These immersive lamps are designed to show us exactly how bad light-pollution can be for cities

Can you remember the last time you looked up at the city sky and saw the stars? Chances are if you live in a metropolitan city, you’ll barely be able to see any stars in the sky because of how bright your surroundings are. It’s a phenomenon referred to as light pollution, or the presence of so many artificial lights that it results in ‘wasted energy’ in the form of light particles that ‘litter’ our skies. Unlike noise and dust pollution (which have pretty noticeable effects on our wellbeing), light pollution’s negative impact isn’t noticeably adverse, although it’s known to mess with our circadian rhythms, our mood, visibility, and the environment.

For billions of years, most of the earth has been used to a pretty fixed cycle of having the sun out for half the day, and darkness for the other half. Most plants and animals rely on this consistent pattern of day and night, but urban setups interfere with this cycle because cities are constantly artificially lit during the night. Notably, plants bloom open during the day and shut during the night – a process made rather difficult around streetlights or in indoor settings. Nocturnal animals find living in cities exceptionally difficult too, since years of evolution have equipped them with the ability to see and forage/hunt in pitch darkness, and well-illuminated cities often making hunting difficult with their bright lights, loud sounds, and fast-moving cars. The ill-effects of light pollution aren’t immediately apparent to us, but they affect our environments – something that designers Hao-Mei Wang and Pei-Tzu Ku are bringing to the forefront with their series – Trapped In Light.

Trapped In Light is a series of immersive experiences that tap into our empathetic side by allowing us to understand how nocturnal creatures feel in light-polluted cities. The lamps are positioned at eye-level, and require you to stand with your face inside the lampshade. The inner surface of the lampshade comes painted with cityscape artwork that is illuminated by the lamp’s bulb. Switch the bulb off, and you’d expect things to go dark, but the lamp begins glowing thanks to a coating of phosphorescent paint. You’re never in pitch darkness because the ‘city is always glowing’, and while humans are diurnal in nature, it’s easy to understand how difficult it can be for animals that need the dark to survive – either to navigate environments, to hunt, or to avoid being hunted.

The lamps, which were exhibited at the Taiwan Tech University, have an eerie appeal to them. You immediately feel a sense of being trapped because there’s no escaping the city. Even in the darkness, lingering lights from buildings, windows, roadsides, mobile screens, somehow find their way to you. Even the sky gets so illuminated by the stray photons of light that you can’t see the stars up above… a price that seems pretty small for humans, but goes against the very process of nature for some animals and plants.

Designers: Hao-Mei Wang and Pei-Tzu Ku

Artificial wood made out of Kombucha brewing waste wins the 2021 USA James Dyson Award




Winning the US-leg of the James Dyson Award, Pyrus™ (a kombucha-based wood-alternative) now progresses to the international stage of the James Dyson Award to compete with the other participants, with the international winner being declared on the 17th of November.

With its uniquely rustic, wood-like finish, Pyrus has the ability to offset the use of exotic woods as a material, helping protect fragile ecosystems in the Amazon rainforests from excess deforestation. Its primary ingredient? Kombucha! Well, rather, the Scoby from the kombucha brewing process. Right before going to college, Gabe Tavas became aware of deteriorating environmental issues and conditions after living in an indigenous community in Ecuador. His interests and research led him to focus on bio-design, where Tavas soon committed himself to creating a new, lab-grown synthetic wood that could be used as an alternative to actually felling trees for exotic woods. Tavas’ research helped him understand that wood could essentially be broken down into two components – cellulose (which gives the wood its structure) and lignin (which binds everything together like glue). Cellulose, he discovered, could also be found in abundance as a waste by-product of kombucha-brewing.

Often referred to as the ‘mother’ or the Scoby in your kombucha, the small jelly-like sheets that float on the top of your drink are rich in cellulose. Given that they aren’t consumed along with the kombucha, these sheets are either reused to brew more beverages or are discarded as a waste product. To make Pyrus, Tavas blended these sheets of cellulose to an even consistency and then embedded them in Agar, an algae-based gel. As the gel dried, it hardened significantly and could be placed under a mechanical press to form a flat sheet of wood. “This material can then be sanded, cut, and coated with resins just like its tree-based counterparts”, Tavas mentions.

