Welcome to the “Toolbox,” a design interior made for incubating ideas and working in a creative manner efficiently, effectively, and in as lovely an environment as possible. Made specifically to “mediate user plurality and diversity with the coherence of the design concept.” Made of a series of both standard and odd materials such as cork and rubber. It’s all very boxy, as I say.

This interior’s made to both inspire work and works with varying levels of privacy. That’s exactly the kind of environment I thrive in. When you’ve got to harvest the bits of your brain that are most active, the ability to change environments at will is severely important. It looks to me like this place has got it.

In the lobby area alone, there are 400 different polygon shapes reflecting the interior of the full space. Inside you’ll find a meeting room, kitchen, working spaces, and a large relaxation area.

Designer: Caterina Tiazzoldi Concept: Aurelio Balestra, Giulio Milanese, Caterina Tiazzoldi Team: A. Balzano, G. Bonavia, H.Cany, L.Croce, M.Fassino, M.Pianosi, and C.Caramassi Photos: Sebastiano Pellion di Persano and Helene Cany

On Gulls Wings

As a bridge sits above a body of water, so too must it respect and fear such a dangerous yet life-giving mass. Moreno Ratti of Cactus Design understands this and presents thusly a bit of bridge architecture that’s as naturally integrated with the water as the birds that fly above it. This is the “Gulle,” a symbol meant to represent the seagull and harness its winged power to deal with the turbulence whipping against, around, below and on top of the bridge on a day-to-day basis.

Respect, understanding, and collaboration. That’s the name of the game when you’re talking about constructing bridges. Moreno Ratti shows here a splendid way of both keeping the bridge tight fitted to the surface and sparkling wonderful in our humble eyes. What a lovely place it would be to walk.

Designer: Moreno Ratti of Cactus Design

Car Shelves Galore

So you’ve got your bike-sharing situation in the city, do you? We’ve got one over here in Minneapolis, and it’s working great! Electric bikes for everyone! Mister Roberto Dei Lidi liked such an idea, but wanted to spread it on over to cars. Car sharing, you say? Not just any car sharing, electric car sharing! How would you do such a thing? With a tower of cars, of course.

This project has to do with the development of a park system aimed at electric car sharing. In doing so, very space-conscious parking is needed, so an automatic parking assistant and charging station “Smart Tower” is formed. Cars are lifted and rotated to save space and allow for individual vehicle assignment (based on how long it’s been since the car was plugged in or cleaned, I must guess.) And power is generated through solar panels and vertical wind turbines, of course!

Designer: Roberto Dei Lidi