MEDOLOGY

The Drumi Washing Machine Works Without Any Electricity

If you live alone or you don't have a laundry room, a compact washing machine could be a great idea for you. What if in addition to being compact, the machine worked without any electricity? You couldn't get any more practical and economical than this new washing machine we are about to show you.

The Drumi is a compact portable washing machine created by Yirego – a Canadian company focused on creating unconventional and sustainable household products. Well, how compact are we talking about? It is only 56cm tall and has a capacity of 5 liters of water, so you can only wash up to seven garments in it, or up to 3 T-shirts, or one pair of pants. It's not much, of course, but the point here is to offer a small machine that is extremely portable and will fit anywhere.

The real catch to this new washing machine though is the fact that it works without any electricity. For this machine to work all you need is a whole lot of energy to operate its foot pump. It might be kind of tiring but if you think about all the money you are saving on the electricity bill, it may be worth it. Besides, the whole washing process is very quick, you can wash and rinse in only 5 minutes.

This time Yirego took the sustainability issue very seriously, Drumi uses 80% less water than conventional washing machines and it is made of 40% recycled material. So many innovations were implemented in this product that the company was awarded a Sustainable Design Awards for Drumi in 2013.

But it's not all wonders just yet, the Drumi is still not available to the public, and it won't be cheap either. You can pre-order it for US$129 or wait until it hits the market next year.

Source: Yirego

Via: Taxi

Take a Look Inside George Lucas's New Museum

George Lucas, the legendary creator of Star Wars, has decided to donate $1 billion of his best goodies and house them in the Lucas Museum for Narrative Arts. The museum won't just have Star Wars collectibles inside. It's expected to house memorabilia from some of the world's best films and filmmakers along with a lecture series featuring some of the most prominent movie industry figures of our time.

Image by Joi from Wikimedia Commons

After some debate, Lucas chose Chicago as the home of his museum, and the city plans to construct it near Lake Michigan as part of the city's Museum Campus. Beijing-based firm MAD architects has released its initial drawings for the structure.

It's a conical structure designed to unify nature and city existence, sloping up from the green park area to culminate in a 360-degree observation deck. The usual complainers have come to the fore — one Chicago alderman compared the design to Jabba the Hutt's barge in "Return of the Jedi" — and others have raised concerns about possible environmental hazards and zoning problems.

Despite the naysayers, it's a great get for the Windy City, which will also become the future home for President Obama's presidential library. And what could be wrong with replacing a mostly unused parking lot with something that could bring in as much as $2 billion in tourism revenue during its first 10 years? Here's hoping Mr. Lucas succeeds in constructing his not-so-hidden rebel base. In the meantime, let's take a look at the design and some of the surrounding controversy.

The Structure

MAD architects is the brain trust behind several prominent designs including Chaoyang Park Plaza in Beijing, the Ordos Museum in Ordos, China, and the gorgeous, curvaceous Absolute Towers condominium complex in Mississauga, Ontario.

Image by Paul Bica from Flickr Creative Commons.

Chief architect Ma Yansong envisions the Lucas Museum design connecting the manmade elements of the city back to the land and the sky. The structure itself will use standard construction components, including pre-formed access doors, but its shape and eye-line attempts to honor the natural within the urban. As Yansong explains, "Maybe our architecture can bring the nature force, like green land waves, into [the] artificial landscape."

To connect the building to the land, Yansong's team has designed a structure that rises up from the earth at a gentle slope, with undulating walls that mimic the natural shape of the land and the water.

When visitors enter the structure, they'll step into what Yansong calls an "urban living room." In addition to seeing the museum and its contents, visitors will see the sky above the room. The natural light, along with the curvature of the structure, strive to connect sky and land to the project. "Our museum is not in the downtown area," Yansong says. "It's on the edge of artificial and nature."

The Controversy

Right now, the stretch upon which Lucas would build his museum is occupied by a parking lot, which houses occasional overflow and tailgating Bears fans from Chicago's Soldier Field. Opponents say that it ruins the vista of Lake Michigan, but in reality, Museum Park is bordered not by the natural shore of a Great Lake but by Burnham Harbor, a man-made extension that fills with sailboats and yachts in summer.

Image by Neal Jennings from Flickr Creative Commons

In addition to seeing Burnham Harbor, visitors would see Northerly Island, which was first created for the 1933 World's Fair. The Island then became home to Meigs Field and now houses a burgeoning nature park — along with the First Merit Bank Pavilion, a concert venue. The splendorous natural vista exists in people's imaginations, not in reality. The Lucas Museum will pay more respect to nature than any steel behemoth on Chicago's existing skyline.

The Opportunity

In addition to collecting the anticipated $2 billion from tourists, Chicago Rahm Emanuel negotiated an agreement in which no taxpayer money would be contributed to the museum's construction, including dealing with potentially unearthed environmental hazards. Environmentalists have raised concerns about the release of waste chemicals and gases dating back to 1871's Great Chicago Fire. According to the agreement, Lucas would foot the bill for every element of environmental cleanup.

Illinois governor Bruce Rauner recently signed a bill paving the way not only for the Lucas Museum but also for President Obama's presidential museum. Hopefully, the museum will be operational as planned by 2018, bringing 400 to 500 new jobs along with it.

Article by guest contributor: Kady Harper

Land Rover design Rugby World Cup Special Edition

A special edition version of the Land Rover has been designed by the SVO team to take the Rugby World Cup on a 100 day tour around the UK along with Ireland. The vehicle has been kitted out with a special climate controlled glass case which is going to house the Webb Ellis Cup for fans of rugby to see.

[Image Courtesy of Land Rover]

The glass case has been treated with anti-glare glass and has been specifically designed to make sure that it doesn't get condensation or fog in the interior to spoil the view of the cup. It also features a locking mechanism, with this and the climate controlled system working via an app on a Toshiba Encore 10 inch tablet.

[Image Courtesy of Land Rover]

The case was also designed with a lighting system that has three modes and the 40 inch TV in the back of the Land Rover shows classic rugby matches from the past. The Defender has been kitted out with many touches of the World Cup. The leather seating has the World Cup logo embroidered into the headrests while gold stitching and blue piping finish off the look.

[Image Courtesy of Land Rover]

The Land Rover is powered by the 2.2 litre diesel engine and this comes with the 6 speed manual gearbox. It has off the road gear including a raised air intake, winch and aluminium sump guard. The SVO division of Land Rover fitted out the Defender with off road tires of SVO to give the vehicle a much broader stance.

[Image Courtesy of Land Rover]

The special edition Land Rover was revealed in spectacular fashion as it was floated down the river Thames inside an artificial rugby ball of 8.2 meters and unveiled at the Tower Bridge in London.