Underconstruction
Lacoste future- A Fun Video
Getting Inspired by Dubai, the future city
As you may know, Dubai is the fastest growing city of the modern world, equalled only by the large Chinese cities. The phenomenal evolution of the city of Dubai is unprecedented.
One of the seven realms that make up the United Arab Emirates, Dubai is an important tourist destination and port (Jebel Ali). It is developing as a hub for service industries such as IT and finance, with the new Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC).
Having expanded along both banks of the Creek, Dubai is divided into two parts – Deira on the northern side and Bur Dubai to the south. Each has its share of stunning public buildings, shopping malls, hotels, office towers, banks, hospitals, schools, apartments and villas. Dubai is blessed with golden sunshine and silvery beaches, world class golf facilities and an upcoming Sports City.
The property boom is driven by mega projects, such as The Palm, The World, Dubai Marina, the Burj Dubai Complex, Business Bay and Dubailand. The government’s decision to diversify from a trade based but oil reliant economy to one that is service and tourism oriented has made real estate more valuable, resulting in the property boom.
Dubai Dynamic Architecture Video
It’s very interesting and inspiring to take a look at some of the new developments on the horizon for Dubai. Sun Tower (the image above), is designed by US-based architects Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. The building is planned for the Dubai Waterfront and makes energy efficiency a “top priority for the design” in order to deal with the huge amount of sunlight and heat the building will absorb.
abu dhabi’s performing arts centre
Dubai is building another masterpiece structure shaped like a pyramid and like the pyramids of the Mayans and Egyptians, this new structure in Dubai is a giant : it will cover 2.3 square kilometers (0.88 square miles).
The structure called Ziggurat will house nearly one million people and will be self-sustainable with all natural-energy sources. It is named after the temple towers of the ancient Mesopotamian valley, a terraced pyramid structure with successively receding stories.
The main purpose of the Ziggurat is to ensure a better quality of life with almost zero-carbon emissions ; the structure will be powered by solar, wind and natural sources and capable of running completely off the grid, according to Timelinks, Dubai-based environmental design firm who is in charge of the project.
Located near the waters edge at the Dubai Waterfront the Pixel Tower gives an extravagant view of the Arabian Gulf. Inspired by the effervescent bubbles in a glass of champagne, this tower stands at 18 storeys high and is technologically advanced offering internal eco-friendly systems that manage energy efficiency and can use hydrogen motors for electricity. It’s design is created to enhance quality of life utilising tehcnology and futuristic aesthetics.
Solar Ski Jacket – Eco-Friendly, Stylish and Pricey
Of all the places to have a solar panel, a jacket is not exactly my first choice. The solar ski jacket features a neoprene collar with solar panels stitched into them. The solar panels can then be used to charge mobile phones, ipods, and any other usb-connected devices.
The jacket has re-inforced shoulder panels ideal for carrying ski equipment, fully taped seams to water-proof the jacket, detachable hood, and a few other fancy features. The solar panels are capable of charging devices needing a 5-6V input voltage.
And here’s the best bit, it costs $1,350.
Flexible Solar Panels roll into green AA batteries
A designer by the name of Wu Jian has come up with a concept for an eco-friendly battery gadget. The Soft Solar Battery is made of several layers of film, including a flexible battery and flexible solar panel. The battery is rolled out flat to charge up in the sun, the level of charge indicated by the small display on the panel.
When you wish to use the flexible battery, you simply roll up the film into a cylinder to use within conventional devices that need a battery.
A designer by the name of Wu Jian has come up with a concept for an eco-friendly battery gadget. The Soft Solar Battery is made of several layers of film, including a flexible battery and flexible solar panel. The battery is rolled out flat to charge up in the sun, the level of charge indicated by the small display on the panel.
When you wish to use the flexible battery, you simply roll up the film into a cylinder to use within conventional devices that need a battery.
