With all the controversy and outrage surrounding the presence of BPA in plastic water bottles, KOR has stood by its commitment to encourage individuals to stop buying disposable bottled water with its smoothly styled BPA-free water vessels. This past week they announced a limited-edition series of “Thirst for Giving” bottles that feature beautiful art and provide sales proceeds to non-profits that are working to preserve the environment.

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Post tags: BPA Free, green design, Kor Water Bottle, sustainable design, sustainable water bottle, Thirst for Giving

This week the International Living Building Institute released its new green building standard to the public at Greenbuild 2009. Version 2.0 expands on its already impressive focus to now cover social issues – any Certified Living Building must be net-zero energy, net-zero water, non-toxic, provide for habitat restoration on sister sites, and urban agriculture is mandated. The 20 imperatives, all of which must be addressed, go well beyond the simple efficiency standards that our industry seems content to comply with before calling a project ’sustainable’. Seriously, read this thing!

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Post tags: "leed", Architecture, Certification, International Living Building Institute, Jason McLennan, Living Building Challenge, Social Justice, Sustainable buildings

Good design has the potential to provide better education, access to safe water and improved health care. Take for instance our very own Emily Pilloton of Project H Design, whose design projects are bringing vast improvements to their surrounding communities. Along the same line, a new non-profit initiative called Containers 2 Clinics is creating modular health care clinics for developing countries. To do so, they are rescuing shipping containers and then outfitting them with all the necessary equipment to treat women and children. Not only is this company delving into the fascinating world of shipping container architecture, but they are developing a much needed service for humanitarian aid.

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Post tags: Containers 2 Clinics, health clinic, humanitarian aid, humanitarian design, Recycled Materials, shipping container, shipping container architecture

We posted about the exciting release of Design Revolution: 100 Products that Empower People, a few weeks back, and now it’s time to celebrate! Join author Emily Pilloton (founder of humanitarian product design coalition Project H Design and Inhabitat Senior Editor) on Tuesday October 6th, 6:30pm, at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in New York City for a panel discussion with Cooper-Hewitt curator Cynthia Smith, Metropolis editor-in-chief Susan Szenasy, and Core77’s Allan Chochinov, followed by a reception and book signing. Register for the event via the Cooper-Hewitt site here ($10 members and students/$15 non-members).

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Post tags: design revolution, Emily Pilloton, green design, humanitarian design, project h design, social design, sustainable design

Our very own Emily Pilloton and her organization Project H Design recently won an Adobe Foundation Grant to help support her work for her new book Design Revolution: 100 Products That Empower People. Her non-profit group, with chapters all over the world, works to create and deliver product design solutions that help improve the lives of people.  As part of the grant, Emily talks here in this video about the important work her organization is doing and some of the exciting projects they’ve implemented in Africa.

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Post tags: adobe, adobe foundation grant, Emily Pilloton, Emily Pilloton Project H Design, project h design, Video

Here at Inhabitat, we can’t stress enough the fact that materials alone do not make something sustainable. In fact, we consider many products made of typically non-eco-friendly materials like plastic extremely sustainable if they have the ability to solve life-threatening problems, empower communities and improve the lives of people around the globe. That being said, we are thrilled to announce the launch of a book showcasing 100 of the most innovative, beyond-green products you need to know about by someone who has definitely taught us a thing or two about world-changing design – our very own Emily Pilloton. If you are part of the cognoscenti who know that products are so much more than just “things you buy,” we strongly urge you to check out Design Revolution: 100 Products That Empower People to not only reinforce what you already know, but to learn about totally fresh ways that simple objects are making big ripples.

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Post tags: design revolution 100 products that empower people, Emily Pilloton, project h design

There is nothing we love more than good design meeting up with a good cause. That’s why we love this student humanitarian design project on the Thai Burmese border: it combines beautifully designed (and super efficient) vernacular-inspired architecture with social responsibility in aiding the plight of Karen refugee orphans. Five students in Thailand are using architecture to make new lives for 24 orphans by providing them with homes to call their own.

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Post tags: butterfly hut, nust, pre-fab housing, soe ker tie, Sustainable Building, thai dorm, thai kids residence, thai orphanage, tyin tegnestue

If you’re not homeless, it’s hard to completely understand the issues that go along with not having a home, but it’s reasonable to assume that storage and safe shelter are fairly important. Zo-Loft Architecture & Design in Italy has created an interesting prototype shelter for the homeless, or for the modern urban nomad. Designed as a portable storage and expandable tent, the WheelLY is comprised of a rolling aluminum frame with two expandable polyester resin tents, all made from completely recyclable or recycled materials.

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Post tags: expandable tent, homeless shelter, nomadic lifestyle, portable homeless shelter, portable shelter, small spaces, urban nomad, wheely shelter, zoloft designs

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.

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Post tags: design for humanity, design for the homeless, downtown women's center, homeless design solutions, humanitarian design, project h, project h design, project h event, project h la

We all know kids have boundless amounts of energy and a need to play – so why not channel some of that energy into much needed rural infrastructure? That was the brilliant idea behind the PlayPump: a humanitarian design project that consists of a water pump hooked up to a small village merry-go-round. Access to clean drinking water is a huge concern in developing regions of the world, and now the PlayPump system is bringing clean water into the hardest hit regions of Sub-Saharan Africa, where it has been installed in rural villages and primary schools, so that kids can have fun while pumping all the clean, potable water that their families need.

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Post tags: infrastructure, play pump, rural villages, Water Issues