The Vlotwateringbrug by NEXT Architects spans the Vlotwatering river in Monster, a town in the Dutch province of South Holland. Three specific elements of the bridge were designed for the bats – on the north side, an abutment accommodates winter roosting, while the deck and the brick balustrade include openings to facilitate summer roosting. The architects hope that a large colony of various species will be encouraged to grow around the bridge.
The bridge forms part of a 21-hectare waterway project called the Poelzone that aims to turn the banks of the river between ‘s-Gravenzande, Naaldwijk and Monster into a public recreation zone as well as create new habitats for indigenous wildlife. (source).
This beach house by Ruhl Walker Architects is raised above the landscape, helping it to have a minimal impact on the fragile coastal ecosystem. Encompassing 2,800 square feet (260 square metres), the House of Shifting Sands sits on a sloped waterfront site in the small Massachusetts town of Wellfleet, located in the hook-shaped peninsula known as Cape Cod. The home is surrounded by miles of undeveloped land and scrub pines. Ruhl Walker Architects was charged with creating a building that honoured environmental concerns expressed by the client, the town’s conservation commission and the US National Park Service. This prompted the team to plan a building that “appears to float out of and above its shifting, sandy site”. The house was designed to be provide all of its own energy. Power is supplied via solar panel arrays located on the roofs of the main house and studio. There are also high-efficiency air-to-air heat exchangers and energy-recovery ventilators. (source).
Olafur Eliasson explores duration and the ever-changing environment of the city in his latest installation of The collectivity project. His participatory project brings over two tons of white Lego bricks to New York’s High Line in an effort to reimagine the cityscape. Starting with Lego brick structures of skyscrapers built by firms that include OMA New York and Renzo Piano, who built the newly opened Whitney Museum of American Art that now sits at the southern tip of the High Line, the installation invites the public to use the initial buildings as a point of departure to build and rebuild the structures in their own image, considering the spaces they live, work, and play. (source).
To deal with the lack of fresh water in Dubai and other Arabian nations, Italian architectural firm Studiomobile created the Seawater Vertical Farm to cool and humidify greenhouses. This innovative concept produces adequate humidity to convert seawater into fresh water, necessary for irrigation. Here’s how it works: 1)The air going into the greenhouse is first cooled and humidified by seawater, which is trickled over the first evaporator. This provides a fresh and humid climate for the crops. 2) As the air leaves the growing area it passes through the second evaporator which has seawater flowing over it. During this phase, humid air runs into the warm dry air of the ceiling. This makes the air much hotter and more humid. 3) The warm and humid air condense when in contact with plastic tubes that are pumped with cool sea water in the central chimney. Drops of fresh water appear on the surface of the condenser, ready to be collected in a tank and used to water the crops. (source).
The Wat Pa Maha Chedio Kaew temple, in Thailand’s Sisaket province (roughly 370 miles northeast of Bangkok), is made of about 1.5 million recycled glass bottles. True to its nickname, “Wat Lan Kuad” or “Temple of Million Bottles” features glass bottles throughout – even the toilets. Bottle caps are also integrated as decorative mosaic murals.The bottle-collection-turned-building started in 1984, when the monks used them to decorate their shelters, which inspired people to donate more bottles. Aside from being sustainable, bottle bricks don’t fade, let natural light into the space and are surprisingly easy to maintain. (source).
The Vlotwateringbrug by NEXT Architects spans the Vlotwatering river in Monster, a town in the Dutch province of South Holland. Three specific elements of the bridge were designed for the bats – on the north side, an abutment accommodates winter roosting, while the deck and the brick balustrade include openings to facilitate summer roosting. The architects hope that a large colony of various species will be encouraged to grow around the bridge.
The bridge forms part of a 21-hectare waterway project called the Poelzone that aims to turn the banks of the river between ‘s-Gravenzande, Naaldwijk and Monster into a public recreation zone as well as create new habitats for indigenous wildlife. (source).
This beach house by Ruhl Walker Architects is raised above the landscape, helping it to have a minimal impact on the fragile coastal ecosystem. Encompassing 2,800 square feet (260 square metres), the House of Shifting Sands sits on a sloped waterfront site in the small Massachusetts town of Wellfleet, located in the hook-shaped peninsula known as Cape Cod. The home is surrounded by miles of undeveloped land and scrub pines. Ruhl Walker Architects was charged with creating a building that honoured environmental concerns expressed by the client, the town’s conservation commission and the US National Park Service. This prompted the team to plan a building that “appears to float out of and above its shifting, sandy site”. The house was designed to be provide all of its own energy. Power is supplied via solar panel arrays located on the roofs of the main house and studio. There are also high-efficiency air-to-air heat exchangers and energy-recovery ventilators. (source).
Olafur Eliasson explores duration and the ever-changing environment of the city in his latest installation of The collectivity project. His participatory project brings over two tons of white Lego bricks to New York’s High Line in an effort to reimagine the cityscape. Starting with Lego brick structures of skyscrapers built by firms that include OMA New York and Renzo Piano, who built the newly opened Whitney Museum of American Art that now sits at the southern tip of the High Line, the installation invites the public to use the initial buildings as a point of departure to build and rebuild the structures in their own image, considering the spaces they live, work, and play. (source).
To deal with the lack of fresh water in Dubai and other Arabian nations, Italian architectural firm Studiomobile created the Seawater Vertical Farm to cool and humidify greenhouses. This innovative concept produces adequate humidity to convert seawater into fresh water, necessary for irrigation. Here’s how it works: 1)The air going into the greenhouse is first cooled and humidified by seawater, which is trickled over the first evaporator. This provides a fresh and humid climate for the crops. 2) As the air leaves the growing area it passes through the second evaporator which has seawater flowing over it. During this phase, humid air runs into the warm dry air of the ceiling. This makes the air much hotter and more humid. 3) The warm and humid air condense when in contact with plastic tubes that are pumped with cool sea water in the central chimney. Drops of fresh water appear on the surface of the condenser, ready to be collected in a tank and used to water the crops. (source).
The Wat Pa Maha Chedio Kaew temple, in Thailand’s Sisaket province (roughly 370 miles northeast of Bangkok), is made of about 1.5 million recycled glass bottles. True to its nickname, “Wat Lan Kuad” or “Temple of Million Bottles” features glass bottles throughout – even the toilets. Bottle caps are also integrated as decorative mosaic murals.The bottle-collection-turned-building started in 1984, when the monks used them to decorate their shelters, which inspired people to donate more bottles. Aside from being sustainable, bottle bricks don’t fade, let natural light into the space and are surprisingly easy to maintain. (source).