Sutmundo

These amazing images come from photographer Christoph Gielen, a German photographer who has captured the strange characteristics of urban development and visual impact of the mass developments around the world for years. Taken from a helicopter, Gielen manages to capture the true architectural essence of what these urban developments are all about. Master planning and geometry.

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Green walls are in, but many living walls these days are mere wire trellises bolted onto the facades of buildings with climbers growing from the ground up superficially. UK-based BioTecture Ltd have an integrated ‘living’ alternative that truly turns a building into a living structure. With their BioWall system, BioTecture uses precise engineering and permaculture principles to deliver a remarkable green wall living cladding solution for buildings and walls

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This is the UK’s first social housing PassivHaus development and it has been certified by the Scottish Passive House Centre. The ‘Tigh-Na-Cladach’ or ‘house by the shore’ development consists of 15 one, two and three bedroom semi-detached houses and one workshop, overlooking the Firth of Clyde in Dunoon.

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Fridgecouch is the brainchild of Adrian Johnson, a Canadian artist, architect and design professional who has found the most unusual way to make recycling stylish and worthy of any upmarket furniture gallery. Ideal for those of you who like a fridge in the living room and love the plush feel of the backseat of an old car.

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The unique design is nearly 3,000 square feet and consists of over 10,000 individual plants representing more than 120 unique species. It includes ground covers, large perennials, shrubs and small trees. It is located in Surrey, BC, Canada, covering the Semiahmoo Public Library and RCMP Facility.

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Architects always face a dilemma when choosing a construction material. It is a decision that will carry on years beyond their involvement in the design of a building. There is also that eternal guilt that all architects face today as we come to realize that 50% of all resources consumed across the planet are used in construction. So when it comes to choosing between the two, Which is greener?

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Short film released as part of the ‘See Britain through my eyes’ series featuring individuals from abroad looking at modern Britain in the run up to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Lucélia Taranto Rodrigues, a Brazilian urban designer who in this film talks about Britain’s vibrant, multicultural society and its drive to develop more sustainable ways of life.

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The green roof on Sharrow Primary School in Sheffield has been declared a Local Nature Reserve by Natural England. The school is the first green roof in the country to achieve this status and recognises the importance of the green roof both in attracting local wildlife and the education of the pupils at the school.

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Swiss architects Diethelm & Spillmann recently completed Passivhaus Vogel in Mostelberg, Switzerland. The house sits at 1,100 meters above sea level and has some amazing views across the surrounding mountains. With such simple elegant interiors and the added bonus of being self sufficient, Diethelm & Spillmann have proven that the most utilitarian building of all, can be a self sufficient beauty.

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The Palettenpavillon by Matthias Loebermann is a structure made entirely from shipping pallets, ground anchors, and tie rods. Designed to be easily assembled and dismantled, and then entirely recycled at a later date, the resulting building is intended as a temporary meeting place.

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The Passivhaus standard relies upon a very simple set of premises; very high levels of insulation, elimination of cold bridges, super-insulated triple glazed windows orientated to the south to maximise passive solar gain, and an incredibly well sealed building fabric. It also has a mechanical ventilation system to provide excellent air quality and highly efficient heat recovery.

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A small theatre made entirely from recycled and reclaimed materials will open this month in London. The Jellyfish Theatre will be the first of its kind in the UK and will open for three unique eco-performances before it’s recycled once more. The structure has already been presented as part of the  London Festival of Architecture in [...]

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In one of the highest points of the Andes in Peru, the government recently inaugurated a building that is helping save thousands of animal lives. How many buildings these days can claim to produce such immediate ecological results?

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Architect Nader Khalili dug from an unexpected source to propose a possible sustainable solution for the housing of the future.

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We all know that we can recycle newspaper. It is perhaps the most commonly recycled item in our households. But where does Recycled newspaper end up? Where can you use recycled newspapers? What can you make from recycled newspapers? Find out in this Guide to using recycled newspapers in Construction

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4600 shipping palettes were stacked in a gallery space, adjoining a courtyard of identical shape. Using elliptical geometry an ovoid volume was carved from the palette stack. Simultaneously, the removed pieces were reassembled in the courtyard as an ovoid solid.
The work functions as a scale, balancing positive and negative, apogee and centre. A lever of space.

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{ Permaculture… } …expert Penny Livingston-Stark shows how natural systems can teach us better design practices. Learning to work with the earth not only creates a healthier environment, it also nourishes the people who live in it. Penny Livingston is a permaculture expert and founder of the Permaculture Institute of Northern California and the Regenerative [...]

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FIRST EARTH is a documentary about the movement towards a massive paradigm shift for shelter building healthy houses in the old ways, out of the very earth itself, and living together like in the old days, by recreating villages. An audiovisual manifesto filmed over the course of 4 years and 4 continents, FIRST EARTH makes the case that earthen homes are the healthiest housing in the world; and that since it still takes a village to raise a healthy child, it is incumbent upon us to transform our suburban sprawl into eco-villages, a new North American dream.

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Cerro de Pasco in Peru is Being Eaten By Open Pit Mine. The city is being swallowed by ever-expanding, open-pit zinc and lead mine. A colonial church dating back to 1748 has disappeared, along with the town’s center square.
You can see the shocking, Sarlacc-like situation from satellite images, notes theGoogle Earth Blog.

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