Japanese studio Nendo has developed a football that doesn't need to be inflated and can instead be assembled by hand from 54 interlocking plastic modules.
Called My Football Kit, the project was created for sports equipment company Molten and aims to make the game accessible to children around the world, who might not be able to buy and maintain a traditional ball.
The My Football Kit can be assembled by hand
"In impoverished communities of the world, aside from the difficulties in obtaining the regular soccer ball itself, its maintenance presents a barrier even once purchased, whether because of the unavailability of air pumps or the deterioration and damage of the tube inside the ball," said Nendo.
The studio's solution was to develop a simplified, non-inflatable ball that derives its structure not from air pressure but from its constituent materials. Long white modules are combined to form a pinwheel shape
Recycled polypropylene and synthetic resin were used to create three different types of components that are interlaced much like bamboo in traditional Japanese crafts.
A set of 30 long white strips are clipped together to form 12 pinwheel shapes, which in turn are combined to form a skeletal sphere.
Black frames are used to fill the pinwheel shapes and plugged with a matching pentagonal piece
Each of these pinwheels is reinforced through adding a black frame to its centre and filled with a matching pentagonal plate.
According to Nendo, the structure is design...