[ By Delana in Art & Design & Energy & Fuel & Nature & Ecosystems. ]
Solar and wind power are commonly looked to when we mention renewable energy, but there are plenty of other sources of renewable energy that has not yet been explored to its full potential. Deep sea currents are a natural force that is just ripe for the harnessing, and Italian designer Marco Paolucci thinks he has worked out a way to make good use of these powerful natural waves.
The S2S Project would place sustainable energy generators on the sea bed to harness the massive perpetual power of ocean tides and turn that power into clean, renewable electricity. Paolucci estimates that each generator could produce one megawatt of electricity.
The perpetual motion of tidal currents could provide enough energy to dramatically reduce the world’s dependence on fossil fuels. For all of their power, tidal currents haven’t been harnessed anywhere near their full potential. Sea-bound generators and floating control platforms could give the world a healthy boost toward weaning off of non-renewable oil and gasoline.
In Paolucci’s vision, the platforms will be outfitted with touch-screen control panels. The stations will not only be able to provide large amounts of clean, renewable energy – they will also be able to filter and desalinate sea water.
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16 Hydroelectric, Wave and Tidal Power Designs
Here are sixteen of the most innovative, creative and cutting edge tidal, wave and hydroelectric power designs currently pushing the alternative energy envelope.
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Movable Homes: 13 Modern, Modular, Relocatable Residences
[ By Steph in Art & Design & Home & Garden. ]
What if you could just pack your house onto the back of a truck or lift it with a helicopter and move it to an entirely new place, whenever you wanted, without making a negative impact on your temporary home site? Portable modular living spaces go places that other forms of mobile housing can’t - like remote mountain ridges – and easily disassemble. Some are fully self-sufficient while others are only intended as lightweight seasonal shelters but all 13 of these relocatable residences sit lightly upon the earth.
Eco-Temporary Refuge in the Mountains
(images via: archdaily)
Seasonal homes don’t have to sit empty for half of the year. The Eco-Temporary Refuge by Andrea Jasci Cimini of CiminiArchitettura was designed for temporary lodging in mountain landscapes where permanent dwellings are impossible or undesirable. Tourists, climbers, hikers and skiers could make use of these self-sufficient, easily movable buildings, which are equipped with solar panels and water systems that make use of snow.
Portable Prefab Paco Unit
(images via: design boom)
You may not imagine that a house measuring just 9 feet square would contain all the necessities of life, but somehow, the Paco prefab unit by Jo Nagasaka and Schemata Architecture Office manages to do just that. The unit has an opening roof to allow sunshine and fresh air into the home and contains a kitchen unit with a sink, a dining table for two, a hammock for sleeping and even a toilet hidden in the floor, which transforms into a shower with the help of a shower curtain hooked to the ceiling. An extra compartment on the exterior allows a guest to stay overnight in a sleeping bag, and can also be used for storage.
Fincube
(images via: design boom)
Made entirely of locally sourced wood from its current location in Northern Italy, ‘Fincube’ is a transportable low-energy home measuring just under 155 square feet. Triple-glazed glass insulates the home while a slatted wooden sheath provides shade and privacy.
Port-a-Bach Shipping Container Home
(images via: port-a-bach.com)
This portable home, named for the New Zealand word referring to small, modest vacation houses, was made using a 20′ shipping container. One side of the container folds down, opening the interior to the outdoors; it includes a double bed, bunk beds, a dressing room, a kitchen and a bathroom, all of which can be separated from the main space using fabric screens. Of course, since it’s made from a shipping container, it’s super easy to move, so owners can simply pack up their lodgings and bring them to their holiday destination.
M House by Michael Jantzen
(images via: dailytonic)
Bold and futuristic, the M House by Michael Jantzen is a flexible and impermanent mobile structure consisting of large rectangular panels on hinges, attached to seven interlocking cubes. They can be folded in or out to alternately enclose or open spaces, shade them from the sun, deflect rain or block wind. This makes the home extremely adaptable to all manner of new environments as the home moves from place to place.
Lumenhaus
(images via: gizmag)
Built by students at Virginia Tech’s School of Architecture and Design, Lumenhaus is a compact, movable, sustainable home with lighting, music, draperies and other systems in the home controlled via iPad or iPhone. The home, which won the 2010 Solar Decathlon Europe, is entirely solar-powered and was inspired by the iconic Farnsworth House by architect Mies Van Der Rohe.
