Kiosks

Although kayaking is a popular activity, not everyone has the money, storage space or transport capabilities required for one of the boats. That's where the Kayakomat comes in, as it's an onsite, internet-bookable kayak-rental vending machine.

People come in all shapes and sizes, so getting a bicycle that fits your needs is not always an easy task. New Zealand's Velogicfit designed the Right Bike system to help, using a combination of hardware and software to identify which bike is the right size and design for a customer's needs.

Timescope kiosk users can journey through time and watch historically accurate animated scenes of the locale. The latest addition to its portfolio has been installed at the Monument des Fraternisations in northern France, a site which commemorates the unofficial cease-fires of World War I.

A town near Toronto, Canada, is home to a new community-supported lending library with a compelling design. Newmarket's Story Pod is an unstaffed kiosk that's opened up like a book during the day to allow visitors to borrow and donate books and sit on the benches inside to read.

We all get caught in downpours without an umbrella every now and then. For students at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver, however, that will no longer be a problem. A kiosk from a new firm called UmbraCity is offering automated umbrella loans that are free for 48 hours.

The humble street kiosk tends to vary little from its default box-like design. London-based architecture firm Make, however, has re-imagined the kiosk based on the concept of origami. The Make kiosk uses a fan-like folding structure that is both functional and aesthetically exciting.