Symmetry Wood (the group founded by Tavas) mentions that the one thing that sets Pyrus apart from other engineered woods is that it doesn’t harm a single tree. Engineered woods like MDF uses compressed sawdust in their production, which while being relatively waste-free compared to wood, still requires trees to be chopped/sanded/processed. Pyrus, on the other hand, can be made without harming a single tree. In fact, Symmetry Wood touts that it’s petroleum-free too, unlike other artificial woods.

Tavas has produced 74 wood samples of Pyrus in a variety of colors and textures over the past year, mimicking high-demand woods like Ebony and Mahogany among others. Pyrus woods can be treated like regular woods, being spun on lathes, cut with hacksaws, sanded, and even laser-engraved/etched. The Symmetry Wood website even lets you buy Pyrus products, including a set of 3 guitar-picks made from the ‘booch-wood’ (that’s my phrase, not theirs) as well as Pyrus Earrings.

As a winner of the USA James Dyson Award, Tavas was awarded $2,600 prize money. He plans on using it to expand production facilities and even develop 3D printing processes. “The top priority is to put Pyrus into various environmentally-friendly product forms that meet consumer needs and are commercially viable”, Tavas says. “Eventually, we hope to turn any customer interest into revenue streams that will sustain a formal company, Symmetry, and fund improvements for the material that will let it work at larger scales like furniture and even buildings.”

Designer: Gabe Tavas (Symmetry Wood)

This induction stovetop uses voice commands + haptic feedback to make cooking safer for the blind!

Cookware developed specifically for the blind and visually impaired communities requires a good blend of ergonomic and tactile design elements. While today’s product designs across industries shoot for minimalism, ditching bulky gear for a more elemental and bare look, the lack of sensory components overlooks those who might benefit from an ergonomic design, like the visually impaired community. French industrial designer Dorian Famin created Ugo, a two-part induction stovetop, to help streamline work in the kitchen for the blind community.

Ugo is a portable, two-part induction stovetop that helps blind people navigate cooking through haptic dials and an overall ergonomic build. At the center of Ugo’s design, Famin incorporated a chunky stove dial that clicks into place when turned to the right. The size of the stove dial enhances the stove’s ergonomic design by guiding the user’s sense of touch to the stovetop’s main power function. Famin’s stovetop also implements wide, easy-to-grip handles, ensuring safe carrying and boosting the stove’s tactile attributes. Ugo also recites step-by-step recipes to users, weaving in the sense of hearing to aid blind people’s experience in the kitchen. This addition allows room for users to engage with the cookware and accessories already in their kitchen and get cooking while Ugo narrates each step along the way.

While cookware for the visually impaired still has a long way to go, designers notice the lack of inclusive home products and create appliances that streamline everyday tasks. Striking a balance between tactile, bulky stove dials and clever incorporation of sensory elements, Famin’s Ugo boasts accessibility without compromising its refined personality.

Designer: Dorian Famin





The stovetop’s chunky main dial guides the user’s sense of touch to its center.

Wide, easy-to-grip handles enhance Ugo’s ergonomic design.

The two-part construction of Ugo allows users to use their own kitchen accessories when cooking.

The stovetop’s built-in heating coil adds to Ugo’s overall safety factor, allowing for flameless operation.

Braille guides fill out the front panel of Ugo to ensure that users can distinguish between the different dials and buttons.

The LED traffic signal gets redesigned with a single screen stoplight for the 21st century!

Makeshift detour notices and ancient traffic lights from the 20th century sometimes make following road rules difficult. Human error and faded signals sometimes send the wrong sign to drivers and pedestrians, resulting in car accidents and injuries. In addition to the traffic light’s archaic design, those who are color blind can have a difficult time distinguishing between red and green, stop and go. Confronting the downfalls of a design from yesteryear, Moscow-based design firm Art. Lebedev Studio developed a traffic light fixture to match today’s modern design and technological capabilities.

