The O’Reilly’s campground is nestled in Queensland’s lush Lamington National Park and is an example of how glamping can be eco-friendly if we make the right design choices! The project shines a light on architecture-inspired ecotourism with a fully functioning campsite equipped with all amenities. O’Reilly is different because it was created keeping sustainable building practices at its core so as to not disturb the pristine landscape but at the same time let guests be immersed in it.
The campground includes buildings featuring a kitchen, common gathering spaces, a fire pit and more. All the facilities were carefully constructed by consciously choosing to make it environmentally friendly – lightweight structures used sustainably sourced timber, an on site sewer treatment to avoid adding waste to natural water bodies, collecting rain water, having passive solar access, cross ventilation to reduce power consumption, growing and preserving vegetation and more.
Guests will be able to enjoy an authentic camping experience without the hassle of bringing their own equipment (such as safari tents, linen, firewood and food) or pretending to be on an episode of the Survivor. The campground has universal design so it is accessible and inclusive of all groups of people who want to spend time in nature. Guests can choose to stay in glamping safari tents or bring their RVs as the site provides a place for both powered and unpowered vehicles.
O’Reilly’s architectural design was the bridge to help facilitate a deeper connection to the environment and that commitment is seen in every element of the campground – skeletal structure resembles a tree canopy so it can provide shelter while protecting the views of the surrounding mountain ranges and the interior elements are filled with linear structural design details to represent the linear patterns of the surrounding rainforests! The glamping site is an embodiment of a beautiful, respectful and playful relationship between humans and nature.
The pandemic has given a boost to road trips, local travel, and camping as borders remain shut and air travel increases risks. The easiest way to catch your breath, take a break, and spend time away from home while rejuvenating is to go to a local camping ground! While looking at interesting campsites I found Culture Campsite which was designed by architects to be an urban oasis filled with quirky pods that will give you the escape you’re craving while not ‘wasting’ any resources or time!
A team of Dutch designers and artists transformed a concrete parking lot in Rotterdam’s Delfshaven area into a sustainable urban camping ground making it more accessible for people. There is a range of cool architectural cabins to choose from and they are all built using upcycled and waste stream materials. The idea was to show not tell – this way people could experience living in a sustainable structure themselves and find that it can be incorporated into their lifestyle! The pods are all smaller than a tiny house but way more exciting than a tent because of their unique builds and each of them showcases innovative sustainable elements. Every cabin offers a special experience and my favorite one is the Val Ross cabin because it reminds me of the rocket emoji (yes, I am a space nerd!). Val Ross is Swedish for walrus and is constructed from old animal silos which are tall towers used to store food on a farm. It has one bedroom with a double-bed which is comfortable for 1-2 people. The cabin is insulated for the colder seasons and has a cool circular window like we imagine rockets to have!
“The principle of waste architecture is designing and sketching with the materials and objects that are available. Playing with form, material, and color leads to new insights and forms that cannot be imagined on a white sheet of paper. It requires a different way of designing to change, adapt and merge existing forms,” says Boris Duijenveld, founder of Mud (Mobile Urban Design) Projects and one of the designers from the artistic collaboration that gave us Culture Campsite. Meals will be served at the geodesic done and, yes, there is a communal bathroom area for your other needs. You can also enjoy yoga classes, outdoor activities, and a multi-day course on tiny house design so you can come up with your own sustainable cabin! It is surely different from a traditional camping trip and gives you a little Narnia moment in the city where you can escape to from time to time.
Let’s up our camping game to level ‘glamping’ with this solar-powered water purifier and pump! You never have to worry about carrying cartons of bottled water and calculating if that is enough for the group for all days. No math and no increasing plastic waste when we have GoSun Flow – a portable water purifier that is also a sink and provides water for shower all while storing the solar energy that it creates.
The GoSun Flow is made keeping in mind that it is small enough to fit into a backpack so it doesn’t add to the minimal essentials one has to carry during their trip. It uses solar energy to filter 99.99% of pathogens from water and is able to pump 1 liter of clean water per minute! Apart from providing safe drinking water it also doubles up as a portable handwashing station and hot shower. Having a hot shower (the one thing you miss the most during camping) is such an upgrade because that means we don’t have to jump into a cold water body, everyone knows the right temperature of hot water in the showers is basically therapy for your soul.
It is super easy to get this energy-efficient appliance running – place the intake hose into any water source (except salt water), plug in the pump, and it will automatically start filtering the water. To use the faucet or shower, simply clamp the faucet and flip on the pump! “The Flex Faucet’s integrated clamp can open to over two and a quarter inches (58mm) so it attaches anywhere: branches, tables, tailgates, fences, etc. The flexible head can twist, bend, and point water wherever you need it” explains the team.
