The Best Green Designs From ICFF 2013 Day Two

This year the International Contemporary Furniture Fair during New York Design Week featured over 500 exhibitors, and there was far too much green design goodness to pack into just one post - so we're

Fast-Growing Bamboo Clads Kengo Kuma’s Tranquil Garden Terrace Miyazaki Hotel

The modest 4,562 square-meter hotel has an angled roof and is wrapped in fast-growing bamboo. A timber shelter hovers over the entrance, which leads to an expansive reception area that then leads to the

Patrick Weder’s Cloud-Like Lamps Are Made from Hand-Formed Chicken Wire and Paper Pulp

Each of the delicate lamps is made from hand-formed chicken wire, and the wire's hectagon pattern is visible when the lamp is illuminated. Weder’s lamps take on an oceanic feel, looking like coral from

Half of the World’s Consumers Trust Autonomous Cars, According to a New Study

A new global study by Cisco found that half of the world's consumers would trust a car that that can operate without a human driver. Cisco's Customer Experience Report surveyed more than 1,500 consumers

Mineo Mizuno Creates Living Sculptures From Ceramics and Moss

Japanese artist and landscape designer Mineo Mizuno grows moss on large ceramic pebble-like spheres, creating beautiful sculptures that forge a symbiotic relationship between materials. Inspired by his

Hiroshi Nakamura and NAP Architects’ New Green-Roofed Tokyo Plaza Features a Dizzying Kaleidoscopic Entrance

The roof garden’s heart has a hexagonal communal table with trees sprouting and a glazed core. Attracting people as well as plenty of birds and butterflies, the trees all around it help to filter out

Japan Takes Steps to Permanently Close First Nuclear Reactor Since Fukushima Disaster

Photo via Shutterstock Japan has hemmed and hawed about closing its nuclear reactors after the 2011 Fukushima disaster. At first there was talk of closing down all reactors, but the motion was whittled

UN Report Says Disasters Have Cost $2.5 Trillion Since 2000

A new United Nations report makes the startling assertion that disasters have resulted in $2.5 trillion in damage within the last 13 years alone. Those losses fall principally on the private sector,

Hiroshima’s Optical Glass House Hides a Secret Garden Behind its Glazed Façade

The Optical Glass House sits among tall buildings in downtown Hiroshima. Its glazed façade was hand-made made from 6,000 high-transparency glass blocks that are from borosilicate, a raw material

World’s First Floating Wind-Current Turbine to be Installed Off Japanese Coast

Offshore wind farms and tidal energy facilities harness the power of the wind and the ocean - but why should we have separate turbines for each task? Offshore technology company Mitsui is developing a

No, Sweat! Furniture Doubles as Stylish Home Gym Equipment

Work out meets work space in Darryl Agawin’s No, Sweat! furniture line, which combines a love for design with a love for fitness (and knowledge gleaned from Agawin's studies in medical school). The

Sonia Rentsch Creates Harmless Weapons from Organic Materials

Rentsch enjoys creating "deceptively clever scenes from the simplest of objects." Using plant matter, she reconstructs weapons of metal and plastic, softening their bodies and pulling the man-made objects

Oshatz Architects’ Wooden Wilkinson Residence Towers Amidst the Treetops

With a top floor surrounded by treetops, The Wilkinson Residence evokes the feeling of being in a tree house. It’s curvy exterior is covered with different wood tiles and some metal parts that get

Japanese Artist Maico Akiba Creates Tiny Ecosystems on Animals’ Backs

Maico Akiba is fond of sculpting, and she also draws and illustrates children’s books. Her pieces often reflect the passing of time with rusty textures and growing moss. Akiba's ‘Sekai’ series

Fujiwaramuro Architects’ House in Hanoura is Surrounded by Artificial Hills and Breezy Rice Fields

Perhaps the most unique aspect of this house is a number of small hills that surround it and provide a depth perception to the flat landscape when looking out. A nice detail is that the architects made

