[ By Steph in Art & Design & Home & Garden & Transit & Auto. ]
Once an afterthought, bicycle storage racks, hooks and devices are now seen as part of a home’s decor and as public sculpture on city sidewalks. More than simply getting bicycles out of the way, they turn them from potential eyesores into sculptural objects in and of themselves, especially when starkly displayed against an interior wall. Get inspired for bike storage at home and check out the creative, innovative bike racks that are popping up in urban areas.
Pit In Bicycle Table by Store Muu
(images via: 5magazine)
Japan’s Store Muu Design Studio dreamed up this uber-practical bike storage solution that lets your bike double as a seat at a table. You can ride your bike right into the table’s built-in slot and put your feet up – imagine if these were available at cafes and other public places! Now they just need to create an option that allows the user to cycle in place for fitness while working and – even better – harvest the energy created to power a light or a gadget charger.
Minimalist Wood Bike Rack by Chris Brigham
(image via: knife and saw)
Simple and elegant, this bike storage solution was created by woodworker Chris Brigham of Knife & Saw. The Bike Shelf is a wooden shelf with an angled niche that allows you to slide your bike up onto the wall without disturbing the books or other objects you place atop the shelf. (Too bad it only works with men’s bikes!)
Bike Rack Shaped Like a Comb
(image via: knowhow shop la)
This one-of-a-kind, 400-pound comb-shaped bike rack was made by Knowhow Shop in Los Angeles; it’s now a public art piece in Roanoke, Virginia.
Rotating Vertical Bike Rack for Korea
(image via: archdaily)
Could The Bike Hanger be a smart solution to bike storage in the city? Designed for Seoul, South Korea, this rotating hanger can store 20-36 bicycles and attaches to the sides of buildings to avoid interfering with traffic below. It’s made from recycled plastic bottles and stainless steel, and would only need a little lubrication now and then to keep it running.
Racor Bicycle Hoist
(image via: racor)
Storing your bike up high is a great way to free up room in your home, but sometimes – especially if you have high ceilings – getting it down can be a pain. The Racor Bicycle Hoist ceiling mount bike lift uses a pulley and steel hardware to lift and lower your bicycle when you need it.
Gladiator Claw Bike Hook
(image via: gladiator garageworks)
Prettier and more secure than a simple hook, the Gladiator Claw makes hanging a bike incredibly easy. This bike storage hook, featured on ABC’s American Inventor, automatically grabs and releases your bike’s tire by putting pressure on a button.
Futuristic Marguerite Bike Rack
(image via: coroflot)
A fanned design of white ‘daisy petals’ secures bicycles in the ‘Margeurite’ design by Yoann Henry Yvon, who wanted to bring “a touch of color and design inside the boring background of the city.” Yvon created a five-petaled prototype which was photographed in Valencia, Spain.
Cycloc Colorful Bike Storage
(image via: cycloc.com)
This wall-mounted bike storage solution, designed by Andrew Lang, won the Consumer Product Design of the Year Award for its simple yet ingenious method of hanging a bicycle. Available in white, orange, green or black, the Cycloc can hang a bicycle either vertically or horizontally, can be locked into place and provides storage for accessories like gloves.
Petal Vertical Bike Rack
(image via: mlive.com)
While it’s not super space-efficient, this tree-like bicycle rack is certainly a beautiful way to store bikes in public places. Designed and built in West Michigan by Vern Ohlman, the Bike Petal functions as both a practical bicycle rack and as an outdoor sculpture.
Bike Shed for Outdoor Storage
(image via: bikemania.biz)
What if you’ve got outdoor space, but no garage? Bike storage sheds allow you to keep your bike secure and out of the elements. You can build one if you’re handy, or buy one of the many prefabricated options available like the ‘Bike Cave’ by Tidy Tent.
Piano Park Bench/Bike Rack by ADD Innovation
(image via: add innovation)
Space comes at a premium in urban environments, especially on sidewalks. This brilliant design combines a bench and a bike rack in one; altering the design just a little bit to include a bench back would enable bicyclists to safely lock up their property.
Sleek Wooden Wall Rack
(image via: new york markt)
Another handy modern interior or exterior wall hanger for bikes is this sleek wooden design by 718 Made in Brooklyn. The curved design fits between the bars on men’s bicycles to keep them high on a wall, and looks beautiful even when not in use.
New York’s Stylish CityRacks
(image via: inhabitat)
A competition to design a stylish modern bicycle rack for New York City produced 10 beautiful, colorful finalists and a winning design that has been used as the new standard bicycle rack installed on the city’s sidewalks. The winner is the simple silver wheel shape, created by Maarten De Greeve and Ian Mahaffy.
Solar-Powered Bike Parking Pods
(images via: ecofriend)
Worried about biking to work only to arrive looking sweaty and unprofessional? If only these solar-powered bike parking pods would catch on, nobody would have such an excuse anymore. Designed by Penny Farthings Pushbikes, these pods not only provide a storage spot but also contain showers and changing rooms.
