Dr. Owen Geiger and I have just found that a book published in 1990 in Germany, Building with Pumice, written by Klaus Grasser and Gernot Minke, describes experiments done in the 1970’s at the Research Laboratory for Experimental Building at Kassel Polytechnic College in Germany that have considerable bearing on the history of earthbag building.

Most of the book is about the physical properties of pumice, how to obtain and process it, and how to make blocks or walls with pumice/cement, but the fifth and final chapter, titled “Building with Unbonded Pumice,” describes how they began to investigate the question of how natural building materials like sand and gravel could be used for building houses without the necessity of using binders. The use of fabric-packed bulk material was found to be a cost-efficient approach. They used pumice to pack in the bags, because it weighs less and has better thermal insulating properties than ordinary sand and gravel. Their first successful experiments were with corbeled dome shapes (an inverted catenary) which was obtained with the aid of a rotating vertical template mounted at the center of the structure.

1978, a prototype house using an earthquake-proof stacked-bag type of construction was built in Guatemala. They used cotton bags soaked in lime-wash to protect the material from rot and insects. When flattened, the bags measured roughly 8 X 10 cm. Vertical bamboo poles placed on both sides of the bags and interconnected with wire loops gave the stacked bags stability. The bamboo rods were fixed to the foundation and to the horizontal tie beam at the top.

Obviously the concept of constructing homes with fabric bags of mineral material predates Nader Khalili’s earliest experiments by many years, and I was certainly not the first to experiment with filling earthbags with pumice! The entire chapter is reproduced as an article at www.greenhomebuilding.com.

London textile designer Kathy Schicker's light-reactive woven textiles appear to be beautiful white jacquard fabrics, but when they are exposed to sunlight, the light brings out colour and pattern. At the same time, the sunlight charges the fabric, causing it to glow in the dark. The effect is usually quite subtle, but will vary depending on the time of day and season.

+ kathyschicker.com

Outside of Rio de Janeiro, on a beautiful little beach with amazing blue water, sits a little house with a flowering roof that shades and protects like a big tropical banana leaf. Designed by Mareines + Patalano, the open air abode is meant to encourage interaction and connection between man and nature. With verandas and open spaces in between rooms and no corridors, the tropical beach house is an ideal place for social gatherings and parties. The open layout also takes advantage of trade winds that blow in from the sea, providing natural ventilation and passive cooling.

(more…)

The New Designers SELECTION was an exhibition of work by 50 young designers who were selected from the New Designers event in July. Held at the Village Underground in Shoreditch, this show featured a variety of furniture, jewellery, accessories and lighting. There were colourful (and cheeky) ceramics from Michelle Wood, a salute to the monarchy by Faye Power, and intricate work from Rebecca Smye-Rumsby. Elena Fleury-Rojo's glass pieces were a combination of frost and shine, and Rachel Postlethwaite's layered cubbies provided unusual modular shelving options. More after the jump, along with work from Lizzie Thomas, Katie Merrick and Mira Horn.

+ newdesignersonline.co.uk

Just a couple of quick things:

The wonderful blog DO Research has closed shop - it is already missed. The upside is they've bought land and are building a Flatpak. I am wildly jealous!

Read the story behind the sea container Holyoke Cabin on the Hive Modular blog. So cool.

Skinny Japanese Houses on eye candy (via Things Magazine). Only in Japan [sigh].

The amazingly hip Alan Family Happy New House is complete. Check it out in The New York Times. It turned out just like the renderings - very, very cool. It shows you just how much you can do with a remodel.

I just picked up a good book, Small Eco-houses. Loaded with interesting, green, modern homes from all over the world. Two thumbs up!

