The Miasma Filter...

The Miasma Filter. A device for filtering out any unpleasant smells...

A design from the Affective Artifacts Collection.

Made of 3D printed nylon and default cigarette filters. 

The Secret Fruit Bowl...

The Secret Fruit Bowl...

Made of Daly Limestone.

CNC milled, hand finished. 

The Circle Cigar Ashtray (Cigar Ashtray Mu)...

The Circle Cigar Ashtray - Cigar Ashtray Mu - from the Super Superfluous Collection. 

Made of 3D printed porcelain and nylon... 

For further examples from the collection check out our web-page: http://architectsindependent.com/ 

The Salt Tower...

The Salt Tower
3D printed plaster, clay, salt, paint; base made of CNC milled marble. 

It's estimated that 99% of potable water in Qatar is desalinated sea water, a process that requires 5 litres of oil per each cubic meter of treated water. Most desalination plants are located along the country's west coast, resulting in the adjacent sea being approximately 30% more saline than the country's east coast. 

The design of the Salt Tower was catalyzed by the aforementioned. Placed by Qatar's west coast, the design is surrounded by a salt farm, which provides the raw material - the bricks - that make up the bulk of the Salt Tower's walls. Here, however, the tectonic support is, in a sense, 'reversed', and is actually provided by the gridded 'mortar' that surrounds the hollows that support the salt bricks. Maintaining this wall of salt would require constant upkeep. The salt farm provides the material, human labour would be needed to both fabricate the bricks and to patch the cavities resulting from seasonal rains and general erosion. The tower would act as a constant quantified reminder of the energy and effort required to provide us with one of our most basic needs.

Sketch of the Salt Tower...

The Weathered Tower...

The Weathered Tower

 
Made of 3D printed white ABS; green, blue and black paint; base of CNC milled travertine and mastic. 

 
It's been estimated that the average age of a building in the Gulf region is 5 years, and the average lifespan of a building is 20 years.

 The design acknowledges the need for select nodes of seeming permanence in a perpetually changing world. The tower, which stands on an unspecified rock in an undetermined desert within the GCC, would act as a 'filter' of the subtly abrasive but unrelenting dust and sand present at the setting, which would permeate and transcend through its ribbed torso, a slow and extended performance that would gradually begin to weather and wear off the tower's various stratum of paint, layer by layer, revealing the green below the black, blue below the green, and the white core below the blue. This process would take years, decades, to complete. The layers would reveal themselves unevenly, dependent on the whims of the prevalent winds and its changing environs. In time the tower would reflect - celebrate - its age, and in its ever morphing/ amended presence, become a connective link between generations...

Screen-shots from Maysaa's Films...

A few screen-shots from two recent short-films Maysaa's made using some of our furniture and product designs as McGuffins...

The Truss Doorstop from our Super Superfluous Collection...

The design is made of 3D printed plated metal... 

The Cheese-Grater Ring Combo...

The Cheese-Grater Ring Combo allows you to bring along your favorite cheese to accompany any worthy meal...

Made of 3D printed steel... 

3D Printed Wax-Stamp...

A bit of old school, bit of new school - Our 3D printed metal wax-stamp, with the AI (Architects Independent) logo...

 A collage of our 3D printed Truss Bracelets, made of silver, brass, bronze, gold, nylon, and rubber,,,

Silver Ruler...

A 3D printed silver ruler, showing, full centimeters on one side, half centimeters on the second side, and quarter centimeters on the third side...

Aamu & Tumma Aamu Eggcups...

The titles of the pieces, 'Aamu' and 'Tumma Aamu' translate from Finnish as 'Morning' and 'Dusky Morning'. They function as hybridized eggcups which also contain a shallow cavity for condiments and a locale to place a flower.

Made of 3D printed porcelain they explore and push the more tactile qualities of a technology usually affiliated with more sterile outcomes.

Intended for daily use and engagement, the pieces (which comfortably fit the palm of the hand) have a pleasing weight, texture, and size that allows, even encourages, a more intrinsic and candid relationship to develop between the artifact and its user.

Through their utilitarian framework the pieces introduce - almost covertly - their handlers to the more subtle, sensuous, qualities and properties of objects, which will hopefully weather and age alongside their users for decades to come... 

Above & Below: The Tumma Aamu Eggcup... 

Ocular 3D Printed Porcelain Pepper Mills...

3D Printed pepper mills made out of porcelain. 

Pepper corns are inserted into the hollow, thick wallet, sphere which, when rotated within its housing, will release and grind the peppercorns...

3D Printed 'Pergola' Monocle...

A 3D printed bronze-plated metal monocle with a pergola (to assist the eyelashes with the monumental task of shading the eye from the intense middle-eastern sun)... 

Faculty Exhibition at VCU Qatar...

The 3D printed wood component of the Scaffolding Vase... 

A few quick images from the ongoing Faculty show at VCUQatar, including some work by AI, shown above as well as at the end of the post... 

Good times...

A rendition of the Scaffolding Vase

A row of Michael Hersrud's work...

An example of Michael Hersrud's work...

Shawls by Nathan Davis... 

A script based installation by Diane Derr and Law Alsobrook...

Painting by Donald Earley...

Detail of Donald's painting...

Installation by Flemings Jeffries...

Painting by Michael Perrone...

Detail of Michael Perrone's painting...

An all white rendition of the 3D printed Scaffolding Vase...

The 3D printed porcelain Totem Stack Bowls...