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Vertical Parking Lots: Brilliant Urban Bike Hanger System
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1 Comment – Click Here to Read More
Cycle Crazy: 14 Smart & Stylish Bike Storage Solutions
[ By Steph in Art & Design & Home & Garden & Transit & Auto. ]
Once an afterthought, bicycle storage racks, hooks and devices are now seen as part of a home’s decor and as public sculpture on city sidewalks. More than simply getting bicycles out of the way, they turn them from potential eyesores into sculptural objects in and of themselves, especially when starkly displayed against an interior wall. Get inspired for bike storage at home and check out the creative, innovative bike racks that are popping up in urban areas.
Pit In Bicycle Table by Store Muu
(images via: 5magazine)
Japan’s Store Muu Design Studio dreamed up this uber-practical bike storage solution that lets your bike double as a seat at a table. You can ride your bike right into the table’s built-in slot and put your feet up – imagine if these were available at cafes and other public places! Now they just need to create an option that allows the user to cycle in place for fitness while working and – even better – harvest the energy created to power a light or a gadget charger.
Minimalist Wood Bike Rack by Chris Brigham
(image via: knife and saw)
Simple and elegant, this bike storage solution was created by woodworker Chris Brigham of Knife & Saw. The Bike Shelf is a wooden shelf with an angled niche that allows you to slide your bike up onto the wall without disturbing the books or other objects you place atop the shelf. (Too bad it only works with men’s bikes!)
Bike Rack Shaped Like a Comb
(image via: knowhow shop la)
This one-of-a-kind, 400-pound comb-shaped bike rack was made by Knowhow Shop in Los Angeles; it’s now a public art piece in Roanoke, Virginia.
Rotating Vertical Bike Rack for Korea
(image via: archdaily)
Could The Bike Hanger be a smart solution to bike storage in the city? Designed for Seoul, South Korea, this rotating hanger can store 20-36 bicycles and attaches to the sides of buildings to avoid interfering with traffic below. It’s made from recycled plastic bottles and stainless steel, and would only need a little lubrication now and then to keep it running.
Racor Bicycle Hoist
(image via: racor)
Storing your bike up high is a great way to free up room in your home, but sometimes – especially if you have high ceilings – getting it down can be a pain. The Racor Bicycle Hoist ceiling mount bike lift uses a pulley and steel hardware to lift and lower your bicycle when you need it.
Gladiator Claw Bike Hook
(image via: gladiator garageworks)
Prettier and more secure than a simple hook, the Gladiator Claw makes hanging a bike incredibly easy. This bike storage hook, featured on ABC’s American Inventor, automatically grabs and releases your bike’s tire by putting pressure on a button.
Futuristic Marguerite Bike Rack
(image via: coroflot)
A fanned design of white ‘daisy petals’ secures bicycles in the ‘Margeurite’ design by Yoann Henry Yvon, who wanted to bring “a touch of color and design inside the boring background of the city.” Yvon created a five-petaled prototype which was photographed in Valencia, Spain.
Cycloc Colorful Bike Storage
(image via: cycloc.com)
This wall-mounted bike storage solution, designed by Andrew Lang, won the Consumer Product Design of the Year Award for its simple yet ingenious method of hanging a bicycle. Available in white, orange, green or black, the Cycloc can hang a bicycle either vertically or horizontally, can be locked into place and provides storage for accessories like gloves.
Petal Vertical Bike Rack
(image via: mlive.com)
While it’s not super space-efficient, this tree-like bicycle rack is certainly a beautiful way to store bikes in public places. Designed and built in West Michigan by Vern Ohlman, the Bike Petal functions as both a practical bicycle rack and as an outdoor sculpture.
Bike Shed for Outdoor Storage
(image via: bikemania.biz)
What if you’ve got outdoor space, but no garage? Bike storage sheds allow you to keep your bike secure and out of the elements. You can build one if you’re handy, or buy one of the many prefabricated options available like the ‘Bike Cave’ by Tidy Tent.
Piano Park Bench/Bike Rack by ADD Innovation
(image via: add innovation)
Space comes at a premium in urban environments, especially on sidewalks. This brilliant design combines a bench and a bike rack in one; altering the design just a little bit to include a bench back would enable bicyclists to safely lock up their property.
Sleek Wooden Wall Rack
(image via: new york markt)
Another handy modern interior or exterior wall hanger for bikes is this sleek wooden design by 718 Made in Brooklyn. The curved design fits between the bars on men’s bicycles to keep them high on a wall, and looks beautiful even when not in use.
New York’s Stylish CityRacks
(image via: inhabitat)
A competition to design a stylish modern bicycle rack for New York City produced 10 beautiful, colorful finalists and a winning design that has been used as the new standard bicycle rack installed on the city’s sidewalks. The winner is the simple silver wheel shape, created by Maarten De Greeve and Ian Mahaffy.
Solar-Powered Bike Parking Pods
(images via: ecofriend)
Worried about biking to work only to arrive looking sweaty and unprofessional? If only these solar-powered bike parking pods would catch on, nobody would have such an excuse anymore. Designed by Penny Farthings Pushbikes, these pods not only provide a storage spot but also contain showers and changing rooms.
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1 Comment – Click Here to Read More
Eco Kitty: 12 Great Green Products for Cats
[ By Steph in Animals & Habitats. ]
Dusty clay cat litter, food based on slaughterhouse byproducts and toxic flea treatments aren’t good for your cat, your family, your home or the world at large. Choose healthier, greener cat products instead, from toys and treats to collars and carriers. These 18 eco-friendly options will keep your cat happy, healthy and high on catnip.
