July 2013

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 27 jul 2013

Chris Baribeau, an architect and entrepreneur, explains how he and his firm pursues sustainable architectural concepts and projects. According to him 'nature' is the most valuable source for design inspiration and living ideas. By carefully observing and being constantly aware of the surrounding environment it is possible to achieve sustainable design that blends modern architecture with the natural elements. He suggests five aspects of sustainable and green design - (1) Balance between the natural and the built environment (2) Healthy living by giving consideration to indoor air quality, thermal comfort and efficient energy & resource conservation (3) People friendly and promoting community connectivity (4) Convergence and seamless integration of individual elements like open spaces, warm materials, natural environment etc (5) Embrace progressive change and continuously evolve ideas and concepts with focus on the present. Read on...

Mother Nature Network: 5 reasons why you love sustainable architecture
Author: Chris Baribeau

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 25 jul 2013

As consumers become more health conscious, globalized and sophisticated in their food tastes it becomes very challenging for food designers to bring innovative food products that satisfy their palates. To identify latest trends and get ideas for future innovations designers have to participate in a global environment and avail opportunities for collaboration. 'Anuga' is one such annual global event that brings all elements of food industry at one platform to showcase and share their innovations and at the same time explore possibilities of partnerships to define the future of food industry. Read on...

Food Product Design: Designing for Global Marketplace
Author: NA

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 24 jul 2013

The latest architectural trend in office design is development of open and partitionless workspaces that foster creativity, collaboration and social interaction among employees. But a recent survey conducted by an architectural and design firm found that too much attention to open office design is actually hurting productivity. The survey report mentions that results show that lack of effective focus space adversely hurts efficiency of other work modes namely collaboration, learning and socializing. The firm suggests that the office design should intelligently blend collaborative open workspaces with focus areas to create what they term as 'optimal workplace design'. Read on...

Smart Planet: Is collaborative office design hurting workplace productivity?
Author: Tyler Falk

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 19 jul 2013

Internationally famous hospitality and lifestyle designer, Tony Chi, considers Indian architectural heritage and quality of large pool of skilled human resources as two positive elements that contribute to India's strength in the architectural design space. His work incorporates environmental concerns and focuses on sustainable design. He believes that the design should be invisible in such a way that it generates positive feelings and responses without making itself visibly aware.In one of the projects in India he intends to minimize unbalanced development that has happened in the past by providing a design concept that works on the convergence of basic amenities and good infrastructure. Read on...

The Economic Times: India's design history wows global hospitality designer, Tony Chi
Author: NA

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 16 jul 2013

Well-known British designer, Tom Dixon, shares his design perspectives and experiences and explains how his work evolved over the years. He didn't had formal education and training as a designer but his diverse experiences have contributed substantially to his design philosophy and methods. Doing pottery at school, multi-tasking and self production while playing in a music band and starting to weld for a stage, all led to the process of ideating and creating things. This transformation resulted in designing furniture, working with big corporations and getting one of the design become a part of a permanent collection at Victoria & Albert Museum and Museum of Modern Art at New York. He summarizes his design philosophy as 'design for longevity and want somethings to be anti-fashion.' Read on...

the guardian: Tom Dixon - 'I design for longevity, and I want something to be anti-fashion'
Author: Rachel Cooke

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 16 jul 2013

In China an architectural design firm is helping government authorities to develop and build landscape design that fulfil the needs of the collective of social entrepreneurs and the communities they serve. Few years back Chinese government started 'The Nest', a collaborative program to encourage and enable social entrepreneurship in Shanghai. As the program has been successful and has grown, it required larger facility for its functioning. The architectural firm employed to do this job works on the principle that social transformations can be achieved by laying emphasis on social environments and spaces. According to them the built environment in the current age requires - design approaches that include concerns like ecological, social, cultural, ethical etc; interdisciplinary and diverse designing team; spirit of service that promotes ecological and social sustainability. Read on...

