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On a roll
August 1st, 2014
The Sochi Paralympics featured 750 athletes with disabilities from 45 countries in high-intensity competition for gold medals, many using sports equipment custom-designed for optimal performance—and off-the-rack clothing designed for able-bodied athletes. The Hohenstein Institute, Bönnigheim, Germany, launched a research project to give physically challenged athletes the same custom-designed sportswear that able-bodied Olympians have been using […]
Tarp system fit for a ‘King Sling’
August 1st, 2014
Dennis Anderson, a celebrity on the Mega Monster Truck circuit, plans to sling a lot of mud with his new customized King Sling truck, a huge-tired behemoth with a competition wingspan of 101 inches. Transporting a vehicle this size would normally call for mounting small toter tires on the flatbed and protecting the truck with […]
Smart belly band monitors mother and child
August 1st, 2014
Late stages of pregnancy can be both safe and styling, if researchers at Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pa., have their way. Drexel’s Expressive and Creative Interaction Technologies (ExCITe) Center has combined fashion and function in a prototype belly band that can monitor uterine contractions and fetal heart rate in real time. The band, produced in the […]
Architecture and landscape in fabric
August 1st, 2014
Trained as a painter at the Yale School of Art, Sheila Hicks began working with “supple materials” such as fabrics and yarns in the 1950s, and her sculptures and installations are at home in major museums around the world. Hicks demonstrated her colorful and sculptural vision in two spring exhibits using Sunbrella® material supplied by […]
Preventing rain checks, castled
August 1st, 2014
The courtyard of Weitra Castle, tucked into the Austrian-Czech border just north of Vienna, features a three-tiered arcade supported on granite columns, and its Renaissance style makes the courtyard a perfect setting for evening events—as long as it doesn’t rain. SEFAR® Architecture, Depew, N.Y., set out to protect the courtyard from rain checks with a […]