More jacket photos
Heated Jacket called the Kolon Sport Life Saver III. I’m just looking at the locations of the zippers
Cycling Jacket with led signal indicators and more…
Vexed Generation — PUMA x Vexed Cycling Jacket
Founded by Joe Hunter and Adam Thorpe, Vexed Generation is a London based creative team focused on the implementation of function and technology within performance fashion, addressing social issues such as air pollution, urban surveillance and civil liberties. Their recent collaboration with Puma has led to a collection of advanced sportswear including the Puma x Vexed Cycling Jacket. The jacket, with its reflective piping, waterproof and windproof material and shape, and face mask/hood, is ideal for the stealth urban rider. The bottom end straps up underneath to keep the rider comfortable and dry in wet weather. The masked hood, with integrated ventilation chambers and replaceable filters, seals the rider’s identity while keeping every inhale pure. The Cycling Jacket is offered internationally, however only twenty limited pieces are available in the US.
More info: www.vexed.co.uk
Urban Security Suit: Battlefield Chic
-tim smit
Okay, I have a lot of things in my mind right now just thinking about what to do for my final project. It’s also really late 
. It’s still a blurr but yes, I’m still interested in heated fabrics! Another option is to go for touch sensors that triggers light to turn on or making it light up at different volumes. I can incoporate it in to a bag and also making relations of the bag with my cell phone.
Okay, so I have said before that I want to work on a project for people when they are outside, including projects that has to do with wallet/money, cell phone, warmth (while using solar panels?) or cooling of fabrics. After some investigating with the active warming and cooling technologies, I am leaning more towards active warming and active drying of clothing for now.
As you may know, there are already heating fabrics out there, such as heating blanket, gloves, and jackets. But what I am more interested in right now is to understand and distinguish how to create a finished functional and convenient wearable piece using the active characteristics of heating. So, in order for me to produce a heating fabric is the use of a new material of carbon fibers that is specially treated to make them electrically conductive with high resistance level and woven to textiles, creating heat generating fabrics. Carbon fiber heating textiles feel and have the wearability properties like any other textile. The work peeve will have to be a virtually undetectable heating element woven from carbon fibers that are 5 times thinner than human hair but still powerful enough to give you some comfy warmth when needed. The heat is generated through the carbon-fiber mesh sewn in to the work piece, such as the back of the body. There can be laminated microfleece fabric that is windproof, keeping the warmth close to your body.An unobtrusive lithium-ion rechargeable battery provides up to five hours of continuous use after a three-hour charge. Three heat settings allow selecting just the right temperature depending on the outside conditions.
Here is something that I have bumped in to while exploring the idea of heating and cooling of textiles in regards to my project:
Active Cooling:
Several technologies used to design the space suits protecting astronauts are now being adapted to protect workers facing extremely hot and dangerous conditions. According to the European Space Agency (ESA), these ’space-cooled’ jackets are using three different technologies: special 3D-textile structure, cooling apparatus derived from astronauts’ suits, and a special water-binding polymer acting as a coating. Even if these protective clothes are primarily intended for firefighters or steel workers, several applications are possible, such as in sportswear or in cars as parts of air conditioning systems.
And the picture below shows a detail of the cooling apparatus derived from astronauts’ suits: the cooling tubes are weaved into the improved textiles developed by the Safe&Cool project
http://www.primidi.com/2006/03/04.html
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Here are the result pictures after wearing my thermochromic ink t-shirt
The Before & After
Flexible solar panel
Flexibility, washability and stretchability are generally pretty important for clothing comfort, so it would be nice to have power supplies that don’t involve strapping a kilo of battery to your body. A friendly way to power mobile contraptions is with solar panels, which now come in all kinds of flexible shapes and sizes.
Solar Panel Sun Glasses
The eco-designers are at it again, with these solar panel sunglasses from a pair of designers by the names of Hyun-Joong Kim and Kwang-Seok Jeong. The dye solar cells collect solar energy, and convert it into electricity. This electricity supply is fed to a small power jack at the back of the glasses.
You can then plug in your mp3 and phone devices into the glasses to charge them up. The design is inexpensive and the technology is perfectly suited for use in the lenses of sunglasses.
Thermochromic ink (the purple typography turns in to light blue through a certain warmth temperature). Obama stays the same black ink colour.
..testing the colours.
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