Requested by two cities in Russia for testing in a limited capacity, Art. Lebedev Studio’s traffic light condenses the three-tier stoplight into one digital panel that runs a continuous loop of various traffic signals. When it’s time to stop, the entire fixture emanates a red glow and projects an ‘X’ to signal to color-blind drivers that it’s time to stop. Similarly, when it’s okay to drive on, green fills the screen and an arrow indicates full speed ahead. A countdown is also displayed when each traffic signal starts, allowing drivers to countdown when it’ll be time to go and when they’ll have to slow down.

If you’re like me and the first thing you look for at a stop sign is a ‘No Turn on Red,’ posting, this traffic light from Art. Lebedev has got us covered. Nonstandard signals are also programmed into the traffic light, so drivers will know when it’s okay to turn on red among other road rules. Hybrid display panels will color half of the screen red and the other half green, with an ‘X’ indicating stop and an arrow pointing to the right signaling to drivers that right turns on red are allowed.

Bringing the new design to the pedestrian level, Art. Lebedev developed almost a little sister to the taller traffic light. Shorter than the traffic light, the pedestrian’s panel will also feature simple animations that illustrate when pedestrians can walk across busy streets and when they should hang back to wait for traffic to pass. Relying only on a 5G connection for operation, new traffic and detour information can be programmed remotely into traffic lights to keep drivers up to speed on the latest road rules.

Designer: Art. Lebedev Studio

This signal indicates that while it’s not your lane’s turn to go straight, you can turn right.





This signal shows that it’s all systems go.





Pedestrian signs are positioned beneath traffic signals, closer to the sightline of walkers and bikers alike.





This signal displays a countdown, indicating that drivers have 54 seconds before the light turns red.





LED lights radiate a glow on Art. Lebedev Studio’s signals stand out amidst city lights.





Some various signs can be condensed and displayed on Art. Lebedev Studio’s traffic light for the modern era.

Face Masks are not going anywhere, so this mask is built with an opening for drinking liquids safely during travel

Wearing face masks in airports and airplanes can get uncomfortable, especially if your trip is a long one. It can become difficult to breathe, there’s no eating or drinking, and it gets pretty sweaty under there. After traveling forty hours from the United States back to China, designer Ruitao Li developed the Umai Facemask, a silicone face covering with a breathing valve, air filter, and small mouthpiece slot that can be used to eat and drink while wearing the mask.

While we haven’t entered a post-COVID era yet, we are seeing a small light at the end of the tunnel. Rounding the corner, many restaurants and bars are opening back up to the public around the world. However, with new variants causing hot spots and surges all over the world, masks are still as necessary as ever. The Umai Facemask comes as a set, including the silicone face mask as well as a water bottle with a soft, bendable straw that fits into the mask’s mouthpiece slot.

Users can fill their bottles with their preferred beverages and say goodbye to airplane dry mouths. The removable straw can even be swapped from Umai’s water bottle and used to drink from another one. Umai Facemask’s breathing valve and air filter also make wearing a face mask feel a little more comfortable. Powered up with a type-c charge, the air filter ensures that the air you’re breathing in is clean and fresh, while the breathing valve circulates the air inside the mask to avoid the damp humidity that comes with conventional face masks.

Not eating and drinking while wearing a facemask has to be the hardest thing about traveling nowadays‒who doesn’t love airplane food? Designed to make the experience of modern travel feel a little more relaxed, the Umai Facemask doesn’t compromise the face mask’s primary purpose of keeping viruses and bacteria at bay, it enhances it. With adjustable aluminum nose pieces, hypoallergenic silicone covering, and several air filters, the Umai Facemask ensures comfort and safety.

Designer: Ruitao Li

Complete with a mouthpiece for eating and drinking, the Umai Facemask was designed to make modern travel more comfortable.

Constructed from hypoallergenic silicone, the Umai Facemask doesn’t cause acne or oily skin.

Traveling during the COVID-19 era requires a lot of caution, which can get uncomfortable.

Ruitao Li aimed to make a comfortable and safe face mask for the modern age.

Umai comes as a set, including the face mask, water bottle and bendable straw, and a type-c charger for the air filters.

Ruitao Li found that the most comfortable material for their face mask was silicone.

Medical professionals can also enjoy the benefits of eating and drinking while wearing a face mask.

The soft, bendable straw can be used for any water bottle as it is detachable.

