WebEcoist » Art & Design

Eco Homes from the Earth: 7 Ways to DIY

Steph — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 17:00:27 +0000

Wouldn’t it be nice to own your own green dream home, made with recycled and natural materials and packed with custom features? Whether you’re an experienced builder or have never picked up a power tool in your life, you can build a natural eco-friendly home with user-friendly, low-cost materials like cob, cordwood, straw and the dirt and wood from your own land. These 7 natural building techniques produce beautiful homes with a small ecological footprint and tons of personality.

Earthships and Hobbit Houses

(images via dominicspics, ECOnscious, Earthship Biotecture)

They seem to be a living part of the very earth itself, often with nothing but a façade and some windows to betray the presence of a home in the hillside. And earth-sheltered homes built partially into the ground come with some incredible benefits, like the ability to absorb and regulate heat from the sun for comfort in all seasons. Earth-sheltered homes can be built entirely underground, bermed (covered with earth on one to three sides) or built into a larger hill with just one side open. Earthships and ‘hobbit houses’ are common forms of earth-sheltered homes.

Earthships are among the most popular types of DIY eco homes around the world, utilizing discarded “junk” like stacks of earth-packed tires, bottles and cans to build custom homes in practically any shape imaginable. While most beginners in this building technique stick to simple designs that are cheap and easier to build, some models are stunningly complex.

(images via: simondale.net)

Among the most famous examples of a ‘hobbit house’ is “A Low Impact Woodland Home”, self-built in Wales for about 1000-1500 man-hours (over four months) and £3000. Creator Simon Dale used stone and wood from the property, straw bales covered in plaster for the walls, and lots of reclaimed and salvaged materials like hardwood flooring, doors and windows. The reciprocal roof, covered in plastic sheeting and mud/turf, is surprisingly easy to build and looks incredible.

Cob

(images via: ziggy fresh)

How can a house made of mud last 500 years? The short answer is, the combination of clay, sand and straw – known as cob – is extremely strong and durable once it dries, and can withstand fire and severe weather as well as practically any other material. This ancient building technique is among the easiest and least expensive ways to build your own sustainable, healthy green home.

Just ask “Ziggy”, a resident of the Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage in Missouri who built his own cob cottage for just $3,000. Ziggy breaks down the costs, all materials used, time frame and the entire process including lots of photos at his website, “The Year of Mud”.

(images via: eco-sense)

These hand-sculpted homes give the builder practically endless creative opportunities for organic forms, built-ins like bookcases and benches, and even artistic details. But cob houses don’t all have to be free-flowing and eccentric. Take a gander at the Eco Sense house, located in Canada, which wouldn’t look out of place in a suburban neighborhood.

Cordwood

(images via: daycreek, cordwood masonry)

From far away, it looks like stone masonry – but get up close and you’ll see that cordwood buildings are actually made from wood stacked firewood-style, and mortar. Debarked logs ranging from 12 to 36 inches can be arranged into walls either in load-bearing round structures or in combination with post-and-beam framing. Soft woods like cedar and pine are used because they are more stable, with less expansion and contraction. These walls offer both insulation and thermal mass. As with any natural building technique, it’s labor-intensive, but easy enough that practically anyone can do it.

(images via: home-n-stead)

While the mortar typically used for cordwood construction is made from Portland cement, lime and water, some people are beginning to combine cordwood building with cob in place of mortar, as in the owner-built cordwood home above.

Straw Bale

(images via: building with awareness)

“I’ll huff and I’ll puff and I’ll blow your house down!” It seems like straw would be the worst possible material to depend upon for stable shelter, but in fact, straw bale building produces thick walls with excellent insulative qualities and surprising strength. As with cordwood and cob, straw bale walls can be load-bearing or can be combined with post and beam framework as needed to gain building permits.

(images via: solarhaven.org)

The straw bales are stacked on top of a masonry foundation, anchored to each other with wood stakes or bamboo poles, and finished with a breathable earthen or lime stucco that allows the walls to breathe, preventing moisture accumulation in the straw. Straw bale structures have been found to be remarkably fire- and pest-resistant.