Kitahaus Relocatable Living & Office Pods
(images via: gizmag)
Multi-function pods that can easily be moved from one site to another, Kitahaus prefabs have been used as homes, offices and school buildings. These log-like transportable units, made of timber, have adjustable legs so they can be set up on all sorts of sites including sloping areas.
TRTL Solar Shell Home
(images via: inhabitat)
Cleverly named to reflect its design and intention – TRTL stands for ‘Technological Residence, Traditional Living – this structure was made specifically for the native peoples of Southern Alberta, Canada. The semi-rounded two-bedroom home, measuring 1000 square feet, features an upper ‘shell’ made of solar panels. In this case, the movability of the home is actually a technicality, but it’s still an interesting feature. TRTL has a temporary foundation that allows it to bypass a law that makes any permanent structure built on a reservation in Canada part of the land rather than privately owned.
ADEX Modular Housing Structure
(images via: best of remodeling)
If it looks unlike any house you’ve ever seen, that’s because it is. The ADEX sustainable modular housing structure consisting of interlocking pieces that can be put together to suit the home site and the owner’s needs. This means each ADEX is totally unique. In addition to its colorful and futuristic appearance, ADEX has a host of interesting and sustainable features including solar panels and heaters, rainwater storage, greywater recycling and even a bio-digester that turns food waste into power for cooking appliances.
XBO Adjustable Mobile Home
(images via: architizer)
This adjustable, sliding mobile home is constructed in the shape of a shipping container to make it super-easy to transport. XBO Mobile is self-sustaining and consists of two sliding parts that open to reveal a 22-foot patio; an additional terrace on the roof is reachable via ladder. XBO is made with birch veneer walls and lots of glass and contains a kitchenette, living room, bathroom and bedroom/office.
Dune Hotel – On-the-Spot Lodging to Order
(images via: inhabitat)
Imagine being able to choose a rooftop, abandoned lot, park or seaside location and demand that your very own private hotel be set up right then and there. Brazilian Architect Guilherme de Vasconcelos wants to see that happen, envisioning the Dune Hotel as prefab modular lodgings that go wherever they’re wanted by guests. Each lightweight unit is made of EPS and fiberglass-reinforced plastic so they can be shipped easily, quickly and at a relatively low expense.
Archinoma: Pop-Up Beach House
(images via: archinoma.com)
The Archinoma is a geometric pop-up shelter based on the Sierpinski Triangle, made from a metal frame with multiple connection points that allow multiple triangular panels, solid or translucent, to be connected into the three-dimensional shape of the user’s choice. This low-impact structure could theoretically be used as a vacation home, a spa, a cafe, a tea house or any other temporary function, easily set up in practically any location.
Modular Ski Cabin of the Future
(images via: inhabitat)
Who wouldn’t want to stay in a flying saucer? While designer Matti Suuronen’s 1968 ‘Futuro House’ doesn’t actually fly, it does easily assemble and disassemble in rough mountainous terrain, making it ideal as a modular ski cabin. The 10-foot-tall, 26-foot-wide fiberglass-reinforced plastic living unit represented an imagined future where people living as nomads could take their movable homes on the go. One of these homes is available for rent in Wisconsin, and another is currently on display in the Museum Boljmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam.
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(Re)Make it Rain: Rainwater Reclamation Designs
[ By Steph in Art & Design & Home & Garden. ]
Big, bulky plastic rain barrels have their place, but there’s more than one way to capture and store rainwater, as these 12 innovative and versatile designs and concepts prove. Dual-purpose garden furniture and rain cisterns, personal catchment systems that attach to water bottles, beautiful self-watering planters and towering public installations harvest the most precious resource of all, and they do it in style.
Rain Harvesting Garden Table
(images via: green launches)
Cisterns take up a lot of room, and not everyone has a huge backyard. This brilliant concept doubles the function by turning your rainwater reservoir into a garden table; the slanted surface of the table captures water. Great for those who only need to harvest small amounts of rainwater, or as a supplement to additional systems.
Downspouts Double as Water-Recycling Planters
(images via: seattle times)
This cool concept for urban gutter downspouts turn an otherwise unremarkable element of the exterior of a building and turns it into a decorative planter, routing some of the water to the roots of the plants along the way.
