Heads up San Francisco Bay Area architecture fans – AIA SF’s 2013 Marin Living:Home Tours is back again! For the past three years, the owners of some of Marin County’s most impressive homes have opened their doors, allowing the public to look at their private spaces. And once again, AIA San Francisco and the Center for Architecture + Design are gearing up to host the Marin Living: Home Tours event, which will take place on TOMORROW (May 18th) from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. This year’s program includes a houseboat in Sausalito, a LEED Gold-certified communal living facility in San Rafael, and Koji Tsutsui & Associates’ gorgeous Multicellular House in Mill Valley (pictured at top). Head over to the Home Tours website to preview all the homes and purchase tickets.

BUY MARIN LIVING:HOME TOUR TICKETS >

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: AIA san francisco, AIA SF, AIA SF Home Tours, Andrea Ponsi, bay area, David Spurgeon Architect, Feldman Architecture, Koji Tsutsui & Associates, marin county, mill valley, North Bay, Ross, San Francisco, San Rafael, sausalito, Tiburon, Van Meter Williams Pollack

After weeks of submissions and an intense week of online voting, we’re excited to finally announce the two winners of Inhabitat’s Lighten Up! Lighting Design Competition. We received hundreds of entries featuring projects that employ LEDs in innovative and interesting ways, ranging from a colorful art installation that reacts to changing light to a restaurant donning beautiful ceiling lamps to a research campus adorned with LED back-lit wood walls. We narrowed all the entries we received down to just 30 finalists, and then left it up to Inhabitat readers to decide which two designs were most deserving of $1000 prizes from Elemental LED. So who won? Now the moment you’ve all been waiting for…

Drumroll Please……….

Read the rest of Announcing the Lighten Up LED Lighting Competition Winners!

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: "wind power", 3D printed lamp, 3D printed light, 3D printing, aerodynamics, Air Turbine, Air Turbine Light, diTTo design, diTTo’s LED Acoustic Cloud Installation, green design, green interiors, green lighting, inhabitat competition, Inhabitat Design Competition, interior lighting design, LED Acoustic Cloud Installation, LED lighting installation, Lighten Up, lighten up competition, Lighten Up LED Lighting competition, Lighten Up LED Lighting competition commercial winner, Lighten Up LED Lighting competition residential winner, lighten up lighting design competition, lighten up lighting design winner, lighten up winner, lighting object, margot krasojevic, Rolluda Architects, wind-powered light Lighten Up LED Lighting competition

This weekend, the Inhabiteam once again got to experience BKLYN Designs, one of our most beloved NY Design Week events, and revel in all of the Brooklyn-made furniture glory that it had to offer. As in years past, we also nominated our favorite green designers at the show for Inhabitat Green Designs Awards, and asked you to vote for a readers’ choice winner in addition to our editors’ choice pic. Read on to find out which two Brooklyn-based designers took home the top prizes!

READ MORE >

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: Adam Frank, Bien Hecho, BKLYN Designs, bklyndesigns, Bower NYC, brooklyn design events, Brooklyn designers, Brooklyn Designs, brooklyn events, Caleb Zipperer, casa kids, Connie Lam, Dog Tag Designs, Dumbo events, eco design, eco furniture, editors choice awards, furniture made with recycled materials, green Brooklyn designers, green designers, hooker and co, Jeremy pickette, John Randall, Lamacek, magnetic lighting series, Mark Jupiter, Noble Goods, palo samko, pickett, Reclaimed Materials, Roberto Gil, sustainable design, Urban Chandy, vaishali patel

TODAY is the LAST DAY to vote for your favorite finalists!

We received nearly 200 amazing entries in our Lighten Up! LED Lighting Design Competition over the last few weeks, and after countless hours of deliberation, we’ve narrowed these entries down to just 30 finalists. Now it’s time for you to have your say! Vote for your favorite designs and decide which of these fantastic commercial and residential lighting projects should be awarded a $1000 prize from Elemental LED. Will it be this fully interactive LED drum wall, this billowing Cosmic Quilt, this gorgeously lit net-zero home in California, or these classrooms inspired by Galileo’s night sky observations? There are no doubt plenty of impressive designs to admire, but ONLY TWO can win. Cast a vote for your favorites, and if you happen to be a finalist, don’t forget to remind your friends and family to vote for your design! Voting ends TONIGHT, Friday, May 10th, 11:59PM EST.

VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITES HERE >

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: "lighting design", green design, green interiors, green lighting, inhabitat competition, Inhabitat Design Competition, interior lighting design, LED lighting installation, Lighten Up, lighten up competition, lighten up lighting design competition

TODAY IS THE LAST DAY TO ENTER!

Calling all architects, interior designers and lighting designers! Do you have a spectacular architecture or interior project that uses LED lighting? Share it with the world today in our Lighten Up! An LED Lighting Design Competition. We’re looking for the best and the brightest examples of residential and commercial interior lighting designs that make use of energy-efficient LEDs. Exceptional designs will be put up to a popular vote, and the top 15 entries in both categories will be reviewed by a panel of expert judges who will determine which two winning submissions should be awarded a $1000 gift certificate for use towards Elemental LED products. Judging will be based on aesthetics, creativity, innovation and how well LEDs have been employed a project’s space. Enter your work in either the residential or commercial categories (or both!) by TODAY Monday, April 22, 2013.

ENTER THE LIGHTEN UP! COMPETITION >

Read the rest of LAST DAY: Enter to Win a $1000 Prize in Lighten Up! An LED Lighting Design Competition

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: "lighting design", and led lighting design competition, design a lamp, Design Competition, eco design contest, eco lamp, elemental LED, elemental led lighting design, elemental led store, green design competition, green lamp, industrial design competition, inhabitat competition, inhabitat contest, lamp design, lamp design contest, LED bulb, led lamp design, led light design, Lighten Up, Lighten Up! An LED Lighting Design Competition, lighting contest, lighting design competition, lighting design contest, product design competition, win this

Earth Day is tomorrow – and our inboxes are already filled to the brim with marketing gimmicks and greenwashed products. In a sad turn of affairs, the environmental message behind Earth Day has been drowned out by marketing bravado and buried beneath mountains of “eco” tote bags and redundant reusable bottles. We’ve shared what we think are the 5 dumbest Earth Day gimmicks – and now we want to see the worst examples of Earth Day greenwashing that YOU have ever run across. Leave a comment below with the most audacious Earth Day greenwashing gimmicks you’ve seen and we’ll publish the most deplorable!

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: earth day, earth day 2013, earth day gimmick, earth day sale, eco incentives, Environment, green design, green products, Greenwashing, is it green, sustainable design, Waste

Hey Inhabitat readers! In case you missed it, we just wrapped up our broadcast of the Design with a Conscience conference in San Francisco, CA! We teamed up with Ford Motor Company and the American Institute for Architects (AIA) San Francisco to deliver you a peek at a thought-provoking event, which brought together visionary California architects and automotive designers eager to talk about the intersection of car and building design and how conscious design can spur innovation in both industries. This year’s star panel included: Allison Williams, principal architect at AW ink; Anne Fougeron, Founder of Fougeron Architecture; Ann Hand, CEO of Project Frog; and Freeman Thomas, Director of Strategic Design at Ford Motor Company. Though the event is over, you can read a few highlights from the panel after the break. We’ll also be posting a video recording of the conference very soon, so check back for it if you missed the live event.

Read the rest of Hear What Leading Automotive Designers and Architects Had to Say at Our ‘Design with a Conscience’ Webcast!

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: aia conferences, aia discussions, aia panels, AIA san francisco, Allison Williams, American Institute for Architects (AIA) San Francisco, Ann Hand, Anne Fougeron, architecture conference, architecture panel, architecture webcast, automotive panel, design conference, design panel, design webcast, design with a conscience, eco design, ford, ford motor company, Ford Strategic Concept Group, Fougeron Architecture, Freeman Thomas, Green Design Events, live webcast, perkins + will, Project Frog, sustainable design, webcast

Interested in the intersection of car and building design? Wondering what happens when architects and automotive designers get together to talk about design innovation? Here’s your chance to learn more about what cars and buildings can teach each other and how they can help us push the boundaries of design. We’re extending an exclusive e-vite to Inhabitat readers to join us online at ‘Design with a Conscience’ — a panel discussion between visionary California architects and automotive designers at 12:30 pm pst April 11th, 2013. We’ll be live streaming this discussion on Inhabitat.com (here), and we’ll focus on how thoughtful, emotionally resonant and sustainable design is improving lives. Featuring notable and visionary minds from both American Institute for Architects (AIA) and Ford Motor Company, this year’s panel discussion will include: Allison Williams of AW ink; Anne Fougeron, Founder of Fougeron Architecture; Ann Hand, CEO of Project Frog; and Freeman Thomas, Director of Strategic Design at Ford Motor Company. Join us live on April 11th to tune into this design discussion — and take part in the conversation by submitting your questions for the speakers below in the comments! We’ll be sending Inhabi-Tees to selected question submitters, so join in!

