Concrete might typically be cold, hard, impersonal and impermeable, but treat it right and it’ll soften right up into surprisingly comfortable, accessible and usable everyday items, from pens and iPhone skins to rocking chairs and squishy-looking seating. Cast it from pillowy molds, 3D-print it in squiggles, brush it onto highly detailed objects, impregnate it into textiles or imprint it with delicate textures and you’ll have objects full of intriguing contradictions.

Concrete 3D Printer Enables Innovation

This 3D printer by Dutch company ROHACO spits out concrete in all manner of shapes, even squiggly lines, through a swivel head attached to a hose from a concrete mixer. Not only does this enable concrete to take unprecedented forms, it makes it possible to 3D print entire homes unsupervised, with the kinds of curves and details that would normally take an extraordinary amount of work.

3D-Printed Concrete Canoe

3D printing with concrete makes it possible to produce things like the skelETHon 3D printed concrete canoe, which won first place at the 16th Concrete Canoe Regatta competition in Germany. That’s right, it’s not even the first canoe to be made from concrete! The inner frame of this one is made of concrete reinforced with stiff steel fibers, while the shell is a two- to three-millimeter-thick waterproof concrete skin.

Concrete & Canvas Seating

These objects are a bit of a contradiction: simultaneously appearing soft and hard. That’s because they’re both, technically. ‘Fabric’ is an outdoor seating collection by Miriam Estévez, wherein soft fabric poufs are soaked in a liquid concrete and allowed to dry in order to create a surprisingly strong, durable, waterproof result.

Traditional Chair Covered in Concrete

You might imagine that someone took a mold of a traditional chair and then cast it with solid concrete, producing the detailed form you see before you. The truth is actually much simpler. Bentu Design teamed up with Guangzhou fine arts students to carefully cover an existing chair with concrete mixture, making sure to preserve every detail, from the scallops along the wooden frame at the top to each individual upholstery nail.

Delicate Persian & Islamic Patterned Tables

Concrete doesn’t take on the adjective ‘delicate’ easily, but every now and then, something qualifies. This disc-shaped tabletop, just a few millimeters thick, balances on the neck of a water-filled jug to form a beautiful recycled coffee table. Milan-based design studio Daevas printed the top with a traditional Persian pattern.

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As cities grow and their power needs change, the historic and often surprisingly beautiful structures holding turbines, generators, coal and gas are decommissioned, becoming prime candidates for redevelopment. A recent wave of power stations built at the turn of the 20th century, packed full of period details, have been transformed into cultural centers, hotels, apartments and more, including London’s stunning Battersea Station.

Power Plant to Cultural Art Space by Renzo Piano, Moscow

A historic power plant on the banks of the Moskva River in Moscow will become a new cultural center, transformed as part of a larger contemporary art site by architecture firm Renzo Piano Building Workshop. The main building was built between 1904 and 1907 and will be extensively renovated to add lots of glass, while the original towers remain intact to provide natural ventilation.

Battersea Power Station to Residential Tower, London

A pair of twin coal-fired power station buildings set on the edge of the Thames River in London were decommissioned way back in 1983, but are considered such an important landmark in London, they’ve been preserved, awaiting the perfect redevelopment plan that takes advantage of their beautiful Art Deco interior fittings and decor. One of the largest brick buildings in the world, Battersea Power Station has been the subject of many proposals, including turning it into an eco-dome or an amusement park, all of which have ultimately fallen through. The latest places the original building at the center of a mixed-use complex by architects Norman Foster and Frank Gehry, which includes both luxury residences and affordable homes, a hotel, a gym, and a series of shops, cafes and restaurants.

Brick Power Station to 5 Star Hotel, South Africa

Decommissioned since 2001, this old power station on Thesen Islands in South Africa once used waste timber to power huge turbines, which supplied electricity to nearby Knysna and Plettenberg Bay. Now, it’s part of the 5-star, 24-room boutique Turbine Hotel by CMAI Architects, redesigned to keep as much of the original structures and equipment intact as possible. Mechanical equipment, operating panels, piping and the original turbines are all incorporated into the new complex, and things like gauges and dials were worked into various parts of the hotel. The entire development scheme is considered a ‘living museum,’ where guests can clearly see what it used to be while experiencing it in a new way.

