Berlin is a burgeoning modern city with a compelling history, a diverse culture, abundant art, and distinctive architecture that rivals the likes of Paris, London and New York. But if there is one thing that can set the city apart from its pricey peers, it’s the unbelievably inexpensive property. Not unlike many of the uber-creative expatriates that have taken up residence there, two enterprising artists, Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset, decided it was time to purchase and renovate a place of their own. So what can $700,000 get you in a city like Berlin? An apartment? A loft? Maybe a small house? How about a massive water pumping station!

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Post tags: adaptive reuse, Green Building, green design, Green renovation, ingar dragset, michael elmgreen, renovated pumping plant, sustainable design, wenk und wiese

Toby Long, principal architect of CleverHomes and tobylongdesign, recently led the effort to produce one of the first CHPS (Collaborative for High Performance Schools) certified relocatable classrooms in the United States. Working with the Chartwell School, Long and his San Francisco-based design/build/prefab company designed, prefabricated, and installed two green portable classroom structures, which were completed this summer in four weeks flat.

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Post tags: California, campus, Chartwell School, CleverHomes, Collaborative for High School Performance Schools, LEED platinum, relocatable classrooms, Seaside, The New High School Project at Chartwell, Toby Long, tobylongdesign

Harnessing daylight in the busy and narrow streets of London is a remarkable challenge for any architect. Recently ALA met that challenge in their remarkable renovation of the 10 Hills Place office. Using a bit of ingenuity and a bit of shipmaking technology, the architects created a sculptural facade that is as beautiful as it is effective. It’s been said that you can’t judge a building by it’s facade, but for this building, that is precisely what we are going to do.

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Post tags: 10 hills place, amanda levete architects, british architecture, daylight, green architecture, high technology, London building, Lucio Fontana, slashed building, slashed facade

We’ve seen our fair share of backyard retreats, but Manuel Villa’s Habitable Polyhedron shapes up to be one of the most unique dwellings we’ve come across. Designed as an escape for young families: parents and their newborn, the Habitable Polyhedron offers respite from day to day household activities in a family’s back garden in Bogota, Columbia. One windowed side of the polyhedron opens to a teak deck leading into nature; and a skylight casts natural light on a workspace and sofa inside. Once the child grows up, the space may accommodate him in the same manner as would a treehouse or playhouse.

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Post tags: Daylighting, habitable polyhedron, Inhabitots, manuel villa, playhouse, sustainable design

Officials have recently unveiled the new design for the Elbphilharmonie, the new home for the Hamburg Philharmonic to be inaugurated in 2012. The concert hall is currently being constructed in the industrial quarter of HafenCity, an area undergoing major revitalization with the conversion of hundreds of dated warehouses. As one of the more understated German cities, Hamburg is hoping the striking design by architects Herzog + de Meuron will bring the sort of landmark cultural transformation that was seen more than a decade ago in Bilbao, Spain with the opening of Gehry’s Guggenheim Museum. But such a transformation won’t come cheap, with a price tag upwards of 323 million Euros, some are asking “Is it really worth it?”

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Post tags: Architecture, Daylighting, Design, elbphilharmonie, germany, herzog and de meuron

The very fabric of skyscrapers is being reinvented now as architects and engineers look to make these dense urban buildings more sustainable. One of the biggest dilemmas they face is allowing for visibility without overheating the interior from direct sunlight. BIG Architects recently came up with their solution to this issue, winning them the award to design their origami-folded skyscraper for the Shenzhen Energy Company. The facade is folded accordion-style, and shades the office complex from direct sunlight with integrated solar thermal panels, while simultaneously allowing for indirect light into the interior.

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Post tags: "energy efficiency", "solar energy", "sustainable skyscraper", Architecture, BIG Architects, china, folded design, shenzhen, shenzhen energy company, skyscraper, solar photovoltaic, solar thermal

BIG Architects have unveiled an incredible new library that will serve as a multifunctional cultural center for Astana, Kazakhstan. Named Nursultan Nazarbayev after the first President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the new library will encompass not just books, but space and time as well. The design comprises 4 archetypes – the circle, the rotunda, the arch and the yurt – which all merge into the form of a Möbius strip. In designing the structure BIG also used high-tech modeling to calculate the thermal exposure of the building envelope and maximize shading.

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Post tags: BIG Architects, energy modeling, Kazakhstan, library, national library

Grandmas make some pretty awesome things – pies, sweaters, and techinically, you. But can you say that your grandma ever made a village??? Ours certainly didn’t. Between 1956 and 1981 Tressa “Grandma” Prisbrey built Bottle Village using tens of thousands of bottles in mortar. The village is “an otherworld of shrines, wishing wells, walkways, random constructions, plus 15 life size structures all made from found objects.” The 1/3 acre lot in Simi Valley, CA is literally littered with the various structures that Ms. Prisbrey created as a hobby, constructive creative outlet and playful reminder of the joy of upcycling.  Unfortunately, a 1994 earthquake has left the village damaged and in need of repair, but recent media attention has helped bring in new visitors and a renewed interest in preserving this wonderful and unique place.