WHEN: Thursday, April 11, 2013, 12:30 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. pst (3:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. est)

WHERE: Link to live webcast here >

Read the rest of LIVE WEBCAST: Participate in ‘Design with a Conscience’ Webcast and Talk to Leading California Architects & Automotive Design Experts

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: aia conferences, aia discussions, aia panels, AIA san francisco, Allison Willams, American Institute for Architects (AIA) San Francisco, Ann Hand, Anne Fougeron, architecture conference, architecture panel, architecture webcast, automotive panel, design conference, design panel, design webcast, design with a conscience, eco design, ford, ford motor company, Ford Strategic Concept Group, Fougeron Architecture, Freeman Thomas, Green Design Events, live webcast, perkins + will, Project Frog, sustainable design, webcast

Unbelievably, certain people in the United States have a taste for lion meat, and an Illinois lawmaker wants to do his part to keep this exotic trend from getting out of hand. With help from Born Free USA, a non-government organization that strives to protect African lions from going extinct, Rep Luis Arroyo has drafted a bill that would make it illegal to possess, breed, or sell lions for meat. This move comes in response to the growing availability of lion meat in restaurants across the country. But foodies and chefs who serve lion claim there is nothing wrong with the practice.

Read the rest of Illinois Lawmaker Wants to Ban Lion Meat to Save the Species

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: Animals, ban lion meat, Born Free USA, endangered species, Environment, exotic meat, illinois, IUCN, lion meat, lions, News, Rep Luis Arroyo, U.S. FWS

Calling all design and architecture writers headed to Milan Design Week!

The 2013 Milan Furniture Fair kicks off next month and we’re on the hunt for a few talented writers and photographers to help us report on the best green products and furnishings at this exciting annual event. This is a great opportunity to share your photography and writing skills with our audience of millions of readers – so if you are planning to attend the fair from April 9th-14th and want to report on the latest innovations in sustainable design for Inhabitat get in touch today!

To Apply:

1. You must be located in or around Milan or already have plans to attend this year’s Milan Furniture Fair — travel expenses are not included.

2. Send an email to editor [at] inhabitat.com with the subject line 2013 Milan Furniture Fair Writer telling us a little about yourself and why you would make a great Inhabitat correspondent.

3. Attach 2-3 writing samples and 2-3 examples of your photography to your email. We look forward to hearing from you!

+ Milan Furniture Fair Coverage on Inhabitat

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: "green furniture", editorial work, green design, Green Design Events, green furnishings, green interiors, green jobs, inhabitat writers, Milan Design Week, Milan Furniture Fair, photography gigs, photography jobs, salone milan, sustainable design, writing gigs, writing jobs

Once a year, the whole world looks to the Nobel Center in Stockholm, Sweden to announce the Nobel Prizes. The center recently announced plans to relocate to a new building, and out of 140 architects, 12 have been selected to compete to design the new home of the Nobel Foundation and its related cultural and educational activities. Notable designers include OMA, Herzog & de Meuron, BIG, and David Chipperfield Architects. The majority of the selected applicants were from Europe and Scandinavia, with only SANAA’s Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa chosen from outside the region.

Read the rest of Twelve Architects Announced in Competition to Build New Home for the Nobel Prize

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: architect, big, David Chipperfield Architects, Herzog & De Meuron, kazuyo sejima, lars heikensten, nobel center, nobel foundation, Nobel Prize, oma, Ryue Nishizawa, SANAA, scandinavia, Stockholm, Sweden

Drumroll please…..

After six weeks of submissions and an intense judging period, we’re thrilled to finally announce the winner of the LightCollector Photo Contest! We called upon designers, architects and creatives to try out Philips’ new LightCollector photo app and collect light-inspired images from the world around them using their mobile devices. We received over 350 incredible entries, and even more of you came and voted for your favorite 20 photos – but there was one photo in particular that really stood out to our panel judges in the final round of the competition. We’d like to congratulate Allison Gates on her win for her photo “Wildfire“. Check it out after the break, as well as a few honorable mentions from our esteemed judges!

Read the rest of Announcing the $1000 Grand Prize Winner of the LightCollector Photo Contest!

