When Japanese office furniture manufacturer Okamura conceptualized an installation for the 2025 Osaka-Kansai Expo, it ditched the typical corporate playbook in favor of something more human. The brand's Kimochi Kiosk (kimochi meaning 'feelings' in Japanese) transforms the mundane act of convenience store shopping into an emotional exchange between friends or strangers. Visitors enter in pairs and browse shelves stocked not with actual snacks and drinks, but with 46 different packaged emotions, including playful options like Otsukare Rice (a pun on the phrase "good work") as well as more vulnerable sentiments about love or forgiveness.The concept operates on a simple premise: participants select products that represent a feeling they want to share with their co-visitor, then 'purchase' these emotions at a checkout counter that prints a receipt they can use to communicate the feeling they chose. It's retail therapy in its most literal form, stripping away the commercial transaction to focus purely on human connection. The installation ran in April 2025 in the expo's Future Life Village. While it might seem like a radical departure for a purveyor of office systems and retail fixtures, the concept aligns with Okamura's core mission of "realizing a society where people can thrive."TREND BITEThe emotional convenience store taps directly into the growing pushback against machine-driven perfection. While algorithms and AI optimize for engagement and efficiency, Kimochi Kiosk celebrates the beautiful awkwardness of human connection the vulnerability required to select a feeling and the uncertainty of not knowing how it will be received by someone else. The installation embodies what we've dubbed HUMANIFESTO: the (counter) trend of choosing authenticity over optimization, emotional messiness over algorithmic precision.
Nederlandse Spoorwegen has welcomed an unusual new arrival to Rotterdam's main train station. The Poem Booth, an AI-powered poetry kiosk that resembles a sleek outdoor advertising unit, is now stationed in the bustling transit hub as part of Poetry International's festival programming. The installation leverages literature for an interactive moment of surprise in an otherwise utilitarian space, making poetry accessible to anyone who happens to be passing by.The booth captures a photo of the person or people standing before it. Based on that image, it generates a personalized poem using generative AI that's been trained on the work of Dutch poet Ellen Deckwitz. Users are shown their custom verses on the unit's mirror-like screen and can save their poems via QR codes for sharing with friends. The project signals how cultural institutions are rethinking audience engagement, moving beyond static consumption towards participatory experiences that meet people wherever they are.
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A former cargo port in Rotterdam could become home to Europe's largest floating residential community, as Danish marine architecture studio MAST unveils plans for over 100 apartments floating in place. The proposal arrives as the Netherlands grapples with an acute housing crisis, racing to build one million new homes by 2030 while contending with scarce buildable land.Rather than pursuing costly land reclamation a practice that continues reshaping coastlines worldwide at significant ecological expense MAST's floating neighborhood embraces water as an integral part of urban infrastructure. The development would feature modular buildings constructed off-site and towed into position, creating minimal disruption and indicating the possibility of relocating entire structures if needed.TREND BITEFloating urbanism is gaining momentum as cities worldwide confront rising sea levels and housing shortages. Unlike traditional waterfront developments that struggle to keep water out, these communities work with their natural aquatic environment. MAST's design incorporates 900 square meters of floating reed beds to improve water quality while providing habitat for wildlife.Connected to Rotterdam's extensive cycling infrastructure and accessible by boat, Spoorweghaven demonstrates how floating communities could integrate seamlessly with existing urban networks. As MAST pursues similar projects in Denmark and elsewhere, the studio positions floating architecture as a scalable response to 21st-century pressures.
