MetaFilter posts tagged with architecture and green

Treehouses for grownups

madamjujujive — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 19:56:00 -0800

Whole Tree Architecture - if you'd like a house built by pioneering architect Roald Gundersen, your first step might be to hike in your nearby woods to choose some young, wind-bent, and diseased "Charlie Brown" trees. Small diameter round trees have 150% the strength of milled lumber and twice the strength of steel in tension. Besides structural and environmental advantages, whole trees make for some beautiful and naturally sculptured environments. From the NY Times article: "And when the trees are left whole, they sequester carbon. “For every ton of wood, a ton and a half of carbon dioxide is locked up,” he said, whereas producing a ton of steel releases two to five tons of carbon. So the more whole wood is used in place of steel, the less carbon is pumped into the air. These passive solar structures also need very little or no supplemental heat. Tom Spaulding, the executive director of Angelic Organics Learning Center, near Rockford, Ill., northwest of Chicago, knows about this because he commissioned Mr. Gundersen to build a 1,600-square-foot training center in 2003. He said: “In the middle of winter, on a 20-below day, we’re in shorts, with the windows and doors open. And we don’t burn a bit of petroleum."

How Green is My Home?

jefficator — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 08:01:14 -0800

“Oh, it’s all bullshit. The high design? That has nothing to do with reality. That’s just architectural self-indulgence.” The greening of architecture is quite a contentious subject. Because of a renewed emphasis on traditional home-building methods, The Green Home of the Future is in many respects not dissimilar from The Green Home of Yesterday. A tornado in Greensburg, Kansas provided the impetus for a vote to decide on what green methods would define the movement in that small town. The competition's results stymied many architects' conceptions of what "green" should mean. But in New Orleans, larger-scale destruction by Hurricane Katrina has provided a unique opportunity for proponents of distinct conceptions of green innovation to bring their ideas to life. Opinions among residents are mixed.

The Guide to Highly Efficient Things

netbros — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 21:01:49 -0800

Meta-efficiency is the analysis of efficiency at a more comprehensive level. Metaefficient Review assesses products considering not only their energy efficiency but also the embodied energy, toxicity, affordability, and usability. In the architecture and building section you can find articles such as The Largest Building In The World To Be Green. The renewable power section includes information about Solar Canopies For Parking Lots that provide shade for customers, while generating up to a half-megawatt of electricity. New zero emissions electric scooter bicycles can be found in the transportation section. Metaefficient has been at this for five years, so there are hundreds of articles and product reviews in the archives. Metaefficient is the brainchild of Justin Thomas.

Sky-high gardens and rooftop oases

madamjujujive — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 10:24:05 -0800

Rich people's rooftops in NYC offers a fun birds-eye view into a few sky-high secret decks and gardens. Roofs are the new frontier for innovative urban architects, but they aren't exclusive to the wealthy. All kinds of people and organizations are starting rooftop gardens. See the impressive results that two Chicago denizens had growing heirloom vegetables on their roofs (2). Prior related posts: Green Roofs by dhruva Vertical gardening in architecture by loquacious A few more interesting rooftop garden projects: Green Roofs for Healthy Cities Awards 2008 Chicago City Hall St. Luke's Medical Center Roof gardens at Derry and Toms, London, now The Roof Gardens, owned by Virgin Green roof art school in Singapore Green Roofs - directory and resources

Urban farming, Architecture, and Art

lunit — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 10:47:56 -0800

P.F.1 (Public Farm One) is a project designed by WORK Architecture Company for MoMA and P.S.1's Young Architects Program. P.F.1’s intent is to "educate thousands of visitors on sustainable urban farming through the unique medium of contemporary architecture." An artist in Providence, RI developed a similar installation called Green Zone, "an organic vegetable, herb, and flower garden planted in the detritus of wartime consumption: used tires, shopping bags, shoes, and other repurposed containers" at local venue Firehouse 13.

Vertical architectural gardening.

loquacious — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 22:44:11 -0800

Vertical gardening in architecture. Gorgeous walls and other vertical architectural features covered in lush, growing greenery.

Green roofs

dhruva — Sat, 12 Mar 2005 18:13:29 -0800

Green roofs "are living, vegetative roofing alternatives designed in stark contrast to the many standard non-porous roof choices."

tofte project

specialk420 — Fri, 13 Dec 2002 17:41:11 -0800

the tofte project cool web site. cool project. cool ideas. cool person. cool part of the country. cool use of flash. via k10k.net

mr_crash_davis — Sun, 29 Sep 2002 12:53:45 -0800

This Green House, an Orlando couple's struggle to build the ecologically friendly home of their dreams: "The question eventually comes down to the price of environmental consciousness. I was asked, 'Why bother with all these things if the readily available alternatives are suitable?' And my best response is: 'Why not?'"