For thousands of years survival in Norway’s countryside, where farms were miles from each other, meant complete self-sufficiency. Farmsteads were like small villages with several families living together and building their homes from logs and turf. At Oslo’s Norwegian Folk Museum, entire farmsteads have been transplanted log-by-log by master carpenters who use traditional joinery techniques … Read more
Cempedak is an island hotel built in Indonesia entirely of bamboo, recycled teak and rubber wood and topped with grass-thatched roofs. There are no walls, not even in the second-floor bedroom and shower, in order to catch the sea breezes and be lulled to sleep by the lapping sea. The architects converted the conceptual drawings … Read more
Biophilic design is characterized by an intrinsic connection to nature, whether that be lush walls of plants, open-air space, or organic, flowing forms. This farmhouse in India draws on these harmonizing principles by wrapping around a small mango grove. The Mumbai-based architects designed a curved building made of stone and brick that seems to hug … Read more
Sacramento-based architects Bronwyn Barry, founder of residential design firm Passive House BB, and Andrew Turner, CEO of GoodSpace High Performance Builders, have collaborated to convert an 82-year-old bungalow in Sacramento, CA into a larger living space for the family since they’d outgrown the home, as well as safeguard them from environmental hazards such as heatwaves, … Read more
This strawbale home on Australia’s coast is designed for passive solar and features reclaimed timber and ocean views. Joe, a plumber, and his wife Frances say, “We wanted to minimize our environmental impact by building a sustainable home that required minimal heating and cooling, had high insulation value, and used reclaimed building materials.” The couple … Read more
C-ELM incorporates cyanobacteria into translucent panels that can be mounted on to the interior walls of buildings. As the microorganisms grow using photosynthesis they pull carbon dioxide out of the air and affix it to calcium to create calcium carbonate, locking away the carbon. A kilogram of C-ELM can capture and sequester up to 350 … Read more