Recently St. Lucie County in Florida announced that it has teamed up with Geoplasma to develop the United States’ first plasma gasification plant. The plant will use super-hot 10,000 degree fahrenheit plasma to effectively vaporize 1,500 tons of trash each day, which in turn spins turbines to generate 60MW of electricity - enough to power 50,000 homes! Cutting down on landfill waste while generating energy is a pretty win-win proposition, and the plant will also be able to melt down inorganic materials to be reused for other applications, such as in roadbed and heavy construction.

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In general I find the conferences organized by Trendbüro Hambug quite corporate and too often the same players (aka speakers) show off. However Tim Leberecht from frog design pointed me to a slideshare summary on the key findings of the German Trend Day 2008 conference. Have a mind on your own and browse the slides: "In May this year, frog design founder Hartmut Esslinger spoke at the German Trend Day in Hamburg. The Trend Day is an influential annual forum that gathers thought leaders from business, media, and academia to discuss emerging social and cultural trends. This year's theme was "Identity Management," and other speakers besides Hartmut included Richard Florida, Danny Choo, and David Bosshart."

I have gotten the following information from a Canadian inventor who claims some pretty amazing attributes for a product that he calls "New-crete." While it is not yet available, it has the potential to become one an amazing manufactured technology that addresses many issues related to sustainability. See what you think:

I have a patented product of lightweight cement called new-crete. New-crete is designed to form millions of air bubbles when cured. This makes new-crete 50% lighter and stronger than regular cement and 35% lighter and stronger than lightweight cement. It is also 30%-40% cheaper than regular cement. It has an R-20 insulation value with a 9-inch thick wall. It is nontoxic and not corrosive and it floats.

• Price: regular cement , $125 per cubic yard; new-crete, $75 per cubic yard
• It has the ability to shed water with a .5 mm saturation point. this will prevent water seeping into it and freezing causing cracking.
• The ingredients to make New-Crete are readily found around the world and are in no danger of being depleted.
• New-crete can be formed into any object. We have the designs for walls, drywall, floors, shingles, stairs, window frames, cupboards, bricks, doors ect....we can make a whole house from the bottom up using only New-Crete
• It can be painted, or laminated with wood panels, ect.
  
• It can be nailed into and not crack.
  

It is designed to be processed in a controlled environment so it can not be poured. That is why we need a $2 million processing plant to start manufacturing pre-fab homes then ship them by train or boat anywhere in the world. Before that, we need about $150 000 to build a prototype home so we can get it approved by CSA (Canadian Standards Association).

Once this is up and running we can start supplying the world with better, cheaper homes. The plans for the prototype home is for a regular box style home. The next step will be to make in-ground and underground domes that are storm proof. They will also be cheaper and strong than regular homes with revolutionary designs...100% self sustainable.

The Canadian north (native reserves) are in much need for about 35 000 new homes as the old ones are in 3rd world condition.

So I know this will be better for everyone, especially the trees. This will change the world. All I need to do is find $150 000 to get it started. I see many people with lots of money (US government spending trillions on war) and the Canadian government also spending money on war ect...the will to change the world is the first key; money will then come naturally.

I believe we must start using other building materials instead of trees before they are all gone. If interested you can contact Matthew Smyth at infiniteearthdesignATyahoo.ca or visit his website: www.InfiniteEarthDesign.com

"Herzog & de Meuron's Tenerife Arts Space (TEA) has been inaugurated in Santa Cruz de Tenerife in the Canary Islands." (via BD)

This weekend the (apparently) world's largest art colony invites you to have a look around and maybe purchase an artifact or two. (via kcrw)

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

What do flowers, drapes and wave flower vases have in common? They were all sources of inspiration for designer, Jane Punnopatham who created the Drape Side Table. The molded acrylic table form resembles tablecloths except there are no tables!  The rigid form of the Draped Table makes it free-standing. The design softens with the wavy  edges created by heating and hand molding. Each table is thus unique.