World Architecture News: The future landscape of social innovation
Author: NA

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 15 jul 2013

An entrepreneur shares his experiences regarding a start-up and considers collaboration an important element of success. But at the same time he cautions that entrepreneurs have to be careful in selecting who to collaborate and obtain advice with and suggests collaborators who know more about technology and markets then the entrepreneur himself. His methodoloy for his start-up, that makes add-on lens for iPads and iPhones, was to first find collaborators like 3D drafters, optical engineers and app developers to formulate his idea, then build prototypes and conduct experiments to refine it (3D printing had been of great help at this stage), secure patent protection, utilize crowdfunding for investments and also obtain backers, partners and customers through it. The other opportunities and possibilities further open up after reaching this stage. Read on...

stuff.co.nz: Collaboration enriches entrepreneur's innovation
Author: Simon Rowell

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 13 jul 2013

A designer explains his philosophy and strategy while creating and developing his architectural designs and projects. According to him the concept is to weave and blend the building and structure seamlessly into the surrounding environment and location. The unique and creative vision is intertwined with the existing environment and is truly reflective of the surroundings that considers history, heritage and natural environment as important aspects. Read on...

Property Report: Be remarkable, stand out, capture and captivate your audience
Author: Clint Nagata

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 13 jul 2013

Article explores the experience of a family to search a commercial space that can be transformed into a one stop destination to sell furniture and homeware, have a boutique florist and a cafe. They didn't initiate the process with a detailed plan but their strategy was to find a location and structure and then to include elements of their likeness into it organically. It was a step by step process. But the important thing was that they have a distinctive approach and style that blended nicely in their vision for the place - a geometric wall, macrame hangers, plywood floors, letter love for displays and cable tables. Read on...

The New Zealand Herald: Organic by design
Author: Ben Crawford

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 12 jul 2013

Professor John Rogers of Materials Science & Engineering at University of Illinois and his team is successfully exploring the possibilities in healthcare by fabricating devices from highly adaptive and sophisticated materials that could perform as electronic enhancements (with continuous and minimal intervention) to manage proper functioning of human body organs. Moreover he expects these designs and inventions to enable surgeons to use their fingertips as instruments; treat patients with implants that dissolve in human body after performing their work; electronic sutures that monitor surgical wounds for infection and healing; electronic tattoos on anywhere in the body to track blood flow and hydration and many more. Read on...

Illinois Alumni Magazine: Mind-bending electronics from the lab of UI scientist John Rogers promise to revolutionize health care in the plugged-in world of tomorrow
Author: Jim McFarlin

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 08 jul 2013

The article explores the story of a designer couple and their motivations to start a design and art studio. They have a unique business model that includes not only creative works for clients like visual communication and branding, but also self-initiated projects like paintings, illustrations, animations etc. For bigger projects they partner and collaborate with individuals in their friend and professional circles. Read on...

Sun Star: The joys of design redefined
Author: NA

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 08 jul 2013

Research shows that architectural design of mental health institutions that provides less noise, more open spaces and patient freedom - calm environment with home-like space - is capable of reducing aggression among patients. According to Professor of architecture, Dr. Roger S. Ulrich of Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden, reduction of trauma in healthcare facilities, in addition to improving lives of healthcare workers and patients also lowers the cost of care. Although the cost of construction of such facilities is higher but this is neutralized by savings in cost incurred in providing additional medical care or expensive lawsuits that can result from violent accidents. Read on...

Design Build Source: Design Can Reduce Aggression in Mental Health Facilities
Author: NA

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 05 jul 2013

Technology has transformed the way artists express and accomplish their designs. Three dimensional softwares provide them with tools to create, study, manipulate and refine their designs. Faceted forms and surfaces, that are difficult to create and visualize, are gaining new importance in architecture and designs. 'Facets' are a combinations of flat planes, generally with three sides, or with edges that connect to adjacent surfaces at different angles. Designers are using facets to provide futuristic look to cars, fashion accessories, interior and exterior architecture. Read on...

Inquirer: Design Dimensions-Design's many facets
Author: Isabel Berenguer Asuncion

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 04 jul 2013

Neri Oxman of MIT's Mediated Matter Group is an artist and a designer and her work focuses on the principle that process of design is more important than the finished products. According to her approach, 'Material Ecology', nature can provide strategies for making multipurpose buildings and objects that have better performance and can be produced with less energy and waste. Her group intends to change the way designers build their products and advocates that designers should direct their designing abilities to develop processes and should take environment into consideration. She believes that materials are the new software in the design and manufacturing processes due to the digital fabrication technologies like 3D printing. She is working on projects where 3D printing techniques are modified to provide integrated objects and shapes printed with multiple materials giving them variable properties. In another project she is exploring the possibility of weaving through a 3D printer instead of the conventional sequential layering of materials. Ms. Oxman collaborates in her multiple projects with various researchers - Fiorenzo Omenetto of Tufts University, James Weaver of Harvard University, Craig Carter of Material Science at MIT. Read on...