Lush, Elegant Rainwater Harvesting System
(images via: inhabitat)
Save space and beautify your garden with CISTA, a decorate rain reservoir and planter that stretches tall to take up less valuable room. Industrial designers figforty and architects MOSS SUND designed the 8-foot stainless steel column to hold up to 100 gallons of water; a climbing vine is planted at the base and allowed to take over the frame.
Agua in Situ: Rainwater Purifying Trees
(images via: coroflot)
Blending in with nature and providing a potentially life-saving function, Agua in Situ is a tree-like vertical rainwater harvester made of stainless steel with a UV-resistant polycarbonate internal layer. The opening is shaped like leaves or the petals of a flower to capture rainwater naturally, and a carbon filter on the end of each tower sterilizes the water for safe use.
Accumuwater Water Tower
(images via: coroflot)
Doubling as public sculpture, the Accumuwater is like a smaller, household version of the Agua in Situ without the filtering capabilities. The towers independently capture rainwater for those who, for whatever reasons, can’t use their roofs; a hose or spigot attaches to the base.
Rain-Collecting Skyscraper
(images via: design boom)
When water is needed on a large scale – as it already is in many areas of the world – why not devote an entire skyscraper to the job of harvesting rainwater? ‘Capture the Rain’, by Ryszard Rychlicki and Agnieszka Nowak, has a dish-shaped roof and an exterior shell consisting of gutters to do just that. Under the surface of the roof is large reservoirs with reed fields that botanically filter the water for use in toilets, washing machines, cleaning and other domestic applications.
RainDrops: Reusing 2-Liter Bottles
(images via: yanko design)
Not only does this innovative system reuse disposable 2-liter bottles, it adapts to an existing gutter system, providing individual-sized amounts of captured water at a very low initial cost. Designed by Evan Gant, the ‘Rain Drops’ concept could be adapted for use in developing areas where fresh, sanitary water is scarce.
Vertical Garden & Rain Collector
(images via: treehugger)
‘Vert’ is a vertical garden, a way to capture and use rainwater, and a potential screen for unsightly outdoor areas, all in one simple wooden structure. A cotton wick at the top draws water from a tank up to a self-watering planter; the cedar planter boxes can be arranged as desired. Such a system could allow users to grow food in small spaces without increased usage of tap water.
Inverted Umbrella & Cistern Chair
(images via: gregortimlin.com)
Like the rain cistern/garden table, the ‘Volume Chair’ takes a functional object already found in most yards and turns it into a storage tank for water. In this case, an inverted umbrella (which also functions as a sun shade) captures rainwater and transports it with a hose to the chair-shaped tank.
Petal Drops Personal Rain Harvester
(images via: quirky)
Even if you don’t have a single square inch of outdoor space to call your own, you can harvest rainwater for a variety of uses with the clever ‘Petal Drops’, a flower-shaped funnel that attaches to standard water bottles. Made of 100% recycled high-density polyethylene, the design is simple and elegant and takes up very little space when not in use.
Rainwater Hog
(images via: rainwaterhog.com)
The Rainwater Hog may not exactly be a stunning sculptural object to beautify your outdoor area, but it’s not quite as ugly as many rain barrel designs. Better yet, its vertical design saves space, and multiple units can easily be placed side-by-side. Made of UV-stabilized, food-grade plastic, each 50-gallon unit is 100% recyclable.
Massive Glass Funnels at Shanghai Expo 2010
(images via: tonylaw)
At the 2010 Shanghai Expo, massive glass funnels imbedded with LED lights, overlapped with tent structures, served a double purpose: harvesting rainwater on a massive scale, and letting natural daylight into the shaded area while maintaining protection against the elements. The rainwater was channeled into a 7,000-cubic-meter storage tank and used throughout the grounds to water plants.
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Dark Towers to Beach Bunkers: Architecture of Hugon Kowalski
[ By Steph in Art & Design. ]
Rising from natural surroundings, the towers of ‘Instant House’ are harsh and spare, a far cry from the often lush biologically-inspired visuals of eco-friendly architecture. Just from this one example, it’s clear that Hugon Kowalski of Polish firm H3AR Architecture and Design has a uniquely urban and utilitarian approach to sustainable structures that inevitably stands out from the crowd.
