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Post tags: beehive, berlin, Botanical, community garden, DIY, eco-travel, Gardening, green materials, mobile garden, open garden, organic garden, Organic vegetables, play house, Prinzessinnengarten, Recycled Materials, recycled shipping container, recycling / compost, social network gardening, working garden

Community gardens are already very popular in Berlin, but a group of agro-entrepreneurs is planning to take urban farming to the next level in the German capital. A team of three Berliners is planning to convert an enormous old malt factory in the city’s Schöneberg district into a rooftop farm that promises to be one of the most ambitious urban agriculture projects in the world. The Frisch vom Dach (“Fresh from the Roof”) project will be an aquaponics farm where both fish and vegetables are produced and distributed on-site.

Read the rest of Frisch vom Dach To Convert Former Berlin Malt Factory Into a Rooftop Aquaponics Farm!

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Post tags: adaptive reuse, aquaponics, berlin, Frisch vom Dach, germany, rooftop farm, shipping containers, sustainable food, upcycling, urban agriculture, Urban Farming

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Post tags: berlin, eco design, green design, industrial space, K-MB Creative Network, Sigurd Larsen Architects, storage drawers, sustainable design, swing wall

J. MAYER H. Architekten is putting the finishing touches on a new sustainable residential infill in Berlin just a few corners away from the top tourist spot of Museum Island. A metal brise-soleil projects out from the project’s facade, giving its form a liana-like organic shape. The architects aimed to give the project the calmness and comfort of a family house, so all 21 apartments have terraces or small gardens, and a wellness area faces a lush interior courtyard.

+ J. MAYER H. Architekten

Via Tervlap

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Post tags: berlin, brise soleil, Daylighting, Green apartment, green architecture, Green Building, green design, J. MAYER H. Architekten, Johannisstraße, Juergen H Mayer Architekten, mitte, museum island, sun shade, sustainable design

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Post tags: berlin, biospheres, Cloud Cities, eco design, geodesic dome, green design, Hamburger Bahnof, sustainable design, Tomas Saraceno, Utopian bubbles

Read the rest of Minimumhouse: Energy Efficient Vacation Home Blends Into the Forest

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Post tags: berlin, eco design, forest retreat, green design, green roof, Minimumhouse, Scheidt Kasprusch, sustainable design

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Post tags: berlin, eco design, en design, Forscherkindergarten Apfelbäumchen, green roof, kindergarten, natural gas, sustainable design, WInkens Architekten

Headed by architect Winy Maas, research group The Why Factory challenges us to think big in regards to going green and conserving our natural resources. Making bold and slightly fantastical designs, the group’s plan for the Thai city of Phuket are both beautiful and self-sustaining. Part of an exhibition at Berlin’s Aedes am Pfefferberg, Why Factory’s submission is a series of water-lily like artificial islands that soak up the sun and convert it to energy.

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Post tags: Aedes am Pfefferberg, artificial island, “Water- Curse or Blessing", berlin, eco design, Floating Island, green design, Phuket, Solar Power, sustainable design, Thailand, The Why Factory

Read the rest of Berlin Office Building Features Two Different High-Performance Facades

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Post tags: "office building", "sustainable architecture", berlin, DNGB, eco design, eco office, friedrichstrasse 40, german sustainable building council, glass fins, green architecture, Green Building, green design, high performance facade, operable shades, petersen architekten, shade screens, sun shades, Sustainable Building, sustainable design, textile shades

Read the rest of Berlin’s Tempelhof Airport to be Resurrected as One of Europe’s Largest Urban Gardens

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Post tags: "sustainable architecture", airport, airport renovation, berlin, eco design, germany, green architecture, Green Building, green design, green renovation, Gross Max, Landscape Architecture, Sustainable Building, sustainable design, sutherland hussey, tempelhof, tempelhof airport, tempelhof renovation, urban garden

A tower restaurant built back in the 70s in Berlin has recently gotten an urban street-inspired face lift! The retro eatery, known by Berliners as the “Bierpinsel” (Beer Brush), no longer serves food with a view. A group of art curators have transformed the space into the TurmKunst, an art gallery, and asked four international street artists to give the exterior a colorful new look.

