Inhabitat

COLD LIGHT – Fiberoptic lamp brings sunlight indoors

The Cold Light, a new fiberoptic sunlight tranport device, is the main attraction on display in Vienna at the Haus der Forschung. Called “0-24 Licht,” the design is the combined work of an architect and an artist named Angelo Stagno and Andrea Van der Staeten, who have won a design competition run by BIG, a development company in Austria. “0-24 Licht” is simple in concept: it uses a system of mirrors to focuses natural daylight through a fiber optic cable which can then be applied to many different lighting designs – producing interior lighting without any extra heat, hence the moniker Cold Light.

Cold Light

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ROBOTIC POLLUTION-SNIFFING ECO DOGS!

Remember those trendy robotic dog toys from a couple years back? Aibo and Poo-chi and the like? Well, sadly, after 6-year-olds tire of the novelty of electronic pets who can fetch balls, bark the national anthem and do silly little dances, there is not much left in the life of a toy robotic dog. Thats why we love Natalie Jeremijenko’s awesome eco / educational / engineering / art project which teaches students how to refurbish old toy robotic dogs and give them new life – turning them into lean green pollution-sniffing machines.

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ORLANDO BLOOM BUILDS GREEN HOUSE

Joining the ranks of Brad Pitt, Orlando Bloom has jumped on the green architecture celebrity bandwagon with the announcement that he is building an environmentally-friendly house in London. The environmentally-conscious ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ star revealed his plans at a pre-Oscar party with the aid of environmental organization Global Green USA.

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Katharine Hamnett’s Ethical Cotton Campaign

Katharine Hamnett has teamed up with supermodel Lily Cole to fight child labour in the fashion industry. “Save the Future” is the slogan written on a limited edition T-shirt designed by Hamnett and modelled by Cole. The vest is part of Hamnett’s “Cotton Campaign”, which not only features an environmentally-aware jewellery range, but also aims to educate people of the humanitarian ills that occur all over the world in the clothing industry.

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LONDON FASHION WEEK: Wildlife Works

Wildlife Works continues to move in the right direction with their latest collection that was recently unveiled during London Fashion Week. While I still have some reservations about their website, branding and coordination across their UK and US sites, the core philosophy behind the brand is laudable and the recent collection appeared spot on. I am awaiting look book images, but in the meantime you can watch the fashion show on youtube… and below >

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LONDON FASHION WEEK: Ethical Fashion

As the following posts might illuminate, when it comes to fashion, London is a hot bed of ethical design. Given the size of London Fashion Week in comparison to New York, proportionally there was a lot more green going on. Estethica, a special ethical section of the fashion exhibition, happened for it’s second season. We …

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ARCHITECTURE FOR HUMANITY IN BILOXI: My Upcoming Trip

In case you haven’t noticed, we’re big fans of Architecture for Humanity here at Inhabitat. And Monday-Thursday of next week, I’ll be venturing down to the Gulf Coast to see first-hand just what the humanitarian design organization has been up to as part of their hurricane reconstruction efforts in Biloxi, Mississippi. AFH has a variety of programs in the works to help displaced citizens rebuild their homes, businesses, and communities through a collaboration with architects, designers, and other local entities who understand the intricacies of FEMA guidelines and the area’s new building requirements. Stay tuned for a full post-visit report on their progress. And if you’re interested in volunteering, visit AFH’s website here.

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PREFAB FRIDAY: Hotel Everland

If the Plaza is a little too ritzy for your taste, perhaps the futuristic prefab one-room Hotel Everland is more your cup of tea. Designed by Swiss design duo artist-duo L/B (Sabina Lang and Daniel Baumann), Hotel Everland is prefabricated from a wood frame, then literally dropped onto a site to bring modern design and hotel-quality comfort to all corners of the globe. We applaud L/B for their clever application of prefab housing to a more commercial sector. An from what we can tell, the interior space looks quite hospitable!

