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Nothing suggests primitive like the archetypical caveman, but our less-evolved predecessors knew a thing or two about sustainable living. In Southern Spain, caves are still used as living spaces, hotels, restaurants, spas and theaters. These aren’t just ancient holes-in-the-wall still being put to use, but also brand new caves built by modern day cave-builders. Caves are both affordable and highly eco-friendly. They require almost no external construction materials and create minimal impact at the building site. Clay in the mediterranean climate is perfect for creating structurally sound caves, and today’s cave-builders specialize in excavating and molding this clay into modern, functional spaces.
Ever longed for a shelving unit that can fold into different sizes and shapes? I know I have ? especially when in the process of moving, redecorating, or dealing with oddly shaped rooms. Happily, French designer Bertrand Pincemin has come up with a transforming shelf that can fold into a whole host of shapes, depending on your room, your mood and what you are planning to store.
This made the rounds on the blogosphere a couple of days ago, but in case you missed it, the Hot Fridge is an experimental refrigerator design by RCA student Hae-jin Kim, which makes use of the heat waste released from the refrigerator cooling process. Most normal (ie inefficient) refrigerators release heat out the back while they cool items inside.
In the slums of Delhi, “ragpickers” make a modest living salvaging discarded plastic bags for cleaning and reuse in products such as the new Rag-Bags, a line of accessories made from pressed plastic bags. 60 bags are pressed into one thick, durable sheet which is lined with fabric and used to make handbags, totes, wallets and organizers. Though based in the Netherlands, Rag-Bag employs around fifty people in Delhi, mostly women, as collectors and fabricators of the recycled bags. We particularly like the “shopper” bag (right), which rolls up and fits across your back like a yoga mat, or folds out to carry your belongings.
We’ve developed a little design-crush over here at Inhabitat. We just can’t get enough of Matt Gagnon. It seems that everything that the designer touches turns to (recycled) gold. We oohed and aaahed at his Paper Table, on display at ICFF, and we are even more impressed with his recent loft renovation in Williamsburg for client Ramona Liberoff, which was recently written up in The New York Times .
Many of us who live on the coasts develop a bias for the outer edges of our country. I think it’s safe to say that we often assume trends develop from the outside and make their way in, rather than the other way around. If you fall into this category, then here is a little reminder that some spectacular and ultra-hip designs are originating in the middle. The Twin Cities are something of a mecca right now for great architecture and design. One that caught my eye recently is Solv Studio, the Minneapolis furniture company of designer George Mahoney.
On the subject of High-Fit Homes, one way to boost your physical activity quotient during the day is to take sitting-in-front-of-the-box time and turn it into exergaming time. We know there are many of you out there who like to sit motionless for hours in front of your Xbox or Playstation (and you know who you are…) If you just can’t bear pull yourself away from fragging aliens for an hour to hit the gym, then buy one of these new NeXfit exercise bikes.
Designed to make exercise more appealing, Nexfit has developed an exercise bike that hooks up to your XBox, Playstation, or the Internet, incorporating game controls into the handlebar. It has a force feed back system, which delivers 16 different shock levels according to collisions and explosions. And, since this is an exercise machine after all, it comes equipped with an Online Health Manager, which accumulates user’s exercise records after each game for accurate health management.
The Billboard Building in Moto Azabu, Tokyo, was conceived as more a billboard than a building (hence the name). The project is Klein Dytham Architecture’s smallest building to date, but also the most prominent, as it is situated on a busy junction in an upmarket neighbourhood. The architects decided that the tiny triangular site lended itself to a strong graphic presence, and so the building’s glass facade is covered with a graphic print of bamboo. The eye-catching graphic provides privacy, a screen from the bright south-facing sun, and brings a sense of greeny into the dense Tokyo cityscape.
What a great use of a graphic design to create a stunning architectural device!
Yes, I have a thing for reused wine-bottle objects, and yes, there are many different designers out there doing this. Here’s yet another I’ve discovered on sale from the MoMA store.
Simpler even than Tord Boontje’s Transglass collection, Franz Maurer’s straight-cut wine-bottle vases are sold as a set of 3 for $175.
Contemporary life has been made so convenient by technology that it is actually hard to get enough exercise these days. Unlike our ancestors who had to walk to get from one place to another ? we drive our cars everywhere, take elevators instead of stairs, and hire other people to do our physically intensive house and yard work. Because of this, Americans are getting fatter and fatter, statistically speaking. According to a recent study, nearly two thirds of Americans are now overweight, with 30% considered dangerously obese.
Coming to the rescue is a coffee-table book entitled High Fit Home.