To see complete inspiration library for MODERN WHITE view slide show
Today is a special October 12 - I share with you a MODERN INSPIRATION DEDICATION in honor of today's birthday. The birthday of a talented designer, artist, visonary, spirit and loving friend DONNA TOPPINGS.

marieke staps is dutch product designer who is the creator of the ‘soil lamp’. unlike most lights, staps’
uses free and environmentally friendly energy sourced from mud. the metabolism of biological life
produces enough electricity to burn the led light on the top. by adding a touch of water to the base of
the lamp, the natural life force in the dirt conducts electricity through copper and zinc, powering the
small bulb.

http://www.mariekestaps.nl

The idea behind Viidrio shirt designs is to practice other options aside from screen-printing. Initially when they knew they wanted to use an aluminum tin, they were thinking about having the containers printed by packaging manufacturer. But that option would have contradicted the concept behind Viidrio.

The shirt designs have embroidery-art, and Viidrio wanted the packaging to have a cohesive design and theme. Packaging to Viidrio has a big impact on how you perceive a product at the beginning, and at the end of its use. Packaging becomes part of the product, and is a form of presentation. But it must be done correctly, the same way someone can plate a meal attractively, for one to be excited about what they are just about to eat.

The top of the tin has an embroidered design that foreshadows the design that is in the shirt. The recycled paper band that is wrapper around the tin (that contains additional graphics and product identity) is sewn together at the ends. The band around the tin is also affixed with clear stickers for easy removal.

The materials of the Viidrio shirts are 100% cotton threads, aluminum tin, 100% recycled printed matter and aluminum foil tape.

The other main concerned about packaging is the waste it produces. With this particular shirt packaging, the paper used for the band is 100% recycled paper from grocery bags (therefore making a 3rd cycle of use). After removing the band (if the consumer wishes) the tin can be reused to store any small non-perishable item. Example: jewelry, loose change, keys, paper clips, etc. If you ultimately don’t want the container, you can always take it to a recycling center. Last, but not least, you can return 5 undamaged containers to Viidrio. In exchange of a free t-shirt of your choice.

Ping Intressant.se

Andra bloggar om: kläder, mode, miljö, shopping, hållbarhet

MTV or Music Television built its brand celebrating the new art form of the early 80s, the music video. It gave the music industry just what it needed, the eyeballs of a young generation to promote its product which it made a buck a disc for.

Fast forward several decades to the emergence of MySpace as THE music brand and you see a radically different notion of the role of music. Music is given away and streamed, the value of this is to provide exposure and shared advertising revenue for bands and record companies. The money is not made in the music, but in the merchandise and concert ticket revenue.

As Techcrunch told us in October.

"But today the labels have all but given up on DRM, and users can now play virtually any song ever recorded on demand for free. MySpace has created the first ecosystem that has a shot of producing sustainable revenue streams for artists based on advertising, merchandise and concert sales.

If it works, the next step is the fall of per-stream fees and download fees. Instead labels will see music consumption for what it really is - free marketing. Labels will compete to encourage song downloads and streams to move those songs up the charts, attracting premium advertisers, merchandise sales and sold out concerts."

What's interesting to see here is the role music has played as a glue to generate revenue for media companies, but the context of that revenue generation has changed over time.

It seems that MTV has lost its way as a brand with television no longer being the dominant media of the youth generation, music video dying as a form and the network shifting focus away from music to regular television shows.

Apple became the next brand to exploit and dominate the music channel with iTunes and the iPod, but the software was always just there to sell the high margin hardware. iTunes has now being panned by the critics for not keeping up with the times and Apple has a few other heavyweight players including Nokia trying to take a big share of the hardware business.

Another player is MySpace, who came out of the gate in October with a relaunched music service that achieved incredible traction. Just a few DAYS after launch, the brand streamed one billion songs.

At the recent Web 2.0 conference there was all kinds of speculation about the potential for an MP3 player to be launched by MySpace.

However, this isn't really the game anymore.MySpace's core competence is all about community and from day one its community has been focused on music. This is something that can't easily be copied and Apple, Nokia and Sony will struggle to make this happen. The story here is not about an iPod rival from MySpace, but instead the arrival of MySpace as a formidable media player in the new world of music.

