Water is solar heated, and a levitating kinetic art sculpture creates wind energy!

Rashid incorporated a host of passive and active design principles into this small home. All of the lighting is derived from energy-efficient LEDs, water is heated using solar panels, and all of the home’s greywater is recycled. Additionally, the round home is heated using radiant floor heating, and all of the installed appliances meet the highest energy efficiency requirements. This sounds like a basic eco-home, right? Well, it would be, except Karim Rashid never follows the flock.

Giving his project an artistic edge over standard environmentally-friendly homes, Rashid installed a central skylight that not only floods the home with daylight and warmth, but also harvests rainwater that is then filtered by an interior(!) plunge pool. And finally, as if he hasn’t already shattered the notion that eco is boring, Rashid created a kinetic, levitating art sculpture that rotates to create wind energy. We always knew that once sustainability became more mainstream, designers would explode in many creative directions — just like this amazing Komb House in Cairo.

+ Karim Rashid

Via Design Dautore