Designed to appear and disappear in response to the needs of pedestrians, cyclists and drivers, this pedestrian crossing solution aims to make people safer through dynamic activation.

The interactive surface sits below high-impact plastic panels with lights triggered by monitoring cameras using smart technologies. The cameras identify crossing needs and adjust accordingly, lighting up zebra stripes that can widen at busy times of day (and widening them for particularly heavy foot traffic).

Like more sophisticated versions of traffic signals, the system can adapt and change as needed, instructing drivers when to yield or simply stop altogether. It can also be used to alert people to sudden shifts or unexpected obstacles, like a ball rolling into the street. Illumination levels can also be varied for maximum visibility by day and at night.

A recent full-scale prototype was deployed in West London by Umbrellium, a company founded by Usman Haque, who explains that “The pedestrian crossing that we know hasn’t really be updated since the 1940s, and these days we inhabit our cities in quite a different way. We have mobile phones in our hands that distract us, and our relationship to the city is very different.”

“The pedestrian crossing one of the most complex moments of interaction that almost everyone experiences on a daily basis. It’s that one moment where you’re actually negotiating with others as well as potentially as with big chunks of metal. We’re trying to create pattern sequences that unfold quite calmly so nobody’s surprised, it’s definitely not about distracting people, and the graphics themselves or notions on the surface look very familiar.”

“What we’ve tried to avoid telling people is that you must go here and that this is your area, but instead highlight the relationships between the people that are present in and around the crossing.” The goal is not to solve all crossing and street-related movement problems in one go, but to iterate on the design and figure out what solutions optimize for traffic flow as well as safety.

There’s something alien about the way these metallic structures move, a fluidity that makes them seem as if they’re alive. Each one transforms so completely as it spins, the results almost seem like optical illusions. It’s really all a play of light and shadow on cleverly designed kinetic sculptures, which are engineered to spin effortlessly whether the winds are barely blowing or gusting with extreme force.

Working through many a night in his remote workshop on Orcas Island, Washington, Howe refuses commissioned orders, working only from his personal creative inspiration. Hundreds of his sculptures have sold to private and public collections around the world, including large-scale urban works in several cities.

“Kinetic sculpture resides at the intersection of artistic inspiration and mechanical complexity. The making of one of my nieces relies on creative expression, metal fabrication, and a slow design process in equal parts. It aims to alter one’s experience of time and space when witnessed. It also needs to weather winds of 90mph and still move in a one mile per hour breeze and do so for hundreds of years.”

The ultimate at-home hacker project, this strange small-world effect was created using a half-dozen GoPro cameras, a 3D printer and a technique that turns ordinary panoramic shots into a surreal world-warping wraparound experience.

German photographer, journalist and inventor Jonas Ginter cobbled together his cubic ball of cameras then mounted this oddball creation above his bike, all to generate the effect you see in the video above. Given the accessibility of the constituent technologies (and his helpful instructions), suddenly the idea of 3D video capture is within reach of any enthusiastic hobbyist.

The stereographic distortion, while a neat effect, is also helpful in rendering a three-dimensional view into a two-dimensional frame. As for the idea, here is a bit more from the creator (summary translation to follow): “Ich habe mir seltsame Konstruktionen mit Spiegeln angeguckt und frustriert festgestellt, dass das absoluter Quatsch ist. Stück für Stück kam die Erkenntnis, dass ich 360-Grad-Videos nur realisieren kann, wenn ich das Bild in einem Take aufnehme. Die logische Konsequenz hieß also: Viele Kameras.”

Above, Ginter explains his slow realization that to realize a 360-degree video he would have to do everything in a single take, which in turn means having multiple cameras.  While his takes so far are interesting in themselves, the possibilities are amazing – but consider just the fun consumer applications, like capturing a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree skydive or mounting this on the car roof for a road trip. You can read his summary on Ginter’s website, either in the original German or using Google Translate.

Playing tricks on the eye, this split-style stairway merges a desk and storage below with a framework of steps hanging down from above, all with a daunting-looking gap left in the middle.

Dutch designer Mieke Meijer hand-crafted this hybrid interior system for the home of Just Haasnoot in The Hague, inspired in part by the black and white photography of Bernd and Hilla Becher.

The frame-based structure was made to save space and maintain a sense of openness. The unfolding angular geometries add elements of visual interest to a toned-down space while accommodating various storage surfaces, nooks and crannies.

The use of alternating steps allows for a steep incline to be safely traversed, though some might still question the absence of a hand rail (which would be mandated by building code in most locations).

This approach seems particularly well-suited to places with less-used upstairs spaces – as the photographs show, it would be easy to let certain steps simply become shelves most of the time, then be cleared off when guests come to stay in the spare attic bedroom.

Like a hypnotist’s pendulum, this fifteen minute visual experience will charm you with its rich variety of mesmerizing patterns, all drawn by hand before your eyes.

An amazingly meditative trip, this work by Mikhail Sadovnikov is entirely dynamic and temporary. Each addition necessarily involves subtraction as new shapes continuously erase and overwrite what you see.

Using the clay residue left on the wheel between throwing pots, the artist moves between a series of sequences set to music of various styles and speeds.

Sometimes symmetrical, other times abstract but always contained in a simple circle, the pacing and control are amazing – but you really have to watch the video to see for yourself and witness where sand mandala making meets fluid finger painting.