Southtown GreenBound
In 2010, Hilary Scruggs led her team to design and build a prototype for sustainable and affordable living in San Antonio, Texas. With inquisitive looks from passers-by, two aluminum encased homes rose out of a small plot in the Southtown neighborhood. This is the Biering Project. Supplementing the project is the following short documentary, Southtown...
Sustainable Rooftop Agriculture Guide
The Sustainable Rooftop Agriculture Guide is derived from a research thesis by Joshua Foss, Aaron Quesnel and Nina Danielsson at the Blekinge Institute of Technology in Karlskrona, Sweden in the spring of 2011. This guide should act as a general resource to help city stakeholders better understand the role rooftop agriculture (RA) can play in...
Western Harbour, showin’ how it’s done
Blonde babes on bicycles and exceptional eco-design… arguably my two favorite things on planet Earth. This being said, I’ve been a pretty happy camper the past 9 months as I’ve been living in Sweden, home to an abundance of both these glorious entities. As much as I’d like to write about stylish ladies cruising around...
Bug Dome in Shenzhen
So to celebrate this Chinese New Year, the year of the rabbit, I will share a post on a wicked project from a couple of years back… It has nothing to do with bunnies… rather bugs.. but it is in the Chinese city in Shenzhen, so maybe that’s enough of a connection? The ‘Bug Dome’...
Passive in the Woods
So a couple weeks back on a beautiful sunny midwest afternoon, I had the pleasure of touring one of the most energy efficient homes in the country. Called the Passive House in the Woods (PHitW), the single-family residence is humbly striving towards carbon neutrality… it will actually produce more energy than it will use when...
Jungle Life
I had the pleasure of spending my holidays this past year in New Zealand soaking in a whole lotta beauty… fjords, glaciers, monster Kaori trees, gorgeous beaches and believe it or not, some pretty rockin’ architecture! Scattered throughout both the North and South islands were some really sleek minimalist structures with plenty of glass to...
18 Tons
Imagine 18 tons of plastic materials being diverted from a landfill. Imagine this 18 tons of waste being converted into a mouldable liquid compound that can be poured like concrete. Imagine taking this mixture of plastic concrete and making a house out of it. Imagine a Welsh business already doing this. Imagine their name being...
Steel City Infill
Pittsburgh is building itself a nice little reputation as one of America’s hippest cities. Once engulfed in deadly fog of pollution from industrial steel mills, the Pennsylvania metropolis has since undergone a dramatic environmental transformation. A collective drive to clean up rivers, air, and brownfields and the creation of greener buildings has helped to revive...
Log Cabin Melodies
Hans Liberg has got himself one of the coolest recording studios on planet Earth! Take a look at this woody gem of a cabin, located in the town of Hilversum, The Netherlands. Put together by his pal, an established furniture designer by the name of Piet Hein Eek, the structure features an absolutely fabulous facade...
Belzyeah, Belzberg
I’ve noticed a trend of super cool projects popping up Santa Monica, California. My guess is there is something in the water that allows its residents to become uber-creative and build fresh modern buildings within its city limits. Another theory is that someone, perhaps the mayor, planted some dark matter in the Santa Monica city...
20 Feet in Toronto
Check out this eco-gem of an abode in downtown Toronto! Designed by Levitt Goodman Architects, the Euclid Avenue House squeezed every bit of cool into a 20 foot wide urban infill lot. The project is a flawless example of how to take life’s lemons (tiny lot) and make some tasty, tasty lemonade (gorgeous home!). And...
Remington Ammunition
Throwin’ another gorgeous urban infill project at all you beautiful peops out there. Let’s talk Remington Court in Seattle for a moment, a 4,300 sq ft development in the Capitol Hill neighborhood brought to us by HyBrid Architecture + Assembly. The project features a trio of 1,500 sq ft townhouses and an attached 1,000 sq...
Vakre Hotellet i Juvet
Here’s a little eye candy for y’all on this Wednesday afternoon…. Check out the Juvet Landscape Hotel in Gudbrandsjuvet, Norway. It is one of the most striking developments I have ever laid eyes upon. Designed by Jensen and Skodvin Arkitektkontor, the hotel features 10 detached buildings with unobstructed views of the gorgeous rugged Norwegian scenery,...
More NZE, Plz!
Microprocessors double their speed every 18 months. People now carry powerful computers in the palms of their hands, connecting to virtually anyone on the planet through the Internet. Technologies are advancing rapidly, yet we still build the vast majority of our homes using 19th century methods (stick-built, balloon frame)… Why has residential construction been somewhat...
Lucky Produce Gets Skyline View
Get your green thumb on, urbanites, rooftop farming is on its way and is here to stay! Leading the charge is Rooftop Farms, a Brooklyn-based operation that has created the nation’s first commercial garden constructed on top of a building. The 6,000 square foot farm lies above an old bagel factory in the Greenpoint section...
