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What's the minimum amount of square feet a human needs for a home to be a home? According to Vancouver architect Michael Katz: 220. That's how big he and artist/designer Janet Corne made their L41 ("All For One") house, a compact, modular prefab that answers the twin calls of sustainability and affordability. "The major objective of the L41 home is to play a part in mass-producing houses......read more
Looking for an easy way to transport fresh snacks and meals? Let Fresh Traveler answer the call. With two separate containers -- one with a double-walled vacuum that keeps food fresh -- you can easily bring milk and cereal for breakfast at work. Or soup and sandwich for lunch. A wonderfully practical product from timeless Dutch kitchenware brand Royal VKB....read more
Kim Holtermand's moody photos of architecture and landscapes all carry a heavy, dark emotional punch. That sort of makes sense, given that when Holtermand isn't shooting pics for commercial clients or personal projects, he works as a fingerprints expert in The Crime Scene Unit of The Danish National Police. These photos of greenhouses, taken from a 2010 gallery posted on Behance, feature......read more
When it comes to protecting the environment, House Republicans simply do not give a damn. Not only that, but they view economic prosperity and environmental sustainability as mutually exclusive endeavors, which is simply inaccurate and ignorant. The Interior and EPA spending bills are working their way through Congress, and Republicans are proposing massive reductions in both budgets. Boehner and......read more
Michael Jantzen has been doing creative things in sustainable architecture for over thirty years, well before "prefab" and "net-zero" and became building design buzzwords. The Los Angeles based architect, who was Buckminster Fuller protege in the 70s, cements his well-earned reputation with the M-House, a labyrinthine building powered by alternative energy sources like the sun and......read more
The design practice of Los Angeles architects Leo Marmol and Ron Radziner, founders of Marmol Radziner and Associates, extends well beyond buildings and into jewelry and furniture. Whatever the project, green ideas reign supreme. The duo's prefab design and manufacturing business is but another example. The prefab operation launched with this vacation home prototype -- owned by Marmol and his......read more
With consumers feeling the pinch of rising gas prices at the pump, the House voted last week to expedite oil lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico and off the coast of Virginia. The bill was passed by a 266 to 149 vote, largely along party lines. Memories are indeed short. The Deepwater Horizon disaster, which killed 11 people and spewed about 200 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico,......read more
In the middle of winter, Isabella, Minnesota may as well be the Arctic. The town sits at the north end of Lake Superior, twenty miles from the Canadian border, in one of the coldest regions in the continental United States. But inside the Isabella Eco House, there are no cold drafts, no freezing tile floors, and no hum of the furnace. In fact there is no furnace at all. This is the home of Dr.......read more
Grab Your Shades: The future looks bright for concentrated solar power. Google announced a $168 million investment in Brightsource Energy's Ivanpah Solar Plant in the Mojave Desert, which will be the largest concentrated solar plant in the world. (via GOOD) Fancy Footwork: Dutch designer Diederik Schneemann crafted a colorful collection of vases and lamps made from recycled flip-flops found......read more
Here's a nicely styled sustainable house prototype spotted over at Inhabitat. Designed by Architecture Research Office and Della Valle Bernheimer for the Syracuse School of Architecture, the R-House is a compact, angular form that hits on the twin notes of sustainability and affordability. Built to passive house standards, with a final price tag of under $150K, the 1,100 square foot......read more