Here’s what’s cool about it - invert the table and you’ve got yourself a handy basket!! Somewhere to toss dirty laundry perhaps? Or a toy basket to corral the toys that get underfoot? The Drape tables are available from Spectrumwest for $1250 in black, clear and frost. - Via

a

Drape Table by Jane Punnopatham

In the rush to create ultra-modern bamboo chairs, entertainment centers, desks, wallets, and other generally eco “stuff,” the pure beauty of natural forms is sometimes lost in modern design for industrialization. So it is blissfully refreshing to mentally reconnect with exhibit Tickling Thicket at Oakland Gallery, Johansson Projects, where artists Katy Stone and Yvette Molina use innovative painting techniques to create spellbinding, ethereal natural forms.

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I just wanted to take a minute to share a little furniture shopping experience I had this week. I have two small children, Owen (5) and Parker Jane (3). P.J is way overdue on getting out of her crib, and Owen needs a bed frame to spruce up his room. We've been putting off a lot of other furniture purchases in order to save up and buy some nice beds for the kids. The time had finally come.

We wanted something modern and cool, and a little more substantial than a regular "kids bed." There are a lot of neat beds on the market but the modern offerings tend to be really pricey and are too often the kind of thing that will look silly in your kids' rooms by the time they're ten. My wife and I finally settled on a pair of these great-looking platform beds from TrueModern. They cost more than we wanted to pay, but were priced reasonably compared to a lot of other modern offerings on the market (many not as nice), and I think they look great, look well made, and will last the kids a long while.



Now, you can get these from a lot of places but for whatever reason we ordered ours from Design Public. I'd never bought anything from them before, but I'm one of those people who shops online a lot and it's not a really big deal for me to try a place completely new, even for a big purchase - throw caution to the wind, reckless abandon, all that jazz. I really don't recall why I picked them for my order.

So anyway, the beds get ordered, it takes about two weeks for them to ship, and then I get the call from the freight company who will deliver them. Long story short, there is a problem, possibly some confusion, and I am concerned about it. The problem was the freight company, not Design Public or TrueModern, but rather than tackle it solo I decide to call Design Public for help.

I must say, I was absolutely impressed by the extremely friendly and helpful response. I won't get into the details, but I thought that the Design Public staff went above and beyond the call of duty in helping me. I spoke to Jonathan, who was unfailingly courteous and diligent in his follow-up on my issue. I felt like they really cared, that I was valued as a customer, and that Design Public genuinely wanted to take care of me. It was really nice!

Like I said, I shop online a lot without giving it much thought. And I guess I've learned not to expect too much. But really, I thought Design Public were wonderful to deal with. If you want some really cool modern stuff, check out their site. It is loaded with amazing furniture, accessories, lighting, gifts, etc. - you name it. Very nice. It's a small company that's really living up to its mission. I was totally impressed.

Bravo and thanks!

Image credit - Design Public site

it won’t take you long to figure out that dolan geiman’s chicago place isn’t what we typically feature in our sneak peeks. but looking through his images and reading through his descriptions felt like i was unlocking a treasure chest full of great stories and memories into the world of dolan geiman. it’s funny to think about where everything we own comes from and the stories behind it. and it’s very clear from dolan’s work how his surroundings inspire him. be sure to click here for more full-sized images, with complete descriptions, and you can find more of his work here (psst…there’s a sale!) and his blog here with all sorts of fun stuff he has in the works. [thanks dolan and ali!] -anne

[Above: This is the area I refer to as “the waiting room”.  This is where my pal Chris Nightengale, fashion photographer extraordinaire, does some of his shoots. The mint colored chest of drawers is entirely metal and was a gift from my friend Denny, who always has been a wonderful inspiration in my life. He lugged this heavy thing to me when I was down on my luck and living in an unheated rat-hole apartment in Virginia. Now it looks a little better, as does my luck.  I found the globe in a dumpster in Charleston, South Caroline, and the artwork, Jazz Atlas (2008), is one of my collage constructions made from magazines I found in old farm houses. [Photo credit: David Schalliol]

