Tag: Development

  • The Most Sustainable Classroom

    The Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, has recently constructed an on-site classroom, called the SEEDclassroom. The aim of this project was to provide a sustainable, inspiring and healthy space for educational purposes, and it is one of only such classrooms in the US. The SEEDclassroom is a net-zero energy building while it…

  • Cozy Small Floating Home

    Floating homes require an ingenious design and some adaptation to not living on solid ground. This little floating home, located in Oregon’s Willamette River houseboat community, is a great example of just how functional and cozy a floating home can be. It was designed by Studio Hamlet Architects of Washington, and serves as a temporary…

  • Woodscraper to Replace Skyscraper?

    The Elastic Woodscraper II was designed by Weingartner Architects as a possible solution to all the negative prospects of growing city populations, such as social alienation, limited resources, urbanization, and others. The Elastic Woodscraper II is envisioned in a way that promotes sustainability, social cohesion and efficiency. As the name suggests, 70 percent of the…

  • Bricks to Aid Passive Cooling

    Integrating passive cooling into sustainable housing has been a must for most designers for a while now. And with the creation of the so-called Cool Bricks by the design firm Emerging Objects this feat just got a little simpler. Cool Bricks are 3D printed bricks that can be filled with water to bring the temperature…

  • Pretty Solar Panels and Harvesting Energy From Interior Lights

    Finding and using alternative energy sources is quickly becoming a must and one obstacle to overcome is how to make solar panels easier to incorporate into building projects. This, of course, involves making them look pretty. VTT Technical Centre of Finland has gone a step further in this. They have come up with a method…