Dots is a gesture-recognition system for people with disabilities

Three graduate designers have developed a body movement-recognition system that enables amputees and people with disabilities to use gesture-controlled smart devices more effectively.

The project, called Dots, has been shortlisted for Dezeen Awards 2020 in the wearable design category.

It was developed by Valentin Gong, Xiaohui Wang and Lan Xiao, three designers from the Royal College of Art and Imperial College London, with the aim of making technology more inclusive.

By way of two white discs containing inertial measurement unit (IMU) sensors, which detect movement between any two body parts, people with disabilities can control spatial interfaces in mixed reality and the Internet of Things.

Dots is a gesture-recognition system for people with disabilities

According to the designers, due to a lack of relative datasets technology developers often don't accommodate for people with disabilities when creating hand-gesture-controlled devices or machine-learning technology.

"While we may use thousands of people's hand-motion videos to train one model, it is almost impossible to find two people with exactly the same form of disabilities," the designers explained.

"Disability is often highly individual, which is not reflected in machine learning," they added. "Can we imagine to ask an upper limb amputee to use Hololens?"

Two "dots" are used to detect movement between any two body parts

The Dots system allows the user to choose how they interact with gesture-controlled technology based on their individual body condition, to best suit their unique disability.

Each of the two dots can be attached to any two moveable body parts to detect the motion between them, after the dots have been calibrated using the embedded inertial-navigation technology.

The two-point system is able to perform the four basic manipulations in 3D interfaces: selection, positioning, scaling and rotation.

For selection, the user would have to make the two dots quickly approach each other, while for positioning they would need to keep one dot in the same place while the other moves.

Then for scaling, the two dots need to move away or towards each other at the same time, and rotation requires the two points to rotate around a pivot point.

Users can choose how they interact with gesture-controlled technology based on their individual condition

Dots would act as an add-on system to devices that use gesture-recognition. It uses application programming interface (API) – a software that allows two applications to talk to each other – to connect with a particular device and act as a controller for it.

It could be used to control spacial interfaces and augmented and virtual reality devices such as Hololens, Oculus and smart TVs.

The designers found that, with additional adaptable design, Dots can also be used to control 2D interfaces like smartphones and laptops.

The Dots project is shortlisted for wearable design of the year for Dezeen Awards 2020

"Access to digital information is an important right in our society, as it defines if one can integrate into society and get away from 'digital exclusion'," said the designers. "However, the future form of digital interaction is getting increasingly exclusive."

"With the development of mixed reality and Internet of Things, people are linking the digital and physical, and make intangibles tangible," they continued.

"However, while we are approaching this exciting era fulled with floating AR (augmented reality) interfaces and gesture-controlled smart devices, we seem to have forgotten to make it beneficial to everyone."

The Dots system aims to make gesture-recognition technology more inclusive

Other projects in the Dezeen Awards 2020 wearable design category include the Neuralink implant designed by Elon Musk, which aims to connect human brains with machine interfaces via artificial intelligence.

Lisa Marks' Algorithmic Lace bra is also shortlisted for wearable design of the year, and is designed to fit the form of an individual's body after they have had mastectomy surgery.

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David Adjaye and Aston Martin design five residences in New York skyscraper 130 William

David Adjaye has partnered with luxury carmaker Aston Martin to design homes and limited edition SUVs for five residents who will live in the British-Ghanaian architect's first New York skyscraper.

Five Aston Martin Residences will be located on the 59th and 60th floors of 130 William – Adjaye's 244-metre-tall residential tower under construction in Manhattan. Each resident will also receive a limited-edition, Adjaye-designed Aston Martin DBX.

Above image: crosshatched bronze, an emblem of Aston Martin, will cover Adjaye-design wallpaper. Top image: residences will have outdoor loggias

"The 130 William Aston Martin homes have been touched in a very particular way that merges our design sensibilities," said Adjaye.

