Yanko Design - Form Beyond Function

The Non-lens Camera Lens!

Posted: 27 May 2017 06:35 AM PDT

Sounds crazy, doesn’t it? Although most of the earliest cameras didn’t have glass lenses. They relied solely on pinholes (that provided a point source of light) for a focused image to be captured on film. The results were beautifully eerie and vintage and looked like Instagram filters WAY before Instagram was even a word.

Contemporary cameras use state-of-the-art lenses, mirrors, mounts, AF/MF techniques to deliver amazing images, but those images are too life-like. There’s always a charm to vintage filters, with the way their colors are de-saturated/different, with the vignette around the borders. Rather than relying on software, the Pinhole Pro lens allows you to harness the vintage style of photography using your go-to camera. Available in a series of mounts that allow it to fit onto most popular camera brands, the Pinhole Pro employs a series of pinholes of varying apertures that can be adjusted, not just to achieve different styles of photography, but to also intimately understand the intertwined relationship between light and photography.

The Pinhole Pro comes with a completely machined metal construction. The absence of a glass lens makes it more resilient and impervious to damages like scratches, smudges, etc. What’s the most interesting is that the Pinhole Pro features a variable aperture, with pinhole sizes going all the way from 0.1mm to 0.8mm in diameter. The pinhole diameter is adjustable by the dial around the lens, allowing you to play with multiple pinhole diameters, allowing for real-time experimentation and manipulation, a feature that doesn’t exist in any model so far. Smaller pinholes provide crisp details but require a lot of light, while larger pinholes are great for shooting vintage, Hitchcock-esque videos!

What’s more, is that the Thingyfy Pinhole Pro brings professional vintage-style photography at a reasonable price. Rather than shelling out more than $1000 for a pinhole lens, the Pinhole Pro comes with the same precision, but at a fraction of the price. Based on tour camera make, you can get yourself a Pinhole Pro custom made for your camera’s mount. Thingyfy currently works with Canon EF, Nikon F, Sony A, Sony E, Fuji X, Micro 4/3 (MFT) and Pentax K style mounts. Early buyers can even get their name laser-engraved on the lens! Definitely worth a ‘shot’ I say!

Designer: Chenchen

Nikon D750 + Pinhole Pro (by Searing)

Nikon D800 + Pinhole Pro (by kkcat)

Short experimental film shot entirely with the Thingyfy Pinhole Pro on a Nikon D750.

Architreasure Weekly #6

Posted: 26 May 2017 05:30 PM PDT

Enough talking, let’s get into this week’s architecture round-up! You can tune in every Friday to check out our top 10 weekly picks from the world of Architecture Design. Or click here for an archive of all our Architreasure posts.

1. It may not be aurora season yet, but this floating treehouse in Sweden is just the perfect spot for some Borealis-watching! The 7th Room by Snohetta is designed based on the traditional Nordic cabin, except it hovers 10 meters above the air and features a balcony with a full glass construction from top to bottom. There’s nothing quite like floating above the snow-laden floor, staring at the Northern Lights! You can even book the cabin for yourself here!

2. Why demolish a building when you can just build on it?! The Elbe Philharmonic Complex stands proudly ON TOP OF a warehouse on the Elbe river. Designed by Herzog and de Meuron (designers famed for the Beijing Olympic Stadium), this glass-fronted, wave shaped building sits right on top of another one, looking almost like a meringue on a pastry. Inside it are 3 concert halls, 205 hotel rooms, 45 private apartments, and a massive 43,000 square foot plaza that offers a stunning panoramic view of the city of Hamburg!

3. Famous for his vertical forest in Milan, Italian architect Stefano Boeri has unveiled plans for yet another vertical forest in China, a twin set of towers covered with trees and trailing plants in the center of Nanjing. With over a 1000 trees and 2500 other plants in it, the residential tower (with over 240 suites) has the capacity to produce 60 kilograms of Oxygen PER DAY!