Kowalski’s proposals, including the aforementioned Instant House, temporary residential units made of styrofoam concrete cylinders, stand like visions for a post-apocalyptic future. Although they are often described as bleak and reminiscent of the harsh clumsiness of now-abandoned Soviet structures, Kowalski’s projects are, above all, practical, meeting the challenges of the future head-on.
Instant House is designed to be constructed quickly and easily; in 2014, Kowalski says, it will be possible to produce concrete from rice husks, reducing carbon dioxide emissions during the manufacturing process. Another project, House on the Beach, above, is inspired by the design of the four-legged concrete tetrapod, which is meant to prevent beach erosion – essentially giving beach houses a function. Rather than being little more than inevitable casualties during a tsunami or other disaster, they serve as the front line in a battle against the ravaging forces of nature, breaking up the waves.
Kowalski imagines, for the stark deserts of Sudan, watertower skyscrapers that can access water in an existing underground lake beneath Darfur – the tenth largest in the world – and pump it to the surface. Inside these structures are not only the pumps but also a water treatment plant, a hospital, a school and a food storage center. Constructed using compressed dry clay bricks made on site from local materials, the towers would use some of the circulated water to heat or cool the buildings.
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Elegant Tree Building is Half Learning, Half Play
[ By Delana in Art & Design & Nature & Ecosystems & Technology & Gadgets. ]
Watching trees meet untimely ends in the name of construction is heart-wrenching. But Japanese architectural firm Tezuka Architects figured out an elegant solution to the problem of a tree standing on the desired building site: they simply built around it. The Ring Around a Tree project surrounds and embraces a beautiful mature tree, encouraging interaction with the living architectural element.
(all images via: DesignBoom)
Built as an additional space for Fuji Kindergarten in Tachikawa, Tokyo, Japan, this stunning building blends indoors and outdoors, natural and constructed, learning space and play space. The structure was built to be used as English language classrooms and a waiting space for students who are riding buses home. Half of the building is enclosed in glass while the other half features many levels of small platforms in an open-air configuration.
The platforms in the play space offer some very intriguing spaces for crawling children to romp and hide. There aren’t many barriers in this unusual space, but there is plenty of soft padding on the floors to cushion the unavoidable falls.
Two classrooms, each taking up one level of the building, use this unconventional space to create a liberating and stimulating learning environment. Although the auxiliary learning space is just a stone’s throw away from the main school building, having English language classes in this removed space allows students to enjoy the unique setting. The classrooms may even allow a greater chance for real-world experience-based lessons.
The centerpiece of the new structure is, of course, the mature tree in the very center. Its limbs and leaves were left intact as the beautiful building went up and remain untouched today. Children are encouraged to play around the tree, but for safety’s sake are not allowed to climb on the branches.
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A Constructive Concept: Growing Germs to Wire the Desert
[ By Delana in Art & Design & Science & Research & Technology & Gadgets. ]
The search for sustainable building materials has led us through all kinds of natural and man-made substances, from wood to concrete to hemp and bamboo. But a new kind of proposed building material could beat the green power of all of these, and it may soon help to bring grid electricity to the deserts of the United Arab Emirates.
(all images via: Evolo)
Ginger Krieg Dosier is an assistant professor of architecture at the American University of Sharjah in the UAE. Her concept for a new, green building material is not terribly far-removed from existing materials, but it could be a simple way to build transmission towers in the desert without relying on materials that have to be transported for long distances.
The method proposed by Dosier is similar to one that has recently been proposed by other architects and materials scientists: use a naturally-occurring bacteria called Sporosarcina Pastuerii to create a sort of bio-cement. The common soil bacteria bonds with sand to create a strong, sustainable natural concrete material. But Dosier wants to take the concept one step further and incorporate 3D printing.
In Dosier’s method, the bacteria would be grown in a lab and then fed into a 3D printer where it would bind sand together into blocks of bio-cement. The bacteria/sand combination would take the place of the resin/lasers and other methods of joining layer upon layer of material until a desired shape is achieved. The bricks could be made into any desired size, shape and thickness depending on the needs of the specific tower. The bricks would completely harden within two weeks, a process which is sped by the hot, dry desert air. The blocks could be built offsite and inexpensively transported to the building site where they would be used to create load-bearing transmission towers to bring electricity to the remotest desert locations.