The beautifully illustrated book shows how daily fitness can be integrated into contemporary home design. High Fit Home shows off stunning examples of grand staircases for daily exercise, thoughtful floor plans that encourage walking, and cleverly incorporated climbing walls, indoor pools, or other sporting facilities.
I can’t put my finger on it, but there’s something about the shape of this curvy Orb Vase which I just find irresistibly cute. Possibly it’s that the vase looks a bit like an egg with a tiny creature popping through the shell. It’s so cute that I want to coo at it like a baby. I’ve never been much of a green thumb, but owning a vase like this would give me the motivation to get a house plant.
If you’re a fan of prefab homes, you’ll love this fabbest-of-prefab Cardboard House. The $35,000, all-cardboard structure comes flat-packed and can be erected on site in under 6 hours. It is both made of recycled materials, and is completely recyclable. It also comes with a composting toilet and condenses its own water!
The architects Stutchbury and Pape, working in association with the Ian Buchan Fell Housing Research Unit at University of Sydney, wanted to make a statement about the reduction of technology and the simplification of needs:
“By demonstrating that we are able to recycle 100% of the building components at extremely low cost, the Cardboard House is a direct challenge to the housing industry to reduce housing and environmental costs.”
From September 4-December 4, the Netherlands Architecture Institute will hold its interior design exhibition, Just In - The Dutch Living Room Redesigned. The exhibition, inspired by the glut of reality shows on home makeovers, features ten living rooms by ten Dutch interior designers. Nine were styled in showrooms inside of the NAI and one will be a window display at Bijenkorf department store in Rotterdam. Says the director of the NAI, “For us the most interesting designers are those who know how to imbue a modern, light and spacious room with the necessary warmth. This exhibition presents nine contemporary visions of the elegant living room as a collection of stunning showpieces.” After too many not-so-stunning remodels have made it to televisions worldwide, these living rooms will be a refreshing example of the potential to create a cozy and contemporary atmosphere at home.
In the throes of the re-use art movement, Colm McCool has both subscribed to and subverted the paradigm. I was immediately struck by his Re-Tread sculpture series, in which he’s taken organic material (salvaged Silver Maple) and made it look like industrial waste. The wood has been carved and dyed a deep black to resemble rubber tires, each of which is titled according to its particular tread: Tractor, Mudbuggy, and Belt, to name a few.
Recently there was some public outcry against the continued practice of mass home delivery of unsolicited phone books. With communication almost totally computerized, phone books are good for about two things: makeshift booster seats and doorstops. Neither of these options brings much redemption to a useless load of paper. Happily a women’s cooperative in the Phillipines has found a way to coax function and style out of obselete phone books. These Lenore Tote bags are handwoven with recycled phonebook pages, with such care and artistry that they would be fabulously cute even without the added value of social and environmental responsibility.
It seems a lot of contemporary designs take inspiration from the classic toys of our childhood; the Turn Your Head pirolettes and the Lovetann modular home are just a few we’ve covered recently. The Otto Chair undoubtedly falls into the “evolved kid-toy” category, with unusual, rounded shapes that fit into one another like the oversized 3-D wooden puzzles we used to play with. Industrial designer (and contributing voice of MocoLoco) Greg Ball, developed the Otto Chair as a concept piece that functions as both furniture and sculpture. The chair is accompanied by an ottoman that fits inside the base of the chair for storage.
Are you a brilliant designer looking for your big break? Do you have a studio full of unrealized drawings just waiting to see the light of day? Now is your chance to express your genius to the world through the Pamphlet 2005 Competition.
In 1970, Robert Smithson (of Spiral Jetty fame) drew this sketch for a new earthwork concept: a 30×90ft barge landscaped with shrubs and trees native to the New York region. The “floating island” would be pulled by a 48-ft tugboat along the Hudson and East rivers, circumnavigating Manhattan. Unfortunately, Smithson’s dream of bringing his concept to fruition was never realized during his lifetime. He died in 1973, leaving only this sketch, and a host of other successfully actualized projects.
I’ve always coveted my friend Melissa’s fabulous terrarium, which is the centerpiece of her stylish, cozy Brooklyn apartment. I’ve secretly wanted one of my own for ages, and recently realizing that some artsy terrariums can sell for thousands of dollars, I decided it was high time to learn how to make my own on the cheap. After much pleading, I’ve finally managed to convince Melissa to spill her terrarium secrets…
Yes this does look like it might have been “inspired” (to put it lightly) by Ray Eames’ famous Walnut Stools ? but the ability to inject your profile into the object’s design is enough of a twist to make these Turn Your Head “Pirolettes” worth mentioning.
