Rustic Parasol Pavilion

 

Amsterdam-based studio Concrete has created a stunning rustic pavilion made from steel parasols for the renovated Castell d’Empordà boutique hotel located on the Spanish Costa Brava. The design brief called for a roof to cover the terrace that works in harmony with the adjacent building - a castle which dates all the way back to 1301. Concrete created a series of 12 abstract flattened shapes from rusted steel to enclose the space and protect guests from mistral winds, scorching sun, and the odd rain shower.

Built like a floating yet solid canopy above the terrace, these structures are welded together, and galss fills the spaces in between. The ceiling and its supporting steel columns are painted white, creating a feeling of space beneath the outdoor roof. Situated in a picturesque landscape the designers have left the terrace open, ensuring guests don’t miss any of the surrounding views.
From above the circular intersecting forms looks sculptural and beautiful, maintaining the original style of the building without drawing attention away from its history. From below the roof is modern and simple, a perfectly practical construction for a historic hotel.

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Transform Trees Into Street Lights

"Street lights are an important part of our urban infrastructure — they light our way home and make the roads safe at night. But what if we could create natural street lights that don’t need electricity to power them? A group of scientists in Taiwan recently discovered that placing gold nanoparticles within the leaves of trees, causes them to give off a luminous reddish glow. The idea of using trees to replace street lights is an ingenious one – not only would it save on electricity costs and cut CO2 emissions, but it could also greatly reduce light pollution in major cities.

The discovery came about accidentally after the scientists were looking for a way to create high-efficiency lighting similar to LED technology, but without using toxic chemicals such as phosphor powder. Speaking about the development, Professor Shih-Hui Chang said, “Light emitting diode (LED) has replaced traditional light source in many display panels and street lights on the road. A lot of light emitting diode, especially white light emitting diode, uses phosphor powder to stimulate light of different wavelengths. However, phosphor powder is highly toxic and its price is expensive. As a result, Dr. Yen-Hsun Wu had the idea to discover a method that is less toxic to replace phosphor powder. This is a major motivation for him to engage in the research at the first place.

By implanting the gold nanoparticles into the leaves of the Bacopa caroliniana plants, the scientists were able to induce the chlorophyll in the leaves to produce a red emission. Under a high wavelength of ultraviolet light, the gold nanoparticles were able to produce a blue-violet fluorescence to trigger a red emission in the surrounding chlorophyll."

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