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Spectacular Steel Reclamation Center Building Design
[ By Steph in Art & Design & Science & Research & Transit & Auto. ]
Sleek and futuristic, this wing-like structure is a research and education facility for the promotion of steel recycling – perched right over a junkyard where this recycling is carried out. The American Institute of Steel Reclamation in Sun Valley, California takes a close look at one of the most sustainable industries in the United States.
Designed by Jeffrey Dahl and Jan Lim, the building features three columns supporting an arc that give occupants, including the public, unobstructed views of the activity going on in the auto scrapyard below. Providing such education opportunities around what Dahl and Lim consider a fascinating topic could help spur public interest in recycling.
Because the population of cars in the U.S. is expected to grow to 1 billion by the year 2050, a 40% increase over 2008, more and more cars will end up in these junkyards, ready to be turned into new steel. Dahl and Lim designed the institute to be elevated four times above the current car height to represent this anticipated growth.
“The boomerang shape really highlights the machinery and technical beauty of a scrap yard, educating visiting in a first-person experience rather than pictures in a book or on a computer screen,” Dahl told EnviroMetal, a steel recycling blog. “There is always the library, the internet, or a local chapter of a steel organization, but just like the concept of my design, getting out and seeing steel in action first-hand is the best way… Today it may be a 10 year old car, but 1 week from now it can be the steel structure for a new school. This is a truly amazing process.”
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Green Your Mind: South Korea’s Ecosystem Research Utopia
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Airy Architecture: 13 Homes Open to Nature
[ By Steph in Art & Design & Home & Garden. ]
Imagine being able to temporarily remove an entire wall of your home – or maybe every wall – to let in cool, fresh air in the heat of summer. That’s the idea behind these 13 open-air houses, which utilize either sliding panels, garage doors or permanently perforated screens to take advantage of natural ventilation and cooling. These airy designs not only lower energy bills, but foster a connection to the outdoors.
The Paraty House by Marcio Kogan Architects
(images via: contemporist)
Truly blurring the lines between indoors and out, this incredible beach house in Paraty, Brazil features massive sliding windows that completely open the interior spaces to an infinity pool and the shore beyond it. The home is made up of two cantilevered concrete volumes which jut out of a mountainside; residents arrive by boat.
Kokopo House, Papua New Guinea
(images via: world architecture news)
With a form inspired by the flow of volcanic lava, the Kokopo House in Papua New Guinea is bold, futuristic and luxurious. Totally off-grid and open to the elements, the home contains no windows and has walls designed to encourage air flow. It also features rainwater collection, solar water heaters and low-wattage LED lights, and was made using local materials.
Fish House by Guz Architects
(images via: best of remodeling)
Mimicking the way the gills of a fish allow oxygen into its body, the Fish House by Guz Architects has openings in its layered roof to usher in fresh ocean air. Numerous large opening windows further open up the inside of the home, and the architects extended the living space into the outdoors with covered poolside pavilions and glassed-in cantilevered living spaces.
Minimalist White Home by Iwan Baan
(images via: iwan.com)
Japanese architect Iwan Baan does away with glass altogether in this minimalist white home, at least when it comes to the exterior volume. A white sheath extending all the way to the property line, punctuated with rectilinear openings that let in air and light. This provides a protected garden space between the outer volume and the interior space.
Leaf House, Rio de Janeiro
(images via: world architecture news)
Leaf-like coverings protect a maze of enclosed and open spaces in this luxury Rio de Janeiro home. Mareines + Patalano architects took inspiration from traditional Indian structures in Brazil, leaving much of the house open to trade winds from the sea which provide natural ventilation and passive cooling.
Costa Rican Home Made of Bamboo
(images vía: benjamín garcia saxe)
Made entirely of bamboo, this beautiful home in the jungle of Costa Rica was made by architect Benjamin Garcia Saxe for his mother. The angled bamboo lets in fresh air and cooling breezes without allowing water to drip inside.
Residencia RR, Sao Paulo
(images via: andrademorettin.com)
At Residencia RR in Sao Paulo, Brazil, massive windows are paired with sliding screens to allow plentiful ventilation and light without welcoming insects, snakes and other jungle creatures into the interior space. The home is contained within a primary ‘shell’ which shields it from the elements and provides shade.
