Scandinavian design is most often associated with a minimalist aesthetic, one emphasizing natural materials as a carefully considered employment of form following function. Wood often plays prominently, as does a subdued palette meant to evoke natureโs colors, with metal only used sparingly as accents. Itโs all pretty much the antithesis of the PC gaming aesthetic and ethos, where gaming rigs tend to lean strongly into gaudy LED-illuminated showmanship.
Now imagine if Alvar Alto or Arne Jacobsen as an avid gamer today, and if they put their creative genius towards designing their very own gaming machine for their COD or Minecraft addiction. You might very well see something similar to Fractal Designโs North and Terra PC cases.
Fractalโs North is available with either a mesh or tempered glass side panel design. Either option includes two 140mm fans to keep air flow performance at a maximum within, while wood and metal combine into a handsome mid-century presence on the exterior side.
Fronted tastefully with a real oak or walnut paneled face, embellished with a faux leather tab, and sleek steel or brass detail buttons and ports, Fractalโs North PC case stood out enough from the crowded realm of audaciously outfitted PC gaming designs to earn the Gothenburg-based company a Red Dot Design Award 2023.
Fractalโs Terra is a similarly conceived approach to PC gaming, featuring a smaller case option made with anodized aluminum panels and a CNC-milled, FSC-certified solid walnut front face.
Three front USB ports, including one USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C with fast charging support and speeds up to 10Gbps, are available on the exterior; seven bridgeless expansion slots within maximize the customization and upgrade options down the line.
Noting hardware upgrades play prominently in the PC gaming experience, North has designed the Terra case to be easily accessible from the side and top using an integrated tab.
An aluminum power button and two USB ports for connecting devices are integrated into the walnut wood detailing. The sum of the design makes it an ideal aesthetic candidate for a living room media PC or gaming machine connected to a home theater system.
Founded in 2007 in Sweden, followed by Fractal Design outposts opened in Dallas and Taipei, Taiwan, the company has distinguished itself by designing gaming accessories aimed at PC customers seeking an understated presence on their desktop. The companyโs North and Terra cases epitomize this understated aesthetic displaying an almost architectural attention to detailing.
Fractal Designโs North PC case retails for $140 here, while the Terra PC case is available for $180 here.
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Typically, when someone says youโre being strung along, itโs rarely intended to communicate anything positive. But in the case of String Furnitureโs modular shelving system, the design classic continues to be associated with the best of modern design โ a flexible, expandable, contemporary classic with an airy aesthetic that seems to never wear out its welcome regardless of era or interior space.
If it sounds like Iโm an unabashed fan, youโre not mistaken. I recently invested in a 3-panel, 12-shelf configuration for my home office to join a pair of two-tier String Pocket wall units. Designed by Swedish architect Nisse Strinning in collaboration with his wife Kajsa Strinning in 1949, the design retains an inspiring vitality inspiring organization and display.
Today, String Furniture is dipping into their archives to refresh a 1955 classic originally designed by Swedish architect Olle Pira. Designed for the Helsingborg exhibition of 1955 in 1955, the Pira G2 modular shelving system has been updated by architect Anna von Schewen and the industrial designer Bjรถrn Dahlstrรถm in time for the 2023 Stockholm Furniture Festival, which ended February 11th.
The refreshed design retains the modular spirit of the original, robust yet visually transparent. โThe ambition was never to design a retro-style piece of furniture, but rather to embrace the core idea behind the original PIRA and create a taller, wider versionโ explains Bjรถrn Dahlstrรถm.
The shelves are made of lacquered steel sheets and secure onto extruded aluminum poles, with a choice of walnut or white oak cabinets and bookends, with each shelf rated for over 110lbs of weight capacity โ more than sufficient to ease concerns of any dedicated bibliophile and/or to accommodate for a designerโs large tome library.
While adaptable as a wall-mounted storage and display piece, the Pira G2 truly shines when configured as a free-standing shelving unit, operating both as a display and room divider with each shelf creating a window to the other side and carving out smaller, more intimate spaces in the process.
Iโve been on the hunt for a room divider to visually break up a long room for months now, and at first glance the Pira G2 seems to offer everything I would hope for in a storage solution. Alas, I realized I was indeed being strung along the entire time โ at least in my specific case โ as the Pira G2โs 318cm max height doesnโt quiet extend sufficiently high enough to secure onto our high ceilings. But for most homes, the Pira G2โs modular sheet-steel construction should offer a centerpiece presence engineered to last a lifetime.