The filter lasts for 1,000 liters of filtration and can be easily replaced. The camping appliance uses an innovative 3-stage cartridge filter to remove 99.99% of pathogens. The first filter is a polypropylene filter disc that removes large particles like dirt, rust, and sand. The second filter is a high-efficiency carbon filter that absorbs hazardous chemicals and heavy metals. And the third filter is a nano aluminum fiber filter that creates an electropositive charge in a labyrinth of fibers to trap and kill the tiniest particles and organisms in your water.
To make it effortless, GoSun Flow uses a USB-powered pump that does the work for you and provides a flow of water anywhere you want and that too within a minute – say goodbye to manual pumping although it did provide a good arm workout. The pump is powered by a power bank that can pump over 100 gallons of water on a single charge. The best part? You can recharge it with the integrated solar panel that plugs right into the power bank. GoSun has always believed in designing products that don’t require fuel or resupply and this water pump + purifier is another amazing addition to their range of essentials that keep you prepared for emergencies.
With GoSun Flow you can have access to clean water anywhere. It is not only essential for camping but also allows you to sanitize yourself when there is a shortage – think of remote medical camps where the rural areas don’t have access to clean water. It is so much more than a hot shower when you are out in the woods, it is using the source that gives Earth life to give you life.
As the weekend comes closer, I get drawn into looking at cabins because all I can think of is a few relaxing days away from the collective chaos of the world. I bet all of us feel that way right now and my cabin obsession regularly returns each weekend so I have decided to share my newest find – this conceptual glamping pod called Lara!
The minimal circular cabin is a luxurious treat we deserve! One of Lara’s most exclusive features is a round patio complete with a jacuzzi and a lounging area. While the cabin is envisioned to be set amidst trees to provide privacy, the designer has added a handful of plants to brighten up the woody design of the patio. The white exterior contrasts elegantly with the lush natural location. The tiny cabin’s ground level hosts a sem-circular room with a modern fireplace – the ones where there is a slit in the stone for the flames! It also has a fully functioning bathroom, however, the provisions for a pantry or a small cooking space is missing for now. There is another small seating area just outside the room and the fireplace built inside is also shared by this space through the glass encasement. Even though the glamping pod is small, the sweeping floor to ceiling windows makes the space look bigger while allowing for natural sunlight and ventilation.
Lara is a beautiful getaway house and if a kitchenette is added, I will willingly move here as long as the work from home trend continues. Or maybe I just move there with a grill and then have a 6 month long BBQ party for one to make up for the lost summer of 2020.
Camping, as it is shown on Pinterest, shows warm cozy fairy-lights filled space with people laughing. But camping, in reality, is a much messier business! We can’t control the elements around us while out in the wild but the products we carry with us can make or break the situation. Now that the world is slowly going back to its new normal, we all want to take a break away from confined places and camping is one of the best ways to do it – and the curated collection here today shows you the best way to turn camping into a glamping experience with ease!
W2 Architecture’s revolutionary trailer design, Romotow, the name an amalgamation of ‘room to move’ contains all the usual RV features but with an innovative 90-degree twist. With the press of a simple electric button, it swivels open, rotating at 90 degrees, to reveal an open synthetic teak deck, and 70% more living space.
HydraCell was designed to give you instant power if you were outdoors or had an emergency. Hydralight’s water-activated fuel cell can charge your devices and provide light for days – a must-have for campers. It is also eco-friendly, all the waste generated from creating the HydraCell is 100% biodegradable and doesn’t add to toxic landfill waste like most flashlights. When you need power during a storm or outdoors we use batteries but are they really reliable? More often than not, batteries are dead, or faulty they haven’t been used, and while you can recharge some during a power cut that is not an option. HydraCell fills this negative gap that batteries have with positive innovation. It can provide up to 100 hours of light and charge up to 10 phones with a single charge plate.
At just 2.24 inches long when folded shut, the Falcon by Leo Zhang is no larger than the average pinky finger, but size doesn’t take away from the Falcon’s capabilities… because even for a knife that small, it can easily take on the job of EDC knives that are thrice its size. It’s safe to say that the Falcon is inspired directly by its namesake, with a small, sharp, claw-shaped design that looks similar to the tiny yet powerful talons found on the feet of predatory birds. Small enough to securely grip between your thumb and index finger, the knife cuts into vegetables, opens boxes, sharpens pencils, and can even be used to scrape flint-sticks and start fires.
Elad Achi’s Katipo got its name because its shape and form resembles that of a Katipo spider. It is an Australian redback spider that is small in size with long legs that bend at angles which inspired the stove’s own leg stand and tiny size. The Katipo is a stainless steel stove that folds into a portable size of 50 mm wide and 120 mm long, and when opened it is 180 mm in diameter. “Each leg has a cutting edge that stops its motion by a stopper pin and opens to the angle of 120° and thus produces an equal opening to them all perfectly” explains Elad Achi. Apart from the product proportions, even the colors of the stove were inspired by the spider’s red and black body.