Posted by Ed Cotton

We often see new home designs at Inhabitat that incorporate advanced technologies, reduce energy use and provide a healthy and safe living environment, but we really enjoy seeing home designs that have been vetted in competitions such as the Lifecycle Building Challenge. This annual competition, in its 2nd year and sponsored by well-known organizations such as the EPA, AIA, Building Reuse Association, Southface, and West Coast Green, is a challenge to design buildings with several points in mind: incorporate local building materials, consider the whole lifecycle of building materials, reduce the overall embodied energy and greenhouse gas emissions from materials, use innovative and creative strategies, and reduce environmental and economic costs. The 2008 winner of this contest for Best Residential Design was the Spoorhouse, by Benno van Noort of Van Noort Designs, LLC.

(more…)

The Designersblock exhibition that took place at The Piazza Covent Garden during the London Design Festival was the best Dblock show we have seen. The space was great and there was a huge variety of design over three floors, including some 100% Norway (some of the same pieces that were at Earl's Court) and the sensational freshness of the Seoul Designers Pavilion. We'll start with a taste: the Brilliant Wings installation by YLEM (Moonjung im & Sungsu Kang), a night sky full of birds that are really hands made out of sticky tape; intricate bespoke wallcoverings by Asma Hussain; a variety of pieces from DIDshow, Daegu University's Industrial Design department; and some Added Value porcelain. There was humour mixed with practicality abound, as shown by work from Eleanor Freya Gregory for KithKin Presents (the Chesterfold was a hit with the crowd) and Yookyung Shin & Younga Kim, who were ready to clean up.

+ designersblock.org.uk

Here's something I saw on Inhabitat today that looks extremely interesting - the World House Project:

"The Evolution of Home

The WHP is a multi-year, collaborative initiative led by the Institute without Boundaries (IwB) that will explore the evolution of shelter and plan for the next generation of holistic housing design. The project will build on the research concepts of IwB’s inaugural project, Massive Change, using the same method of interdisciplinary design innovation.

The home is the intersection between the individual and society. On one end of the spectrum, urban sprawl and monster houses consume huge amounts of energy and pollute the atmosphere. On the other, over a billion people live in urban slums or in the streets without shelter.

The ambition of the World House Project (WHP) is to generate a system that achieves a balance between these extremes, and operates on the principles of sustainability, universality, technological responsiveness and balance, so that we may create dwellings that promote the long-term health of nature and human cultures."

They're benchmarking homes from around the world, old and new, studying them to gain an understanding of important implications of "climate, culture and terrain." The team, international and interdisciplinary in nature, will examine housing in the framework of twelve core elements of housing design and work to "create dwellings that are grounded in the principles of ecological design and that promote the long-term health of natural and human economies." The twelve core elements are: identity, social, communication, spatial, constructional, air handling, energy, water, waste, food, mobility, and finance. That's a very compelling list, indeed.

Here are a few images from the World House Project scrapbook on Flickr that I really like:






I've always imagined that homes could (and should) be built in this way!

It will be very interesting to see what comes out of this project. I'll be looking forward to watching it.

Image credits - World House Project Flickr photo album

You know I'm a huge fan of Japanese modernist houses. This one is genius.

'Penguin House' (aka Skin House Project #2) by Yasuhiro Yamashita of Atelier Tekuto.

Via the girl in the green dress

the university of exeter has selected wilkinson eyre architects to build their forum project. the new building
will be the centrepiece of the school’s streatham campus. the studio’s proposal works with the site’s
natural features of their hilly campus by creating a green corridor connecting the interior to the exterior.
the structure’s main feature is an undulating gridshell roof, which covers the new students spaces and
orthogonal buildings. wilkinson eyre architects’ director, stafford critchlow said, ‘our proposals seek to
create a new arrival point for the university. the sequence of spaces relate closely to the campus
landscape, establishing a new architectural language which is less about placing objects within this
landscape and more about an organic response to it.’ design work will begin immediately, with completion
anticipated by 2012.

http://www.wilkinsoneyre.com

Image source: Insight One of the key factors I noticed in any successful product and/or design, was that the product’s designer had some kind of critical insight. It is this “ah-hah!”, this “Wow!”, this “Eureka” moment that can turn any design into a great one. It gives meaning to a product’s form, its function or even [...]