+ Hotel Everland

Via Architechnophilia

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GREEN TOWERS IN THE PARK: Seoul Commune 2026

There are green towers and then there are green towers. Subtitled “Rethinking Towers In The Park,” the Seoul Commune 2026 project by Mass Studies is just sheer genius. Aside from its futuristic green aesthetic, the concept is an investigation into the viability of future sustainable community structures in dense metropolitan areas. The organically-shaped towers take the classic architectural idea of towers in the park, and literally turn the park into the towers themselves, offering a cheeky yet profoundly sustainable and forward-thinking solution to community development.

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GREENING GRAPHIC DESIGN: A Step-by-Step guide

Green Graphic Design: Step 1, Your Printer and You

Printers and Graphic Designers have long lived in entwined chaos, each attempting to interpret the electronic wizards living within their individual computing systems. Logic suggests that adding environmental concerns to this equation will only serve to exasperate this already malfunctioning system. Fortunately for Green Graphic Designers (and printers), these days are long gone. Gone are the days we send our designs into the ether hoping to receive perfect pieces of printed matter on the other end (…right).

The green path of the future involves getting intimate with your favorite printer.

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DISPOSABLE CHANDELIER by Stuart Haygarth

When you first feast your eyes on one of Stuart Haygarth’s quirky designs, the first thing that becomes immediately ingrained in your memory is his apparent talent for juxtaposing color with form. His recent design, the Disposable Chandelier, is no exception to the rule. Humorously crafted out of 416 disposable plastic wine glasses, the chandelier is lit with a pink fluorescent light source. Incidentally, a smaller version made with 280 glasses is also available. While the atmosphere created by this piece is elegant enough for any posh dinner party, its unusual construction also provides ample material for after-dinner conversation!

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SHIGERU BAN TV

Our favorite “light-on-the-eath” architect, Shigeru Ban, appears in a DesignBoom video interview discussing his latest venture in sustainable design: the Artek pavillion.

Via DesignBoom

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LIVING SMALL in the New York Times

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.
It’s a great start to simply use less. But how about living in less? Friday’s New York Times published a great article on a few pioneers of smaller living. Forget the McMansions; no need for a 2,500-square-foot “starter home.” These folks have turned their backs on the desire for extra bedrooms, opting instead for a more “distilled way of living.” The article profiles buyers of several tiny (and mostly prefab) dwellings we’ve profiled at Inhabitat, from the 65-square-foot Tiny Tumbleweed Homes to the palatial 700-square-foot weeHouse.

Click here to read the article.

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GLOBAL WARMING 2010 IMPERATIVE – Today!

Calling all architects and design students!

Buildings consume 40% of the world’s energy every year and generate almost half of the carbon dioxide emissions that cause global warming. Immediate action in the building industry is essential if we are to avoid hazardous change to our climate.

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ECO FIREPLACES

Despite Punxsutawney Phil’s prediction of an early spring this year, some of us are still freezing our you-know-whats off (that groundhog is cute, but let’s face it, he’s no meteorologist). So until the temperatures rise, warming your frostbitten fingers by a stylish and eco-friendly fireplace is a good way to go…

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LACOSTE ECO POLO by Tom Dixon

Tom Dixon deftly combines smart green design with old school chic in his recent contemporary take on Lacoste’s iconic polo shirt. Primarily concerned with the ‘provenance and craft’ of manufactured materials, Dixon’s visits to Nigeria and India and the unique hand-dyeing techniques he witnessed there reportedly helped inspire his innovation versions of the polo shirt. Eco Polo relies on chemical-free indigo dyes and rougher edges on its sleeves for its hip, slightly ‘distressed’ appeal, whereas his other new polo design: Techno Polo is composed of lurex fibers and cotton amalgamated with high-tech weaving techniques to create a look that’s just right for either breaking out the tennis racket or hitting the a nightclub.

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SUSTAINABLE STYLE SUNDAY: Matt & Nat Vegan Bags

We received quite a lively response from our Stella McCartney post on vegan accessories a few months back, so we thought it was time to bring you some more vegan goodness. While out shopping for a soy-based candle earlier today, I came across a great looking bag. I was seriously enamored. I investigated, tried it on and poked around on the inside. It had a subtle hint of social responsibility, but I thought… okay, nylon interior, probably not organic or recycled… and is this leather? The brand name, matt & nat, rang a bell, so I asked the store owner and she confirmed that they were in fact a vegan company based in Montreal who make stylish faux leather bags.

