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| Architecture and Design News from TreeHugger.com
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Zero Emissions Weed Cutter Makes For Happier Vegetable Gardening
Lakota squash just harvested from vines which had recently become overgrown with weeds. Image credit:J. Laumer
This time of year, garden pathways and borders can become over-grown with weeds in a matter of days - especially if it's been raining a lot. The first challenge is to keep weeds in these areas cut low enough to enable passage and to prevent them from going to seed.
Food growing areas of the garden also may have to be 'wacked' at this time of year to prevent weeds from taking over plots used for early crops like spinach and to prevent weeds from shading out early producing vines such as Lakota squash (pictured). For these tas... Read the full story on TreeHugger
Residual Gurus Rock! Electronic Music Unplugged with Recycled Instruments (Video)
photo credit: © Xirriquiteula Teatre
The five Barcelona-based Residual Gurus have decided to fight trash with comical roaming concerts, and are touring Europe at the moment. These talented musicians know how to transform rubbish into a spiritual performance that turns the street into a stimulating yet unpredictable haven. "Eastern rhythms, electronic sounds, original instruments, laughter, meditation and improvisation combine in an unrepeatable, collective ritual." The musical group Karam started the show Residual Gurus last year to raise awareness about our trash pro... Read the full story on TreeHugger
Two Visionaries In Vertical Farming Plan Project In New Jersey
Adam Stein once wrote dismissively of vertical farming: "the notion of spending "hundreds of millions" of dollars to build weird, poorly sited temples of food production in areas much better suited to dense, green residential and retail space.... Local food has its merits, but that's what New Jersey is for."
I wonder what he would think of Dr. Dickson Despommier's collaboration with Architects Weber Thompson to build the Newark Vertical Farm- in New Jersey.... Read the full story on TreeHugger
In With The Old: Fixing What We've Got Comes Before Re-imagining What Might Be
Denver Living City Block
Over 40% of our energy consumption goes into powering our buildings, and we all know that we have to cut that Godzilla-sized footprint. But it seems that most of our efforts go to looking at new stuff rather than fixing the old.
Matt Cole, of the Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago writes in Remodeling Magazine's ... Read the full story on TreeHugger
Learning From The Past, Designing For The Future: How They Air Conditioned In India 400 Years Ago
Images from Infosys powerpoint on green energy initiatives
It is hot in Rajasthan, India. Four hundred years ago when building palaces, they installed air conditioning to beat the heat. Caroline Howe of It's Getting Hot in Here explains:... Read the full story on TreeHugger
These Prefabs Don't Move: Studio 804 Houses Languish On Market
For years, the students of Dan Rockhill's Studio 804 at the University of Kansas School of Architecture, Design & Planning has been turning out stunning modern green prefabs, placing them in challenging areas of Kansas City and selling them fast to modern design devotees who know a bargain when they see it- quality materials and construction, operating costs and great modern design. But Wendy Koch of USA today writes that the two latest homes are stuck on the market withou... Read the full story on TreeHugger
The Drifting Problem of Immortal Plastic
Image via: Algalita Marine Research Foundation
We must recognize that everything we create as a society has a future that we cannot see. Every product we make lives on after our brief interaction with it. Nowhere is that more apparent than the plastic legacy we are leaving in our oceans. ... Read the full story on TreeHugger
"Eco-Apartment Building" Powered By Wood Pellets, Sunlight
So many of the green houses we see are either single family dwellings or larger projects by developers chasing LEED. But there are some lovely little projects being built around the world that both push all the green buttons and look gorgeous, like The Gebhartstrasse Apartment located in Liebefeld Switzerland by Halle 58 Architects., Found on the Contemporist.... Read the full story on TreeHugger
Do We Really All Have To Live Like New Yorkers? Does Density Matter?
Reading David Owen's The Green Metropolis, one would conclude that density is everything, that New York is, as he wrote in the New Yorker, "The Greenest City in America":
... Read the full story on TreeHugger
Cute Sustainable Design for Kids at Malba Museum in Buenos Aires
Photos: Paula Alvarado.