Read the rest of 1970s Berlin Restaurant Transformed into Graffiti Art Tower

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Post tags: berlin, eco design, graffiti, graffiti artists, green design, green renovation, Street art, street artists, Sustainable Building, turmkunst

Nothing attests to humans’ instinctual love of making stuff and taking it apart more than the Lego brick. The plastic toy has been featured in films and music videos and is the basis of some serious modern art projects — including Jan Vormann‘s ongoing “Dispatchwork” pieces in Berlin and Bocchignano, Italy. Vormann identifies damaged buildings and plugs the gaps with brightly colored Lego bricks.

Read the rest of Artist Jan Vormann Uses Legos to ‘Repair’ War-Damaged Buildings

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Post tags: Art, berlin, Design, dispatchwork, green design, historical buildings, Jan Vormann, lego, lego buildings, LEGOs, Recycled Materials, social design, sustainable design

German architect Jakob Tigges has unveiled a plan for a 1,000m tall faux mountain at the site of the former Tempelhof airport in Berlin, and his supporters are taking it rather seriously. Dubbed “The Berg,” the snow-capped colossus would be the world’s largest man-made mountain and would serve as a tourist attraction for skiers in the otherwise slope-less city. We’re all about adding green space to urban environments, but devoting an enormous amount of time, energy and resources into a gigantic landmass that isn’t even inhabitable on the inside seems like a huge mound of you-know-what, if you ask us.

Read the rest of Design for World’s Largest Man-Made Mountain Towers Over Berlin

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Post tags: berlin, Design for World’s Largest Man-Made Mountain Towers Over Berlin, faux mountain, giant mountain, human geography, Jacob Tigger, Jacob Tiggers, jacob tigges, man-made geography, man-made mountain, tempelhof, the berg, urban geography, world's largest man made mountain

The Palomar5 “Camp” is an incredible project that brought 30 thinkers under the age of 30 from 30 different disciplines together for six weeks to foster innovation outside of the corporate world. To enhance their idea, Palomar5 called on the innovative minds at 45 Kilo and the ZWEIDREI group to design a completely green live/work space for the event. The environment was constructed inside an old empty factory building in South Berlin. It fostered creativity for six weeks and then was broken down and completely recycled.

Read the rest of Berlin Factory Renovated Into Stunning Recyclable Live/Work Space

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Post tags: "sustainable architecture", Architecture, berlin, cardboard, Design, germany, green architecture, green design, live work space, live/work space, MDF, palomar, palomar5, palomar5 camp, recycled architecture, sustainable design, zweidrei

This modular, mobile Snuggles hotel allows you to shack up in pods for an artsy camping experience not dissimilar to staying in oversized hamster cage tunnels. The project crosses the boundaries of temporary architecture and public art with its linkable framework, configurable platforms, and waterproof textile coverings. Able to be set up on a beach, in the forest, or in an urban environment, Snuggles offers a fun experience that’s on par with even the trendiest hostels.

Read the rest of SNUGGLES: Stay in a Modular Hamster Tunnel Hotel

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Post tags: Architecture, berlin, concept, Eco Textiles, german, hotel, mobile, modular, public art, raumlabor, snuggles, Urbanism, vertical living

Different cities are taking different approaches to reducing both pollution and car usage. While Londoners are charged a fee for entering the central district of the city, certain German cities are now banning the most pulluting cars from downtown areas. Next time you’re considering driving your black smoke-spewing clunker into central Berlin, Cologne, or Hanover, think again!

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Post tags: ban, berlin, centre, city, germany, Green Transportation, Pollution, traffic

Winter is not, perhaps, the most temperate time of year to head off to Germany and Scandinavia, but the airfare sure is reasonable! I’m excited to report that from February 23 to March 13 I’ll be bundling up and traveling through Berlin, Copenhagen, and Gothenburg (Sweden) — and I’d love to get some travel advice from you!

In addition to visiting my brother and generally taking in the sights (such as the Reichstag Dome pictured above), I’m looking forward to exploring the local design scene and checking out exciting things to cover for Inhabitat. I’d like to invite any readers who are familiar with the region to send along their recommendations concerning things to do and see while I am there. Innovative sustainable design and architecture is at the top of my list, but would also be be delighted to hear about any hotspots for contemporary art, textile design, and fine crafts.

If comments are disabled, you can submit your tip here, or email me directly at gh.inhabitat@gmail.com

Thanks! I look forward to hearing from you!

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Post tags: berlin, copenhagen, Gothenburg