US startup Aptera has developed a solar and electric vehicle with a range of up to 1,000 miles on a full battery, which it claims most drivers won't need to charge.
The Aptera car is powered by a combination of solar and electric energy – what the company refer to as its Never Charge technology – meaning drivers would be able to complete average journeys without having to stop for more power at charging stations.
According to the San Diego-based company, the average American drives 29 miles per day. Therefore, depending on where the owner lives and how much they drive, they "may never need to charge Aptera at all".
The Aptera car is powered by solar and electric energy
Measuring at 4.4 metres long, 2.2 metres wide and 1.4 metres high, the three-wheeled Aptera vehicle can accommodate two adults and a pet, according to the company.
While the car can be fully charged via a charging station or cord, when drivers are out on the road during daytime, solar energy from the sun will keep the vehicle topped up.
This solar technology is designed to store enough sunlight to enable the car to travel over 11,000 miles per year in most regions.
180 solar cells are integrated into the car's body
The company has a calculator on its website that enables people to enter their location and the amount of miles they drive in a day to determine how many times a year they would need to charge the car.
For instance, if you were located in Britain and drove an average of 25 miles per day, you would need to charge the Aptera vehicle via an electrical cord an estimated 1.46 times per year.
A total of 180 solar cells are integrated into the structure of the car body, and can be configured to provide up to 45 miles of range per day.
The company claims that this makes its Aptera model the first vehicle that is capable of meeting most daily driving needs using only solar power.
The vehicle has a range of up to 1,000 miles on a full charge
"Even though the longest-range Aptera can drive for about 1,000 miles between charge, the reality is that most of our driving is 30 miles or less," said the company.
"For Aptera, 30 miles consumes about three kilowatt hour (kWh) of electricity. Now, let's say your commute is 15 miles each way, let's assume it's dark when you're driving to and from work," it continued.
"While parked at the office on a sunny day, your Aptera could put back in about 4.4 kWh, which is far more than what you'll use that day. You'll arrive home with more charge than when you left with. That's how it works, it's as simple as that."
Aptera has enough seating space for two adults and a pet
As the car uses less than 100 watt-hours (Wh) per mile for daily trips, it can go an estimated five times further than other electric vehicles with the same-size solar system.
This is mainly due to its lightweight structure, which is made from a composite material of steel and aluminium.
The car is also composed of four parts instead of the average 300 that make up a vehicle, making it smoother as well as more cost-efficient to produce.
This combined with its aerodynamic shape reduces drag to a coefficient (Cd) of 0.13. For comparison, Tesla's Model 3 has a drag Cd of 0.23.
Solar energy from the sun keeps the vehicle topped up with power
The car, which is planned to go into production in 2021, is able to go from zero to 60 miles per hour (mph) in 3.5 seconds, with a top speed of 110 mph.
In addition to this, it has a level two autonomy capability, meaning it can control the steering, acceleration and braking, but the driver must be at the wheel to intervene when needed.
A user interface inside the car informs drivers in real time of ways that they can conserve energy and extend the car's range.
The Aptera car is planned to go into production in 2021
In 2015 the students redesigned the vehicle to run for more than 1,000 kilometres on a single charge and produce enough excess energy to power a TV or washing machine, due to solar panels on its roof and rear.
Dezeen has partnered with flooring brand Tarkett to host a live discussion with architecture firm Perkins and Will about how architects and suppliers can support the circular economy and contribute to the drive towards carbon-neutral buildings. Watch here from 2:00pm London time.
The talk is titled The circular economy: a journey towards carbon neutral buildings, and will explore why the industry should be moving towards a circular model and how it can be implemented on a large scale.
A circular economy is a model that minimises consumption, overuse of finite resources and the destruction of ecosystems, by instead continually reusing materials.
Marcus Fairs, founder and editor-in-chief of Dezeen, will speak to Tarkett’s EMEA sustainability and public affairs director Myriam Tryjefaczka and Adam Strudwick, principal of corporate interiors at Perkins and Will, about how their businesses are implementing more sustainable practices.
Myriam Tryjefaczka, EMEA sustainability and public affairs director at Tarkett
The speakers will discuss the importance of technological innovation in architecture and design to tackle the climate emergency, as well as how designing more adaptable spaces will minimise carbon emissions.
Tryjefaczka and Strudwick will explain how designers can maintain standards of beauty in their work while working more sustainably, and how collaboration and knowledge sharing is required for the architecture and design industries to significantly reduce their impact on climate change.