Kitty’s Garden of Edible Grass
(image via: only natural pet)
Are your indoor cats chewing up all of your houseplants? Indulge their instinct to chew on grass with a pot of wheatgrass, oat, rye or barley. One good choice is the SmartCat Kitty’s Garden, a kit that contains a pot, peat moss soil and organic seeds.
Recycled Cardboard Scratcher
(image via: uncommon goods)
Encourage your cats to scratch a designated object instead of your furniture. Cardboard cat scratchers come in all shapes and sizes, and are often made of recycled cardboard. Bonus: they can be tossed in the recycling bin once they’re shredded beyond recognition! This cute dog-shaped one is from Uncommon Goods.
Organic Catnip
(images via: petco)
Something about catnip makes most cats go crazy. Catnip, a perennial herb in the mint family, contains an essential oil called nepetalactone, which stimulates cats. Sprinkle organic catnip like that offered by Castor & Pollux on toys, bedding or a cardboard scratcher.
Natural, Biodegradable Cat Litter
(image via: worldsbestcatlitter.com)
Conventional clay cat litter not only tracks dust all over the place, it’s also a significant environmental problem: 2 million tons of it end up in landfills every year. Seek out a biodegradable, compostable cat litter made from renewable materials instead. One option is World’s Best Cat Litter, made of whole kernel corn.
Compostable Litter Box Liners
(image via: biobagusa.com)
Want to compost that eco-friendly cat litter? Line the litter box with a biodegradable liner like the ones made by BioBag. It couldn’t be easier to simply lift used litter out of the pan and toss the whole bag into your compost pile. Make sure you maintain a separate compost pile just for cat waste, and never use the resulting compost on food crops.
Eco-Friendly Recycled Pet Carrier
(image via: amazon.com)
Tote your kitty around in style with an eco-friendly pet carrier. The Eco-Friendly Tote by Snoozer is made of durable recycled burlap and features a large main compartment with four zippered mesh openings for ventilation as well as a large flap packet on the front for accessories.
Crunchy Treats for Dental Health
(image via: drsforstersmith.com)
Let’s face it – most pet owners don’t wrangle up the cats on a regular basis to brush their teeth. To keep up your cat’s dental health, feed them healthy, crunchy cat treats like those from Pet Greens. The texture of these treats helps control plaque; they’re also grain-free and packed with protein and nutrients.
Natural, Holistic Cat Food
(image via: petco)
Most brands of commercial cat food contain some pretty unhealthy ingredients like gluten, corn, rendered meats and animal by-products. Brands that cut out these ingredients and focus instead on natural, holistic food packed with vitamins and minerals are far better for kitty’s health. Halo Spot’s Stew is a great choice, containing wild salmon, whole egg and veggies like sweet potatoes.
Breakaway Hemp Cat Collar
(image via: only natural pet)
A natural renewable resource known for its strength and durability, hemp is one of the most eco-friendly materials available. The hemp collars by Silly Kitty feature a safety breakaway clasp to let cats break free if the collar catches on anything. Available in a range of colors, these collars are breathable and biodegradable.
Cozy Organic Bed
(image via: the premium pet)
Cats love cozy spaces, especially beds with high walls. The Organic Bumper Bed by West Paw Design is soft, comfy and available in a wide range of colors and sizes.
Stimulating Natural Toys
(image via: only natural pet)
Engage your cat’s instinct to chase small prey with a fun interactive toy like the Field Freddy’s Feather Cat Toy. This biodegradable toy is simply a wood wand, a hemp string and cork ‘feathers’ that will get your cat active, helping to prevent obesity. Naturally, you can DIY this for next to nothing.
Natural Flea Care
(image via: only natural pets)
Cats can be sensitive to many of the essential oils that are recommended to prevent fleas on dogs, leaving many cat owners uncertain about how to control these pesky pests. Only Natural Pet offers flea care kits for cats in mild, moderate and severe packages, which include items like flea combs, brewer’s yeast tablets, herbal defense shampoo and an all-in-one flea remedy made with diatomaceous earth, a mineral substance that is non-toxic to people and pets.
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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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Funny Farms: 12 Cool Agricultural Architecture Conversions
[ By Steph in Art & Design & Home & Garden. ]
Silvery barn wood, exposed timbers, the sense of history and pastoral contentment – rural ruins have a lot to offer, whether they’re simply converted for new uses or creatively incorporated into novel structures. From great big barns to piles of century-old rubble, agricultural buildings have been adapted and recycled into stunning modern homes that are surprisingly bright, airy and up-to-date.
Mysterious Floating Barn – Is It Real?
(images via: museum of hoaxes)
Can this place possibly be real? Purported to be an actual structure located somewhere in the countryside of Ukraine, this ‘floating barn’ seems to make use of old agricultural equipment – or perhaps it’s just not what it seems. It looks like something out of a science fiction film, and could very well be photoshopped; however, cantilevered barns do exist for practical purposes like allowing air to circulate through stored crops.
Modern Home from Old Dutch Farm & Barn Buildings
(images via: search architecture)
Dilapidated and unsafe, the crumbling remains of an old farmhouse and its outbuildings were transformed into a minimalist modern home by Amsterdam-based architecture firm SeARCH. Some of the older brick buildings that were still in good condition were incorporated into the new design, and inside, weathered wood from the barn and sheds was contrasted with clean white walls and pale new wood to great effect.