4. Gathering inspiration from the sun, Studio Gang has revealed their design titled the Solar Carve, to be built in New York’s Meatpacking District, right off the Hudson. Taking cues from the sun’s angles, the building has chiseled cuts removed from the cuboid form of the building to prevent the blocking light and views. This also leads to the building having an almost gem-like appearance!

5. Ole Scheeren’s latest tower design looks like architecture met Minecraft, and it’s glorious! The 77-story MahaNakhon tower topped out at 314 meters, becoming the tallest building in Bangkok!

6. The Center for Jewish Life in the Drexel University, designed by Stanley Saitowitz & Natoma Architects certainly has an interesting facade. By making use of a 3D brick pattern, the building manages to appear in two different colors, when the shadows cast by the sun kick in. Each brick creates a shadow that somehow from afar makes the building look like it’s been striped with both dark and light red paint. However when you come up close, you realize that it’s just clever design!

7. The prefab home craze is back! It never left to begin with though. These homes designed by Vipp are termed as Battery Charging Stations for Humans… and truly so! Located amidst nature, who wouldn’t feel refreshed and rejuvenated after a weekend in this ready-to-live cabin in the woods!

8. Another one of Herzog & de Meuron’s wonders, the Beirut Terraces located in Lebanon feature multiple offset levels that create visual tension and drama, while looking stunning. Each level overhangs to an extent, creating multiple balconies and even terraces on every level. With no two levels being identical, there are parts of the balconies where you get shade, and other parts where you can bask in the sunlight.

9. These huts are like nothing we’ve seen before. The Jikka, by Issei Suma are located on a flattened mountain ridge, but their architectural style in ways, pay homage to the peaks of the mountain. Designed as a final abode for the clients (two women in their 60s), the mountain home is designed to be the place where they spend the rest of their lives, amidst nature.

10. Episode #6 could not end on a more high note than this next and last building. This is the entrance to Mitoseum… a Dinosaur Museum! Designed by rimpf ARCHITEKTUR, the building looks almost picked from Jurassic World, with its habitat center aesthetic. Making brilliant use of daylight during the day, and lighting up like a beacon at night, the entrance is sure to set the mood for the rest of the Museum/Theme-Park. Besides, with the life-size dinosaur sculptures inside, you’ll definitely grab the interest of passersby!

The Zero-Emission BMW Mission

Posted: 26 May 2017 01:35 PM PDT

Just hours ago we were introduced to this mean machine, the BMW Motorrad Concept Link. Fresh from its reveal at the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este 2017 in Italy, the Concept Link is BMW’s concept scooter aimed to usher in a new era of urban mobility.

The design of the Concept Link is by far the most interesting. The e-scooter is broad, dominating, low-slung, and you immediately notice the majority of horizontal straight lines making it feel like the scooter is zipping forward. Looking like it was picked right out of a transportation designer’s sketchbook, the scooter’s aesthetic and silhouette are immediately striking and novel. Showcasing BMW’s absolute love for the black/gray color combination, the Concept Link features electric orange highlights that stand out beautifully, almost like war-paint, giving the bike a sense of dynamism.

The sleek e-scooter doesn’t just showcase a different aesthetic, it boasts of a connected approach to transport. The Concept Link “knows what’s in the rider’s calendar and therefore his next destinations.” This allows the two-wheeler to plan the fastest route or even the most scenic. The design features two displays, a windshield HUD display shows vital stats like battery, speed, navigation, while a lower touch-capable screen is reserved for other functions.

The Concept Link is envisioned to be a fully electric, zero-emissions ride and even features a reverse gear. The seats are adjustable length-wise and we can’t get enough of the way the below-seat storage opens up! What’s more, BMW plans to launch a range of connected clothing that are compatible with the Concept Link. A specific touch-gesture on the sleeve of the connected-jacket, for instance, opens and closes the bike’s sliding cargo door! I’m so excited for the future!

Designer: BMW Motorrad

Images via BMW Motorrad