WOW 
Thursday, 20. December 2007
Natural Homes Map
Natural Homes has created a pretty mashup of Google Maps and natural homes in the world.To help others who are thinking of going green we have launched our mapping system so that natural homes around the world are more accessible.
Click a natural homes icon below to see a picture and follow the links to the owner's website.
Works fine in Firefox, maybe a little buggy in IE ...
Friday, 14. December 2007
The World
The perfect gift for the person who has everything! No one's ever disappointed by real estate, or isn't it?There are smaller private artifical islands divided into four categories - private homes, estate homes, dream resorts, and community islands. Each island will range from 250,000 to 900,000 square feet in size, with 50 to 100 metres of water between each island. Price: between $6 to $36 million ...
The World is an exclusive development in Dubai made up of 300 islands that together form a map of the planet, an archipelago built 4 km (2.5 miles) off the coast of Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Dredging for the project began in 2004. By May 2007, 45% of the islands had been sold, 20 of which were bought in the first four months of 2007. As of early October 2007, land reclamation was "nearly complete" and was expected to be finished in 2008.
There have been many unconfirmed reports of celebrities who have purchased, or intend to purchase, an island. E.g. on November 2007 Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie were reported to have purchased the island "Ethiopia" - (how fitting!).
Monday, 10. December 2007
Tumbleweed Tiny House
My name is Jay Shafer and since 1997 I have been living in a house smaller than some people's closets. I call the first of my little hand built houses Tumbleweed. My decision to inhabit just 100 square feet arose from some concerns I had about the impact a larger house would have on the environment, and because I do not want to maintain a lot of unused or unusable space. My houses have met all of my domestic needs without demanding much in return. The simple, slower lifestyle my homes have afforded is a luxury for which I am continually grateful.
I love the idea! Positive change begins at home.
Also for Dee Williams, she has such a tiny house:
Wednesday, 07. November 2007
Penthouse Garden Office & Sweetwater Bungalows
The five sided Penthouse Garden Office offers almost 10 square metres of floor space and offers the following features and benefits:
- Well insulated to reduce temperature fluctuations and heating costs
Good acoustic insulation to reduce noise from outside and inside
Sufficient glass to create an even light inside
Southerly orientation of some windows to warm the room combined with roof overhang and natural shading to reduce overheating in Summer
Airtight structure to reduce heat loss
Passive ventilation through air vents plus opening windows and doors
Textured surfaces and minimally processed materials.
A stimulating, modern garden room designed for work, rest and play:
The Penthouse Garden Office.
See another fantastic idea for creating unique and inspiring spaces for you, your family or your guests: Sweetwater Bungalows.
Sweetwater Bungalows, with innovative design and framework, are unique tent cabin kits/portable housing kits. These timeless bungalows combine stability and protection from a substantial wood frame with lightness and beauty from fabric walls. Natural, light permeates throughout the day and they glow with romantic tranquility at night. Together with windows and a door, a cozy bungalow is created from these tent cabin kits.
Monday, 05. November 2007
Robert Bruno's Steel House
Robert Bruno's spectacular Steel House, built 1978-2002 in Ransom Canyon, Texas is a definite visual and spatial WOW.
The architectural sculptor and artist needs 90 tons of steel.
It's like Gaudi without the mosaic:
I hope it inspires you to do something crazy/beautiful yourself ...
Friday, 26. October 2007
200 Eleventh Avenue
200 Eleventh Avenuere presents a significant moment in architecture, with the synthesis of context, shape, dimension, craft and feeling.
16 limited-edition homes are available as simplexes with terraces, duplexes, and penthouses, and range from just over 1,300 sf to nearly 3,500 sf. Homes feature double-height ceilings from 16 to 24 feet, with minimum ceiling heights of 11 feet. Most homes comprise 3 bedrooms with 3.5 baths and several feature private terraces and loggias.
Occupancy for 200 Eleventh Avenue, designed by Selldorf Architects, is scheduled for Fall 2008.
My favorite feature: Park your car in your apartment! See the video below.