Both Tarkett and Perkins and Will have recently launched initiatives intended to mitigate the impact of their work on the environment and influence the practices of the partners with which they collaborate.
Tarkett, a French multinational that makes flooring, has published an evaluation of the products in its catalogue with a colour-coded rating that indicates their environmental and health impacts.
The brand has additionally developed systems for reclaiming its products and recycling them through its ReStart programme.
Adam Strudwick, principal of corporate interiors at Perkins and Will
Perkins and Will, a Chicago-based architecture firm, has launched a website designed to raise awareness about the harmful effects that certain products and materials can have on the environment and on human health.
Tryjefaczka joined Tarkett as the sustainability and public affairs director of its EMEA division in 2015. In her role, she represents the brand in the activities of European industry associations and think tanks in the fields of construction and the circular economy.
Before joining Tarkett, Tryjefaczka worked as a corporate sustainability manager at air purification product manufacturer Camfil, where she participated in a European Union initiative to develop standards to improve indoor air quality and the energy performance of buildings.
Strudwick, an interior designer who specialises in office spaces, joined Perkins and Will earlier this year as the principal of corporate interiors at the firm's London office.
He previously worked as principal at multidisciplinary design firm HLW, contributing to running the London studio and delivering projects across Europe, as well as leading a team tasked with advancing the company's use of technology to develop more circular and sustainable projects.
Strudwick has completed office spaces for Google, Amazon, Investec, Booking.com and Capital One.
DAD Agency has eschewed the pared-back palette of traditional perfumeries in favour of kaleidoscopic colours and 3D graphics for its rebrand of independent fragrance start-up Sillages Paris.
The French perfume brand is based entirely online and matches customers with their fragrance based on a questionnaire about their favourite ingredients and scents.
The Sillages Paris rebrand features glitchy imagery of different ingredients
"Because Sillages isn't a standard perfume brand, we had more freedom to create something for them that wasn't standard either," DAD Agency co-founder Leanne Bentley told Dezeen.
"A lot of perfume brands are so tied up with the idea of luxury that it feels like they've painted themselves into a corner when it comes to how they can express personality. Perhaps there's a fear that bright colours and bold visuals don't translate to this space."
Visuals created for the brand incorporate bold, contrasting colours
Going against the grain, DAD Agency created a web design for the brand including photography, animations, illustrations and matching typography, which shouts rather than whispers.
Bold, contrasting colours are offset against collages showcasing Sillages Paris' arsenal of different, natural ingredients, in a visual representation of the mix-and-match process that users go through to pick their scent.
"We created a colour palette that had three tones: deep, pop and bright. We wanted to have a good balance of darker, richer colours with brighter, bolder ones as a way to bring the luxury and the playfulness together," said Ulla-Britt Vogt, DAD Agency's other half.
"It was really important to us that the photography of real people was still sensual, so we got close-up portraits that crop into the neck and focus on skin."
A 3D rending of a perfume bottle is superimposed on a collage
Superimposed on these images are 3D-rendered Sillages perfume bottles that spin and refract their surroundings like trippy, mirrored carousels.
As a "window into individual expression", this is designed to highlight how the bottle might look the same but its contents are always unique to the user.
The design leans into Sillages Paris' position as a digital perfumery
Together with the accompanying visuals, which feature glitchy edits of the different ingredients, the animation also nods to Sillages' positioning as an extremely online brand.
"Sillages is a perfume brand built for the internet," said Bentley. "People can engage with the product in a really meaningful way online and the process of creating your perfume is a fun experience you can engage with anywhere. It felt appropriate for us to lean into this aesthetic."
Handdrawn illustrations explain the user journey
Contrasted against this technology-driven style is a series of hand-drawn, two-dimensional illustrations, which explain the users' journey from sharing details about their favourite ingredients to being matched with a fragrance and receiving a tester sample.
While Sillages Paris exudes maximalism, MIT researchers Jiani Zeng and Honghao Deng recently developed a "truly minimalist" 3D printed perfume bottle, featuring an optical illusion that renders its branding almost entirely invisible.
Italian studio Carlo Ratti Associati and architect Italo Rota have designed a concept for a tower called Playscraper, which is a temporary structure that consists of eight tennis courts layered on top of each other.
