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"Sustainable Design Organizations"
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The Buckminster Fuller Institute (BFI) is an organization after Inhabitat’s own heart. It was formed by the visionary eco architect/designer’s family in 1983 to champion Buckminster Fuller’s amazing legacy and provide the design world — and the rest of humanity, for that matter — with the tools we need to solve the world’s most pressing problems. Buckminster Fuller was a “full systems thinker” — he was a renaissance man who foresaw the problems we are facing now decades before anyone else, and came up with innovative, thoughtful ways to solve humanity’s most pressing problems around energy, shelter and natural resources. Sadly, this amazing man is no longer with us, but The Buckminster Fuller Institute marches forward in his name with a handful of thought-provoking programs for designers. Their flagship initiative is the Buckminster Fuller Challenge design competition to provide solutions to complicated social/environmental problems. Inhabitat covered the BFI Challenge finalists back in April, and we are thrilled to announce the winner of the competition here in our latest video! Watch our video profile (above) to learn about BFI, Bucky’s legacy, and the inspiring winner of last year’s $100,000 prize.
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Post tags: buckminster fuller challenge, buckminster fuller institute, Green Design Competitions, holistic design solutions, holistic solutions, whole systems solutions
Read the rest of Designers Take a Low-Tech Approach at Salone Satellite 2012 During Milan Design Week
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Post tags: "green furniture", eco table, Fragment Table, green furniture design, green table, Milan Design Week, milan design week 2012, Milan Furniture Fair, Recycled Materials, rubber table, Rubber Table Studio, Salone Satellite, sustainable design, Technology, Thomas Schnur, young designers
Read the rest of VERDMX’s Soaring Vertical Gardens Clean Mexico City’s Air
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Post tags: Chapultepec Avenue, eco-sculptures, greenhouse gasses, mexico, mexico city, NISSAN, public art, Sustainability, verdmx, vertical gardens
When we first broke the news of the split between Passivhaus Institute (PHI) and Passive House US (PHIUS), it was a murky proposition to project what the results would be. That answer has become much clearer in the past months after a series of proposed changes and intense debate within the community. The conversation heated up in the last week as those aligned with PHI asked PHIUS to choose a different name for their certification system from Passive House, and Katrin Klingenberg, head of the American group, got personal in her response. The question on everyone’s mind is: “how much damage does this cause the movement?”
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Post tags: green building standard, Katrin Klingenberg, Passive House debate, Passive House trademark, passivhaus, PHI in US, PHIUS controversy
Read the rest of 8 Green Design Valentines for the Designers We Lovehttp://www.inhabitat.com/wp-admin/ohttp://www.inhabitat.com/wp-admin/options-general.php?page=better_feedptions-general.php?page=better_feed
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Post tags: Ada Tolla and Giuseppe Lignano, architect crush, BIG Architects, bjarke ingels, design crush, designer crush, eco valentine's day, Emily Pilloton, Fuseproject, green crush, green valentines day, hot architects, hot designers, hottest eco architects, hottest eco designers, inhabitat crush, inhabitat crushes, inhabitat valentines, loomstate, lot-ek, lotek, Mila Zelkha, Mint Condition Homes, project h, project h design, Ray Kappe, Rogan Gregory, scott hahn, valentine's day, valentines to architects, valentines to designers, Yves Béhar
The winner of the 2010 Passivhaus Architecture Award is a fantastic three-apartment building on the outskirts of Bern, Switzerland. Built by architect Peter Schurch, principle of Halle 52, the building breaks the mold for passive house design by incorporating a lot of glass — over 50% of the facade — yet it still achieves a strict 13kWr per sq meter of energy consumption a year. Natural and local materials, plenty of daylight and a unique footprint made the award a shoe in — the building even cost less to build than the other homes in the neighborhood, yet it has r-52 walls and a solar-electric green roof.