Monday, 22. October 2007
Earthbag Building: The Honey House
More and more, people are looking to alternative construction systems to provide affordable, resource friendly efficient housing. Oddly enough, many of these alternative construction systems have been in historic use for hundreds to thousands of years – proven by the test of time throughout the world.Thousands of other natural building techniques exist throughout the world. Natural materials such as stone, earth, straw and timber, along with modern adaptations inspired by traditional building techniques, are quickly gaining popularity as a solution for providing affordable, earth-friendly housing today.
All are different names for the same natural earth building technique that we simply call ... Earthbag Building by OK OK OK Productions.
The Honey House was their first earthbag building:
The Honey House is a 12-foot (interior) diameter corbelled earthbag dome built in 1996. The earthbag work was constructed in 19 days. The plastering was an ongoing summer project. Cost of all materials was about $1500 (US). Included in this price was professional backhoe service to dig the foundation, all reject soil delivered, bags, barbed wire, window and door forms, manufactured windows and custom-made door.
Saturday, 15. September 2007
Landmark Houses
The Orchid House (above) is just one of the amazing homes designed by Landmark Houses:
Our inspiration for Orchid House comes from the wildlife and landscape at Lower Mill Estate. A number of Orchid species can be found here, but it is the camouflage of the Bee Orchid that specifically generated our design.
The house will blend with its landscape and environment. The organic form is created from laminated veneer lumbar (LVL) ribs and clad with timber shingles (tiles). The camouflage pattern is burnt to the timber.
Orchid House can be located on any lakeshore site, with the main living spaces floating over the water. Terraces, gangway and pontoon cascade from the heart of the house as that of the orchid petals.
I like also the Sundance Villa:
The Sundance Villa is a three storey circular villa with rotating top floor set into a storey-high landscaped bank on the north edge of Howell's Mere. The main entrance is on the first floor with master suite and spacious viewing deck with marvellous views out across the waters of Howell's Mere and the surrounding landscape.
The main floor above accommodates a large living room and terrace, kitchen and dining area and a study/bedroom. The whole of this floor rotates 360 degrees whilst sections of the roof open, like the wing flaps of a plane, to make the most of the views as well as channel the prevailing winds to passively help cool the building in the hot summer.
The 'Landmark Houses' programme is envisioned specifically for the site at Lower Mill Estate, in the Cotswold Water Park, where we have invited a number of architects, such as Will Alsop, Eva Jiricna, Sutherland Hussey, Richard Meier and Partners, Roger Sherman, Sarah Featherstone, Alison Brooks, Piers Gough, Greg Lynn, etc. - an older generation at the peak of their inventiveness, but still in wonder at the world out there, and a younger generation in the process of re-invention as they gather a second breath - and asked each one to speculate on the architectural poetics and ecological considerations for the design of a 'landmark house' within such a context.
Landmark Houses
Monday, 10. September 2007
Cristóbal Vila: Fallingwater
Do you remember the article about Etérea by Cristóbal Vila and his stunning 3D works like Snakes, Isfahan, or Canestra di Frutta?Fallingwater - La casa de la cascada
A short computer grafic movie featuring
the Frank Lloyd Wright masterpiece
Fallingwater has always been my preferred work from one of my favourite architects: Frank Lloyd Wright. I remember seeing and admiring this building in some history book from school since I was a child. There was a photo of its outside with that characteristic point of view: the fall in the foreground and the deep forest surrounding the house. At 13 or 14 years old it seemed to me a very modern construction, almost futuristic; later it surprised me to find out that it dates from the Thirties of the Twenty Century.
With this animation project I have tried to understand —and to explain at the same time— how this house was built, showing its internal structure and offering points of view not so well-known or disclosed. I hope you enjoy it.
See the movie Fallingwater,
read about Fallingwater,
and don't miss the work in progress!
"There in a beautiful forest was a solid, high rock ledge rising beside a waterfall, and the natural thing seemed to be to cantilever the house from that rock bank over the falling water... Then came (of course) Mr. Kaufmann's love for the beautiful site. He loved the site where the house was built and liked to listen to the waterfall. So that was a prime motive in the design. I think that you can hear the waterfall when you look at the design" ( … )
Frank Lloyd Wright in an interview with Hugh Downs, 1954
Check out the most important area of Cristóbal Vila's site: WORKS!