Yours truly at work. . . This is the Art Machine. There is a long story behind the Art Machine, but essentially I made this out of old doors and found objects from a soon-to-be-demolished house I was living in when I first moved to Chicago.  Hockshop refers to the name of my previous studio and gallery in the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago. Under the moniker Hockshop, the Art Machine debuted in Chicago during a yacht-based art show organized by Bridge Magazine (now called Bridge Art Fair, they produce expositions in London, Miami, New York, and elsewhere). The top of the Art Machine is an old canvas tent that my granddad used when hunting in Canada and which I screenprinted with various images. The little squares of metal on the front are hand-cut signs I grabbed in a scrap yard in Stuarts Draft, Virginia. The little Panel Paintings, on the wall behind the Art Machine, are the staple of my art business. I make about 1000 of these things a year, out of recycled wood, recycled paint, and water-based silkscreen ink.  This is my carnival area, I like to say, because the combination of the Art Machine and the Panel Paintings presents a nice sideshow feel. [Photo credit: David Schalliol]

This is a cabin-like installation just inside the front entrance of my studio.  I created this out of salvaged wood, found billboards, and old signs I’ve found along the road driving to and from art fairs. The raw wood slats were given to me by my pals over at Circa Ceramics who were using them as shelving. I found the deer head while exploring an abandoned barn in Ohio. I saw one of the antlers sticking out of the floorboards. The rusted milk can was used by my dad when he milked cows as a kid. The old glass bottles adorning my bottle tree surfaced outside my warehouse building when the City dug up the cobblestone street in preparation for resurfacing the road. The green bucket is full of shotgun shells I gathered from a shooting range in southern Illinois. The buoys have been collected from various coastal towns including Key West, Cape Cod, and New Orleans. I grabbed the screen door from an abandoned general store in Virginia, and I bought the lentil above the door at a yard sale here in Chicago for only five dollars. I’ve started collecting green and greenish-blue boxes from abandoned warehouses here in Chicago. [Photo credit: David Schalliol]

This is the back side of the entryway installation.  This is where I feel most like a mad scientist. And yes, in case you’re wondering, there is a whiskey flask in the bottom drawer. I found the chair in an old farm house in North Carolina and screenprinted the back and seat myself. The desk was left in the basement of my last apartment and could kill an elephant if it fell on it. I had to use a truck jack and three retired football players to transport the desk when we moved into this space. The framed oil painting on the floor was hanging in my grandma’s den when I was a kid. She was trying to throw it out when I intercepted it.  The red dolly in the corner I bartered from an old (semi) drunk barber for two six-packs of Old Style beer. I think he got the better deal, but at least it looks cool. I snagged the green metal hanging light from a warehouse here in Chicago. Above my desk is one of my inspiration clotheslines. I’ve found this is the best way for me to display various ideas and my notes to myself. The little white paintbrush holder sitting on my desk with the face on it is a ceramic mug made by my pal Ed Brownlee. Ed is about two pints away from being mistaken for a criminal, but he’s a damn good artist and has an enormous heart. [Photo credit: David Schalliol]

Our building has a green roof, which Ali helped plant, and this is where the plants were stored before they were given the outdoor penthouse suite. The equipment featured in the photo is one of our landlord’s lathes; he collects old, industrial machinery amongst other things.

This is my little shrine to Johnny Cash. On the day Johnny Cash passed away, I was getting ready for an opening at Unit B Gallery, formerly in Chicago and now in Austin. The work I was showing was loaded with connotations of death and resurrection and was called the Tombsigns of St Emmeline. The synchronicity of the event was really overwhelming and would have seemed spooky, except that I seem to attract energy like that and I am open to it. The week before I was eating pizza in St Louis and some kid was skateboarding nearby with a boom box and he was playing Johnny Cash’s last recording. When I asked him about it, he said he didn’t know it was Johnny Cash, and that he had just found the tape under a tree and liked the sound. I found the whiskey jug on the bottle tree in the dirt behind the warehouse. The butterflies are screenprinted on wood and were part of a spring window display for a local shoe store . . . I use one corner of the studio for staging photos, both for Etsy and for print brochures. The mantel was a gift from a T-shirt printer (48 Industries) in the building, a fellow scavenger. [Photo credit: David Schalliol]