Quite similar to the Philips LED Candle, but just a touch classier, Mood Light’s Light Objects are rechargeable LED lamps for the home. Instead of trying to emulate a flame with an orange glow and a flicker, this glass-encased Mood Light is happy just to be a futuristic-looking LED lamp. The design takes advantage of LED technology, and can programmed to shine in an infinite variety of colors, or cycle through a program of different colors if you’re feeling fickle. This “mesmerizing fusion of infinite colors” (I quote from the website) better be impressive, because the Mood Light is four times as expensive as our flickering candle-wanna-be friend, the Aurelle. One thing going for the Mood Light is that you get a wide choice of glass designs, in different colors and shapes. The LED Egg, shown above, is my favorite.
There are green houses and then there green houses. Zoka Zola’s Zero Energy House which is currently being designed for a space on Adams street in Chicago, is as green as it gets. When it is completed, the 3 story, single-family home will be completely self-sufficient: consuming zero energy except for that which is generated on-site with solar panels and wind turbines.
For most run-of-the-mills homes, solar and wind energy would not be enough to power a single-family house. The Zero Energy house, however, has been specifically designed to maximize light, heat and energy intake in the way it is positioned in relation to the sun, wind and landscaped elements like trees. Architect Zoka Zola has specifically mapped out the location of the sun (and corresponding shade) at various points during the year to ensure that the Zero Energy House is always energy efficient, wind rain, or shine.
Inspired by the intimate scale of a Japanese tea house and the compact efficiency of a smart-car, students working on a joint project between the Technical University of Munich and the Tokyo Institute of Technology have come up with a tiny, transportable dwelling called the Micro-Compact Home (m-ch). The lightweight structure is only 2.65 m cubed (roughly 77 sq ft), but incorporates everything a person needs in a home in its super compact design.
The impending grand opening of the DeYoung Museum in San Francisco has been getting a lot of attention. I pass the construction site every morning as I traverse Golden Gate Park, and though progress seems slow, the copper mesh-encased tower is supposedly going to be ready in just two months. In the same location, though much farther from the public radar, the new California Academy of Sciences building is being planned under the masterful design direction of Renzo Piano.
Its getting to that unbearably hot time of year, and this floating pool bar from Custom Design is starting to look really good right about now. Not that I have a pool, or any access to one ? but if I did - the Aquapub would be the first thing I’d get!
Perhaps you thought there wasn’t one more thing that could be made out of soy. It’s in everything; your breakfast cereal, your face cream, your meatless meat. It’s taken on a reputation as a modern miracle. If you were concerned that this chameleon substance might get played out, you can now find it in a new guise: clothing.
Earthquake chic is shaking the world! - or so claims Gus Design Group, maker of the 6 foot long Light Stick. Motivated by the desire to create home furnishings that look good at any angle - whether neatly arranged or strewn haphhazardly against a wall - Gus Design has come up with a line of “Earthquake Chic” products: furniture that looks great in your house under normal circumstances, but still looks just as great after an earthquake.
“It?s six feet of lamp, but disguised as a tilted steel beam. You could almost believe it fell during a tremor, although not likely at such a rakish angle.”
Not sure what else to say about this one other than its deceptively simple. If you want to bask in that cool glow of your cathode ray tube, but don’t want the distracting flicker of images, then the DVD Light is the way to go. Simply pop this DVD into your player, then select from 8 different colors to illuminate your room. You can also play the 8 colors in a sequence, if you are feeling particularly psychedelic.
This is essentially a screensaver stripped down to its bare essence. It’s almost ridiculous in its simplicity, but I like the minimalism and the way it transforms your TV from boob-tube into something a little more elegant.
Check out Mathias Bengtsson. The London based designer works with CAD and precision laser-cutting machines to create stunning sculptural furniture that looks as if it has been eroded by the hands of time.
Although Bengtsson’s pieces look as natural and effortless as stone, the process and the Bengtsson’s choice of materials makes them unexpectedly innovative. The sliced plywood chair may resemble a rock formation at Petra, (and the sliced foam piece below may look like a pelvis) - but prior to 3D modeling technology, a designer would never be able to get wood or foam to look like this. The flexibility of 3d modeling allows materials that aren?t particularly pliable to be crafted into these complex organic shapes.
In the slums of Delhi, “ragpickers” make a modest living salvaging discarded plastic bags for cleaning and reuse in products such as the new 
On the subject of 
Yes, I have a thing for reused wine-bottle objects, and yes, there are many different designers out there doing this. Here’s yet another I’ve discovered on sale from the 
The beautifully illustrated book shows how daily fitness can be integrated into contemporary home design. 
From September 4-December 4, the 
