Just heard about the winners of the first phase of the competition. Great work everyone and good luck with the next phase...
"Architecture for Humanity New York (AFHny) announces a month-long ideas competition in search of innovative concepts for a new market place for the Red Hook Food Vendors in Red Hook Park, Brooklyn."
Continue reading "Incredible Red Hook Vendor's Booth Re-design Competition" »
And you thought Tokyo was fantastic on the surface! Just have a look at what's under your feet: miles of cathedral-like sewers. A neo-gothic labyrinth of engineering wonder! I just wonder if they ever fill all the way up!
I was absolutely wrong about these! This is Kasukabe and a storm drain at that. Still an awesome space though. Here is a press release:
SAITAMA (Kyodo) An underground tunnel built to take in river water overflow and release it into another river to mitigate flood damage was shown to the media Monday in Kasukabe, Saitama Prefecture.
The 6.3 km long conduit is 50 meters underground in Kasukabe and connects the Otoshifurutone and Edo rivers.
If the Otoshifurutone River or nearby Naka River flood, excess water can be channeled into the tunnel from five locations and temporarily stored in a gigantic reservoir before being pumped up and released into the Edo River.
The water chamber, dubbed the “underground palace,” features 59 columns, each 25 meters high, that can store 670,000 cu. meters of water, according to the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry.
The government project began in 1993 with a budget of 240 billion yen, and part of the tunnel became ready for use in 2002. The system will begin full operation in June.
Historically, the eastern part of Saitama Prefecture has been prone to floods. The government says the flood-management system will significantly reduce the danger of floods in the area.
Continue reading "Unbelievable Tokyo Underground: Sewer Labyrinth Dreamscape" »
Just ran across this ultra-mod orchid growing system and fell in love. Get one for the James Bond fan in your life. Not so sustainable, but having more plants in our lives is a good start...
"Breathe Easy is an aeroponic growing system designed to improve home air quality. It utilizes toxin absorbing plants that clean the air and add humidity. It also doesn’t hurt to bring some of nature’s green indoors too. The plants are held in place by magnetic seals in the top opening...As an added touch, a row of LED lights line the bottom for some nice ground effects."
via Yanko
This over at Ligature we are featuring award-winning designer, fabricator and educator Peter Benarcik. Be sure to check his work out, it's awesome.
Peter Benarcik has worked with nationally recognized architecture and industrial design studios in addition to developing his own multi-disciplined design studios. Peter’s current endeavor- Five Ply Design based in Seattle, WA- continues to focus on both furniture and architectural projects. As if that were not enough, Peter is also a Full-Time Tenure Track Faculty member at Bellevue Community College where he teaches various foundation and advanced design studios in the Interior Design Department.
read the rest on Ligature: Ligature Online
To view more of Peter’s work visit: http://www.fiveplydesign.com
Just heard that the first six, LEED Platinum certified homes in Brad Pitt's rehab project in New Orleans are now finished. The homes use sustainable materials and donated time and effort to come in under the symbolic $150,000 budget.
Congratulations to everyone involved!
Continue reading "Brad Pitt's Sustainable City Completes First Six Homes" »
I know you haven't heard from us in a while but things have been quite busy around here. Crazy actually. But I won't bore you with the details. Here's a great new design I got in my inbox this morning. These wallets are small [I can't stand a fat, Castanza wallet] is 100% recyclable and made from 25% post-consumer plastic. Get yours here...
Just as soon as you can, head over to Project H Design and vote for their latest project; designing educational math toys for developing and US retail markets, based on the Kutamba AIDS Orphans School in Uganda (an Architecture for Humanity building).
Just found out about this one and won't be able to make it because I'll be in San Jose covering West Coast Green. But you all should go! These are great...
Please join CoCA as we play host to Pecha Kucha Night. This month's theme is "Trouble". You've got some, we got some - let's share. We’ve assembled an incredible roster of writers, visual artists, race car drivers, actors and other creative luminaries. Share ideas, see great work - we'd love to see you there!
Continue reading "Pecha Kucha Night at CoCA, Seattle. Thursday 7pm" »
The theme of this year's Biennale of Architecture in Venice, which opened on Sunday, is 'Out There: Architecture Without Building' so we thought it appropriate to review it from afar, from 'Out Here:' as it were. Curator Aaron Betsky has this to say:
"Architecture must go beyond buildings because buildings are not enough. They are big and wasteful accumulations of natural resources that are difficult to adapt to the continually changing conditions of modern life...Most buildings are ugly, useless and wasteful"
Hmm.
