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architecture
Instead of building green, you can fix it green
Oct 1st
After a full year of thorough field and lab testing, New York’s electric, gas and steam utility, Con Edison, gives the earth-friendly GreenPatch their official companywide approval for exclusive daily use. GreenPatch replaces the conventional petroleum-based cold asphalt patching material (commonly referred to as “cold patch”) used on all subsurface utility construction and repair projects
Beyond Politics, Poverty, and War
Sep 12th
Is it possible? Well, the Venus Project will try. The Venus Project “advocates an alternative vision for a sustainable new world civilization unlike any social system that has gone before.” This project is seeking to make natural resources a common heritage and cultural value for all of humankind and to create a resource-based economy instead of a monetary-based one. The project is based in Venus, Florida, where Phase One of this alternative vision has already taken shape with domed-shape buildings and a conference center. They also have plans in motion to develop futuristic transportation, clean energy sources, city architecture and efficient housing. The project’s plans for city systems includes Research City, a brand new city that would expound these ideals without replacing old cities and solving the problems of the old ones. The new city would come without all those problems. Research City has a circular arrangement that will be surrounded by, and incorporated into the city design, parks and lovely gardens. This city will be designed to operate with the minimum expenditure of energy using the cleanest technology available. This system facilitates efficient transportation for city residents, eliminating the need for automobiles. Images and Video of the vision after the break
The World’s First Sustainable City
Sep 2nd
Masdar, United Arab Emirates. It’s scheduled to be completed by 2016, but the city will be the first zero carbon, zero waste city powered entirely by renewable energy sources. Located 10.5 miles from Abu Dhabi, Masdar will be completed in seven phases and will include a plaza, a five-star hotel, a convention center, an entertainment complex and retail facilities. Images after the break
A Garden of Bricks? Startup Makes “Garden Grown” Bricks
Sep 2nd
The winner of the 2010 Next Generation contest from Metropolis Magazine is a brick that is grown rather than baked or fired. The process starts with sand, which is then printed with a layer of bacteria, calcium chloride, and urea. Microbes in the sand react with that mixture, forming a glue that binds the sand together. The finished product is as strong as marble and world-wide carbon emissions could be reduced by “at least” 800 million tons a year if this process were streamlined and the bricks were mass produced. Over 1.2 trillion bricks are manufactured every year. Images after the break
Old Red Goes Green
Sep 1st
With the environmental movement, why not improve the old building materials instead of making entire new ones? Introducing the save water brick from designer Jin-young Yoon that has built-in grooves meant to funnel water for gardening or long-term underground storage. Made from recycled plastic and decomposed leaves, the save water brick has the grooves on one side and looks like a normal brick on the other. So those self-conscious environmentalists can still blend in while sticking to eco-friendly principles. Images after the break.
Solar toothbrush, solar fuel, now the solar home
Aug 24th
Ralph Disch of Freiburg, Germany has designed and build the first zero-energy home that generates five times the energy it consumes from the sun. The home, dubbed the Heliotrope, actually rotates with the sun’s celestial path and has 6.6 kWH solar panels mounted on top. Though intriguing, the Heliotrope is not the most practical home design in the world. But it represents a great step forward in the green movement and alternative energy sources.
Green Design: Energy Neutral School
Aug 21st
Richardsville Elementary School in Warren County, Kentucky is to be the first net-zero energy public school in the country. A net-zero building is one that generates as much, or more, energy than it needs to operate, doing so with renewable energy sources like wind and solar. The school is outfitted with all the typical amenities: a library, a gym, a cafeteria, and classrooms. But the school will also be used to educate students about conservation, renewable energy, and recycling.
Genetic Modification is Natural After All
Aug 14th
n North Dakota, populations of genetically modified canola flowers have been found growing everywhere, from fields to parking lots to cemeteries. These plants have cross-pollinated with normal canola flowers to create pesticide-resistant strains, which are resistant to both LibertyLink and Roundup Ready. This is the first instance of genetically modified plants growing wild in the United States, though instances have occurred in Canada and in Japan. It’s suspected that these populations are the result of relaxed monitoring and regulation of genetically modified crops in the country, where the seeds are most likely from passing farm trucks.
Home Built Out Of A Grid Of Boxes Makes Us Re-imagine Design
Aug 10th
Design has ruled Ideabing off late. Innovation springs out of good design and thats what we feature on Ideabing. Architect Yasuhiro Yamashita has created a house made of a grid of steel boxes. The design is unique in almost all senses since it rules out the conventional vision of windows,doors and shelves.
The grid forms windows quite naturally just like it creates shelves. The design creates space naturally giving the interiors a club like appeal. Where else can you find this building? Tokyo, of course.
The Infinite House
Aug 7th
Now that we have been talking about open buildings, making a tiny house fit 3 bedrooms and a clothes drying rack, we thought an advert to apply these principles of space would round the week off quite well.
Hornbach, a German supplier of building supplies has released an advert that tells us about engineering, creativity and a sense of space. That a tiny home can be expanded to fit people and hearts is a rather amazing way of putting 3 stories together while promoting the brand that Hornback stands for. The house is infinite and love is too. Enjoy the commercial after the break.
