The silhouette of the Eiffel Tower is the icon of Paris. It is familiar and definitive. This, however, may change as the top of the tower is to be reshaped in to the form pictured above. Yikes!

Serero Architects of Paris has won the competition to redesign the structure’s public viewing platform and reception areas. The winning design (above), which will be 276 metres (905ft) above the ground, will not require any permanent modification of the existing structure. It will double the capacity of the public viewing area on the tower’s top floor.

The new platform will be bolted onto the tower using a web of Kevlar, an extremely strong and lightweight carbon fibre used in the construction of racing cars and body armour. The new platform will use a cantilevered design similar to the way that an aircraft’s wings are attached to the fuselage.

What do you think of this change?

via The Guardian

Click here to view the embedded video.

Virgin Mobile Canada is quickly capitalizing on Eliot Spitzer’s recent “troubles.” The ads will run next week in a free Toronto newspaper.

C|Net adds:
“At Virgin Mobile,” the ad goes on to say, “you’re more than just a number. When you call us we’ll treat you like a person, not a client. Whether you’re #9 or #900, you’ll get hooked up with somebody who’ll finally treat you just how you want to be treated.”

According to Nathan Rosenberg, chief marketing officer at Virgin Mobile, the ad will run in two Toronto daily newspapers this week as part of the company’s “You call the shots” campaign. “We weren’t planning on an ad featuring Governor Spitzer, but he caught our attention this week,” said Rosenberg.

The principles of universal design tell us that products should be functional for the broadest possible spectrum of users. But designers and manufacturers have long targeted two distinct niche markets: men and women. (Just think of razors: women’s versions look like plastic flowers, men’s like props from The Terminator.) Lately, however, we’ve noticed a handful of products and projects that toy with traditional gender roles.

While the thesis is intriguing and raises an interesting question, this mini-mini essay comes up short in its execution and rationale.

General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. have made cool, smartly equipped little cars such as GM’s Opel Tigra and the Ford Ka for Europeans for years, but Detroit executives were reluctant to offer them at home.

Sophisticated small cars may be ideal for Europeans living in old cities with narrow streets, the thinking went, but Americans associate luxury with spaciousness.

Now that’s starting to change. At the Geneva auto show this week, GM and Ford will display two stylish small cars that are aimed at European audiences but are likely to find their way into U.S. showrooms, too.

With the continuous rise in gas prices and changing fuel economy regulations, the Big Three automakers are starting to bring smaller cars designed and produced by their European divisions to these shores.

Happy Spoon is the spoon that smiles back at you. Buy them from Spoon Sisters.

via Happy Mundane

The box above may not look like much, but Casulo – yet another clever Danish furniture design innovation – contains an armoire, a desk, a height-adjustable stool, two more stools, a six-shelf bookcase, and a bed with a mattress. That is enough furniture to fill up a studio apartment.

Check out the video below to see how it all unpacks.

Click here to view the embedded video.

via swissmiss

ToothHold, my favourite Die Electric product, is cut power cord that holds toothbrushes, or other stuff, and would be perfect suspended over the bathroom sink area. ToothHold sells for $145.

These are just 2 of the 11 products that comprise the Die Electric range. Check all 11 out here.

What a clever idea – use an old walkman to camouflage and protect your ipod.

It’s easy to see why automakers are keen on the trend. Ed Welburn, GM’s vice president for design, said nearly all automakers are experimenting with matte because it shows off the pure design of the car.

“It reduces the design to the very core elements because you’re not influenced by the surroundings at all. You don’t have the reflections of trees or buildings or the reflection of clouds or anything on the car because of the matte finish,” Welburn said at the Detroit show, where GM’s Hummer HX and Chevrolet Groove concepts had matte finish. “You see the pure surface development and nothing else.”

Aaron Bragman, an auto industry analyst for the consulting company Global Insight, said another reason matte finishes are taking off is that young drivers, who are used to the flat finishes on their cell phones and laptops, no longer equate shininess with luxury.