We’re always on the hunt for new objects and technology with an architectural twist, whether they’re pulled from the depths of the Internet, encountered in the flesh, or spoon-fed into our inbox. Here are our picks for this year's noteworthy finds.
New York’s Whitney Museum of American Art will reopen in its new Renzo Piano Building Workshop space in May, leaving behind its 1966 Marcel Breuer building—and the rooftop home of the museum’s bees. As reported in a 2012 New Yorker “Talk of the Town” piece, the Whitney began hosting bees on the roof in July 2011, as well as producing honey under the label “Flora Honey,” after former museum president Flora Miller Biddle. The museum is currently selling 8 oz. jars of the last 50 pounds of honey produced on the Breuer roof. – Sara Johnson, assistant editor
As an owner of 19th-century printing equipment, I have a penchant for cast-iron machinery—the heavier and older, the better. Phoenix-based Vintage Industrial handcrafts residential and commercial furnishings from machine parts and hardware that they source throughout the U.S. For every tree the company uses, it plants two in its place. It's easy for industrial-inspired design to be cheesy, overwrought, or disingenuous, but I find most of Vintage Industrial's pieces to be original, inventive, and begging for the right home. The I Beam Table (shown) is a recent addition to the company's collection. – Wanda Lau, senior editor
Ustwo’s mystical puzzle app, Monument Valley, allows users to tap, flick, and rotate through a series of gorgeous, M.C. Escher–inspired landscapes as heroine Ida strategically traverses the impossible construction of the game’s evolving towers. Each of the self-paced puzzles is set to soothing color palettes and soft piano music, creating an aesthetic experience difficult to compare to other downloads on the iOs platform. As a paid app, the game will cost you $4 and 500 MB, justified through its design quality and frequent updates. – Leah Demirjian, editorial intern
Two tones of glass set in a blackened steel and walnut frame bisect a simple mirror. The water implication is elegant, and broke my heart upon reading that it commemorates the second anniversary of Hurricane Sandy. I’ve coveted sustainable furniture maker Uhuru’s work since its building was the view from my 2008-era Red Hook, N.Y., window, where the studio turned bourbon barrels into chairs and boardwalk castoffs into roller-coaster loungers. Thankfully, Uhuru survived the flood and was able to make something very basic and beautiful while much of NYC waits for disaster relief funds to be sorted. – Robb Ogle, art director
Greg Lynn Form
Greg Lynn is living the dream. The UCLA professor has found a way to combine three loves—architecture, robotics, and sailing—into the most badass watercraft I’ve ever seen, Oracle and the Black Pearl notwithstanding. Let’s take hydrodynamics, tooling, and the best parts of architectural modeling software to produce a sleek, 42-foot-long trimaran that will smoke Frank Gehry, FAIA’s Beneteau, Foggy, any day of the week—provided it’s a day that Gehry isn’t part of Lynn’s crew. – Deane Madsen, associate editor
This occasional table from London designer Christopher Duffy brings hidden depths to any room, with its topographical map formed from layers of FSC-certified wood, infilled with deep blue acrylic that creates a glassy-smooth finish that won't topple a teacup. At once sculptural and practical, it is a conversation starter that fits as easily in corporate spaces as it does in living rooms. Besides, what's not to like about a table that can serve equally well as a functional surface, and a backdrop for your next Shark Week viewing party? – Katie Gerfen, executive editor
Trick from iGuzzini stood out in my mind as one of the best new luminaires of 2014. Designed by Dean Skira, it debuted at the Light+Building tradeshow, in Germany, this past March. It’s small in scale at only 4 inches in diameter. And its technical capabilities include a radial optic with a toroidal lens that, depending on the version specified (blade, radial, or wallwash), allows the fixture to cast light in a 180 degree line to a full 360 degrees. Whether the luminaire is used as a stand-alone fixture or in multiples, lighting design possibilities become endless given its technical scope and light quality. – Elizabeth Donoff, editor-in-chief, Architectural Lighting
Take photos of notes and sketches made in this Moleskine notebook and share them digitally via the iOS or Android Evernote Page Camera app. Use the app to bookmark, search, and reference past ideas and projects. Together with the notebook, it’s easy to keep both an analog and digital history of your work. – Cyprien Roy, editorial intern
Fold Pot is a simple solution for so basic a problem that you end up hitting your head over not coming up with it yourself—which sparks an immediate admiration for Emanuele Pizzolorusso, a Helsinki-based industrial designer with a knack for enlivening mundane objects. Made from silicone rubber, the pot’s top can be folded up and down to house a plant as it grows. The continuous form keeps the design aesthetic intact. – Chelsea Blahut, content producer
A centralized control for the smart home, the Wink Relay—from crowd-sourced product design company Quirky—is an easy-to-use, wall-mounted touchscreen disguised as a light switch. As the smart home–products market fills with all kinds of gadgets and gizmos, Relay stands out as being accessible, convenient, and user-friendly. The attractive, simple interface makes it easy to create energy-saving room scenarios and shortcuts. – Caroline Massie, assistant editor
Crafting chairs and advancing digital fabrication are two tasks of which the design community isn’t likely to tire. And earlier this year, Dutch design firm Joris Laarman Lab proved that the concepts could be combined wondrously—in the studio, and at home. Laarman’s Maker chair series comprises 3D-printed and CNC-milled components that piece together in geometric patterns to form an undulating service. Those up for a fabrication challenge can download the files to 3D print their own copy of one of the chairs, Jigsaw (shown), at home. – Hallie Busta, associate editor
