Digital Art - Goosebumps on my Brain

With a title like that, the expectations are going to be very high.  I hope the post lives up to it for you.

Self Sufficient Fab Lab House Solar House

Self sustainability, a concept that is not achieving traction in our society, I am guessing too much push-back from the people that have all to loose from this way of life and this way of thinking...

Architecture Carved out of the Rock

Cave homes that have been upgraded to the 21st century.

Kamikatz Public House a Pub in Japan Built out of Recycled Materials

Just think about going to the pub for a drink and some food, whilst supporting environmental principals.

Architecture with the Sustainable Tree-House

Lovely building set the forest, which has great environmental credentials.

Double Wide Container Home with Rustic Interior

Simple house but very homely, quickly constructed by upcycling shipping containers.

Animals Art made by Upcycling Scrap Metal in Thailand

Just look at what you can do, when you set your mind to recycle and upcycle precious resources like metal.

Architecture with the Earthship Sustainable Home

Beautiful sustainable home located on an island with rooms to rent.

Modern Architecture achieved Upcycling 4 Shipping Containers

From the outside you wouldn't guess that, this house was constructed using 4 Shipping Containers.

Shipping Container Architecture, 6 Restaurants in the Contenedores Food Place

Container Restaurants.  The site is much bigger than this, more pictures and information in the post.

Architecture with the Turntable UFO Saucer Home

Domespace is the creation of company Solaleya.  As well as detailing the features of a specific project, the one in the video below, we have included pictures of other projects to give a more complete picture of this home.  Lets start with some statistics: It is a 3 bedroom house, weighs 40 tonnes, built in France and then shipped, flat packed, to New York State.  The 28 acre land, cost $250,000 and construction was $500,000.  It is cyclone and earthquake resistant.  The next point sound like a bit of a gimmick but it isn't.  You can rotate the house using a remote control, which means that, in the summer you can turn the main rooms from the sun, keeping it cooler and in the winter you can turn it towards the sun, to keep it wormer.  This translates in a saving in cooling and heating.  We have included a video and more images below, to show variation of uses and layouts for this kind of structure.

Washed Ashore, Ocean Pollution Art Sculptures

"The Washed Ashore Project is a non-profit, community-based organization with a mission of educating and creating awareness about marine debris and plastic pollution through art".  It is lead by founder Angela Haseltine Pozzi.  The mistake that most people make when judging these projects, is to say that the organisers are kidding themselves, if they think that they can get rid of the problem by making art out of all the plastic.  In fact what people like Pozzi are doing, is to use art to bring awareness to the problem, making us, all of us, conscious that we are part of the problem and that it is within our power to stop this from happening.  These are some sobering statistics:  In the last 5 years they have processed 17 tons of plastic into 66 Sculptures.  3 short videos below, 2 from 2013 and the last from 2015, the third looks more at the process.

Caveman Architecture in The Rockhouse

Angelo Mastropietro bought and carved a home from a cave in the side of the hill, dating back 700 years.  The Rockhouse, as it is now known, is set on a 3 acre site in Worcestershire, England.  Mastropietro did most of the heavy work, to make this five rooms, into a habitable space.  The video below will give you more information about the process.  Following is a sum-up of the stats: Buying the site cost £62,000 (about $87,000) He removed, by hand 70 to 80 tons of rubble, that now makes up the patio. It measures 65m² (about 700ft²).  It has Wi-Fi.  Indoor and Outdoor Shower.  Kitchen, Toilet, Dining Room and a large Double Bedroom.  More pictures below.

Chuppon Self-Watering Animal Planter

The Chuppon Self-Watering Animal Planter, is a Japanese product that takes care of keeping your plants watered.  The straw contains a thin rope that goes from the straw, up to the soil in the pot, carrying water using capillary action, the plant is able to absorb the water when it needs it.  The planters come in four different colorful animals that wear the pots and the plants as backpacks.  You can choose from the Pig, Cat, Rabbit and Panda. Each pack includes a ceramic animal planter, plastic straw, seeds, soil and backpack pot.  via Amazon.

