Tag Archives: Outdoor Designs

Camping tents that meet all your modern millennial Glamping needs!

Posted on by

All of us have some fond camping memories from our childhood – snuggling into sleeping bags, roasting and munching on marshmallows, and giggling with our friends as we give someone a toothpaste mustache! Although times have changed since then, and camping has received a massive makeover and a new ferocious nickname – Glamping! Glamping is the new, improved and dazzling version of camping. Gone are the basic little tents and sleeping bags that we spent our nights in – luxurious tents, glamping pods, glamping cabins, and innovative campsites are all a result of the Glamping movement. So, we’ve curated a collection of super comfy, cozy, and advanced camping options that’ll have you itching to make your next getaway a Glamping one!

You can find these unique tents in the Borgloon forest in Belgium if you are looking for a safer alternative to the usual touristy destinations post the pandemic. In fact, it has gained attention only now when people are looking to camp outdoors because it is safer, won’t require you to fly, budget-friendly and avoids the crowds. Designed by the Dutch artist Dre Wapenaar, these ‘Tranendreef’ tree tents blend architecture and sculpture into one functional structure. The tent is suspended above the ground and basically hangs on the tree like fruit. The guests use a ladder to get inside/outside. It can host two adults and two small children. Originally installed as part of a public art project called ‘Pit’ (hence the avocado shape we assume) organized by Z33, it brought art into the public space of Borgloon. The designer also created ‘field furniture’ – seating, washing, toilet, and BBQ units to complete the camping site with the tents.

Camping and caravanning have always been about getting down to the bare necessities of life, living life on the road and at the mercy of the elements. However, New Zealand-based design and architecture firm W2 has decided to help amp up the experience! Their 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. With this, it increases the living space by 70 percent, and the area can also be used as a party deck! Measuring 30 feet by 8.5 feet and offering 290 square feet of living space (the same as a lot of tiny apartments these days), the caravan comes along with a living area, bedroom, kitchenette, and bathroom, all with stylish fixtures and spacious interiors.

Get ready to take a beautiful virtual tour of the O2 Treehouse by Treewalkers that blend the best of our childhood imagination with glamping reality while keeping it all an eco-friendly experience! Treewalkers is one of the leading players in the world of treetop construction – they actually make treehouses that adults cannot reason out of. The treehouses have unique geodesic domes and can be connected to create entire villages. The houses are modular so it enables franchisees to start their own village setups with one or more units – this can be a sustainable hotel, unusual Airbnb getaway, or simply a camping site that offers a different kind of stay. The innovative modular lattice design is what makes this a flexible accommodation — while catering to the individual’s needs and it also allows them to customize details. The units come with a standard bug-proof outer socket, interior furniture, and canvas canopy roofing. As part of the franchise program, hosts have the option to open up their Treewalker to other hosts in exchange for points that can be used towards other stays – sustainable community tourism! There are many intriguing shapes but the most iconic one has to be the A-shaped floating tent because that is something we have all tried to create with a blanket in our living rooms.

Jupe is a portable off-grid shelter that flatpacks so you can pick any spot on the planet and pitch your tent. The futuristic silhouette is inspired by Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: Space Odyssey which explains the aluminum pole frame and glowing Firesist fabric exterior which also make it suitable to withstand different climate conditions. The mission was not to make a quick place to stay but to create a gateway to the outside world. It can be assembled in hours and gives you a 111-square foot space featuring tall ceilings, finished Baltic birch wood floors, a queen bed, and a storage area – think something right in the middle of a tiny home and glamping pod. The large entryway doubles up as a window for your chosen scenery which you can endlessly gaze at from your queen-sized bed. The shelter also includes a 200 amp hour battery and solar array with electrical outlets, USB charging stations, dimmable LED lighting system, and a private wi-fi network if you cannot be completely off the grid.

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.

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 are 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 make the space look bigger while allowing for natural sunlight and ventilation.

Designed to be portable, adjustable, and modular too, the Beluga easily transforms based on your needs. The tent accommodates two people, although its modular nature allows you to attach multiple tents to each other to create a large camping community. The tent comes with an inner enclosure, held in place using aluminum rods, and covered with an outer cover that helps properly shield you from elements like the rain or even the sun. To help extend the tent’s footprint, the Beluga even comes with an awning that attaches to the entrance, giving you a nice shaded ‘patio’ of sorts right outside your tent. The magic, however, lies in the fact that all these components, the enclosure, clad, and the awning can be used in a variety of ways. The awning and outer clad easily double up as two individual hammocks when you want, or a hammock with its own cover when you’re looking for some shade. You could even set them up as a roofed shelter away from your tent, or even use them as awnings outside your RV or caravan. No matter your camping setup, the Beluga adjusts to give you just the shelter you need… and even if you’re faced with inclement weather or a damp/muddy campsite, the tent itself comes with an elevated entrance, so water or mud never seeps into your enclosure.

