A 3D-printer company in Italy has designed and printed 100 life-saving respirator valves in 24 hours for a hospital that had run out of them...The valve connects patients in intensive care to breathing machines.
The hospital, in Brescia, had 250 coronavirus patients in intensive care and the valves are designed to be used for a maximum of eight hours at a time...The 3D-printed version cost less than €1 (90p) each to produce and the prototype took three hours to design.
— BBC
Cristian Fracassi, a chief executive at Isinnova, an independent research institute in Italy, and mechanical engineer Alessandro Romaioli teamed up to aid the hospitals need for new valves. Partnering with Lonati, another local 3D-printing company, the group began printing to meet the hospital's... View full entry
The Internet is already demonstrating its indispensable value as the fourth utility. [...] However, this presents strains to online infrastructure as the number of simultaneous online collaborations increases dramatically. Service companies, businesses, and individuals must be prepared for continued strain on private and public networks. [...] Likewise, businesses must evaluate their infrastructure and policies to ensure they can support remote participation, both technically and socially. — Brad Kult, HGA
Brad Kult, HGA's Director of Technology Design & Planning, gives an overview on the increasingly crucial role of technology in order for businesses and schools to continue operating, amid social-distancing efforts to slow down the spread of COVID-19. Kult offers some helpful reminders for... View full entry
As coronavirus (Covid-19) continues to spread and disrupt the daily lives of people across the globe, forcing many to self-quarantine, we are compiling the best online offerings from artists, museums and galleries. Whether you are staying at home or your local museums and galleries have closed, here are some of the best digital initiatives to satisfy your creative cravings. — The Art Newspaper
With prominent events around the world canceled or postponed and cultural institutions hunkering down during this COVID-19 outbreak, online art exhibitions and virtual museum tours can, or at least attempt to, fill the gap. The Art Newspaper's roundup includes Google Arts & Culture's vast digital... View full entry
In a recent post on instagram, Roto Architects offered a remote working tool it's been developing for virtual collaboration. Called Second Studio, the tool is open source and available for download on github. https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"... View full entry
As the spread of the novel coronavirus prompts a cascade of event cancellations and school closures, the rest of the Spring 2020 semester hangs in the balance for many design students and educators. Just this week, Columbia University, Princeton University, Harvard University, The Ohio State... View full entry
Amazon [has opened] its first grocery store to pilot the use of the retailer’s cashierless “Just Walk Out” technology that has previously powered 25 Amazon Go convenience stores in a handful of major U.S. metros. Based in Amazon’s hometown of Seattle, the new Amazon Go Grocery store allows customers to shop for everyday grocery items like fresh produce, meat, seafood, bakery items, household essentials, dairy, easy-to-make dinner options, beer, wine and spirits, and more. — TechCrunch
According to TechCrunch, the store is 7,700 square feet in the front of house and 10,400 square feet overall, making it the largest use of Amazon's Just Walk Out technology to date. With a similar model to the Amazon Go convenience stores, shoppers use the Amazon Go app to check themselves in... View full entry
Led by Samir Bantal, AMO, the think tank founded by Rem Koolhaas has announced a new partnership with Volkswagen to focus on the development of rural mobility. As a first step in the partnership, the team has begun a study for an electric tractor that will be developed for sub-Saharan Africa "to... View full entry
![Solar panels need batteries to properly optimize their energy generating capacities. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons / [[User::DDDDDDDDD|:DDDDDDDDDDD]].](https://archinect.gumlet.io/uploads/5c/5cce378c228ccc4dcbc6bc7d312fed2c.jpg?fit=crop&auto=compress%2Cformat&enlarge=true&w=514 "Solar panels need batteries to properly optimize their energy generating capacities. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons / [[User::DDDDDDDDD|:DDDDDDDDDDD]].")
manufacturing of lithium-ion batteries is scaling up rapidly to meet the growing demand for electric vehicles and large systems installed in power grids or at solar farms. As prices for lithium-ion batteries drop — they fell by half from 2016 to 2019, according to BloombergNEF — banks are taking another look. — The Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times takes a look at the growing viability for utility-scale battery operations. One stumbling block for municipalities and building operators alike has been finding affordable battery storage options to keep sustainably generated energy flowing when the sun isn't shining... View full entry
Boston University's new Center for Computing and Data Sciences building is set to be the largest carbon-neutral building in Boston when completed. The 19-story structure will house the university's mathematics, statistics, and computer science departments. Previously covered on Archinect... View full entry
Construction tech developer Built Robotics’ fully autonomous construction equipment is now available to contractors and heavy machine operators. A software upgrade to excavating equipment will allow the machinery to operate autonomously or be piloted remotely, making it the first of its kind to be offered commercially in the U.S. — Construction Dive
According to Construction Dive, Built Robotics' software enables its equipment to perform tasks fully autonomously. Digging trenches, excavating foundations, and grading building pads can all be managed remotely via a web-based platform. View full entry
In a comprehensive summary of recent studies and statistics, FlexJobs, the tech company that connects job seekers with remote work opportunities, has laid out the hard numbers regarding remote work trends in our culture today. Everything from productivity, employee morale, reduced stress, to... View full entry
For the month of March, Archinect is focusing its Spotlight on Boston, the largest city in Massachusetts and the northernmost node of America's Northeast megalopolis. The focus on Boston follows our recent Spotlight on Miami theme from the month of February. Boston, of course, has a... View full entry
With some overseas cities shut down and companies in the U.S. urging those returning from high-risk areas to stay away from the office, workers world-wide are hunkering down for what might be a new normal [...]
powered by technology like videoconference services and workplace-collaboration software, many members of the new remote workforce say they are finally able to get some work done without constant interruptions from open-office setups or days packed with in-person meetings.
— The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal takes a look at the sudden rise in remote working arrangements as the world economy grapples with the spreading coronavirus threat. The report touches on the situation faced by Texas-based designers Jing Johnson of Prism Renderings and her husband Warren Johnson of... View full entry
On a plot of land rented from a rural village on the Malaysian side of the island of Borneo, the group has proved it at small scale. Every six to 12 months, a farmer shaves off one foot of growth from these nickel-hyper-accumulating plants and either burns or squeezes the metal out. After a short purification, farmers could hold in their hands roughly 500 pounds of nickel citrate, potentially worth thousands of dollars on international markets. — The New York Times
A thought-provoking report from Ian Morse of The New York Times highlights a burgeoning approach for harvesting necessary (and toxic) metals like nickel from soil through "hyper-accumulating" plants. Morse checks in researchers from the University of Melbourne who are farming... View full entry
27 cultural organizations, including the Smithsonian Institution, have signed on to an initiative that aims to bring their 3D scanned cultural heritage collections into the public domain. The initiative, launched by Sketchfab, "allows museums and similar organizations to share their 3D data... View full entry