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: inhabitat competition, inhabitat contest, lea stewart, lightcollector, lightcollector for android, lightcollector for iphone, Phillips, photo apps, photo apps for android, photo apps for iphone, photo competition, photo contest, photo editing, photo sharing devices, photography apps, photography contest, reed young

Do you have an inspiring idea for a t-shirt design? Enter it today in The Collective‘s brand new This Is Your Life T-Shirt Design Contest. The Collective has partnered up with Holstee to find two new t-shirt designs that exemplify Holstee’s powerful manifesto “This is your life. Do what you love, and do it often…” The designs you submit should combine the Holstee mantra with what is meaningful to you. Submit your ideas in pictograph form, words, as a drawing or in a video — whatever medium you feel best expresses the life of your design! Two prizes will be awarded, including a Holstee gift card worth $250 for the grand prize winner. The deadline to enter is TONIGHT Friday, March 29, 2013. Hit the jump to learn more about what you can win and how to enter the contest!

Read the rest of LAST CHANCE: Design a ‘THIS IS YOUR LIFE’ T-Shirt and You Could Win a $250 Prize & More!

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: Design Competition, design contest, graphic design competition, green design competition, holstee, holstee this is your life, illustration contest, shirt design competition, t-shirt deign competition, tee shirt design competition, the collective, the design collective competition, this is your life, this is your life t-shirt design competition

Now that the sequester is in full swing, President Obama is proposing new sources of funding to finance his clean energy ambitions. The White House is urging Congress to divert $2 billion from oil and gas leases over the next ten years to pay for research into ‘breakthrough technologies,’ like advanced batteries for electric cars. Following the statements Obama made in last month’s State of the Union address, the goal is to begin to wean the county off of fossil fuels and stimulate the economy by investing in cutting-edge technology.

Read the rest of President Obama Proposes $2 Billion in Funding to Replace Fossil Fuels

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: "clean energy", advanced vehicles, argonne national laboratory, chicago, Climate Change, congress, energy security trust, eric d isaacs, fossil fuels, funding, leases, legislation, oil and gas revenue, president obama, sequester, state of the union address, stimulus package

MakerBot is already one of the biggest names in desktop 3D printing, and now the company plans to expand into scanning. CEO Bre Pettis announced the arrival of the Digitizer this week at the Austin’s SXSW Interactive. The scanner consists of a turntable upon which you can mount small objects that can then be scanned by lasers and be digitized into computer files. Easier than writing code from scratch, the new device could be joined with a suite of printers and filament fabricators to create a small-scale design studio in the home.

Read the rest of MakerBot Unveils Prototype ‘Digitizer’ Desktop 3D Scanner at SXSW

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: 3d printer, 3D printing, 3d scanner, austin, bre pettis, cad file, digitizer, filament, Laser, makerbot, Makerbot digitizer, sxsw, tron

LAST DAY TO VOTE!

We’ve received over 300 incredible light-inspired photographs in our LightCollector photography contest over the past few weeks, and we’ve been calling on you to vote for your favorite images to decide which photographer is most deserving of the sweet $1000 cash prize! Will it be this stunning image of a museum escalator, or this mesmerizing photograph of a skylight inside a museum that takes the grand prize? Today is the LAST DAY to vote to help determine the top 20 finalists. The top 20 entries with the most votes will go head to head to compete for the grand prize of $1000! So vote for your favorite entries today, and if you entered this contest, round up your friends and family and make sure they vote for your photo. Voting is easy, you just need to create a Light Collector account (either on the website or through your mobile phone).

HOW TO VOTE

ON THE LIGHT-COLLECTOR WEBSITE >

STEP 1:Go to the Light Collector website and search for photos with the tag #INHABITAT.

.
STEP 2:
Click the heart on the bottom right hand corner of the photo to vote it up. Please use Safari, Firefox or IE browser since Chrome seems to not work with this website. Be sure to tell your friends and family to vote on your images (and leave comments) if you entered! The 20 images with the most votes will make it into our final round of judging and have a shot at the $1000 GRAND PRIZE. Please note, you can only vote for an image once.

Read the rest of LAST DAY TO VOTE: Vote for Your Favorite Images in the LightCollector Photo Contest!

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: inhabitat competition, inhabitat contest, lightcollector, lightcollector for android, lightcollector for iphone, Phillips, photo apps, photo apps for android, photo apps for iphone, photo competition, photo contest, photo editing, photo sharing devices, photography apps, photography contest

Compostmodern kicks off next month in San Francisco, and we can’t wait to see what the world’s green thinkers have in store for us at this fantastic two-day event! This exciting conference will provide a platform for leading designers, architects, scientists, and visionaries to discuss ways that design can improve society and the environment. To spread the love we’ve teamed up with Compostmodern to give one lucky Inhabitat reader a free pass (worth $575) to the event which will take place March 22-23 at the Palace of Fine Arts. Want to attend? Keep reading to learn how to enter!