"Together with the limited edition SUVs that come with these units, we've created a truly unique signature that blends our two disciplines."

Differing from the other homes in the 242-unit tower, these five will be decorated with materials, textiles and furniture sourced from the Aston Martin Home Collection by the Italian manufacturer Formitalia, with additional touches by Adjaye.

The living and dining room will feature items from Aston Martin's home collection

The entry hallway will be covered with a bronze cross-hatch, a signature of the Aston Martin brand, that will cover over dark Adjaye-designed wallpaper. A large arched smoked-glass mirror by Aston Martin's design team will hang on the wall, as a reference to the arched windows of the skyscraper.

Renderings show these windows will flood daylight into the lounge and dining room, whose furnishings will include leather, metal and fabric chairs that are intended to draw on the aesthetic of Astin Martin car interiors.

Residents can customise a bedroom into a study

An open-plan kitchen adjoining the living room will have rich materials like blackened-oak Italian cabinetry, marble countertops from Italy's Apuan Alps and a cantilevered Nero Marquina marble top.

In the main bathroom, meanwhile, dark Italian Salvtori will be carved into a bathtub and double vanity sinks. Design details in the main bedroom will include Formitalia furniture and a custom cashmere headboard.

The spare room can also be turned into a racing simulator

Residents will also be able to turn one of the rooms in the two- or three-bedroom homes into a racing simulator, an office and library space or a bedroom. The racing simulator will be made in partnership with British technology company Curv Racing Simulators.

Each residence will also have an expansive outdoor space with bespoke slatted screens to divide up lounging areas.

The main bathrooms with have a bathtub carved from marble

The Adjaye-designed Aston Martin DBX that will accompany the purchase of each residence will feature rich materials to mirror the homes – including marble, walnut wood and hand-stitched leather with green trim.

The five Aston Martin Residences include two penthouses for sale at $11,500,000 and $10,500,000, and three loggia residences priced from $3,985,000, $5,985,000 and $10,000,000.

First unveiled in 2017, 130 William is a 66-storey skyscraper in Downtown Manhattan that Adjaye has designed with local firm Hill West Architects for developer Lightstone.

It will have a textural hand-cast concrete exterior to complement the materiality of the surrounding historic, brick commercial buildings, which Adjaye has previously said will make it ideal for close-up drone photography.

Each resident of the five homes will get an Adjaye-designed Aston Martin DBX luxury car

The partnership with Aston Martin is not the first time the car marker has turned its hand to architecture and design.

"This is a fascinating project for the Aston Martin design team to work on and a great opportunity to collaborate with David," Aston Martin CCO Marek Reichman said.

Rich materials inside the SUV are intended to reference the homes

"It is our first real estate project in New York City but our second collaboration in real estate design after the Aston Martin Residences in Miami," he added. "We can apply what we have learnt in Miami and also bring our unique automotive design skills to these beautiful luxury homes.'

Last year, the brand also launched an architectural design service called Automotive Galleries and Lairs to design homes around the resident's cars. It has since teamed up with US studio S3 Architecture to create Sylvan Rock, an angular black-cedar home in Hudson Valley, New York.

Renderings are courtesy of Aston Martin.

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Check Out Copenhill, the Snow-Free Ski Hill and Climbing Wall Atop a Copenhagen Power Plant

All images © Hufton + Crow, shared with permission

A year since its opening, the snow-free ski hill and entertainment hub that sits above a waste-to-energy power plant in Copenhagen is fully open to outdoor enthusiasts. New aerial photographs from Hufton+Crow capture the rooftop complex Copenhill (previously) through a blanket of fog, revealing the now lush landscaping that lines hiking trails and visitors as they peer out over the surrounding water. The multi-use site, which is located at the Amager Resource Centre, even has the world’s tallest climbing wall, an 80-meter-high rock structure that scales the entirety of the building.

