Greetings from #rdcHQ! We’re pleased to announce that our gallery and computer lab are now fully configured for bulb testing. We’ve added two new vendors to the mix, Insteon and RoboSmart (these two bulbs and our TCPi bulbs are installed in our Cobwebs Lab for a future video special effects experiment TBA ), and we now have one Philips Hue bulb in every fixture in our street level gallery. We also have a Philips Hue BR30 and a LiFX to round out our lighting recipe on the ground floor. Our fixures are multi-directional, so we have the option to add more bulbs – however the current solution provides ample light for the art on display. It took a little longer than anticipated to get to this point, however we wanted to make sure that we got the right lights for our specific purpose. We are quite pleased with the results so now comes the fun part … Let the beta-testing begin!

Our groovy lightmapping initiative is powered by ⓣ the thing system — take control of your things!

We do want to mention that we have a runner-up to our ultimate favorite bulb, the Philips Hue A19: The Smartbotics RoboSmart LED. Ours took a tumble right out of the box when we were installing lights in our street level gallery. Not only did it not shatter … it bounced! You can see the scuff marks on the collar of the bulb.

Our RoboSmart after being dropped from a height of 9 ft. These sturdy bulbs do not require a bridge.

These new LED bulbs are very durable, and if they do break – they do not contain the poisonous mercury associated with their curly CFL (compact flourescent lamp) counterparts. And the big news is that we are already seeing a cost-savings in our electricity bills! We’ll be gathering data over the next few months to see just how much. This is definitely a goal of ours (as well as the aesthetic) – and we can certainly attest that it will not take long to recoup the cost of the bulbs on a building this size. So we are very pleased with our investment thus far!

Stay Tuned … and Stay Bright!

Greetings from #rdcHQ! All is well at 351 6th Street … the elves have been busy opening the street level gallery for the Spring season, and the Cobwebs Crew are working steadily towards their first 2014 milestone:

Nate Malamud crafts the storyline for Cobwebs — The Movie — Part Two.

Our resident Blender wizard, creates a 3-D forest.

Evelyn Jennings, illustrator extraordinaire, prepares visuals for animation in Inkscape.

They are making great progress, and we will have a follow-up post this week to share some of the techniques they use in their creative work. In the meantime, stay tuned and mark your calendars for ~interazione~ …

Greetings from #rdcHQ! We’re deep in the mines configuring the Point.B Studio street level gallery and the Cobwebs Media Lab for The All New #rdcHQ project. We have replaced nine of our bulbs with state-of-the-art LEDs from three different manufacturers: Phillips Hue, TCPi Connected, and one LIFX which is a very nifty and BRIGHT bulb (900 lumens) that does not require a bridge in order to be controlled over wireless. The bulbs start out in the Media Lab so they can be paired with the bridge in our server room before being moved to their permanent location (a bulb needs to be at least 20 feet from the bridge in order to be paired). Our two TCPi bulbs are not shown in the diagram as they are currently illuminating the Art Attic (where we’ll host our first Cobwebs screening in May).

Our groovy lightmapping initiative is powered by ⓣ the thing system — take control of your things!

In the next couple of weeks, we’ll be using ⓣ the thing system to work with these bulbs, and we’ll also diagram the rest of the space, plus share comparisons and lighting decisions we make regarding this new technology.

Stay Tuned … and Stay Bright!

More news from #rdcHQ – We are pleased to announce our 2014 projects!

Cobwebs College 2014

Our keynote project this year is “Cobwebs — The Movie” and The Cobwebs Crew has been working on Part Two this Winter with a goal for completion in time for the Grand Opening Art Show at Point.B, Interazione, in the Spring. We’re really excited to have many of the original Cobwebs Crew back at Rural Design Collective Headquarters, and we welcome Harry McCutcheon (illustrator) and Tyler Mendell (animator) to The Crew! We’ll also be posting more information on our site soon for creative youth interested in being a part of the 2014 Summer Program when production of “Cobwebs — The Movie — Part Three” continues with a release date in time for the Oregon Coast Film Festival.

351-Archive (Port Orford Historical Photo Project)

We have a very special new project at The All New #rdcHQ this year — Code Name: “351-Archive”. We were recently gifted a large collection of digitized images from Alan Mitchell, a collector of photographs and memorabilia of Port Orford and Curry County, Oregon, which are often featured in publications that focus on the history of the area. We’ll be working with Mr. Mitchell to bring these images to the Internet for future generations and will have a beta-launch at a later date (to be determined) when we will make these images accessible to all and open the project to public comment. This will be an ongoing project of #rdcHQ and Point.B Studio … it is important work which dovetails nicely into existing projects and it is simply a great project to be involved in.

The All New #rdcHQ ( Infrastructure + OpenLab )

Also in the queue for 2014 is continued work on The All New #rdcHQ. We’re developing a road map for 2014 as we continue to upgrade our new space and media lab, and as always we’ll share what we learn here. It promises to be an interesting adventure with a lot of opportunities for learning as we dive into the brave new world of “The Internet of Things”. In addition to our lighting project, we’ll install a smart thermostat, set up #thethingsystem on a Raspberry Pi, and program an Arduino Uno to help our Koubachi water our Christmas Cactus.

We’ll continue to support existing projects in our pool, and keep folks in the loop as new details develop. As always … Stay Tuned!