Old Tobacco Barn Now Visitor Center at Botanical Gardens
(images via: inhabitat)
A red barn dating back to the 1940s now serves as an exterior shade structure for a new building that nests within its walls. The tobacco barn, located on the Yew Dell Gardens in Crestwood, Kentucky, is now a visitor center for the unique gardens that surround it in a rehabilitation project that brings together historic preservation, recycling and energy efficiency. Protected by the old barn, the inner structure is kept cool and breezy naturally to minimize energy consumption.
Red Barn Made into Spacious Home
(images via: bainbridgebarn.com)
Vaulted ceilings, aged wood full of character – why haven’t more barns been converted into homes? This renovation shows how barns can serve as open, spacious and light-filled living spaces for humans once they’re no longer needed to house livestock. The Bainbridge Barn, located on an island outside Seattle, has retained its rural feel on the outside but feels almost loft-like on the inside.
200-Year-Old Farmhouse Turned Ultra-Modern
(images via: ian claridge)
A farmhouse in Fahndorf, Austria that is over two centuries old was incorporated into a new, ultramodern structure that plays on the contrasts between aged, textured wood and stone and shiny steel. Renovated by Vienna-based architecture office Propeller Z, the home is certainly an unexpected rural find, and features an unusual stacked wood wall.
Scaled-Down Dairy Barn is Bright and Beautiful
(images via: scdlp.net)
The hefty wooden slats of an old dairy barn are now a privacy and shade screen protecting the glass walls of a modernized home. Architecture firm SCDLP reused the barn wood for a new, scaled-down structure with lots of natural light. All materials used in construction were found or felled on site. As a bonus, the light pouring through the rippled glass panels between the slats create watery reflections on the walls and floors for peaceful ambiance.
Stone Farm House Now a Luxury Villa
(images via: manuel ribeiro architect)
Historic stone walls, rough and infused with over a century of rural life in Portugal, are juxtaposed with new wood, glass and metal in this luxury country villa conversion. The large villa retains traditional features like the red tile roof and a vast interior courtyard, but is given warmth and comfort with cozy wood floors and ceilings, and sleek steel details.
Big Barn Project by Specht Harpman
(images via: specht harpman)
Passing by this barn, you would never guess at the beautiful, bright and airy modern interiors it conceals. Architect Specht Harpman preserved the traditional look of the exterior but turned the inside into a livable space with concrete floors, white walls and ceilings, light-colored wood and an open floor plan.
Stunning Carriage House Conversion
(images via: omasworks.com)
New York City-based OMA gave a 19th century carriage house on an upstate New York farm a novel purpose as a contemporary writing studio and guest house, attached to a barn building that had already been renovated into the main residence on the property. Lofts make use of the height of the carriage house, and translucent panels let in more daylight. The architects stripped the original mortise and tenon timber frame and left it visible in the completed work.
Old Wood Barn Made Airy and Livable
(images via: shed)
Massive windows and a white drywall ceiling have helped turn this barn into a covetable abode without compromising the sense of history that weathered, beaten-up barn wood brings. SHED Architects preserved the original structure but managed to make it feel like a relaxing retreat, fitting in a workroom, kitchen, lofted living area, guest apartment and multiple bedrooms.
Holiday Home in England Made of Reclaimed Farm Remnants
(images via: busyboo)
The stones from a demolished farmhouse formed the basis for a stunning new home in Oxfordshire, UK that retains the profile of a traditional farmhouse, but with a cleaned-up, modern shape, large windows and a contemporary interior. McLean Quinlan Architects gave the home an oak-boarded ceiling that is 30 feet high at its apex as well as white painted plasterwork, Cotswold stone floors and an entire wall of glass.
Farm Buildings Given White Makeover
(images via: living etc)
On South Africa’s Western Cape, a London family found a lovely little farmhouse in need of some work and gave it a whole new look – with a lot of white paint. Consisting of a traditional single-story farmhouse and two converted outbuildings, Pear Tree Farm in Klein Karoo is an oasis of calm with seven bedrooms and four bathrooms.
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Building with Bamboo: 13 Super Sustainable Structures
[ By Steph in Art & Design & Home & Garden. ]
It’s 100% natural, thrives in diverse climates, grows up to a whopping 39 inches per day and is super-strong; why isn’t bamboo already used more often as a building material? While bamboo structures have long been common in Asia and the South Pacific, they’re only just gaining prominence in the rest of the world. From schools to disaster shelters, these 13 bamboo buildings prove just how strong, durable, eco-friendly and visually pleasing this perennial evergreen grass can be.
Water and Wind Cafe, Vietnam
(images via: vo trong nghia)
Made almost entirely of bamboo without the use of a single nail, the Water and Wind Cafe in the Binh Duong province of Vietnam is just one example of incredible bamboo structures designed by architecture firm Vo Trong Nghia. The domed structure, dripping with lights, features a dazzling skylight, with the end result resembling a natural cathedral. The bamboo was woven together using traditional Vietnamese bamboo weaving techniques and covered in a local bush plant.
