Haunted Earth: 15 Eerie Landscape Photos
October 31, 2011 by thegreenchildrenfoundation · View Comments
[ By Steph in Nature & Ecosystems. ]
The earth is a beautiful place, filled with too many awe-inspiring views of nature to count. But there’s also a dark side. That same river that sparkles in the sunlight turns ominous in the night. Ferocious oncoming storms fill us with a sense of dread. The pitch blackness of the forest warns us of the dangers that lurk within. These 15 incredibly creepy landscape photos capture that darkness to spine-tingling effect.
Darkness Looms by Richard Thompson
(image via: richard thompson)
A nearly-leafless tree is silhouetted by a setting sun that is about to be overtaken by a sheet of gray clouds in this image of a decrepit farmhouse in rural Dundee, Michigan by Richard Thompson.
Le Croix des Maux by Tiquetonne2067
(image via: tiquetonee2067)
Of course, graveyards are an ideal location for shooting creepy landscape images. This one, enhanced by a red tinge to the sky, was taken in France.
Edge of the Woods by N. Salventius
(images via: n. salventius)
The edge of a dark forest looks ominous enough even on a bright sunny day, but add dark clouds and a strange pattern in the grass – which add up to what looks like a face in the landscape – and it’s extra creepy.
Northern Lights by Rob
(image via: -robw-)
The eerie green glow of Aurora Borealis, otherwise known as ‘Northern Lights’, seems to hint at an imminent alien invasion in this photograph of the Iceland sky by Rob W. Northern Lights are a natural atmospheric event that can be seen from Arctic regions.
Apocalypse by Bianca van der Werf
(image via: biancavanderwerf)
Bianca van deer Werf captures an approaching storm that looms over a single dead tree clinging to the edge of a cliff in the appropriately named digital creation, ‘Apocalypse’.
Ghosts in the Woods by Colin Campbell
(images via: bruiach)
What lurks within the trees? Photographer Colin Campbell notes that whenever he takes this path through the woods in Bruiach, Scotland, a solitary figure seems to wait for him at the end, disappearing as he gets close.
Glowing Eye by Orvaratli
(images via: orvaratli)
Iceland’s peculiar icy landscape becomes ever more eerie during the eruption of a volcano. This image was captured by Arctic photographer Örvar Atli Þorgeirsson during the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in March 2010.
Looming Storm by Garmonique
(images via: garmonique)
What is it about such a thick blanket of dark, heavy clouds that inspires a sense of dread in our hearts? This landscape photo seems to capture the moment just before an apocalyptic storm unleashes its fury on the earth.
Forgotten Idols by Radonich Aleksandra
(images via: radonich aleksandra)
The scarecrows are coming – run! Radonich Aleksandra shot this strange grouping in Serbia, explaining that remains of pagan idols from the past, which still dot the countryside, are often either turned into crosses or covered in scarecrow-like clothing.
Abandoned House by Erling Sivertsen
(image via: erlingsi)
Seeing what should otherwise be a warm, happy and welcoming home fall into such a state of disrepair can be a disconcerting experience, making us think about how fragile our lives can be. Add in the gloom of a winter landscape, complete with an opaque forest and a translucent veil of fog, and the image looks like a still shot from a horror movie.
Dead Tree in Fog by John Batte
(image via: john batte)
Four classic components of a scary landscape combine in this image by John Batte: a dead tree, a dark forest, gray clouds and fog. You wouldn’t want to be caught in a place like this by yourself.
En Noche Como Esta by Luis Mariano Gonzalez
(image vía: una cierta mirada)
The black silhouettes of birds perched in wispy tree branches against a full moon make a postcard-perfect Halloween image.
Tree Man by Mike Orso
(image via: photo mo)
Imagine walking through the woods and looking up to see a man’s face in the branches. It’s not an optical illusion. Artist Joseph Wheelwright installed several humanoid tree sculptures on the lawn of the Katonah Museum of Art in New York. They’ve got a slightly ominous feeling during the day, but their watchful eyes would be downright disturbing at night.
After Dark by Fussel
(image via: fussel)
The trees and birds are barely discernible in this shot, because all we can focus on is that big, bright full moon. The moon has long inspired frightening myths, legends and stories.
