Green architecture award: Green Villa and Tower in Almere, Netherlands

The green residential building complex designed by Faro Architecten BV has won a competition to design an urban villas and residential tower of Almere, Netherlands. 57 residences are in the tower and the green balconies will serve as public space.

Completed with photovoltaic and PCM panels, this building will save energy throughout the year. The gardens of the tower will live with rain collected water.

+ via ecofriend

Conceptual seed of future buildings, by Brittany Bell

Britany Bell, an architecture student in University of Victoria, New Zeland, has made her basic concepts of design. In this design concept she create seed concept may appear in her next design.

Basically, the idea is the concept of plants that grow in the city. Brittany Bell write in the text;

Each year, more and more types of plants that become extinct or endangered. The New Zealand government has proposed the idea to create the archives to seed the Pacific home to the original plant and preserve them for future generations.

 

Brittany describe that architecture of the future is unpredictable, and therefore there is a need to design buildings that can move and grow like plants in the changing environment and ecosystem. Basically she take the form of bone from the plant's 'cytoskeleton'. From this basic concept it can be further developed in response to building environment and grow with, such as adapting the rainfall, making forms of protection as a wing. These structures can even move to accommodate such protection.

+ via Dezeen
+ via Britt Bell

New emerging architecture design of Student Housing Complex by Ofis in Paris

The objective of this building is the green aspect of 'energy efficient building', which will be built at the end of 2010. This Student Housing Complex is somehow a de ja vu with metabolism architecture from Japanese modern architects with its tilted box units. Ofis Architekti, a Slovenia based architect win Student Housing Competition in Paris.

The complex will be build before the tram line pass the nearby neighbourhood in 2012. One thing obvious in this design is that it uses horizontal lines as shading device. It also uses simple, well insulation and ventilation plan, but it is still questioned whether the insulation will be in contrary with ventilation.

+ via ecofriend
+ via contemporist
+ via ofis

Watercube in Beijing, China wins Australia's most prestigious architecture award

One of the building used for recent olympic games in China, won the most prestigious architecture award from Australian Institute of Architecture. This incredible architecture facility won the Jorn Utzon Award for International Architecture. It is said by the jury that this building is an 'engaging and ethereal Chinese and Western architecture'.

The building has attracted the eyes of the world to see the new structure and innovative architecture stand for the most prestigious sport events in the world. Becoming an energy efficient and eco-friendly building, this inspired-by-nature building also becomes an inspiration for us architects.

+ inhabitat
+ worldarchitecturenews

Small things to do for green living at home

What if our everyday life can be more 'green' with simple ways like turning off the faucet while brushing teeth in the morning and night that it will save 8 gallons of water a day? Also there are other tips from the Living Green tour  At Grand Central Station in New York City.

There is also towels that tells us more about living green and the difference between organic cotton or bamboo fiber compared to towels made of cotton with synthetic pesticides. That seems to be great ideas to think again the way we live in our everyday life, to be more green.

+ via Dannyseo

Container houses by Lot-Ek

Via Inhabitat:
Lot-Ek in their presentation talks about the reuse of container for homes. The house will be from container that is cut in their sides of corrogated metal for windows and doors. The interior will be covered with wall boards and ceiling boards.

Sustainable prefab houses

The modern house, by Method Homes is a prefab factory-built green homes with a commitment to innovative design and sustainability. They say by building in a factory they will reduce construction waste to less than 10 percent of materials used, compared to 30 percent common in site-built construction. Their factory built process in conjunction with enhanced insulation, solar options, and energy star appliances ensure Method Homes are energy efficient and will save the owner money.

Method Homes will provide fresh indoor air to inhabitants by offering radiant heat, increased ventilation, and eliminating VOC finishes and other harmful chemicals. The Method Cabin is targeting LEED for homes 2.0 Gold certification.

Farming in urban city - winner of green architecture competition

A chance to farm in urban areas.

This the winner for green architecture competition. Mithun Architects designed an urban farm building, a building for farming that will produce vegetables, fruits, even chicken farm.

Explained in the website Ecogeek.com:

Some features of the "Center for Urban Agriculture" (CUA):

• Fully self-sufficient building: in energy and water.
  • 31,000 sq ft rooftop water rainwater collection
  • Recycling of gray water (including an ability to handle some of the surrounding area's waste water up to "20 times its own discharge potential")
  • 34,000+ sq ft of solar PV cells with hydrogen gas backup
• "Agricultural features include fields for growing veggies and grains, greenhouses, rooftop gardens and even a chicken farm."
  • Local produced food is critical for changing energy patterns as "40 percent of an individual's ecological footprint is generated by the embodied energy in food."
• 318 apartments (studio, 1 & 2 bedroom units)
• Restaurant & Cafe (The "Greenhouse" using building grown food.