The conceptual Playscraper rises 90 metres (300 feet) into the sky and has 5,500 square metres (60,000 square feet) of playing space.
"We liked the idea of creating a temporary structure that could easily be assembled and disassembled, while at the same time creating a new type of public space extending into the sky and unprecedented visual experiences for people in different cities," Carlo Ratti Associati founder Carlo Ratti told Dezeen.
Top image: eight courts are stacked on top of one another in the proposal. Above: the modules would be made from a stainless-steel sandwich structure
The concept, created for Italian sport and media company RCS Sport, uses a construction technology based on a lightweight, stainless-steel sandwich structure that was developed by the Broad Sustainable Building company (BSB).
"None of this would have been possible without Broad's innovative technology of lightweight metal sandwiches – which we had already studied in detail while curating the Shenzhen Biennale last year," Ratti explained.
Each of the eight boxes in the concept is designed to have a stand-alone tennis court, with the narrow sides of the box featuring transparent walls to give the players views of the surrounding landscape.
The long sides, meanwhile, have electronic facades for streaming the game being played, or other digital content, to onlookers.
Electronic facades would screen the game being played
The courts in the proposal are stacked vertically using BSB's B-Core slab structure. B-Core slabs are prefabricated and consist of two stainless steel plates held together with an array of extremely thin core tubes.
BSB claims the construction of B-Core slab buildings is at least 10 times faster than the construction of regular buildings.
"I find the technology that is being developed by BROAD in China extremely interesting," Ratti said. "Most people have gotten to know it because of the many popular online videos of skyscrapers built in a handful days."
"What I like about it is that it allows us to construct circular buildings, where everything including the structure can be reassembled or recycled," he added.
While it's just a concept for now, Ratti hopes the Playscraper building might be realised.
"RCS commissioned it to us as a concept to be built and I know that they have been looking at its financial feasibility in detail," he said. "So I think that we stand a good chance to build it."
Even if the building isn't ever completed, coming up with these kinds of concepts are a designer's "responsibility", according to Ratti.
"I like the definition of design as an exploration into different futures," Ratti said. "As such, I think that it is our responsibility as designers to constantly introduce new ideas, even if at times they are just speculative."
He also believes that these ideas can stimulate public debate and create healthy feedback loops in society.
"As we recently wrote together with Daan Roosegarde, even fantastical concepts at times become self-fulfilling prophecies – they start circulating, aggregate support and become reality," he said.
US architecture and design school Harvard GSD has removed Philip Johnson's name from a house he built while studying at the institution in response to a campaign calling for a rethink of the late architect's legacy.
Harvard Graduate School of Design announced this week it has renamed the house Johnson designed and built in the 1940s as his GSD thesis project.
Formerly known as Philip Johnson Thesis House, the single-storey dwelling is now named after its address, 9 Ash Street.
Philip Johnson is "an inappropriate namesake"
The move is a response to a campaign by activist organisation The Johnson Study Group that has also called on New York's Museum of Modern Art to remove Johnson's name from a curatorial post in light of the architect's "commitment to white supremacy".
MoMA employs a Philip Johnson Chief Curator of Architecture and Design to honour Johnson's involvement at the museum, where he funded the creation of its architecture department.
However, according to The Johnson Study Group, the architect's "significant and consequential" commitment to white supremacy meant he should no longer be celebrated by public institutions.
Portrait of Philip Johnson by B Pietro Filardo
"We call on the Museum of Modern Art, Harvard Graduate School of Design, and any other public-facing nonprofit in the United States to remove the name of Philip Johnson from every leadership title, public space and honorific of any form," the group wrote in an open letter to MoMA and Harvard GSD.
"Philip Johnson's widely documented white supremacist views and activities make him an inappropriate namesake within any educational or cultural institution that purports to serve a wide public".
Martino Stierli, the current holder of Philip Johnson Chief Curator of Architecture and Design post at MoMA, told Architectural Record that the museum was taking the "issue very seriously and extensively researching all available information".
Dezeen has contacted MoMA but is yet to receive a response.
"Strenuous support of white supremacy has absolutely no place in design"
Harvard GSD dean Sarah Whiting announced the renaming of the Cambridge house in a response to The Johnson Study Group, which is dedicated to "studying the legacy of a 20th-century white supremacist who founded the most significant modern architectural institutions in the United States".
In the letter, Whiting agreed that the architect's actions meant it was "inappropriate" for the house to bear his name.