This will sound lame but the Hanging Shelter (Hængende Ly in Danish) is actually the literal meaning of hanging out – you see it? It is a lot more than a hammock strung up on trees, in fact, it is a very unique accommodation that has been custom designed using traditional shipbuilding techniques. The enclosed treehouse is nestled 2.5 meters above the ground that offers 360-degree views of the lush green Genner area in Denmark. The only way to get in and out of the Hanging Shelter is via a basic ladder. The structure is constructed with steam-bent oak which forms the curved walls and floor – something that sets it apart from similar tents and is hard to miss! To give it a height there are eight additional arched wood frames that continue to shape the rounded walls vertically. The design team has used a thin, clear membrane to wrap the entire shelter in so that you are protected from different weather conditions and are still able to soak in all the natural greenery Genner has to offer.

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 rainwater, having passive solar access, cross-ventilation to reduce power consumption, growing and preserving vegetation and more.

 

We all like a comfortable camping experience once in a while, or to be more millennial, a comfortable glamping experience once in a while! But what about our feline friends? Wouldn’t they like a warm tent to cozy up into? I mean maybe they haven’t ever thought of it…but I’m sure they would enjoy it! Well, the Cat Camp is here! And it’s a mini indoor tent, especially for our cats. It’s quite similar to the mini display tents seen in outdoor shops, and it’s exactly like the larger tents for humans except its tiny…and cuter! 21.5 x 21.5 x 14 inches in size, the Cat Camp is spacious enough to accommodate almost all breeds of cats. A side-zip makes it extremely easy to enter, and it pitches just like a normal tent. Durable and high-quality materials were used to create the tent, ensuring it can withstand your pet’s sharp claws and teeth! Layered with microfiber fleece, the tent is fluffy and warm. You can easily remove the lining whenever it needs cleaning.

Bring your yard to life with these inspirational product designs: Part 3

Posted on by

The COVID-19 pandemic has restricted most of our means of leisure, entertainment, and relaxation! Visiting our favorite restaurant, or jetting off on a little getaway are not always practical choices anymore, we need to think through our plans, take the utmost precautions, and be conscious and careful at all times. So, instead of turning outwards, why don’t we turn inwards? A great option could be using our humble backyards as recreation spaces! How about turning your backyard into an outdoor movie theatre for your family and friends, or hosting a barbecue party with the best grill in the market? We’ve curated a collection of product designs to help you transform these exciting ideas into a reality! These products will turn your yard into the ultimate fun space. We bet you won’t want to step out of your yard, once you introduce these products to it!

The Rocco multifunctional outdoor furniture by Moróro is a barbecue, a sofa, a champagne bar, and more! 2020 has been about creating intimate moments at home, and nothing says intimate like a cozy evening in your backyard! To take things up a notch, we have Rocco which is an all-rounder piece of outdoor furniture. Its clever design transforms it from a fun barbecue into a sofa or champagne bar and even a smores pit – I think it’s safe to say Rocco is an essential this year! You can add a fire bowl to the base or choose from various other accessories like a grill, tabletop, ice bucket, and parasol base. Customize Rocco to fit what you define as a chill evening.

Cineorama by Erika Hock is an outdoor viewing space, so you can sit and watch a couple of your favorite movies with your family and friends, within the comforts of your own backyard! It’s the perfect movie-watching solution during this pandemic when you wish to avoid the crowded movie theatres but also yearn for the conventional theatre experience. You can simply convert your backyard into one!

A tool used for firing clay in a kiln transforms into a minimalist bird feeder! This ceramic bird feeder doesn’t present a new solution for bird feeders but does present an approach for sustainable product manufacturing that solves a problem faced by many designers: the scrap material used during construction, like rings in clay kilns, that is discarded once the product is finished. Ceramika Design and Studio Kononenko wanted to make use of ceramic rings used when firing clay in kilns. The main element of the bird feeder is formed from ceramic – the frame and body of the bird feeder. Covering just about a quarter of the round frame is a plastic plate that functions to store plenty of food for the wild birds. Extending from the middle of the plastic plate is a wooden peg that works as a perch for birds to enjoy their seeds. It’s a beautiful sustainable design for your backyard!