Every year when the school winter break comes, the Malba Museum in Buenos Aires puts out a design collection and a set of activities aimed at the little ones. This year, the collection was curated by sustainable design consultant Ana Lisa Alperovich and designer Pablo Ferraro (from KOM) and the focus was on sustainability, presenting objects by 11 eco designers from the city. Check some of them out inside.... Read the full story on TreeHugger
Re-Bubble Concept Puts Your Old Soaps in Public Restrooms
Images via Yanko Design
"Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without" -- This is an old saying that is great for living sustainably, and designs that help us live this mantra usually catch our eye. Such is the case with Re-Bubble by designers WooJae Lee, MinSu Kim & WoongKi Kim. The idea is that public restrooms and conscientious cleaners can work in conjunction to keep soap dispensers filled using the little remnants of bar soaps that often go into the trash. The machine transforms bar soap into bubbles for anyone to use. But, is it all that practical?... Read the full story on TreeHugger
Floating Pool Concept Could Clean NYC Waters "Like a Giant Strainer"
 Images: + Pool
A giant floating pool just off the riverside of Manhattan - for swimming and also filters and cleans the water? Why not? That's what a group of designers and architects are proposing in + Pool, a multi-purpose pool and urban revitalization concept that is in the shape of - you guessed it - a plus sign. They are looking for civic support for what is envisioned as a "giant strainer dropped into the river", which will also serve as a public amenity and ecological prototype. We love the sexy pool images and the clever way water filtration is incorporated into the concept:... Read the full story on TreeHugger
Simple, Stunning Spanish Prefab Assembled In Three Days
All images by FG+SG Fernando Guerra, Sergio Guerra, via Archdaily
It is hard to call a big expensive second home in the country green. On the other hand, sometimes they are just so stunning and have so many great design ideas in them that you just can't help but post it. Young Madrid firm MYCC has done exactly that in Read the full story on TreeHugger
My Other Car Is A Bright Green City: A Second Look
A Parking Lot full of Priuses, from Kristian Widjaja
Working on a post for our Minus Oil series, looking at the relationship of oil, cars and urban design, I keep circling around a post Alex Steffen of Worldchanging wrote two and a half years ago: My Other Car Is A Bright Green City." Alex describes how he was presenting to a group of Tesla engineers and designers and noted that "I thought the Roadster, though un... Read the full story on TreeHugger
Shedworking: It's Not About Cute Sheds, It's About the Workplace Revolution (Book Review)
George Bernard Shaw's writing shed was incredibly sophisticated. It was built on a turntable so that he could push it around to follow the sun. It had electricity, telephone and a buzzer system. He called it "London" so that he could avoid visitors by having staff say "He's not here, he is in London". Nancy Astor once banged on the door, saying "Come out of there, you old fool. You've written enough nonsense in your life!"
That is just one of the gems you learn from Alex Johnson's ... Read the full story on TreeHugger
Architects Build Thai Townhouse Façade Out Of Banana Plants
TreeHugger has often discussed the use of screens or shutters to keep the sun out while providing ventilation and privacy. Thai architects Pailin Paijitsattaya and Kanin Amboon of Architectkidd found a more local, traditional way of doing this: hand woven banana plants.... Read the full story on TreeHugger
American Dream Squeezed Between 2007 And 2009: Who Knows Why?
