New homeowners in Florida, Louisiana and Virginia are being forced out of their homes because of toxic indoor air quality. The culprit -toxic drywall from China. Tests are revealing that the toxic drywall contains hydrogen sulfide and formaldehyde, both of which are incredibly harmful to your health. The toxins are also causing visible signs of corrosion throughout the homes – blackening copper pipes and wiring, causing appliances to fail, and filling the homes with the smell of rotten eggs. What’s worse, many of the homeowners are also horribly sick, with nosebleeds, sinus infections, respiratory problems and more. It’s nightmares like this situation that remind us how important it is to build with non-toxic and eco-friendly materials – not just for the environment, but for our health and sanity too!

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Post tags: adverse health affects, Air quality, building materials, Chinese drywall, drywall, eco-friendly building materials, ecorock, indoor air quality, toxic building materials, toxins

Istanbul’s brand new Sabiha Gökçen International Airport airport terminal opened on October 31st of this year and is now the world’s largest earthquake-proof building. Named after the world’s first woman combat pilot, the new 2 million square-foot structure is capable of not only withstanding a magnitude 8.0 earthquake – it’s also designed to remain completely operational afterwards. This is all due to new seismic building technology and advanced computer simulations that are able to predict how a building will react in order to keep it safe.

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Post tags: airport, airport terminal, arup, earthquake, earthquake-proof, earthquake-safe, istanbul, Sabiha Gökçen Airport, world's largest earthquake-proof building

Normally at a big construction site, an ugly OSB wall plastered with posters provides a barrier between the site and the rest of the city. Typically thought of as eyesores, these walls are anything but pleasing to the eye. But what if they could be transformed into living urban spaces full of plants and systems that provide both an environmental and social benefit to the people walking by? The Symbiotic Green Wall, by Kooho Jung & Hayeon Kelly Choi, could do just that!

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Post tags: "green wall", "living wall", "water collection", Air quality, construction, construction wall, Hayeon Kelly Choi, Kooho Jung, noise abatement, rainwater, symbiotic green wall, symbiotic wall, Urban design, water filtration

NL Architects recently unveiled a beautiful green-roofed office complex for the Welfare Department and Work Agency of the City of Groningen in the Netherlands. Featuring ample amounts of daylight, large open public spaces, and an ascending series of terraced green roofs, the new SoZaWe office is sure to welcome the citizens who come in for assistance while inspiring for the employees who work there.

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Post tags: Architecture, carbon-neutral, green office, green roof, living roof, nl architects, open space, Park space, the netherlands

Imagine having this sweet public market pop up in your town? Well the lucky residents of Rotterdam are actually getting one! This week, the mayor of the city announced the commencement of construction on the huge tunnel-shaped market hall which will flash images of gigantic fresh fruits and vegetables via LCD screens on the inside and be lined with balconied apartments offering killer views on the outside. This true mixed-use development combining residences, shopping, restaurants and a public market will be a central hub of activity for citizens and tourists. The project is being developed by Provast and was designed by MVRDV.

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Post tags: Market Hall, mixed-use development, MVRDV, Provast, public market, rotterdam

While not totally prefabricated, the Manifesto House by Infiniski utilizes pre-made materials like shipping containers and wooden pallets to create a totally rad modern house. Infiniski’s mission is to build homes cheaply and quickly using sustainable materials while incorporating renewable energy systems. They have many designs already available, which can be interchanged and easily modified.

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Post tags: Chile, Infiniski, James&Mau, Manifesto House, Prefab, Prefab friday, prefab house, Recycled Materials, shipping container, shipping container architecture

All U.S. Presidents get a center named after them upon completion of their term in the White House, and George W. is no exception. Plans for his presidential center were just revealed, and considering how energy efficient his ranch in Crawford is, it really should come as no surprise that the new center is chock full of green design elements. To be located on the edge of the Southern Methodist University campus in Dallas, Texas, the George W. Bush Presidential Center will serve as a commemoration of all of his accomplishments [insert joke here].

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Post tags: "leed", A.M. Stern, Bush, Bush Presidential Center, Dallas, George W. Bush, green roof, GW Bush, LEED platinum, Robert A.M. Stern, SMU, Solar Power, texas

The recently unveiled Langley Academy in the Berkshires, UK, is yet another exemplary model of sustainable education facilities. Designed by Inhabitat favorite Foster + Partners, the gorgeous wood clad academy focuses its curriculum around sciences and the environment. With dedicated science laboratories, a unique floorplan, and a design focused on green building, these 1,100 students have an amazing and inspirational place to learn. Now if only all of our buildings had this much thought put into them.

