design

Middle-eastern patterned CNC-cut papercraft

Zillij by Chris K Palmer, (modified from a traditional design by his student Elizabeth Ager), 2009, 12″ diameter. Cut on the Craft ROBO Pro and assembled by Jeffrey Rutzky. While teaching architecture at the University of Colorado-Boulder, Chris K Palmer developed Rhinoscripts to calculate intersecting ribs. Using several variables, such as material thicknesses, the script […]

Sustainable building design contest

Sustainable building design contest

Tripod: a student entry from last year’s contest. The EPA just announced its newest lifecycle building challenge: Enter the third year of the Lifecycle Building Challenge competition, to shape the future of green building and facilitate local building materials reuse. Submit your innovative project, design, or idea for reducing to conserve construction and demolition materials […]

Gingerbread House SketchUp Contest

Google’s having a SketchUp modeling challenge: the first annual Google SketchUp Gingerbread House Design Competition. From the Google blog: To make it a little easier to design the gingerbread house of your dreams, I modeled a blank house to get you started. Go ahead and download it from the 3D Warehouse, then follow the instructions […]

Andi’s people

Anne Schroeder’s high school math class doodles have turned into a whole host of new characters – Andi’s People. Andi’s People were born during my sophomore year of high school, geometry class, to be exact. Their legs grew longer, their smiles, bigger, and their personality, more endearing. When I moved to Hawaii after college, my […]

Greener Gadgets design competition

The Greener Gadgets 2009 design competition is now open for entries: We invite designers to explore the concept of “Greener Gadgets.” Designs should seek to minimize the environmental impact of consumer electronic devices at any stage in the product lifecycle. Areas of sustainability to consider include: 1. Energy 2. Materials / Lifecycle / Recycling 3. […]

Maker dad saves babies

Maker dad saves babies

George DeCell got scared, then when he didn’t get the support he needed from the government or industry, he got Making. Many parents go around the house and kidproof their digs. Child locks on knobs, latches on drawers and cabinets, and outlet plugs are all supposed to make children safer and leave their parents at […]