Architecture in the Greenhouse Home

Marie Granmar and Charles Sacilotto converted an old summer house on the outskirts of Stockholm, Sweden into a "Nature House" by enclosing it with a green house.  They got the idea from architect Bengt Warne, who designed the greenhouse.  The Glass structure was built in 2005 (we think) out of 4mm security glass for the cost of 80,000 Euros.  The sunlight can make a real difference as, a bit of sunshine in January, can bring the internal temperature upstairs, to 15-20°C, compared with -2°C outside.  They collect rainwater and recycle grey water and toilet waste with an ingenious system designed by Sacilotto.  They grow tomatoes, cucumbers, figs, grapes and have an internal fish pond.  The structure is not there to maintain the temperature at a specific temperature, but rather, cuts their winter from 8 months about 5-6 months, and during the colder parts, it helps mitigate the weather, when the sun is out. via faircompanies.

Living Wall, Eco-Friendly, ADU or Micro Home Architecture

The clever idea by Elevate Structure, means that this simple, but very efficient pre-fabricated structure can be used in a multitude of ways.  Before we go into that, a few dimensions: the base portion measures 5ft X 8ft X 8-to-12ft high (1.5m X 2.4m X 2.4-to-3.6m high). The top portion ranges between 256ft² and 800ft² (24m² and 74m²).  Elevate Structure suggest that it can be used as an annex to your existing Home (ADU Accessory Dwelling Unit) or a Micro Home in its own right.  Suggested commercial uses include: Yoga/Gym, Playground, Tattoo Parlor, Urban Garden, Event Venue ticket office, Raised Bathrooms, Lifeguard Tower, Pop-up shop.  The structure is bolted to the ground but can be unbolted and transported to the site of your choosing. More information below.

Architecture - Recycled Container Skyscraper Homes

Ganti & Associates entered a world wide competition called superskyscrapers, with the brief to provide temporary accommodation for the densely populated Dharavi Slum in Mumbai, India, using shipping containers.  Their proposal won the 1st prise in the 2015 competition.  Their building consisted of a frame that supports a repeated pattern of containers 100m (328 feet) 32 storey high.  Each apartment is made up by 3 containers (40’ Long X 8’ Wide X 8’6” High) (12.1m X 2.4m X 2.6m) staggered to attain a visually pleasing design.  The floor above cantilevers over the floor below to create a covered corridor.  The building would generate both solar and wind power to make the habitation more affordable, you can see more in the images below.

6 Person Container Home Built in 3 Days

This project was a collaboration between Architects Ceardean and Builders Ripple, to re-fit this 40 by 10 feet (12m by 3m) container into a 6 person Home.  This project was started and finished in 3 days last year with up to 60 contractors working on it. The container home has been donated to the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul (SVP) for emergency accommodation.  It has been designed to allow craftsmen with relatively low skill levels to be able to replicate the design, Ceardean have published plans and details to make this happen.  The cost of the conversion was 55,000 Euros but they believe that the costs can be cut to 25-35,000 Euros.
As well as many images and one video, we have included a link to another more complete video that we were not able to embed, this is the link: http://bcove.me/kq0zx5l5

Architectural Sustainability is getting Closer

The Techstyle Haus 825ft² (77m²) solar powered passive building, was drawn as a collaboration project.  A control system, makes it possible to monitor all energy produced and consumed in the home.  This makes it easier for the house owner make energy consumption more efficient, by moving to more adequate appliances and systems.  The structure regulating the House, expands outside the habitation as well as the inside.  There is a lot more information about this very interesting home, on the video below.

Upcycle PCB Sculptures from used Electronics

Cuban Artist Steven Rodrig has been interested in creating art with unconventional materials since he was very young.  While repairing computers and other electronic equipment, he found a natural progression for his art.  He took PCBs (Printed Circuit Boards) that reached the end of their lives, and Upcycled them, to give them a fresh and new sculptural life.  If you want another example of Electronic Recycling just click on this link: Recycled Re-Purposed Furniture Sculptures and look at the bottom of that post.