A massive inflated balloon erected inside the Gasometer Oberhausen, Germany is purported to be the largest inflated envelope suspended without a skeleton. Designed and installed by artists team Christo and the late Jeanne-Claude, Big Air Package is a radical play of both space and light, pushing the limits of scale for a temporary installation. Read the rest of this entry »
Tucked into the coastal hillside near Kavarna, Bulgaria the newly completed Equinox House by Ignatov Architects explores a novel approach to achieving passive house energy performance. The home’s celestial name sake is well deserved for the careful consideration of solar orientation of the large, super efficient windows, angled to shed summer heat but absorb the fleeting winter energy. Extremely airtight construction testing at 50% better than passive house standards and super-insulation provides a 90% reduction in heating needs. Read the rest of this entry »
SOL Grotto, an installation completed in the Berkeley Botanical Garden by Rael San Frattello Architects, is a sensory oriented space using the discards of the infamous collapse of solar energy company Solyndra. The specialized glass tubes originally created for housing solar cells is repurposed to great spatial and tonal effect by placing them through a wall and connecting the outside within.
With urban housing needs increasingly growing and competing with other resources such as green spaces Zoka Zola Architects designed a clever urban topography that makes room for both. To be completed at the end of 2013 on the outskirts of Rijeka, Croatia INTERPOLATION will consist of 80 condominiums among four buildings. Each building sits a story above the virgin landscape and at a distance from each other creating a continuous band of untouched green belts boarding on a forest. Read the rest of this entry »
Testing the next evolution in commercial building skins the CJ Cheiljedang Research and Development Center’s unique responsive facade controls solar gain over a significant range of exposure. Yazdani Studio of Cannon Design was tasked to create a marquee office and research center in Seoul, South Korea. Their solution was to create three tear drop shaped towers radiating from a glass atrium shrouded in a kinetic shade. Read the rest of this entry »
Only hours to go before eVolo’s Kickstarter campaign for the book [ours] Hyper Localization of Sustainable Architecture comes to an end. Discover your inner parametric architect. At the $44 and $88 reward level we are offering the playful and mindful handcrafted zenblock, a building block that requires a special touch to be stacked or balanced. Custom made for this Kickstarter campaign the blocks are made with birch and non-VOC painted on a single facet with eVolo Magazine colors and finished with a non toxic oil finish. The wood is reclaimed from a window manufacturer and each unique piece is handcrafted.
They can be stacked, they can be balanced. They can be left alone and gazed upon, or they can handled. Whatever you do, they will look great.
From a child to an adult, it is the balance game that anyone can enjoy. Since it is a simple form, you may enjoy it as an art object. Place them on your desk or table, and observe.
Other rewards include eVolo Magazine #04, signed copies of the book, the chapter [Japan Condenses], exclusive transcripts of interviews with extraordinary architects, and even a presentation on what hyper-localization mean in the world and your community.
-> [ours] Hyper Localization of Sustainable Architecture on Kickstarter
eVolo’s Kickstarter campaign for the book [ours] Hyper Localization of Sustainable Architecture ends at noon on August 31. As the 21st century unfolds new paradigms in architecture are evolving where environmental awareness merges with a new sense of place. [ours] uncovers the best in environmentally astute building design so don’t miss your chance to help support the investigation of the new architectural archetype in three distinct regions and to receive some unique rewards.
The most exciting architecture today is not only environmentally astute but re-imagines a sense of place. The book [ours] by Andrew Michler is a collaboration between eVolo and the Institute for the Built Environment at Colorado State University on contemporary architecture trends of sustainable design in selected locations around the world. We have put together a Kickstarter campaign to help support the ground breaking research behind the book.
[ours] disseminates how the best architecture comes together to create regional identity in the 21st century. Site specific design is a core reality in developing robust, thriving communities and informing the shared nature of the built and natural world through environmentally attuned development.
Regions are already responding to the challenge through inventive and provocative architecture. [Japan Condenses], [Spain Wraps], and [Australia Unfolds] explores how design practices inform a sense of place and provide solutions to complex issues in the built environment. These three divergent areas exemplify the quality of redefined design vernacular that addresses deep sustainable objectives.
Other regions from around the world will be explored as well including [Denmark Plays], [Germany Maintains], [Mexico Buries], [Cascadia Grows], South Africa and Central America.
The germ of the idea is to explore sustainable design by putting these buildings into context. We see the re-imagining of the built environment as one of the most important goals in thriving in an altered planet in the 21st century. By pushing the envelope these buildings create new architectural archetypes, integrating function and form to improve performance. We will explore how architects have learned from their failures and from taking risks. Read the rest of this entry »
Orange stained Finnish hardwoods wrap an egg shaped pavilion dubbed “My Green World” designed by 2D3D. The project took only 6 months from concept to completion using roboticly precut wood members with a resulting woven exterior reminiscent of a seed. The building was commissioned by the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation for the Floriade 2012 Expo in Venlo, the Netherlands.
Design group N55 teamed with architect Anne Romme to create a lightweight, easy to assemble greenhouse based on un-repeating cellular structures. The SPACEPLATES Greenhouse, South Bristol Skills Academy at City of Bristol College, is a part of a series of structures that use low tech materials to create modular greenhouses without substructure supports. Read the rest of this entry »