Stocked with plenty of air filters and breathing valves, the Umai Facemask provides plenty of clean air to breathe.

These non-humanoid robots express emotion by reacting to physical touch, just like plants do!





Most often, we only see plants moving and growing when they’re filmed in slow-motion for nature documentaries. But even in those slow scenes, watching plants bloom and grow into themselves feels emotional. It’s like watching a baby tiger wake up from a cat nap on the big screen, except it doesn’t have a face and it’s green, not furry. Inspired by the growth cycle and emotive movement of plant life, student designer Keunwook Kim designed Post-Plant, a collection of non-humanoid robots that respond to and move through non-verbal, physical interaction.

Following a period of researching how humans can read emotion from non-verbal cues, Kim gathered that arousal (dynamic energy), valence (intrinsic attractiveness), and stance (visual disposition) can each be interpreted as signs for emotional analysis. Applying this information to Post-Plant, Kim’s non-humanoid robots do not express emotion through facial expression, but through movement and changing forms. Built into each one of his Post-Plant robots, Kim incorporated a motor interface that combines an input and output system, registering when the robot is touched and responding with movement.

For example, when the top of Kim’s green robot, which could also be an interpretation of Maypole dancing from Midsommar, is turned, the robot responds with arousal, by spinning its ‘leaves.’ Signaling when its valence is turning negative, the Post-Plant robot binds its leaves tightly together. Once those leaves are touched by a human, the robot spins its leaves out once more, indicating a changed, positive valence. Similarly, Post-Plant’s white robot spins its propeller-like leaves in response to being touched but shivers to express unhappiness, indicating a need to be touched once more. By studying how humans read emotion, Kim hopes to cultivate the emotional relationship we have with robots and the potential to express a robot’s emotion through non-humanoid, kinetic gestures.

Designer: Keunwook Kim

Keunwook Kim built three different non-humanoid robots resembling various forms of plant life.

Taking cues from nature, Keunwook Kim researched the different ways humans can read emotion through non-human gestures.

When expressing happiness, this robot spins out its leaves, binding them together to express a negative valence.

This robot spins its propeller-like leaves to express happiness, shivering to express the opposite.

To express happiness, the single electrical string that flows through this robot stands erect.

When unhappy, the string falls limp.

A built-in motor translates input and output information acquired via touch to respond with movement.

To express positive valence, this Post-Plant robot rotates freely.

Spinning its propeller, this robot expresses general contentedness.

Inspired by everyday objects familiar to humans, Kim conceived the form of his non-humanoid robots.

Following multiple iterations, Kim felt inspired by plant life to build the bodies of his robots.

The leaves of this robot seem to be constructed from leather bands.

These prefab cabins require zero assembly and unfold into shelters in case of emergencies!

The modern world is overwhelmed with what feels like countless crises‒climate change, human displacement, and global pandemics begins a list that barely scrapes the surface. Architects and designers alike have been taking notice and utilizing their learned disciplines to provide relief. Entering the conversation around structural relief projects, Hariri & Hariri, a New York-based architecture firm founded by Iranian sisters Gisue and Mojgan Hariri, debuted their own solution: a prefabricated folding pod or cabin that doesn’t require hands-on assembly or the need for hardware or tools.

Modeled after the intricate paper folding art of Origami, the pod’s initial folded form can fit onto flatbed trucks for efficient and manageable shipping. Once positioned for assembly, the pod from Hariri & Hariri readily expands and unfolds to create a prefabricated and modular, single-story housing unit. Born out of a need for emergency shelter across the globe, the architects behind the pod note, “In the middle of a hurricane you don’t have time for a screwdriver.” With this in mind, the pod was designed to instantaneously unfold and build itself with the push of a button. Structured like a pop-up cardboard box, hinges and hidden panels strewn across the pod’s creases aid in the unit’s assembly process. Whether multiple emergency shelters are needed or if the pod is used as a luxury single home unit for a beachside vacation, the modular construction allows the pod to either be configured together with multiple pods to form community shelters or stand alone as a single prefabricated unit.

