SANTOSH 9702: Designs

Showing posts with label Designs. Show all posts

Saturday, June 27, 2026

What are some awesome examples of simple yet innovative designs?

There are many examples of simple, innovative designs, from the paperclip to the pull tab. But look under your sink for a brilliant design unchanged since 1775.

With zero moving parts, it uses the very water it drains to block explosive sewer gases from entering your home. It is the plumbing trap.

Before the late 18th century, indoor plumbing was just a straight pipe connecting a sink or early toilet to a cesspit below. The problem with a straight pipe is that it acts as a two-way street. While wastewater goes down, fumes—methane, hydrogen sulfide, ammonia, and the putrid smell of human waste—come right back up. These volatile gases made early indoor plumbing almost unbearable and frequently dangerous.

In 1775, a Scottish watchmaker named Alexander Cumming realized he could solve the problem just by changing the geometry of the pipe. He bent the pipe into a sharp "S" curve (which was later refined into the wall-mounted "P" trap used under modern sinks).

A modern P-trap under a sink. The dip in the pipe retains enough water to block sewer gases from traveling backward. - Photo by McGeddon (Wikimedia Commons) is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0

By forcing the pipe to dip downward and then immediately curve back up before continuing to the sewer, Cumming ensured that a small amount of water would always pool at the bottom of the curve after the water was shut off.

That trapped pool of water acts as an airtight, liquid seal. When you run the faucet, gravity pushes new water through the trap, washing the old water out. But the moment the faucet is turned off, the last bit of water settles in the bottom of the dip. This small physical plug blocks foul odors, toxic fumes, and insects from traveling back up the pipe and into the home.

Without the simple curve of the plumbing trap, dense modern cities could not exist. The invention allowed toilets and sinks to be safely integrated directly into the living quarters of homes, apartment buildings, and skyscrapers without turning them into open exhaust vents for the municipal sewer system.

Friday, June 19, 2026

Are there any objects or designs that represent human madness?

"Deconstructivist" architecture. The designers may not have intended to express madness, but it evokes a kind of madness or terror in the viewer. One example is the UFA Cinema Center in Dresden, Germany, a 1998 work by the Austrian architectural firm COOP HIMMELB(L)AU.

It's very steep.

It looks different depending on the viewing angle, but the left angle is the scariest.

The Dalian International Convention Center in China in 2013 was dynamic and energetic.

The "pressure" is so overwhelming it's off-putting.

The framework looks like this. The construction costs seem high.

Deconstructivism is an architectural style that stands in stark contrast to the horizontally-oriented, linear "modernist architecture" of the first half of the 20th century, exemplified by Le Corbusier and Mies van der Rohe. It is characterized by its unbalanced and fluid forms. While many of its works have a somewhat questionable aesthetic, it is surprisingly popular and has been adopted in numerous large-scale buildings in major cities.

The most prominent example of deconstructivism is Zaha Hadid. This is probably the Zaha Hadid building that's most familiar to Japanese people...

Looking at it now, the horseshoe crab architecture brings back nostalgic memories.

In 2012, the same year the competition for the new National Stadium took place, the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University in the United States was completed.

Its shape looks like it could pierce you.

This building has a stylish and cool interior. I wouldn't want to be here every day, but it's nice to have a sense of the extraordinary once in a while.

Zaha Hadid was apparently inspired by Russian Constructivism, an art movement of the early 20th century, and also drew inspiration from the sculptures of Naum Gabo, which are well-known at the Hakone Open-Air Museum.

On the left is a work by Naum Gabo located in Hakone. Personally, I feel a commonality between Zaha Hadid's style and Umberto Boccioni's "Unique Form of Continuity in Space" (image on the right), a Futurist work that also emerged in Italy in the early 20th century.

Also, although he's not strictly a deconstructivist architect, I find the work of OMA, led by the Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, to be insane.

The Performing Arts Centre in Taipei (2012). I can't tell if it's good or bad. I thought it was a rip-off of the Hinomaru Driving School designed by Taro Ashihara Architects in 1996.

↑This is Hinomaru Driving School. Look for the plum-shaped sphere.

Frank O. Gehry is another leading deconstructivist architect who stands alongside Zaha Hadid, and his work is equally impressive.

The Dr. Chau Chak Wing Building (2015), which houses the business school of the University of Technology Sydney, has a distinctive, crumpled-up paper-like appearance.

This is the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, completed in Las Vegas in 2010. It's a center that researches and treats the causes of brain diseases, but looking at it might just drive you crazy.

I don't want deconstructivist architecture in my immediate vicinity, but I do think it would have been nice to have at least one building designed by Zaha Hadid in Japan. It wouldn't be suitable for the National Stadium, but I think it wouldn't feel out of place in a waterfront area like Minato Mirai.