TO ENTER THIS GIVEAWAY:

1. SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER HERE > (If you are not already a subscriber). We’ll be announcing the winner in our weekly newsletter, so if you want to find out who won, you’ll need to receive it in order to claim your prize!

2. LEAVE A COMMENT BELOW and tell us why you want to go. Yep, it’s as simple as that!

The deadline for this giveaway is February 27th. We’ll pick the comment we like best and announce the winner in our newsletter, so make sure you’re signed up!

Note: This contest is for the event pass only — accommodations and travel expenses are not covered. 

Read the rest of GIVEAWAY: Win a Free Pass to Compostmodern 2013 in San Francisco (Worth $575)

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: compostmodern, compostmodern 2013, compostmodern for free, design events, free pass to compostmodern, green design, green design conference, green design event, Green Talks, palace of fine arts, San Francisco, sustainable design, win a ticket to compostomodern

Have you entered our mobile photo contest yet? 1 more week for a shot at $1000!

Are you a designer, architect or creative who finds inspiration in photography? If so, you’ll want to check out Philips’ new free LightCollector photo app to collect photographic inspiration from the world around you. Available for both Apple and Android mobile devices, LightCollector is a free mobile photography app that provides creative folks with a platform to collect, curate and share inspirational images from their mobile phones, and work with a global online network of peers, colleagues, experts and influencers. To get your creative juices flowing, we’ve teamed up with Philips and Light Collective to host a fantastic new photography contest that invites you to upload your best light-inspired photos for a chance to win a sweet $1000 cash prize! You’ve only got until Friday, February 15th (that’s in a week!) to submit your photos, after which we’ll be putting them up to a public vote to determine the most provocative, beautiful and inspiring.  The top 20 entries with the most votes will be included in a final round of judging by a panel made up of Inhabitat editors and industry professionals. Think you’ve got what it takes to get that winning image and the $1000 prize? Here’s how you can enter the competition:

HOW TO ENTER THE CONTEST

Read the rest of Enter The LightCollector Photo Contest for a Shot at $1000!

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: light catcher for android, light catcher for iphone, light collector, light collector app, lightcollector, lightcollector for android, lightcollector for iphone, Phillips, photo apps, photo apps for android, photo apps for iphone, photo cloud, photo competition, photo contest, photo contest cash prize, photo editing, photo filters, photo sharing devices, photo sharing tools, photography apps, share photos, social media photos, where to share photos

Heads up sustainable designers, architects, and green thinkers! We’re excited to announce that one of our favorite San Francisco Bay Area design events is kicking off next month – get ready for Compostmodern 2013! This exciting event will bring together some of the world’s leading designers, architects, scientists, and thought leaders to discuss ways that design can improve society and the environment. This year’s theme is “resilience” – designing to anticipate change instead of resisting it – and we’re looking forward to keynotes by Ezio Manzini and John Thackara in addition to a schedule chock full of inspiring talks and panels. It all takes place from March 22-23 at the San Francisco Palace of Fine Arts, and we’re happy to offer Inhabitat readers a 10% discount off ticket prices – just enter the code 10CM2013. Additionally, early bird registration was just extended until February 28th – so sign up today!

+ Compostmodern 2013

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: compostmodern, compostmodern 2013, design events, green design, green design conference, green design event, Green Talks, palace of fine arts, San Francisco, sustainable design

Actor and co-founder of water.org Matt Damon won’t let a good opportunity to raise awareness of clean water down the tubes. To draw attention to the 2.5 billion people who do not have access to proper sanitation, Damon will boycott the toilet and embark on a YouTube campaign enlisting the help of other celebrities. Introducing his plan in a faux press conference yesterday, the activist hopes that his videos will go viral and inspire viewers to donate $25 to his cause.

Read the rest of Matt Damon Boycotts the Toilet to Raise Awareness For Clean Water

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: actor, bathroom, boycott, celebrity, clean water, donation, epic lloyd, john elerick, lisbug, live prude girls, Matt Damon, sanitation, shaycarl, smosh, stan lee, strike, toilet, water.org, wheezy waiter, world toilet day, world water day, YouTube