We’re no longer in rendering stage, this is the real deal.  Project7ten is built and ready for viewing.  Actually, it’s ready for sale if: (1) it hasn’t already been sold, and (2) you’re in the market for one of the greenest, most modern homes in California.  Interestingly, this house is the first conventionally- constructed LEED Platinum home in the state.  Located at 710 E. Milwood Avenue in Venice, California, it probably doesn’t get much better than this.  Check the images.  I get this plush, radiant, rainforest vibe from the images.  So colorful and clean.  Anyone else agree?  This is definitely more contemporary than minimal, or modern even, but I really like what they’ve done.  If you watch the slide show, you’ll see a NASCAR-esque wall of sponsors.  I bet your friends don’t have that! 

Related Links:
++Project7ten Goes Platinum, Draws Celebrity Crowd
++Top Five Super Green Modern Homes

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It’s Friday and as I like to say, why not watch a little video?  If you’ve been to Dwell lately, you’ll know they just unveiled their new, completely overhauled website.  It’s super nice now, with easy access to images and information from their archives.  There’s also a new video page with content of some very interesting leaders in design.  Hence, the name for their new video series, Dwell Design Leaders.  I’ve embedded the video of Michelle Kaufmann above talking about prefab and the mkLotus.  The next video below is of David Baker.  I found his comments extremely interesting.  The last video below is Christopher Deam talking about his modern interpretation and design of the Airstream and his collaboration with Design Within Reach.  Very compelling, really inspiring.

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Well, it’s that time again and BuildingGreen, a company that also publishes the GreenSpec Directory, today announced their list of Top-10 Green Building Products.  It’s not so much that these products are better than everything else on the market, although they may be better, it’s that they’re cool additions to the GreenSpec Directory over the last year or so.  Most of the following ten products have multiple environmental attributes, but here’s a slim breakdown:  4 save energy, 2 save water, 3 are made of green materials, 1 helps situate solar power, and 2 avoid hazardous manufacturing/disposal of materials.  Without further ado:

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UPDATE 3/16/09 – Urban Core International has gone dark.  The website was shut down.  If you have any concerns, feel free to contact us. 

Aaron Newman, founder and managing partner of Urban Core International, sent me the details of his latest project, Urban Rio.  Specifically, Urban Rio is a product of Urban Core's prefab and container division called Envision Prefab.  It's easy on the eyes, to say the least, and just so happens to be the first sustainable, affordable, container project in Panama. 

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William McDonough and Michael Braumgart, founders of MBDC and authors of the popular Cradle to Cradle book, just announced the launch of their new blog, the Cradle to Cradle Community Blog.  The blog looks to be authored authentically by the experts themselves, so we won’t have to chase after old Bioneers videos on Youtube just to get some wit and wisdom from McDonough himself.  I can’t wait to read this, although it would be nice to have an RSS reminder every now and then.  Simultaneously, they’ve announced the creation of the Cradle to Cradle Community Forum.  The forum has subcategories for discussions on Cradle to Cradle Design, Innovative Materials, Closing Loops, and Cradle to Cradle Certification.  There’s free and subscription levels within the forum and it looks like premium members get to participate in live chats.  Fair enough.