Summer 'vacation', between internships

Finished my internship with Atlas Copco mid/late June and headed to Canada for some 'vacation' between internships. July was a long, warm, busy, and stressful month at home. Love my family and glad I had the chance to visit, as well as hopefully help carry the load to make things less stressful and a bit easier on everyone on the farm. The big stress causing thing was of course the new barn construction, with all of it's issues and hick-ups to say the least. I'll be very happy for them once they are finally milking in the new barn.

One of the first days of pre-fab installation on site.

Beautiful structure, that pre-fab stuff.

It will be one very big barn, when it's done.

A multi-cultural herd - combo of Holsteins and Brown Swiss, both of which are super cute as calves

Muskoka holiday - the end of my time in Canada was spent at Lindsey's cottage up in Muskoka, and after all the stress built up through July, this was a much needed, and very great little vacation!

Who doesn't like ducks?

 

Pseudo wedding table setting

Pseudo wedding cupcakes

Grace and Dan - happily married, at the pseudo wedding party we had in Muskoka

Light writing - if my photography skills would have been better with my new camera, I may have been able to better capture them making a heart with the sparklers

IDEA 2013 Bronze!

Last year (2012) I was a finalist in the IDEA awards with my Dispatch Mining Utility Vehicle concept, and this year I won an IDEA Bronze with my Hydrologic water recycling laundry system concept.

Hydrologic - IDEA 2013 Bronze

Hydrologic - a bit of an idea behind how the closed loop water filtration system is intended to work.

In case you missed it earlier, this video is a quick little teaser/introduction to the concept:



Hydrologic is a closed loop laundry system that is not connected to the home’s water infrastructure. The water inside runs through a series of filters and bio filters to be recycled in a continuous loop, thus preventing any harmful chemicals from entering the water system.

Life in Örebro (Swedish Experiences)

Random Swedish happenings and shenanigans while I lived in Örebro that add to the whole Swedish experience.

Örebro Slott - not a super exciting winters day in Örebro, but the castle still is nice.

Walpurgisnacht (Walpugis Night) - Big night in Sweden, and in this shot, a choir singing in front of Örebro Slott, with the bonfire on the water.

Fireworks Walpurgisnacht Finale



Free kanelbullar (cinnamon buns) at Maskin Expo - mmm Swedish



Swedish Countryside - on the way back from Maskin Expo near Arlanda.

As Swedish as it gets - On the Swedish National Holiday (June 6th), I helped my friend and co-worker Nirvana get some new furniture and move into her new place. Björn, another friend and co-worker let us borrow his Volvo 740. Took about 45 minutes to pack the car seen here - it was kinda like Tetris. Nirvana was a bit sceptical it would all fit, but my sunny optimism won her over.

Bland Sallad - Sure it makes sense in Swedish, but when you read it as an English speaker, well, it does seem bland (aptly named?)

Last day of work - my final day of Internship at Atlas Copco, and we (me and some of the summer interns and new employees) got to go down to the test mine to check out some drill rigs in action.

Rocheforte 10 - Ok, so not so Swedish, but this is one of my all-time favourite beers, and to find it only a week or so before leaving Örebro had me asking myself how I hadn't found this pub earlier.

Svenske Midsommar (Swedish Midsummer) - kinda the biggest event of the year in Sweden, time to enjoy the longest day of the year, the endless (if it's a sunny day) sunlight, as well as great Swedish food and drink. This garden party was at Björn's.

Midsommar på Örebro slott - my final days in Örebro before taking my Canadian summer vacation, and moving on to the next place and adventure in August. I think this was as dark as it got that evening.



Örebro C - departing Örebro

Örebro - Umeå Train Trip

Took the train from Örebro all the way up to Umeå, chasing the sun north, for UID Design Talks '13. It was a great trip. This time of year, taking the train through the day is a great way to see Sweden. I arrived in Umeå a little after 23:00, and this was only about a half hour past sunset! So obviously it was also still bright.
Even better then that, starting the day in Örebro it was grey, rainy, and about 16C. By the time I was almost in Umeå, it was bright, sunny, and one of the warmest spots in all of Europe. It was crazy - people were walking around in shorts and tank-tops, as if it were the south of Europe, and were nicely bronzed from having had 4 weeks of sunshine and beautiful weather! (shown fairly nicely here in pictures)
I could only wish for the same next year.