The Bahia House by Marcio Kogan
(images via: archdaily)
Yet another home inspired by the traditional architecture of Brazil is the Bahia House by Marcio Kogan architects. The floor plan of this tropical home is organized around a central patio and the exterior walls are actually perforated wooden screens, which take advantage of north winds off the sea. This keeps the interior cool despite blazing hot summer temperatures.
Elm & Willow House by Architects EAT
(images via: dezeen)
This U-shaped extension to a home in Canterbury, Australia encloses new rooms in a sliding glass ‘skin’ that can open them up entirely to the outdoors. Built on steel columns, the addition is suspended to avoid damaging the roots of mature elm and willow trees around which the extensions are placed to create a courtyard. Opening both rooms creates two separate outdoor pavilions that keep the addition from crowding the yard.
Chicken Point Cabin in Idaho
(images via: olsonkundingarchitects.com)
“The idea for the cabin is that of a lakeside shelter in the woods―a little box with a big window that opens to the surrounding landscape,” says architecture firm Olson Kundig Architects of Chicken Point Cabin in Northern Idaho. The cabin has a massive wall of windows measuring 30 by 20 feet that opens like a garage door, exposing the living space to the wilderness. The chosen materials, including plywood, concrete and steel, were left unfinished to age naturally “and acquire a patina that fits in with the natural setting.”
The Green Village by Ibuku, Bali
(images via: green village bali)
Like many other jungle climates, Bali is warm and humid with cooling breezes that come in off the water. Local architecture takes advantage of these breezes with open-air designs that let residents luxuriate in the temperate climate. The Green Village, a collection of bamboo homes by Balinese firm Ibuku, is a prime example of the beauty of this approach.
Open-Air Outdoor Kitchen
(image via: kbculture)
Showcasing the ideal compromise between a space that’s open to the wind yet protected from the rain, this outdoor kitchen by McInturff Architects is covered by a slanted roof and walled in on three sides, but large openings retain the connection to its natural surroundings.
Open-Air Library by Karo
(images via: dezeen.com)
The only structure on this list that isn’t a home, this open-air building by KARO deserves a mention just for the stark rarity of the design: it’s a library. It may seem illogical to open a collection of damage-prone paper to the elements, but this ventilated design in Magdeburg, Germany actually keeps the books in protected niches, leaving the open spaces for browsers to sit and relax. The library was made from wood, salvaged materials from a former warehouse and hundreds of beer crates.
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Cob Creations: 18 Natural Homes, Pizza Ovens & More
[ By Steph in Art & Design & Home & Garden. ]
Cob is a natural building material made using mud, straw and lime that has been in use for millennia. Fireproof, earthquake-resistant and very inexpensive to build with, cob can be used to make stunningly creative homes, sheds, benches and wood-fired bread ovens. These 18 examples of cob creations illustrate the material’s beauty and versatility.
Three Cob Hobbit Houses
(images via: simondale.net, yearofmud, cob cottage co)
For those familiar with cob construction, these three houses represent the most recognizable form achievable with the medium. Cob lends itself wonderfully to rounded structures like the Simondale ‘hobbit house’ (top two images), a green-roofed cob house at the Dancing Rabbit Eco Village (below left) and another at the Cob Cottage Company in Oregon.
Stunning Cob Interior
(images via: greenbuildingelements)
There’s no end to the customization that’s possible with cob. Because cob is so easy to work with, even beginners can create staircases, niches, built-in benches, bookcases and other cob features in home interiors. This home, built by Meka Bunch of Wolf Creek, Oregon, is an incredible example of just how creative cob builders can get.
Cute Cob Cottage
(image via: greenvillages.co)
Is this cob cottage adorable or what? Built in a somewhat more modern design, this home features a curving roof, a second-floor balcony and chains that act as gutters and are also an interesting design detail. Stone is visible along the foundation; this helps to protect the cob from water damage.
Two Indoor Cob Fireplaces
(images via: firespeaking.com, onelessbrickinthewall.com)
Niches, bookcases and stairways aren’t the only interior details that can be sculpted with cob. You can make your fireplace out of cob, two, as illustrated by these two examples.
