Style of Design

Most discarded objects such as plastic toys, utensils and metal objects will fall fate to an eternity in a landfill, but artist Sayaka Ganz sees a second life in them. In a move for both the planet and art, Ganz recovers all of this junk and upcycles it into animal shaped sculptures. Meant to depict animals caught in motion, at a distance the sculptural effect is certainly striking – one look and you can’t help but think you’ve just caught a real life leap or swoop frozen in time.

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Post tags: animal scupltures, eco-art, garbage sculptures, plastic sculptures, Recycled Materials, recycled sculptures, Sayaka Ganz, trash sculptures

Designed by Hufft Projects, the “Bent and Sliced House” puts an innovative idea – bending a home to accommodate the curving slope of the site – into action. In addition to bending the house, slicing and unfolding it in a manner similar to Japanese Origami is introduced to create clerestories allowing opportunities for daylighting and natural ventilation. This lovely home also incorporates a number of sustainable features including geothermal heat pumps, a vegetated roof in combination with highly reflective and recycled roof membranes, local and recycled materials inside and out, low VOC paints, a cistern to supply all water required for irrigation, and ample daylighting which eliminates the need for artificial light during the day.

The house’s exterior and interior are also marked by the iconic and sensitive use of Western Red Cedar. It wraps the surfaces of walls, encases bathroom furnishings, and turns from the surface of a wall to form a ceiling. The material’s versatility is exhibited to the fullest. Different finishes allow for subtle but noticeable color variations giving the Bent and Sliced House its characteristic signature aesthetic.

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Post tags: bent sliced house, Eco Architecture, eco design, eco home, geothermal pumps, Green Building, green house, hufft projects, sustainable design, sustainable home, vegetated roof

At Inhabitat, we’ve seen a ton of cool things made of garbage, but never a whole wireless network – until now, that is. That’s right, members of MIT’s Bits and Atoms lab taught locals in Jalalabad, Afghanistan how to transform bits of trash into stuff they could use to create a high speed wireless network for the area. Called FabFi, the network uses reflectors made from discarded pieces of board, wire, plastic tubs and some cans!

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Post tags: afghanistan, eco design, green design, high speed internet, jalalabad, massachusetts institute of technology, MIT, Recycled Materials, sustainable design, upcycling, wireless network, wireless network made of garbage, wireless router

What if the crumbled remains of Haiti could be recycled and used to repair and rebuild a brand new city? That’s what one company, Independence Recycling of Florida, is proposing as a reconstruction process. Economically, it makes sense to use the existing material on site rather than having to import material to the island nation, and there are also significant environmental benefits to not sending all that waste to the landfill or using virgin materials to rebuild Haiti.

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Post tags: haiti, haiti earthquake, port-au-prince, rebuilding with recycled materials, reconstruction, recycled, Recycled Materials

© James O'Meara

Architects: The Objectionists / Jim Dreitlein, Serban Ionescu, Justin Smith
Location: Brooklyn, NY, USA
Collaborators: Narek Gevorgian, Brian Nemeth, David Valdivia, Thorsten Foerster, Eric Juron, Garen Barsegian, Billy Bob Archer, Caitlin Duffy, Rick Weber, Mentor Noci
Client: Jim Dreitlein, Serban Ionescu, Justin Smith, Narek Gevorgian
Total Area: 667sqft
Budget: $4,000
Project year: 2009
Photographs: James O’Meara

The Miner and a Major is a free-standing, 5 unit dwelling for 5 architects/designers/artists, in a Brooklyn loft. All rooms/units act like a puzzle through visual portals and physical interlockings with the neighboring room(s). The dwelling was designed and built by Jim Dreitlein, Serban Ionescu and Justin Smith (The Objectionists) with the help of many friends and colleagues.

floor plan

diagram

Resting in a neighborhood with rich naval and ship building history was a major influence in beginning and continually through-out the design process. Many materials were commercially purchased but a guiding design principle was the materials we found or salvaged that influenced an organic and playful growth of the design to evolve towards. Lights were donated by Amerlux and we frequented BIG NYC (Built It Green) for recycled materials. A multitude of sketches was also a key principle to how we designed and built more spontaneously and collaboratively than having a set of already organized drawings. This allowed for more play, mistakes and surprises to influence and guide the design process towards something un-sketched.

