Bio Building. A natural history writer, Benyus has published multiple books about the ways in which plants and animals adapt to their habitats.
These “ecosystem-first” field guides are intended to help people find nature-inspired solutions to challenges facing the green building industry and beyond. Inhabitat - Green Design, Innovation, Architecture, Green Building. Concrete is a material that quite literally holds our cities together.
Would You Live On A Cliffside To Save Space On Our Planet? The “Casa Brutale” is the architectural concept of building a living space directly into a cliff side.
Low-impact building. ‘The individual’s desire to build something should not be deterred!
Everyone should be able to build and thus be truly responsible for the four walls in which he lives. And one must take the risk into the bargain that such a fantastic structure might collapse later, and one should not and must not shrink from human sacrifice which this new mode of building demands. We must at last put a stop to having people move into their quarters like chickens and rabbits into their coops.’ – Friedensreich Hundertwasser What is it?
Apart from caves, all human habitation damages nature to some extent. Self-build natural homes can allow you to indulge your creativity: unique not identikit. Zedfactory. ZED Factory began as Bill Dunster Architects in 1998.
From day one, the company has been exclusively committed to low carbon building and development. Using tried and tested technologies, ZED Factory creates designs that are stimulating and practical on a daily basis, yet distinctive, economic and reliable in the long term. Metabolic Materials as a Measure of Architectural Quality.
By Rachel Armstrong Between the 1830’s to 1840’s, the modern public health movement was started in Britain when Edwin Chadwick, advocate for the Poor Law, brought his vision of public health through sanitarianism into being through public works.
This ultimately resulted in the construction of modern day water and sewage systems that set standards of urban infrastructure throughout the developed world. Today we are facing a similar urban crisis of environment due to the consequences of living in industrial pollution for the last 150 years. What can rule-bending alternative builders teach us about smarter shelters? (Video) Modern building codes and zoning regulations, while helping to set safety standards that can save lives, can also serve as big barriers to building small, sensible, and affordable dwellings with alternative materials and techniques.
The quest to build, or even just live in, a low-impact house of your own can be a challenging one, especially if you're on a budget and want to build a home with materials and techniques that are outside the norm. And if you live in an area with strict codes and zoning regulations, that challenge can be incredibly frustrating, and one which might lead you to consider moving to a less populated, and less regulated, part of the country. Some rural areas of the U.S. still have no regulations, or very few, for building, and have attracted a number of "renegade" builders who are skirting the edges of legality while trying to build the smartest home for themselves and the environment.
FIRST EARTH (1/12) - Uncompromising Ecological Architecture. Low-impact development (UK) Low impact development (LID) has been defined as "development which through its low negative environmental impact either enhances or does not significantly diminish environmental quality". The interplay between would-be developers and the UK planning authorities since the 1980s has led to a diversity of unique, locally adapted developments, often making use of natural, local and reclaimed materials in delivering highly affordable, low or zero carbon housing.
These LIDs often strive to be self-sufficient in terms of waste management, energy, water and other needs. BedZED (London) is another example of a larger scale LID, which was built in 2000–2002 and has 82 homes, however it is not as affordable as many of the above examples as it was partly designed to attract urban professionals. Substantial research has concluded that LID represents some of the most innovative and sustainable development in the UK. GREEN BUILDING 101: The Conclusion. As summer comes to a close, so does our weekly series on green building.
Home Extensions: House Addition Ideas - Busyboo - Page 1. Vintage Interior Design. Inspiring and Innovative Response to Urban Rooftop. Mandela Park, by Karres en Brands Landscape, Almere, The Netherlands.
Almere in The Netherlands is the perfect example of a low-density city constructed from zero. INFOGRAPHIC: Meet the Ultra-Efficient Homes of the Future. Resources are dwindling, prices are rising, and energy efficiency has never been more important. Commercial buildings have long been designed with conservation in mind: Taiwan’s national stadium is covered almost entirely with solar panels, and the CaixaForum Museum in Madrid boasts a living wall of 15,000 plants.
However, with the world’s population predicted to exceed 8 billion by 2050, architects are turning their green design skills to residential homes. Potential structures range from ancient mudbrick domes, to space-age Earthships. Some designs are more viable than others, but the Big Deal team have identified five of the most promising candidates. For a glimpse of the future, check out their infographic below.
Pallet Buildings. Plans and Blue Prints. Plastic Bottles. Portable. Prefabricated. Products. Rammed Earth. Roundhouses. Research. Resources. Salvaged Wood. Sites & Blogs. Straw bale. Straw Light Clay. Subterranean & Earth Sheltered. Sustainable Products & Materials. Symbiotic Design.
Tiny Houses. Urban Rooftop. Ecovillage Projects. Whole Tree Architecture. Workshops/ internships. Alt Homes. Video Library - Green Building. The ABC of Architects [VIDEO] Architecture for Humanity. Yestermorrow Design Build School offers a variety of courses in sustainable design : Design Build School Vermont.