The architectural designs that come from A-Cero never fails to impress us or any other person with an appreciation for talented architecture. It is almost a wonder how the firm can keep racking up all of these impressive additions to their design portfolio over the years. It is only human to not hit it out of ball park with a creation every time you make one but the designers A-Cero are clearly from a different planet. Their latest completed project is The Concrete House II. The Concrete House II is a family project located in Madrid that spans over a surface of land about 1.600 square meters large. When you first view the house it becomes clear it is a unique design that was labored over for a long period of time. Vegetation ramps lead up to the mass amount of gray concrete that form the house’s shape and base structure. Huge windows span the entirety of the house and give each room the perfect amount of light in Madrid’s beautiful weather. The residence is also a sustainable project because the roof contains solar tubular collectors and ensures the home’s ecological features.

The outside of the Concrete House II is incredible enough but the photos of the inside just continue to impress us. The interior carries the outside’s concrete colour but incorporates chic white and black fabrics and design elements. The spacious rooms are filled with massive couches and high ceilings that work flawlessly with the windows. A-Cero may have just raised the bar even higher for themselves with the Concrete House II. Who knew this was even possible.

The Mirror Face Collection from Casio just go a makeover with these colors. The original bodies with the metallic covering and mirror faces are now produced in a deep navy blue with lime green accents and LCD, maroon with a strobe-like purple screen, gray with dark red to compliment it, and tangerine with highlights of orange and white to bring out the tangerine colour. The new models available now in stores like Bloomingdale’s and Macy’s completely update and transform the old models. It was smart of the designers from Casio to know they already had a good model watch and all they needed to do to take it to a new level was add these color and light combinations.

When the iPad first came out obviously we all thought it was an incredible technological invention but with a limited capacity. Even though the iPad defies the typical laptop or smart phone we carry around, we never really needed it to have abnormal capabilities or be used for other purposes than computing where we wanted when we wanted. However, Apple must have desired to get more than simple hype about this device considering the iPad is quickly transforming into a DJ device. The iPad DJ station from Psychic Factory exemplifies what a large touch screen can do for a DJ even though the “large” touch screen is no where near the same size as normal turn tables. According to design boom, “while the unit itself has scratchpads, cross fader and all the regular buttons and knobs, the ipad adds a whole new dimension of interactivity. songs can be fiddled with to an even greater degree or the dj can add their own music on top using a keyboard or instrument setup.” Clearly the iPad was not developed as a pure spectacle but can bring so many arts and activities to a whole new level as technology is supposed to. We are incredibly happy to see that the iPad does this and that it can influence and change DJ’s style in the years to come.

There is always a constant struggle between what a designer truly wants to put out there and what people will actually purchase. b Store manages to outsmart us for the fall/winter 2010 collection by exhibiting designs that look nothing like the designer struggled between his or her creative instinct and the reality of what designs will make them money. The reason this is so apparent is for multiple reasons but primarily how they position their models in the clothing. There are no special poses or animated facial expressions, just men dressed in their clothing as if they are saying if you like it, then you like it. It is not clear whether or not b Store knows their pieces are timeless but if you can look at a model and pay more attention to the garments than the way the garments look on a model the pieces are timeless. Most of the time it is subconscious but b Store makes a deliberate point to not take fancy photographs with models and allow your conscious mind to decide whether or not you like the clothing.

The Kostverlorenkade 1 lies between Amsterdam, Amstelveen, and Ouderkerk aan de Amstel and is a small island that VMX built this beautiful modern house on. The inspiration for the house came from the landscape of the island itself and the view of sky-rises in the distance and airplanes flying overhead to and from the cities surrounding the island. The architects decided to put the personal living spaces such as the bathrooms and bedrooms on the ground floor which is an interesting choice but works in a home constructed this way. The reason they did this is because the bedrooms then look right out onto the garden. The living room and kitchen were also specially arranged in loft-like spaces on the first floor. The home also contains a basement that is equipped with a fitness room and a home cinema. It is almost as if you would never have to leave the island although it is easy to do so. The bedrooms on the ground floor project a beautiful slanted light onto the grass outside at night time. Both the upstairs windows and ground floor windows are in a slant that follows the construction of the house.

The structures inside the house follow with the design of the house because they are mostly thick and block-like even when shaped in curves. The first floor loft-like space containing the living room and kitchen are very open and the multiple windows provide beautiful views. The view from the kitchen sink and dining room table through the massive slanted windows is spectacular and looks right out on to the water and distant land. VMX did a wonderful job designing this house to look perfect on the small island and to take advantage of the views and landscape.

Designer Shyam Baslasubramanian has developed a new breed of computer. Now instead of having the sole options of either desktop, laptop, or tablet Shyam has combined all three of the variations into what he calls the “Chip”. As if three options was not enough. The desktop, laptop, and tablet have their own benefits and are each ideal for different working environments. Office and home use is best equipped with a desktop, while business and work that needs to be taken on the go is best suited for a laptop, and personal work wherever and whenever is ideal with a tablet. Shyam decided to take all of this into consideration and create the chip that combines the benefit of all three models of a computer. The “Chip” is a tablet PC that includes a removable screen separating itself from the PC to become a touchscreen tablet and the hinged keyboard turns the computer into a laptop when needed. We never thought there would be another variation of the computer to come out for at least a little while because the tablet was thought to be such a new innovation but Shyam managed to do it.

Seattle-based architect Erich Remash is helping out goers of both the Burning Man and Critical Massive festivals this year with this tower called the Helix Spire. Burning Man and Critical Massive are two of the most popular festivals primarily dedicated to art, self-expression, self-reliance, and community. Thousands of people come out to both festivals to experience a different lifestyle and environment for a few days. Each is filled with people around the world either coming as artists or just observers. Remash himself is fascinated with the nature of both of the festivals and wanted to make something that would help the attendees see the other art and people on display from above and create almost like a play “toy” for them to climb on. He hand crafted the wooden Helix Spire that stands 25-feet high for the perfect view and climbing height. The wooden spiral is also lit up with large white lanterns running through the center of the structure. Attendants are sure to thank him for his contribution to their experience.

Jacqueline Rush from Northern Ireland recycled paper and old books in the most innovative way we have ever seen. Rush has been working on these amazing sculptures made of paper from books for several years now and has produced some very interesting and artistic shapes during the time period. The amount of detail and time put into these shapes is insane and putting all of these pages into shapes has to be painfully tedious but clearly the outcome of these sculptures is well worth it. Many of the sculptures are in flower shapes in deep reds and pastel pinks. Clearly Rush is very meticulous because she could have molded these shapes with far fewer pages and a little more glue but chose to make them look as incredible as they do by using mass amounts of paper which is probably one of the reasons they came out so well. It would be fascinating to find out just how many pages go into each sculpture. Hopefully more people can figure out how to recycle paper in such a wonderful way.