Read the rest of Stylish, Super-Efficient Swiss Home Wins the 2010 Passivhaus Awardhttp://www.inhabitat.com/wp-admin/ohttp://www.inhabitat.com/wp-admin/options-general.php?page=better_feedptions-general.php?page=better_feed
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Post tags: 2010 passivhaus awards, exterior shading, green roof, halle 58, low enrgy apatment, Minergie, passivhaus apartment, passivhaus institute, pellet boiler
Team Wuppertal brought an intimate but expansive vision to the Solar Decathlon Europe this year. Their sun-powered house is flanked by solar walls, capped by a solar roof, and provides multiple spaces to enjoy a sunny day. They pulled out some nice design tricks to make the space work like a much larger home, and included an advanced HVAC system to maintain a comfortable climate — factors which have launched this home into the top ranks of the competition. Read on as our exclusive coverage continues!
Read the rest of Ultra-Efficient Wuppertal House Blazes a Trail at Solar Decathlonhttp://www.inhabitat.com/wp-admin/ohttp://www.inhabitat.com/wp-admin/options-general.php?page=better_feedptions-general.php?page=better_feed
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Post tags: Bergische University, ERV, green design, heat pump, Phase change, renewable energy, solar decatha, solar decathlon europe, solar powered home, solar thermal, sustainable design
This simple yet elegant home by Key Architects is not just an intriguing example of modern Japanese design — it’s also is the first certified Passive House in Japan. Simplicity has its rewards, and when the Passive House standard is synthesized with Japan’s refined building sensibility the result is a powerful combination that can move green building to a new level. This ultra-efficient house is a far cry from traditional Japanese housing, which used thin wall construction and single-pane windows, which even today is still quit typical.
Read the rest of Japan’s First Passive House Showcases Energy Efficient Buildinghttp://www.inhabitat.com/wp-admin/ohttp://www.inhabitat.com/wp-admin/options-general.php?page=better_feedptions-general.php?page=better_feed
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Post tags: energy efficient housing, green design, green Japanese building, japan pasivhous, Japan passive house, passive house design, sustainable design, sustainable Japanese homes
This year we witnessed the extraordinary danger of mixing buildings with earthquakes, particularly in poor regions — fortunately, a group called PAKSBAB is finding solutions. Pakistan Straw Bale and Appropriate Building is a nonprofit working at developing durable buildings that can be built with local resources, little money and stay safe during devastating earthquakes like the 2005 7.5 quake in Kashmir. The key ingredient is handmade straw bales.
PAKSBAB’s founder, Darcey Donovan P.E., left for Northern Pakistan to lend a hand in rebuilding the devastated region. She brought with her a lot of experience with straw bale building. She found that there were no baling machines where housing was needed so she developed a simple jack and form system to produce the needed straw bales. The prestressed bails are set on a stone foundation and support a truss roof. Bamboo and netting help secure the walls. The bails act as both the supporting wall and insulation. A couple coats of clay plaster protect and help preserve the straw. The 25 ft by 25 ft buildings cost a mere $2250 for materials — what many of us are willing to pay for countertops. Currently they have finished 11 buildings that are energy-efficient, safe, and very low impact.
How do they fare in earthquakes? To find out Ms. Donovan built an 11 ft by 11 ft straw bale structure on a seismic simulation table and let ‘er shake. This video shows it in action. Although severely damaged, the building did not appear in danger of collapse, even at the end of the test sequence. This means lives saved and resources wisely used by applying appropriate building technologies for those who can most benefit. Add another item to the list of the positive values of straw bale building.
Via Core 77
Construction on One Shelley Street first began in 2006 and finished in 2009. California-based Clive Wilkinson Architects teamed up with local architects Woods Bagot to design the 330,000 square foot interior. The design features an array of revolutionary technologies that provide transformative and customizable work settings, such as chilled beams that utilize harbor water for cooling and zone-controlled lighting.
The initial concept was to create a new notion for a collaborative workplace. The flexible work platform idea was originally developed by Dutch consultant Veldhoen & Co and is called Activity-Based Working (ABW). ABW was implemented into the design immediately – the architects opened up and animated the ten-story light filled atrium with 26 “meeting pods” that allowed for clear visual communication between pods and throughout the large open space.
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