Small vintage Las Vegas home. Image credit:VeryVintageVegas
American new-built homes have been getting smaller lately; saving energy and materials. National Association of Home Builders reports, based on recent US Census data, that: "After increasing continually for nearly three decades, the average size of single-family homes completed in the United States peaked at 2,521 square feet in 2007. It was essentially flat in 2008, then dropped in 2009, so that ne... Read the full story on TreeHugger
The Eco Friendly Pratt Home Office Collection from West Elm
Now that the home office is the new staple of the American home, let's make it as green and good-looking as possible. You've probably already admired West Elm's collections of elegant home furnishings, but the Pratt line is especially ogle-worthy. Born as a design competition between freshly-graduated students of the Pratt Institute, the guidelines were for an affordable, eco-friendly, home office collection. Looks like they really hit the mark with this chair, wall shelf, desk, file cabinet, and LED lamp (check out pics below).... Read the full story on TreeHugger
Raising the Bar For Recycling: Architect Designs Cool Stools From Wood Offcuts
Trolling the bar scene at Melbourne's Raising the Bar, we find the Offcut Stools by Edwards Moore Architects. They are part of an exhibition of works made from "hard rubbish finds, found objects or the reuse of existing materials" displayed at a working bar.... Read the full story on TreeHugger
Raising the Bar for Recycling: Architect Repurposes Old Electronics
We have noted before that there are a lot of other Rs that are more effective than recycling, including reuse, rot (compost) repurpose, repair, return, refill and most importantly, refuse.
In Melbourne, Australia, 10 architects were challenged to "use recycled materials to design components of a working licensed bar." Mark McQuilten of Architectus sent us pictures of his work. He turns old circuit boards and motherboards into a map of Melbourne.... Read the full story on TreeHugger
Air-Pots, How to Grow Healthy Trees for Replanting in Urban Areas (Video)
Image Credit: Superoots
We like trees in our cities and urban zones; they enhance the air quality, provide shade and are also nice to look at. However, to get those trees into the cities is not an easy task. Josep Selga, who reinvented the way we farm trees at Santa & Cole Forestry Division in Spain, asked the following questions at TEDx in Barcelona this month: Do we know how to cultivate trees to plant in our cities? Do we kno... Read the full story on TreeHugger
Vintage Wine Barrels Refashioned As Flooring: Fontenay Woods
 Images: Fontenay Woods
From bottles to corks, there's a dizzying array of possibilities when it comes to reusing wine-related products, and now you can add reclaimed wine barrels to the list. Though some companies shave off the top layers in an attempt to reuse barrels, the wine-making quality of such barrels is not always consistent. Afterward, at first glance these old barrels may not do much except hold some plants, but that's why we like Fontenay Woods' tasteful solution to reincarnate them as upscale flooring.... Read the full story on TreeHugger
Local Food, Motherfu$k*r: 10 Awesome Ad Campaigns Addressing Food's Carbon Footprint (Slideshow)
Photo via Thomas Cheng
A picture is worth a thousand words. How can we grab people's attention, and get them to eat more local food? Yes, local food -- because it is healthier, slashes food's carbon footprint, and makes you savour the seasons again.
Advertising agencies around the world have launched some truly smart marketing campaigns to educate people on local food and culinary traditions. But don't take our word for it: See the Australians dress up crocodiles, the Italians... Read the full story on TreeHugger
Pissing Match: Wired On The Battle Over Waterless Urinals
Falcon Water-Free Urinal
In February we wrote What is the Cause of "Stinky Situation" With Waterless Urinals?, covering the fight between the plumbers' unions and the manufacturers of waterless urinals.
Now Joshua Davis of Wired looks at the history of the waterless urinal, in Pissing Match: Is the World Ready for the Waterless Urinal?. He writes that the plumbers even claimed that waterless urinals could kill you.... Read the full story on TreeHugger
Observation Tower In Austria Looks As Good As The View
Observation towers create a wonderful opportunity to connect with the environment, permitting a view over the treetops to incredible vistas. Many are utilitarian structures, but some are true works of art on their own. Abitare shows us this new one at a nature reserve on the Austrian River Mur, by Terrain: Loenhart & Mayr.
... Read the full story on TreeHugger
Condo Sales Office Built Out of Shipping Containers And Looks It
There is no form of architecture more ephemeral than the condo sales office, where a lot of money is spent to construct a temporary building that tries to represent the image of the building. Rarely does it go against type.
