Sustainable

Each year, the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH), a non-profit group based at the Illinois Institute of Technology, selects structures from around the world which represent a blend of sustainability, technical innovation and appealing design. This year's winners, each impressive in its own right, hail from Australia, Canada, Italy and Qatar along with one from Abu Dhabi that took the organization's first-ever Innovation Award. An international panel of jurors made the picks which will be formally recognized at an awards ceremony in Chicago this October.  Read More

Leaf House is the creation of small home enthusiast Laird Herbert from Whitehorse, Canada, who was inspired by the idea of building his own home. After testing out several prototypes, Herbert has finally finished work on what he calls Version.2 ... and the result is a tiny portable home design that takes up a small amount of space, is big enough to live in comfortably, and reportedly accommodates a family of four.  Read More

Canadian design studio Bioi recently completed this compact home in Warburg, Alberta after being given the challenge to create a contemporary and energy-efficient home for under US$100,000. The result is a simple, open and sustainable home, with a reduced space that holds all of the functionality of a regular sized home. “Working alongside our client, we determined the true necessity of the space that they required,” principal architects Jordan Allen and Ryan Trefz told Gizmag. “Throughout the design phase redundant spaces were eliminated, and non-inhabitable spaces were pushed to an absolute minimum.”  Read More

When it comes to urban living, architectural innovation is very much about maximizing use of space. This example from London based firm Hogarth Architects does just that by taking a simple studio apartment and transforming it into a luxury multi-level home.  Read More

This tiny cabin is a free-floating catamaran suite designed by Dutch architect, Marijn Beije. The design was conceived with the hope of luring a younger and more city-focused group of people back into nature, and offers a unique new way to sleep under the stars. Guests can enhance their experience of nature by relaxing in this fully furnished floating eco-lodge, complete with bedroom, bathroom and rooftop deck.  Read More

We're constantly being told to drink lots of fluids, but buying fresh bottled water is expensive and a waste of resources, and while reusable drink-flasks (or old plastic bottles) can be refilled, they take up space when not in use. The Bübi Bottle offers a simple-yet-elegant solution to the problem - it's scrunchable.  Read More

Once the cornerstone of economic prosperity, the passing of paper money from one hand to another is definitely on the decline in our modern digital age. Yet there are obviously lots of folks who still use cash, as evidenced by the eight to ten thousand pounds (3,628 - 4,535 kg) of crumpled and tired-looking paper currency that's said to be shredded every day in the U.S. alone, before being compressed into bricks and then buried or burned. That's a shocking waste, and car giant Ford appears to agree. As part of an ongoing effort to find sustainable alternatives to petroleum-based vehicle components, the Michigan-based multinational automaker is looking to re-use retired dollar bills in the manufacture of trays and bins, in the same way wheat straw is currently used in the Ford Flex.  Read More

Looking for a place to stay that's sustainable, fun and suspended? The one-of-a-kind, mobile AirHotel, designed by a group of Belgian artists, may be just the ticket. Made from recycled materials, the quirky hotel's six elevated or hanging rooms are each unique in their own way and all come with an unusual form of room service that ranges from a love song to a disco party.  Read More

Nature (and its preservation) evidently played a major role in the unusual design of the Friend House, an innovative ecohotel situated on the banks of the Ukraine's Orel River, a tributary of the Dnieper. Actually in development for a number of years, the single story structure sits on 7.4 acres (3 hectares) of forested land about 19 miles (30 km) from the large city of Dnipropetrovs'k. Constructed exclusively of what its designers call "ecologically harmless" materials - clay, reed, wood and stone - this eye-catching edifice is also a contender for the World Architecture News (WAN) Awards 2012 Hotel of the Year.  Read More