Foodscapes: Contemporary Compostable Tableware Made from Recycled Food Waste

Next time you throw a dinner party at home you can wow your guests even if your cooking isn’t amazing. Designed by Italian studio Whomade and Michela Milani, ‘Foodscapes’ is a contemporary

San Onofre Nuclear Plant Investigation Finds Leaky Pipe Held Together With Tape, Plastic Bags, Broom Handles

As Japan's Fukushima nuclear disaster demonstrated, no nuclear plant is ever completely safe. In January 2012, the San Onofre nuclear generating station (SONGS) in Southern California was closed due to

Strange “Fairy Circles” Appear in the Middle of Africa’s Namib Desert

Southwest Africa’s Namib Desert is an arid landscape home to ostriches, leopards and other large animals. But a few of its more petite inhabitants are the makers of these huge desert circles that

Artist Miya Ando’s Bioluminescent Leaves Emit a Soft Nighttime Glow

Named after the Japanese Obon Festival, which commemorates the spirit of the dead and is said to guide ancestral spirits home with floating lanterns, Ando's floating poetry also mimics bioluminescent bays

Green-Roofed LEED Platinum Butterfly Beach Home Opens Up to the Outdoors in Montecito, California

The Butterfly Beach Home is divided into three main living blocks that are unified by a continuous rich wood deck. The main house opens onto an indoor/outdoor living room with sliding glass doors that

High-Tech Levitation Bike Generates Electricity and Acts as a Mobile Hot-Spot

Designed by architect Michael Strain and his team, Levitation is a concept bike designed to power your smart phone that also acts as a mobile hot-spot with unlimited Wi-Fi access. It has an on-board

UID Architects’ Nest House is an Eco-Friendly Retreat for Three Women in a Japanese Forest

We are familiar with UID Architects’ work as we previously featured the firm's gorgeous Pit House in Okayama, Japan. Similar to the Pit House, the Nest House features big open spaces that flow into

Boat Found Near Crescent City Confirmed as First California Tsunami Debris

Researchers initially estimated the debris touchdown to be sometime in 2014, but the vessel from Rikuzentakata confirms that it is already well on its way. The heavily-barnacled skiff was identified as

Shipping Container Homes Ease UK Homeless Crisis

A slew of converted shipping containers are expected to help ease a growing homelessness epidemic in cities across England. The number of homeless youth has tripled in the UK in the last few years,

Toyo Ito’s Daylit Odate Dome Shrugs Off Snowstorms and Monsoons in Japan

Toyo Ito's Odate Dome was completed back in June 1997. The building is a great social space that hosts baseball and soccer games in addition to other events. The oval dome is made from 25,000 sustainably

The Fallacy of Cleaning the Gyres of Plastic With a Floating “Ocean Cleanup Array”

As the policy director of the ocean conservation nonprofit 5Gyres.org, I can tell you that the problem of ocean plastic pollution is massive. In case you didn't know, an ocean gyre is a rotating current

Cleaning Up The Fukushima Nuclear Disaster Could Take Over 40 Years

A team from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) recently announced that Japan may need more than 40 years to decommission the Fukushima power plant. The head of the IAEA clean up team, Juan

Droning for the Planet: How Conservationists Use Drones to Protect the Earth

Photo by Conservation Drones Rhinoceros photo from Shutterstock Twenty years ago I had a tsetse fly-filled conversation with some hardened and battle-scarred rangers about how to count rhinos in the

Scientists Use Bees to Fight Fruit Tree Fire Blight

Apple and pear trees are often at risk for fire blight, but unfortunately by the time a tree shows signs of disease it's too late and surrounding arbors have already been infected. Researchers at the

Bullitt Center: World’s Greenest Commercial Building Opens on Earth Day in Seattle

The Bullitt Center not only aims to be the greenest commercial space in the world, but has been created in hopes that other will copy its ideas and technologies, changing the way buildings are designed in

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