Public voting for the 2015 A+Awards is now open, which means that YOU have the power to select the very best architecture in the world. With the A+Awards, recognizing the best projects is no longer domain of a small group of judges — everyone gets a say in who will be crowned victorious in over 90 categories, and your opinion counts! Today is the last day to vote, so be sure to check out all of the finalists and make your voice heard!
In an age of automated everything, the word “smart” usually denotes a wifi or bluetooth connection, or some remote control via app. While Yves Béhar’s August Smart Lock definitely fits that bill, Architizer still applies the word “smart” to design that is based simply on good ideas. Thanks to new technologies, these new ideas can become real products that are more useful and efficient than previously possible, from the convenience of self-cleaning ceramic façades to the wonders of a virtual skylight that can exist underground. Check out these six high-tech 2015 A+Award Products finalists that have used technology to make major breakthroughs in product design that make us wonder why no one had ever thought of them sooner.
Bios Self-Cleaning® by Casalgrande Padana
Category: Building Products – Façades
Produced in collaboration with Japanese health product manufacturer TOTO, these ceramic slabs offer external façade cladding solutions that clean themselves. Solar light activates a reaction between the slabs’ surface treatments and air pollutants, which in turn cause any dirt that’s landed there to decompose and eventually slide off with the rain. The process also helps to purify the air; the cladding of a 500-square-foot Bios Self-Cleaning® façade can the amount of nitrogen oxides that 11 cars would emit over the course of an entire day. The slabs are available in a variety of formats, finishes, and colous.
August Smart Lock
Category: Building Products – Hardware
Physical keys may someday become obsolete, now that the technology to unlock your front door with the wave of a smartphone exists. The August Smart Lock functions on a wireless system that can be retrofit to existing single-cylinder deadbolts. Powered by four AA batteries, the lock syncs with an app on your handheld device so that you can lock and unlock your door remotely, and even hand a virtual key to other app users — the babysitter, the housekeeper, the handyman, or anyone else who needs temporary access to your home — for predetermined amounts of time.
Revelation SkyCeiling Virtual Skylight by Sky Factory
Category: Finishes – Ceiling
The Virtual Skylight provides the illusion of natural overhead light where traditional skylights cannot exist (which is anywhere below the top floor). The modular system utilizes Standard T5 fluorescent or optional Sky Factory EcoSlim™ LED lighting to filter daylight-quality light through acrylic panels of high-resolution, photographic reproductions of the sky. The driving force behind this product was Sky Factory’s believe in biophilic design — that proximity to nature induces feelings of well-being, even in the places we may need it most: commercial, corporate, and healthcare settings.
SunBeamer 500 by SunCentral
Category: Lighting – Architectural Lighting
The SunBeamer™ 500 combines automated, reflective rooftop louvers with onboard GPS sun-tracking and three stepper motors. The louvers pan and rotate throughout the day in order to collect maximum amounts of sunlight, which it then directs as a stationary beam wherever it’s needed, up to 50 feet deep in the interior. It saves energy by displacing the need for electric lights, and offers an overall more cheerful atmosphere without any invasive modifications to the architecture.
VESSEL by 3M™ + Todd Bracher 3M Architectural Markets
Category: Lighting – Decorative Lighting
Combining science and design, 3M Architectural Markets commissioned New York-based designer Todd Bracher to help develop the perfect hospitality lighting. Together they created cylindrical quartz pendants and sconces lined with a 3M reflective film, engineered to collect light from the fixtures’ LED bulb and actually balance it as it travels downward in order to cast a glare-free light that flatters skintones and food. Their six color options — bronze, gold, wine, black, white, and clear anodized — and their three available lengths — 2.4 inches, 6.6 inches, or 11.9 inches — offer a textural quality to their display.
KWC ONO Touch Light by PRO KWC America
Category: Plumbing – Kitchen – Fixtures & Fittings
This sink’s wired, fixed-mounted control can be installed on the wall, the counter, or anywhere you please, making it ideal for the elderly, handicapped, or otherwise physically challenged users who would have trouble reaching a conventional design. It can even be activated by remote control. As an added safety feature, its colored rings reflect the water’s temperature, which reduces the danger of scalding among those with a limited sense of touch.