Bamboo Tower, Venice, Italy
(images via: inhabitat)
At the edge of Venice’s grand canal, a tower of bamboo seemed to sprout up organically over a period of a week. Constructed for the Venice Biennale, Stam Studio’s Big Bambu Project involves a 50-foot nest-like bamboo tower with a spiraling walkway that leads from ground level to the pinnacle. The 2010 Big Bambu installation at the MET in New York was the “seed” for the project; the creators used 1,000 poles from that installation in the new project as well as 2,000 additional poles. Artists Doug and Mike Stam lashed the bamboo together by hand with the help of a team of rock climbers.
Green School, Bali
(images via: greenschool.org)
Have you ever seen a school made entirely out of bamboo? The Green School in Bali is unusual in a number of ways, from its sustainable curriculum to the degree of freedom enjoyed by the students, but it is the structures themselves that are often the center of attention for visitors. The Green School chose bamboo because it’s green, renewable and very plentiful in Bali. “Frankly, it is hard to talk to students about sustainability while they are using the last piece of rainforest for their chair and their table. It is the painful truth that they are going to have to stretch to get enough rain forest timber to build their homes,” says co-founder, architect John Hardy.
Solar-Powered Bamboo House
(images via: design boom)
‘Sunshine Inn’, a solar-powered bamboo house, was made by the Chinese team from Tongli University as their official entry into the first European Solar Decathlon in Madrid. Bamboo was chosen as the main material because, as a highly renewable resource that fixes carbon into the soil, it minimizes CO2 emissions throughout the whole production phase. This beautiful structure features two curved solar panel-clad roofs and a solar-facing wall covered which is also covered in photovoltaic panels.
Bamboo House by Benjamin Garcia Saxe, Costa Rica
(images via: world architecture news)
Architect Benjamin Garcia Saxe created this intricate, light-filled, open-air bamboo home for his mother in Costa Rica. Being open to the air allows the house to catch every breeze that comes through, but the bamboo and roof are angled to protect against rain. Inside, a cone-shaped dome gives Saxe’s mother a view of the sun and moon, with the space protected by an umbrella-like second roof.
Mason Lane Farm, Goshen, Indiana
(images via: design boom)
This geometric bamboo structure is not located in Asia or in the tropics, but in the rather unexpected locale of Goshen, Indiana. American architecture practice De Leon & Primmer created the Mason Lane Farm Operations Facility as their entry into the 2010 World Architecture Festival. It houses farm equipment, hay and other stored goods. The bamboo stalks were laid out in a lattice grid fashion and assembled using galvanized rebar wire ties, providing perforated walls that let the wind dry the hay.
Bamboo Forest House, Taiwan
(images via: world architecture news)
This vacation house for an extended family in eastern Taiwan is connected on two sides to neighboring structures, but its two street-facing facades were given an eye-catching bamboo treatment that lets in light and air. This screen also provides privacy and security, and gives the feel of being in a bamboo forest when gazing out the windows from inside.
Zen-Style Bamboo Prefab Home
(images via: bambooliving.com)
Want a bamboo home of your own? A company called Bamboo Living provides prefab bamboo house kits in modern styles including ‘Zen Style Home’, a minimalist one-story design with a large front porch. Bamboo Living Homes are ICC-ES certified and have sold over 150 such structures, which have been assembled all over the world. They also build custom designs and larger eco-villages and developments.
Origami-Inspired Bamboo Folding House Concept
(images via: urbanrevision)
Designed for use as temporary shelters in the aftermath of an earthquake, these origami-inspired bamboo folding houses might just be the most elegant and artistic example of disaster housing ever produced. After a 2007 earthquake in China killed 69,000, Ming Tang was driven to create a shelter that was inexpensive, environmentally friendly and easy to produce. The pre-fabricated structures can be quickly assembled on-site and are then covered in post- and pre-consumer recycled paper for protection from the sun.
Cocoon Houses, Bali
(images via: inhabitat)
They may not resemble any houses you’ve ever seen, but these vertical bamboo structures could offer inexpensive housing in hard-hit places like Haiti. The design, by Saint Val Architect, marries low-tech and high-tech, using bamboo poles and x-shaped metal joints to form the ‘exoskeleton’ of each home. A circular staircase wrapping around the central support beam brings occupants to each successive floor, and canvas seals the home from the elements.
Giant Bamboo Umbrellas at a Japanese Restaurant, Jakarta, Indonesia
(images via: architectoo)
The form of an umbrella served as the basis of inspiration for the bamboo structures that make up the Outdoor Japanese Noodle Restaurant in Jakarta. Designed to be temporary and simple to disassemble, the bamboo umbrellas overlap each other to become one big roof, protecting guests from sun, wind and rain. Rainwater is diverted through bamboo ‘gutters’, poured into the ground through a pipe in the middle of the structure.
Bird-Like Amphitheater, Hanoi, Vietnam
(images via: world architecture news)
Also by Vo Trong Nghia is ‘Bird Wing’, an avian-like bamboo building used for fashion shows, live music, conferences and other public activities. Set beside a pond, the wing-inspired design of the amphitheater paired with the organic, eco-friendly qualities of the chosen material is a fitting tribute to the natural beauty of the setting. It’s made only from bamboo and rope, with no metal or other types of wood used in the construction.