The company behind this work shed has been acing the game when it comes to well-designed office furniture like flexible desks and ergonomic chairs. The Zen Work Pod was a culmination of their furniture design mission clubbed with the need of the hour. The minimalist backyard structure is a stark contrast to the existing toolsheds, it is a modern workspace equipped with all essentials needed for a ‘zen’ workday. “It provides a fresh solution that completely redefines the home office, providing maximum focus during every working hour,” says the team who especially kept creators and freelancers in mind while designing it. The pod features floor-to-ceiling windows and an angular roof all wrapped in a sturdy oak, walnut, and aluminum structure. It is compact but the minimal build and sweeping windows make it feel spacious.

The BURCH BARREL gives you unprecedented control over your barbecue process. You can operate the barbecue lid without having to touch it, or rest the grill on any uneven surface without worrying about it falling over, you can even lift the grill plate off the coal-pan to add more fuel. Moreover, when you’re not grilling food, the BURCH BARREL doubles up as a portable fireplace for those perfect sunset social gatherings. The barrel’s design is immediately striking, with a large tripod system that has the barrel suspended from the very center. This unique format keeps the barrel balanced and vertical at all times, allowing you to mount it on rocky terrain or even on slanted surfaces without any fear of the barrel tipping over. Inspired by a camera’s tripod, the BURCH BARREL comes with telescopic legs that let you orient the unit to be stable, no matter how unstable your ground is, giving it a competitive advantage over regular barbecue grills that traditionally require a flat surface like a pavement, to begin with.

The Bigfoot Table comes handcrafted out of Western Red Cedar wood with a built-in lightweight stainless steel endoskeleton to provide it with its strength. Right in the center of the table lies an opening that reveals a rectangular fireplace built right into the tabletop. The fireplace is supplied with fuel using a propane canister that can be placed in the hollow-space below and comes with a metal outer-casing to protect the wood from getting burnt. Scattered within the fireplace pit are faux-stones that help create a truly remarkable burning surface that’s perfect for roasting smores on, and the fire can be ignited electrically with a simple push of a button and even regulated with the turn of a knob. The fireplace cover is even designed to be reversed, with a game of Mancala integrated into its flip-side – with the ability to use the firestones as game pieces!

The lounger, recliner, and couch have come of age – it’s the era to usher in better ways to sit… and feel like royalty. Thanks to the ‘Hammock Throne’, you can literally feel like that. One of the biggest problems with hammocks is that you need two trees (or poles) to hold them up, and typically they are placed outdoors. Even the home-swing doesn’t match up to the comfort of lazing in the comfortable embrace of a hammock. Folks at Yellow Leaf are solving for this, by giving us the Hammock Throne. Kind of an indoor/outdoor hammock chair; this full-body contraption features a 360° swivel thanks to the anchor base. Simply sit back, relax and swivel all around on a whim. I’d put this free-standing hammock in my living room, where will you?

This device does for your smart home what your Alexa can’t. Tempest turns every part of your home into a smart home, from your front-gate to your backyard. Designed as an all-in-one weather-monitoring system that sits on your lawn, Tempest uses a variety of sensors and AI to predict the weather for your house. It enables you to plan your day better, know what to watch out for when you’re stepping out or even when you’re indoors, and most importantly, it helps calibrate your home’s energy consumption based on the forecast it generates. It’ll tell you when there’s a storm brewing minutes before the storm hits or if you should put on sunscreen when the sunlight’s harsh, it can close your garage door when it gets too windy, and it’ll automatically switch your sprinklers off if there’s a rain shower in the forecast. The Tempest runs entirely on solar power and communicates with your home using long-range Wi-Fi. It even sends back data to WeatherFlow, which collectively uses all the pooled information to accurately predict weather patterns across the world.

A portable smart fireplace is what we need for this unprecedented holiday season! My Warmth by Simon Pavy is a conceptual fireplace that was created to make having a fireplace accessible despite how your interior is laid out. The smart portable appliance also gives you the same cozy vibes while reducing work that comes with a traditional fireplace. My Warmth is the size of a humidifier or an air purifier so it doesn’t take a lot of space in your living room. There is a dial to control the temperature so you can pick the right degree for toasty toes or crank it up for smores! The all brushed aluminum gives it a sleek aesthetic that reminds me of glass domes that cover baked goods – as one should have by the fireplace. My Warmth lets you enjoy the quintessential holiday vibes with your own portable fireplace. I can already hear Nat King Cole start on those chestnuts!