The Arkansas Plat House will be making an appearance on HGTV's program Beyond the Box.



The episode covers several different house projects, but the Plat House no doubt is the segment described as "a couple who found almost everything used to build their home through Internet shopping."

The first airing of the show will be September 17, 2008 9:00 PM ET/PT with several other airings to follow. See the entire scheudle at the HGTV site.

And for anybody who did not see the link to the Plat House catalog page in the first line of this entry I'll give you another link right here:
CLICK HERE to go to the PLAT HOUSE catalog page!
In case you missed the sentence before this one, that link goes directly to the catalog page for the PLAT HOUSE, the one from TV!

Technorati Tags: house plans, modern design, modern house, Plat House

Nokia demonstrates how it's leveraging insights gleaned from the developing world into products. The mobile phone is made to work a lot hard in developing countries; it becomes the mobile office and primary computer for many of its users. In response, Nokia is launching Life Tools; software included in its phones that can help those involved in agriculture better understand market and weather conditions.


Posted by Ed Cotton

Finally, someone is building Greg La Vardera's intriguing Porch House plan. I always pictured this house in my home state, Michigan, as a summer camp on a lake up north, but this one is being built in Texas! It sounds like a neat project, one with some nice green touches, and the possible addition of a Plat House down the road. Nice.



Via Materialicio.us (here and here).

Image credit - LamiDesign Modern House Plan Blog

the k:fem department store by wingårdh architecture is located in the vällingby development, just outside
of stockholm. the store was conceived as a new beacon for the community serving to inject new life into
the area. the exterior is covered in a milky glass which get increasingly see through toward the top,
merging into the red overhang above. the list of stores inside are displayed on the overhang, all in white
on red. a pedestrian street cuts-through the department store, dividing it from the adjoining solo retailer.
inside the store, the semitransparent theme continues. the most unique features is the light filled central
core which is open to the sky.

http://www.wingardhs.se










via arch daily

(This post was updated and edited. The original was published on the 19 Dec, 2005!) John Maeda, formerly from MIT Media Labs, and now RISD President, spoke about how “good art makes our mind blink”. This is so true, and if we further extrapolate this, I would say “good design makes our mind blink”. [...]

This is one of the designs that originated from the design phase of the suburban house project.



I have to confess that I find the space really interesting, but no doubt it won't be for everybody.

Technorati Tags: house plans, modern design, modern house

Images provided by SHOOTFACTORY
View the complete inspiration library of images as a slideshow

MAJORCA - "Modern lifestyle studio in SE Mallorca (Majorca). Superb daylight. Open plan. Internal and external studio spaces. Props and lighting."

I've admired rammed earth homes for a long time, even though they're not really appropriate for the climate I live in. It's just that rammed earth walls are mesmerizing to look at. I get lost staring at the different layers of soil, in varying subtle shades of earth tone, flowing gracefully along along a wall. To my eye, rammed earth walls epitomize the very essence of natural beauty.

I can't think of any rammed earth builder that does it better than Terra Firma Builders Ltd. They have a way of crafting the most gracefully curved walls. Their designs blend with the surrounding landscape. Inside, massive earthen walls and sturdy timbers comfortably intertwine with delicate, artistic finishing. It's a totally unique aesthetic.










Terra Firma's website is fantastic. There's a wealth of images of their work in their portfolio. There's also a great explanation of why rammed earth is an effective, sustainable building solution.

