and solar energy, and will be able to travel up to 60 kms/hr (35mph) carrying 1200 -1400 passengers.
A major benefit of the straddling bus is its short construction life cycle. It should only take a year to build 40 km compared with at least three years for a subway system. And the bus will not need the large parking spaces to load/unload passengers as it can stop virtually anywhere without impeeding traffic.
The first 200kms of track is set for construction in Beijing's Mentougou district in late 2010. The Chairman of the Huashi Future Parking Equipment company boasts it will take only a year and (and $73 million) to build the futuristic transportation system.
A tip of our hat to an innovative transport solution that should make (nearly) everyone happy.
SUNDAY AUGUST 22 2010
Haruo Suekichi - Steampunk Watchmaker
Steampunk is an oft abused term these days as every man and his gadget tries to jump on the fashionably retro-futuristic bandwagon; however, there is no doubting Japanese watchmaker, Haruo Suekichi's steampunk credentials. His timepieces are steampunk defined.If you are are sure what steampunk is, Suekichi's watches are it.
"Steampunk" is a sub-genre of the speculative science fiction popular in the 1980s and early 1990s. The term denotes works set in a world where steam power is widely used—usually the 19th century and often set in Victorian era England. Incorporating retro-futurism styles of fictional technological inventions like those found in the works of H. G. Wells.
Leather, copper, technical-looking parts, tubes, dials, usual curves and impractical designs.Haruo Suekichi's watches have it all!
From an interview in Ping magazine, " . . . I made a watch for a guy with only one arm who couldn’t wear a watch at all before. When you slid in your arm, the watch on the arm snaps closed by itself. From that experience, I realised a watch can be any shape and it just opened up so many creative possibilities. I’m so spontaneous that whenever I think of something, every watch has an impulse behind it. The idea comes to me and I end up just forgetting about it because I’ve made so many."
Flashes of Jules Verne, influenced by Japanese manga comics, Suekichi’s finely crafted timepieces are the epitome of the futuristic vintage style that is steampunk .
SUNDAY AUGUST 15 2010
Horiyoshi III: The Skin Carver
Horiyoshi III is Japan’s undisputed tattoo master. He found his calling when, as a young boy at a public bathhouse, he first saw a Yakuza (Japanese gangster) sporting a full body tattoo—or “suit”. He was inspired to have his own tattoo and visited the studio of his later master, Horiyoshi I, and at 25 became his apprentice.Based in the suburbs of Yokohama, Horiyoshi works from a secluded, quiet atelier, crammed with skulls, Japanese Noh theater masks and even a dragon-print umbrella from Vivienne Westwood. His status as the most respected tattoo artist in Japan is confirmed by his adoption of his master’s honorific title, which he aims to pass down to his son, Kazuyoshi Nakano.
Horiyoshi considers each symbolic figure, dragon or floral motif as a component of one great masterpiece—for which clients will pay tens of thousands of dollars, making weekly, hour-long visits over the course of several years to obtain an indelible, corporeal artwork.
Horiyoshi for the most part draws the tattoos freehand on the body, using an electric needle for the outlines and traditional bamboo tools for filling in color.
“It’s important to remember that ‘Hori’ means ‘to carve,’” says photographer Johnnie Shand Kydd, who made the film below about the living legend for NOWNESS. “They are called skin carvers because the process involves] sharpened bamboo being pushed again and again into the skin, creating gradations like you would in a brush stroke on a painting.”
The designs stop sharply at the wrist and ankle and often a gap is left down the middle of the torso so that clients are able to entirely cover their bodywork, even when wearing a traditional kimono.
You can view a higher resolution version of the film on NOWNESS Skin Deep: Horiyoshi III
SUNDAY AUGUST 08 2010
New T.27 city car by McLaren F1 designer Gordon Murray
Gordon Murray, world renowned car designer and the man behind the McLaren F1, has launched his latest creation, the T.27. In line with the times, the T.27 is no 1000bhp supercar, but an all-electric city runabout. There will also be a T.25 petrol version.Said to represent a breakthrough in terms of weight, safety, useability and efficiency, the T.25 is a three-seater with a footprint that is considerably smaller than the likes of the Smart fortwo or Toyota IQ, a point reflected in its 575kg kerb weight.
Like the Smart car, the T.27 can be forward parked in spaces, its small dimensions - at 1.3m wide it's 26cm narrower than a Smartcar - meaning three can fit in the space it would take one conventional car to parallel park.
A unique single door design means that it is possible to get in and out of the car even when it is parked in close proximity to another, opening up the possibility of fitting two T.27s into one conventional single garage.
This tiny width also means that - in theory - two T.27s can drive side-by-side in the same direction in one traffic lane. That should be interesting.
Despite such diminutive dimensions the T.25 is said to be incredibly strong thanks to the use of materials and technology derived from Formula One racing.
Top Speed: 105kph
0-100kph: Less than 15 seconds
Range: 80 – 100 miles
"The iStream process used to produce the T.25/T.27 is a complete re-think on high volume materials, as well as the manufacturing process and offers a significant reduction in CO2 emissions over the lifecycle of the vehicles produced using it, compared with conventional ones," said CEO Gordon Murray. "The simplified assembly process means that an assembly plant can be designed to be 20% of the size of a conventional factory. This could reduce capital investment in the assembly plant by approximately 80%."
The T.25 is scheduled to go on sale in 2012, with the T.27 to follow.
For more information, please visit www.gordonmurraydesign.com
WEDNESDAY AUGUST 04 2010
MB&F celebrates its 5th birthday!
In July, MB&F celebrated its 5th anniversary !
5 years of unbridled creativity. A fantastic human adventure with 4 amazing Horological Machines to prove to date what teamwork, passion and craftsmanship can do.
So here is a very cool logo created by GVA Studio to celebrate the occasion.
When you reach for the stars, the sky is the limit !
5 years of unbridled creativity. A fantastic human adventure with 4 amazing Horological Machines to prove to date what teamwork, passion and craftsmanship can do.
So here is a very cool logo created by GVA Studio to celebrate the occasion.
When you reach for the stars, the sky is the limit !
