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

Citing high costs and extreme resistance from the mobile phone industry, San Francisco has dropped a law that would have required a radiation warning label to be placed on all new mobile phones sold within the city limits. On Tuesday, the city Board of Supervisors voted to settle a lawsuit with the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association by accepting a permanent injunction against the right-to-know cell phone ordinance. However, the city was quick to point out that legal fees prompted the action, and that fears about the health risks posed by phone radiation still exist.

Read the rest of San Francisco Drops Law Mandating Radiation Warning Labels on Cell Phones

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: cell phones, health hazard, mobile phone industry, radiation, safety, San Francisco, smart phones

Read the rest of San Francisco Public Utilities Commission Headquarters Boasts Solar Panels and Built-in Wind Turbines

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: "sustainable architecture", building integrated wind turbines, eco design, green architecture, Green Building, KMD Architects, photovoltaics, public utility commission headquarters, puc, San Francisco, San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, san francisco public utility commission, san francisco public utility commission headquarters, Sustainable Building, sustainable design, Urban design, wind energy

Read the rest of Crissy Field Center is Dedicated to Environmental Youth Education in San Francisco

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: "sustainable architecture", crissy field center, crissy fields, eco center, eco design, fischer development, golden gate national parks conservancy, golden gate park, green architecture, Green Building, green design, MK Think, National Park Service, Prefab, prefab construction, Project Frog, San Francisco, Sustainable Building, sustainable design, youth education center, youth education facility

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: bay water heating and cooling, EHDD, GLS Landscape Architecture, Museum, net zero, net-zero energy, San Francisco, San Francisco Exploratorium, Solar Power, The Exploratorium

Pianos aren’t generally thought of as the most portable of musical instruments, which makes tickling the ivories almost always an indoor activity — but staying cooped up inside to play wasn’t what musician Gary Skaggs had in mind. A few years back, the San Francisco native had the idea to combine two of his favorite pastimes, cycling and music, by creating what may be the world’s first Piano Bike and offering free on-the-go performances for passing pedestrians.

Read the rest of Pedaling Pianist Strikes a Chord With His Homemade Piano Bike

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: bicycles, bike design, bike piano, bikes, creative repurposing, garry skaggs, invention, music, musical instruments, piano, San Francisco, sustainable transportation

Read the rest of Wharton’s Entire San Francisco Campus Earns LEED Gold Certification

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: "sustainable architecture", adaptive reuse, eco design, eco school, eco university, Gensler, green architecture, Green Building, green design, green renovation, green school, hills brothers coffee, hills brothers coffee plant, LEED gold, leed gold ci, San Francisco, Sustainable Building, sustainable design, wharton, wharton san francisco

Read the rest of Talking Public Space and Urban Intervention With San Francisco’s Rebar Studio

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: "sustainable architecture", eco design, green design, green space, Landscape Architecture, matt passmore, parking day, Parklet, public interaction, public space, re bar, rebar, rebar studio, San Francisco, Urban design

Read the rest of Pelli Clarke Pelli Breaks Ground on the Transbay Transit Tower in San Francisco

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: "sustainable architecture", boston properties, eco design, eco skyscraper, eco tower, green architecture, Green Building, green design, high performance facade, Hines, pelli clarke pelli, San Francisco, Sustainable Building, sustainable design, transbay, transbay joint powers authority, transbay tower, Transbay Transit Center

Read the rest of INTERVIEW: We Talk to Lumio Folding Book Lamp Creator Max Gunawan

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: green lighting, kickstarter, kickstarter project, LED, lithium ion battery, Lumio, Lumio lamp, Max Gunawan, Sustainable, sustainable design

Read the rest of San Francisco’s New Transbay Transit Center Sheds Glass Skin to Save $10 Million

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: "sustainable architecture", city park, construction update, eco design, energy efficient design, green architecture, Green Building, green design, green roof, green transportation, pelli clarke pelli, Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects, perforated metal, public green space, public space, public transportation, pwp landscape architecture, rooftop park, San Francisco, sf transit center, shade screen, Sustainable Building, sustainable design, train station, Transbay Transit Center, transit center, transparent facade

For the past 20 years, the world has observed World Water Day on March 22nd – and to mark the occasion this year, the Dopper Foundation has erected a 14-foot wave made from reclaimed plastic bottles in San Francisco. The wave, which is made from about 6,000 single-use plastic bottles, has a surfboard attached to it, and visitors are invited to surf the wave of plastic. The event is aimed at raising awareness about the effect that single-use plastic bottles are having on our oceans. Want to ride the wave? Head over to San Francisco’s UN Plaza!