"The power he wielded and continues to wield make it critical that not only his own work as an architect and curator continues to be reappraised, but also that the consequences and persistent legacy of his influence in shaping the field and canon of architecture continue to be scrutinised," Whiting wrote.
"His racism, his fascism, and his strenuous support of white supremacy have absolutely no place in design."
Johnson used "curatorial work as a pretense to collaborate with the German Nazi party"
Johnson was born in 1906 in Cleveland, Ohio and became one of the best-known architects of the 20th century. He was awarded the first-ever Pritzker Architecture Prize in 1979 and died in 2005.
Called 1941: Fighting the Shadow War, the book suggests Johnson's allegiance with the regime began when he attended a youth rally led by Adolf Hitler shortly after organising a 1932 show on the International Style at MoMA. The architect's pro-Nazi efforts soon garnered attention in the US, with Harper's Magazine listed him as a leading American Nazi in an article, and the FBI tracking his activities.
The house Johnson completed for his thesis was his first built project
"He used his office at MoMA and his curatorial work as a pretense to collaborate with the German Nazi party, including personally translating propaganda, disseminating Nazi publications, and forming an affiliated fascist part in Louisiana," The Johnson Study Group's letter said.
"He effectively segregated the architectural collection at MoMA, where under his leadership (1933-1988) not a single work by any Black architect or designer was included in the collection," it added.
"He not only acquiesced in but added to the persistent practice of racism in the field of architecture, a legacy that continues to do harm today."
Thesis house was his first built project
In the book, Johnson is said to have planned to shed his ties with the Nazi regime when he enrolled at Harvard GSD aged 34, where he started an anti-fascist group on campus.
The house he completed in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1941 for his Masters of Architecture thesis was his first built project. He designed the house as one rectangular volume with a tall fence that wraps around a large outdoor courtyard. A door in the fence provides access from the street into the yard.
Johnson is said to have hosted a number of parties in the house before selling it after the war second world war. GSD purchased it in 2010 and completed a restoration project in 2016.
The call to remove the prominence of Johnson's name comes in the wake of a wider call to address systemic racism in the architecture and design industry. This followed racial unrest in the US triggered by the killing of African American George Floyd.
Protests come in wake of call to address racism in architecture
Whiting said that the removal of Johnson's name is just the start in bringing change to the "the entrenched, paradigmatic racism and white supremacy of architecture".
"We do not pretend to think our work, as a school, ends here," Whiting said. "At the GSD, we are committed to doing our part to bring much-needed, long-overdue change to the field, to a fundamental reorientation toward inclusion."
"Johnson's influence runs deep and wide, and across generations, and yet he is also just one figure among the entrenched, paradigmatic racism and white supremacy of architecture," she added.
"Undoing that legacy – of the field, not only of Johnson – is arduous and necessary, and as a school and community we are committed to seeing it through."
Read of for Whiting's full letter:
Dear Mitch and other members of the Johnson Study Group:
Thank you for this note, which I take very seriously – both as dean of the GSD and as a designer. Philip Johnson's global influence in architecture in the 20th century and his grip on the field even now, 15 years after his death, cannot be overstated.
And the power he wielded and continues to wield make it critical that not only his own work as an architect and curator continues to be reappraised, but also that the consequences and persistent legacy of his influence in shaping the field and canon of architecture continue to be scrutinized. His racism, his fascism, and his strenuous support of white supremacy have absolutely no place in design.
At Harvard, the GSD owns a private residence in Cambridge that Johnson designed and built for his thesis project at the GSD, when he attended the school in the 1940s. At the university, the house doesn't have an official name on record, although it is usually referred to as the Thesis House, or the Philip Johnson Thesis House, or some variation.
But I fully agree with your strong point about the power of institutional naming, and the integrity and legitimacy it confers. And so we are taking steps to officially recognize the house within the university as simply "9 Ash Street" – the house's physical address.
As you put it, this is a minor but clarifying step in making room for other legacies to come. I agree about this, too. We do not pretend to think our work, as a school, ends here. At the GSD, we are committed to doing our part to bring much-needed, long-overdue change to the field, to a fundamental reorientation toward inclusion. Johnson's influence runs deep and wide, and across generations, and yet he is also just one figure among the entrenched, paradigmatic racism and white supremacy of architecture.
Undoing that legacy – of the field, not only of Johnson – is arduous and necessary, and as a school and community we are committed to seeing it through.