Bamboo Manta Ray Dome, Thailand
(images via: 24h.eu)
Could you guess the sea creature that inspired the shape of this bamboo building, even if it weren’t in the name? Seeming to soar through the sky just as a manta ray gently floats beneath the surface of the sea, the Children’s Activity and Learning Center at the 6-star Soneva Kiri resort in Thailand fits in beautifully with its lush tropical surroundings.
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Drink it In: 14 Buildings Made from Plastic Bottles
[ By Steph in Art & Design & Home & Garden. ]
Plastic bottles are somewhat of a scourge, with 2.4 million tons of PET plastic discarded every year – how can we prevent many of these bottles from littering the earth? Maybe more of us should be building plastic bottle houses, which are cheap to construct and surprisingly durable. These 14 plastic bottle building projects give empty vessels new purpose as homes, schools, greenhouses, playhouses and room dividers.
EcoARK Exhibition Hall, Taiwan
(images via: jetsongreen)
Proving that there are all kinds of uses for recycled PET plastic, Taiwan-based engineer Arthur Huang processed 1.8 million used plastic bottles into honeycomb-shaped ‘bricks’ for a boat-shaped exhibition hall called the EcoARK. Built for Taipei’s flower show, EcoARK was constructed for just one-third the cost of a conventional structure. Once locked together, the bricks are extremely strong. Huang also plans to use this concept for a warehouse and a military barracks.
La Casa de Botellas, Argentina
(images via: inhabitots)
The Alfredo Santa Cruz family of Puerto Iguazu, Argentina crafted their home almost entirely from thousands of PET plastic bottles. Walls, coffee tables, bed platforms – even the steps to get to the front door are made of plastic bottles. The structure features a Tetra-pack roof and windows made with CD jewel cases. In addition to the main house, the family even built smaller playhouses for their daughter.
Eco-Tec’s Ecoparque El Zamorano, Honduras
(images via: eco-tecnologia.com)
The Zamorano Ecoparque in Honduras offers up not just eco-resort fun like horseback riding and ziplines, but also a variety of structures made of stacked and mortared plastic bottles. Eco-Tec, a company that has built plastic bottle homes all over the Americas, used 8,000 bottles to complete the park’s ‘Ecological House’; other plastic bottle structures on the same property include a greenhouse and a replica of a Roman aqueduct.
Plastic Bottle School, San Pablo, Philippines
(images via: inhabitat.com)
You might imagine that a structure made of plastic bottles couldn’t be very strong; that might be true in some cases, but not at this schoolhouse in San Pablo, Philippines. Illac Diaz and the MyShelter Foundation filled 1.5 and 2-liter soda and water bottles with adobe, and the results are actually three times stronger than concrete.
Morimoto Restaurant Bottle Wall, New York City
(images via: coolboom)
In this case, using plastic bottles was more of a design statement than an attempt to be green – and its beauty proves that one person’s trash is another’s trendy focal point in an expensive restaurant. The ‘bottle wall’ at the Morimoto Restaurant in New York City, designed by architect Tadao Ando, is made of 17,400 half-liter plastic bottles, which are filled with mineral water and LED lighting for a shimmery effect.
Hug it Forward Bottle Schools
(images via: bottleschools.com)
An organization called Hug it Forward has built six schools in Guatemala out of discarded plastic bottles for just about $10,000 each, working to clean the streets of trash, teach environmental awareness and give children a place to learn all at once. The plastic bottles are stuffed with inorganic trash to make them stronger.
Eco-Tec’s Casa de la Fe, Honduras
(images via: eco-tecnologia.com)
Casa de la Fe (Faith House) is home to the Honduras Foundation for the Rehabilitation and Integration of the Handicapped, and is another example of the plastic bottle architecture of Eco-Tec. This particular construction uses plastic bottles as the basis of each wall and then plasters over them for a mostly smooth look, textured in some areas by the star-shaped bottles of each bottle.
Danone Bottle Wall, Tokyo
(images via: momoy)
Klein Dytham architects included a plastic bottle wall in its interior design for the Danone offices in Tokyo, a fitting feature for a business that revolves around bottled water. The empty Evian bottles are stacked vertically and strung on wires stretching from the floor to the ceiling for a translucent room divider.
3 Plastic Bottle Greenhouses
(images via: macarthuradvertiser, inhabitat, cleantechnica)
From an 18-foot-tall building at a public school in Australia to an artistic dome in Seattle to smaller structures all over the world, greenhouses made of plastic bottles come in all shapes and sizes. They’re typically built using a wooden frame, either hanging the bottles from string or stacking them. The bottles let in just the right amount of light and also insulate the interior.
Tomislav Radovanovic Plastic Bottle House, Serbia
(images via: free republic)
Serbian math professor Tomislav Radovanovic spent five years turning 13,500 plastic bottles into the retirement home of his dreams. The teacher’s former students helped him collect the bottles for the 650-square-foot house, which was built on a concrete foundation.
Temple of Trash, Rotterdam
(image via: treehugger)
100 tons of pressed plastic bottles were made into a ‘Temple of Trash’ in Heijplaat, a neighborhood in Rotterdam’s port area, in 2007. Made by Salzig Design, this tower was built as a temporary part of the Follydock Festival.
POLLI Bricks: Build Your Own Bottle House
(images via: inhabitat)
Inspired by all this creative bottle architecture? You could go the low-tech and low-cost route of filling reclaimed plastic bottles with sand, or you could use the POLLI-Brick by miniWIZ. These specially shaped bricks, made of recycled PET bottles, lock together to create lightweight yet strong walls with excellent acoustic and insulating properties.