You will not be disappointed!
Saturday, 08. September 2007
Extreme Engineering: Bridging the Bering Strait
Do you remember Extreme Engineering: City in a Pyramid mentioned earlier in this blog?I love these videos ... not becaue they're extreme ... but because they're so inspirational and fascinating!
Enjoy today Extreme Engineering: Bridging the Bering Strait:
A massive bridge joining North America and Asia – following the same intercontinental route as the ancient Bering Strait land bridge – holds the promise of unprecedented economic growth on both continents. That is, if it can be built.
Join structural engineers and leading architects as they reveal their impressive design plans for this futuristic passage. Spanning 55 miles of violent seas and crushing ice, the entire bridge would be encased in concrete – including the support cables – to enable it to withstand the rigors of the Arctic Ocean. The bridge's main deck would sport a multi-lane highway, allowing for two-way truck, car and train traffic. Beneath the topside asphalt, a complex network of oil, gas and electric pipelines would carry vital energy between the continents. And the whole thing would rest comfortably on massive, steel-reinforced concrete pillars – each weighing millions of pounds – specifically designed to endure the ever-shifting Arctic ice.
See also Discovery Channel's Extreme Engineering: Bering Strait Bridge interactive tour.
Part 2:
Part 3:
Part 4:
Part 5:
Saturday, 25. August 2007
Dynamic Architecture
Welcome to a new and innovative architecture perspective.It's called Dynamic Architecture. Isn't life about dynamics as well?
Our buildings keep moving, forever changing their shape to better fit your imagination.
And to better fit nature as well. Our buildings follow the sun and move to the wind. So it's nature itself that gives them a full energy supply.
In return, we pay nature more respect, building our towers with a ready-made technology for a more efficient and environment friendly implementation.
Our architecture rotates 360° for a wider vision of the world, of nature, of the future, of life.
This is our vision.
Dynamic Architecture
See the video below in HiRes there ... cooooool!
Thursday, 09. August 2007
Project CityCenter
CityCenter is a 76-acre mixed use development project proposed (currently under construction) by MGM Mirage on the Las Vegas Strip.
Take a walk through the future of urban living, from a dream to a city.
This is CityCenter.
See also:
Conceptual Masterplan designed by Ehrenkrantz Eckstut and Kuhn Architects.
Vegas Today And Tomorrow's CityCenter page
Google Local Aerial Image of Project CityCenter
Monday, 30. July 2007
Mitchell Joachim: Architecture + Ecology + Urban Design
Design consultation on projects involving architecture, urban design, media, and ecological sustainability. The intention is to comprehensibly establish a green framework for solutions that fit within the natural environment and urbanized areas.
Mitchell Joachim: Architecture + Ecology + Urban Design
Monday, 23. July 2007
The Orb
The Orb is a new generation of mobile structures created specifically to fire the imagination of a younger, style conscious generation.
It has been designed to appeal across three distinct markets: commercial show units, holiday park homes and adaptable home offices.
Built to a standard far beyond that of comparable structures using marine technology, it is both incredibly durable, lightweight and transportable.
Holiday Park Home
Its unique oval shape and generous glazing provide a luxurious sense of space and light, as well as intrinsic strength, sustainability and superb insulation efficiency.
It is built to a standard far beyond that of any other comparable mobile home. Manufactured with marine technology, its lightweight and easy to transport.
Thinking out of the box: The Orb
Wednesday, 11. July 2007
Tokyo's Sky City
This is an absolutely awesome program!Extreme Engineering unveils some of the most ambitious architectural plans of our times. Some are theoretical; others are in the works. But all must face challenges that stretch the definition of what's possible.
Tokyo's Sky City: It would house 35,000 residents and host 100,000 daily workers, students and visitors. This space-age city in the sky might seem like science fiction, but it answers some questions about where humans might live as our most crowded cities become even more densely populated.
Explore Tokyo’s Sky City at Extreme Engineering by Discovery Channel.
Part 1 - 9:55
Part 2 - 10:01
Part 3 - 9:52
Part 4 - 10:08
Part 5 - 09:58
If they ever manage to do this, it wouldn't be merely amazing, it would be mindboggling!