Coal-Burning Power Plant to College Learning Center

A coal-burning power plant in a small Wisconsin town will become part of Liberal Arts institution Beloit College as a leaning and wellness center. With Chicago-based Studio Gang Architects at the helm, the project will preserve the industrial feel of the site while offering a coffee shop, conference hall, lounges, lecture hall and theater as well as a competition swimming pool, 3-lane track, 10,000-square-foot fitness center and 17,000 square-foot gymnasium. It’s set to be finished in 2018.

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Most of the tools we use have looked the same for decades, if not centuries, but that doesn’t mean they’re optimized to be as useful, convenient and durable as they can be. These clever tweaks on conventional tool designs can be incredibly simple, like adding a ledge to scissor handles for cutting straight lines, or unexpectedly innovative, like an illuminated glove that makes it easy to light whatever you’re working on while freeing up your hand.

Locking Aperture Wrench

The aperture wrench eliminates the storage issues and guesswork associated with having an entire set of wrenches, with an aperture based on that of a camera lens. The metal blades of the aperture close around any given nut and automatically lock into place for perfect custom sizing and a secure fit.

Hoyo Drill

“You could almost keep your drill on the dinner table,” says the designer about the looks of the Hoyo, a sleek black-and-white power drill. In addition to ‘looking like a race car,’ the Hoyo has an optional stabilizer to ensure that you always enter a surface perfectly straight, dial presets to adjust the power depending on the material you’re drilling, and a built-in level.

Ruler Compass

Conventional compasses typically have to be used in conjunction with rulers when you want to draw a circle of a very specific size. This one features a radius display that tells you the size of your circle as you move the leg of the compass

Portable Lighting Tool

Ultra-portable and easy to recharge either with an outlet or an included mini solar panel, the H9 Portable Lighting Tool is a silicone sheath that wraps around your hand to provide up-close illumination for whatever job you’re trying to complete. You can direct the light exactly where it needs to be, but don’t have to sacrifice the utility of your hand.

Tool Pen by mininch

Carrying a set of screwdrivers becomes as simple as carrying a pen with the Tool Pen, a lightweight, compact and ultra-sleek multitool solution with 18 bits. Six can fit inside the tool without making it heavy, and it comes in a variety of metallic finishes.

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Your countertop coffee maker will suddenly look inadequate compared to a monster of a sculptural espresso machine, an elegant steampunk orb and a piston-powered copper coffee maker fit for a villain’s lair. These 13 artistic, high-end and highly unusual coffee and espresso machine designs take the process of brewing your essential daily caffeine intake to the next level and then some.

Sculptural Steampunk Coffee Machine by Dutch Lab

Would you ever guess, seeing it across a room, that this thing is a coffee maker? Dutch Lab created this Gothic-themed steampunk ‘monster’ intending for it to look a bit evil. The AKMA is named for the Korean word for ‘devil,’ and like all of Dutch Lab’s coffee machines, it uses a cold-brew technique relying on the force of gravity and a very particular grind of coffee beans – finer than those used for drip coffee, but coarser than those used for espresso.

Coffee Alarm Clock

Coffee could literally be your alarm clock with the Barisieur, which brews up a single cup of fresh coffee at a designated time. It doesn’t just wake you up with smell, but also with gentle sounds as the process begins and the water starts to boil. It does require a bit of preparation at night, but as the designer notes, it “encourages a ritual before going to sleep, signaling to the body and mind that it is time to unwind and relax.”