Hariri & Hariri developed the pod into one that leans on an affordable, transportable, and efficient design by giving it a lightweight and thin exterior build. Constructed with accessible building materials like glass and Equitone panels, the pod can be acquired and utilized by most countries across the globe in need of emergency shelters. The prefabricated pod boasts simple and speedy assembly and transportation processes, making it an ideal modular unit for any event from beachside couple retreats to crowded music events or even extreme emergencies that call for immediate shelter units.

Designer: Hariri & Hariri

When situated in clusters, the pod from Hariri & Hariri can create community-wide shelters in the case of emergencies.

Alternatively, the pod can make for the perfect beachside getaway, with an open-air layout and expansive windows.

The pod can also function as a luxury single-residency for longer vacations.

Inside, the pods are roomy and offer sweeping views of the outdoors.

This tiny convertible A-frame structure is a part kiosk + part shelter designed to aid Ecuador’s unhoused population

Natura Futura Arquitectura, an architecture and design firm based in Babahoyo, Ecuador builds structural solutions that redefine community engagement. Committed to finding and bringing to life solutions for unhouse individuals who face societal challenges in everyday life, Natura Futura Arquitectura conceived The Ambulantito.

Conceptualized through the lens of those experiencing poverty in Ecuador, The Ambulantito was designed to be woven into the urban fabric of Latin American cities. The mobile kiosk provides privacy and a canopy with its A-frame structure for times when the weather requires shelter. Mounted on wheels, The Ambulantito is as much a stationary shelter as it is a traveling kiosk from which unhoused individuals can sell goods to generate income.

Designed to be protective, yet simple, The Ambulantito’s frame is built from welded metal rods, which are then overlaid with panels of locally sourced timber. The structure’s A-frame roof is complete with two eaves, one that unfolds to reveal The Abulantito’s storage shelf, where goods can be placed and sold, and the other fixed. The versatile frame of The Ambulantito at first provides a sort of mobile safebox, where folding lattice doors secure people’s belongings and goods intended for sale and then transform to become a traveling kiosk or bed with an overhead roof come night.

The changing personality of The Ambulantito was created by Natura Futura Arquitectura to adapt to the mobile lifestyle of unhoused individuals in Ecuador. With indigence rates steadily growing, the mobile shelter functions as a first step towards more permanent solutions for the societal struggles that overwhelm unhoused communities across Latin American cities.

Speaking on the design and its intended purpose, Natura Futura Arquitectura remarks, “The Ambulantito is a first small step towards raising awareness of urgent needs such as shelter, productivity, and human safety, seeking to be an engine of consciousness that opens up new possibilities and reflections on our role of responsibility regarding the realities of the city.”

Designer: Natura Futura Arquitectura

Mounted on wheels, The Ambulantito was designed to integrate the mobile lifestyle of unhoused individuals living in Ecuador.

Designed to be versatile and inconspicuous, The Ambulantito changes and blends in with the urban framework of Ecuador.

A foldable lattice wooden door provides protections for goods intended for sale and unhoused individuals’ personal belongings.

One eave folds up to reveal storage space that functions as a sales shelf for goods to purchase.

The Ambulantito comes complete with a chalkboard where the goods can be advertised for sale.

Come night, unhoused individuals can transform The Ambulantito into a sleeping space with coverage from the natural elements.

This exquisite aerial tower with 99 floating islands by Sou Fujimoto Architects visualizes our diverse future!

In the Qianhaiwan district of Shenzhen, China, the winning architectural design for the city’s New City Center Landmark competition has been given to Sou Fujimoto Architects for their floating water tower. Slated for ascent in Qianhai Bay, the new tower will appear almost like a freestanding, cylindrical water fountain. Rising to 268-meters in height, Sou Fujimoto Arhcitects’s tower will feature 99 pillar-like support beams, or “islands,” to carry the tower’s upper horizontal structure. Starting from the bay and moving towards the round upper deck, the pillars of the new tower gradually expand in width and stature to close in on the design’s symbolic ode to “the future of society in the age of diversity.”

