Dornob | Design Ideas Daily

Dornob | Design Ideas Daily

25Hours Hotel is an Eclectic Place to Stay in Zurich

Posted: 01 Dec 2012 10:00 AM PST

Zurich is best known for its church spires, watchmakers and chocolate shops, but explore just a little bit beyond the edges of the city proper and you’ll find an increasingly hip and modern former industrial area housing one of Switzerland’s most eclectic hotels. 25Hours is located in the neighborhood of Zurich West, and offers a bright and energetic refuge surrounded by jazz clubs, antique bookshops and the University of the Arts.


The lobby has a playful feel in a kaleidoscope of colors and retrofuturistic furniture, punctuated with bicycles displayed like art. The bar features industrial details like corrugated aluminum walls, paying tribute to the history of the area. At night, the public spaces become more club-like to reflect the bustling activity in the streets outside.


Each of the 126 rooms is custom-designed to be entirely unique. Designer and Zurich resident Alfredo Häberli uses a palette of neon colors softened by liberal usage of white in each one. Some guest rooms feature pod-like sleeping spaces separated from the living areas, while others are entirely open, with bathtubs beside the window offering views of the city.

Häberli himself wrote out sightseeing recommendations on various surfaces throughout the hotel, so that guests can stumble upon them at random and go on a sort of urban treasure hunt.

Ping Pong Peculiar: 6 Extreme(ly Fun) Table Tennis Surfaces

Posted: 30 Nov 2012 10:00 AM PST

Ping pong or table tennis is a well-loved game all over the world. But once you’ve mastered the back-and-forth volleying, what else is there to learn? Artist Laurent Perbos created some interesting new scenarios with an art installation that rethinks the entire game.

Each table is a significant departure from the typical flat plane used for the game of ping pong. One features a 90-degree bend directly in the middle, while another incorporates severe curves and a basketball hoop.

Every unusual treatment of the traditional ping pong table calls into question the connection in our minds between form and function. We expect an object to look a certain way, but we are still able to recognize it even when its shape is changed and its primary function becomes impossible.

Although playing on these unique tables certainly looks possible, it doesn’t seem that the artist means them as serious redesigns of the regulation table. Rather, they are meant as whimsical objects that can make a fun game seem entirely new.

Puzzle-Like Tables Stay Together With No Fasteners, No Glue

Posted: 29 Nov 2012 04:00 PM PST

As children, many of us played with the small wooden puzzles that required creative thinking to separate all of the pieces. Bulgarian company Praktrik has created a series of flat-pack tables that echo these brain-teasing toys.

The tables are assembled without fasteners, using only notches in the wood and tension to hold them together. Their manufacturing requires no special equipment, and they are made from eco-friendly and sustainable materials.

Each piece can easily be disassembled and assembled again repeatedly with no ill effects, to the thanks of the uniquely simple construction.

The names of the furniture objects are all derived from the number of different elements used in their construction multiplied by the number of pieces – thus a mathematical equation represents each piece’s title.

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