Copenhill is the project of Danish architectural firm BIG and is the highest outlook in the capital city. The new complex also boasts multi-faceted energy reuse, with the indoor plant converting waste into heat for residents’ homes, while the biodiverse hill outside absorbs heat, filters the air, and minimizes water runoff.

 

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BIG, Tatiana Bilbao and Norman Foster donate drawings to Architects for Beirut charity auction

More than 60 international architecture firms have put artworks and signed drawings up for auction, in a bid to raise funds for rebuilding Beirut after the explosion that rocked the city in August and left at least 300,000 people homeless.

Among the items for sale is a lithography by David Adjaye rendered in 24 karat gold leaf, a one-off sketch by Renzo Piano and a limited edition sculpture designed by the late Zaha Hadid.

Above: David Adjaye's lithograph of his Abrahamic Family House. Top image: Tatiana Bilbao's collage

Called Architects for Beirut, the auction is being hosted virtually by the Design Miami fair and will be live until the end of November, with all proceeds going to the Beirut Urban Lab.

This interdisciplinary research space was originally founded by faculty from the American University of Beirut's Department of Architecture and Design, in order to counteract the destruction of civil infrastructure that occurred during Lebanon's 2006 war with Israel.

Now, the collective is focusing on rebuilding the city in an equitable, sustainable way in the wake of the blast by helping to coordinate bottom-up efforts on both a neighbourhood and a wider urban planning level.

"Even before the explosion, the country was going through an economic and financial crisis that paralysed the banking system and the government's capabilities to deal with the aftermath of the blast," said Makram el Kadi of New York architecture firm LEFT, which organised the auction in collaboration with the dean of Columbia's Graduate School of Architecture Amale Andraos.

"This was made even worse with the outbreak of Covid 19," he added. "And mistrust in the government's ability to secure foreign aid – let alone manage it – led to a plethora of small local and international NGOs filling that void."

Toyo Ito's Under the Cherry Trees sketch is for sale as part of the Architects for Beirut charity auction

In particular, Beirut Urban Lab is planning to help reconstruct crucial infrastructure like hospitals and emergency accommodation, as well as gardens, libraries and other public spaces that hold a significance for the local community.

A number of original, one-off artworks, which pay homage to the city of Beirut, were created especially for the fundraiser to support these efforts.

AAU Anastas donated the Amoud drawing

Lebanese architect Lina Ghotmeh, who compared the explosion to a "nuclear blast" after witnessing it from a local cafe, contributed a hand drawing of her apartment block The Stone Garden, which was completed shortly before the blast.

Although the building's monolithic shell survived the explosion, the sketch captures the moment when all of its glazings shattered, as was the fate of countless buildings up to 10 kilometres away from the site of the blast.

Wael Al Awar's Hayy Creative Hub is currently under construction in the United Arab Emirates

Italian architect Stefano Boeri drew the Mediterranean Mosaic map, in which Beirut's relationship to major European cities is expressed through bright yellow lines, while fellow countryman Renzo Piano created a mixed media piece envisioning a new history museum for the city.

"Renzo Piano's sketch showcases a certain hope that permeates the current grief – a scenario in which planning for a better tomorrow is still something one can and must dream about," El Kadi told Dezeen.

David Chipperfield is auctioning off a print of the Weston Bridge he designed for London's Royal Academy of Arts

Others contributed architectural drawings and prints of notable buildings they designed, including an axonometric drawing of BIG's Amager Bakke power station in Copenhagen, signed by one of the firm's partners Kai-Uwe Bergmann.

Norman Foster shared one of a limited run of 100 lithographies, showing a modular school his firm completed in Sierra Leone in 2009, which was built using locally available materials such as timber planks and metal sheets. Previously, another edition of this same print was gifted to the Queen of England to commemorate 60 years of her reign.

Fellow architecture stalwart Sir David Chipperfield put up a print, depicting the concrete bridge he designed as an extension of the Royal Academy of Arts, while David Adjaye contributed a gold-gilded lithography of his multifaith temple The Abrahamic Family House in Abu Dhabi.