MIT Technology Review: Redesigning Product Design
Author: Courtney Humphries

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 04 jul 2013

Researchers at FPInnovations (University of British Columbia, Canada) suggest the importance of engineered wooden products for construction industry in the future. They are experimenting with cross-laminated timber (CLT) and its possible use in the construction of 10 story buildings by 2020. Wooden structures upto 6 story are already gaining acceptance in North America. Researchers have utilized their engineering knowledge to build prototypes that scientifically prove that large wooden structures are safe and reliable to withstand snow loads, strong winds and earthquakes. Further improvement in manufacturing technologies of CLT may even lead to the construction of 30 story buildings in the future. Read on...

The Globe And Mail: Could high-rises be built of wood?
Author: Brent Jang

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 04 jul 2013

A school in US is utilizing 'Design Thinking', concepts developed at Stanford University, to create learning schedule and classes for students to prepare them to adapt to the changes happening in the world. Design thinking starts with empathy and then to braistorming of possibilities, then to design and testing of prototypes and finally to formulating a solution. According to the principal of the school, design thinking is a teaching and learniing tool that helps students develop skills like creativity, innovation and adaptation. These skills will better equip students to meet the challenges of the future. Moreover students are provided with iPads for information and learning purposes and are taught the responsible use of technology tools and ability to differentiate between the reliable and unreliable sources of information. Read on...

The Almanac: Feature story-Envisioning a 'frontier of possibility'
Author: Renee Batti

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 03 jul 2013

Pharmaceutical industry has made heavy investments in the manufacture of biologic drugs like monoclonal antibodies, therapeutic proteins, immunotherapies and vaccines. The use of these drugs in treatment of many diseases will continue to increase and biologics sales are expected to reach US$ 166 billion by 2014. Moreover it is predicted that by 2023 biosimilar monoclonal antibodies and insulin products will account for 57% of the global biosimilars market. The technologies that are prevalent for manufacture of biopharmaceuticals traditionally include large fixed set-up with huge stainless steel bioreactors and tanks that are inflexible and require large capital expenditures. This is leading to their diminished utility in response to volume demand and changing market conditions. Now the production of personalized protein therapies will require changes in manufacturing technologies that would be more flexibile, low cost and can be produced in small batches. The need for multiproduct facilities will reduce use of larger equipments, large investments and facility installation times. Biopharma manufacturers are thus shifting to incorporate disposable or single use process technologies that result in smaller footprint, flexibility, scalability, and mobility without affecting product quality. Moreover single use bioreactors have other advantages like reduced cleaning and sterilization demands, cost savings of upto 60% as compared to fixed stainless steel bioreactors and are suitable for any type of biopharmaceutical product. Large therapeutic contract manufacturers are adopting this technology to produce biologics. The use of disposable technologies will further increase across the biopharmaceutical process and will globally improve healthcare options. Read on...

GEN: Flexibility in Biopharmaceutical Manufacturing Capacity
Author: Patricia Fitzpatrick Dimond

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 03 jul 2013

Creative professionals are highly individual people that have unique things to motivate them to create new ideas and concepts. It is important to understand and respect their sensibilities to bring the best out of them. To nurture and manage creative talent and get the best output on an efficient and continuous basis, experts suggest - Set the bar and prioritize focus areas; Identify and leverage traits of individuals; Cater to strengths and empower them; Keep your hands dirty and involve yourself in the work at hand; Suggest but don't necessarily impose a process; Create healthy confusion by keeping them busy with multiple projects at a time; Encourage switching off to switch on to overcome burning out of creative talent; Keep them producing and avoid giving long gaps of inactivity and idleness; Make retention a conscious choice and create a culture that encourages it; Know when to, and able to, speak the tough truth to avoid keeping the talent in rut. Its an essential element of mentoring. Read on...

Fast Company: 10 Tips for Managing Creative People
Author: Rae Ann Fera