The Home of The Future, How Technology Can Improve Our Homes.

A few weeks ago, I found a mini-series created by The Verge featuring the house of the future, hosted by the late Grant Imahara of Mythbusters. The series explores what our current technology can do to improve the efficiency of our home. There are six episodes in the series, and each focuses on a specific aspect of the house.

The series begins with the building of the house. They use prefabrication to reduce costs and speed up construction. This unconventional construction method has been around for quite some time, but the industry has not yet fully adopted it. The show discusses the advantages and disadvantages of this method.

How Technology Allows Us to Explore Famous Structures

Technology has brought us several ways to explore our world. The advancements in Internet speed over the last decade have allowed us to share an enormous amount of information that was only a dream a few decades ago. Virtual reality is one exciting technology; while it's only in the early stages, the way we view the world has changed. It helped us to explore places in three-dimensional space without leaving the comfort of our home.

Create Fast Architectural Walkthroughs Using 3D Photospheres

3D rendering is one of the tools architects generally use to present designs to their clients. Renderings are two-dimensional representations of a building, and it allows clients to see the structure before construction. The limitation of this method is that clients won't comprehend how space feels even with furniture installed because there is no continuity between the view in front and what's behind it.

4³ - Tiny Farm Staff House

The first design problem given to me back in college was a cube house. We were allowed to solve the problem in any way as long as we were limited to 4 m x 4 m x 4 m. I had no experience designing back then, and I had no background in standards and minimum requirements. I had to research it all within a week, and this during the pre-internet days. I had to do my research in the library and jot down all the information I gather.

Ground Floor

Loft

Another method I did to gather data was to measure the spaces in my house, which allowed me to experience the actual dimensions. This experience made me realize the complexity of designing small spaces. I had some difficulty arranging all the essential amenities in the limited area. It took me several schemes before coming up with a design.

Amazing Cebu City Timelapse by Garyl Paras

Timelapse videos are a technique used to compress time by reducing the number of frames per second (fps). The standard video frame rate is 30fps or 60fps. On the other hand, Timelapse shoots video at a significantly lower frame rate that speeds up and reduces the length of the video. This technique produces stunning results and is often used to compress hours and days in a few seconds. Timelapse photography needs patience and discipline to deliver quality results. Unintentional movements, exposure variations, and focus can ruin the final output.

House NA10 - Modern 2 Storey Residential Building

Location: Basak San Nicolas, Cebu City

Year: 2010

Floor Area: 236 sqm.

Lot Area: 1,291.71 sqm.

Located at an interior lot at Barangay Basak San Nicolas, the site was suitable for a residential building. The house is directly accessible to the national road but is far enough that there is hardly any traffic noise entering the house. The initial plans for the project were to retrofit an existing structure into a home. Due to the existing structure's constraints, we presented a proposal that would optimize and maximize space use. 

Unique Solar Artwork by Jordan Mang-Osan

Artists express their art through a wide variety of mediums. In my previous post, I covered several artists who use unique mediums for their artwork. There are a few artists who can make art from unconventional materials. Some choose these unusual mediums for experimentation, while some use these materials because of the availability.

I found a documentary about a talented Filipino artist a few years ago. He creates art using a Pyrography technique, which is the art of decorating wood by controlled burning, creating beautiful patterns or portraits. What makes his style unique is that he harnesses the sun's heat, using a magnifying lens, onto a piece of wood to create beautiful masterpieces.

Can a Smartphone Camera Outperform an Old DSLR?

Huawei P30 vs Olympus E30 + Zuiko 14-54mm & 9-18mm

Smartphone cameras have seen dramatic improvements over the last few years, with image quality and low light performance way ahead of what cameras offered a few years ago. The image quality of current smartphones is adequate for casual photographers, and even entry-level phones have decent image quality.

Capable of taking high image quality in low light, I decided to replace my phone with a Huawei P30 last year. Since the bulk of my shots are taken indoors or in low light, a camera's low light performance is essential to me. I also needed a backup camera if I left my camera at home and needed to take a photo.

Since purchasing my phone back in December, I noticed that I seldom use my camera anymore. The quality of the photos I take from my phone is decent enough that I no longer need to use my camera. The only time I bring out my camera is when I need a shot that requires a shallow depth of field. 

The LCD of my main camera malfunction a couple of weeks ago, and I haven't decided if I should buy a new one. Impressed with my phone's performance, I am now having second thoughts about buying a new camera body. So I decided to test and compare how the image quality of my Huawei P30 compares to my 11-year-old Olympus E30 DSLR, which will help me decide whether or not I should buy a new camera.

The Olympus E30 has a 12-megapixel sensor and was released back in 2009. The lenses used are the Zuiko 14-54mm f2.8-3.5 (28-108mm equivalent) and Zuiko 9-18mm f4.0-5.6 (18-36mm equivalent). The E30 needs both lenses to match the Huawei P30's range. The Huawei P30, on the other hand, was released back in 2019, and it has a 40-megapixel f1.8 27mm primary camera, an 8-megapixel f2.4 80mm telephoto camera, and a 16-megapixel 17mm ultra-wide camera.

Online Tools to Help Improve Your Writing Skills

Writing great articles is a skill that was never one of my strengths. Even though I love to share my ideas, I always struggle to convey my thoughts. Although I have a fundamental understanding of English, I find it difficult to arrange my thoughts. I find it hard to put words and sentences, and I have a little background in making complex sentences. I also tend to have grammatical errors, and despite knowing my weaknesses, I hardly read my articles.

That's why I've been using online tools to help me with my work and blog posts. These tools have greatly improved the way I create and structure my writing. I've been reviewing my past articles since the beginning of the quarantine. Now, I appreciate the importance of creating readable articles. It's a challenge to get your message across if readers don't understand what you're saying. 

My articles may not be equivalent to a skilled writer, but it is an improvement compared to my previous output. These are the tools that I am currently using, and as a result, my grammar and vocabulary have improved.

 

Grammarly

 

Grammarly offers a free version that checks grammar, punctuation, spelling, and vocabulary. It has an integrated thesaurus that provides alternative synonyms that would fit your sentence better. Grammarly also alerts users to intricate text, misplaced words or phrases, word choice, incomplete sentences, monotonous sentences, and passive voice misuse.

The free version only provides notice of these issues. To remove these flaws, users need to correct the sentences manually. On the other hand, the premium version notifies which sentences need corrections and gives better options to fix these issues. 

House AS08 - Second Floor House Extension

Location: Tisa, Cebu City

Year: 2008

Floor Area: 230 sqm.

Lot Area: 246 sqm.

The project is for a renovation of an existing single-story residential building. The client wanted to retain the existing structure and build an extension on the second floor.

The ground floor's exterior walls remained the same, but we removed some of the interior partitions to accommodate the stairs. To make the ground floor spacious, we opted for an open floor plan and sliding glass doors that opens to the garage. The garage also serves as an extension of the dining and living room area.

To maximize usable space, we laid out the second-floor rooms around the family room. A shared bathroom serves the three bedrooms on the upper ground, while the master bedroom has a separate master bathroom.