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ASK INHABITAT: Is imported bamboo really sustainable?

Q: I’m a regular reader and make my living as a furniture designer/builder. I confess I’m in love with bamboo – I use it as often as I can and would love to spout to every client about it’s sustainability, renewability and ecologically friendly properties but there is one thing that bothers me about this product. It seems perfect in every way except for the fact that it was brought to me via a massive trans oceanic co2 belching container ship. Do I just suck it up and say “it’s a step in the right direction” or is there some other way to get around the co2 issue? -Chris, Victoria, BC

A: The perfect scenario for any designer is to walk to work and have all the materials you need healthily and restoratively growing right next to your shop. But for the rest of us- we have to develop a value system for selecting the most appropriate materials and resources with which to work. You are off to a great start by asking the right questions, such as- is a material recycle-able, renewable, non-toxic, and/or enjoyable to use??

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PREFAB FRIDAY: Haus Schnitzer-Bruch

In a splendid modern take on a local tradition, Austrian architecture firm, Maaars Architektur, turned a classic alpine “massive wood block” dwelling into a work of inhabitable prefab art. A concrete foundation holds two massive wood fins with all fixtures and fasteners built-in. This house took just 9 days to construct atop the concrete base.

The house is heated with a wood stove and solar panels, and presumably the materials function as thermal mass for storing and buffering accumulated heat. Walls of windows welcome abundant daylight and open up a sprawling vista of the hills all around.

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EPIC CONFERENCE in Vancouver

If you’re reading this, then you are probably EPIC. Why are we flattering you so? Because EPIC stands for Ethical, Progressive, Intelligent Consumer. Surely you consider yourself to be all of those things.

EPIC is the newest North American business-to-consumer sustainable living expo, launching its inaugural event in Vancouver in March. Like a new-fangled LOHAS for tech-savvy design-fiending urbanites, EPIC has identified a market segment and they are working to solidify the connections between the producers and the buyers.

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SPIRALIGHT by Robin Carpenter

Evoking a gallery of stars, Robin Carpenter’s eye-catching LED chandelier, Spiralight, demonstrates how good those little light emitting diodes can look when they are used in a clever way. This is what LED lighting should be all about. The creative LED Chandelier recently made waves at the IMM Cologne design fair 2007 . Delicately suspended with 216 LEDS meticulously interwoven into a single twisting strand, the stunning Spiralightis typical of the Berlin-based designer’s signature aesthetic – in evoking a sense of the organic by way of obstructing symmetry in linear production via algorithms.

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PLANETTRAN HYBRID CAR SERVICE

The life of a jetsetter, business traveler, or globetrotter can be exciting and fast-paced, but also un-green, as even a short flight spews an awful amount of carbon into the atmosphere. But now at least your trips to and from the airport can be more eco-friendly, with PlanetTran’s hybrid car service operating in Boston and now in the San Francisco Bay Area. I had the pleasure of enlisting their services yesterday, riding to the Oakland airport in all the style and comfort of a Toyota Prius. The service is a great option for corporate and business travelers who want the convenience of a cab and the luxury of a limo or towncar (pricing is somewhere in the middle as well). PlanetTran also boasts wonderful customer service, a user-friendly online booking service, and even wireless internet in their fleet of Priuses.

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DESIGN YOUR OWN ECO JEWELRY with GreenKarat

They say that diamonds are a girls best friend, but who wants to be BFFs with slavery, child soldiers, and the horrific violence that occurs in Sierra Leone, Angola and Congo because of the diamond mining industry? For those of you who haven’t seen Blood Diamond, the mined diamond industry is a dirty business that has thrived on the exploitation of war-torn nations and impoverished people for decades. And even “conflict-free” diamonds are still mined from the depths of the earth – they may be more socially sustainable, they still aren’t environmentally friendly…

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HAPPY GREEN VALENTINES DAY!

