Clayton Homes unveiled their green modular i-House at last week’s Berkshire Hathaway’s annual shareholders meeting. With a focus on energy saving, the i-House is expected to be 30% more energy efficient than traditional homes. Monthly energy bills are expected to go south of $70. Or you could move into Silicon Valley where are monthly energy bills are less than that already.

i-House by Clayton Homes

Designed with a contemporary feel and featuring solar panels (if the orientation permits it) on a butterfly roof that gathers rainwater, the i-House comes with Ikea fixtures, dual-flush toilets, low-flow faucets, easily renewable bamboo flooring, recycled content decking material, Japanese-style climate control in each room and low E efficient windows.

As for prices – there are two versions of the i-House. One is smaller with only one bedroom and one bathroom, covering 723 sq ft and priced at $74,900, while the other one is larger covering some 1,023 sq ft with a structure that accommodates two bedrooms and a bathroom for $93,300. Now here is where we charge your $500K for a minuscule lot to put the house on thus defeating the purpose of having cheap energy prices.

And if anyone was wondering, we really like the clean sleek design and the modernish interior. Good news for the housing market eh? Great news for the green industry.

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Sky-Terra Towers, the name is somewhat of an oxymoron— sky is sky and terra is ground. So, which is it?

It doesn’t matter. A San Francisco based designer, Joanna Borek-Clement, is seeing cities in the skies. Not in San Francisco, however. The non-firma terra makes it a non consideration. Her inspiration is the shape of neuron cells.

The cities in the skies will be interconnected towers, so instead of skyscrapers blocking out the sun, it’ll be cities keeping the sunlight out. The idea was one of many entries in the 2009 eVolo Skyscraper competition, Borek had Tokyo in mind with her idea. Tokyo could used the space, no doubt.

The Sky-Terra towers offer many options from public parks, to greenbelts, playing fields, jogging paths, amphitheaters, pools or bath houses – all with the aim of providing people with access to open space.

The transportation system consists of interconnected foot paths and also bike paths and electric car paths. Don’t know about you, but I wonder about cars driving around far overheard.  The towers are supposed to  reduce the urban heat island effect. Rainwater will be used for landscaping needs. The towers will be built from modular parts to conserve resources and energy.

Getting to the city will be done by elevator. Offices and even residential areas will be incorporated into the fins that come out of the inner core. Now, if we could just figure out a way to get the sunlight through. And if I didn’t know any better, I’d say they’re likely to charge to use the elevators and bridges. That’s how we pay for things in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Biomimicry is the art of imitating life and designing structures with inspiration from nature’s best blueprints. While most energy-saving and water conserving buildings take their motivations from plants, UK-based Moxon Architects have turned towards the porcupine for their stroke of brilliance. Or so it seems with the design for Oliver’s Place Preston.

The 40,000 square foot office building sports an array of aluminum “reeds” that are all arranged in the same direction to incorporate passive solar heating into the structure and regulate its temperature— thus saving energy.

The prickly looking extensions are arranged in such a fashion that they allow early morning winter sun to go through to the interior of the building unabated, while hot summer sun at noon would be blocked off. Apart from making a grand and distinct visual statement, it also keeps the rain away as it continues to save energy in the form of the building’s heating and cooling needs. [via Eikongraphia]

It would be real hard to imagine that someone living in the heart of a city as modern as New York can actually live in a green sanctuary that exudes both environmental values and eco-friendly design. But that’s exactly the pleasant surprise that you’ll find when you step into Dominique Camacho (owner @ Sustainable NYC) and Gary Hirschkron’s home.

Located in East Village, the building was a synagogue until the 1980s, when it was retrofitted to make five separate residences. After purchasing the home, the lucky couple turned it into a modernist’s version of the green haven that it once was.

Renovated and redesigned using some cool design elements and materials that have low impact on the planet, the new home sports a downstairs lounge, second-floor library and a third-floor bedroom.

The level of transparency in the construction and the extensive use of glass to bring in the modern minimalist feel have meant that there is plenty of natural ventilation which does away with lighting needs for most parts of the day. Elegant staircase, sweeping interiors and a patio that is connected to the top-floor bedroom are the highlights of this new structure designed in conjuncture with Brooklyn-based Manifold Architecture Studio.

You got to love this plan— both as a designer and a nature-lover. Isn’t’ it?

[NYTimes via ApartmentTherapy]

Designed by Seattle’s LMN Architects, the green roof on top of the west expansion of the Vancouver Convention Centre is all set for its grand opening. Large in size and packed with green features the very special roof deserves a huge mention for its planet-friendly message that it shouts out loud and clear.

The largest of its kind in Canada and the biggest non-industrial living roof in North America, the 1.2 million square feet top is covered with over 400,000 indigenous plants, which make for a real awesome sight.

Apart from the obvious fact that the coastline structure helps immensely in cleaning up the air pollution with all those plants on top, it also features black water and a desalinization system that is expected to cut potable water use by 60-70% over other typical convention centers.

