It’s official, Toyota will have a plug-in Prius ready for the 2011 model year… dubbed the Prius PHV, the flagship hybrid sedan will continue to push green driving mainstream. The efficient set of wheels will add a short all-electric range as well as the ability to drive highway speeds under electric-only power. Depending on driving...
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...
So there’s a lot of wheelin’ and dealin’ going on in Copenhagen right now. Countries from all over the world have been meeting for the past week, and will continue through the end of this one to hammer out a vision for a low-carbon future. The COP15 UN Climate Change conference is what it’s all...
So I’ve been rockin’ the iPhone for a year now and have found that my experience with the utilitarian gadget can be summed up in two words: life-altering. I’m a changed dude. The mod chunk of metal and glass has become a part of me, an extension of my body, a reliable ally. I’ve made...
Dieter Rams is a man, not a myth, but indeed a legend. The German industrial designer has had a storied career at consumer products company, Braun, serving as its head of design from 1961 to 1995. He made Braun a household name in the 50′s, producing coffee makers, calculators, radios, audio/visual equipment, consumer appliances and...
Last week I was out in the District (of Columbia) helping my brother Asa conceptualize a design for his recently acquired row home in the oh-so-cozy Mount Pleasant neighborhood. It looks to be a pretty rockin’ project, with LEED Platinum Certification locked in as its target. He is hoping to set up a blog in...
Life in the green lane moves pretty fast… right when you think you have something figured out, another idea, product, or concept steps up to replace what you had thought was current. A great example of this is the compact fluorescent light bulb… We’re led to believe that CFLs are the solutions to our energy...
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...
It’s all about the H2O my friends… we think water is an unlimited resource since the planet is covered in two-thirds of the stuff. Truth of the matter is less than one half of a single percent (.4%) is accessible for human use… The United Nations claims that 1/6th of the world’s population is already...
It’s becoming increasingly difficult to say that going green is not convenient… tools are being rapidly developed to help us connect to all the rockin’ eco-products and services out there… very exciting times! A couple weeks back GenGreen, a leading green directory, and 3rdWhale Media, a provider of mobile solutions for the sustainably savvy, joined...
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,...
So I spent last week out in Seattle doing a little bit of biz but mostly playing… I lived out there for a while and felt it appropriate to check in to see if the city is still functioning without me : ) It looks like it’s doing just fine, and Seattleites were in particularly...
The vast majority of environmental initiatives usually involve things like regulations, lawsuits and boycotts… Yuck! These tactics have proven to be effective in their own way, but generally they don’t engage and empower people to strive for positive action. Carrotmob is a refreshing new concept that is out to change this… They’ve set up a...
Many peops across the land are discovering the benefits and joys of bicycling, particularly in urban areas where congestion and parking are just not that much fun to deal with. A problem a lot of my hipster friends are finding is that bikes can be expensive and kinda boring looking. To remedy both of these...
When I was wee lad, I went through a phase where I wanted nothing more than to become a car designer. I wasn’t looking to toy around with the mediocre crap that was already on the road… I wanted the glory, the creative jackpot of designing really innovative, futuristic concepts. I would spend hours a...
