Architecture for Humanity

My heroes. [Thanks to IIAD for creating this video that gives so much insight on their 2010 Pioneers in Design Award winner, Architecture for Humanity.]

Tulane City Center

Since Katrina there has been an influx of creative minds and generous donations to the city of New Orleans.  The Tulane School of Architecture has utilized the countries re-kindled love of their hometown to finance several design build projects.  With encouragement and support from the faculty, these projects are led and executed by students at [...]

Ross Lovegrove

Ross Lovegrove is sui generis in the world of designers.  His idiosyncratic approach to product design is organically breathtaking– fluid in appearance, and revolutionary in composition.  He describes himself as “an evolutionary biologist, more than a designer.”  This quote coming from one of the few sources I could find information on this incredible innovator, in [...]

How Green is your Facebook?

It’s no surprise that we use up quite a bit of energy, both physically and electronically, on our social networking!  Good thing the helpful leaders at Facebook have taken a stance and are helping ease the carbon footprint of our addiction with their new offices!  Their new digs located in Palo Alto owe their innovative [...]

Masdar, City of the Future

What two things come to mind when you hear the name United Arab Emirates?  Oil and Money. It’s well known that the UAE, a country smaller than the state of Virginia, have both of these commodities in spades.  The UAE is also one of the biggest producers of green house gas emissions in the world, [...]

KiosKiosk – Promoting Small Biz

In a cookie-cutter world of retail, the pioneering pop-up shop KiosKiosk is out to break the mold. British designers Wayne and Gerardine Hemingway came up with the idea of KiosKiosk as a way to house the goods of blossoming designers on the cheap.  Prices for retail space tend to be rather high (sometimes outrageous) in [...]

Bilbao Jardín

The city of Bilbao, Spain became a house hold name associated with design after the completion of Frank Gehry’s innovative museum.  Since then, the local government has continued to support creative works that enhance the city.  In 2007 the city government announced BilbaoJardín, a competition to design gardens of up to 80 square meters (about [...]

Recycling Energy

With every step we take, every opening of a door, pedal of a bike, we are using energy. According to good ole’ Newton and his law of motion each of these actions warrants an equal and opposite reaction.  When we push, objects push back and the energy is never really lost…. though usually I can’t [...]

Ton’s of Food! (Literally)

So you might be saying to yourself, “Wait a minute! I thought TWO people contributed to this blog.”  or you probably didn’t notice at all, but I had to have an excuse to bring in this minor self promotion.  A few weeks back we introduced the national event hosted by the American Institute of Architects [...]

House Party for Hope

Kids With Cameras, the non-profit inspired by the Academy award-winning documentary ‘Born into Brothels’ has BIG plans!  For the past year Kids With Cameras has been persistently raising money to support their ‘Hope House’ (Asha Niwas).  This beautiful and sustainably designed facility is every bit as life-changing and inspirational as the name implies.  The Hope [...]

And the Winner is….

A couple of weeks ago we encouraged you to check out all of the Architecture for Humanity Open Architecture Challenge entries.  Today, AFH announced the winner: The Teton Valley Community School by the Section Eight design team!! $50,000 will be awarded to the school in Victor, Idaho, United States  and $5,000 will be awarded to [...]

B Corp: good companies

“How do we tell the difference between a ‘good company’ and just good marketing?” So you’re a company who says you want to do good, go green and make a positive impact on the world.  How do we, the consumers, know you’re telling the truth?  Well, if you are a certified B Corporation, through the [...]

APPARATI EFFIMERI

Italian visual art group Apparati Effimeri put together this castle mapping for the Itinerario Festival this past June.  Using Several projectors, the facade melts away and rebuilds.  The longer you are sucked into this video the harder it is to recognize what the original building looked like.  I’ve seen several similar projection projects on very modern buildings, but [...]

Power of the People

“People ignore design that ignores people.” -Frank Chimero found via www.quotesondesign.com, a wonderful new website by Chris Coyier. Photographia via moi’.

Open Architecture Challenge

There are two issues that I am extremely passionate about: education and design.  Together they are an unstoppable force and WILL change this world.  When I am not preoccupied with a ‘real’ job, humanitarian efforts which work towards delivering education in a well-designed package are my life blood. Architecture for Humanity is an amazing organization [...]