Örebro / Hallsberg - starting point, first leg of 3 on the SJ X40 double decker

Hallsberg Station - a 1 hour wait for the next train

Hallsberg / Stockholm - aboard the SJ 2000 for leg 2 of the journey, and the weather was still grey, rainy, and not especially warm

Stockholm / Umeå - leaving Stockholm aboard the SJ3000 at the start of leg 3 of the journey (the longest part), and the weather still looks crappy, albeit better then when I left Örebro

SJ3000 Luxury - the super new, high speed trains in Sweden with lots of space in a roomy very nice, very Swedish interior (here you might notice the shelves between the seats and the windows that are about ample enough for a handbag)

Gävle C - weather is clearing up, and looking a bit better

Approximately an hour till sunset - weather is starting to look real nice

Höga Kusten (Swedish High Coast) - weather is really nice

This is the point at which I concluded Sweden is actually composed of 90% forests, 8% trees they just cut down, and 2% is everything else

Örnsköldsvik - right about sunset, and just a bit to go until reaching Umeå, with really beautiful weather

Umeå Östra - arrival in Umeå at last, and it seems surreal, with weather this beautiful, and the endless daylight (if you look real close you can see the clock on the platform says it's almost 23:00, and the sun looks to not have set yet)

Designer Breakfast - after a night of helping fellow Umeå APD's on their models before the exhibition, and returning to the hotel very late, Carlos, Natalie and I headed to a patio on the way to school (where free food was to be served anyways)

UID'13 Design Talks

What's better then chocolate for Easter? Legoland!

For Easter holiday, I took the train for a long weekend down to Denmark. Had a quick 1 day stop in Copenhagen, and then on to Aarhus, where I met fellow MA APD classmate from Umeå, Carlos. We toured ARoS - Aarhus Museum of Modern Art.
That evening we took the train on to Vejle, to then catch the bus to Billund - home of Lego!
Next day we went to Legoland!

Giant, life like statue - very creepy, and cool

Blue Powder - the whole of this artwork looked like a 3m x 6m or so metal frame, surrounding cobalt blue pigment on the floor

Kid with an axe - for some reason, I really liked this one, the cartoon styling, the life-size scale, the story it could tell

Rainbow ring - glassed in walkway sitting atop the museum - provides a great view over Aarhus, as well as some colours feeling a bit hard on the eyes

Legoland - the gates to where every child must dream of at some point in time!

Lego Amsterdam - a great hommage, I'm home

Ice Pilots School - for me, the highlight of the Legoland park was this ride, where you cue up in pairs, get a card which you insert in a machine; you then get to select from a touch screen menu the combination of movements you want to experience on the ride (more extreme if you're tall enough to be considered adult); it then spits the card with your selection out, you walk over to the platform infront of the large robot arms (like the ones used on factory assembly lines), insert it, climb aboard, and away you go - I literally started laughing like a giddy school child as soon as it started to go

Shape-shifting facade - the facade to one of the new buildings for Lego in Billund, with operable metal mesh shutters, to control the daylight

MA APD - Term 3, Part 2: Home Fire Safety Project

Falling a little bit behind again with posting, as with getting other things done.

I still have to outstanding (not in that positive kinda way) project reports to complete before my return to Umeå, as well as figuring out my thesis project before then as well.

But still, figured even though it doesn't feel as complete as I'd like, maybe posting this here will be some motivation to work on it to further complete my stuff and get it done.

The Autumn Term 2012 project was for 'Home Fire Safety'. My results more or less presented here in video. Still a work-in-progress.
I've made the video password protected since it does not really feel complete to me.
 If you'd like to watch it, just ask me for the password.



SAFETY+
Concept for a line of home safety equipment with a focus on fire safety. Through a strong product identity, simple and domestic design, the products maintain a dignity that encourages people to not just have these items in their home to be safe, but be proud to own and display them.

Term Project #3: Home Fire Safety Presentation, 2012.12.13
MA Advanced Product Design
Umeå Institute of Design

SAFETY+ my final concept design as presented at the conclusion of the project

Moved.... again.

On the 17th of December, I rented a car in Umeå, packed all of my stuff there into it, and drove some 9 hours south, south-west, arriving at my new home for the next few months in Örebro.

Bridge leaving Umeå, start of the trip - on Kolbäcksvägen (not sure if there's a name for the bridge or not).

For anyone needing my new digits:


William van Beek
Köping-Hultgatan 4/809
703 63 Örebro
Sweden

Very happy and excited to be starting my internship tomorrow with Atlas Copco.

MA APD - Term 3, Part 1: Visual Design Prototyping

Part 1 of the third term, was 4 weeks long - 'Visual Design Prototyping', a storytelling course where we are given the challenge of creating a 1 minute long video, telling the story for one of our previous projects.

Here are the results of my first real attempt in film:



Hydrologic is a closed loop laundry system that is not connected to the home's water infrastructure.
The water inside runs through a series of filters and bio-filters to be recycled in a continuous loop, thus preventing any harmful chemicals from entering the water system.

Visual Storytelling Course
MA Advanced Product Design
Umeå Institute of Design

Umeå Intermission Part 3: Summer (working) Holiday

The summer had me back in Canada, helping on the farm, and also occasionally visiting friends.

It was good to be back.

Super hipster Canada Day - in Almonte at Peter and Danielle's

Warm and Dry - I had but one word to describe the weather of the past summer in Ontario: Oppressive - this picture was taken in the shade!

Foodie Weekend - on one of my trips to Ottawa, Grace and I had a pretty unrivalled 24hr foodie experience

Home on the range - some nice cloud formations (I think this was shortly before something stung me in the leg - just my luck)

Behind the barns

Summer sunset on the farm

Moo - a shot of the girls just before I left for the memories