Another ephemeral and ubiquitous object is the shipping container. In Milwaukee, Rinka Chung Architecture has built a sales office for a slick modern condo out of shipping containers, and made no pretences about their rough and gritty character. ... Read the full story on TreeHugger
Method Laundry Detergent's Radical Innovation Wins International Design Excellence Award
All images via www.methodlaundry.co.uk
Along with the great news that Method Laundry Detergent has just recently been launched in the UK (yes our clothes are already cleaner) we hear that Method's innovative pump action laundry detergent bottle has won the International Design Excellence Award (IDEA) for its behaviour changing design. Read the full story on TreeHugger
The South Gets its First Certified Passive House (Beats California to the Punch)
 Images: Corey Saft
Born in Boston and living in Nashville, I'm continually struck by the fact that Southerners expect air conditioning to be everywhere and running at all times. Enduring the summer swelter just isn't the way it's done down here. New Yorkers and Bostonians, on the other hand, seem almost competitive over who can endure more heat. Corey Saft, an architecture professor at the University of Louisiana, has built himself a home that will keep him cool, even in the heat of the bayou, while barely running the AC. The secret is Passive House, and his is the first in the South.... Read the full story on TreeHugger
Tiny Transformer Kitchen Occupies Less Than 10 Square Feet When Closed
The challenge in the "1, 2, 3... easy kitchen!" competition shown in Designboom was to design a kitchen that occupied less than 1 square meter (about 10 square feet). Kristin Laass and Norman Ebelt of burg giebichenstein: hochschule fur kunst und design halle have done it with real style. Opened, it has everything: a fridge, sink, induction range and oven.... Read the full story on TreeHugger
DIY Exhibit: TechnoCRAFT from Yves Behar
"Clouds" - modular tiles you assemble to your liking. Photo by R.Cruger
A chair you beat into the most comfortable shape, green "crutches" to repair chair legs, your own personal style of Puma sneakers. These are some of the many designs and ideas on display at "TechnoCRAFT: Hackers, Modders, Fabbers, Tweakers, and Design in the Age of Individuality," at San Francisco's Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA), July through October 3. Curated by award-winning industrial designer Yves Behar, the... Read the full story on TreeHugger
What's Old Is New Again: Traditional Knowledge Inventory Informs Innovation
Low-tech Magazine, consistently highlighting how age-old low-tech solutions are thoroughly applicable in creating a more eco-friendly world, serves as a useful antidote to the usual high-tech hubris that infects much of the new green deal talk. A recent post on the newly established Traditional Knowledge Inventory is no exception.
Though not fully fleshed out yet, all of the topics are fascinating for lovers of hu... Read the full story on TreeHugger
Creative Energy Conservation with Switches Too Gross to Turn On (Video)
Image via Make
A clever designer has come up with great ways to get us to conserve energy. They built switches that keep us from wanting to, or being able to turn the electricity on in the first place. From switches that have little hairs stretch toward your finger as it approaches, to switches that retreat into the wall when you reach for it, these creations are the definition of smart energy conservation strategies. ... Read the full story on TreeHugger
The $450,000 Beach Hut: Sometimes Small Isn't Beautiful, Just Expensive
Image credit: The Guardian
From tiny kitchens to moving walls in a transformer apartment, TreeHugger loves small living spaces. In fact, our founder Graham Hill is in the process of converting a 420 sq. ft. New York apartment into the ultimate in sustainable style. And yet we're not quite sur... Read the full story on TreeHugger
Copenhagen is Our Future (If We're Smart)
This Video if Fantastic - I Highly Recommend It
A fish probably doesn't notice water, and someone born in Copenhagen probably forgets that the city's fantastic bike-culture isn't the norm in most other places. The video above shows an overview of what makes Copenhagen such a fanta... Read the full story on TreeHugger
EU Space Agency Wants to Build a Doomsday Ark on the Moon
Apollo 17 astronaut Harrison Schmitt standing next to boulder at Taurus-Littrow during third EVA. Photo: NASA, Public domain.
Our Savior in the Sky
While Japan would like to build a solar power station on the Moon, the European Space Agency is thinking even further ahead: What if some terrible catastrophe (for more info, read about existential risks) were to wipe out a large fraction of... Read the full story on TreeHugger
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