Design
Designers retrofit old buses to bring testing to underserved communities
In the upcoming months, as lockdown measures are slowly easing, extensive COVID-19 testing will be essential to evaluate and control the spread of the virus. But how to make it possible that everyone gets tested, especially those from lower-income and underserved communities who have been Read More...
Canva's virtual backgrounds will spice up your meeting or happy hour
If your workplace does any graphic design work, chances are you have heard of Canva. We at the Optimist Daily use Canva every day to bring our stories to life with graphics and images, so we were excited to learn about their new customizable video chat backgrounds that are making socially distanced Read More...
This new office complex is literally the greenest building in Europe
Now more than ever, cities around the world are starting to recognize the importance of green spaces within their urban environments. And in some cities, this sort of development is embodied directly in the buildings themselves. Düsseldorf, for example, has recently unveiled a new office Read More...
Forget dressers, IKEA wants you to build a bee house
The task of building IKEA furniture has been challenging newlyweds and college students for years. In 2020, the company started offering a new challenge to customers: building bee habitats. IKEA’s research and design lab, SPACE10, has partnered with European design studio Bakken & Bæck, Read More...
This workout devices turns your food cans into gains
As gyms have shut their doors and public health authorities suggested we stay indoors, home workouts have become the go-to form of exercise for the quarantine period. Many such bedroom workouts, typically guided by online classes, call for the use of weights such as dumbbells that you may not Read More...
This phone case is made of recycled fishing nets and ropes
It’s estimated that more than 150 million tons of plastic waste have made their way into our oceans. Among the major contributors to this pollution problem is the abandoned, lost or otherwise discarded fishing gear that ends up breaking down into microplastic or tormenting marine life. Enter Read More...
Eco-friendly hand sanitizer is plastic-free and moisturizes your skin
Overnight, hand sanitizer has become an essential part of our personal-care routines, but the packaging it typically comes in is exponentially contributing to the global plastic crisis. Looking for a solution, one company decided to disrupt this polluting trend with a new hand sanitizer that Read More...
New building code paves the way for more sustainable cities
Residential and commercial buildings are responsible for about 40 percent of U.S. energy consumption and GHG emissions. States and cities which approve the new 2021 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) will require new buildings to reduce their overall energy usage by 10 percent compared Read More...
This hotel proves that luxury and eco-friendliness can be a match
As people have become increasingly concerned about their environmental footprint over the last couple of years, some hotels around the world have decided it’s about high time they jump on the sustainability bandwagon and become more eco-conscious. That’s definitely the case for one of Read More...
This beautiful concrete home has trees spilling out the windows
We don’t typically publish stories about the design of individual homes, but sometimes you need to give credit where it’s due. In Ha Long, Vietnam, an architecture studio has created a stunning concrete home that has trees spilling out its windows and balconies. As Curbed writer Liz Stinson Read More...