Category Archives: Architecture
Oslo’s A-Lab has come out with a winner in a competition to design the 2012 location for Norway’s oil company StatoilHydro. The new modern and flexible office compound surpassed 40 entries and brings together two separated building by with five separate wings lying on top of each other to represent a star. This will help the company have effective communication and save on couriers and transport charges going up and down the town.
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Everyone’s suddenly becoming really serious about the environment and global warming, it seems – which is a good thing. Tokyo, one of the contenders along with Chicago, Madrid and Rio de Janeiro, is a top choice to host the 2016 Olympics. Their USP is that they are going to bring a green Olympics with a lot of effort made to save energy and costs. Tokyo has promised a few things like a solar planet, a new stadium made of solar panels on the roof at the sea front with 10,000 seating capacity, electric and hybrid cars on the roads and carbon credits to reduce emissions to offset any pollution caused by the event.
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Myth – Luxury and eco-friendly tend to move in opposite directions. Fact – Acqua Liana, a $29 million eco-friendly mansion dares to break the myth as luxury and eco-friendly blend together in harmony under this green mansion’s roof. Though the name Acqua Liana is a Tahitian and Fijian word for “Water Flower,” to sum it up in one word, Frank McKinney’s newest home in an eco-heaven. Spread across1.6 acres and rising 23 feet above sea level, this estate is the first home of its size to be certified green by the rigorous environmental standards of the U.S. Green Building Council and the Florida Green Building Council. The list of luxurious features of this three-story, 15,000-square-foot palace includes 7 bedrooms, 11 baths, a fire feature centered waterfall spa, roundabout water gardens, floating sun terraces, an interior glass “water floor,” a suspended double-helix main glass staircase, an arched aquarium wet bar with exotic fishes swimming over. Don’t miss out the guesthouse constructed out of palm and bamboo that is partially submerged in a lagoon. Phew! But it’s the solid green gestures that bowled me over. A basketball court-sized solar paneled roof can generate enough energy for two average-size homes and thus cut electric bills significantly.
Roll over for more eco-friendly features…..
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The Columbia City Green is Seattle based Case Architects‘ latest green project. Renowned for their expertise in shaping up elegant, eco-friendly as well as economical dwellings, the firm specializes in offering the best energy efficient homes on the market. Fitted with green roofs and Insulated Concrete Form (IFC) foundation and walls, the structure will be completely green with rainwater harvesting system and solar pre-heating water systems. The radiant floor heat feature will keep the dens uniformly warm through the chilly days. Along with such water and energy saving features, the firm also explores new ways to reduce the depletion of our natural resources and re-examine old ways to connect with our surroundings. And to build a strong, sustainable bridge with their customers, Case focuses on developing on sites within walking distance of its office. Scheduled for completion in coming spring, it is currently available for pre-sale.
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Inhabitat reports that ignored Governor’s Island in New York will get a green makeover. Designed by West 8, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, and Rogers Marvel Architects, this outstanding eco-park will house watercourses, botanical centers, restaurants and aquaria. Striking a correct balance between landscapes and architecture, the team intends to design artificial hills from reclaimed material from the island’s buildings only. Such man-made mountains will also feature snack bars, exhibits, a funicular, and caves for spelunking. Visitors can move about this whole green haven via complimentary wooden bicycles. With plans to erect a10,000 seat amphitheater, this well-designed eco-park will render extraordinary eco-friendly recreational and educational opportunities to all. With an official completion date set for 2013, it is still in the development stage.
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Something wrong and the face goes red with anger…..while someone’s opulent lifestyle makes a person go green with envy! This is human nature but what if your house is also tweaked to glow red with embarrassment or green with vanity? BrightBuilt has pimped a the zero energy house to do exactly the same. Fitting energy efficient lights under the structure helps to bring to light the energy consumption and exhibit it to the neighbors too. Red glow underneath implies over indulgence in energy consumption while the green radiates your eco-habits that help to save up on energy generated. Apart from red-green demonstration this, the house boasts of a solar roof, geothermal heat exchange in the ground, super insulation in all the walls and low emissivity glass windows too.
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Step out of your run-of-the-mill dens to step in the most out-of-the-box, recycled, livable room. Simply book your self on a flight to Netherlands to reach the De Vrouwe van Stavoren Hotel and unwind in the wine barrel rooms. These days, you come across everyone sipping on to a sparking French wine to celebrate good times. But here is your chance to celebrate with the wine but in a distinctive style. Stavoren hotel has recycled four original Swiss Wine Casks in to well-designed woody rooms. Enter the 14.500 liter cask and you will come across a small sitting room, bathroom and entertaining amenities like TV and radio.
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ZeroEnergy Design master the art of giving shape to the modern homes touched with green factors. Browsing through their site, I am hooked by the Modern Beach House – Truro. This environmentally sensible beach home on Cape Cod boasts of a solar crown that powers up the whole structure. A battery back-up and energy management system store electricity from the solar array to ensure the basic functions of the home through blackouts without the use of a gas-powered generator. The combination the energy efficient building envelope and systems with the solar array will allow the home to produce as much energy as it uses over the course of a year! Ingenuously designed into two segments, ‘Living Bar’ and ‘Sleeping Bar, it is the Sleeping bar section that is kept shut by programmatic zoning during the majority of the year to decrease energy use.
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Instead of spending millions to erect a structure that can function as an arty hub, old outdated subway cars have been put to use for the same. Along with saving money (only 200 pounds for four subway cars), the project has also saved our environment by recycling cast off subway cars which were headed for the junkyard. Located on top of an old brick warehouse in Shoreditch, London, the Village Underground is the address for art lovers who sport a green thumb too. Without many changes, this collection of ex London Underground tube train carriages is fitted on the top of the warehouse. Only the seats in the carriages are removed for providing some space to the artists. While this section acts as a working space for the artists, the lower level ware house is utilized to host art events and exhibitions.
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I believe that education does start at home but when I came across this eco-friendly school, I beg to change my view. Eco-education starts at the first ever green school – Ysgol-y-Graig at Anglesey, North Wales. Erected out of sustainable timber, this green school can house more than 300 students. The photovoltaic roof tiles and wind turbine will be able to energize the institute and the surplus power will be sold to the National Grid. The green roof will also attract many insects on the green plants. Roads leading to the school are also fine-tuned for providing safe walking or cycling route to the school from nearby residences. This in turn will lure children to walk to and fro and hence reduce the use of vehicles and CO2 emissions too. Built by contractors, Wynne Construction, the green change is estimated to cost about £3.7 million.
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