Inspiration for innovation.
Make smart, cool, social, sustainable, cost saving and beautiful combinations.
1. Combine nostalgia with new uses
Solar box
Red London phone boxes on Tottenham Court Road are converted into free solar- powered mobile phone charging points or defibrillator houses.
2. Mix the bold and the beautiful
A waste to Energy plant which doubles as ski-slope
Amager Resource Center Denmark
3. Blend strong concepts
and new applications
Uberfication, Tinderfication, Shazamifaction …
4. Combine unused space and new functions
Ikea Utrecht (NL) and a bus stop
In 2013 a sports field was opened on the roof of an Ikea store in Utrecht in the Netherlands resulting a further 12,000 sqm being added to the building’s useable area.
The local authorities would not allow the centre to expand because it would have destroyed existing sporting facilities so two artificial grass pitches with a total area of 20,000 sqm were built on the roof of the building as well as a club room on the roof of the new car park.
5. Integrate nature and comfort
Grapevine canopy in the old town of Jerez, Spain.
Greensulation and natural airco.
6. Surprise with art and functionality
7. Mingle colors
Our cities also need more color next to trees and parks. Hidden basketball court pressed between two bleak apartment buildings in suburban Paris.
8. Combine high and low tech
XBOX 360 controllers for periscope control in newest US Submarines
9. Add fun to packaging
Toys made of cardboard relief boxes
"Relief packages for refugees or those in disaster-stricken areas meet essential needs, containing food and medicine. But there is no room for toys or games
– a basic need for children. Playing helps them to cope. With ‘Inside the Box’ I created a way to make the packages themselves fun by printing colourful images of animals, vehicles and board games on the inside. These can easily be cut out to make toys and there are different colour codes for different ages. In this way, the aid boxes are not wasted, but get a new life, brightening the days of the most vulnerable." Lisanne Koning
10. Mix things for happiness
11. Learn from other industries
12. Give objects a soul
Doctors in Brescia, Italy, check a patient's lung scan. Mobile XRay device from Siemens - child-friendly version with giraffe design.
13. Combine products / services and platforms / ecosystems
open source / partnering / open API’s / co-creation / crowdsourcing / platform / corporate startups / alliances / cool combinations / network / junctions / cross-sector / mixing / love your competitors / co-branding / hybrid organisation / ecosystem / open data / peer to peer / shortcutting / …
14. Go for multifunctionality
Skatepark doubles as emergency reservoir in event of flooding
15. Combine a chainsaw and a bike
Video (with English subtitles)
16. Manifesto
Let’s make beautiful combinations
17. Look for similarities
No vacation this year ... That's how we solve it here. This morning before showering I thought I had slept in the Burj al Arab hotel in Dubai.. 😎. And that for € 7.49.
Extra: new edition with many examples
"Reinventing multifunctionality
Innovation through integration"
Authors: Jurgen van der Heijden (AT Osborne) Denise de Blok (AT Osborne)
Date of publication: 15 June 2020
