#BeOpenARCH
Munich-based practice Opposite Office's Baumhaus Office turns extreme spatial economy into an architectural experiment: a one-square-metre workspace suspended in one of Weimar's oldest trees. Designed for two to three architects, the tiny office challenges the need for permanent headquarters while reconnecting work with nature, history and a radically different perspective.
More tiny structures with big ideas on our blog.
Munich-based practice Opposite Office's Baumhaus Office turns extreme spatial economy into an architectural experiment: a one-square-metre workspace suspended in one of Weimar's oldest trees. Designed for two to three architects, the tiny office challenges the need for permanent headquarters while reconnecting work with nature, history and a radically different perspective.
More tiny structures with big ideas on our blog.
#BeOpenARCH
Arizona studio I/Thee’s The Dining Room transforms rammed earth into a public gathering space that appears to have been naturally eroded over centuries. Built with locally sourced materials and sculpted using high-pressure water, the pavilion integrates a bright blue picnic table and bench into its earthen walls. As the first of six planned pavilions around Lake Petocka, the project explores how material, time, landscape, and community can become active participants in architecture.
Arizona studio I/Thee’s The Dining Room transforms rammed earth into a public gathering space that appears to have been naturally eroded over centuries. Built with locally sourced materials and sculpted using high-pressure water, the pavilion integrates a bright blue picnic table and bench into its earthen walls. As the first of six planned pavilions around Lake Petocka, the project explores how material, time, landscape, and community can become active participants in architecture.
#BeOpenART #BeOpenDESIGN
Amsterdam-based multidisciplinary artist Abel van Oirschot, who has aphantasia and cannot form mental images, built Birch, a life-size octagonal spacecraft interior entirely by hand in his home garage. Constructed from wood, cardboard, foam, and repurposed electronics, the white, Space Age-inspired set combines clinical geometry with deeply personal objects, from photographs and stickers to a guitar and iPod. The result is less a convincing spacecraft than a portrait of imagination itself: a physical world built without ever being visualized in the mind.
Amsterdam-based multidisciplinary artist Abel van Oirschot, who has aphantasia and cannot form mental images, built Birch, a life-size octagonal spacecraft interior entirely by hand in his home garage. Constructed from wood, cardboard, foam, and repurposed electronics, the white, Space Age-inspired set combines clinical geometry with deeply personal objects, from photographs and stickers to a guitar and iPod. The result is less a convincing spacecraft than a portrait of imagination itself: a physical world built without ever being visualized in the mind.
#BeOpenNEWS #BeOpenART
As the 2026 BE OPEN Regional Art competition wraps up its Central European stage, Elena Baturina selected Prague-based artist Ester Nemjo as her personal choice.
A painter, illustrator and animator, Ester creates dreamlike worlds filled with imaginary creatures and symbolic landscapes. A graduate of the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague and the School of Decorative Arts in Paris, her work brings a distinctive imaginative voice to contemporary art.
Congratulations, Ester!
As the 2026 BE OPEN Regional Art competition wraps up its Central European stage, Elena Baturina selected Prague-based artist Ester Nemjo as her personal choice.
A painter, illustrator and animator, Ester creates dreamlike worlds filled with imaginary creatures and symbolic landscapes. A graduate of the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague and the School of Decorative Arts in Paris, her work brings a distinctive imaginative voice to contemporary art.
Congratulations, Ester!
#BeOpenDESIGN
TonerBox rethinks the home gym as furniture, packing weights, resistance bands, storage, and a tri-fold workout bench into a compact oak plywood box. With an aluminum-framed bench that opens in seconds and built-in racks for the equipment, the system keeps a full-body workout setup hidden in plain sight. Designed for strength, cardio, flexibility, and mobility training, TonerBox offers a space-saving alternative to bulky home gym machines.
TonerBox rethinks the home gym as furniture, packing weights, resistance bands, storage, and a tri-fold workout bench into a compact oak plywood box. With an aluminum-framed bench that opens in seconds and built-in racks for the equipment, the system keeps a full-body workout setup hidden in plain sight. Designed for strength, cardio, flexibility, and mobility training, TonerBox offers a space-saving alternative to bulky home gym machines.