Whether you love it or hate it, today is Valentine’s day. Some may argue the holiday is a Hallmark fabrication to encourage consumption of useless goods, but whatever your thoughts, its a nice day to show your loved ones that you care and even treat yourself to some love as well. Of course, you can easily do all of this without fancy jewelry or chocolates or flowers. The best gifts come from the heart, and simply cooking a special dinner for someone would make a much appreciated treat. If you do want to go the route of more traditional gifts, here are some of our green suggestions:

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EXPANDABLE FOLDING CHAIR – in video

This isn’t a new idea by any means: we’ve showed you expandable honeycomb folding chairs before from Molo and Charles Kaisin Design. However, the joy of watching this video makes us realize that it takes motion picture to really express the beauty of this great design idea – photos just don’t do justice. The panache with which this dude unfolds and refolds the chair in the video (plus the funny canned “oohs and aaahs” of kids in the background) make this particular foldable honeycomb chair very appealing. You must watch the video!

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AEROGARDEN: Tabletop Aeroponic Garden

Instead of giving cut-flowers with a 5-day lifespan this Valentine’s day, why not go the more sustainable (yet equally romantic) route and provide living, breathing plants to your loved ones instead? Living plants not only last longer, but are much more environmentally-friendly option as well. One fun and useful option for your kitchen is the AeroGarden – a high tech, NASA-tested, aeroponic garden gadget that grows an array of plants and herbs without soil or chemicals. Its Plug ‘n’ Grow BioDome Seed System allows you to plant tomatoes, gourmet herbs, salad greens, chili peppers and more, then stand back to watch the flora sprout with only the nourishment of air, water, and nutrients.

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RE:VISION Design Competition

So, we know you’ve read a lot about sustainable design and development here at Inhabitat. Now here’s a chance to propose your ideas for how design and technology can transform the urban environment, and angle for some prize money in the process.

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GREEN VALENTINES DAY: Sustainable Skivvies

February 14th is right around the corner, and while many deem Valentine’s Day “just another Hallmark holiday,” few ladies can resist the romantic appeal of cute underwear. This year, treat your girl to something that is not only super-sexy, but green as well. There are a ton of eco apparel companies, but few green lingerie outfits whose bras and panties don’t look like your grandma’s knickers or burlap sacks. For a perfect balance of sexy and comfortable, you can’t go wrong with BuenoStyle organic cotton panties (shown above). Made from 96% organic cotton and 4% lycra, the boy-cut style undies come in vibrant colors thanks to low-impact dyes.

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INHABITAT IS LOOKING FOR WRITERS

Hey readers –
Any of you want to write for Inhabitat? We are currently looking for a few new correspondents to be our eyes and ears for green design around the world. Specifically, we are really looking for some new international writers to round out our US-based team. If you are in India, China, Japan, South/Central America or Africa, we want to hear from you. Interested?

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SUSTAINABLE STYLE SUNDAY: John Patrick Organic

John Patrick’s Organic line was a pleasant surprise during the recent Fall Fashion Week. The company launched this Spring with casual yet polished looks that could easily fit into any wardrobe. Highlights from that collection follow, but the Fall line (above photo and bottom photos) appeared to be even better. The fabrications were gorgeous and included vegetable-tanned leather, whisper-soft cashmeres and organic wool, cotton and velvet. Even the recycled cotton looked good. The modern take on classics done in muted shades definitely made an impression. Organic broadens the horizons of eco-conscious fashion and is a welcome addition to the sustainable style wardrobe. Also, be sure to pick up the green issue of Domino coming out soon. John Patrick Organic is featured, but after having a peek at the issue last week, I can confirm it is chock full of green goodness.

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GREENWORKS REALTY: Green House Hunters

Here at Inhabitat, we’ve covered many green building concepts, highlighted specific green homes, shown the latest in pre-fab projects, and introduced programs such as EcoBroker, LEED-Homes, Built Green and Energy Star. But it’s also important to acknowledge the people who help us future homeowners find and be aware of these green homes. This is the first in a series of green real estate highlights—firms from around the country that are helping homebuyers choose green. Our first stop is Seattle, a hotbed for green housing, where GreenWorks Realty is supporting a vision to create a more sustainable world.

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