Tag Archives: Caterpillar

This prefabricated steel residence is built from a single Quonset hut to find community through modularity

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The Caterpillar is a 192-foot-long, 46-foot-wide modular residence designed and built from a Quonset hut that features a compact and inhabitable cube in the center of each unit for services such as a bathroom, shower, and kitchen.

In the United States, Quonset huts were introduced in the years following World War I. Based on the earlier Nissen hut, another type of prefabricated steel structure designed by the United Kingdom for military use, Quonset huts were designated for primary use by the U.S. Navy. Chosen for its lightweight profile, the Quonset Hut is an all-purpose building that can be shipped anywhere and assembled without skilled labor.

Today, in Detroit’s Core City neighborhood, real estate development company Prince Concepts, teamed with architect Ishtiaq Rafiuddin and landscape architect Julie Bargmann to turn the Quonset hut into a 9,000sf sculpture with six residences and two live-and-work spaces.

Following True North, the neighborhood’s first live-and-work communal space, the team of architects and developers hoped to merge that same sense of community into a single Quonset hut. Dividing the lengthy residential complex into eight units, each live-and-work space features 23-foot tall ceilings that are lined with clerestory windows and a ‘Jetsons’ style genesis chamber where residents can “transform from ‘just barely awake’ to ‘ready for action,’” as the architects describe.

Constructed from unstained, polished wood, the genesis chamber is positioned neatly in the center of each unit and brings a railroad-style flow to each unit. Separating the bedroom from the kitchen and dining area, the genesis chamber contains all the services available to each unit, including the bathroom, shower, and kitchen. From the kitchen, residents pass through the bathroom to get to the main bedroom and vice versa.

Finding inspiration everywhere from music notes on a piece of sheet music to a UFO crash landing in the forest, the team of architects behind Caterpillar set out to create a type of communal sanctuary in Core City’s urban woodland, where over 150 trees call home.

Caterpillar homes in on porch culture to outfit its exterior with the same sense of openness that floods the inside of each residential unit. From windows to doors, Caterpillar features 36 different openings that bring in pools of natural light indoors during the day and emanate a golden glow from the outside come dark.

Designers: Undecorated, Studio Detroit, Prince Concepts, D.I.R.T. Studio, and SteelMaster

The inhabitable center cube outfits the home with services such as a bathroom, shower, and kitchen. 

The curved walls evoke a similar open layout seen in spiritual dome buildings. 

Designed in railroad style, the genesis chamber divides the home into two different living areas. 

The bathroom takes on a minimalist personality to blend with the unit’s open layout.

Skylights and clerestory windows bring in pools of natural light throughout each unit. 

Each unit is split into its own half-circle splice with 36 different openings lining the facades of Caterpillar. 

The post This prefabricated steel residence is built from a single Quonset hut to find community through modularity first appeared on Yanko Design.

Caterpillar S60 Smartphone Packs a FLIR Camera

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Caterpillar makes tough stuff. It’s known for its range of job-site tools and vehicles, but now it’s venturing into the smartphone business. You’d think it an odd choice, until you see the S60 Smartphone they’re releasing. Its most interesting feature is that it’s the first smartphone with an integrated FLIR camera, which lets on-site workers easily detect “heat loss around windows or doors, spotting moisture or missing insulation, or indentifying misfit electric appliances.” But when you’re not pointing the thing around looking for errant heat, you can be sure the device will survive life on the job site thanks to its “Mil Spec 810G case that can withstand drops of 1.8 meters and is waterproof to 5 meters, a die-cast frame, and a 4.7-inch touchscreen with automatic wet finger and glove support.” It’s got everything a construction worker or contractor would ever want, runs Android Marshmallow with 3GB of RAM on a Snapdragon 617 Octa-core processor, and costs all of $600, available “later this year.”

[ Press Release ] VIA [ Uncrate ]

Toddler-size Caterpillar Digger Toy Really Works

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When my son was really young, our local park had these digger toys attached to concrete pylons that the kids could actually dig with. I saw more than a few toddler brawls there when everyone didn’t get their turn. If you have a kid that likes to dig holes, this is the Christmas gift for them.

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This Caterpillar digger has tank treads on the bottom to make it easy to move around. It also has a seat and looks like a real backhoe. It has a mechanical action controlled with a big lever that actually allows it to dig.

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It’s not cheap at $400, but this little beast is made from steel and should last for generations. It looks like the sort of toy your kid could give to his kid 25 years from now.

[via Toyland]

Excavators Play Jenga with 600 Pound Blocks

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Bigger is always better, especially if you want to get the internet’s attention. This super-sized game of Jenga should get the even the most cynical netizens to take notice.
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This is Jenga on steroids. Note that call the game “Stack”, because nobody wants to get sued. The playing pieces are 600-pound blocks of wood and the players are operating five different pieces of heavy equipment to remove them. The video is a promotional video from Cat Products (Caterpillar) and you have to hand it to them, this is a great way to draw attention to their equipment.

All I know is, When that stack falls over, you’d better be standing well away from it.

[via Viral Viral Videos via Neatorama]

Caterpillar CAT B15 Rugged Smartphone Will Go Places You Can’t

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How many times have you dropped your smartphone? I’ve dropped mine plenty of times, especially when I’m tired. Thankfully, I use a case that helps alleviate any damage that my phone might incur. That being said, check out this über-rugged Android smartphone from Caterpillar – designed to be durable right out o the box.

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The Caterpillar CAT B15 is the successor of last year’s CAT B10. It’s built to outlast you. Its case combines aluminum and rubber so that the phone can survive drops as high as 5.9 feet onto hard surfaces. It can also stay immersed in 3.3 feet of water for 30 minutes before things go wrong. Plus, it can withstand temperatures from -4°F to 122°F.

caterpillar cat b15 android phone

The CAT B15 runs a super-clean, stock version of Android Jelly Bean (4.1.2), has a 4-inch WVGA screen, dual-core 1GHz Cortex A9 processor, 512 MB of RAM, and a 5 MP camera. It will release in the UK and Europe later this month for £299/€299 (~$454 USD). There’s no word yet on pricing or a release date for other countries.

[via T3]

Caterpillar CAT B15 rugged smartphone hands-on

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Caterpilar CAT B15 rugged smartphone handson

Caterpillar's signature yellow and black CAT branding was definitely spinning heads and getting passerby's attention as it showed off its rugged B15. As far as tough goes the handset's corners are wrapped in rubber with the connections in between covered with anodized aluminum. The B15 is IP67 certified, which means both protected from dust and waterproof up to 3.3 feet for 30 minutes and can be dropped from about six feet and live to tell the tale -- you, however, may not. Other notables include a 4-inch WVGA display, dual-core 1GHz Cortex-A9 and a 5-megapixel camera that'll shoot 720p video and can do continuous pic shooting.

Sadly, we forgot our rubber mallet at home so we couldn't try to beat it to pieces but we did appreciate the housing on the CAT phone it's surprisingly nice to hold and well put together. Sure, there's a wee bit of overkill with the tough machine branding, but we're sure this phone will garner a bit of a following. Our favorite bit? The Caterpillar phone features something called wet finger tracking, so even if you happen to fall into a deep puddle while using your B15, you can finish whatever you were up to before tumbling. The B15 ships in March for a cool $436, though, there's no word on what carrier's planning to scoop this up -- see what we did there? There's a gallery of the B15 in all its tough guy splendor after the break.

Gallery: Caterpillar CAT B15 rugged smartphone hands-on

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