Stuff I love: plastic dice, old painted nail, orange train ticket to California (1898), list of numbers in Spanish, green feed tag, hand-drawn family album for collage, Virginia text from a high school Math book cover. [Photo credit: David Schalliol]

In this entryway installation close-up, the fresh eggs (fresh eyes) sign was a studio warming gift passed on to me from my buddy, artist Michael Merck, who grabbed it from a little Mexican street cart.  I found the paintbrush hanging on a hook in a bathroom of a warehouse I was occupying while living in Virginia. It’s the only paintbrush I own that’s never been used for painting.  Below the brush is a catfish sinker I bought when I went fishing in Kentucky last year.  The rooster painting, Dirt Road Series IX, is one of my own, silkscreen and acrylic on recycled wood available here. He’s a good pet and doesn’t eat food or make any noise.  He just sits there lookin’ pretty. The books to the left of the rooster are my sketchbooks.  I use old books for my sketchbooks, pasting ideas and collage materials into the existing pages, instead of buying new white-paged, sterile sketchbooks. I think it’s important to be surrounded by many different textures, so I started collecting the softballs over the past four or five years. Almost every time I make a trip down to a river, I find softballs stuck in leftover flood debris and so I started saving them in this locker room bin. If you like metal baskets like this one, you can find some here. The blue oar is a mystery. I found it one night in the middle of the road while I was driving through West Virginia. The strange part was that one end of the oar was tied to a tennis shoe.  I kept the oar; the shoe didn’t fit, so I left it. Above the fresh eggs (fresh eyes) sign is a wooden gun I made from a piece of billboard I found in Indiana and then adorned with little metal objects from an old trade school parking lot. Finally, the rooster painting is sitting on an old hen crate, used by my granddad to take chickens to market. Ali won’t let me get chickens yet, but I’m working on it. [Photo credit: Kara Elliott-Ortega]

Included in this shot are an Ed Brownlee mug (paintbrush holder), comic book collage materials, old picture frames found in a barn in Kentucky, a bluebird collage in progress, and a couple print proofs. Used paint cans, thrift store mugs, and Quaker Oats bins are used to hold brushes, pens, and markers.[Photo credit: Kara Elliott-Ortega]

There's an interesting new study that suggests male commuters who suffer road rage brought on by tough commutes, take that stress and frustration into the workplace. Corporations will be impacted by lost productivity and damage to working relationships.

What could companies do that are located in cities with tough commutes?

1. Encourage use of public transportation- if it works and is reliable
2. Build decompression chambers in the office
3. Create employee transportation systems- like Google's bus
4. Stress management advice- teach employees how to be less angry about their commutes
5. Yoga classes for commuters

It's not entirely surprising that road rage makes its way into the workplace, but I am sure very few companies pause for a moment to think about it and what it could be doing to their employees.


Posted by Ed Cotton

Such legendary negativity. There are professions more harmful than industrial design, but only a very few of them. And possibly only one profession is phonier. Advertising design, in persuading people to buy things they don’t need, with money they don’t have, in order to impress others who don’t care, is probably the phoniest field in existence [...]

The office work of today demands that people sit for hours in front of computer screens, which often has a negative impact on mind and body.

Herman Miller took a long hard look at these problems and designed a chair with a positive impact on health. It's amazing to see a company take such an ambitious and rigorous approach to understanding and solving the needs of its users.

"Embody lets your body move and keeps you well supported, because your mind works best when you move freely and stress is minimized on your muscles, bones, and tissues. Blood circulates better, heart rate goes down, more oxygen flows to the brain, and there is no distracting discomfort or physical constraint. That's critical in our idea economy where innovation drives success and people get paid for their thoughts and creativity."

Better health= Better ideas- Very smart and it makes a nice pitch to CEOs and CFOs.

To get there, Herman-Miller talked and involved dozens of experts in fields of vision, biomechanics, physical therapy and ergonomics. These experts shared insights and helped develop prototypes.



Of course, the Embody is ahead of the curve environmentally, containing 45% recycled materials, no PVC and is 95% recylable.




