After a 2 day adventure to Bosch Tools North American home office in Mount Prospect, Il it is hard not to still be excited about all the cool new stuff coming. So many new products to such a wide range of fields from woodworking to concrete to metal working to cordless and so on. Maybe they put something in the water but it was very impressive to see so much innovation from just 1 year ago. We will work hard to get several posts up over the next few weeks, in the mean time we will do our best to focus on thing at a time.

Starting at the top, the Crown Jewel of the event would have to be the new Axial-Glide 12” Miter Saw GCM12SD. Available shortly at Ohio Power Tool with a current target price of $699, although no official dates on when these will hit the shelves, we are hoping soon! Of course the new Bosch GCM12SD will share/improve upon some of the great features on the current Bosch 12” Miter 5312 ($590, Ohio Power Tool) including upfront controls and built-in material support extensions.

As you can see in the pictures (more in this 32 Pic Album) the slide arm is the biggest innovation here but if you look close it is actually 2 arms working together, one on X and other on the Y axis. This mechanism is an extremely sturdy feat of engineering, and my last reservations were cleared away when the Bosch product manager started swinging a 2x4” at it like Mark McGwire in ‘98. The bearings are also sealed so no matter how much saw dust or debris gets on the arm, the travel will not become jerky unlike other slide saws where the rails are exposed.

Another great benefit an event like this offers is to have all the competitors’ latest & greatest models in one place to inspect and test alongside the Bosch. It takes great confidence in your products to set up a demo like that and while there were no price tags on the units it was pretty obvious the Bosch offered a clear advantage over the competition in terms of depth of work area used. For more details on the new Axial-Glide Miter Saw GCM12SD read the full Bosch Press Release below.

This bright idea by designers Annisa Fardan Nabila and Aulia Amanda Santoso minimizes waste by re-purposing incandescent light-bulbs into a gorgeous set of spice containers. The fragile nature of each light bulb provides a delicate modern container that is every bit as elegant as fine china. These beautiful pieces are more than just functional — they are sure to add personality to any kitchen. The RECYCLAMP SERIES is one of 23 finalists in our 2010 Spring Greening Competition, which challenged designers around the world to come up with innovative new uses for common household objects. If you think this design should be our grand prize winner, vote for it now!

VOTE FOR THE RECYCLAMP SERIES >

SPRING GREENING FINALISTS >

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Post tags: Annisa Fardan Nabila, Aulia Amanda Santoso, eco design, green design, Inhabitat's Spring Greening Competition 2010, Recyclamp series, recycled light bulb, spice rack, sustainable design

Nokia has released a pedal powered cell phone charger kit slated for developing nations where the power supply is limited, unreliable or expensive. The kit includes a bottle-dynamo, like the ones used to power a bike light, plus a cell phone holder that attaches to the handlebars. Nokia hopes to begin selling the kits by the end of 2010 for around 15 euros in countries that have a large bicycling population. These dynamos are great sources of renewable and human power and make it that much easier for people to want to choose biking as their main mode of transportation.

Read the rest of Nokia Unveils Bike-Powered Cell Phone Chargershttp://www.inhabitat.com/wp-admin/ohttp://www.inhabitat.com/wp-admin/options-general.php?page=better_feedptions-general.php?page=better_feed

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Post tags: bike charger, bike-powered cell phone charger, cell phone, cell phone charger, dynamo, eco design, green design, green gadget, Greener Gadgets, human power, Nokia, pedal power, sustainable design

“Green design is not enough; a deeper connection between self and place is required to create truly sustainable spaces.” -Kevin Hackett

Design-builders love to talk about clients’ needs—how they’ll take your vision, your desire for your home and turn it into reality. But few, if any, have shrinked your psyche to do so.

But don’t be nervous. Kevin Hackett and Jessica Weigley of San Francisco’s Siol Studios are no lab-coated therapists. They’re researchers, artists and educators, and they’re working to change the face of sustainable home design.

I spoke with co-founder Kevin, a very kind and insightful architect from Limerick, Ireland, about Siol Studio’s “architecture of self and place,” and especially this notion of the brain as a home—or your home as a formed representation of your psychograph. Here’s what he had to say.

You teach seminars on the connection between psychology and architecture. How would you incorporate a client’s psychological needs/desires—things that are intangible— into the physical and practical design of their home?

KH: Each client has a unique psychograph. This encompasses their moral, cognitive, emotional, aesthetic and interpersonal lines of development (to name but a few). It is the role of the designer to interpret this profile. This body of knowledge is then overlaid with the client’s program to create a foundation for the forthcoming design process.

We also explore the client’s environmental subjectivity while educating an objective understanding of the mind. Subjectively, each client has a different response mechanism to space, color, texture, lighting, form, etc. We investigate the connectivity of such responses and bring awareness to the client. From the universal perspective, we share current neurological data and explain how it can assist us in the design process. It is a multifaceted approach that reflects the layered individuality of each client or group.

I love that you leave your projects with room to “evolve.” This gives the client freedom to change and grow their space at a later date, but also cuts down on waste during future remodels. Is that part of your design process?

KH: From a sustainable approach, buildings need to be seen as living entities. Evolution thus occurs at the building level as well as the user level. A spatial layout that allows for both adaptability and emergence is essential. We like to think our spaces facilitate this change, behaving as a catalyst for developmental growth.

I see that you participated in San Francisco’s Park(ing) Day 2008. How did you get involved and what did you take away from that?

KH: Parking Day was both an urban installation and experiment. We collaborated with local merchants to create an environment where the hierarchy of car – bike – pedestrian was turned upside-down, placing the pedestrian as priority.

It was a lesson in the street-narrowing process to create a more enriching sidewalk where culture and community intersect. We also wanted to demonstrate the potential flexibility of urban space on an intimate scale. This is commonplace in Europe, specifically with older grids, where a street has multi functions to reflect the changing momentum of the city.

What is the Siol Salon? Do you hold events for Bay Area locals?

The Siol Salon is a lecture series that we have previously held in the Bay Area. It is an opportunity to share and discuss pertinent topics that relate to the architecture and design professions. This fall, we intend to hold our second salon with a group of lectures discussing the concepts of Integral Architecture.

What’s next for you? What are your ultimate goals as thinkers and builders?

This coming July, we will be presenting our paper ‘Towards an Integral Architecture’ at the Integral Theory Conference in Pleasant Hill, California.

“An integrally informed architecture can nourish spirit, evolve perspectives, participate in harmony with its natural systems, and symbolically represent the whole.” We believe that green design is not enough, a deeper connection between self and place is required to create truly sustainable spaces. This connection comes from an intimate understanding of self and the fulfillment of our role as co-creators and citizens of Earth. It is this connection that we seek to explore through our practice.

Get in touch with Kevin and Jessica:

Síol

An Integral Design Practice
____________________________________
2311 Fillmore Street, San Francisco, CA 94115
tel: 415. 655 9722 fax: 415. 236 6070
www.siolstudios.com

Photo Credit: John Lee

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