omnispace

Board 16

Developed by Traxon Technologies, Board 16 SMD RGB is a lighting system which allows for the easy installation of LED on floors, ceilings, walls and other horizontal and vertical surfaces. Installed behind fixed or malleable foregrounds, the Board spreads its light from 16 high performance RGB SMDs (Surface Mounted Diodes). The Board's compact size of 23 cm x 23 cm x 1.85 cm allows for the realization of a variety of geometric shapes, and the wide beam angle of 120° guarantees an even light spread. As an optional accessory, the installation pad ensures a fast and easy mounting of the boards in a precise way. Board 16 may be used in interior applications such as exhibition spaces, interiors, bars, casinos, offices, restaurants, shops, shopping centers, and a wide number of commercial applications.

Pixel Skin

Developed by Sachin Anshuman, Principal Organizer for the Intelligent Building Laboratory at GCU Glasgow and creator of Orange Void, Pixel Skin is a smart surface designed to regulate light, solar radiation and views, as well as display dynamic signage. Anshuman's prototype uses shape memory alloys (SMA) to actuate each of four triangular panels residing within a single module, and each surface acts as a "pixel" with 255 increments between open and closed states. Pixel Skin is designed to create dynamic windows which allow views or control internal lighting conditions across the building membrane in response to particular subject states and their positions. The surface may also simultaneously be used to generate low resolution images, low refresh-rate videos, or abstract patterns. A response to common conflicts encountered with daylighting and signage in contemporary architectural surfaces, Pixel Skin is an electrographic surface which allows the integration of illumination and view controls with real-time communications media.

Linelight

Developed by the innovative Tokyo-based company Material House, Linelight maximizes the illumination potential of artificial lighting by channeling the illumination of a single light source along a line. Linelight is comprised by a highly-reflective mirror housing fronted by an acrylic lens designed for even dispersion, which is contained within an aluminum frame. Linelight accepts lamps from 35 to 150 Watts in power, and will carry bright light 30 feet using only a single lamp. Not only are fewer fixtures required compared with conventional point-source installations, but maintenance is also simplified, as only a single fixture must be changed.

Spaceship 2

Virgin Galactic's new Spaceship 2 interior. Test flights begin next year, and passenger flights soon after that.

Underground Gardens

An underground rice and vegetable field has been planted beneath an office building in Tokyo's Otemachi business district. This urban farm - in what used to be the vault of a major bank - is maintained using computer-controlled artificial light and temperature management. It was brought into being by a personnel company as a means of providing agricultural training to young people who are having trouble finding employment and middle-aged people in search of a second career. The hi-tech vegetable patch, called Pasona was launched by the temporary staffing agency Pasona Inc. When Pasona moved its headquarters to this building, it decided to lease the second basement floor - formerly the Resona Bank vault - and turn it into a vegetable garden.