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12 Organic Fertilizers & Natural Bug Repellants
[ By Steph in Home & Garden & Tricks & Hacks. ]
It’s officially time to start planting in most growing zones of the continental U.S. – how will you make your garden grow this year? These 12 easy, natural DIY pest repellants and fertilizers will enrich your soil and prevent damaging insects and slugs from undoing all your hard work. Safe for organic gardens, these homemade garden recipes and fertilizing tips will give you your best growing season ever.
Castile Soap Spray Insecticide
(image via: drbronner.com)
Is there anything castile soap can’t do? The gentle vegetable oil-based soap makes a gentle and effective insecticidal spray for the garden. Dr. Bronner’s, the company that makes the most prevalent brand of castile soap, recommends filling a spray bottle with water and adding a tablespoon of either unscented or peppermint castile soap and a pinch of either cayenne pepper, cinnamon or powdered garlic. This mixture will kill aphids, mealybugs, whiteflies and spider mites.
Manure
(image via: kristine paulus)
There are few things better for enriching the soil in your garden than plain old rotted manure. You can purchase bags of manure fertilizer at most garden centers or, if you have chickens, goats or rabbits as backyard pets, you can use their droppings, too. Rabbit droppings have the highest nitrogen content and can safely be added directly to soil, but droppings from other animals should be composted before use.
Garlic Spray Insecticide
(image via: mullica)
Garlic spray acts as a deterrent, encouraging insects to move on to more appetizing plants. Unlike many other types of insecticidal garden sprays, garlic can safely be applied to the leaves of plants. Drop the cloves from an entire bulb of garlic into the blender along with two cups of water, puree until finely blended and set it aside for a day. Then, strain out the pulp, mix the garlic liquid with a gallon of water and add it to a sprayer.
Nettle Tea
(image via: la catholique)
Nettles aren’t a pleasant plant to brush up against – their leaves are covered in stinging hairs that inject histamine and other chemicals into the skin, producing a stinging sensation. But dig them up (with gloves on, of course), put them in a 5-gallon bucket, cover them with water and in three to four weeks you’ll have glorious liquid plant food that experts swear by. Nettles.org.uk has the full recipe.
Tomato Leaf Spray
(image via: shelly and roy)
Tomato leaves are packed with alkaloids, which can be an effective repellant for aphids, corn earworms and Diamondback moths. Go Green Ninja recommends soaking 1 to 2 cups of chopped or mashed tomato leaves in two cups of water overnight, straining it through a fine mesh and adding two more cups of water before spraying it on the plants in your garden. Keep this mixture away from pets, as tomato leaves can be toxic.
Egg Shells as Fertilizer & Pest Repellant
(image via: tuchodi)
Egg shells are a multi-purpose aid in the garden, acting as both fertilizer and pest repellant. Add crushed eggshells to the bottom of planting holes, particularly when planting tomatoes, peppers and eggplant, or dry them out and blend them into a fine powder and spread them around the base of plants. Placing crushed eggshells (with sharp edges intact) in a ring around the base of a plant will deter slugs, snails and cutworms.
Slug Beer Trap
(image via: steve r)
Put a little beer in a saucer or yogurt cup (buried to the brim) in your garden, and slugs will come out from all over for an all-night yeast-consuming fest. Too bad they’ll fall in and drown, but hey – otherwise, they’d be eating all of your precious garden plants. Simple, cheap and the perfect way to dispose of all the dregs left behind after a party.
Coffee Grounds as Fertilizer
(image via: how can i recycle this)
Don’t toss those used coffee grounds! They could be adding lots of nourishing nitrogen to your soil. Contrary to popular belief, used coffee grounds are not acidic; they can act as a safe substitute for nitrogen-rich manure in the compost pile. They can also be mixed into soil as an amendment or spread onto the surface of the soil.
Hot Pepper Spray
(image via: oceanaris)
Hot pepper is a natural deterrent for many types of pests in the garden. To make your own homemade pepper spray, combine 6-10 hot peppers and two cups of water in a blender and blend on high speed for 1-2 minutes, pour the liquid into a storage container to sit overnight and then strain out the pulp. Add this liquid to one quart of water in a sprayer, and spray your plants liberally every week or after each rain.
Grass Clippings
(image via: qfamily)
Want a beautiful, effortlessly green lawn? Don’t pick up those grass clippings when you mow the lawn! It’s that simple. Grass clippings are free fertilizer, adding precious nitrogen back to the soil. Short grass clippings decompose quickly, so as long as you mow often enough, they won’t stick around so long that they build up to unmanageable levels.
Beneficial Nematodes
(image via: amazon)
It sounds illogical, but sometimes, adding more bugs to your garden will help decrease the total population. Beneficial nematodes are tiny organisms that can kill hundreds of species of soil-dwelling insects including notorious garden pests like weevils, cucumber beetles and vine borers. You can buy them online, or at your local garden center. To use them you water your garden, then mix the packet of live nematodes with cool distilled water according to the directions on the package. Pour the solution into a sprayer and apply it to the soil.
