compact...really compact kitchen

My Kitchen Is A Cabinet! Really

No Kidding, but if I were to listen to He Ruimin then my kitchen would be just a cabinet with everything imaginable within it. Refrigerator, electric cook top, garbage bin, storage, and indicator lights on the fridge and stove to warn me about hot and cold surfaces! Good for the LOHAS gang, this concept makes me smile and frown. Smile because I think its and neat idea for restricted homes, and frown because I love elaborate big kitchens!

Designer: He Ruimin

(via Yankodesign.com)

The ‘One’ bike...the foldable bike

Design: Thomas Owen


‘One’ provides a real solution to the problems involved with urban transport. With congestion rapidly clogging up the roads the need for products that can free individuals from their car are in real demand. When open, ‘One’ is a comfortable stylish bicycle that not only offers all the benefits of cycling (like cheap travel and exercise) but with its revolutionary power assist system the user can cruise around with ease. When folded, ‘One’ turns into a smooth, light and compact case free of all dirty and protruding parts. ‘One’ can be easily carried, stowed and stored. ‘One’ is truly a bike for eco and money minded individuals alike. Its stylish design strips it from the folding bike stigma and makes it a bike for the 21st century.

(via Yankodesign)

Cyprus House Is The Green Home Of The Future

No matter what would you do with your house, for the moment you cannot reduce your carbon footprint to zero. However, we’ve seen lots of homes of the future which will be self-sustainable thanks to the most futuristic technologies. In the future, all the things in the world will have to be green and the home of your children might be one of them.

 Here is a house project designed by Italian-based architect Massimo Iosa Ghini. Even though he’s Italian, his project is destined for a residential area located alongside Pedieos river, near Nicosia, the capital city of Cyprus. Unsurprisingly, the home is called Cyprus House and I have to say that I’m already in awe after the organic and fluid shape of the structure.
The Cyprus House will consist of four units where you will find the most advanced passive and active eco-technologies. Adjustable solar panels, storage heating system for the winter, low E glass panels, and rainwater recovery and recycling will all be a part of this great green home.

All four units will act like an organism, but you don’t have to worry because it won’t bite. Well, we don’t know when the designer will finish the project and this could be a problem. By the time the housing complex is completed, our planet could be almost entirely polluted, and nobody could afford the house if there will be another economical crisis.

 (via devicedaily.com)

Bediator - intelligent heating system

Designer : Kunwoo Yi

  Bediator is an intelligent heating system designed to provide a warm and healthy room condition, while being energy efficient enough to eliminate the huge fuel bills of the owner that requires to run a conventional radiator. Bediator is actually a stylish retractable floor on which users can lay down comfortably and can be activated through a simple push on the side button. The green hole on the side circulates cool air during summer and warm in the winter to keep a comfortable condition in the room. Moreover, it features a LED display where users can have various information such as room temperature, date, etc.

 (via tuvie.com)

The MOSE Project (Venice, Italy)

Venice, built upon mud islands in a lagoon in the Adriatic Sea, has long been one of the world's most endangered cities. In the 20th century, artesian wells that gradually extracted the aquifer beneath the city caused its elegant architecture to begin sinking, increasing the flood risk. The danger will be exacerbated even more by global warming. Osvaldo Canziani, deputy head of the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, told a reporter in April 2007 that over the next 30 years, rainfall in the northern Mediterranean will increase by 10 to 20 percent, raising the lagoon's height to unprecedented levels. "If things carry on like this, Venice is destined to disappear," Canziani predicted. The MOSE project is intended to forestall that calamity. Begun in 2003 by then-Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, the project's name is an acronym that, in English, translates to "Experimental Electromechanical Module." In simpler terms, MOSE will consist of 79 hollow, hinged steel gates that usually will be filled with water and lie unseen on the ocean floor. In the event of a storm, the gates will be pumped full of air, so that they will rise up to form a protective seawall. MOSE has been plagued by controversy. Italy's Green Party, which is now part of current Prime Minister Romano Prodi's eight-party ruling coalition, has denounced it as "the biggest fiasco [in] this century," and Venetian geographer Paolo Pirazzoli has warned that it may not be high enough to protect against sea level increases. Nevertheless, about one-third of the $4 billion project has been constructed so far, with completion scheduled for 2011.

(via Discovery Chanel)

Eco Architecture: ‘Matchbox’ building

Allard Architecture’s “Matchbox” building has been approved by the Amsterdam Aesthetics Committee, which when complete in December 2010, will house 22 corporate units, a rooftop restaurant and semi-underground parking in the artistic hub of Amsterdam North. The playful design of the building comes with the use of prefabricated concrete “matchboxes,” which are stacked on top of each other.

