architecture

Historic houses can become energy-efficient without losing charm – just look at the Galveston Historical Foundation‘s Green Revival House at 3101 Avenue Q in Galveston, Texas. The project started when GHF moved the house 17 blocks to a new lot after Hurricane Ike destroyed its foundation. The Green Revival House features new insulation, four solar panels, two rainwater cisterns, and it’s one of the nation’s first historic buildings to achieve Platinum certification through the LEED for Homes program. GHF completed the project in partnership with the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the 1772 Foundation.

+ Galveston Historical Foundation

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Historic houses can become energy-efficient without losing charm – just look at the Galveston Historical Foundation‘s Green Revival House at 3101 Avenue Q in Galveston, Texas. The project started when GHF moved the house 17 blocks to a new lot after Hurricane Ike destroyed its foundation. The Green Revival House features new insulation, four solar panels, two rainwater cisterns, and it’s one of the nation’s first historic buildings to achieve Platinum certification through the LEED for Homes program. GHF completed the project in partnership with the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the 1772 Foundation.

+ Galveston Historical Foundation

The article above was submitted to us by an Inhabitat reader. Want to see your story on Inhabitat? Send us a tip by following this link. Remember to follow our instructions carefully to boost your chances of being chosen for publishing!

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Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg Post tags: 1772 Foundation, galveston historical foundation, galveston texas, green architecture, Green Building, green renovation, Green Revival House, national trust for historic preservation, sustainable design

A controversial geoengineering experiment that would have simulated the cooling effect of a volcanic eruption was canceled this week over a patent dispute. A team of scientists in the United Kingdom had announced last year their plans to send a gigantic balloon 12 miles above earth to recreate a volcanic cloud and study whether it could have cooled the earth. But arguments over a patent application, submitted before this proposed project had even begun, raised concerns over a potential conflict of interest.

Read the rest of Geoengineering Experiment in UK Canceled Over Patent Dispute

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Read the rest of 6 Awe-Inspiring Designs That Make the Best Out of Food

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Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg Post tags: 6 best, agricultural waste, Alison Knowles, Andrea Trimarchi, Art, arti performance, biodegradable designs, biodegradable materials, boom!, building blocks, cacao, canned food, Canstruction, chocolate weapons, Design Academy of Eindhoven, earth day, Eleanor Roosvelt High School, Eric de Laurens, fish scales, flour, Fluxus, food, food design, food photography, Formafantasma, french design, glasses, goggles, Héctor Galván, healthy eating, Israel, limestone, local produce, matthew carden, mexico, NYC, Omelette, orange peels, Ori Sonnenschein, political message, recycled fish scales, Recycled Materials, Recycled Plastic, recycles materials, Royal College of Art, salad, Simone Farresin, Skidmore Owings and Merrill, small landscapes, Small World, soft colores, Solskin Peels, sustainable food, tangy orange

Bright Light, an app that tells you the sunnier spots of your city by Ray-Ban. (Want more? See NOTCOT.org and NOTCOT.com)

Wind energy is one of the cleanest, most reliable sources of renewable energy out there, but there’s one strike against it: Most wind turbines aren’t exactly the most attractive sight. But for anyone who says that wind energy can’t match form to function, feast your eyes on the Enessere Hercules wind generator. With curved wooden blades, the 23-foot-tall wind turbine looks more like a sculpture than other more utilitarian wind turbines, and because of its clever design, it can harness the power of wind coming from any direction.

Read the rest of The Enessere Hercules Wind Turbine Generates Wind Energy in Fine Style

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Read the rest of Harvest Pavilion Collects the Bounty on an Eco-Farm in China

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A sculpture of a mushroom cloud made from feathers for an article on the threat of bird flu in the latest issue of Scientific American. Image by Kyle Bean & Sam Hofman (Want more? See NOTCOT.org and NOTCOT.com)

While solar energy has long been touted as the key to solving the planet’s energy demands, the problem of efficiency has always hampered it. However, a team of engineers from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow believe that the key to solar energy isn’t here on Earth, but out in space.

Read the rest of Could Solar Satellites Be the Key to Infinite Energy?

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Read the rest of Thomas Wold’s Quirky and Unique Creations Made From Upcycled Furniture

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Modern pendants by Machine Shop Lighting of Austin, Texas. (Want more? See NOTCOT.org and NOTCOT.com)

Here at Inhabitat, we are huge fans of any technology that can improve the lives of disabled people, such as exoskeletons and robotic suits. However, Brown University, working with the Department of Veteran Affairs, the Department of Neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, have developed a robotic arm that allows disabled people to use their thoughts to grab objects thanks to a computer-brain interface.

Read the rest of Mind-Controlled Robotic Arm to Transform the Lives of the Paralyzed

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Terry Farrell has unveiled three new partners and a new structure for his AJ100-ranked practice

On Wednesday the World Trade Organization ruled against the sale of cans of tuna labeled “dolphin safe,” arguing that the practice discriminates against Mexican fishermen and that the United States’ definition of “dolphin safe” tuna unfairly restricts trade. The WTO decision threatens a business practice that has been in place for over 20 years. Environmentalists and businesses both criticized the ruling for potentially threatening dolphin species in the Pacific Ocean as well as interfering with U.S. consumers’ choices.

Read the rest of WTO Panel Rules Against Dolphin-Safe Tuna Labeling

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The RIBA has revealed its building information modelling (BIM) overlay to the Plan of Work

Bike Pavilion, a design commissioned by VANKE for a pavillion in a resort in southern China. (Want more? See NOTCOT.org and NOTCOT.com)

The latest in a series of practice profiles looking at architects who have recently decided to go it alone either through choice or redundancy

a proposal for new industries in green energy situated along the italian ridges with a focus on wood-based biomass production.

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We recently showed you Ryosuke Fukusada‘s innovative and playful designs, which include wooden light bulbs and tiny cakes shaped like furniture; his recent project, Net Lamps, places efficient LED lamps as glowing orbs suspended within crocheted nets. Hanging Net Lamps combine elastic Poly-net knitted into a tight column, which, suspended from metal loops on the floor and ceiling, hold the lamp in mid-air as it softly illuminates the unusual surrounding fabric.

Read the rest of Ryosuke Fukusada’s Glowing LED Lamps are Suspended in Crocheted Nets

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by Aaron Britt Danish designer Søren Rose debuted eight pieces of his Park Avenue furniture collection for De La Espada at the London Design Festival last year, and though the line is for sale its origins are highly specific: a New York City apartment Rose is designing “down to the doorknobs.” Savvy design watchers will spot the origins of the High chair’s wire base (paging Verner Panton), and it turns out a marble wall in the apartment also has a lineage straight out of the high-modernist playbook. But where do the sly nods to design history end and outright piracy begin?