This Polestar-inspired aircraft mobility design features a built-in greenhouse to resolve deforestation issues!

The Polestar Forest Air Mobility concept is an aircraft concept from Pan Ziheng that has its own greenhouse to work in an environmental solution for modern deforestation issues while bridging a human need for mobility with today’s COVID-19 health and safety concerns.

Social distancing is one of the many ‘new normals’ we’ve incorporated into our daily lives as a result of the pandemic. But while coffee lines enforce the six-foot rule, aircraft and public transportation services are now back to programmed scheduling, stuffing each vehicle wall-to-wall with passengers. To strike a balance between the natural need for mobility and travel with today’s health and social distancing concerns, Pan Ziheng developed a futuristic Forest Air Mobility concept that also attempts to tie in environmental solutions for modern deforestation issues.

Pan Ziheng’s Forest Air Mobility concept envisions separate capsules for two individual passengers aboard the aircraft. Each personal cabin is stationed far enough away from one another so that the aircraft’s passengers do not cross paths. Pan Ziheng felt inspired to conceptualize their Forest Air Mobility concept design after recognizing the parallels between humans comprising a society and trees forming a forest. Describing their concept design in their own words, Pan Ziheng says, “Just like trees, human beings need to live together to be a functional society just like forests. However, at the same time, we need our personal space. [My] forest concept wants to provide a solution to this problem: public air transportation where we can travel together yet can still have a personal space.”

Conceptualized around a forest called Polestar Forest, Pan Ziheng ideated that their aircraft would host a greenhouse that grows saplings to be planted in the Polestar Forest, enlarging its forested acreage and providing timber resources for the larger Polestar community. The carbon dioxide captured by the aircraft’s battery would filter through a carbon transfer tube to feed the plants inside the aircraft’s built-in greenhouse and store any excess. In time, the Polestar Forest would stand as an emblem for the Polestar community, representing core sustainable values.

Designer: Pan Ziheng

Each passenger’s vessel is kept at a safe distance from one another to ensure responsible social distancing between aircraft personnel.

A carbon dioxide transfer tube stores and converts carbon dioxide to feed the plant life inside the greenhouse. The vertical rise of the Polestar Forest Air Mobility Concept is futuristic in and of itself.

A detailed Scandinavian-inspired bench design that adapts to life in the post-quarantine normal

A lot of words have been added to our everyday vocabulary since last year – COVID, quarantine, social distancing, to name a few. So much have we isolated from people, that we have developed post-quarantine social anxiety. Simply put, social anxiety is the fear of social interactions, the kind that were even a part of our daily life before quarantine, where people have reported loss at how to behave with strangers and carry on social niceties. In some cases, the severity of the anxiety even manifests physically by causing sweating, palpitations or even panic attacks. As a way of re-entering society without the burden of interaction, the A-part bench was designed.

Cleverly named, the A-part bench (a play on apart) is a bench that allows you to regulate the distance you want to retain between yourself and the person sitting next to you. The bench is designed to literally help you bridge the distance, meet up a friend you have been dying to see while having them respect the distance you need so you can focus on the happiness of meeting up. The beauty of this design transcends social distancing. If you need a moment to sit in a park without having someone sit next to you, to get that isolation you crave, the A-part bench is your friend in need. The bench comes equipped with adjustable slats that you can move around to create seating of your choice. It can two people at the very edges or you can space out the slats to turn the entire bench into a co-shared experience, A-part gives you the power to choose and regulate your surroundings.

The versatile design allows it to function as an interior bench with its Scandinavian simplicity makes it easy to merge in with most aesthetics. A-part stands for two different things – to be a little distance away from one another and it also stands for being a part of something bigger than itself. In this way, the A-part bench is your way to feel comfortable with yourself in a crowd while still being a part of the crowd.

Designer: Loukas Chondros in collaboration with Oxymoro Design

Daan Roosegaarde designed an artificial ‘sun’ that can disinfect public spaces with UV light

The Urban Sun, designed by Studio Roosegaarde along with a team of scientists and virus experts, aims at bringing the rehabilitating power of the sun to public spaces. The artificial sun hovers above open areas, with a UVC lamp underneath it, creating an eclipse-like halo that disinfects everything within its reach. The Urban Sun uses a special 222nm wavelength of Far-UVC that’s powerful at killing the coronavirus but remains completely safe for human exposure.

The video above begins with a simple premise, “Imagine a place where you could meet again”. The Urban Sun hopes to make public spaces safe again. “The goal is not to say that we don’t need the vaccine or we that don’t need masks,” said Roosegaarde. “Urban Sun doesn’t cure coronavirus, but it does allow social gatherings to be safer.” The UV 222 light, specially calibrated and tested by the Dutch National Metrology Institute VSL, can neutralize 99.9% of all viruses in minutes, making social interactions a possibility, and encouraging people to congregate again, safely.