Hanging in the Woods by Josh Thipparat
(image via: byjosh)
You know what makes the woods even scarier than they can already be on their own? Adding a few ghosts. Sure, it’s a bit of a cheap trick, but you can’t say you wouldn’t jump if you saw them while on a hike.
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Crunch Time: The World’s 10 Most Unusual Nuts
October 4, 2011 by admin · View Comments
[ By Steve in 7 Wonders Series & Food & Health & History & Trivia. ]
It’s not unusual to be nuts about nuts, even though many of the crunchy, oily, nutritious botanical bits & bites are not “true nuts” in the scientific sense – and that includes Beer Nuts. This selection of 10 unusual nuts highlights the often sweet yet occasionally distasteful relationship humans have had with these swell shelled feed seeds.
Coco de Mer
(images via: Funmaza, Timeseye and Seychelles Travel)
If you’ve heard of an erotic boutique called Coco de Mer and wondered why they’d name themselves after a coconut, wonder no longer. The Sea Coconut is native to only a few of the Seychelles island archipelago in the western Indian Ocean, and boasts the world’s largest seed. They also boast an astonishing resemblance to a human female lower torso – plant porn doesn’t get much more graphic than this, folks.
(image via: CITES)
Coco de Mer coconuts don’t drop from the trees fully female formed. Once the nuts fall into the ocean, they sink to the bottom where eventually the outer husk sloughs off and decomposition gases cause the inner nut to bob to the surface. Imagine being a shipwrecked sailor, alone and lonely, starved for companionship… and one of these babies washes up on the beach. Talk about rubbing salt into the wound!
Candlenuts
(images via: Hot Smoke BBQ, JUARA Beauty Biz, 123RF and Tatters:))
Candlenuts (or Kemiri nuts) are native to Indonesia but humans have helped expand their range over thousands of years of use. Not only are these nuts used in a wide variety of Southeast Asian and Polynesian recipes, their high oil content has allowed them to be used as candles. Ancient Hawaiians used to string individual candlenuts along a palm frond and burn them one at a time; in this way they functioned as an effective way of keeping time.
(image via: Serious Eats)
Sometimes called “the poor man’s Macadamia nut”, Candlenuts are beginning to make inroads into Western cuisine now that refrigerated transport prevents their copious oils from turning rancid. Candlenut oil is also produced on large plantations, a profitable endeavor as the nuts contain 15-20% oil by weight.
Kola Nuts
(images via: Chiamaka, USAID and Iamplify)
We may be nuts for cola here in the western world but back in West Africa they go right to the source: the bitter, naturally-caffeinated Kola Nut. Invited to a home in the Ibo tribe’s heartland? Expect to be greeted with warm wishes and a serving of Kola nut. It’s the real Real Thing.
(image via: Susan Kaman’s Kenyan Kitchen)
Those whose memories go back to the mid-1970s may recall a popular series of TV commercials for 7-Up, “The Un-Cola”, featuring 6’6″ Trinidad-born dancer, choreographer and actor Geoffrey Holder. The ads featured Holder extolling the great lemon & lime taste of 7-Up and summing things up with the punchline “Try making that out of a cola nut.”
Red Walnuts
(images via: Almond Corner and Summer Tomato)
Next time some irritable snacker demands you “pass the bloody walnuts”, give ‘em these: a new variety of walnuts with a cherry-red outer skin. No genetic engineering was used in the production of Red Walnuts, just good old fashioned agricultural ingenuity: branches from the smaller, bitterer, Persian red-skinned walnut onto standard English walnut tree trunks. See, we CAN all get along!
(image via: The Kitchn)
You’ll typically pay twice as much for Red Walnuts but those who’ve tried them feel the investment is worthwhile, reporting that Red Walnuts are slightly oilier and impart less of a bitter tannin taste compared to their un-blushed cousins. Now if only they didn’t look like tiny BRAAAIIIINS!!
Mongongo Nuts
(images via: Elephants Without Borders, New Agriculturist and Fruitipedia)
Mongongo Nuts are a staple food of the ancient San people of southwestern Africa’s Kalahari Desert and provide a valuable source of nutritional fats and proteins in times of scarcity. It’s been rumored that the best way to harvest Mongongo Nuts is to follow a Kalahari elephant… sooner or later, Jumbo will deliver a load of nuts with pre-softened shells. Expect Bear Grylls to test that theory sometime soon.