© James O'Meara

© James O'Meara

Each room/ unit consists of the most essential and bare minimum: a desk, a bed and storage space. Through small portals and doors the rooms start intersecting themselves spatially, expanding the internal space into the larger surrounding space/host where the dwelling rests in, creating a fine but yet controllable line between what is private and public in a room. Each room/ unit is individually and significantly different from the other, but intertwine to act and perform as one larger unified and autonomous unit/dwelling/community.

© James O'Meara

Architects: The Objectionists / Jim Dreitlein, Serban Ionescu, Justin Smith
Location: Brooklyn, NY, USA
Collaborators: Narek Gevorgian, Brian Nemeth, David Valdivia, Thorsten Foerster, Eric Juron, Garen Barsegian, Billy Bob Archer, Caitlin Duffy, Rick Weber, Mentor Noci
Client: Jim Dreitlein, Serban Ionescu, Justin Smith, Narek Gevorgian
Total Area: 667sqft
Budget: $4,000
Project year: 2009
Photographs: James O’Meara

The Miner and a Major is a free-standing, 5 unit dwelling for 5 architects/designers/artists, in a Brooklyn loft. All rooms/units act like a puzzle through visual portals and physical interlockings with the neighboring room(s). The dwelling was designed and built by Jim Dreitlein, Serban Ionescu and Justin Smith (The Objectionists) with the help of many friends and colleagues.

floor plan

diagram

Resting in a neighborhood with rich naval and ship building history was a major influence in beginning and continually through-out the design process. Many materials were commercially purchased but a guiding design principle was the materials we found or salvaged that influenced an organic and playful growth of the design to evolve towards. Lights were donated by Amerlux and we frequented BIG NYC (Built It Green) for recycled materials. A multitude of sketches was also a key principle to how we designed and built more spontaneously and collaboratively than having a set of already organized drawings. This allowed for more play, mistakes and surprises to influence and guide the design process towards something un-sketched.

© James O'Meara

© James O'Meara

Each room/ unit consists of the most essential and bare minimum: a desk, a bed and storage space. Through small portals and doors the rooms start intersecting themselves spatially, expanding the internal space into the larger surrounding space/host where the dwelling rests in, creating a fine but yet controllable line between what is private and public in a room. Each room/ unit is individually and significantly different from the other, but intertwine to act and perform as one larger unified and autonomous unit/dwelling/community.

Architecture is knowledge, history, research and trend. This is literally evident in Book Cell, an octagonal building made entirely from books that was installed in the Modern Art Center in Lisboa. Slovakian artist Matej Kren built an octagonal framework, filled it with books and removed it, leaving a symmetrical, enclosed room of stacked literature.

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Post tags: Architecture, book cell, CAMJAP, de Matej Krén, eco-art, green architecture, green design, lisboa, matej kren, Recycled Materials, sustainable design

Phoenix-based Upcycle Living is aiming to bring affordable shipping container housing to the masses with its modern cost-effective designs. Just las fall they installed a 2-bedroom house at a green street fair in Phoenix, and orders started rolling in. The designers and builders now expect that they can produce a similar modular model for less than $100,000.

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Post tags: affordable housing, eco residence, phoenix, Recycled Materials, shipping container housing, shipping containers, temporary shelters, upcycled living, upcycled materials

Phoenix-based Upcycle Living is aiming to bring affordable shipping container housing to the masses with its modern cost-effective designs. Just las fall they installed a 2-bedroom house at a green street fair in Phoenix, and orders started rolling in. The designers and builders now expect that they can produce a similar modular model for less than $100,000.

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Post tags: affordable housing, eco residence, phoenix, Recycled Materials, shipping container housing, shipping containers, temporary shelters, upcycled living, upcycled materials

When it comes to home audio systems, a bumpin’ subwoofer is a key part of the listening experience. However subwoofer cabinets can be hard on the eyes, which is why we like the Automan 500, an eco-subwoofer made entirely from a recycled tires. The chic concealed subwoofer is one of 18 finalists in this year’s Greener Gadgets Competition.

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Post tags: automan 500, eco design sustainable design, green design, green subwoofer, greener gadgets competition, greener gadgets design competition, multifunctional furniture, Recycled Materials, recycled tire subwoofer