The SBS News brings us the first carbon positive pre-fab home in Australia. This house and the news made my Cool Stuff list.
Carbon zero is the benchmark for best practise when building today, but in the future the federal government expects so-called “carbon positive” buildings to play an increasingly important role limiting global warming.
In a significant step forward in efforts to reduce emissions, Melbourne-based architects have designed what is being billed as Australia’s first carbon positive pre-fabricated home.
Here is a short video of the house and to read more click on the link below. SBS News clip or read more here
Dream ride 5,6,7 2010 discarded chinese and us lottery tickets, wood and plexiglass 44″ x 78″ x 190″
Ghost of a Dream
A sculpture and installation dream car
If only I had kept all my lottery tickets that did not win, I could have made myself a car or a piece of art. Please don’t laugh, I’m serious. Look at these babies. They made it into the Cool Stuff on my blog. For those of you that are new to the blog, every now and then, I post something I think is really cool. It can be a piece of furniture or art. These exquisite sculpture and installations were created by Adam Eckstrom and Lauren Was. For more of their work, click on the link at the end of the post.
Rear view of Dream CarDream Car 2008 $39,000 worth of discarded lottery tickets, cardboard, cast plastic, wood, steel, and mirror
I worked with the Nebraska State Fair to create a temporary installation to celebrate the Fair’s accomplishments in sustainability practices on its path towards becoming a zero-waste event. Garth Britzman
I am not a plastic person. Generally I love all-things-natural. If not handled correctly, plastic could cause terrible damage to nature and other life forms. For example we all know about the plastic bags that choke turtles in the sea. With plastic bottles, they are not bio-degradable so it is up to each of us to think of how to use it – apart from throwing empty bottles away in the recycled bin. People have been inventing new ways of using the bottles. In hot summer months here in Brisbane, a friend once told me to fill an empty plastic bottle with water and punch a pin hole on the bottom. Then, sit the water bottle at the base of my plants. Let the bottle slow-drip to ensure my plants don’t die in the harsh conditions. It works!
Pop Culture
In the greater scheme of things, plastic bottles are in art and design as in “Pop Culture”, the name of this installation (pictured below). Designer Garth Britzman with the help of students created this car port in Nebraska, USA. I know some of the readers here would have seen this picture before. I love the idea, simplicity of the theme, how the colours have been coordinated beautifully and, how useful the final product is. This is unless of course you are worried about your car getting stolen as the car port is not secured. Britzman also designed the dome pictured above with plastic bottles.
This designer loves to re-cycle and his work is also an exhibition. There is another link below showing an exhibition of a Garth Britzman design using re-cycled printed paper. I am inspired.
Britzman and University of Nebraska students put a total of 200 hours into this project, which received financial support from Fulbright Canada and the University College of Architecture. The bottles together form a bright, undulating parking canopy that is not only practical but also very attractive. When the project was complete, 11 students helped to move the canopy into place at 5.45am! This is such a fantastic project – simple but also eye-opening – which will help local Nebraskans to rethink their consumer behavior both on campus and beyond. + Garth Britzman Read more: Pop Culture is a Colorful Canopy Made of 100′s of Recycled Bottles in Nebraska Pop Culture by Garth Britzman – Inhabitat – Sustainable Design Innovation, Eco Architecture, Green Building
At first, I thought a house had fallen off a cliff-side when I saw this image. There were no crash pieces, no dents and the house seemed in good shape. I have to admit the picture also made me disoriented. I probably would feel dizzy standing next to the actual building. I had even thought it was a Photoshop ‘nonsense’ when I saw the picture. That first impression led me to research. It took me a little while before I discovered that the house was real. It is a retreat cabin. And of course it made the “Cool Stuff” category in my blog. I think it is an amazing piece of architecture. I love the sustainability aspect of the cabin and how clever the designers were in blending this work-of-art into its surroundings in a subtle and playful way. View links to take you inside the ‘ice-cube’.
Block of Tumbling Ice Inspiration
Czech architects Atelier 8000 designed this monolithic cube retreat for the mountains of northern Slovakia. Inspired by glaciers, the architects envisioned a block of ice tumbling down a mountainside and crashing into the snowy landscape. The building was designed for the Kežmarská Chata (Kežmarská Hut) international competition, and it contains a restaurant, a sleeping area and ski storage for visitors.
Read more: This Crazy Solar-Powered Cabin Looks Like a Giant Ice Cube Atelier 8000 Kežmarská Hut – Inhabitat – Sustainable Design Innovation, Eco Architecture, Green Building
One of the things I love about great designers and creative minds is how they use sea creatures in the theme of their work – the delicate angles, look, colour, feel etc. I found this table on iCreative website and I wanted to share. It is one of Marc Fish’s art work. How magnificent it is that he could combine all the different types of wood and bend and shape to keep true to the Nautilus shell physical features.
Low table Nautilus II is the second edition of the artistic table shaped nautilus shell drawn by designer Marc Fish. The result is a simple piece of furniture and a very stylish lounge. I would be too afraid to eat on it; may be I would just sit and look at its beauty.
Marc Fish is a famous English designer who studied in Brighton, London, UK. Originally, the design of the Nautilus table was an experience, then the Nautilus room first was designed and built in 2010-2011. The second edition was created using computer-assisted technology combined with innovative construction techniques. The surface of Nautilus II resembles a shell perfectly and the bottom view of the table reveals an interesting contrast color resulting from the combination of different types of wood. It is manufactured with over 4000 individual parts walnut veneer sycamore in several layers in order to obtain the desired shape. The transparent glass plate has the same lines as the Nautilus. The result is a perfect logarithmic spiral of the nautilus shell.
I live in Brisbane City, Australia. In the west, Monday (today) was our rubbish pick up day. I usually make my teenagers do a big yard clean-up just to fill the green bin the day before. Then, usually, they fought over who was NOT going to take the bin to the roadside in the evening. Our house is at least 50 metres from the public roadside where the council truck picked up our weekly rubbish.
On the way home from work this evening, I saw that the green bin was still full. The recycle bin was empty. This was the third time the council had not picked up our green bin rubbish since we moved here three years ago. It may be due to the fact that we were the first or the last on the street, depending on which way they looked at it. In the past I had phoned in and the Council sent a contractor to pick up the bin. The Council had always been good. Today, I could only find the web contact which the council wants you to make a full report – so I did. While going over the forms on the council site and completing the necessary information like your contact details, I saw this photograph and thought it was very cool.
This group of Council engineers got together to build a mini City Hall sculpture from canned foods for a competition. I wanted to post the picture as my “cool stuff” but it had a story.
Brisbane City Council Seven of Council’s young engineers gave their time to take part in ‘Canstruction’ – a global competition that creates giant sculptures out of tinned food which is then donated to charity. Hosted by Engineers Australia, our team of seven gave their own time to design and ‘canstruct’ a 1:32 replica of City Hall using 3300 cans. Donations and sponsorships helped drive this fun initiative for the engineers, with the cans then given to Foodbank for distribution to those less fortunate across Queensland. You will be pleased to note the replica was structurally sound.
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