Each level of the building is an independent concrete box that rests on thin structural walls, thereby eliminating the need for excess steel reinforcement. The inside of these boxes will be lined with galvanized steel to allow the occupants to hang artwork and layouts with magnets. These individual units are designed with their own atrium that brings in sunlight, eliminating the need of electric lighting during the day.

Landmark bus shelter concept design

The Landmark bus shelter is part of the range of a uniform design concept, featuring an advertising showcase that allows advertisers to store double-sided posters that brings in more revenue for the city council, along with a lighting system that lights up in a variety of colors at the right side. This makes the Landmark bus shelter design concept a pleasant place to wait for your transport, especially when dusk falls. I just hope that vandalism doesn’t rear it’s ugly head anytime soon.

Freedom chair fits all

Humanscale's Freedom chair might be the most exciting chair I've ever seen. It features a counterbalance system that adjusts itself to the sitter, eliminating the need for recline controls. Plus I've always wanted an office chair that looks it could fire nuclear weapons and overthrow a small country. And maybe come alive when nobody is in the room.

Ravine City by Chris Hardwicke

Proposals by Chris Hardwicke for Ravine City and Farm City integrate visionary ideas for an urban ecosystem of collective housing that restores and enhances the ravine system of Toronto with a new kind of architecture that would enable the city to feed itself. The Toronto Ravine System is the defining natural feature of the city housing diverse ecosystems and running like fingers through the city. Ravine City creates housing development that runs along the top edge of the existing Toronto ravines, creating artificial ravines by connecting the terraced roof levels of the housing to create a continuous connected ecosystem. The artificial ravines function much like the natural ravines - controlling water flow and regeneration as well as cleaning the air, creating habitat and biomass. This new topographic infrastructure is connected to the natural ravine system and provides public open space. Farm City extends this concept to create agricultural areas integrated into new housing towers. By putting housing and farms in the same building, Farm City creates symbiotic relationships between energy, water and waste. Heat generated from the greenhouses is used to heat the housing units. Biomass from the greenhouses is used for energy. Solar energy is generated from the large glazed surface. Grey-water and compost generated from the housing is used in the greenhouses.

Honeycomb fridge from Electrolux

Each honeycomb of this fridge of the future stores different food at its optimal temperature. That is right, the Go Fresh fridge will store different foods at different temperatures to ensure the longest lifespan for each food item. Another bonus is that odors of different foods can't combine in honeycomb fridge unlike in conventional fridges. The refrigerator is composed of a main frame that produces cold air for 12 individual, temperature-controlled cells much like the cells of a honeycomb. When the cell reaches the correct temperature, the cold air inlet closes automatically, saving energy. The type of food in each cell is identified by scanning a picture of it and the appropriate temperature is set automatically. The cells themselves are insulated and can be removed, making it possible to take them on a picnic. Hmm, may be in 22nd century, but quite enticing.

Designing the Future - The Venus Project

The Venus Project presents a bold, new direction for humanity that entails nothing less than the total redesign of our culture. There are many people today who are concerned with the serious problems that face our modern society: unemployment, violent crime, replacement of humans by technology, over-population and a decline in the Earth's ecosystems.

http://www.thevenusproject.com/

2010 World Expo Shanghai - Notable Pavilions- Architecture & Design

UK Pavilion

Heatherwick Studio Architects

The concept is an unwraped package reflective of a visit to a UK public park. Open roof, open space mixed with a series of walkways through a "Green City" and Open City"  London is 40 percent "green", making it the largest green city in the world.  It features an opportunity to invest in nature and save seeds to protect the future.  The Seed Cathedral is formed from 60,000 slender transparent rods, each 7.5 meters long.  They act as fibre optic filaments in the day, drawing light in. Rods are embedded with lights to brovide a glowing light at night.

POLAND Pavilion

WWA Architects

The concept is Human, Creativity and City, featuring giant paper cut-outs of flowery designs to reflect the combination of Polish Architecture of modernity and folk art.

DENMARK Pavilion

Big Architects

The concept takes the best of living on Copenhagen featuring spiral knot tied bicycle friendly infrastructure equip with 1500 eco-friendly two wheelers for vistors to use to explore. At the center, a pool featuring the Little Mermaid, a famous landmark of Denmark.

