The team behind +Pool—a longstanding initiative for a self-filtering pool in New York City—has unveiled an LED installation in the East River that changes color to reflect the water conditions for swimming. Spanning 50 feet long and 50 feet wide, +Pool Light takes the form of a plus sign, which the group sees as "a symbol of positivity ... [and] ... inclusivity, in that the water that surrounds us belongs to no one single group, but to everyone," according to a project description by the +Pool team. The lamps glow teal when pathogen levels in the water are safe, and switch to pink when they reach dangerous levels. "The brightness, frequency, and sharpness of the lights [are] reflected in oxygen, turbidity, and pH, respectively," the team writes. "+Pool Light" will be on view until Jan. 3, 2020. [+Pool]
A graduate student at MIT has proven that an unrealized bridge design by Leonardo da Vinci would, in fact, have worked and become the longest bridge of its time. After analyzing available documents, materials, and construction methods of the era, Karly Bast worked with architecture and civil and environmental engineering professor John Ochsendorf to build a scale model using 3D printing. Da Vinci's structure would have spanned more than 900 feet in the form of a single flattened arch, which differed greatly from the conventional semicircular arched bridges of the time. [MIT]
New York–based design-software company Morpholio announced the expansion of its iPad and iPhone Board app to computers, and specifically Macs. [ARCHITECT]
Construction software giant Autodesk introduced a new BIM 360 Layout app, which is compatible with Android devices and integrates fully into the BIM 360 platform. Autodesk chose to focus on Android systems due to the "durability of their devices," according to a company blog post. "Android ... allows us to connect the app to the hardware directly via long range Bluetooth," Autodesk reported. "Jobsites don’t always have Wi-Fi connections and the ability to connect remotely is huge so that the person doing the layout doesn’t always need to be physically next to the total station or GPS device." [Autodesk]
The American Institute of Architects announced the six recipients of its 2019 Innovation Award, which honors projects that display "the exemplary use and implementation of innovative technologies and progressive practices among architects, designers, collaborators and clients," according to an AIA press release. [ARCHITECT]
The 37,000-square-foot Kendeda Building for Innovative Sustainable Design on Georgia Tech’s campus—which is attempting to become the first Living Building in the Southeast—was completed in Atlanta and is now occupied. The Kendeda Fund has will be releasing a series of articles with stakeholders discussing the construction process. [The Kendeda Fund]
Los Angeles–based Brooks + Scarpa and Rialto, Calif.–based design prefabrication company Plant Prefab have launched a toolkit for affordable housing. ARCHITECT recognized this product with an R+D Award earlier this year. [ARCHITECT]