With energy efficient fixtures inside the building, usage of seawater for temperature regulation, maximum utilization of natural lighting and an integrated marine habitat restoration program, the new Vancouver Convention center is quickly becoming one cool place to meet. Quite literally! [via JetsonGreen]

There is absolutely no doubt in anyone’s mind at this point that the Middle East is the sand box for eco-architects and designers who wish to incorporate green designs with fluid forms, creating structures of beauty, utility and majesty. Since there’s a demand for unique, astonishing and eco-friendly buildings, the Helix Hotel is just one of those.

Designed by Leeser Architects and forming a captivating corkscrew from top to bottom with no clear breaks, the entire structure garners green energy from both the sun and the wind, and flows from retail and residential to hotel suites and saunas. All set to take shape in Abu Dhabi, the specially designed GROW panels made from 100% recyclable polyethylene on the exterior of the Helix Hotel will harness both solar and wind energy for the power needs inside.

And all these are being put together, while a spectacular ocean-fed waterfall in the atrium  will help maintain interior climate and humidity levels! Add to this the fact that no two rooms of this 280-roomed building will be alike and you have a one-of-a-kind hotel that merges green function with sizzling form…

Another jewel in the crown of Dubai, eh? [via Inhabitat]

The nation that leads the world on energy will be the nation that will lead the world in the 21st century— or at least that’s the clear message emanating from the White House.

Investing in the technology and energy of the future, President Barrack Obama unveiled a $2.4 billion dollar boost for electric vehicle development in the US and urged the industry to help reduce the nation’s reliance on other nations for its energy needs in the form of oil imports. (And increase dependency on Japanese batteries, one asks?)

Innocent and so very green ...

Speeching at the unveiling of the green package, Obama talked about how the German’s were leading the world in solar power and Spain producing 30-percent of its energy from windmills.

The aim of the package is obviously to encourage more green vehicles on the road— there’s a target for a million eco-friendly vehicles on US roads by 2015. Not content in giving the green movement a thrust from the production side alone, President Obama also declared a $7,500 dollar tax credit to consumers willing to buy plug-in vehicles.

Split up into $1.5 billion to manufacturers who produce highly efficient batteries and $500 million for firms that produce other components, this is all about creating future roads with zero-emissions. And maybe some green jobs?

Image by simeon_barkas

A relatively new science that studies nature and its perfectness, biomimicry is catching on big time in the architecture domain. And the latest to transform a fleshy design into steel and concrete are the folks at Bangkok-based Aesthetics Architects. The company is in charge for designing and building the new office for the Minister of Municipal Affairs & Agriculture (MMAA) in Qatar. Hence they have given a blueprint that rivals every cactus in the country, in terms of sheer size and grandeur.

To take shape in the dry and arid Qatar, the building is shaped much like a prickly cactus that does all it can to keep the sun out and store the water. The structure uses sun shades on its windows, which can open or close to keep out the heat as per the requirements throughout the day or night.

Since the days get really hot and nights are pretty cold, the technology helps regulate the temperature inside. This sure saves a hell lot of money, but its is the energy it saves that makes the cactus skyscraper an amazing— as money is not an issue, especially considering Qatar has the highest GDP in the world.

Does it beat the wind-powered rotating skyscraper in Dubai? What do you think?

Via: Design Boom

Some 35 years ago, New York based Bates Masi + Architects designed a vacation home in Amagansett, Long Island. But when the couple who owned the house wanted to bring a more contemporary facelift to their house, they’ve been commissioned once again.

The home largely clad in wood was redone with an enlarged kitchen and dining areas, revitalized bathrooms and refinished floors, ceiling and walls. All this was done in such a refined and eco-friendly manner that they ended up bagging the 2008 Peconic Honor Award for Architecture/Renovations & Additions.

To expand and rebuild the new extension, the talented architects used salvaged cypress wood from the South wall and deck for the new siding, stair treads and risers. That allowed for a complete reuse of all the materials in the previous construction, reduced costs and saved on tons of wood. And also, it looks like the old spirit of the home was integrated with its new extension.

The intelligent design, smart use of materials and the seamless merger of the old and new elements, make the Re-Cover home a delight for both designers and environmentalists alike. [greenbuildingsNYC via Inhabitat]

South-East Asia may be the next best sandbox available for eco-friendly architects. After Dubai, Taiwan is embracing that green wave of change with a new and enterprising structure that will soon become the imposing headquarters of Chinatrust Bank.

Designed by the Los Angeles office of NBBJ along with local architects from Fei & Cheng Associates, the structure is set for completion in 2012. When all done, it will incorporate the best of traditional Chinese design with green features to create an ambient and tranquil atmosphere that saves on energy immensely.

The Chinatrust Bank development will consist of a 30-story headquarters building, a 21-story commercial office building, a 10-story hotel, and a four-level retail center. But the brilliant-green aspect is that it will incorporate eco-friendly aspects such as podium covered in lush roof gardens, that helps reducing rainwater runoff and urban-heat-island effect. And although it doesn’t make the structure a zero-energy building, it’s still “enough” (never enough, eh?)  to make it the Taiwanese equivalent of a LEED-NC Gold rating.

With skylights, floor-to-ceiling windows and optimized natural lighting options, much of the energy otherwise wasted for artificial lighting is cut out. It seems only natural that more and more office structures and home edifices are opting for such features as they save both on carbon emissions and lowered power bills.

Taiwan is taking steps further. There is inspiration and creativity, there is hope!

[Bustler via Ecofriend]