arquimaña IS TURNING bytes INto bikes

 

spanish studio arquimaña wants to reduce carbon emissions in cities while empowering people with technology so they’ve designed a wooden bicycle that can be downloaded and fabricated by anyone in the world. 

 

‘openbike is a manifesto on sustainable urbanism, urban transport, distributed manufacturing, shared knowledge, the community and the responsible use of resources, that materializes in the design of a non-polluting urban transport, the bicycle, that can be manufactured by its own user within the city where it is going to be used,’  say architects raquel ares and iñaki albistur.

arquimaña's plywood 'openbike' can be downloaded and built by anyone
images courtesy of arquimaña

 

‘we doN’t transport materials but information’

 

arquimaña has been prototyping designs for openbike since 2017. this final version is designed to be used by anyone, no matter their age, incorporates storage racks to transport goods, and employs a simple construction from widely available materials. 

 

to fabricate the bike, users can download the drawings from a dedicated website designed by happyending studio. they can then take the drawings to their local digital fabrication workshop (fablab) and CNC cut the body of the bicycle from locally available plywood and utilize 3D printing for elements such as the saddle, front hub and hand grips. these parts could also be recycled from old bikes. 

 

 

 

the fabrication files for openbike are licensed under creative commons 4.0, allowing the designs to be improved, modified, manufactured, and shared again by anyone across the world. based on these principles of open design, arquimaña encourages further development and design based on the use of local resources but with global techniques and tools adapted to the characteristics of a particular place.

 

the architects continue,‘the aim is to empower citizens as a transforming agent, putting technology at their service and prioritizing local production with local resources, which generates active and productive cities, looking to the future from an ecological perspective, trying to reduce carbon emissions to a minimum.’

openbike 1
exploded view of the different components to make the bike

 

the project is part of the global fab city initiative, which challenges cities to produce everything they consume by 2054. within this context, openbike hopes to offer citizens the necessary methods for manufacturing a non-polluting means of urban transport, the bicycle, by themselves.

 

openbike is currently on view inside the spanish pavilion at the venice architecture biennale 2021 and in the seoul biennale of architecture and urbanism 2021, cities exhibition curated by dominique perrault.

 

the project has been supported by the department of territorial planning, housing and transport of the basque government, the townhall of donostia, etxepare basque institute, tabakalera, the centre for international contemporary culture, and seoul innovation fablab.

openbike 2
the openbike frame can be fabricated at any local workshop with a CNC router

openbike 9
openbike is on view inside the spanish pavilion at venice architecture biennale 2021

 

 

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openbike has a dedicated website
openbike has a dedicated website
different models can be downloaded from the site
different models can be downloaded from the site
the website is designed by happyending studio
the website is designed by happyending studio
elements such as the bike saddle and handgrips can be 3D printed in a carbon fiber composite
elements such as the bike saddle and handgrips can be 3D printed in a carbon fiber composite
arquimaña has tested different openbike models since 2017
arquimaña has tested different openbike models since 2017
openbike is designed to be used by anyone
openbike is designed to be used by anyone
other main features include a simple construction and the ability to transport goods 
other main features include a simple construction and the ability to transport goods 

project info:

 

name: openbike
design: arquimaña (raquel ares & iñaki albistur)

 

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

 

edited by: lynne myers | designboom