(image via: Sunday’s Child)
You can also expect to hear more about Mongongo Nuts through TV ads for women’s cosmetics and personal care products. The San have traditionally used the oils extracted from Mongongo Nuts as a natural sunscreen and skin moisturizer. So long Ylang Ylang, hello Mongongo Nuts!
Betel Nuts
(images via: Globe Spots, Greeny Crops and Chalky Lives)
Betel Nuts are actually the seeds of the Areca Palm and can be found from Polynesia through southern Asia to East Africa. The nuts are typically wrapped in leaves and chewed – the bright red residue (and saliva) are then spit out into a cup (or wherever is convenient). Users report a variety of effects with the main sensation being that of a mild stimulant. On the other hand, Betel Nut chewers are more likely to suffer a range of deleterious health effects ranging from receding gums and stained teeth to oral and gastric cancers.
(image via: Taiwan 101)
Betel Nuts were the driving force of a unique entrepreneurial phenomenon which had its heyday in mid-1990′s Taiwan. Plexiglass booths began springing up along the country’s highways, “manned” by scantily-clad “Betel Nut Beauties” who sold bags of seasoned Betel Nuts to passing truck drivers. As semi-independent operators, the women exploited a very lucrative market niche that, as a side-effect, saw Betel Nut production soar to second place (after rice) in Taiwan’s annual agricultural production.
Corn Nuts
(images via: Restaurant-Dining Critiques, Bedicomsa and Product Reviews)
Corn Nuts aren’t nuts; in fact they’re barely corn… at least, not corn as we know it. The popular snack food was invented in 1936 but sales really took off in 1964, when the manufacturers switched from sweet corn to Cusco Corn. Originating in Peru, Cusco Corn boasts kernels an inch wide, the “Largest Corn in the World”, and once adapted for commercial growing in California it powered Corn Nuts into the crunchy, dare-I-say “nutty” snack we know and love today.
(image via: Snak Snak)
You can order traditionally prepared, Peruvian-style Corn Nuts at a gourmet restaurant if you like, though sufferers of late night snack attacks are better served by keeping a bag or two of the trademarked variety on hand… assuming that keeping the tempting munchables unopened in the bag for any period time is even possible.
Bat Nuts
(images via: FotoosVanRobin, Okonomiyaki and Joe’s Diary)
Nanananana… Bat Nuts! No, it’s not the latest release from Vivid Video, but a bizarrely shaped nut known by a range of monickers including Water Caltrops, Buffalo Nuts and Devil Pods. Once one gets past the barbed & bull-headed outer shell, the starchy seed within can be eaten raw, boiled or fried, or dried and ground into a powder used in Indian cooking.
(image via: Kathryn Hill)
Travelers who have the opportunity to try Bat Nuts should ensure they don’t enjoy them raw or undercooked, as they have been known to transmit a parasitic illness known as Fasciolopsiasis. The parasites in question are intestinal flukes or flatworms that can grow up to 7.5cm (3 inches) in length. We’ve got a gut feeling you’ll take our advice as staying parasite-free is no fluke.
Tigernuts
(images via: Richard Peters, Will & Dre and Betumi Blog)
Tigernuts are neither nuts nor are they sourced from tigers… which is great news, especially if you happen to be a tiger. Instead, they’re the tubers of a rush-like plant used as a food source by several historic cultures including Ancient Egypt in the dynastic era. Tigernuts are very nutritious and contain a wide range of essential minerals, not to mention their slightly sweet, nutty flavor. They’re popular in Spain where they’re called Chufa Nuts.
(image via: Lodge Fishing)
Tigernuts have found an unexpected modern use as fishing bait for carp, which are attracted to them and seem to enjoy their taste. Anglers should be aware, however, that Tigernuts must be prepared by soaking and boiling or they will poison the fish.
Barking Deer’s Mango Nuts
(images via: Phnomenon: Food In Cambodia and Duda Online)
Besides making a great band name, Barking Deer’s Mango Nuts also make a delicious snack! Visitors to Southeast Asia may find themselves offered bags of prepared “bok” on the beach or may buy them from roadside kiosks. “The white flesh underneath the thin brown skin is so delicate yet delightfully rich,” according to one report, “mildly butter-like, and with a touch of smokiness.” Sounds delectable!
