The Upside of Downsizing: Understanding the Tiny House Movement
In 2003, Alchemy Architects built the Arado weeHouse, a 336 sq ft minimalist cabin with rustic panels and floor-to-ceiling windows. Instead of being built on-site, the small architecture was pre-fabricated by Geoffrey C. Warner in-factory before it was transported via truck and assembled on a small slope. It stood prominently on two legs, overlooking the […]
Design for the departed: An interview with Parting Stone’s Justin Crowe
For a long time, cremation has been considered as a taboo for the religious, a choice not many would take. In the 1980s, the cremation rate was just below 10%, but over the last few years, the US has seen it slowly taking over traditional burial. According to the Smithsonian Magazine, cremations account for 50.2% […]
How Urban Farms Support the Healthy Living Movement
A full 90 percent of the U.S. labor force worked on a farm in 1790.1 By 1860, that figure shrank to 58 percent. In 1940, it dropped to 18 percent. And in 1990, less than three percent of workers helped produce our nation’s food. As our number of farmers decreased, we witnessed an increase in the consumption […]
The tragedy and remedy of paper
One of man’s most important inventions is a flimsy sheet of wood pulp that became the heart of human’s first long-distance communication, among its many other uses. Of course, there have been various writing surfaces used beforehand—tortoise shells, wood, parchments, anything where the ink drips and stays like a warning sign for others to read. […]
Fit to eat: the case of edible foodware
Single-use plastic cutlery has changed the way consumers eat outside their homes. Convenient, yes. But for the better of the environment? No. Plastic Pollution Coalition reports that America alone uses 100 million pieces of these plastic utensils per year—a large percentage that contributes to about 270,000 tons of plastic waste produced globally. Six million tons […]
Eyes on Mars: Humanity’s Venture in Conquering Space
Apollo 11’s Buzz Aldrin has already said it: humans should be on Mars. It could be a stone shot in empty space—a far-flung daydream. Or it could be a vision of the future, one that will give earth-dwellers an alternative before the planet succumbs to a crippling disease brought about by climate change. What was […]
The World’s First 3D-Printed Village by Yves Béhar
Re-posted from Dwell, by Lucy Wang, May 9, 2019 The World’s first 3D-Printed village coming to Latin America in the summer of 2019 is a project by Yves Béhar. The walls of each home can be printed in just 24 hours with nearly zero waste. Acclaimed designer Yves Béhar of fuseproject, Austin–based construction technologies company ICON, and […]
NASA’s idea for making food from thin air just became a reality — it could feed billions
Here’s why you might eat greenhouse gases in the future. By ROBBY BERMAN 19 July, 2019. Re-posted from Big Think The company’s protein powder, “Solein,” is similar in form and taste to wheat flour. Based on a concept developed by NASA, the product has wide potential as a carbon-neutral source of protein. The man-made “meat” […]
The Redemption of the Recycled
Making miracles out of milk jugs: Loll Designs There is a regular need for milk—a staple source of calcium—but for milk jugs, not so much. When the contents are exhausted, these plastic containers lie around, stacked together like bulky bricks, often a constant source for comical mishaps. Not everyone can DIY their way into discarding […]
Smaller is Smarter: The Rise of Micro Hotels
In 2017, the interior design team at Scott Carver launched Fifteen, a 15sqm micro hotel concept decked out with a bed, a view, a glass-encased bath and a closet. What it lacked in floor space, it made up for brilliance: a desk conveniently folds back into the wall when unused, allowing the user to sit […]
LIFE IN FLUX – To Challenge Apathy in the 21st Century
“My sole aim is to leave everything in suspension, in flux, in order to avoid our community solidifying into a conventional academy. Our initial resources may be few, but our spirits are high, receptive, and excited, and that seems to me to be the most important thing right now”. Walter Gropius, architect, founder of the […]
Welcome to inspired outdoor living!
It is the time of the year to indulge in the beautiful weather and outdoor culture the Southwest has to offer. Spending time with friends at home or glam-camping; enjoying opera season and the many things that New Mexico has to offer. Take a look at some furniture ideas that will make your outdoor living […]
The State of Wind Power … part one
Re-posted by Madeleine Lewis, for Virgin United, June 30, 2014 As an innovative floating wind turbine is launched off the Portuguese coast, and the Germans start touting wind farms to tourists, we asked Morten Albaek, Group SVP & CMO of Vestas about the state of the wind energy industry, and a little about himself too. […]
Light Transmitting Concrete
Concrete has a sometimes-bad reputation as a harsh, rigid, cold-to-the-touch and straight-edged material. Litracon is doing a great deal to change that image of concrete through a score of creative and sustainable applications for their patented light-transmitting concrete. Filled with optical fibers that run from one end of a poured piece of concrete to the other, these […]
Biophotovoltaics – generating energy from photosynthesis
Two Cambridge University departments — the science-driven Biochemistry lab and the design-focused Institute for Manufacturing — have teamed up to dream up biophotovoltaic devices of the future. Biophotovoltaics generate renewable energy (and a few other useful by-products) from the photosynthesis of living organisms like algae and moss. Prototype devices have recently been constructed and tested in […]
Japan’s capsule hotels now coffin-sized homes
January 07, 2010|By Kyung Lah, CNN Satoshi Miura crawled into his rented room, dropping his bag in the corner. It didn’t take long to get settled — home tonight is a capsule. The rooms are boxes in this capsule hotel about the size of a coffin. But no matter, says 45-year-old Miura. He’s only there […]
Lego-style apartment transforms into infinite spaces
Multifunctional space – What else do we really need? This is my idea of a perfect space. Impeccable classy design formed out of moving parts in 258 square feet. The next step to this “lego-style” apartment would be mobility. Wouldn’t it be great to have this transformable, multifunctional habitat be able to fit perfectly in […]
Exploring, Through Design, the Big Ideas and Issues of Our Time
Re-posted from Designers & Books, by Susan S. Szenasy, Editor in Chief, Metropolis Magazine. I was asked to identify some “notable design books” I came across during my 25 years as editor in chief of Metropolis (the magazine is 30 this year—2011). I would, instead, like to talk about books that have, or should have, influenced our culture and the […]