The Zaha Hadid-designed Serenity Centrepiece features a smoked acrylic top

Since banning renderings in her studio, Mexican architect Tatiana Bilbao works mainly with collages, one of which is up for auction as part of Architects for Beirut, while Zaha Hadid's design studio contributed one of the few three-dimensional artworks to the fundraiser.

The smoked acrylic sculpture, called the Serenity Centrepiece, features the architect's characteristic fluid, sinuous lines and was donated on her behalf in recognition of her "deeply personal" connection to the city, which many of her friends and family call home.

Steven Holl contributed an untitled watercolour painting to the auction

Meanwhile, Archigram founder Peter Cook offered up a print of his 2013 gouache drawing Hidden City and the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Guggenheim Museum is the star of a letterpress print, created by New York studio SO-IL for an exhibition celebrating the building's 50th anniversary in 2010.

"In addition to the architectural imagination that the drawings inspire in us, they collectively express a wonderful sense of generosity and global solidarity," LEFT co-founder Ziad Jamaleddine told Dezeen, "which is a quality that is hard to mobilise in an increasingly fragmented world."

New York designer Steven Burks shared a pastel drawing called Energy Field One

Since August, the design world has shared an outpouring of support for the citizens of Beirut, with Erik Spiekermann being one of 157 designers to contribute a glyph to a new typeface with the aim of raising funds for victims of the blast.

Meanwhile, design duo Bokja has transformed its showroom in the city into a temporary furniture clinic, where members of the community can bring in any items damaged by the explosion to be stitched back together using red thread, nodding to how golden lacquer is used in the Japanese craft of kintsugi.

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Skillshare Classes to Keep Your Creative Energy Flowing All Winter Long

In preparation for both winter and the need to pull ourselves away from the news, we’ve gathered a selection of Skillshare courses that we’re loving here at Colossal. This new grouping features multi-lesson courses focused on various mediums to channel your creative energy, whether through portraiture, personal essays, or visual storytelling. For even more art, design, and illustration lessons, check out our previous recommendations from the popular online platform, too.

Artist Chris Hong is adept at sketching whimsical scenes and rich portraits, a skill she shares in a 12-part course. Aimed at those with some drawing experience, the class explores the basics of light, shadow, and structure and how to infuse renderings with life-like qualities.

 

Writer and editor Roxane Gay is known for crafting nuanced essays that expertly connect personal moments with larger conversations about race, gender, and identity. Through 11 lessons, Gay offers practical advice about generating ideas, research, and prepping for publication for writers of all backgrounds: “Whether you want to finish your memoir, develop your writing craft, or explore putting pen to paper for the first time, your voice matters. This class is a jumpstart to finding your voice, your story, and sharing it with the world.”

 

There’s a bleak outlook for travel in the next few months, but Chicago-based photographer trashhand teaches students how to find the otherwise unseen beauty in our immediate surroundings. You’ll want to have some basic photography knowledge prior to joining either his street or cityscape classes, which dive into techniques for taking candids, conveying motion, and shooting upward to capture abstract architectural shots.

 

Writer, educator, and designer Debbie Millman chats with four renowned creatives—Giorgia Lupi, Adam J. Kurtz, Pam Butler, and Paul Sahre—in a series of exclusive interviews about the art of visual storytelling. Learn to combine art and narrative in a compelling, personal way through seven lessons.

 

There’s no shortage of articles laying out the ever-elusive ideal routine for creatives, complete with varying rituals and habits. Despite their diverse approaches, the single throughline seems to be that we all need to find what works best for us, a notion that founder and CEO of Skillshare Michael Karnjanaprakorn adopts. Designed for workers of all stripes, the quick 35-minute course teaches students to map out their weeks and shares strategies for prioritizing, scheduling, and crafting “short-term systems for long-term success.”

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