(image via: The Travelling Hungry Boy)
Delectable and execrable, it seems… yes indeed, the noble Barking Deer’s Mango Nut has been tarred with the same queasy origin as that of Mongongo Nuts and Civet Coffee: removing its hard seedcoat has been facilitated via a fantastic voyage through a cow’s digestive tract. Next time you’re offered Barking Deer’s Mango Nut Pie, take a closer look at exactly what type of “pie” it is.
(image via: Fuzzy Blue One)
As dangerous as some kinds of nuts can be, they’ve endured for hundreds of thousands of years as one of humanity’s favorite foods, thus proving the old adage that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger… or at least, makes you thirstier.
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Elegant Tree Building is Half Learning, Half Play
August 28, 2011 by admin · View Comments
[ 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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15 (More!) Terrific Towering Tree Houses
August 22, 2011 by admin · View Comments
[ By Steph in Art & Design & Home & Garden. ]
There’s something about human dwellings perched in trees that brings out the child in all of us, gazing up in wonder at seemingly endless staircases and platforms so near the sky. These 13 (more!) tree houses range from rustic cabins that seem like overgrown versions of children’s playhouses to modern interpretations gleaming in glass and stainless steel.
Fairytale-Inspired Forest Tree House, British Columbia
(images via: enchantedforestbc.com)
Deep in the woods of British Columbia is the Enchanted Forest, a fairytale-like theme park filled with ‘jolly fairy folk figurines’, boardwalks, nature trails, castles and BC’s tallest treehouse. The latter is certainly a magical place, spiraling into the air , supported both by tree trunks and added beams.
Reverend Burgess’ Reclaimed Treehouse, Tennessee
(images via: stephanie alice rogers)
Thought to be one of the largest treehouses in the world, this wacky structure located in the small town of Crossville, Tennessee was built over 15 years by Reverend Burgess, who believes he’s on a divine mission. Burgess has built the 10-story, 100-foot structure out of reclaimed wood, and it now occupies six mature trees.
Camp Treehouse
(images via: the lettered cottage)
Camp Treehouse was built by a group of friends for Wandawega Rentals, a private resort in Wisconsin. The two-story treehouse was built on an old dead tree trunk and includes a wrap-around porch, a vaulted ceiling with a loft, a hammock, a ladder and a rope swing. Nearly all materials were reused or handmade.
Lord Northumberland’s Scottish Treehouse
(images via: alister cameron)
Another contender for the world’s largest treehouse was built for an astonishing $7 million in 2006 (compare that to the $12,000 spent by Reverend Burgess!) Scotland’s Lord Northumberland commissioned the treehouse from Treehouse Company. It features disabled access and full facilities for its 120-seat restaurant. The treehouse is suspended between 16 lime trees and is located on the grounds of Alnwick Gardens.
Lifepod by Kyu Che Studio
(images via: kyuche.com)
A traveling yurt that can be placed nearly anywhere, the ‘Lifepod’ by Kyu Che Studio also makes for one incredible (and slightly scary, for those afraid of heights) suspended treehouse. The prefab pod home concept can be shipped worldwide within weeks of ordering, and fits within a 40-foot shipping container.
Sky High Treehouse, Saleve Mountain, France
(images via: curbly)
This unbelievably high treehouse is perched near the apex of a 130-foot Austrian pine in Saleve Mountain, France. The treehouse is supported by a hidden ring; guests who brave the nearly 70-foot spiral staircase are rewarded with views of Lake Geneva.
Home Built Around a Tree
(image via: the chive)
Homes like this unidentified castle-like abode prove that homeowners building on untouched land don’t necessarily have to clear out trees in order to bring their dream home to life. This treehouse appears to be about one story above the ground, with branches poking through the roof and deck.
Nussraum, Dusseldorf, Germany
(images via: cimots)
Supported on stainless steel legs, the Nussraum design by Baumraum, a German company specializing in modern treehouses, could either be assembled around a tree like conventional treehouses, or stand alone. Nussraum, which translates as ‘Walnut Room’, gets its name from the walnut wood used to create it. This one stands in a garden in Dusseldorf.
