Living off-the-grid in the foothills of the colorful Colorado Rocky Mountains, Andrew Michler LEED AP BD+C and his wife Jennie are learning firsthand what low entropy living really means. He is building a Passive House rest/work space and is currently writing the book [ours] Hyper-Localization of Sustainable Architecture to be published in 2014.
Follow Andrew on twitter @andrewmichler
Every building is unique, and each has good things and some not-so-good things. The new website Honest Buildings launched today to make it a lot easier to learn about projects and open up a
A wooden skyscraper may seem like far-fetched idea to those who live in cities built from concrete and steel, but architect Michael Green has developed an innovative wooden tower for Vancouver
The glass high-rises in Singapore’s commercial district will soon get a neighbor of an altogether different color. The Oasia Downtown tower by WOHA will be literally clad in greenery, with
The 45-degree roof of the Ando Momofuku Centre makes not only for a more rural feeling in the mountains just west of centrally located Koromo, Japan, but its integration of the building with
Log homes are much beloved for their nostalgic appeal but one downside is that they typically form leaks between the timbers. Luckily, True North Log Homes has come up with a couple of nice
Foster + Partners’ massive Hermatage Plaza will be placed right on the Seine River east of La Défense as part as an effort to revitalize the area. The core design strategy is the twist in the
Thatch roofs are a traditional building technology in Ecuador for good reason - they keep a home cool and the reeds can be sourced locally. Unfortunately, thatch has become much harder to
Mountain Band-Aid is a plan for a sustainable city designed to help mitigate mining damage in southern China while providing a place for local inhabitants to repopulate the countryside. From a
A police station built in the early 20th century in Riga, Latvia is hosting a competition to renovate the site, and architecture firm NRJA (which stands for No Rules Just Architecture - just
The world's oldest nuclear power plant was just switched offline today in the UK after 44 years of operation. The Oldbury Power Station was the world's first commercial nuclear operation,
According to Kaiser Permanente, health care activities as a whole contribute eight percent of the total greenhouse gas emissions produced in the United States. That’s a surprisingly large
The complex was initially in a state of disrepair, and the architects took great care in removing cement patches added in the 70s which would have further deteriorated the original brick. The
Ford's proposal involves surgically removing the animal’s cerebral cortex but maintaining the lower brain functions so the body can continue to grow. Without the capacity to sense the
Harvard researchers recently created a miniature mechanized bee called the Monolithic Bee or MoBee using a new technology that produces self-assembling three dimensional machines from flat sets
The modular wall system provides habitat for multiple types of plants including English Ivy, Boston Ferns and dieffenbachia, which are all fed water and nutrients through a hydroponic system.
Two solar power giants in the US are embroiled in a legal face off which has industrial espionage and intrigue written all over it. Commercial solar supplier Sunpower is
For the next four months, Architecture For Humanity is running an “I Love Architecture” campaign, and co-Founder Cameron Sinclair is asking us to “put down the coffee for a moment and
A newly released study from the Breakthrough Institute shows a clear indication on how dependent Japan has been on nuclear power. First the good news: after the devastating earthquake and
Frank Gehry is no stranger to controversy, sometimes wrongly and sometimes for good reason, but the rejection of his plans for the President Eisenhower Memorial in Washington, D.C. is a new kind
Switzerland-based industrial machine behemoth ABB just announced plans to throw its weight behind a massive network of electric vehicle charging stations across Europe, the US, and Asia. The
Joly & Loiret describe the project, saying: “Instead of creating a ‘building’ in the classic sense of the term, this intervention follows the natural lay of the land.
While we used AC and wires to build a massive electrical grid in the 20th century, wireless energy could be a game changer in the years to come. Researchers at Stanford just announced that they
Apple has been in hot water ever since a long and detailed New York Times report came out highlighting abuses and environmental hazards during the manufacture of its products in China. From
Magic Mountain Lodge This extraordinary retreat sits in a diverse forest region in northern Patagonia and is a base camp at the Hulio Hulio preserve for ecotourists looking to spot a puma or
Toshiba has just announced that they are rolling out two more lines of LED lighting products in order to bolster their growing selection for the residential and commercial markets. The new
The Equnox house is a product of the needs of its site - Ignatov Architects set the home into a steep hill, lowering its profile. A vegetated roof and natural stonework ensure that the design
The main house itself is entered via a very modest, almost ramshackle entrance/sunroom. The cave is actually not naturally formed, and the yellow granite was blasted out by a specialist who
The epic voyage of the Tûranor PlanetSolar - the world’s largest solar-powered boat - will soon come to a close as the ship closes in on its final stretch. The Swiss vessel is a full-bore
One of the holy grails of clean technology is now one step closer to reality as Noble Prize-winning chemist George Olah just developed a breakthrough low-cost plastic material