Eve Aqua is a smart water controller that will continue to regularly and quantitatively irrigate your plants, lawn, flowerbed, or backyard. It is compatible with your smart devices as well as Siri so you can set up the home kit and control the system with your phone, tablet, etc. It has 7 watering periods in a day and you can set it up as per your needs and even create an autonomous schedule. These irrigation plans are stored in Eve Aqua so even if your device is disconnected, it will still do the job. It also has a two-channel water distributor so you can use it for irrigation without tying up your faucet. The auto shut-off feature makes sure you never have to watch the clock or come home to a flooded garden. It conserves a lot more water through its smart management system when compared to us doing it manually.

For more such exciting outdoor designs, check out Part 1 and Part 2 of this post!

A foldable mini stove that fits in your hiking pants!

Posted on by

Have you seen Tiny Kitchen videos? A student industrial designer, Elad Achi, took Tiny Kitchen’s stove up several notches and that is how Katipo was created. Katipo is a foldable outdoor gas stove that can fit in the palm of your hand. Imagine the weight and space that can be saved when you go camping or backpacking with Katipo instead of usual outdoor stoves.

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. The stove’s red and black look comes from a ceramic-based color that is heat resistant.

It is the perfect size when you want to go on a long hike or camp in nature and have warm meals. The stove may be small but it is a powerful outdoor trip essential and something to keep you cozy under the stars.

Designer: Elad Achi

This article was sent to us using the ‘Submit A Design’ feature.

We encourage designers/students/studios to send in their projects to be featured on Yanko Design!

Bring your yard to life with these inspirational product designs: Part 2

Posted on by

There’s no better way to spend the weekend than in your backyard, lounging about in the sun and snacking on yummy food, with your beloved family and friends! Add a barbecue session to the mix, maybe a couple of outdoor games, and the deal is sealed! So, we’ve curated a collection of awesome outdoor designs to transform your yard into the ultimate fun space. We bet you won’t want to step out of your yard, once you introduce these products to it!

Cineorama by Erika Hock is an outdoor viewing space, so you can sit and watch a couple of your favorite movies with your family and friends, within the comforts of your own backyard!

If you’ve been tempted to treat yourself to an updated version of your old BBQ grill, well then hold your horses because Noori’s multipurpose stove, the V01 model will do it all for you. It functions not only as a rocket stove but as a barbeque, pizza oven, and a fire pit. From ribs, burgers, hot dogs to wood-fired pizza, the V01 functions as a versatile cooker for all occasions. A super fun barbecue session in your backyard is guaranteed!

Danish architects Sine Lindholm and Mads-Ulrick Husum created GrowMore, an urban gardening modular design that expands as your plants grow. The modular, open-source system is made entirely out of CNC-milled plywood. The versatile planter can be bolted and unbolted in a variety of configurations, allowing you to maintain mini or larger-than-mini farms in your yard!

Ever considered adding a treehouse to your backyard? Well, the Sylvan Float Treehouse by The Canopy Crew, with its cute little hammock-style bed would be the perfect addition. A quaint spot to relax and take a breather.

The Stump Light by Duncan Meerding looks, well, exactly like a tree stump! It would merge perfectly with your backyard, an unassuming extension of nature, while illuminating it once nighttime strikes!

Studio Schicketanz’s Doggie Dreamhouse is the perfect little home for your doggo, and it can fit right in your backyard. It comes along with a green roof, so your pet can catch some fresh breeze while being surrounded by greenery.

The SPIRITs outdoor furniture collection by Dmitry Kozinenko is a range of quirky and colorful seating and table fixtures, that could really add some character to your backyard! A beautifully intricate pattern adds an intense detailing to the furniture pieces.

These wooden loungers by Somdoon Architects, naturally rise out of the wooden floor, seamlessly merging with it. Though an extremely interesting design to introduce to your backyard, we do wonder how comfortable they would be when it comes to sitting on them for longer durations of time!

kodama_lounger_02

Designed with immense attention to detail and crafted using the finest of materials, the Kodama Zomes feels just as good as it looks! The gentle, unrestricted swaying motion that is achieved by the single overhead point soothes the vestibular system and makes the Zomes a place of tranquillity and exceptional comfort.

The Forest Pavilion by ANTIREALITY looks like the ultimate playhouse for kids! It’s quite a relief that it is still a concept, for I’m sure your kids (if you have any) would be clobbering for it at first sight!

For more such exciting and interesting yard designs, check out Part 1 of this series!