Towering Twin Treehouses
(image via: edmerritt)
The provenance of this incredible treehouse photo is unknown, but it’s certainly captivating. Two tiny cabins teeter atop fir trees, accessible via spiraling staircases.
Cedar Spire, Fife, Scotland
(images via: erindale real estate)
Located on an estate in Fife, Scotland, Cedar Spire is a castle-like treehouse with stained glass windows, a turret-like main room, a balcony and a suspended walkway leading to a viewing platform on an adjacent tree.
Pharrell Williams’ Eco Treehouse Concept
(images via: oppenheim architecture)
Rapper Pharrell Williams is collaborating with architect Chad Oppenheim on a vision for a treehouse-inspired youth center in William’s hometown of Virginia Beach. The 30,000-square-foot Pharrell Williams Resource Center features three modern volumes set within a dense forest.
Wilkinson Treehouse by Robert Oshatz
(images via: oshatz.com)
Noting the sloped grade of the site, architect Robert Harvey Oshatz saw an opportunity to bring the main level of a commissioned home up into the tree canopy. The Wilkinson Residence is an organic, flowing home with shapes that mimic those in nature. While the home is not supported by trees like a traditional treehouse, it achieves a similar effect with its unusual shape.
Spiral House, Rambouillet Forest, France
(images via: independent)
HIdden within Rambouillet Forest in France, the Spiral House is a tiny cabin high up in a tree, accessible only by a tall staircase.
DIY Traditional Tree House
(images via: edmund sumner)
This treehouse, built without help from an architect or skilled carpenter, perches almost frighteningly high in the sky on just a few skinny supports. Used as a tea house in Japan, the treehouse was created by a tea master who harvested the logs for the support from a local mountain.
Takashi Kobayashi Treehouse
(images via: treehouse.jp)
Designed for an advertising agency client, which used it to film an ad for Nescafe commercial, this rustic, playful treehouse resembles a bird’s nest. It was conceived and built by Takashi Kobayashi, one of Japan’s foremost tree house designers.
“What exactly is it about treehouses that would so captivate a slacker like me, a man who could never devote himself to any one cause or finish anything he started?” says Kobayashi. “What is it in treehouses that attracts anyone? I’ve come to think the answer lies in the vitality of the trees themselves. Everlasting life.”
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Man-Made Jungle: Exotic Architecture for Rain Forests & More
April 8, 2011 by admin · View Comments
[ By Steph in Art & Design & Geography & Travel & Nature & Ecosystems. ]
Beautiful and untamed, the jungle can be an inhospitable setting for human inhabitance when dwellings are not designed in harmony with the climate and landscape. These 12 rainforest homes, resorts and communities work with their surroundings – and often very hot and humid weather – using such architectural features as slatted wooden window coverings, yet maintain a vital connection to nature with floor-to-ceiling windows and verandahs aplenty.
Shell House by ARTechnic, Japan
(images via: archicentral)
Making your way through the humid forests of Karuizawa, Japan, a giant shell hovering three and a half feet above the ground is not exactly a sight you expect to see. Architects ARTechnic were inspired by an unlikely combination of natural shell shapes and the concept of humans taking over an abandoned spacecraft. The concrete materials, a mold-preventing floor-heating system and the fact that the building is off the ground all help it stand up to a harsh wet yet cold environment that takes a heavy toll on many other structures in the area.
Tropical Bamboo Home, Costa Rica
(images via: benjamin garcia saxe)
This beautiful bamboo home was designed by architect Benjamin Garcia Saxe for his mother, combining local building traditions with modern techniques to engage the home’s jungle environment. Open to the outdoors, the home features exterior walls made of angled bamboo poles that prevent water from getting in but allow air flow for natural cooling, and
BR House by Marcio Kogan, Brazil
(images via: archdaily)
In the dense rainforest outside Rio de Janeiro lies this angular modernist home, which stands out in stark contrast – quite deliberately – to its natural environment. The BR house has been raised on thick tree trunk-like pillars to place the inhabitants at the level of the forest canopy, making the structure seem as if it’s supported by the trees. Massive glass walls further blur the lines between inside and outside.
