I recently received an email from reader Roxanne Nelson about her green transformation of a 1940s cape cod home in St. Paul, Minnesota. When done, it’s going to be a modern green knockout. Roxanne and her husband, Kevin Flynn, both architects, are documenting the transformation at EcoDEEP Haus, which I’ve been following for the past couple weeks. Check it out.
SMC Furnishings is a small, New York-based company that creates handcrafted, high-quality furniture with earth friendly methods. In their tenth year of business, this company has been doing the green thing for longer than most. Even their workshop produces almost zero waste as they reuse even the smallest scraps for fuel. Almost all of their wood comes from reclaimed buildings, downed trees, or trees that are cut down because of disease or nuisance issues.
I opened up the local newspaper today, and much to my surprise, there’s news that the first, mid-rise container building in the U.S. is planned for downtown Salt Lake City. The project was designed by none other than Adam Kalkin, container architecture expert, and will be called City Center Lofts. The green, ultra-modern condo building will have eight units and a ground level art gallery.
Imagine you are tasked with creating an innovative skyscraper that takes into consideration historical and social context, the existing urban fabric, human scale, and the environment. Your skyscraper design can take any height or shape on any site in the world, but it must be technologically feasible and environmentally responsible. Any ideas? Evolo Architecture held a skyscraper competition with the above constraints and announced three winners and six mentions. Of those nine, Daekwon Park has received some attention in the last week. It’s a pretty interesting concept. I also like the escraper by Sohta Mori and Yuichiro Minato.
Escraper connects three twisted buildings in a modern, but natural way. It has six major green spaces or parks, as well as a mini garden on each level.
Check out these cool tile tapestry patterns from Heath Ceramics. I’m partial to the flemish bond gunmetal (shown top left and below). Heath Ceramics has a factory/kiln in Sausalito, California where they create these incredible tiles. Their Tapestry Collection has three patterns: argyle, stitch, and flemish bond, which can be face-mounted in 12×12" squares. Prices vary depending on the pattern, but if you’re looking for a specialty application, try the overstock tiles offered at 75% off retail.
Project Profiles