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Post tags: Bottle Village, Creative Re-use, Creative Reuse, LA Times, Recycled House, Simi Valley, Tressa "Grandma" Prisbrey, Ventura County

So much of the green design that we see here at Inhabitat is efficient and looks cool in renderings, but the human aspect of sustainability, and the real value of our built environment is too often a rarity. Not so in the case of this modern homeless shelter in Dallas, which recently won the AIA’s National 2009 Housing Award. Called The Bridge, the sleek shelter was designed by Overland Partners Architects in collaboration with CamargoCopeland Architects, and provides not only a visually striking addition to the neighborhood, but a safe haven for people to turn to when they have nowhere else to go. According to the press release, the shelter’s surrounding area has seen a crime reduction of 18%, which in itself is a testament to the power that design can wield when it is executed with a vision of bettering lives.

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Post tags: AIA National Housing Award, AIA/HUD Sectretary Award, CamargoCopeland Architects, ED+C, homeless shelter, Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance, Overland Partners Architects, Sustainable Homeless Shelter, The Bridge

The Herbert Art Gallery recently received a stunning renovation by Pringle Richards Sharratt Architects that fuses a modern extension with the walls of an ancient medieval city that once stood on its site. The £20 million refurbishment and extension incorporates an ancient vault and includes 8 new permanent galleries, spaces for temporary exhibitions and events, educational gatherings and a new History Center along with Herbert Media Studios. The most notable addition is the 500 square meter glazed glass-covered court which lets in plenty of daylight from sunrise to sunset and is supported by the new prefabricated gallery extension.

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Post tags: Daylighting, green design, Herbert Gallery, prefabricated architecture, Pringle Richards Sharratt, Refurbished Building, sustainable design

Everyone knows that horses are big fans of the earth – don’t they deserve sustainable housing too? Luckily, Blackburn Architects, an award-winning design firm, has catered their services to our equine friends and recently introduced a line of sustainable horse barns called Blackburn greenbarns™. Starting with four pre-designed models, these barns maximize light and ventilation through passive principles of design and specify eco-friendly, low-VOC materials and finishes. Also offered are optional systems such as solar panels and rainwater harvesting to take Blackburn greenbarns™ to the next level in sustainability.

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Post tags: blackburn architects, green horse barns, greenbarns, sustainable barns, usgbc

Although it seems like the media often regards China as the biggest greenwasher in the world, it is hard to dispute sustainable building when pure architectural facts and innovations are involved. The Foshan Pearl Gymnasium, China’s newest addition to its green array, is an excellent illustration of this point. Designed by Japan-based firm Mitsuru Man Senda and Environment Design Institute in direct response to the sub-tropical climate of the surrounding area, the vast athletic center examines the relationship between internal and external spaces and provides further support for China’s environmentally responsible attitude towards green building and design.

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Post tags: china, China green, environmentally responsive design, Foshan Pearl Gymnasium, Green Building, Mitsuru Man Senda and Environment Design Institute, Sustainable Building

The cabin is an American icon – a place of retreat, relaxation, and respite. In the past, cabins have been of rough construction and hardly efficient, however this project by New York architect Andrea Salvini updates the iconic structure with a modern twist. Her Modern American Cabin, minimizes and stylizes the traditional cabin’s lines and architectural elements, while remaining true to its original concept and spirit.

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Post tags: andrea salvini, energy efficient cabin, green architecture, Green Building, modern american cabin, sustainable design

The very heart of Singapore beats green, thanks to the new design for the National Heart Center conceived by Ong & Ong with medical planning and interior consultation by multinational firm Broadway Malyan. The ambitious 35,299 square-meter building at the center of Singapore General Hospital’s Outram Campus redevelopment plan will hopefully score high green marks with its unique design that places people first. Recognizing that the medical world advances quite quickly, the design incorporates modular building methods to ensure that the structure of the building remains flexible and adaptable both internally and externally, easily and efficiently allowing for future growth.

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Post tags: "sustainable architecture", broadway malyan, Daylighting, Green Building, green design, singapore heart center, sustainable design

Even when the most sustainable methods of construction are employed it’s a given that whenever you build something new there will be, for better or worse, a visual impact to the landscape. Polish architecture firm KWK Promes decided to embrace that inevitability and build their design for a new home beneath a grassy mound of land. By essentially lifting the existing land and placing it on the roof, the OUTrial house maintains a subtle presence and pays service to the surrounding landscape.

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Post tags: "sustainable architecture", grass roof, green design, green roof, KWK Promes, landscape design