Alila Villas Uluwatu, Bali
(images via: contemporist)
Wishing to move away from the traditional ornate dark wood, reeds and thatch roofing of typical Balinese architecture, Singapore-based architecture firm WOHA enhanced this flat-roofed modern structure with bronze, reclaimed wood and marble. The residential villas and hotel features pool cabanas with slatted wood that not only makes a strong design statement, but provides privacy and allows air to circulate.
Lofted Forest Home by Robert Harvey Oshatz
(images via: oshatz.com)
The curving organic forms and natural materials of this structure by architect Robert Harvey Oshatz seems as if it could have grown out of the forest, calling to mind knots of wood and twisting branches. The curves, in fact, are strategically placed to take full advantage of the space in between the trees that surround the building, giving it the feel of a huge treehouse.
Finca Bellavista Treehouse Resort, Costa Rica
(images via: inhabitat)
Treehouses of all sorts are a natural in jungle environments, and Finca Bellavista – an eco village in Costa Rica – is a veritable display of the various styles and designs that are possible, letting residents create their own sustainable structures in the treetops. Described as the world’s first planned, modern treehouse community, Finca Bellavista features a large community complex with a dining hall and an open-air lounge as well as a “Sky Trail” transportation network of hanging boardwalks.
Modern Rainforest Home in Rural Costa Rica
(images via: spg architects)
Placed on an abandoned concrete foundation and core steel structural frame, this ‘refab’ modern home in the jungle of Costa Rica reused the displaced timber that was cleared prior to construction. Floor-to-ceiling windows provide practically uninterrupted views of the forest and the sea, and an infinity pool enhances the balance between clean, contemporary architecture and immersion in the untamed setting.
Pier House, Brazil
(images via: archdaily)
Built to house a sailboat during the week and its owners on the weekends, the Pier House in Paraty, Brazil is divided into two volumes, the low-lying boathouse and the larger white structure of the house itself. The house, designed by Gabriel Grinspum and Mariana Simas, bridges the space between the water and the jungle behind it, utilizing traditional ‘muxarabi’ slatted windows to filter the light and provide ventilation.
V-Houses by Heinz Legler, Mexico
(images via: archdaily)
Open to the warm winds of the Pacific Ocean, the prefabricated V-Houses provide a rustic modern jungle retreat in Yelapa, Mexico, outside of Puerto Vallarta. Three of the resort’s guest houses stand out from the trees, made out of steel, plywood and red corrugated iron roofs.
The Green Village by Ibuku, Bali
(images via: green village bali)
Back to Bali, this beautiful green village of bamboo homes is a master-planned community built along a river by Balinese firm Ibuku. Literally everything in the village’s first completed home is made from bamboo, from the walls and window frames to the furniture and cabinets.
YTL Residence, Kuala Lumpur
(images via: gradient magazine)
A clear glass facade covered in slatted wood – again, for filtering sunlight and providing privacy yet still allowing a view – is among the standout features of the YTL residence in Kuala Lumpur. Designed by Paris-based Jouin Manku for a theoretical ‘Malaysian power family’, the residence is sleek and contemporary, raised above the treetops to provide the best possible view. Greenery planted along the upper deck brings the jungle closer to the home even as the architecture seeks to separate itself from nature.
Ecological Resort Concept, Dominica
(images via: archdaily)
What does the future hold for jungle architecture? This concept for a sustainable future development along Mero Beach on the west coast of the Commonwealth of Dominica, a tropical island in the Caribbean, seeks to promote tourism in a way that is sensitive of the island’s rainforests. Designed by BURO II, which has already completed a project of similar scale in Guangzhou, China, the resort includes a mixture of villas, bungalows and apartments as well as retail, entertainment, a hotel, conference facilities and parking, but integrates these functions with the natural setting using sustainable materials, native landscaping and an architectural scale that does not distract from the beauty of the island itself.
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6 Unusual Plants And Monstrous Blooms
January 20, 2011 by admin · View Comments
[ By Marc in Animals & Habitats, Home & Garden, Nature & Ecosystems. ]
Sometimes it seems like nature has stopped surprising, and every plant and animal has become as mundane and pedestrian as the next. It’s important to keep searching at the boundaries of the plant and animal kingdom in order to keep one’s love of nature as passionate as ever. Here are some unusual and rare plants that will give your enthusiasm a boost.
