Saturday, January 24, 2009


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Sunday, January 18, 2009

shell house





This beautiful house, designed by Japanese architecture firm Artechnic, is simply breathtaking. You will find the Shell House located deep in the woods of Karuizawa, Japan, where its double-elliptical, shell-like shapes blend with its magnificent surroundings.

read more......






Saturday, January 17, 2009

steel arch building



Steel is the most recycled material in the world and more steel is recycled annually than all other materials such as aluminum, glass, and paper COMBINED. The use of steel, a renewable construction material, will reduce the current deforestation of our natural environment and ensure a healthy oxygen rich atmosphere for all of us to enjoy. Steel meets the necessities of today without jeopardizing the needs for tomorrow.

indian tipi tents

People tend to call a tipi an Indian tent, but don't believe it. Forget about a tiny and cold place, what in fact a tent is. It is always warm in a tipi and you can start a fire there! It is spacious enough to be occupied by 30 people at the same time.
Do you still think you can call the tipi a tent? In Indian language "A tipi" means "Home"
INSTRUCTION TO BUILT A TIPI PDF

eco dome



built from local earth-filled Superadobe coils (soil-cement or lime-stabilized earth).
1 Tree free.
2 Maximum use of space through alternative options.
The main dome and four niches, depending on local code approval, can function as:
a) main living room, entrance hall, kitchen, bathroom, bedroom (called "bed-womb" because of it's small, organic form!)
b) living room, entrance hall, and three bed-rooms.
c) living room, entrance hall, two bedrooms, and a bathroom.
3 Self-contained single unit (potential for a guest house or studio apartment) or double unit (larger family residence).
4 Can be repeated and joined together to form larger homes and courtyard houses.
5 Can be built by a team of 3-5 persons.
6 Designed with the sun, shade and wind in mind for passive cooling and heating.
7 Wind-scoop can be combined with a rated furnace unit, depending on local code approval. Solar energy and radiant heating may be incorporated.
8 Interior furniture can be built-in with same material.

http://www.calearth.org/

Friday, January 16, 2009

container building



Puma City by Lot-EK is an 11,000 sq ft traveling pavillion for Puma's entry into the world's toughest sailing race, the Volvo Ocean Race 2008-2009. Puma City contains a full Puma retail store, offices a bar/lounge and an outdoor terrace area. Puma City was built from 24 storage containers a fabulous modular build out, so all other marketing companies better step up.





These container homes are actually three en-suite accommodation units, created by Container City, providing flexible and comfortable homes for the artists on residency and for other visitors to Cove Park.


Container Architecture

Thursday, January 15, 2009

BAMBOO HOUSE



Bamboo is one of the most amazingly versatile and sustainable building materials available. It grows remarkably fast and in a wide range of climates. It is exceedingly strong for its weight and can be used both structurally and as a finish material. The canes are beautiful when exposed and they can be cut in such a way as to be re-combined into useful products such as flooring. There is a long vernacular tradition to the use of bamboo in structures in many parts of the world, especially in more tropical climates, where it grows into larger diameter canes. One tricky aspect to the use of bamboo is in the joinery; since its strength comes from its integral structure, it cannot be joined with many of the traditional techniques used with wood. This where the old ways of building with bamboo can be especially informative. I expect that the value of bamboo as a building material will only become more apparent as we move toward a time of wood scarcity and high costs of energy.



TODAY,PEOPLE ARE REDISCOVERING THE ADVANTAGES OF BAMBOO,ONE OF THE WORD KEY CONSTRUCTION MATERIAL.NOT ONLY CHEAP AND ENDURING BUT ALSO AESTHETIC

Bamboo living international prize


Wednesday, January 14, 2009

dome house







So many ideas from Japan. Here is a segmented prefabricated dome system where each slice is made from cement covered polystyrene weighing 80 Kg, about 170 lb. Given that it looks about 8" thick, we can see this house reduces heating bills by 90%. "The houses are 7 meters in diameter, fire proof, earthquake and typhoon resistant, and using the modular building system can be constructed in less than a day."
The Dome House is simple, since it is a prefabricated building with a small number of parts. Each Dome Piece is light and easy to carry, making the assembly quite easy. Because the construction of the Dome House requires only minimal manpower and a very short period of time, it is possible to reduce the substantial amount of labor costs.