It looks like styrofoam could be used for making future homes as they provide a flexible enough structure to hold up against earthquakes while being strong enough to encase a dome.

Heck, I would want one too so long as peeping Tom’s don’t live in my neighborhood.

Made with 7-inch-thick 100% expanded polystyrene foam modules, the company says that they don’t have the maintenance problems of wood or metal structures, and they are “highly resistant” to earthquakes, fires, and typhoons. Still, the 480 domes at Aso Farm Land resort village in Kyushu look like a suburban community on Mos Eisley’s outskirts or a world from Myst.

via gizmodo, pinktentacle

Check out the EcoShack, a portable summer shelter designed for great air-flow and sustainability.

It’s a change from my regular old tent but it could be great for a permanent shelter for the summer on your backyard.

I must say the setup doesn’t look too pleasing to do but maybe worth it for a summer-long setup.

Designed by Ecoshack founder Stephanie Smith and inspired by shelters used in Asia for centuries, the Nomad is a fully-enclosed, eco-luxurious, portable outdoor room. Create a sanctuary in your backyard.  Also great at spa resorts, luxury campsites and hotels.

via inhabitat

Buy the Nomad Yurt here for $9700 and don’t break your arms, maybe sell a kidney.

Flare facade, is a living outer skin for any building.  Composed of individual 3-D triangulars, these things can individually controlled via a computer to create some really amazing animation effects without the use of LEDs and electricity. (Pic and Video after the jump)

Continue reading ‘Flare facade is living outer skin for any building!’

Check out this awesome eco-friendly Cedar House, entirely made from sustainable Cedar wood, cutting down on carbon footprint as much as possible.

Of course, maybe not intended, but this house probably is the most moth-repelling in the world as cedar is commonly used for repelling moths that can eat your clothes.  (Personally, I find moths very appealing and they are pretty smart.  I made a lot of moth friends last summer, too bad the weather’s too cold for them this summer)

Created for an old couple, the Onigiri House was designed to maximize volume and limit cost while seamlessly integrating into its environs. It’s name stems from its structural reference to Onigiri, a Japanese snack made by forming rice into a triangular or oval shape and then wrapping it in nori.

The triangular tube is constructed entirely of cedar that was sustainably harvested from local sources. NKS Architects chose a type of cider wood that made the region famous for its application in shipbuilding, cutting down on the home’s carbon footprint by negating material transportation costs. The interior spaces are suffused with light and well ventilated thanks to large windows located at each end, and an elevated platform protects the home from the region’s occasional flooding.

via inhabitat

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Here’s a 730 Ton Damper Ball that keeps Taipei 101 building in Taiwan stable, even during the Chinese earthquake as shown in the video.

Continue reading ‘730 Ton Damper Ball Keeps Building Stable!’

If this is true and anything like I bought from IKEA, you better watch out as the apartment WILL fall apart after 6 months of use.  (Exceptions: If it’s overpriced, it’s not gonna break.)

The furniture giant from Sweden is going viral with this giant box seen on Brooklyn streets promoting a new store in the NYC Borough. Build your own studio apartment with all the wooden pegs and tiny steel Allen wrenches you can shake a Lingonberry soda at!

via make - karriejacobs

Damn, I could see these things popping up like factories, what a way to rejunvenate the ozone layer!

Continue reading ‘Nano Vent-Skin - CO2 Filtering Solar Micro-turbines!’

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I’ve seens some impressive media walls that does animation in Korea couple years ago but this, this is amazing that it runs on solar power!

The polycrystalline photovoltaic cells are laminated within the glass of the curtain wall and placed with changing density on the entire building’s skin. The density pattern increases building’s performance, allowing natural light when required by interior.

via inhabitat

Holy crap, check out this house. It’s 5 story house with each story about 8 feet wide. I would feel claustrophobic living in this house. Neverthless, it’s a beautiful, creative design great for metropolitan cities like San Francisco or New York.

Four wooden floors between two existing walls, hanging in a steel skeleton, organize this house: downstairs for work, dining on 1st, relaxing on 2nd, sleeping on 3rd, and on the roof, go and enjoy the view.

The border to the outside is only glass. Transparency not only a necessity, but also a trump card.

[via Techeblog Archinect Declubz]