(Images via sarracenia, freerepublic)
Sundews are a large family of plants (with nearly 200 members) that are varied in appearance, but all carnivorous. They are known for their dew like drops at the end of tentacles that bristle across the plant. These serve a unique purpose: to trap insects so they can be digested by the plant.
(Images via myths-made-real, 2greenacres, myths-made-real)
Plants known as “Doll’s Eyes” are named for the disturbing berries that crop up once a year. These small white berries have small marks that appear like pupils, giving the plant an… interesting… appearance.
(Images via foyupdate, bbc, botanicalgarden)
Titun Arum plants are exceptional mostly for their incredible size. They have the largest inflorescence (shoot where flowers are formed) of any plant species. The flower is also known by the carrion smell it emits.
(Images via wikimedia, friendsschoolplantsale, theoceanviewnet)
Nightblooming Cereus flowers grow in deserts with incredibly low water levels, and because of this they can only afford to bloom at night, one or two nights a year.
(Images via indonesia-spots, amazingfacts, amazingfacts)
Rafflesia is a type of plant that parasitically attaches to the roots and vines of other plants, and is mainly visible because of its large flowers, which can weigh up to 22 pounds. These flowers are notable for looking and smelling like rotting flesh, which attracts pollinating flies.
(Images via moplants, coloradocarnivorousplantsociety)
The American Pitcher Plant populates the eastern seaboard of the United States and supplements its nutrition by trapping and digesting insects in its large, steep stem.
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Out on a Limb at the Morris Arboretum Tree Adventure
December 24, 2010 by thegreenchildrenfoundation · View Comments
[ By Steph in Animals & Habitats, Art & Design, Geography & Travel. ]
Nestle into a human-sized bird’s nest or stretch out on a suspended web 50 feet above the forest floor at the Morris Arboretum Tree Adventure in Philadelphia, a journey through the treetops punctuated with lookouts, a swaying bridge and fun play areas for children. The ‘Out on a Limb’ portion of the Tree Adventure consists of a 450-foot walkway made of steel and cedar wood, and illuminated with LED lighting.
Designed by Metcalfe Architecture & Design and winner of a number of awards including the 2010 American Association of Museums Excellence in Exhibition Design Award, Out on a Limb is both fun and educational, employing a “play-to-learn” strategy that aims to foster respect for nature in children.
The structure, which was pre-fabricated offsite, is made from recyclable metal and sustainably harvested, 100-percent renewable Western Red Cedar. Naturally bug- and rot-resistant locust wood decking will ensure that the Boardwalk stays safe and beautiful for a long time. Very much a part of the woods in which it is located, the structure is nevertheless entirely free-standing. Placed on small foundations called “micro-piles”, the boardwalk was engineered to put the least amount of strain possible on the root systems of the trees.
“We spend our whole lives on the ground looking up,” said Paul Meyer, director of the Morris Arboretum. “But I think there is something instinctively attractive in the trees. Why else would we want to build tree houses as children? Something like this allows us to escape the bounds of the earth.”
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Recycling Renegade: Guns Melted for Tree-Planting Shovels
November 14, 2010 by admin · View Comments
[ By Delana in Art & Design, Home & Garden, Technology & Gadgets. ]
The efforts we make to recycle on a daily basis are rather abstract; we may know that some good comes of recycling, but we are rarely able to see it in action. Artist Pedro Reyes came up with an astonishingly effective way of connecting recycling with its end result – and he did it by taking more than 1500 guns off of the streets of one crime-riddled Mexican city.
Reyes put out a call for guns in the western Mexican city of Culiacán. The city has a higher rate of gun deaths than any other in the country, making it an ideal place to focus on for this project. By offering coupons good for electronics and appliances in exchange for firearms, Reyes was able to collect 1527 guns. The project, called Palas por Pistolas (which translates somewhat awkwardly to “Blades for Guns”) was meant to show that items associated with death and pain can be recycled into items that promote life and beauty.
The project came about when the Culiacán botanical garden accepted Reyes’ proposal as part of their artist commission series. After consulting with the families of gun and drug crime victims in the city, the artist realized that his project should focus on making the streets safer while beautifying the city at the same time. Decommissioning guns and giving them new lives was the perfect way to accomplish both.