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Post tags: academy, eco school, foster, Foster + Partners, Langley Academy, solar hot water, sustainable school, UK, water conservation

This past Monday, the insanely powerful Jaguar XT5 supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee was named the fastest supercomputer in the world. With a speed of 1.759 petaflops (quadrillions of calculations per second), this incredibly swift machine is currently being used by the forces of good to solve the world’s problems – including one that is very near and dear to our hearts, climate change.

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Post tags: Climate Change, climate models, computer modeling, fastest computer in the world, jaguar, jaguar XT5, modeling, oak ridge national laboratory, supercomputer

Michelle Kaufmann, one of our favorite design heroes, just took a tour of social media giant Twitter’s brand new eco-friendly office space in downtown San Francisco, and we’ve got all the sweet details and pics! We’re super jealous of the Twitter team’s plush sustainable furniture and fabulous design aesthetic conjured up by the very talented Sara Morishige Williams, who happens to be the wife of Twitter CEO, Evan Williams (@ev). Working for a hot internet company certainly has its perks – some of which are a bird’s eye view of San Francisco, eco-friendly and non-toxic finishes, playful and inspiring decorations, and your very own DJ booth.

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Post tags: eco friendly office, eco office, low-voc paint, michelle kaufman, no voc paint, non-toxic, non-toxic furniture, reclaimed barnwood, reclaimed wood, twitter, twitter's office

A recent competition to design a creative zone in Beijing yielded this fascinating proposal to incorporate open space and an economic zone on the edge of the Beijing River. The winner of the competition was UNstudio, whose approach to the challenge was to compress the two distinct zones together in an accordion-like fashion, weaving both nature and the urban fabric together. Stores, shops and craftsmen will all take residence in the creative zone allowing tourists and Beijing residents to be able to enjoy the peace of the greenbelt as well as shop in local stores.

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Post tags: arup, Beijing, beijing creative zone, creative zone, economic zone, greenbelt, mixed-use development, open space, park, UNStudio

Recently the Elleray Preparatory School in the UK unveiled an incredible set of tree-top classrooms. Situated in the Lake District National Park, the three green-built class pods stand on stilts connected by a center platform made from recycled materials. Built to have a low impact on the environment while accommodating the school’s expanding student body, the Treehouse School is sure to inspire all the children the walk through its doors.

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Post tags: classrooms, eco school, eco-classroom, green classroom, kita design company, pod, robert gaukroger, school, solar panels, UK

The newest building concept to spring from the mind of eco-designer and artist Michael Jantzen is a testament to the power of renewable energy. His monumental Wind Farm Celebration Center is designed to serve as a visitor center and is very appropriately powered by an awe-inspiring 1.5 MW wind turbine that sprouts up from the structure like a blooming flower.

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Post tags: "wind power", building concept, celebration center, concept, michael jantzen, wind farm celebration center

Hive Modular recently unveiled a brand new pre-fabulous house chock full of eco-friendly materials and lots of high-tech home system controls. Situated in Vadnais Heights, Minnesota, the new X-Line 003 is a 4 bedroom, 3 bath home that boasts clean lines and a sleek interior. There are a lot of prefab companies out there serving up brilliant concepts, but not all of them have actually built a house. Hive Modular has — quite a few actually — and they’ve got the project gallery to show for it.

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Post tags: Architecture, Green Building, green design, hive modular, Prefab, prefab home, prefab residence, sustainable design, x-line 003

We’re pretty certain that parking lots of the future will be more than just storage areas for our vehicles. They’ll generate their own power, have morphing advertisements, and likely recharge cars as well. Well our friends at Designboom and Nissan are way ahead of the curve. They just announced the results of their Think Outside the Parking Box competition, and while we’re certainly impressed with some of the imaginative ways to park cars (car ferris wheel, anyone?), we were most excited about the Solasis Light Tower. This renewable energy generating parking lot actually uses the cars’ windshields to shine sun onto a solar power concentrating tower adding valuable juice to the grid. Read on to see how the designers propose to make the tower work and see some detailed pics of the final design.

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Post tags: designboom, NISSAN, parking lot, parking lot of the future, power generating parking lot, renewable energy, solar concentrating, solar concentrating power, Solar Power, solasis light tower