Urban Sun works by being tethered to overhead cables and suspended over a large area. It comes with two broad parts – a powerful lamp that illuminates akin to an artificial sun, and an orb containing the UV 222 lamp underneath that washes spaces with safe, disinfecting UVC light, allowing people to interact while vastly minimizing the risk of spreading viruses like the Coronavirus or even the influenza virus. The Urban Sun was designed in response to how the world changed overnight in the wake of the pandemic. “Suddenly our world is filled with plastic barriers and distance stickers, our family reduced to pixels on a computer screen. Let’s be the architects of our new normal and create better places to meet”, said Daan Roosegaarde, founder of Studio Roosegaarde. A self-funded project, the Urban Sun began in 2019 and eventually blossomed into an interdisciplinary collaboration between designers, scientists, and researchers from the USA, Japan, Italy, and the Netherlands. The studio developed the first prototype to work in Somerset House in London, although Daan envisions the Urban Sun as being installed at open public spaces to make social interaction safe again, and hopes to take Urban Sun to large-scale events such as the Olympic Games or the Burning Man Festival.

Designer: Daan Roosegaarde (Studio Roosegaarde)

This modular hotel concept merges environmentalism with escapism, making it the ideal retreat for 2021!


Koto Design, a team of architects and designers known for constructing Scandinavian-inspired modular homes and small buildings, has recently teamed up with Aylott + Van Tromp, an experience-driven design and strategy team, to deliver Hytte, a new modular hotel concept. The collaboration was one born of the times. With the onset of COVID-19 came socially distancing regulations, which put a damper on a lot of our travel plans. However, the regulations have also brought us closer to a collective quest for community and a renewed sense of environmentalism. Noticing this, Koto Design and Aylott + Van Tromp conceptualized Hytte.

Similar in appearance to Koto Design’s existing geometric cabins, Hytte is a modular concept that delivers clusters of cabin units to landowners, developers, and operators who hope to provide an escapist experience to guests looking for a retreat or holiday. The makers at Koto Design and Aylott + Van Tromp design and build everything from the ebony black exterior to the cabin’s refined interiors. Merging with the natural surroundings, the cabins capture a minimalist Nordic design, with a soothing balance of natural wood and marbled stone interiors. Inside the units, guests will find a single room with a wood stove fireplace, a sunken bed that merges with a nearby window bench and storage area, a separate bathroom, and finally, a cathedral skylight that brings guests even closer to the outdoors.

Each concept is based around a single cabin unit, which can increase to a cluster of multiple modular units, reinforcing the comfort of a community that socially distanced regulations have curbed by means of hotel shutdowns and resort modifications. In constructing the modular concept of Hytte, Koto Design and Aylott + Van Tromp hope to reinstill a sense of community for those looking for a retreat and to present it in settings that encourage guests to reflect on the relationship between travelers and their environment.

Designers: Koto Design x Aylott + Van Tromp

Hytte cabins merge with the surrounding outdoors no matter where they’re placed.

Reinforcing a traditional sense of community, Hytte can accommodate clusters of cabins.

“Hytte redefines prefabricated, modular hotels and retreats dedicated to creating space for escapism.”

Ebony-stained wooden panes line the exterior of each cabin unit.

Come night, each cabin blends into the darkness, emanating only the light that comes from indoors.

Each bathroom in Hytte’s cabins comes equipped with storage areas, a shower, and a wash basin.

Hytte’s cabins include a king-sized sunken bed that merges with the unit’s glass windows.

“They are fully constructed & fitted out and furnished within the factory and will arrive on site ready to be used.”

Yelp will tell you which restaurants aren’t following COVID-19 guidelines

Yelp recently introduced a COVID-19 section on its app, allowing businesses to detail the sanitary measures they’ve taken to protect clients. Now, the review site is allowing customers to provide feedback on those practices. You can report if staff a...

This Telescoping Social Distancing Zapper Is a Sign of the Times

How do you remind someone to practice social distancing? Personally I just yell. LOUD. But maybe you’re a quiet person. Maybe you just want to politely remind someone with a 4.5-volt shock to the arm from this Socially Distancing Zapper from Firebox. Hey, I can respect that.

The Socially Distancing Zapper costs $14 and is small enough to fit in your pocket, but telescopes long enough so that, combined with the length of your arm provided you aren’t a T-rex that has somehow managed to travel to the future, should maintain a six-foot social distance from someone while you administer their shock. And remember: always aim for any sweat on their arm for maximum effectiveness.