Cob Building at the Anam Cara Collective
(image via: cultureartist.org)
This sustainable cob house at the Anam Cara Collective in Asheville, North Carolina features lots of windows, a large wooden deck and solar panels for power. Anam Cara holds regular cob building workshops that teach participants how to work with this natural, inexpensive building material.
Adorable Cob Garden Shed
(image via: cityfarmer.org)
Not ready to take the plunge with a cob house? You could give a shed a shot. This one, located in Vancouver, Cananda, has a green roof covered in local vegetation. Its exterior was plastered with clay.
Traditional Cob Houses of England
(images via: supermac1961, buildsomethignbeautiful)
Cob homes are not a new concept; clay bricks have been used to create human dwellings for thousands of years. Cob in particular has been used to build houses in Great Britain at least since the 13th century. Many of those homes, with traditional thatched roofs, still stand today, and the style is experiencing a revival with companies like Build Something Beautiful using it for new construction.
The Hand-Sculpted House
(image via: tinyhouseblog)
This beautiful structure is home to Ianto Evans and Linda Smiley, authors of The Hand Sculpted House and co-owners of the Cob Cottage Company in Oregon. Though cob houses are often round, they can be built in any shape, with or without a wooden frame.
Four Fun Sculptural Cob Ovens
(images via: natural building, designbuildlive.org, ilovecob.com, dayonedesign)
A great way to practice with cob building is to construct a pizza oven. The book Build Your Own Earth Oven by Kiko Denzer explains how with step-by-step instructions, including recipes for wood-fired bread once your oven is done. These four ovens are great examples of cob ovens that double as outdoor sculptures.
Two Combination Cob Oven/Benches
(images via: mudsunfun.org, our ecovillage)
Cob ovens can also be combined with benches into one large structure. The benefit of creating a cob oven/bench combo is that in cold months, the oven will heat up the benches, making them a cozy place to enjoy the outdoors.
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30 Eco-Chic Houses Made of 10 Types of Recycled Materials
[ By Steph in Art & Design & Home & Garden. ]
Waste materials that are reclaimed for new structures can be as simple as a bunch of stacked tires or a boat that’s no longer seaworthy, or as complex as old stone bricks re-sculpted to look like new. They can be roughly cobbled together into rustic cabins, or masterfully incorporated into stunning modern residences along with new materials. Sometimes they’re left as-is, their signs of age providing a sense of history, and sometimes they’re processed into something that leaves no hint of their origins. These 10 recycled building materials were saved from the landfill and transformed into the following 30 green homes, and many more around the world.
Bottles & Cans
(images via: treehugger, inhabitat, green upgrader, beercanhouse.org)
To some, they’re junk, but to others, discarded bottles and cans can be the main materials of a recycled home. Flattened tomato tins were turned into protective exterior tiles on a mountain home in Patagonia, and one million brown and green beer bottles were formed into an absolutely breathtaking Buddhist temple in Thailand. The ‘Beer Can House’ in Houston, Texas was was crafted over 18 years out of 39,000 cans of beer. The cans were cut up and applied to just about every surface, used as siding, decorative trim and fencing. Plastic bottles were used to build a schoolhouse in San Pablo, Philippines, resulting in a structure that’s three times stronger than concrete.
Ships & Boats
(images via: strangebuildings.com, sea-fever.org, mr38)
Decommissioned ships and boats can be brought on land and transformed into unusual residences that become the talk of the town. While it’s looking a little worse for the wear, ‘The Ship House’ of Dalmatia, Croatia is certainly a creative example of a recycled house. The sight of ‘The Ship Residence’, top right, might just cause you to run your own boat aground as you stare. Located on South Bass Island in Lake Eerie at Put-in-Bay, Ohio, the home consists of a former Great Lakes Shipping Boat that was built by Henry Ford and saw 50 years of service before it was moved onto the lot. Or, you could just craft recycled wood into an amazing house that just looks like a ship.
Glass Panels & Windows
(images via: plentyofcolour, design squish, inhabitat)
Recycled glass windows, plexiglass panels and even waste glass are transformed into light-filled homes. Kolonihavehus by artist Tom Fruin may not be a functioning house, but it’s certainly a source of inspiration for people looking to build green reclaimed houses; it’s made entirely out of used plexiglass panels, which the artist colored to create a stained glass effect. Another home in Freetown Christiania, a commune in Copenhagen, was built in the ’60s using reclaimed windows – bet they’ve never had to turn on a light in the daytime. And finally, though it might not be pretty, the bottom house is an inexpensive modular home with a build time of less than a week that was made from processed waste glass.