#BeOpenDESIGN
Stockholm-based artist duo Bigert & Bergström transforms a polluted industrial site in northern Sweden with the Lithium Crystal Sauna, a striking pink, faceted structure inspired by lithium crystals. Combining digital fabrication, mirrored titanium-coated steel and a battery-powered heater, the sauna explores the contradictions of the green transition while creating an intimate space for gathering, reflection and conversation.
More sustainable saunas on our blog.
Stockholm-based artist duo Bigert & Bergström transforms a polluted industrial site in northern Sweden with the Lithium Crystal Sauna, a striking pink, faceted structure inspired by lithium crystals. Combining digital fabrication, mirrored titanium-coated steel and a battery-powered heater, the sauna explores the contradictions of the green transition while creating an intimate space for gathering, reflection and conversation.
More sustainable saunas on our blog.
#BeOpenDESIGN
Nafaskāri by material researcher and designer Vibhuti Amin explores how biotechnology can help preserve endangered craft traditions while creating climate-resilient alternatives to synthetic dyes. Developed with master artisans in Srikalahasti, India, the project introduces pigment-producing soil bacteria into the 3,000-year-old Kalamkari tradition, responding to rising temperatures and water scarcity that threaten botanical dye crops. Its low-tech Nafas Chamber enables artisans to cultivate microbial pigments locally, connecting scientific innovation with heritage knowledge, ecological resilience, and greater autonomy for maker communities.
Nafaskāri by material researcher and designer Vibhuti Amin explores how biotechnology can help preserve endangered craft traditions while creating climate-resilient alternatives to synthetic dyes. Developed with master artisans in Srikalahasti, India, the project introduces pigment-producing soil bacteria into the 3,000-year-old Kalamkari tradition, responding to rising temperatures and water scarcity that threaten botanical dye crops. Its low-tech Nafas Chamber enables artisans to cultivate microbial pigments locally, connecting scientific innovation with heritage knowledge, ecological resilience, and greater autonomy for maker communities.
#BeOpenDESIGN
Scentra gives rosemary waste a surprising second life as packaging. Designed by Zhixi Dai, Zhou Yun, and Wang Zhan, the protective block uses compressed rosemary trimmings and a seaweed binder to cradle an essential oil bottle. But the cleverness does not end at unboxing: the rosemary retains its natural scent, allowing the packaging to become a passive diffuser. By turning agricultural waste into both protection and a functional object, Scentra shows how sustainable design can be practical, sensory, and genuinely delightful.
More eco-friendly packaging on our blog.
Scentra gives rosemary waste a surprising second life as packaging. Designed by Zhixi Dai, Zhou Yun, and Wang Zhan, the protective block uses compressed rosemary trimmings and a seaweed binder to cradle an essential oil bottle. But the cleverness does not end at unboxing: the rosemary retains its natural scent, allowing the packaging to become a passive diffuser. By turning agricultural waste into both protection and a functional object, Scentra shows how sustainable design can be practical, sensory, and genuinely delightful.
More eco-friendly packaging on our blog.
#BeOpenDESIGN
This open-source Raspberry Pi book reader rethinks accessibility by eliminating the screen entirely. Two 16-megapixel cameras scan an open book, OCR converts the pages to text, and text-to-speech reads them aloud through tactile controls. NFC tags let users manage multiple books, while automatic summaries help readers pick up where they left off. Designed by Ludwin (lhm0), the project combines thoughtful optical engineering, accessible interaction, and open hardware to turn printed books into screen-free audiobooks.
This open-source Raspberry Pi book reader rethinks accessibility by eliminating the screen entirely. Two 16-megapixel cameras scan an open book, OCR converts the pages to text, and text-to-speech reads them aloud through tactile controls. NFC tags let users manage multiple books, while automatic summaries help readers pick up where they left off. Designed by Ludwin (lhm0), the project combines thoughtful optical engineering, accessible interaction, and open hardware to turn printed books into screen-free audiobooks.