Blogs & Ecology

Only yesterday our Queen of Tech asked "Any more downloadable designs coming in the near future?" That is the term we give to a lot of flatpack designs that could easily be transmitted by computer, and to many cardboard and paper designs. Sure enough, this came down the pipes right after her request- a downloadable design that you can download right into.

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From personal experience I can attest that going to IKEA by bus is really no fun here in Europe, because you aren't allowed to bring your flatpacks home on it. So it was a smart move that after a survey found that 20 percent of its customers arrived by bike, the IKEA outside of Copenhagen has hooked up with the Danish Freetrailer service to offer (relatively free) Velorbis bikes with trailers to customers.

We reported earlier that the London Olympic Stadium was going to be demountable; Now we learn that Treehugger favourite Peter Cook, of Archigram fame , is on the design team with HOK Sport, and a few other details from a planning application:

The pod people insist they have a design patent, but we discovered their scale model in Calgary of all places, designed by Vancouver designer Thomas Rasmussen who says it is really a bird house. ...

Well, that is what the Guardian calls it. They say that the new stadium proposed for the 2012 Olympics is being designed to be demountable, so that it can be sold after the games. They note also that it could be "the first step in a new approach to the games, which could become more like a travelling circus to keep costs down and allow poorer countries to play host."

We do love our flatpack furniture; cutting it out of plywood with a CNC machine and sliding it under a door reduces the amount of material used, the packaging, the shipping, everything is just more efficient. It can be fun too, as Dan Planko demonstrates with his new end table, which mixes traditional design elements with the latest manufacturing technologies, and even comes in its own canvas bag....