Compost
(image via: kirsty hall)
Compost is the single easiest and most effective way to make your garden lush and productive, and all it takes is your kitchen scraps and some nitrogen-rich dry materials like grass, leaves or straw. You can compost even if you live in an apartment – get some urban composting tips here.
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Recycling Flashmob = Street Art + Guerrilla Activism
[ By Delana in Art & Design & Home & Garden & Nature & Ecosystems. ]
When you see a piece of waste on the ground, do you walk by it? Or do you take a moment to pick it up and put it in its proper place? This question was at the center of one of the absolute coolest flashmobs ever. A large crowd in a mall celebrated the one person who took the time to make a difference.
According to the above video, 671 million kg of plastic products are produced each year. And every year, 400 million recyclable containers are not recycled in Quebec alone. 18,000 pieces of plastic float on every square kilometer of the ocean, making it obvious that our garbage is a growing problem. This incredible flashmob calls attention to just how many people choose to ignore that problem.
The look on the woman’s face when she is confronted by a cheering mob is priceless. This exercise in humor and positive reinforcement reminds us that every small action that helps the environment is a step in the right direction.
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Rustic, Modern, Reclaimed & Free: 13 DIY Pallet Projects
[ By Steph in Art & Design & Home & Garden. ]
The lowly pallet: it’s just disposable packaging made of sub-par wood, right? Nope – as these 13 (more!) stunning examples of pallet reuse prove beyond a splinter of a doubt. Snag the high quality pallets used to ship heavy machinery or stone, which are often made of strong high quality wood like walnut, and you could turn them into a new headboard, dining table, bookshelf or even an entire accent wall with lots of rustic modern charm.
Tip: Seek out solid wood pallets that aren’t shipped from overseas to avoid chemical treatments, let them sit out in the sun for a week or two before using, and sand, sand, sand.
Headboard
(image via: stylizimo)
Who would have thought that a DIY headboard could be as simple as leaning a pallet against the wall? Nina Holst of Stylizimo left hers natural for a rustic contrast against gray walls, bright white bedding and a stainless steel reading lamp.
Display Shelves in a Store
(image via: pinterest)
Cut in half and stacked, these pallets create a simple organization system for wares in a shop without any other alterations. The idea could be adapted for a drying rack in an art studio or plates and pans in a kitchen.
Coffee Tables
(images via: papernstitchblog, stylizmo)
A simple and practical coffee table is just four casters and a couple sheets of MDF away. Papernstitch Blog has a simple tutorial involving nothing but some scrap wood, hardware and paint, and Stylizimo features a version that has table legs and a glass top.
Platform Bed with Storage
(image via: apartment therapy)
Pallets on casters or legs make a super-simple platform bed with built-in storage; use four to six for a queen or king-size mattress (depending on the size of the pallets) or two for a twin. Want yours higher? Just stack more pallets. It doesn’t get much easier than that.
Child’s Bed
(image via: lori danelle)
LorI Danelle made this cute custom toddler bed out of two pallets with closely-spaced slats. Bolts, screws, a piece of lumber and some casters make up the rest of the supplies. Since pallets can be roughly textured, this project definitely involves lots of sanding for a smooth kid-safe result.
Accent Wall
(image via: poppytalk, bower power blog)
This is not your parents’ 1970s wood-paneled wall. The varying colors in found pallets are perfect for a rustic accent wall. Separating the boards from the pallets and removing the ring shank nails takes a bit of work, but the work is worth it as the wall can add lots of character to an otherwise unremarkable room.
Television Stand
(image via: bidouillageautorise)
For a variation on the pallet coffee table, use just a single pallet and use it as a television stand. The slots in the pallet are just the right size for DVD players, game consoles and cable boxes.
Bookshelves
(image via: die frau im haus, chris.shutter)
With a few added pieces of wood acting as shelves, two vertically stacked pallets attacked to a backing serve as a freestanding display that could be used for books and magazines, photos or collectibles.
Wall Display
(image via: ana white)
Don’t have floor space to spare? Try this trick to turn a section of pallet into a wall display. Simply cut a pallet into thirds and use a 1”x4” to create the bottom of the shelf. Hang it on brackets and you’ve got a simple wall shelf made of reclaimed wood.
Storage Crates
(image via: ana white)
Turn a disassembled pallet into a pair of storage crates with two feet of new 1”x12” lumber and a free tutorial by Ana White. Left raw, clear-coated or painted, these bins could be used to store toys, shoes, magazines or garden supplies. They could also be used outside for an easy way to move potted plants around your yard.
Dining Tables
(image via: readymade)
ReadyMade explains how to transform four pallets into a rough and rustic dining table with cut-outs for potted plants – perfect for outdoor dining. With some lumber, braces, gussets, rails and decent carpentry skills, you could have this table ready for dinner in a few hours.
Flooring
(image via: kinopio)
Sure, you might trip over the boards that stick up and keeping it clean might not be easy, but this photo is proof positive that using pallet boards as wood flooring is indeed possible. And in fact, someone with a lot of patience and dedication to using only free, reclaimed materials could do even better, ripping the boards to a predetermined thickness with a table saw to ensure a smooth result.
Chandelier
(image via: studiomama)
After seeing this prime example of pallet creativity, you might be inclined to ask, what can’t be done with shipping pallets? Designer Nina Tolstrup created this pallet chandelier for her ‘Studiomama’ product line.
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