Obviously, the 4.5 volts is just barely enough to elicit a tingle from someone, but if anybody zaps me with one of these things you better believe I’m going to pee my pants than fake death.

IDEO’s Winter Dining challenge’s winning designs balance safety without sacrificing the experience!

IDEO launched its very own Chicago-based Winter Dining Challenge during the age of COVID-19. Through this challenge, the city of Chicago aims to stimulate and encourage safe dining from Lake Michigan to Chicago Lawn and everywhere in between. This challenge is 2020 pandemic-specific since alternative dining experiences have been at the forefront of everyone’s minds, as you probably already know. On October 8th, IDEO announced the top designs for Chicago, each of which brought with them a distinct interpretation of safe, yet lively dining experiences.

Cozy Cabins

Inspired by ice fishing huts, Young designed modular, transparent cabins so that dinner guests can enjoy the bustling streets of Chicago while maintaining safety protocol for social distancing. The cabins are identical in size and shape, which makes it easy to reproduce in other cities, fitting easily within average-sized parking spaces. Best yet, the cabins are also simply produced, requiring only wood, corrugated metal, polycarbonate plastic, and standard framing hardware. Additionally, these cabins are inexpensive to make and integrate a floor-heating system in order to keep diners warm while they enjoy their meals. Cozy Cabin would offer Chicagoans a warm, appetizing retreat during the city’s notoriously frigid winter months.

Designers:  Amy Young x ASD | SKY 

Each Cozy Cabin is identical in size and shape, making the process of construction and reproduction manageable. Additionally, the cabins require minimal material, all of which can be sustainably sourced and maintained. Diners will have lots of personal space in these Cozy Cabins, depending on their party’s size.

Block Party

Urban designers, Neil Reindel and Flo Mettetal designed expandable, life-size blocks for their alternative dining spaces. These blocks fit within parking lanes, in order to fully expand. However, if restaurants do not have enough space in their parking lots, then the blocks can be positioned on extended sidewalks or pocket parks. The blocks position diners amongst the busy and many pedestrians of city streets, bringing the communal experience of eating out to each block. Likely, the most exciting feature of this concept in particular is the expansion feature. If your party is bigger, then the blocks can be grouped together in order to enlarge the dining space. This dining experience is not fully enclosed, allowing for some air circulation. However, available curtains would allow diners to turn their dining experience into a private one. Each module would be constructed using Metal ‘C’ studs, in expanded polystyrene, and objects (tables, light fixtures, etc.) would be clad with sealed MDF, a material denser than plywood. By implementing a thermal mesh system, Block Party ensures a warm dining experience for each block partygoer.

Designers: Neil Reindel and Flo Mettetal

Each module seats two guests comfortably and can be arranged to accommodate bigger parties if the need arises.

Each module can be moved using a caster wheel dolly and combined so that modules can increase room for diners by increments of two. The modules fasten together using pin joints, which is a good option in order to prevent the modules from rotating or drifting.

The modules can be arranged so that the restaurant’s outdoor seating space is optimized and after work hours, the blocks can be separated and organized depending on the space available.

While these blocks themselves represent a safe dining experience, the Chicago-based, urban designers intend to implement further safety protocols, such as one-way routes for wait staff and pedestrians, along with security blocks in order to minimize traffic flow on the sidewalk.

Heated Tables

Working from Japanese modes of dining, Chicago-based Ellie Henderson planned outdoor heated tables for IDEO’s Winter Design Challenge. Heated tables, also known as kotatsu, are common in Japan and provide an economical way to keep warm during cold months. Typically found indoors, heated tables represent a hub of warmth for households. By making a few modifications, Henderson hopes to bring Hygge dining, a Danish concept meant in regard to life’s simple pleasures, to the streets of Chicago. This design stands out for its open-air approach to dining. This means that servers and restaurant-owners will still have to maintain COVID-19 safety protocol. Air circulation is vital in reducing the transmission of Coronavirus, which means this design might thrive so long as initiatives such as the closure of streets for comfortable outdoor dining remain in place. Perhaps the most economical design option, heated tables’ construction would require only preexisting material: a source of heat, blanket, screws, and a table.

Designer: Ellie Henderson

Inspired by the Japanese way of dining (kotatsu) an economical, and familiar material make up this design. All that it needs is a tabletop, blanket, a source of heat, and some screws. The heating element typically remains out of view, underneath the table and blanket covering.

In addition to dining experiences, bars, festivals, and other indoor services have changed their indoor seating to similar variants of the heated table design, inspired by kotatsu, as pictured above.