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Modern + Green = Unique Underground Home Design Plan Underground homes tend to conjure mental images of hobbit holes and otherwise rounded, earthen residences. This extremely modern house by KWK Promes defies popular conventions and, despite its organic green roof, is constructed of clean lines and clear shapes. Viewed from above or around, the house blends wonderfully into the landscape – even the gentle curves and straight lines seem to work with the horizon and trees in the distance. The barrier between inside and outside is highly permeable, providing continuous connections for residents with the natural world around them through giant sheets of floor-to-ceiling glass. Best of all (for the owners anyway): the lush green roof is only accessible from inside of the house through a set of secure stairs, reserving it as a private getaway for the home. While from certain perspectives the home blends visually with its surroundings, from other angles it appears to be simply a well-designed modernist house like any other.
Index Canada's Greenest Building: It's For The Kids A new childcare center planned in Canada is expected to raise the bar on traditional green building practices. The center serves the UniverCity community, which is walking distance to the Simon Fraser University campus on Burnaby Mountain, just outside Vancouver. The center is built to meet the Living Building Challenge certification, which takes into account seven different areas known as “petals.” image via SFU Community Trust To earn its petals, the recently opened childcare center is expected to generate more energy than it uses each year, recycle or harvest from rainwater more water than it uses, be free of toxic materials, obtain the majority of its materials from within a 400-kilometer (250-mile) radius and cost less to construct than a conventional childcare facility. “We thought if we are going to put anybody in the greenest building in Canada we should start with the kids,” project leader Dale Mikkelsen told the Vancouver Sun.
‘Invisible’ Set of Green Homes to be Hidden Underground Going green does not just mean eco-friendly building systems and sustainable construction materials. It can also imply a blending with the landscape – an implied recognition that our structures come second to nature. That, at least, is the idea behind this set of remarkable modern underground home designs commissioned by Michael Hill. The restrictions on their construction are severe with good reason: to preserve the rolling hillscape of this former golf course, all of the houses will be nearly entirely underground and environment-disturbing exterior amenities (such as spas or swimming pools) are forbidden as they would spoil the surrounding landscapes. The design concept revolves around privacy but also around maintaining natural beauty and the seclusion that comes with being in a truly natural setting.
DIY Geothermal Heating Systems and Pump - Geothermal Desuperheater Proponents of geothermal heating and cooling systems have been pounding on the door of public acceptance for almost two decades. And now, thanks to improved equipment and changing attitudes, doors are beginning to open. Though the number of geothermal systems sold today is still less than 1 percent of the domestic heating market, sales for fall 1997 through spring 1998 were up nearly 22 percent from the year before. When the numbers for the '97-'98 season are tallied, the industry expects similar gains. Slowly but surely, homeowners are beginning to take notice. What's so compelling about geothermal technology? Geothermal Basics The heart of a typical geothermal system is a ground-source heat pump that cycles water through an underground piping loop. While this equipment may sound exotic, its operation is fairly easy to understand when compared to that of conventional air-to-air heat pumps. The geothermal principle works about as well for air conditioning. An Equipment Overview U.S.
Lofted Forest Home: Organic Curves & Natural Materials Good things come to those who wait – particularly in a work of uniquely detailed and highly curved architecture. Nearly a decade in the making, this structure by Robert Harvey Oshatz is much like a tree house – lofted toward the top of the canopy around it – only bigger, grander, more complex and curved than most any tree house in the world. The perimeter of the structure is pushed out into the forest around it, curving in and out to create views as well as a sense of intimacy with the coniferous and deciduous tree cover. The curved, organic mix of materials continues to the interior of this elevated forest home – a conceptual play on the fluidity and complexity of music (the source of inspiration for the architect and client in the design).
UK Celebrity Plans on Building Huge Underground Eco-Home Shaped like an abstract flower and amazing from any aerial view, this underground house is nearly invisible – a rolling hill in the landscape – viewed from on the ground and all around. From below it blends in seamlessly with the natural surroundings. From above it is a beacon in the night. At nearly ten thousand square feet, this house designed by Make Architects for all-star football player Gary Neville is as architecturally daring as it is eco-friendly – it aims to be the first carbon-neutral house in all of Great Britain. Local materials and traditional construction techniques will reduce transportation and technology waste while geothermal heat, solar roof panels and wind turbines will generate sustainable energy on the site. This may be the boldest, biggest and best modern underground home plan to date.
Step into my backyard office pod When I was young, I was fascinated by "Growing Pains" dad Jason Seaver’s work-at-home setup. I loved that in between appointments with patients in his home office, the good doctor could pop into the family kitchen and hang with Mike, Carol, Ben and the gang while mom Maggie was out working as a reporter. What could be better, right? Now, as an adult who primarily works from home with the exception of meetings, events, and occasional respite at a local coffee shop, the work-where-you-live concept that I found so novel in "Growing Pains" has, well, worn off a bit. That's not to say I'm unhappy (and I certainly enjoy my current, zero-impact non-commute) but sometimes things get a touch claustrophobic. Designed and built in the UK, the Archipod was conceived with Mother Nature in mind — the company was founded out of “frustration at the commuting lifestyle, with its attendant road congestion, air and noise pollution, road rage, running costs and time loss.”
The "Go Green" Guide for Industries Achieving energy efficiency by ‘going green‘ has now become the most sought after methodology to not only bring down operational costs but strengthen the customer interest and loyalty towards the company as well. This is the result of the growing awareness amongst common men as they are now keen to ensure that industry operations are contributing to raising the environmental safety – even if they aren’t part of a green industry. Many companies in the manufacturing sector are now under the radar of both governmental legislations and customers to clean up and go green. Here are a few ideas that will enable these businesses to achieve energy efficiency and go green! Eliminate Waste by Adopting Cleaner Production Implementing a cleaner production strategy will help bring down the levels of waste generated through improved process management, good house-keeping, new or modified production process/equipment/technologies and by producing useful by-products. The Power of “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle”