Project H Design, the design nonprofit founded in 2008 by Inhabitat Senior Editor Emily Pilloton, is in the running for a $50,000 grant from the Pepsi Refresh Project to launch Studio H, a high school design and vocational program in the poorest county in North Carolina. Studio H will be a one-year program, taught by Emily Pilloton and Project H architect Matthew Miller, combining design thinking, vocational shop skills, and community service to collectively build one big project per year in a rural county in need (first project: bus shelters for the school bus system!).

The $50,000 grant would fund Project H’s shop build-out at the high school, and the first year’s construction materials. To land the funding, they need votes to secure a spot in the top ten (right now they’re at #12!).

Vote daily through Feb. 28 to help Project H win a $50,000 grant >

**3 clicks if you vote using your Facebook log-in!

READ MORE >

Calling all Los Angeles residents who love ping pong, free beer, and design for humanity… Project H, the product design nonprofit, is debuting their Los Angeles chapter’s Abject Object initiative next Thursday evening, April 9th, from 7-10pm at GOOD Magazine’s headquarters in Los Angeles. The 17-week long partnership with the Downtown Women’s Center homeless shelter has resulted in the development of four retail garments and products that teach skills and bring profits to homeless individuals. Come to the party to see the products (including a purse that turns into a hammock!), meet the chapter, donate to the project, and of course for the ping pong, free beer, and Project H raffle.

READ MORE >

Last week we featured flying architecture, and now here’s a floating structure inspired by the grace and curvilinear form of a mermaid. European firm, JDS Architects’ Mermaid building is in a way both ridiculous and incredibly thought-provoking. Resembling the dystopian Lilypad floating cities that we covered a year ago, the renderings of the Mermaid show the building in every extreme biome on earth — from tropical islands to glacial surroundings. The building boasts terraces of greenery, a dolphinarium, hotel, and vacation properties. Is this just a glorified cruise ship? (With somewhat suspect structural support?) Or a new model for private development that truly is responsive to its aquatic surroundings?

READ MORE >

We may be biased, given our love of owls here at Inhabitat, but the “Bird Bridge” by architectural firm visiondivision is quite a poetic design solution. Located deep in a forest in Gothenburg, Sweden, the Bird Bridge crosses a rift, linking a hospital to a series of botanical gardens. Two pedestrian bridges are also intended as bird-friendly, providing secret resting places for the our avian friends.

READ MORE >

Calling all crafty Inhabitat readers!
Win $200 in our DIY Spring Greening Contest!

Our Spring Greening Contest is running strong after a refreshing weekend of creative submissions, and there’s still time left to submit your DIY designs! To enter, simply clean out your closets and remake your dusty old furnishings, appliances, and household items into inspired examples of found design. We’ll be featuring our favorite entries in an online voting competition next week, and the winner will receive all of the fortune and fame of being showcased on Inhabitat in addition to a $200 gift certificate to the Inhabitat Shop! So break out that dusty dresser or busted chair, give it a brand new life, slap on a fresh coat of (eco-friendly) paint, and let it shine for a chance to win!

The deadline for submissions is this Friday March 27th at 11:59 pm EST

All you have to do to enter the contest is:
1. Sign up for the inhabitat newsletter
2. Send a photo and description of your project to editor at inhabitat.com

READ MORE >

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s… a building? The latest from Geotectura and Malka Architects is a concept for Delft University’s Architecture Faculty- a flying structure called AIRchitecture that’s already making our heads spin. The campus building concepts combines a static learning center for libraries, offices, lecture halls, and an auditorium, with flying workspaces and off-site “zeppelins” to allow for more dynamic collaboration and exchange. This concept might sound crazy, but it is certainly a great example of a minimal footprint.

READ MORE >

We’ve seen LEDs as great green lighting solutions in many cases, becoming more ubiquitous in lightbulbs, lamps, and more. And now a new use for LEDs: as performance art for sheep! Artistic collective BaaaStuds recently strapped thousands of LEDs to the backs of hundreds of sheep, and choreographed their movements for some pretty impressive visual arrangements. Gives new meaning to the term ‘Environmental Art’! We’ll let the video speak for itself.

READ MORE >

Architecture for Humanity, in partnership with Orient Global, has launched the latest Open Architecture Network Challenge, and this time they’re calling on all designers to redesign the global classroom of the future. Entries may be developed in collaboration with a school of the designer’s choosing, or under the guidelines of one of the three school building partners, including an urban classroom upgrade in India and a modular and relocatable classroom design. The designer must work with students and teachers to address the unique challenges your school faces in trying to provide smart, safe, and sustainable learning spaces. The registration deadline is May 1, 2009, and all entries are due June 1, 2009. Read on for more details or visit the Open Architecture Network for the full competition outline.

READ MORE >

Brad Pitt is once again trading the silver screen for green building, as he recently announced a collaboration with LA-based architecture firm GRAFT to design a 5-star “green resort” in Dubai. We’re not sure if “Dubai” and “green” really belong in the same sentence, and we’re also skeptical about the project oxymoronically being called both “socially-conscious” and “an 800-room luxury hotel and adjoining leisure complex,” but we’ll wait to see how it unfolds. No details or location have been announced yet, but we can only hope that given Brad’s friendship with Frank Gehry and his commitment to Global Green, it’ll be as beautiful and green as the superstar claims.

READ MORE >

Greetings from South Africa!

Regular readers of Inhabitat are hopefully aware of the exciting humanitarian design initiative called Project H Design, founded by our very own Emily Pilloton. Currently on the scene in South Africa right now, Project H has successfully delivered 75 ‘Hippo Rollers’ – an ingenious yet simple rolling barrel device that facilitates a more efficient and safer transport of daily water supply needs. The roller holds 3-4 days worth of water for a family of 7, about 5 times the amount of water that can be moved using traditional methods. It’s an amazing product and an amazing story of good design enabling communities. Inhabitat’s Emily Pilloton has just returned from delivering the Hippo Rollers to Kgautswane, and here’s what she has to say…

One part origami, one part architecture, pure genius, the brand new Bloxes system makes 2-dimensional pieces of interlocking cardboard come to life as expandable and continually adaptable structures. Because they’re so masterfully designed, Bloxes create structures strong enough to stand on, all assembled without tools. So they’re not just for room separating anymore- build a bench, a table, a wall, or even a full room!

If you thought rechargeable batteries were a good green idea, the USBCELL rechargeable battery will blow your mind- it plugs into any computer’s USB port to recharge. It’s a standard AA battery which will fit into all your every day uses. We’re not the only ones amped up about USBCELL- today at CEBIT, the green battery was awarded a Gold award at the IF Product Design ceremony. Produced by Moixa Energy, has a flip cap top that houses the USB port, and can be used like any regular AA battery. Not to mention, it cuts back on the nearly 15 billion Alkaline batteries made and thrown away each year.

If you’re a fan of the Mini Cooper but want something a little greener, the Norwegian THINK car might just be your answer. It’s compact, it’s electric, it’s a zero-emissions zippy little car that’s a feat of design and engineering. Topping out at 100 km/hr and running for 180 km on a single charge, THINK is a lot of power for such a tiny thing. All the other systems are well-thought out too, with 90% of the energy going straight to the engine, compared to traditional combustion engines that lose up to 70% of their energy to heat and friction.

Our friends at Ecolect, the go-to sustainable design and materials community, have launched a monthly spotlight on sustainable design called Limelight – and the first feature is tough act to follow. Teresita Cochran’s sustainable design group, SMIT (Sustainably Minded Interactive Technology) has a compelling new project called GROW that’s an innovative and aesthetically arresting solar and wind power solution. Combining the best of green tech and ecology, GROW draws inspiration from ivy growing on the side of a building – resulting in a hybrid energy delivery device of flexible, ivy-like fluttering solar leaves that provide power via both sun and wind.

H is for Humanity, Habitats, Health, Habitats, and HIPPO! Project H, an organization that promotes, inspires, and delivers humanitarian product design, is funding 50 Hippo Rollers for a series of 17 villages in Kgautswane in Northeastern South Africa. Hippo Rollers, if you haven’t seen them before, they are amazing barrel devices that allow the millions whose livelihoods depend on the daily fetching of water to more safely and efficiently access and transport water. The roller holds 3-4 days worth of water for a family of 7, about 5 times the amount of water that can be moved using traditional methods, which frees up time for more productive economic and educational activities. It’s an amazing product and an amazing story of good design enabling communities.

For $100 you can sponsor the manufacturing and delivery of one roller in your name, which will be personally delivered to a family in Kgautswane this April by Project H Design. If you believe in the power of good design, here’s your chance to show it! Check out the Hippometer to see how many rollers have been funded to date.

SPONSOR A HIPPO ROLLER NOW via Project H Design >>>>>

Simple, organic, and elegant, the Gina Lamp from Seascape is made from supple green materials like woven grass and bamboo. It’s a simple design that would dress up many a bedside table. We love both the natural materials and the way the light shines through it with soft organic elegance.

+ $190 from Inviting Lighting