Probably the most interesting thing I found on their site is that they use an unusual insulated rammed earth wall approach called SIREWALL (SIRE = Stabilized Insulated Rammed Earth). SIREWALL was developed by Meyer Krayenhoff, an environmental builder of over thirty years, who also founded Terra Firma. Here's an explanation from the SIREWALL site:

Stabilized, Insulated, Rammed Earth (SIRE) walls are made using rebar and insulation enveloped with the mass of 14 – 20 inches of rammed earth. This combination, along with SIREWALL®’s system for quality control and soil blending, builds walls that exceed current standards for energy efficiency and compressive strength. SIREWALL’s customizable forms refined over the last fifteen years by SIREWALL’s expert builders, work seamlessly with unique designs and modern finishes that have timeless appeal.

I always thought that would work. We've seen that concept applied to concrete walls, so why not rammed earth too? Actually, reading their FAQ, and noting that they're in Canada and do their building in British Columbia, I've learned that rammed earth can be a solution for climates other than hot, arid deserts, especially with the SIREWALL approach in place.

Note that Terra Firma builds complete homes only on their home turf. But they will build walls elsewhere, and let your builder finish the house. They also train and certify builders in the SIREWALL system, and offer design and consulting services. Wherever you are, whatever type of rammed earth project you might be considering, I think these would be the people to talk to.

I have new hope of living in a rammed earth house yet!

Image credits - Terra Firma site

Finally an update! Well I’m glad that I revisited Week 1 again before going into Week 2. It got my system moving and I was starting to feel comfortable going through the routine 3 times a week. I must admit, getting comfortable with any fitness routine is an important plus to maintaining [...]

Strawboard building panels are a kind of structural insulated panel (SIP) designed to replace 2x4 stud and drywall construction for both interior and exterior walls, as well as provide load and non-bearing ceilings, roofing, doors, flooring, and prefabricated buildings. These environmental friendly, solid panels are made of all natural fibrous raw materials, mainly wheat and rice straw. The durable panels feature thermal and acoustic insulation as well as fire and termite resistance and are available for a variety of applications to speed up the construction processes. While these have been used in over 20 countries for more than 50 years, strawboard panels have only been introduced to the U.S. in the past few years.

Strawboard panels have a solid core of compressed wheat or rice straw. High pressure and temperatures forces the straw to release a natural resin that binds the fibers together. The compressed panels are then covered with either paper liners or OSB that is adhered to both sides with water based non-toxic glue. The standard panel measures 4 feet by 8 feet by 2-1/4 inches to 8 inches, weighing from 140 lbs. to 440 lbs. each. Custom panel sizes are available ranging from 3 feet to 12 feet long.

The panel's high density and low oxygen content does not support combustion. Since the panels do not contain added resins, alcohol, or other chemicals, no flammable vapors are produced. The panels have an R-value of between 3 and 25, depending on the composition and thickness. For permanent protection against insects and fungal decay and additional fire resistance, the boron compound polybor can be factory added to the core.

The product's workability is similar to wood as it can be sawn, drilled, routed, nailed, screwed, and glued. Lightweight wall attachments such as shelf brackets, picture frames, mirrors, and towel bars can be attached directly to the panel.

Since straw is a renewable by-product of wheat and rice production that becomes available annually, it takes less acreage (by about half) to build an equivalent house than with standard lumber, and which would then potentially preserve that forest for ecological habitat and CO2 sequestration.

See www.stramit-int.com/ for panels available in Europe and www.agriboard.com for panels available in the U.S.

I recently returned from a vacation wandering around the Ozark Mountains in Oklahoma, Missouri, and Arkansas, and was amazed to see so many stone houses. This style of building has obviously been a vernacular art for at least two centuries, since many of the buildings were quite old. I would estimate that something on the order of 5% of the residential construction in that region is done with stone walls. I don't know if these houses are insulated on the inside (I hope so, given the seasonal heat and cold they must endure.)

Some links to workshops and seminars the Hong Kong Design Centre will be offering in London in June; just in case you're around the corner.

It finally feels like the New Mexico EcoSteel House has crossed the line to being more finished than not. The latest round of photos show the painting almost done, finishing touches going in, light fixtures too.



Look below the fold for a photo browser with more interior shots.

Technorati Tags: 6030 House, 6040 House, ecosteel, modern design, modern house, prefab house