United Arab Emirates Pavilion

Foster and Partners Architects

The concept is a sand dune representing the symbolic feature of the desert landscape shared by all seven emirates.  It is one of the largest pavilions at 20 meters in height, enclosing 3000 square meters with a 400 person capacity.  This is a truly recyclable pavilion as it will be dismantled and moved to a permanent location.

ISRAEL Pavilion

Hiam 2 Dototan Architect

The concept is the "Whispering Garden", which greets visitors as they enter the building.  Trees begin to "whisper" in both English and Chinese when visitors walk close to them.

SPAIN Pavilion

Barcelonese Studio Architects

Covered in rattan mats, a very modern yet traditional building featuring the running of the bulls, flamenco dancers and football matches. Feel the floor rumble beneath you as a stampede of horses go by while watching flamenco dancers.

“CarGo” concept | Adam Schacter

Urban traffic congestion is an increasing problem which affects countless delivery companies every day. The unique 'CarGo' concept addresses this issue with its variable track, wheelbase and load carrying configurations.
Designed by Adam Schacter. The CarGo has one seater, and can be turned into three modes; a compact mode where the pickup section is placed longitudinally with the cabin, a narrow mode with tilted cargo bay for higher maneuverability and a full pickup mode for larger payloads...(read more at http://www.carbodydesign.com/archive/2009/07/06-cargo-concept/)

Because childrens are our future

Anyone with creative ideas, energy, staff and money, can give to kids in his or her neighborhood. Who knows what could happen, if we as individuals, companies and cities paid as much attention to our kids’ play environments as we do to our own?

Mobile floating house gives great opportunity to enjoy the nature

Last Resort is a mobile floating architecture that is successfully combined a traditional home with a mobile swimming architecture with great usability, spacious interior and modern technology. The design is inspired by the horizontal, undulated shape of the waterfront and the final outcome makes the beautiful natural landscape an extension of the living room. The concept features two levels, to facilitate the upper deck with adequate height, the technical equipments, sleeping bunks and hatches are placed in the lower deck. The floor and ceiling of each room acts as the lower and upper margin of a photo frame and the changeable height and shape of the levels changes the view and perspective of the landscape. When landed on an unmarked site, the freedom is boundless, but when landing at a moorage, privacy becomes a vital issue. To address this issue, the floating house features light protection and flexible view to gives privacy to certain rooms.

They serve as “extension rooms” of the upper deck: Beds and couches are embedded into the floor and can be opened as the need arises. The external measurements are 5m x 15m. In the front area, there is a covered terrace; there, you can find a staircase leading to the roof. Together, the kitchen and the living room form a generous open room. The bathroom consists of a core separating both bedrooms from the common room. The bedroom can be separated by sliding panels and used separately as a study. All in all, there are six beds (incl. 2 bunk beds).
Two surfaces (floor and ceiling) frame the room experience “nature”; they form the upper and lower margin of the picture. Since the height and shape of the levels can be varied, the perspective and view of the landscape keep changing. The floor, for example, bends downwards at one point and disappears into the water. At another point, the roof curves down to the floor, thus creating a “kissing moment”. At some other spot, it unfurls in order to make space for the staircase. All this generates a play on forms that, together with the swell, the wind and the water reflection results in an intense nature experience.

Generally, there are two types of use. When landing at a moorage, a high level of privacy is necessary due to possible adjacent neighbors. However, there is a practically boundless freedom when landing on unmarked sites. A flexible view and light protection are therefore necessary, not only for climatic reasons. It allows for the screening of certain rooms from others, if required.

The roof and the floor are built with conventional methods of boat construction as load-bearing structure. They have reinforcing ribs made of fibre-reinforced plastic (FRP). With a maximum span of 3, 60m, the static height as well as the section of stanchion can be considerably reduced. The bracing is effected through the core. The roof lies on the floor on certain spots and protrudes 2, 50m over the terrace area. The shape of the ceiling adjusts itself to the static requirements. The roof’s forming during load effect has to be calculated for the accuracy of the geometry. For serial production, the use of CNC-machines has to be considered. The specialisation of digital production methods, together with traditional craft technology can be the future direction for the Lusatian dockyards.

Eolo Urban Transportation Bus by Krassi Dimitrov

What can be better for us when one of the most air polluting agents, vehicles on street, become the key of air purifier? The Eolo bus aids the environment by cleaning the fine particles from the air emitted by cars, while providing a compact and functional urban transport system for small cities. This electric bus features four-wheel steering, each containing electric motors, powered with nano-titanium anode batteries and contains filters to clean the particulate matters from the air. With this compact and beautifully designed public bus, the future streets as well as the environment are envisioned to be cleaner and more space-efficient.