Steampunk Glass Balloon Coffee Maker

Another steampunk design looks like something straight out of a scientist’s laboratory. Café Balão by Davide Mateus consists of a pair of hand-blown glass vessels, one of which contains a wand-style heating element to boil the water. This siphoning coffee maker uses vapor pressure and vacuum to produce coffee, with vapor from boiling water in the lower chamber forcing water into the upper chamber containing the coffee grinds. When the heat turns off, gravity pulls the brewed coffee into the lower vessel.

Piston-Powered Espresso Machine

You’ll feel like you’re doing something diabolical when you pull the lever on the Streitman ES3 Espresso Machine, except instead of blowing something up or revealing a secret lair, you’ll be starting the piston-powered process of making a cup of espresso. The sleek wood and copper design forces hot water through ground coffee with a piston, and is available with a dual spout for making more than one cup at a time. It doesn’t come cheap, retailing at $1,700.

Minimalist Single-Serving Brewing Device

Is this the world’s most minimalist coffee maker? The Canadiano is a single-serving brewing device made of wood, which you simply place on top of a mug. Add coffee grounds, pour in some hot water and wait for your brewed coffee to seep through the metal filter. It’s available in three different wood varieties which ‘remember’ your choice of coffee, building up the oils of your specific beans and roast over time.

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Made to last and styled to please, these abandoned firehalls silently linger on long after the factories and buildings they were built to protect have gone.

Centennial Fire Co. #4, Peekskill NY

(image via: donbco)

Built in 1890, the squat, red brick Centennial Fire Co. #4 in Peekskill, New York appears positively ancient in contrast with the circa-1932 iron bridge looming just overhead. The two-story structure featured an attached outbuilding that once housed a pair of horses, Homer and John, who pulled the station’s fire-wagon in times of need. Full credit to Flickr user donbco for the image above, taken on a beautiful sunny spring day in April of 2008.

(images via: Hudson Valley Ruins/Rob Yasinsac, New York Times and donbco)

Centennial Fire Co. #4 was closed on Oct. 19th, 1980, and sat abandoned beneath its sheltering bridge for nearly 30 years. Finally in 2008, funding was arranged to move the historic structure a short block away to a city park where it was to be incorporated into a firefighter’s memorial. Unfortunately, the move ended before it really began when, on August 21st of 2008, a hydraulic jack failed and the building crumpled (see it here!) like a house of cards.

Abandoned Firehouse, Suurpea, Estonia

(images via: Panoramio/Salasilm)

Outwardly resembling a mid-century American ranch-style bunglow, this abandoned firehouse in Harju County, Estonia, is anything but. As captured in 2010 by Panoramio user Salasilm, this plain and pleasant building in the village of Suurpea, about 30 miles east of Talinn, is just beginning to display signs of neglect and abandonment. It’s not alone – only a couple hundred people still live in the village which seems to have enjoyed much better days as a Soviet-era military base and housing estate.

Engine House 22, Detroit Fire Dept.

(images via: DetroitUrbex)

Built in 1895, the Detroit Fire Department’s Engine House 22 witnessed the much-maligned city’s rise and fall. The firehall itself fell silent in 1983, only to reopen in 1991 as a Spanish restaurant called Casa de Espana. The twin “skylights” above make more sense when one imagines the original pair of fire poles in place. Kudos to DetroitUrbex for these inside & out images of this forlorn firehall.

(image via: DetroitUrbex)

Shortly after one of the restaurant’s owners lost his life in an auto accident, the business closed and the building resumed its slide into neglect and decay along with so many other examples of classic Detroit architecture. Recent reports state the structure may implode on its own before the wrecking ball swings; part of the roof has already fallen in.

Engine Co. 18 Firehouse, Dorchester MA

(images via: Dorchester Reporter and Boston Fire Historical Society)

Built in 1869, one year before the town of Dorchester was annexed by Boston, the Engine Co. 18 Firehouse certainly has a lot of history behind it. Located at 30 Harvard Street in the Four Corners section of Dorchester, the station closed on June 11th of 1960 and spent the next 45 years as a pre-school and daycare center. Abandoned since 2005, the historic building was finally sold in 2012 to a young couple who plan to restore the building as a live-in arts space.

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