Continue reading "Top 5 Picks: Venice Architecture Biennale, 2008" »
Great article in the NYT on Wed about the small house movement. It certainly seems like its time has come. Tumbleweed Tiny Houses, weeHouse, and others are making their move and with great success. And while some companies would like to sell us the 'prefab' version of the small house, I am more interested in the DIY versions; a punk-inspired ethic using scavenged, used and abused materials and doing it all yourself.
In today's Seattle Times, Mark Rahner talks to architect Rem Koolhaas about ego, empathy and architecture. What I find particularly insightful is Mr. Koolhaas' vision of his role, both then and now, as a facilitator, teammate, and bureaucrat.
Bureaucrat?
Continue reading "Architecture 2.0: Koolhaas v. Napoleon III" »
The BLOOM was one of my favorite contenders at the last Solar Decathalon and now it seems to have found a new home. The famed Texas MacDonald Observatory is the lucky recipient of this great structure, which, in its new environment, seems to be thriving:
From Treehugger:
"When we arrived, Sam pointed out that the batteries were way overcharged. Even though the state-of-the-art inverters are set up to divert the excess energy to the three hot water heaters and outdoor Dutch Tub (which can hold five people by the way), there was still too much charge in the batteries. Our job was to waste as much energy as we could to bring the energy stored in the battery bank back down to a safe level. We left the doors open, while we used the AC, the microwave, the full size freezer/refrigerator, the convection counter stove and oven, and we also had music playing through the giant plasma flatscreen TV for hours. Hap even let the on-demand water heater run for an hour to heat the Dutch Tub.
By morning, we were able to bring the energy storage to just above its ideal limit capacity. But by then, the sun was beginning to rise again and restart the cycle. Once the sun gets through its morning stretching routine, the up to 5 KILOwatts the panels gather, prevents any appliances from accessing the battery bank. At that point, all the power comes directly from the panels. Even the most wasteful occupant couldn’t use more than the energy the panels can capture. Did I mention the plug in electric cart outside? It doesn’t put a dent in the system."
Our friends over at Inhabitat have put together a great review of backpacks that will do everything hide your iPod to charge your iPhone. Can't wait for these to come down in price. Check out the deets here...
My favorite is the Voltaic solar, which charges all your gadgets, and is made of 100% recycled PET. Yay!
Solar week continues with this great project out of the UK which has the potential to actually reverse the devastation caused by current greenhouse technology which is depleting water tables around the globe.
The Sahara Forest project would marry huge greenhouses with concentrated solar power (CSP), which uses mirrors to focus the sun's rays and generate heat and electricity. The installations would turn deserts into lush patches of vegetation, according to its designers, and without the need to dig wells for fresh water, which has depleted acquifers in many parts of the world.
Read the rest after the jump...
As part of Solar Week here at (incli)NATION I wanted to have a look at the solar Prius. Well, it doesn't seem to be even close to production, and while I'm all for speculative technology, I'll need to be upgrading my Prius pretty soon. I found a couple advanced images at Road & Track and thought I'd share them here.
"As for the motor/engine, here’s what we uncovered. The displacement of the inline-4 will grow from 1.5 liters to 1.8, which will result in more power and torque. The gasoline engine will produce about 100 bhp and 105 lb.-ft. of torque, and the electric motor generating about 60 bhp, making the new Prius more powerful than ever. We hear it will run from zero to 60 mph in about 9.5 seconds and reach a top speed of about 115 mph.
With this extra oomph, one would expect the car’s fuel economy to suffer. Nope. Amazingly, the Prius will be even more fuel-efficient than it is now. According to our sources, Toyota has improved its hybrid system so the electric motor plays a bigger role when driving. Therefore, don’t be surprised when a slow drive to the corner market is achieved without using a single drop of gasoline.
Now here’s the real kicker. The price of the all-new Prius will probably be the about same, perhaps even lower, than the current one. Toyota is expected to offer three trim levels: base, luxury and eco, with the base model starting around $21,000. Of course, these prices are at the mercy of the dollar/yen exchange rate, so don’t take them to the bank just yet. What is sure is that the next Prius will be as ground-breaking as the model before it, and Toyota will remain the global leader in fuel-efficient modes of transportation."
(incli)NATION is: Daniel Flahiff, editor :: Dorothy D., Akira Rabelais, and Bryan Schultz...
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