Architecture News

Futurewave, a Brussels-based creative product design studio, has developed Kando, a sophisticated smart care system tailored to meet the evolving demands of elder care institutions. This comprehensive solution integrates advanced technology to foster seamless communication and enhance the quality of care for residents. By focusing on intuitive design and robust functionality, Kando seeks to transform daily operations within these facilities, ensuring that both residents and caregivers benefit from improved efficiency and responsiveness. The system's thoughtful architecture is designed to overcome common challenges, making care management more effective and humane.

The Kando system is built around three core components that work in unison. First, the Kando Button is a discreet wearable device that residents can easily attach to their person or bed. This device features LED feedback and vibration confirmation, providing a simple, one-touch mechanism for emergency communication. Its user-friendly design ensures that help is always within reach. Second, the Kando Box serves as a wall-mounted interactive visual interface, connecting directly to the resident's television. This interface facilitates clear visual communication, allowing residents to interact effortlessly with the system. Finally, central hubs coordinate all communications across the entire facility, ensuring that information flows efficiently and that caregivers are always informed and prepared to respond.

Futurewave undertook the entire development process for Kando, from conceptualizing the product architecture to industrial design, electronics integration, embedded software development, and prototyping. This holistic approach guaranteed that each element of the system was both user-friendly and ready for industrial deployment. The meticulous attention to detail during development aimed to create a system that not only met the technical requirements but also resonated with the emotional needs of the aging population, prioritizing usability and a sense of warmth.

The implementation of Kando offers several significant advantages for elder care facilities. It substantially streamlines care management processes, moving away from cumbersome paper-based documentation towards a more efficient digital system. This shift leads to a notable reduction in response times during emergencies, ensuring residents receive timely assistance. Furthermore, by optimizing operational workflows, Kando helps to lower long-term operational costs for nursing homes. The system represents a broader commitment to designing technology that genuinely supports and empowers older adults, improving their quality of life without compromising on ease of use or comfort.

Ultimately, Kando stands as a testament to how intelligent design can positively impact the lives of an aging population. By addressing the critical needs of elder care facilities with a connected, intuitive, and efficient system, Futurewave has created a solution that not only simplifies care management but also enhances the overall well-being and safety of residents. This innovative approach ensures that technology serves as a supportive tool, fostering better connections and providing peace of mind for both residents and their caregivers.

In Aarhus, Denmark, a striking new architectural feature has emerged beside the ARoS Aarhus Art Museum: a gently rising, circular, grass-covered mound. This innovative structure is distinguished by a central dark oculus, ingeniously turning the vast Danish sky into an integral part of the museum's art collection. Contained within this unique formation is 'As Seen Below – The Dome,' a monumental Skyspace by the renowned artist James Turrell. This permanent light installation, which first opened its doors in January 2026, was thoughtfully timed to precede the museum's full reopening for the summer solstice in June 2026. It promises an extraordinary experience, guiding visitors into the depths beneath the museum's foundations before subtly reorienting their gaze toward the celestial expanse above.

This particular Skyspace marks a significant milestone as Turrell's 100th such creation and stands as his most expansive installation within a museum environment. Towering sixteen meters (52 feet) high and stretching forty meters (130 feet) in diameter, the domed space introduces a novel subterranean realm to ARoS, dedicated to exploring light, human perception, and the dynamic interplay of weather. It further enriches a museum campus already celebrated for its large-scale installations, including Olafur Eliasson's 'Your Rainbow Panorama,' which gracefully arches above the museum's rooftop. Photographer Danica O. Kus had the exclusive opportunity to capture the installation's profound and ethereal ambiance before its public debut, documenting its immersive qualities.

The journey into James Turrell's Skyspace at ARoS commences with an underground passage, leading guests away from the urban landscape and into the serene circular chamber. This deliberate descent is fundamental to the artwork's conceptual framework. Turrell describes 'As Seen Below' as a conscious odyssey of entering the earth to subsequently emerge into the heavens, with this very movement establishing the installation's intrinsic physical rhythm even before the subtle shifts in light begin to unfold. Inside the dome, a vast circular opening perfectly frames the sky, offering an unobstructed view. The interior, sparse in visual distractions, compels the eye to focus keenly on the nuances of color, scale, and the ever-changing boundary between the architectural form and the atmospheric canvas. Turrell succinctly captures the essence of his work, noting, 'The architecture brings the sky close, so you realize that the very act of seeing is the artwork itself,' underscoring the viewer's active role in experiencing the piece.

The installation operates across various modes, each designed to manipulate perception. In 'Open Sky' mode, the oculus remains uncovered during museum hours, presenting the sky as a continuously evolving field of color. Conversely, in 'Colour Shift' mode, the aperture closes, transforming the chamber into an entirely enclosed environment. Here, light cascades across the walls, creating an illusion that dissolves the dome's physical boundaries. During the 'Twilight' sessions, synchronized with sunrise and sunset, artificial hues blend with the natural ambient light, giving the impression that the sky itself is responding to the changing colors. Turrell's extensive artistic career has consistently explored the delicate, often fluid boundary between objective reality and subjective perception. With a background deeply rooted in art and the psychology of perception, and a long association with the Light and Space movement, Turrell has dedicated over five decades to treating light as a medium to inhabit, to feel, and to critically examine. His philosophy, 'I work with light to shape how we perceive,' finds a particularly poignant and direct expression within the Aarhus dome, inviting a profound reconsideration of how we engage with our surroundings.

This opening culminates a significant expansion of ARoS, a collaborative endeavor with Schmidt Hammer Lassen and the Municipality of Aarhus. Beyond the Skyspace, the project encompasses The Salling Gallery, an underground exhibition area for yearly contemporary art commissions that opened in 2025, and ARoS Art Square, a permanent outdoor venue for artistic presentations. Financial support was generously provided by the Salling Foundations, the New Carlsberg Foundation, Aarhus Municipality, ARoS, and an anonymous private donor. From an aerial perspective, the new installation manifests as a circular indentation within the museum grounds, situated harmoniously alongside ARoS's traditional red-brick edifice and the elevated, circular pathway of 'Your Rainbow Panorama.' This arrangement establishes a direct, yet non-repetitive, dialogue between the works. While Eliasson's walkway infuses the city skyline with color from above, Turrell's dome orchestrates a journey below ground, compelling visitors to look skyward from a secluded and contemplative space.

This innovative installation is a testament to the transformative power of art, inviting introspection and a renewed appreciation for the natural world. It beautifully illustrates how human creativity can deepen our connection to the environment, encouraging us to perceive the familiar with fresh eyes and an open mind. By seamlessly integrating the sky into a museum experience, Turrell challenges conventional boundaries between art, architecture, and nature, fostering a sense of wonder and contemplative engagement that elevates the spirit.