A1R Powered Outdoor Gear by Kendall Toerner and Alexander Ordonez gives you the tools that let you enjoy your hike or camping trip peacefully because you are equipped with a problem-solving gadget. Personally, I am someone who will panic if I am in a forest and things don’t go as planned so having like this on me is very reassuring as opposed to being left to survive with a map, compass, and my phone (which is probably in single-digit battery levels). A1R is a weatherproof device fueled by renewable energy source, air/wind, that lasts for days and serves the purpose of a navigator, power bank, tracker, water/snow/saltwater purifier, and an emergency beacon. It is basically a sleek and sustainable Jarvis for any camper!
Cybertruck enthusiast, Joe, has designed this futuristic camper that was discovered on a fan website. The renders are similar to that of Tesla’s bulletproof camper configuration but the difference lies in the number of jokes that Joe endured vs Elon Musk. The Cyber Camper’s monoplane design extends into a canopy on the rear side of the vehicle. It comes in a smaller solo option and a slightly larger duo option which is based on the sleeping quarters secured in its angular shell. The duo version provides extra cabin space with its wider frame and also has more windows on both the front and back.
Designed to be the world’s first portable bidet, Sonny is practically the size and shape of a baton and can be stored anywhere or carried around with you. Using a battery-powered motor and an internal water tank that you can top off before you head to the loo, Sonny generates a micro-shower to help you clean up after your business, effectively, hygienically, and sustainably. With an easy-to-use interface, Sonny comes with normal and high-spray settings that shoot water for anywhere between 25-40 seconds (depending on the spray intensity), enough to clean your behind. Besides, much like a bidet, Sonny can even be used on your nether regions too, to keep things hygienic and fresh.
Designed by Andrew Gardner & Jacob Campbell, industrial designers with a true passion for the outdoors, the AERIAL A1 quite literally elevates the idea of camping. Rather than pitching tents in the ground, this one straps itself to trees (or even cars), taking your camping experience up a notch. Climb into the AERIAL A1 and you literally feel like you’re sleeping on clouds. The tent’s slackline structure requires you to stretch the base out so it’s virtually flat (unlike a hammock, which naturally takes a curve)… this effectively gives the AERIAL A1’s tent-bed its ‘spring’, making it feel like a cross between a hammock and a waterbed. The AERIAL A1 can easily be mounted over rocks, roots, or even a river. If the ground isn’t suited for tent-pitching, or if you just want to ‘upgrade’ your camping experience, the AERIAL A1 can quite easily be suspended above the ground.
OUMBRA by Ho Hsiang Chang is a new projector design that makes this summertime activity a cinch with its compact form and straightforward functionality. Whether you’re camping, barbecuing while you and friends watch the game, or want to have a scary movie night in your backyard, OUMBRA can project your media almost anywhere. Its simplistic yet versatile stand can be rotated 360° to project in any direction. It can also be used as a convenient handle to carry the device. Eight speakers are integrated directly into the body of the projector for hi-def, multidirectional audio to accompany your video. When it’s not being used to project, you can tilt it up and throw on your favorite tunes!
For a portable fireplace, the SPIN by Christian Wassermann and Thomas Kaiser of höfats is a pretty neat device that also gives you the added advantage of a pyrotechnic light show. It uses a 500ml can of bioethanol gel that burns using 100% environmentally clean energy. Perfect for outdoor as well as indoor use, the SPIN comes with two baseplates (one regular, one elevated) that can be rested on any surface, as well as a garden-pole base that turns it into a tiki-torch you can plant in the ground. With a light source that can burn for as long as 1.5-2 hours, the SPIN makes an incredibly eye-catching miniature fireplace that does more than supplying warmth and light… it creates a hypnotic flaming vortex that’s definitely worth admiring, or taking slow-mo videos of for the ‘gram!
Now while we all want to run to the outdoors and spend a week living in the fresh, open space, we can’t just forget about the pandemic and the precautions we need to carry. So every time you step out gear up with the new EDC – face masks, PPE, and objects that limit you from touching multiple surfaces. Stay safe!
When you’re on an outdoor adventure, whether you’re hiking, trekking or camping in the wild, it’s very important to have the right products by your side. These are the items that could make your life much easier, or very difficult, especially during those crucial moments. From a portable bidet (yes, you read that right!) to getting your perfect coffee in the morning, this list is full of products that will add an element of comfort and familiarity when you are in the big outdoors!
