Category Archives: Architecture
Muennig has been building green-roof architecture for the past 30 years. One of his latest eco friendly buildings is the one on copper point where the roof is covered in a blanket of thick wild grass. He is a long time practitioner in eco-architecture and still remains an unsung hero of the green movement even at the age of 74. The copper point house is built into the landscape and has concrete walls on two sides with all-glass walls in between. The roof above is a continuation of the landscape which has thick covering of grass making the house more fireproof and also providing insulation at the same time. It is an ultra efficient house sporting solar panels grids.
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Who says that kitchen sinks are the least important part in a household? Not only does it give you a clean dish to eat, cook and serve on, it has also got a few other uses, so proved by 2012 Architechten in cooperation with Jeanne van Heeswijks of Jeanneworks. It’s a reclaimed pavilion entirely made of kitchen sinks. The Sustainable Sky Box has risen up as a stainless steel castle tower and serves as a multi-purpose space for cultural activities. Reclaimed kitchen sinks serve as the pavilion’s principle facade elements, which are held together with scaffolding, wire and waterproof multiplex boards.
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A new retractable roof made from Tenara, a light weight strong and flexible waterproof architectural fabric has been installed over England’s Centre Court Celebrations. The air management systems are currently being tested in preparation for its official debut in May. This new roof will is made out of translucent fully recyclable fabric, minimizing building materials while allowing daylight to stream down from above. The design will conclude the All England Club’s Long Term Plan, providing greater security for the grass courts, decreased play delays and more comfortable viewing for fans. Even though the roof will halt the rain from pouring in, moisture from the lawn and people as well as humidity must be controlled in order to provide optimum playing and viewing conditions.
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If you have the money, the sense of design and the heart to save the world, you can work wonders. As is proven by artist Katherine Harvey who created a huge 21 foot tall, 15 foot wide chandelier installed at the Santiago Calatrava’s Galleria in Toronto. She made this by transforming plastic recyclable containers into a massive chandelier. It doesn’t look very pretty but this wasn’t apparently made to look pretty but to send out a message on the horrors and the evil of plastic consumption.
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I want to live in this place! It’s amazing! Imagine having to go to your home on a cycle in this century! Ok, maybe that’s not as appealing to most of you, but what about going underground and ride to your home or friend’s home or wherever at Abu Dhabi’s eco-friendly 50,000 one mile square Masdar City in a personal transit vehicle or PRT or in normal layman language – a robot or electric taxi! These vehicles are electrically-powered, centrally-controlled pods and can carry four to six people and go in speeds of up to 25 mph, following magnets embedded in the pathways. The really neat thing is that no cars will be allowed in this zero-carbon, zero-waste city.
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A $28 million state-of-the-art office building, on the site of a former parking lot next to UC Berkeley, will house at least 10 environmental nonprofit groups. The building will be made of 53 percent recycled material and will have four levels. The Brower Center also includes a 180-seat theater, art galleries, meeting rooms, a restaurant and other public spaces. The organizers’ hope is to create a place where environmentally minded people can meet, brainstorm and help solve some of the world’s most challenging ecological dilemmas.
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For those of you who don’t know what LEED is, it stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design and New York’s executive mansion was awarded the second highest level of LEED making it the first governor’s mansion to receive it– in recognizance for its drastic reductions in energy use. The highest LEED status is Platinum, followed by Gold, Silver and Certified. The mansion earned the certification for a number of reasons, including its proximity to public transportation; its use of alternative-fuel vehicles and water-efficient landscaping; its recycling and reduction in water use; and the use of environmentally friendly cleaning products and energy-efficient appliances. Energy use in the mansion is down 20 percent to 25 percent over the past several years.
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The flagship FIFA World Cup Stadium is currently the largest stadium construction site worldwide employing 3,000 personnel. It was first constructed for hosting the first mass rally of Nelson Mandela after his release in 1990. The stadium is receiving a full refit inside and out. The Austrian firm tasked with the delivery of the exterior cladding advises that this will complete in just 80 days. The façade, the intrinsic element of the Boogertman Urban Edge & Partners design, is constructed of fibreC glassfibre concrete panels in typical African colours. Rieder Smart Elements will deliver the façade.
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Haven’t we all watched those alien looking creations and structures where people of the future live in where the atmosphere and air is human controlled since the outside world has succumbed to global warming? Well now San Francisco-based designer Joanna Borek-Clement has envisioned a network of interconnected towers shaped like a neuron called the Sky-Terra skyscrapers It provides a whole new city layer – one covered in public parks, amphitheaters, fields, and public pools and bathhouses and all much above the already sky-kissing skyscrapers. This was an entry in the 2009 eVolo Skyscraper competition and city of cosideration was Tokyo. Sky-Terra towers consist of a narrow base with a deep and strong foundation. The towers rise up to 1,600 ft and expand out until they reach the flat top plaza layer.
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Smart green living is not only limited to people who can afford to shell out enough money to support such a lifestyle. Winfried Baumann has conceptualized a green, high-tech, shelter for the homeless and nomads. Fitted with solar panels, mobile satellite system and laptop, such a container is an idle den for bankrupt geeks. Boasting of comforts like retractable padded bed, first aid kit, mirror, whistle, multi-tool, flashlight and a plastic hood with viewing window, this nomadic earth-friendly techie shelter is portable too. Crafted out of aluminum, it weighs 110kg only. I don’t mind trading my small den for such a fundamental yet self-sufficient, eco-friendly shelter.
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