After the guns were collected, a public event was held for the symbolic crushing of the weapons. They were all piled up so that a steamroller could run over them, then the bits were sent to a foundry to be melted down. The metal was then forged into shovel blades and wooden handles – with the entire story of the project on them – were attached. From the 1527 guns collected, 1527 shovels were created. They were distributed to public schools, community groups and art institutions where they will be used to plant 1527 trees. The once-violent weapons were turned into tools that will change the world in a positive way for generations to come – that is absolutely the best application of recycling we’ve ever seen.
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Positive Quote Wednesday - on Rain
October 27, 2010 by admin · View Comments
A bank is a place where they lend you an umbrella in fair weather and ask for it back when it begins to rain.
Robert FrostA crown is merely a hat that lets the rain in.
Frederick The GreatA poet is someone who stands outside in the rain hoping to be struck by lightning.
James DickeyA wind has blown the rain away and blown the sky away and all the leaves away, and the trees stand. I think, I too, have known autumn too long.
e. e. cummingsAnd the blood of brave men was shed like unto the shedding of rain from a black cloud.
FerdowsiAnd when it rains on your parade, look up rather than down. Without the rain, there would be no rainbow.
Gilbert K. ChestertonAny party which takes credit for the rain must not be surprised if its opponents blame it for the drought.
Dwight MorrowClouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky.
Rabindranath TagoreCriticism, like rain, should be gentle enough to nourish a man’s growth without destroying his roots.
Frank Howard ClarkDon’t threaten me with love, baby. Let’s just go walking in the rain.
Billie HolidayEverything that we inherit, the rain, the skies, the speech, and anybody who works in the English language in Ireland knows that there’s the dead ghost of Gaelic in the language we use and listen to and that those things will reflect our Irish identity.
John McGahernFor me, a page of good prose is where one hears the rain and the noise of battle. It has the power to give grief or universality that lends it a youthful beauty.
John CheeverFor when they see the people swarm into the streets, and daily wet to the skin with rain, and yet cannot persuade them to go out of the rain, they do keep themselves within their houses, seeing they cannot remedy the folly of the people.
Thomas MoreHe was so benevolent, so merciful a man that, in his mistaken passion, he would have held an umbrella over a duck in a shower of rain.
Douglas William JerroldHealing rain is a real touch from God. It could be physical healing or emotional or whatever.
Michael W. SmithHuman knowledge has been changing from the word go and people in certain respects behave more rationally than they did when they didn’t have it. They spend less time doing rain dances and more time seeding clouds.
Herbert SimonI am a being of Heaven and Earth, of thunder and lightning, of rain and wind, of the galaxies.
Eden Ahbez
Beth
Sects in the City: Organic Wildlife Cities Pop up in London
October 20, 2010 by thegreenchildrenfoundation · View Comments
[ By Delana in Animals & Habitats, Art & Design, Nature & Ecosystems. ]
It seems that a large block of new housing has opened up in the in-demand London boroughs of Chelsea and Islington, though even experienced city dwellers would have a hard time packing their belongings into these housing developments. They are tiny apartment complexes built for birds and bugs: spontaneous cities meant to promote and increase biodiversity in the urban environment.
The tiny houses were installed by London Fieldworks, an artist collective that focuses on projects that emphasize the intersection of art, science and technology. As part of UP Projects’ Secret Garden initiative, the “Spontaneous City in the Tree of Heaven” installation seeks to add some biodiversity to the areas in which the new “housing developments” are placed. The houses, which resemble cells multiplying to take over the surfaces of trees, are meant to act as shelter and nesting spots for London wildlife while emphasizing the importance of urban green spaces.
The architecture of the more than 250 bird and bug boxes echoes the Georgian townhouses, red brick towers, and 1960s social housing developments that surround them: they feature the same modular, blocky shapes and close quarters. But these wildlife developments have been designed to be temporary and to grow with their support structure, unlike many human housing developments in London.
An interesting aspect of the project is the trees on which London Fieldworks chose to build the wildlife cities. The “tree of heaven” is actually Ailanthus altissima, an ornamental tree native to China that tends to choke out surrounding vegetation. To mount a biodiversity-creating project on a biodiversity-destroying substrate may seem strange, but the artists behind London Fieldworks believe that it adds another layer to the discussion.
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