Archive for the 'buildings' Category
After visiting a hotel in Guadalajara, the centre of Spain, at the beginning of the year, the Travelling Eco Suite is currently spending time in Portugal. The Spanish boutique hotel chain Rusticae got together with the architects from Modulab, Egoin eco-energy engineers and the designer Tomás Alía to create the Travelling Suite. They call it 'ecosustainable' but since that wo... weiterlesen...
Image credit: Bernd Sieker, used under Creative Commons license.
Dear Pablo: Does installing commercial rooftop solar PV (with the dark-colored PV cells) negate the effect of painting that same roof white to alleviate the "heat island" effect in cities?
When the sun's energy arrives at the Earth's surface it is either reflected or absorbed. When more energy is absorbed than n.... weiterlesen...
Photos: Helio Sperandio.
An old shed that used to serve as a vehicle maintenance workshop and a warehouse for the Federal University of Goias in the city of Goiania, Brazil, was recycled into a stunning cultural center for the institution.
Following the rule that the greenest building is the one already standing, architect Fernando Simon adapted the construction...Read the ful... weiterlesen...
One can't spend years as the editor in chief of Dwell magazine and not be something of a sage on sustainable design. What's more, Allison Arieff literally wrote the book on prefab architecture and now shares her explorations in the pages of the New York Times. In our interview she reflects on the troubled arc of prefab's promise, why the suburbs aren't that bad (and also weiterlesen...
Photos Courtesy of Zebra3/Buy-Sellf
As awesome as cities are, getting away from time to time is a good idea. But as refreshing and necessary as a vacation in the countryside can be, it comes with its own headaches, especially in terms of increased carbon footprint. But if you're lucky enough to be around Bordeaux, in Southwestern France, you don't have to go far to find a great... weiterlesen...
Photo: Luc Legay under a Creative Commons license.
In the late 1920s, looking to promote public hygiene, Jean-Baptiste Lebas, the mayor of Roubaix, a small town in northern France, ordered the construction of a public swimming pool. The result, opened in 1932, the work of architect Albert Baert, was a stunning example of Art Deco architecture. With a 50 meter pool, baths, a hai... weiterlesen...
Image Credit: Vicente Guallart
Last week I posted a stunning wooden bicycle, and the beautiful heritage of wooden ceilings in Andalusia from a series of wood design from Spain that Confeadera put together. Other works include the Fab Lab House, some micro-islands perfect for sunbathing on rocky beaches and of course, the Spanish Guitar!...Read the full story on TreeHugger
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Graphic images D.R. Horton.
It looks like an oversize city lot - just 15,000 square feet - destined for some starter castle. But the plot of dirt sitting at the corner of inner city Portland's 43rd and Division streets is something else - it's the arrival of tiny homes to mainstream building.
D.R. Horton is by all measures a mainstream home construction company. But on the prop... weiterlesen...
Dubai's Burj Khalifa, which stands at 2,717 feet, will be dwarfed by the proposed Kingdom Tower. Photo: Leandro Neumann Ciuffo under a Creative Commons license
This month, Saudi Arabia revealed its plans to build the Kingdom Tower, the world's first mile high building, which will double the height of Dubai's Burj Khalifa, currently the world's tallest skyscraper. But going beyo... weiterlesen...
All Images Courtesy of Franck Deboute & Karine Montagnon
In 2009, architects Franck Deboute and Karine Montagnon decided to build their dream home and office. The site: the Pointe du Raz, hanging out over the Atlantic Ocean, in Brittany, France. The materials: straw, wood, and earth. The builders: Deboute and Montagnon themselves, along with a corps of volunteers interested in ... weiterlesen...
Photo Credit: Neil Chambers
Michael Murphy has been doing more than the average graduate student. For a year and half, he slept in a tent in the country of Rwanda to design and build a hospital as his classmates were stuck in design studio only talking about architecture. He was part of an event hosted by...Read the full story on TreeHugger
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In New York, New LEED-Certified Hotel Opens with Free Bike Sharing and EV Charging Stations (Photos)
LEED-certified Element Times Square opens in New York City. Photo: Element
While the greenest vacation is often a staycation, it's nice to know that when you do travel, whether it be for business or pleasure, a hotel can meet you half way.
Enter the LEED-certified The Element Times Square, the newest property by Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, which is pursuing LEED cer... weiterlesen...
Photo: geograph.co.uk: Great Ormond Street Hospital Roof Garden
The new research showing that good hospital design can affect a patient's recovery seems like common sense, really.
The impact of having windows that open, courtyards and open space to sit in and a cheerful ambiance should be obvious design features of any new building. Lloyd has written about the wonders of ne... weiterlesen...
Photo: TecArchitecture
Cities can be hot-spots of pollution, with thousands or millions of people, cars, pets, industries, and more contributing to global warming. But they can also be centers of innovation, as bright ideas, available funding, and green sensibilities combine.
These seven cities are doing their part to cut down on greenhouse gases -- from running town centers... weiterlesen...
Photos: Nicolás Cabrera.
Colombian tropical town Villanueva's popular library is an example of non pretentious architecture gone right. Projected by Alejandro Piñol, Germán Ramírez, Miguel Torres and Carlos Meza, it was built with local materials and workers (some former members of guerrilla groups), low budget, and designed to adapt harmoniously with the surroundings, need... weiterlesen...
Photos: GEN Hotel.
Designed as an apartment venue and later turned into a hotel, GEN is a 26-storey building designed by Felipe Assadi + Francisca Pulido located in Santiago de Chile with the usual green credentials but with two cool details: distributed energy generation with individual solar panels exposed to the front, and a second skin made with recycled aluzinc that acts a... weiterlesen...
Photo: building.co.uk
TreeHugger loves flatpack construction: it's easy to ship, easy to assemble and generally pretty efficient. Ikea has raised it to an artform in their furniture. But what about in schools? Is that a step too far?
The UK has a new government which is on a budget-cutting rampage. Its latest idea is prefab schools built to standard design from a few pre-app... weiterlesen...
Photo: toideloi.com
If you want your child to become an architect, this is the dollhouse to buy for her (him?). Called the Stackhouse, it is a TreeHugger architect's dream. It is flat pack, DIY, certified wood and imaginative to boot.
Instead of a fake Tudor or suburban mansion, this modular toy can be re-arranged and inter-changed and made to measure, depending on you (or yo... weiterlesen...
This Should be Done Everywhere
According to a piece in the NYT's Green blog, new regulations for heating oil in NYC were proposed today and could phase out the dirtiest types of heating oil used by about 10,000 buildings in New York: "No. 6, the cheapest but most viscous type pumped into aging boilers, and another heavy oil, No. 4, which is only slightly less noxious. Air pollu... weiterlesen...