Finding the initial inspiration for the ‘99-island’ tower, Sou Fujimoto turned to iconic landmarks like the Eiffel Tower to develop their own urban monument for the modern age, asking, “What does a new ‘tower’ mean in the 21st Century? How can a tower evolve while continuing to attract attention, as the Eiffel Tower does? And [one] which would face towards the bay?” From afar, the new tower will appear as a single entity, a solid structure, slowly distinguishing itself as a collection of columnar pillars that gradually split upon closer viewing. The illusion of being one solid structure as well as an orchestra of different parts sheds a brighter light on Sou Fujimoto Architects’ initial concept of inhabiting a future during this burgeoning age of diversity.

The new tower’s uppermost plane serves as a viewing platform, doubling as a three-dimensional exhibition space with enough room for both a restaurant and cafe. In addition to the minimal structural support that the pillars provide for the round upper deck, a centralized core bolsters the tower, which is then stabilized with a steel truss system and Kevlar tension cables located around the outer edge of the tower’s base. Constructed primarily from steel, concrete, Kevlar Rope, and carbon fiber, Sou Fujimoto Architects’ design for the New City Center Landmark competition uses structurally sound and unadorned building material to realize a contemporary microcosm of our diverse, complex, and ever-evolving world.

Designer: Sou Fujimoto Architects

Appearing as if it’s suspended from mid-air, the plan for the new tower will feature 99 island-like pillars stemming from the round upper deck to the bay.

The upper deck works as an exhibition space.

From afar, the new tower looks like a freestanding, cylindrical water fountain.

The upper viewing area is meant to appeal to tourists and residents alike as a social hub where new views of the city can be accessed.

A centralized core supports the tower while a peripherally located steel truss system and additional Kevlar tension cables stabilize it.

Inside the tower, tourists can view the bay from below and rise to 268-meters above sea level.

A three-dimensional exhibition space gives tourists space to enjoy all the amenities the new tower has to offer.

Amazon’s Amazen meditative boxes and new safety program plans to reduce workplace injuries by 50%

Striving to become ‘Earth’s Safest Place to Work,’ in 2021, Amazon pumped $300 million into safety projects. Intending to cut annual recordable incidents rates– or work-related injuries that result in loss of consciousness, days away from work, restricted work, or transferring of job in half, the giant corporation says in a press release that the new safety programs “will help prevent injuries, provide wellness services, and offer quality healthcare for employees while at work and at home.” Dubbing it WorkingWell, the new overarching safety effort consists of a comprehensive program that provides employees with physical and mental activities, wellness exercises, and healthier food options at work and home.

Coming out of a record-breaking year, accruing an annual revenue of $386 billion, Amazon shelled out $300 million for safety projects in 2021. In Amazon’s press release, it said that WorkingWell incorporates “scientifically proven health and safety education and exercises,” such as health and safety huddles where groups of employees learn in collaboration about rotating topics that range from gripping and handling machinery to health and wellness. Wellness Zones “provide employees with voluntary stretching and muscle recovery via easily accessible, dedicated spaces within Amazon’s operations buildings”. AmaZen brings employees into interactive kiosks that are dotted throughout Amazon’s factories to guide them through meditation and mindfulness practices. Keeping the press release aside, these tiny rooms or “individual interactive kiosks,” look too small to provide any actual relief. In fact, the company faced quite a backlash over their release, with Amazon actually deleting a video of Amazen they initially shared on Twitter.

EatWell positions employees to develop healthier eating habits by “increasing the availability of healthier [food] options.” Another safety effort, Amazon’s Neighborhood Health Center, manifests as a partnership with Crossover Health, providing employees with access to comprehensive primary care services that “focus on acute, chronic, and preventive primary healthcare needs.” Employees situated behind workstations will also be notified of hourly computer prompts that guide them through “scientifically proven physical and mental activities to help recharge and re-energize.” In 2019, Amazon fulfillment centers reported 14,000 severe injuries, which increased by 33% since 2016. By integrating WorkingWell into their factories and safety measures, Amazon announces a goal of cutting that number in half by 2025.

Designer: Amazon

AmaZen and EatWell provide Amazon employees with opportunities to meditate and develop healthier eating habits at work.

Group huddles allow Amazon employees to collaborate and learn about health and wellness as well as the proper handling of onsite machinery.

The hourly computer prompts remind Amazon employees to move around to “recharge and re-energize.”