Hiking means going up and down, but not just over long distances — each step raises and lowers your pack, which means you do more lifting, unless, that is, you have a “Lightening Pack” to help carry the load.

The HoverGlide‘s designers say their backpack can reduce the bodily impact of heavy loads by up to 86% thanks to a patented double-frame and pulley system. Basically, a set of bungee cords help keep the pack at one height off the ground, reducing that up-and-down action.

In turn, the pack takes strain and load off shoulders and joints, allowing a traveler to move faster and lighter. “For the same energetic cost,” Lawrence Rome of the University of Pennsylvania explains, “you can either carry 48 pounds in a normal backpack or 60 pounds in a suspended ergonomic backpack.” This gives you “12 extra pounds for free” while exerting the equal effort.”

Originally designed for (and tested by) various branches of the US military, it’s also made to be durable and water-resistant. Four versions are in the making currently: the Trekker, Commuter, Hiker and Tactical. All will employ the same basic technology, just at different scales for differing use cases.

Lightweight, durable and compact, this new recycled Zippelin bag series features wheels for rolling like any good luggage. But instead of metal or plastic frames, these bags employ bicycle tire inner tubes that can be inflated instead. This strategy also allows the bags to pack into tiny space for storage when not in use.

Using truck tarpaulins that are made to resist water and withstand wear, the bags have evolved — early versions still included frames, which added weight. These were swapped out for bike tubes which, conveniently enough, can be inflated using a standard bike pump (no need to buy a specialized device).

FREITAG is not stranger to recycling — its headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland, is housed in a stacked shipping container building that boasts a similar rugged look, worn materials and an upcycling ethos.

Like the variegated containers that make up its home, the company’s Zippelin bags are all different. Helpfully, this also makes each bag easier for its owner to spot and identify, since each one is unique.

A product engineer at FREITAG and former architect, Nicola Stäubli says he’s “familiar with air-supported structures” and she also “used to be a bike messenger and was impressed by folding bikes that are fully functional when mounted, and compact when you stow them away.”

Solving a series of long-standing issues associated with taking out the typical fast food trifecta, this clever carrying case is a useful alternative to Happy Meal boxes, bags and cupholders that work better for cars than people traveling on foot or by bike.

The solution is more subtle than it might first appear – yes, it solves the timeless question of how to hold a drink as well as a meal, but it also separates out the warm foods (french fries and hamburger above) from the cool drink (soda or shake suspended below), then unfolds into a ready-to-eat spread. Thin cardboard makes the entire container easy to collapse as well.

Customers can hold the package in their hand or slip it over the handlebars and continue cycling unencumbered. Targeted initially toward markets in two bicycle-friendly cities (Copenhagen, Denmark and Medellin, Colombia), the company is also looking to give these a go in Amsterdam, Holland and Tokyo, Japan.

For now, it is a trial redesign that is as much about marketing toward young urban bikers, but if the packaging is sound there seems to be no obvious reason for McDonalds not to ultimately deploy these around the world (and for other fast food chains to follow suit).

Featuring over 300,000 custom-designed bricks, the latest work of one of the world’s most famous architects is an impressive feat of engineering, but hard not to compare to a crumpled grocery bag. Even Australia’s governor general Peter Cosgrove introduced it as “the most beautiful squashed brown paper bag I’ve ever seen” at its opening ceremony. Gehry himself reportedly does not mind the comparison, but there is not much he could do or say about it even if he did.

Gehry’s first work in Australia, the structure’s inspiration supposedly came from a combination of local sources (Sydney architecture) and a treehouse, with branching supports holdings organic shapes. Its fenestration is designed to reflect views of the surrounding neighborhood – this, at least, is an intriguing idea that has a demonstrable and interactive effect.

While Gehry states that this building will not be replicated elsewhere, it is quite recognizable as his work, and thus raises the question: is it sufficiently different from his other amorphous and sculptural buildings to be deemed truly unique in the first place? The resemblance to one half of The Dancing House (aka Fred and Ginger), a nickname given to the Nationale-Nederlanden building in Prague (shown above), is hard to miss.

The complex and chaotic-seeming shapes percolate into the interior as well, showing via details and spatial configurations in the main atrium space, multiple lecture halls and multimedia rooms and a student center above. Ugly or lovely, a grand metallic entry staircase is also reminiscent of other Gehry projects.

Ultimately, only time seems to tell whether an unusual building can become an icon, but one has to wonder whether something can become iconic if it is not sufficiently different from other work by the same creator. Perhaps one of his few works to still stand out (and stand the test of time) remains his original Santa Monica house remodel – a reconfiguration that shows a learning process that has arguably since stagnated. There is no doubting his influential roll in contemporary deconstructivist architecture, but he has had failures and rejections as well and his projects increasingly look like muddled remixes of one another.

Rectangular, skinny and designed to fit in briefcases or computer bags, this is definitely a bottle with a clear message: it is time to make your preferred refreshment receptacle more mobile.

A sleek portable solution for your potables, the memobottle comes in standardized paper sizes to fit your preferred carrying case alongside books or computers, including Letter, A4 and A5 in the initial run.

Its creators come from dry places – Melbourne, Australia and San Diego, California – and have a mission in mind that involves more than mere convenience:  “Single use bottle consumption [results in] 1,500 plastic bottles being used and discarded every second in the US.” Further, “bottled water is about 1,400 times more expensive than tap water and often less regulated.”

The memobottle is a dishwasher-friendly, long-life, BPA-free water bottle that uses plastic, which its makers claim is more environmentally friendly than aluminum or stainless steel. The design definitely has its fans, with the project already over-funded by 1000% on Kickstarter with nearly one month left to go.