Read the rest of Celebrate World Water Day by Surfing a 14-Foot Wave Made of Plastic Bottles in San Francisco

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: Dopper, Dopper Foundation, plastic, Plastic bottles, plastic wave, reclaimed bottles, reclaimed plastic bottles, Recycled Plastic, San Francisco, single-use plastic bottles, UN Plaza, upcycled bottles, upcycling, world water day

Read the rest of Snohetta’s San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Expansion to Break Ground this Summer

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: art exhibition spaces, Contemporary Art Museum, cultural center, educational space, flexible spaces, LEED gold certification, San Francisco, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, SFMOMA expansion San Francisco, SFMOMA Mario Botta, snohetta, Snohetta SFMOMA

Inhabitat readers might remember that we interviewed California Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom back when he was the mayor of San Francisco in a live webcast that was open to any of our readers who wanted to attend. The finale of our Green Talks series of live chats with green thought-leaders, this interview touched on subjects such as mandatory composting, electric vehicle infrastructure and political leadership in CA. Our interview with Mayor Newsom was provocative and inspiring, and was a can’t-miss bit of Inhabitat journalism, if we do say so ourselves. Happily, for those of you who missed this amazing interview – we finally have the videos together of the interview in its entirety. We’ve chopped the full 35 minute transcript down into 4 shorter, themed segments for easier viewing. Enjoy!

Read the rest of VIDEO: Inhabitat Interviews California Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom!

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: California, electric cars, Gavin Newsom, green building San Francisco, green politics in california, green san francisco, high speed rail in CA, INHABITAT GREEN TALKS, inhabitat interviews, mandatory composting, mandatory recycling, renewable energy, san francisco city hall, san francisco mayor gavin newsom, solar power San Francisco, Video, youtube video

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

Read the rest of NBBJ Unveils Samsung’s New Garden-Filled San Jose Campus That Could Rival Them All

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: "sustainable architecture", eco design, energy efficient design, gardens, green architecture, Green Building, green design, high performance envelope, NBBJ, open air concept, samsung, samsung campus, san jose, silicon valley, Sky-Gardens, Sustainable Building, sustainable design

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: bikes, citroen, Citroen van, Cycle Club San Francisco, cycling, micro park, mini park, Parklet, parklet program, parklets, public space, Rapha Cycle Club, rebar, rebar studio, San Francisco, San Francisco Marina

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

High-end clothing store Aether Apparel just launched its first standalone retail shop in San Francisco – and it’s made from three recycled shipping containers stacked one atop another! The sophisticated building is the latest addition to PROXY, a temporary cargotecture development in Hayes Valley which already boasts a coffee shop, an ice-cream parlor and a Biergarten. Aether’s towering shipping container store was designed by architects Envelope A&D working in collaboration with Aether designer Thierry Gaugain, and it was fabricated by Chris French Metal.

Read the rest of Aether’s New San Francisco Store Takes Shipping Container Architecture to New Heights

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: aether, Chris French Metal, eco design, envelope a+d, green design, hayes valley, proxy, proxy_storefront, retail in shipping containers, San Francisco, shipping container architecture, shipping containers, sustainable design, Thierry Gaugain

At a West Coast Green conference in San Francisco, we were lucky enough to not only get a sneak peek of the Michelle Kaufmann mkLotus prefab house, but also to speak with the designer herself to get the low-down on the sleekly-designed zero energy home. Check out the video to learn all the details about the energy, water, and materials packed into this compact sustainable home.

Read the rest of Video Interview with Green Home Designer Michelle Kaufmann

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: City Hall, eco prefab, jill fehrenbacher, Michelle Kaufman's MKLotus Green Prefab House, Michelle Kaufmann Designs, MKDesigns, MkLotus Bedroom, MkLotus Kitchen, MKLotus Resin Sliding Door, sustainable prefab, west coast green, Zero Energy Prefab