Design

This Treacherous Hanging Staircase Doubles As Shelving and a Desk

Here’s a great space-saving idea for anyone living in a small home with multiple floors who also happen to be incredibly sure-footed. Mieke Meijer’s designed this completely unorthodox staircase called the Object Élevé for a home in the Netherlands to maximize space, functionality, and wow factor. The base of the stairs feature an integrated desk…

This Digital Sundial Tracks the Sun Through a Laser-Cut Cube

Sure, sundials are totally impractical in the age of precise atomic clocks, but this digital sundial cube is still the coolest. Made out of 59 plates of metal cut to match the angle of the sun at different times of the day, the Sun Cube casts a dot-matrix number to mark each hour. Toronto-based artist…

This Beautiful IMDb Redesign Concept Is Long Overdue

IMDb is one of the most useful sites on the web. But it’s also one of the most outmoded. Now, two web designers have taken it upon themselves what an IMDb for 2014 would look like—and the results are pretty great. Here’s how they explain their design. For anyone who isn’t already aware of it,…

This Sneaky Trash Can Lid Lures Flies to Their Death

Just like Romeo and Juliet, flies are tragically destined to crave their one true love: Pungent, moldy, rotten garbage. And thanks to this ingenious trash can design that traps flies only to have them starve, the flies’ love can prove just as fatal as Shakespeare’s. Envisioned by designers Chang Shih-hsun and Hung Jui-yuan, the trash…

The (floating) sun also rises in Sydney Harbor—in this case, for Opera Australia’s outdoor production of Madama Butterfly. Each night, the sailcloth orb is inflated by two fans and illuminated by 12 LED lights. “Orb master” Andrew Tindal-Davies sits inside, making sure the sun rises without a hitch. [James Morgan for Opera Australia]

The Government-Surplus Machines Powering a Cutting-Edge Science Museum

Machines fill the floor of the Exploratorium, San Francisco’s beloved interactive science museum. Over there is a contraption called Bicycle Legs, in which visitors manipulate air pumps to replicate muscles we use when pedaling (it’s trickier than it sounds). A few hundred feet away is a perennial favorite, the Wave Machine, which demonstrates transverse waves…

A Pregnancy Diary That Grows With an Expectant Mother

If you’ve never kept a diary or journal before, a pregnancy is probably a great time to start. Not only because of all the new experiences, but it will also probably come in really handy if and when you decide to have a second child. And what better place to document your thoughts than in…

These Chairs Have Two Wildly Different Wood Grains in One

From a distance, these chairs look like simple wooden objects. Get up close, though, and you’ll struggle to tell quite what they’re made of: expensive oak or cheap OSB laminate board? The reason is simple. The designer, Nendo, takes timber surfaces and prints a second grain onto the furniture. In some cases, the effect makes…

These Sleek Hangers Swap Hooks for Magnets

These sleek hangers, designed by German-Latvian agency Flow Design, look like something’s missing. Don’t worry, though: they’ve simply swapped the hooks for magnets. Called Cliq, the hangers resemble the dozens already hanging in your closet in terms of size and proportions. But at the top is a powerful magnet—strong enough to support items weighing up…

This week in space

The ESA is taking applications for science experiments to run on the ISS. Submission deadline 23 May 2014. Vintage space suits are going up for auction, one in US shiny silver, and one in Soviet olive (although it looks more yellow in the photographs). Space exploration has been privately funded in the United States for…

The space-time continuum in carpet-format

A games shop in Paris embraced the rubber-sheet metaphor of space-time to guide their interior design. The illusion is so convincing I can imagine shoppers occasionally stumble when their eyes and feet disagree about where exactly to expect the floor. My only quibble is that I wish the display consoles were in the center of…

The awesome futuristic vehicle designs of Daniel Simon

I never get tired of Daniel Simon’s design work, the man behind the vehicle design in Tron Legacy, Oblivion, the Lotus C-01 motorbike. His classic Cosmic Motors series are amazing.

Most Beautiful Items: March 7 – 14, 2014

A beautiful 1960s New York guidebook, crazy scans of amazing insects, and so much more. Welcome, and let us wow you with some of our favorite finds from the worlds of art, architecture, and design from the past week: The 1960s NYC Guidebook That the Czech Secret Police Almost Destroyed Back in 1963, two Czech…

Would You Go For A Ride On This Massive Slip ‘n Slide On A City Street?

British artist Luke Jerram wants to take over a Bristol high street for an afternoon to set up a massive, 90-meter-long wet and wild joyride. Would you give it a try? Park and Slide is planned as part of the local council’s Make Sunday Special initiative, organizing events for car-free jolly good times, and would…

Visit This House Being 3D Printed in Amsterdam Right Now

If you think 3D printing is only good for making flimsy paperweights, then you’re pretty much right. A group of audacious Dutch architects, however, have just begun 3D printing an entire canal house in Amsterdam. Is the first 3D printed house a gimmick? Definitely! Is it an experiment that pushes the possibilities for 3D printing…

A Collapsible Speaker That Might Double As an Emergency Cup

Even your most basic outdoor store will sell you a collapsible silicone drinking cup that helps keep your backpack as light as possible when hiking. And it turns out that same strategy can apply to portable speakers too, like the making them even easier to stash in a bag when not in use. Available in…

The 1960s NYC Guidebook That the Czech Secret Police Almost Destroyed

Back in 1963, two Czech travelers drew an incredible illustrated guidebook based on their first trip to Mad Men-era New York City. Soon after, the Czech police destroyed every last copy, and the book was lost forever. Or so they thought. The Guggenheim, Times Square, Eero Saarinen’s WTA terminal: Zdenek Mahler and Vladimir Fuka drew…

Distract Yourself From Winter With the Most Amazing Pools on Earth

As winter tightens its cold, brittle fingers around our hearts one last time, Sploid has taken to meditating on incredible pools as a means of survival. Below, find some of the most luxurious, elegant, and downright outlandish designs around.

How to Design the Perfect Subway Map

Cameron Booth is a seasoned graphic designer. In his spare time he also edits transitmaps.tumblr.com, the web’s finest emporium for bus maps, subway diagrams, train network maps and more. We’re enormous fans of his site and wanted to pin him down on a subject that’s close to our own hearts: what makes a good transit…

No, this is not a production still from Bio-Dome: Saudi Arabia, it’s a rendering for the King Abdullah International Gardens in Riyadh. Barton Willmore International designed the crescent-shaped complex which will recreate animal and plant habitats from the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods—in the middle of the desert. [designboom]