Barns
(images via: scdlp.net, trendir.com)
With cities expanding ever outward, farms are fewer and farther between – but that doesn’t mean that big beautiful barns should just be torn down. Many barns have been turned into stunning, spacious private homes, whether by simply insulating them and adding utilities or by completely disassembling the wood and crafting it into something new. Belgium’s reclaimed barn house, top, maintains the traditional shape of the barn it was made from, with lots of new glass and a fully functioning shutter facade for natural light and ventilation. Below, the heavy beams of a dairy barn were separated to form slats that protect rippled glass walls, making a formerly dense structure seem light and airy.
Shipping Containers
(images via: containercity, astorideponti.it, dornob)
Compact, stackable and found in great abundance all over the world, shipping containers are an ideal material for building homes and other structures. While they used to sit abandoned in shipyards once their short 5 years in use were over, now they’re configured into houses small and large. Individual shipping containers with pre-cut openings are simply lifted by crane and dropped onto each other in a pre-determined design. There are lots of DIY used shipping container house plans for those interested in giving this cheap, eco-friendly building material a shot.
Grain Bins
(images via: dornob, natural home magazine, gruenhomesteadinn.com)
Strong and sturdy, grain silos form the basis of round houses, left rustic or given a contemporary touch. Two silos were joined by a hallway to form a home in the rural American Midwest; another forms the main internal structure for a home in Greensburg, Kansas. The silo has been disguised in the latter home, so you would never even guess that it’s there. At the Gruene Homestead Inn in Texas, a front porch gives a silo used as guest chambers a homey feel.
Tires
(images via: globalgiving.com, earthship.net, makingthishome)
Tires are the main building component of ecological houses known as ‘earthships’. These homes, common in the deserts of the United States, are also ideal as low-cost housing in third world countries. Tires are plentiful and, when packed with mud, provide thermal mass to regulate the building’s internal temperature. They are often plastered over with a mud mixture that resembles adobe, though sometimes, they’re left visible. The top image shows a school in construction in Guatemala; the second depicts a wall in a Virginia earthship. The third image illustrates how tires have been used to make strong, inexpensive houses in earthquake-ravaged Haiti.
Pallets
(images via: loftenberg, tinyfreehouse, inhabitat)
Did you know that shipping pallets are often made of hardwood? Once they’re used a few times to transport heavy loads, they’re cast aside, but this wood can make up the building blocks of a home. In Curacavi, Chile, a large modern home was given cladding made of pallets painted white, which provide natural cooling and ventilation, and let in light. Unmodified pallets could even be used to create quick and cheap disaster housing, used for everything from the front deck to the furniture inside. The modular Paletten Haus, designed by two students from the University of Vienna for a sustainable architecture competition, is modular and energy efficient; the students are working on smaller, similar designs that could be built for just $11 per square foot.
Reclaimed Wood
(images via: ethanhc, dornob, designmilk)
Reclaimed wood from various sources including demolished structures can add character and a sense of history to a home, whether it is used as an accent among more modern materials or as the main event. The ‘Treehouse of Hyeres’, top left, was made of wood and found objects and is clearly rustic in style; the reclaimed wood still retains the varying shades of tint and paint. Alternately, reclaimed wood makes up the core structure of a home which was finished with paler, newer wood for a beautiful contrast. The third home, also made of mixed new and used wood, achieves a similar effect.
Stone
(images via: feildenfowles.co.uk, dezeen, mauelribeiroarchitect.com)
Recycled scraps of slate from buildings no longer in use were reclaimed for both the roof and the north facade of the Ty Pren residence in South Wales (top). A crumbling stone villa in Portugal was rebuilt, the time-worn stone blocks juxtaposed with new wood and glass for a modern look, in a luxury country villa conversion by Manuel Ribeiro. The beauty of stone is that it can be carved back into new-looking bricks if an aged look is not desired. British architect John Pawson used reclaimed stone to create The House of Stone in Milan, which appears brand new.
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