Imagine a place that’s equal parts science lab, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and Kraftwerk’s home studio. Throw in a touch of Haight-Ashbury circa 1967, a sprinkle of Prince Jammy’s mixing board and Bob Moog’s synthesizer collection – all in a 22nd century remix – and you’re halfway there.

That’s the description the Red Bull Music Academy gives of it’s annual celebration of musical talent and accompanying state-of-the art interactive creative space.

The Red Bull Music Academy (RBMA) is an international music festival held every year in a different city. Organized by Red Bull, dozens of selected participants are brought together and given the chance to create and learn from peers and industry experts in state-of-the-art studios.

For this year’s festival, held in New York City, the RBMA commissioned architecture firm, INABA, to turn a 38,000 square-foot vacant building in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood into a collaborative learning environment. Occupying 4 floors at 218 W 18th street, the innovative space is a departure from the traditional classroom environment and instead embraces a more interactive, free-flowing, interpersonal learning experience. The experimental venue encourages personal interaction and the sharing of new ideas through the use of a variety of design elements including open layouts, large windows that bathe the entire area in natural light and allow unrestricted views of the space, innovative lighting design, and rounded walls.

As reported in Arch Daily, the facilities include performance spaces, private workshops, production, broadcasting, recording studios, rehearsal rooms, the RBMA radio station and 8 collaborative music studio pods which also have large floor-to-ceiling windows looking out onto the workspace. The areas vary in size in order to accommodate different types of collaboration. Wide open areas were created for the benefit of performances and other large gatherings, while smaller rooms and studios allow for a more intimate exchange of ideas.

The festival, which consists of performances, interviews, lectures, and workshops, runs from April 28th until May 31st.

Following the conclusion of the festival, the building will remain in use primarily as an office space, while also doubling as a creative haven to be utilized by artists of all kinds.

Click through to see more images of the space:

Red Bull Music Academy

Photo Credit: Greg Irikura

The online and offline worlds are converging to create new ways of engaging and servicing consumers. Multi-channel tactics such as Amazon or Walmart’s “Lockers” service, which enables consumers to purchase products online ahead of time and have them ready for pick-up at a designated destination.

In a similar light, London’s high-end luxury destination Selfridges recently announced they are launching a drive-thru service where consumers can purchase products and clothes online in advance to pick them up at a drive-thru reception area. The service, named Click and Collect will be available January next year.

Given Selfridges deep heritage dating back over 100 years, the detail destination has been gradually beefing up their online presence by making their products available and creating new services that augment the in-store retail experience. London’s Evening Standard reports that “The store, which launched its website three years ago, is investing millions of pounds on beefing up its online presence. A new “Click and Collect” service recently started and already accounts for between 10 and 15% of turnover.”

With such a high conversion rate, it’s understandable why they are diversifying entry points into the purchase funnel. Customers will soon be able to order purchases online and once they arrive at the drive-thru, staff will bring their orders to their vehicles. To ensure customer satisfaction, shoppers at the drive-thru will be able to try their purchases on before finalizing their order.

Selfridges

Boxbee offers an alternative to traditional storage units, as it allows users to manage their boxes online and retrieve a box whenever they need one. The service is more convenient and cost-effective than renting out a whole unit.

The company, which operates in a 15-mile radius of San Francisco, brings boxes to your door, which you can then fill before scheduling a pickup. They are then collected and secured in storage with 24/hr surveillance.

Users can take photos and write a short description to organize the items they have in each box, and Boxbee has an online interface and mobile app for keeping track of all the items stored. You can manage boxes so you know what items are inside which ones and also request more online.

The durable, stackable, waterproof boxes are 24? long, 20? tall and 12? wide. There is one standard box size to make storage and pricing simple for customers. Storage is priced at $6/month per box and if you want to retrieve a box, deliveries are $15 plus $2 per box.

Boxbee

Steve Jobs once said, ‘death is the destination we all share.’ It is a scary truth, but medical science has been working as hard as possible to push the reality of death a little further away. The search for the fountain of youth may have spanned thousands of years, but no one has been closer than when in a laboratory. Now Harvard researchers have discovered a protein in young blood that could reverse the effects on an aging heart.

For the past five years Richard T. Lee, a cardiologist, and Amy Wagers, a stem cell biologist – both faculty members at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute – have been working to understand why when they injected young mice blood into older mice, the latter’s heart began to function better. Their teams were able to isolate a protein, GDF-11 – which humans also have – that causes the reduction in size and thickness of the hearts, factors linked to heart failure.

Lee explained to the Harvard Gazette:

The most common form of heart failure is actually a form that’s not caused by heart attacks but is very much related to the heart aging. In this study, we were able to show that a protein that circulates in the blood is related to this aging process, and if we gave older mice this protein, we could reverse the heart aging in a very short period of time.

The discovery could have a dramatic effect on how we approach the treatment of ailing hearts and aging in general. Added Wagers:

As we age, there are many changes that occur in different parts of the body and those changes are often associated with a decline in the function of our bodies. One of the interests of my laboratory is in understanding why this happens and whether it is an inevitable consequence of aging, or if it might be reversible.

The teams are now working towards clinical trials, which could take another four or five years to begin but it is already clear how monumental this research could be. As Lee succinctly put it: ‘This is the coolest thing I’ve ever been a part of.’

Harvard Stem Cell Institute

There are frozen bananas, and then there are Double-Dipped frozen bananas from the Bluth Banana Stand. Arrested Development fans know the difference.

To gear up for the launch of the fourth season of Arrested Development on Netflix, the entertainment service’s recent promotion gave back to fans in the only way that seemed fitting: free frozen bananas.

First in London, and then this past week in New York City, the Bluth Banana Stand was recreated as a pop-up vendor giving away free frozen bananas in the lead up to the show’s return on May 26^th. Fans waited in lengthy lines near Radio City Music Hall and Columbus Circle in order to get their hands on the chocolate-dipped fruit, wrapped in anticipation.

Continuing with their unexpected and nontraditional promotions for the show – which only seem fitting – Netflix also enlisted the online food service Seamless.com to create a fake page for Bluth’s Original Frozen Banana. In addition to offering the original frozen banana, fans can also peruse other classic food items from the show including ‘Vodka Rocks Toast,’ ‘Skip’s Scramble,’ and ‘Hot Ham Water’ to name a few.

Unfortunately, there is a delivery minimum of $250,000 (sorry, high rollers only) and it won’t arrive until May 26^th.

While the cult classic’s return is sure to be successful regardless, a fake webpage and free frozen bananas can’t hurt.

Arrested Development

Netflix

Seamless.com

Images via Seamless.com, Netflix, and 20th Century Fox