Posted by Ed Cotton

This is for sure somehow off-topic, but nevertheless I'd thought that the range of pictures tell a rich story both on great, timeless automotive design as well as on the (mostly) men driving them. My personal favourite definitively is the Alfa Romeo.

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

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.

The Damn You rubber telephone by Mingyu Jeung is an excellent tool for venting anger and the usual telephone frustration, but the Peep Show bookshelf by Alice Naylor is a civilized way of hiding one's low (or high) brow taste from the wrong prying eyes. Or just good for plain old tidying up. Seongyong Lee 's Colour Space is certainly sleek, but might not hold quite as many books. A folio storage option, perhaps? The Tea Handkerchief by Miho Kaneko is just as dignified, and an elegant way to enjoy tea anywhere. Pixie Vases from Wik & Walsøe were faves from the 100% Norway section, and the Wine Bottle Speakers by Sante Kim were a hit with everyone.

+ designersblock.org.uk

The light gage framing for the exterior walls has begun, and a fresh coat of primer is going on the steel, good progress on the 3030 EcoSteel House.



Just a quick update with new photos in a browser after the link below.




Visit the 3030 House flickr group to see all of the photos forwarded by the owner.

Technorati Tags: 3030 House, ecosteel, modern design, modern house, prefab house

This is it! There are only a few items left to complete and correct in the New Mexico EcoSteel House. The owner has their CO and is moving in. They sent along one last round of photos of the empty house taken with a very wide angle fish-eye lens.



More of the photos in a photo browser after the click-through.



So this is it. Perhaps we will see some photos of the place with furniture, but this project is coming to a close. Its been very exciting to see it come together, and the owner has been very generous with their photos. Our thanks to them for sharing their house with us, and you our readers.

Technorati Tags: 3030 House, 6030 House, 6040 House, ecosteel, modern design, modern house, prefab house

The handrails on the stair and all around the second floor of the New Mexico EcoSteel House are installed and they look great.



I had gotten very used to lookng at the stair without a rail, and I was afraid that the rail would somehow complicate or spoil the spare look of the stair. Well it did not turn out that way and I think this is why. The rail that was picked is a stainless tube rail with cables so its very light and transparent. Also the brightness of the stainless really separates it from the grey vertebrae and ribs appearance of the stair. If the rail had been painted steel work that matched the stair I believe it would have compromised the lines of the stair.

More photos below the fold.

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

One of a few conferences I've never been to so far is the IIT Design Research Conference held each year in Chicago the home of IIT (Illinois Institute of Technology). Unlike many other conference organizers they are releasing the conference videos quite shortly after the conference has ended and that's what I've appreciated over the last years. While very often the selection of speakers tends to be the outcome of buddy networking there are from time to time some good talks available to be found in the archives. Pretty much the same counts for their other conference they are hosting each year the 'IIT Insitute of Design Strategy Conference' to be found here: http://snipurl.com/iitstrategy [trex_id_iit_edu]

Chile is exporting a lot more than a mean pisco these days. The XVI Chilean Architecture Biennial, a celebration of great Chilean architecture, recently wrapped this week in Santiago where the main theme was an exploration of architecture that cares for the earth. Hosted at the Contemporary Art Museum of Forestal Park, there was literally too much talent for the conventional structure to contain and the Biennial exploded out into the public eye in form of a completely sustainable, modern temporary pavilion designed by Assadi + Pulido, a young Santiago-based design studio with a modern, edgy and recognizable style.

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Image Source: Listen to ME! One of the key skills I noticed great designers have is the ability to engage in Active Listening. I was lucky. I managed to pick up this skill 6-7 years ago in a training seminar and it has been vital in helping my access situations quickly, make good decisions, [...]

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

'light, light'
image © designboom

japanese company idesign created 'light, light' a table lamp that doesn't need a light bulb.
by using an electro luminescene sheet, produced by elfin as a light source they have created
this new type of lighting. it is also thin, lightweight and generates very little heat.


image © designboom


image © designboom



'light, light' illuminated

more:
http://www.elfin.jp