W2 Architecture’s revolutionary trailer design, Romotow, the name an amalgamation of ‘room to move’ contains all the usual RV features but with an innovative 90-degree twist. With the press of a simple electric button, it swivels open, rotating at 90 degrees, to reveal an open synthetic teak deck, and 70% more living space.
Designed by Omri Hillel, the Luft Travel Chess-Set is a solution for people who want to carry their board games around in a portable avatar without compromising on the quality of gameplay. The board is a flexible leather mat, while the chess pieces are, in fact, tiny pebbles that you collect from around you while you’re outdoors. Just put the silicone bands around the pebbles and you’re ready to play crude, creative chess!
The GPCA Carabiner can handle it all! The multifunctional EDC serves as a Philips head and a flathead screwdriver, as well as a box-cutter. The frame itself is optimized for function too, with a bottle opener and a prybar built right into its bottom. The carabiner’s clip comes with a spring-loaded gate and a knurled ring that locks the clip in its place. Screw the ring upwards and the gate also has a secret hidden compartment for a flintstone too.
COFFEEJACK by Ashley Hribar-Green & Matthew Aston Cain is the smallest espresso machine on the market (only 100mm high) while producing coffee shop quality coffee. It has a patent-pending micro-hydraulic press inside it that can pump out coffee at a magical excess of 9 bars of pressure, rivaling any professional-grade espresso maker.
Designed with the soul of a sleeping bag, The Layover is a blanket by Chris Livingston, Lance Williams, Henry Lee & Monika Robinson and is explicitly built for traveling with. The Layover blanket, with its full-body design, still manages to pack down into a compact form that’s roughly the size of your face. It stores pretty easily in suitcases, or can even be strung to a backpack. When packed, the Layover makes a neat makeshift travel pillow, but its true magic is only when you open it into its versatile form, that can serve as anything from an outdoor mat to spread on a lawn or a beach.
Designed by Evgenija Medvedeva, nuka comprises of an eternal pencil, made of a specialized alloy tip that can oxidize a paper’s surface without a residue, essentially making it run forever (and not need sharpening either). While that, in itself, is pretty marvelous, it comes with nuka’s invincible notebook. The notebook is waterproof, tear-proof, and works wonderfully in conjunction with the nuka pencil. Together, you can take notes practically anywhere, anyhow.
The Rapid Sol Gen 2 is your unlimited power-source outdoors. Tapping into free and omnipotent solar power, Rapid Sol Gen 2 lets you charge all your gadgets on the go. Its portable design fits three flexible solar panels as well as a 3700 mAh battery pack right into your pocket, letting you power your devices anywhere you may be. Designed by Samraat Ghosh, Ricardo Zapata, Evolution Wear, SEG UNIVERSE & SuncoreSolar.
Designed by Bret Recor & Kenneth Young of Box Clevert to be the world’s first portable bidet, Sonny is practically the size and shape of a baton and can be stored anywhere or carried around with you. Using a battery-powered motor and an internal water tank that you can top off before you head to the loo, Sonny generates a micro-shower to help you clean up after your business, effectively, hygienically, and sustainably.
Designed by Jorg Neugebauer & Kai Wiehagen, the FLECTR LUBRI DISC helps you lube your bike chain in seconds. It keeps the process clean and is eco-friendly. The best part is that you will not have to dirty your fingers. It delivers the lube reliably and evenly to your chain in just seconds! It is an incredible tool for the basic care of your bike chain.
Designed by Dapper Design, LLC, KLIP is a Titanium Pocket Knife and EDC suspension hook. An awesome everyday-carry suspension key hook with a built-in pocket knife, KLIP is crafted from Grade 5 Titanium with a stonewashed finish. The first combination of its kind, KLIP neatly carries your keys and features a built-in precision blade.
Product designer Alex Worthington created Freflow, a portable generator powered by the natural elements; water and wind! Place the generator in an active stream, or mount it on its accompanying stand and position it facing a windy direction, and watch as the turbine gets moving.
The Muncher by Full Windsor isn’t a multi-tool, it’s a multi-utensil! Built for the slightly sophisticated Bear Grylls in you, this little piece of metal fits all the tools you need to survive in the wild. Weighing in at a mere 0.7 ounces (20grams) this bad-boy fits in 10 different pieces of camping equipment into one slick, pocketable mass.
For more such super handy and convenient outdoor product designs, click here!
Our connected lives can be overwhelming. A constant stream of notifications, horrifying news, and seriously, why hasn't your latest Instagram post of your cat not broken 10 likes? It's information overload and the remedy is the alluring pull of t...
Our connected lives can be overwhelming. A constant stream of notifications, horrifying news, and seriously, why hasn't your latest Instagram post of your cat not broken 10 likes? It's information overload and the remedy is the alluring pull of t...