AllAboutz.com » Architecture

Float House Completed for Make It Right Foundation

Weasley — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 04:50:16 +0000

Brad Pitt’s Make It Right Foundation unveiled today the Float House. Designed by Morphosis Architects, it is covered with concrete and built with a polystyrene foam base. A home that can break away from its moorings in the event of a flood, the base of the house acts as a raft, allowing the house to rise vertically on guide posts, securely floating up to 12 feet as water levels rise, while a pair of guideposts keep the home from floating away. While not designed for occupants to remain in the home during a hurricane, this innovative structure aims to minimize catastrophic damage and preserve the homeowner’s investment in their property. This approach also allows for the early return of occupants in the aftermath of a hurricane or flood.

The Float House is a high-performance house that generates and sustains its own water and power needs. The sloped concave roof collects rainwater and funnels it to cisterns housed in the chassis, where it is filtered and stored for daily use. The roof supports solar panels that generate all of the house’s power, resulting in net-zero annual energy consumption. The chassis incorporates electrical systems to store and convert solar power for daily use and to give back to the electrical grid during the temperate fall and spring months. Other than that, high-grade energy efficient kitchen, appliances and fixtures maximize durability and reduce the need for replacement. A geothermal mechanical system heats and cools the air via a ground source heat pump, which naturally conditions the air, minimizing the energy required to cool the house in the harsh summer months and heat it in winter.

While the Morphosis floating house is the first to be permitted in the United States, the technology was developed and is in use in the Netherlands where architects and developers are working to address an increased demand for housing in the face of rising sea levels associated with climate change.

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26 Creative and Unusual Bus Stops

Weasley — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 08:31:44 +0000

Check out these creative and unusual bus stop designs that might make you want to wait for the bus. The time you spend waiting for the bus a bit more bearable.

Located in the Netherlands, this weight measuring bus stop was created by a Dutch advertising agency N=5 as part of an advertising campaign for Fitness First.

Mark Ecko of Ecko Unlimited is designing “digital citylights” that people can interact with using their cell phones via Bluetooth interface. You walk up to one of these monster LCD screens and spray digital graffiti with the cursor of your phone.

To promote the outstanding freshness and quality of Fisch Franke´s Restaurants, they created a “talk of the town” city light aquarium poster with real fish in it. The purpose is to get the publics attention and make them take home the message that Fisch Franke´s Restaurants has really fresh fish.

This bus stop ad located in Hamburg, Germany changes whether or not someone’s looking at it. Using a built-in camera with eye-tracking technology, it can tell exactly when someone is checking it out.

Pruhealth, a UK health insurance provider turned London bus stops into fruit dispensers. The bus stops have been converted to clear plastic hoppers which display and vend oranges. The instruction is “help yourself”.

The Victoria Bug Zoo (Canada) is all about experiencing the world of insects and spiders. This ad is made from a plastic sheet with hundreds of small magnifying lenses, allowing passerby to see through a bug’s eyes.

A futuristic bus stop in Curitiba, Brazil.

Football goal posts were placed in bus shelters around Sao Paulo, Brazil to promote the World Cup.

Kawaii strawberry bus stop in Japan.

Beautiful Yosemite Falls trail bus stop is perfectly suited for the setting.

Hammock bus stop.

Fully enclosed bus stop with air conditioning in Dubai.

This minimalist structure that looks like a single sheet of white concrete was designed by architect Justo García Rubío and located in Casar de Caceres, Spain.

No ordinary bus stop decorated by Iris Hynd in Cornwall, England.

Beautiful bus stop design from Estonia.

Unusual “school bus” bus stop from Athens, Ga. The bus shelter is made from 3 old school buses.

Creative London bus stop by Bruno Taylor gives commuters a chance to have a little bit of playtime while they wait for the bus.

Bus stop designed for the Vitra design museum in Germany.

Creative bus shelter with grass roof in Sheffield, England.

Designed as part of the smart mobilities project, this bus stop was presented in Paris in 2008. Users waiting inside the bus stop could engage via a touch screen interface while pedestrians waiting outside could interact with a 6ft. custom LED display.

Quiksilver Skateboarding Platform cum bus stop.

What better time to let people try out your products than when they are utterly bored?

To prove how secure 3M’s glass is, they are inviting you to steal the stacks of cash placed in this bus stop stand.

Cute and cozy bus stops. Hope I had it in my country!!!

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Living In A Shell – Nautilus House

Weasley — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 16:12:19 +0000

Nautilus House was built in 2006 by Arquitectura Orgánica. The inside decor is all about smooth rounded surfaces, rich colors, and greenery all over the place. Although the home is surrounded by Mexico City on 3 sides, the West side has most of the windows and faces out to a beautiful view of the mountains. The sculptural whimsical house features a striking entry cut into a wall of colorful stained glass. But surprisingly, that’s still not the most unusual feature of the house. This interior “grass carpet” is just amazing, leading residents and guests through a network of stone paths to the various areas of the home. The bathroom is simply mesmerizing. In it, you actually feel like you are under water with the sandy walls, gorgeous blue tiles and the window overhead.

Nautilus House was built with a 2″ ferrocement construction, a technique involving a frame of steel-reinforced chicken wire with a special two-inch-thick composite of concrete spread over it, resulting in a structure that is earthquake-proof and maintenance-free. Wish I had one to live in.