The sheer beauty of Mola is that it isn’t just a toy for children, it’s a tool for architects too! Designed as a way to truly and effectively test out your ideas and concepts without relying on softwares and simulations, Mola is hands-on, exhaustive, and encourages creativity and problem-solving abilities, but more importantly, it’s also fun! Designed by Brazil-based Marcio Sequiera, Mola comes with a few standard parts that act as the building blocks of architecture. Springs in the Mola kit act as girders, chains act as tensile cables, plate-pieces form walls or floors, and magnets help bind pieces together, whether they’re circular magnets for multiple attachments, or right-angled triangular magnets for allowing structures to retain 90° angles. Piece them together to create structures of your choice (using the grid-base for support as well as reference), and Mola becomes a scaled-down representation of your ideas and creativity. The springs and cables actually let you push and prod at your models to see whether they can take any external pressure without collapsing or breaking apart. Each Mola kit comes with a base grid, ground-connectors that give your structures stability and a foundation, and a variety of spring-bars, chain-links, plate-units, and magnetic connector pieces. You can even add your own pieces to the mix, or edit the pieces within the Mola kit, using a trimmer tool provided in the box for adjusting the length of the chain-links. Once you’ve got all the pieces ready, Mola gives you the freedom to build your wildest creations, while also being able to test out core architectural concepts like compression, tension, trusses, structural integrity, tensegrity, damage-resistance, and load-bearing capabilities. Disguised in a toy-like avatar, Mola introduces the basic foundation of stable architecture to young enthusiasts, while also proving to be an incredibly useful and powerful prototyping tool for architects, structural engineers, civil engineers, and artists alike! Designer: Marcio Sequeira Hurry, less than 24 hours left and over $280,000 raised! Mola is a learning tool for anyone interested in the structures and buildings that surround us. It’s a modular construction system (scientifically validated) that simulates real structure behavior. The model is composed of different elements, that are connected through magnets, allowing countless combinations. You can assemble, visualize and feel the structures using your own hands. It is a hands-on activity that can help people to understand abstract concepts in a tangible and concrete manner. The aim of such study is to develop an intuitive knowledge of structural behavior, which is essencial for architects and engineers, specifically in the early stages of a building design process. The variety of elements and types of connections allow you to simulate and understand different kinds of structures, from single elements to plane frames, space structures and more complex systems. The cool thing about Mola is that you don’t need technical knowledge to start studying the structures. The model is compact, versatile and very simple to use. So, it is applicable to both professional and students, as well as anyone interested in the subject. With this new set of elements, you can explore the world of cable structures and understand different structural concepts. See below some photos from their Mola3 prototypes. Cable behavior Stayed systems Suspension bridges Tensegrity Cable-net systems “Form-finding” through hanging chain method Thousands of users from more than 70 countries are creating awesome structures with Mola. They are very proud that our model solution is already been in use by some of the best engineering/architecture companies and universities worldwide. Hurry, less than 24 hours left and over $280,000 raised!