Rammed Earth

(images via: rogers rammed earth)

Fireproof, termite-proof, storm resistant, extremely low-maintenance and literally dirt-cheap: all of these qualities make rammed earth an attractive natural DIY option for owner-builders. Popular in hot, dry places like Australia and the American Southwest, rammed earth uses compressed dirt blocks as building bricks. The dirt is often from the home site, typically packed into a wood wall former, and the results are stunning and well suited for modern home designs.

(images via: rammed earth)

While tamping of the earth into bricks can be made easier by a pneumatically-powered tamper, it’s entirely possible – and much cheaper – to get the job done manually. Rammed earth buildings last indefinitely and results in energy-efficient buildings that keep temperature fluctuations to a minimum.

Earthbag Building

(images via: dornob)

Imagine building with earth that you get for free from your own land, but without the intensive labor required to mix cob or compact bricks. Earthbag building has an extremely low learning curve and uses mostly waste materials. Woven polypropylene feedbags (often factory misprints) are filled with dampened soil and compacted from above with manual tampers. They’re held in place by two stands of barbed wire and can be filled in place, eliminating heavy lifting.

(images via: mother earth news, tiny house design)

Earthbags can be an ideal alternative to cob in areas where the soil has a low percentage of clay, and they also make it easy to construct domes and other rounded structures. Earthbag buildings can be bermed with earth to create an “underground” structure that looks like a seamless part of the landscape.

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Inner City Snails: Graffiti Humanizes The Urban Mollusc

Steve — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 18:00:38 +0000

Like it or not, graffiti can add a bright, brilliant dimension to urban landscapes that are too often drab and drained of life… but what if the landscape itself is alive? “Inner City Snail”, a unique concept by acclaimed creative master Slinkachu, uses non-toxic paint to turn sluggish molluscs into miniature masterpieces of urban art.

Signs Of Life

(images via: Inner City Snail and More Intelligent Life)

Famed urban guerrilla artist Banksy is not alone in turning London’s mean streets into evocative canvasses of subversive subculture. Meet Slinkachu, a 30-year-old street artist who’s based in London but has done “work” in a number of large European cities. “In 2008 I started the ‘Inner City Snail’ project, involving the decoration of snails that I find around London. After decoration, the snails are then placed back, free to go about their business in the city.”

(image via: Papersurfer)

Why paint snails? Slinkachu reasons that projects like Inner City Snail can be interpreted in a number of ways – a keystone of art that makes one think. As well, though he can be classified as a street artist, works like Inner City Snail can be seen as satirizing the genre of street art. Society’s relentless desire to appropriate every available inch of the cityscape for advertising, signage and even illegal graffiti is mocked in miniature by these pictorially modified gastropods.

Tiny Tags, Tinier Taggers

(image via: Inner City Snail)

Slinkachu selected a number of hardy London snails to become part of Inner City Snail; once “prepared”, they were gently released to continue their slow-motion journey through England’s largest city.

For those who have qualms as to the morality of painting a living creature, Slinkachu stresses that the paint used may be long-lasting but it’s also non-toxic. As he puts it, “No snails were harmed, they just had their homes vandalized”.

Human Es-Cargo

(images via: Kanye Universe City and Inner City Snail)

In his online presentation of Inner City Snails, Slinkachu provides a series of images that quickly zoom out, bringing the small size of the illustrated snails and the intricacy of their designs into perspective. Not only paint is used – tiny plastic figurines are photographed either alongside their hard-shelled co-stars or, in the case above, affixed to them to be a permanent part of the roving exhibit.

Shell Out For Parking Fines

(images via: Inner City Snail)

Sure, snails move slowly but slow enough to attract parking tickets? Sad but true – London’s a big city and it can use all the revenue it can get. Hard to think how the unfortunate snail above is going to pay the fine… and if it doesn’t? Well, there’s always Snail Jail.

The Road Less Traveled, More Painted

(images via: Concrete-Canvas and Quirky Insider)

Slinkachu’s styled snails (and others of their ilk) are a movable feast – for the eyes, at least. Imagine coming across one of the artist’s “models” while enjoying an outdoor work break or simply sitting in one’s garden at home?

(image via: McCrappy)

It’s doubtful anyone could fail to be affected in some manner by any artistically modified snail. Love them or hate them, living artworks like Inner City Snails are certain to move anyone who encounters them… albeit very slowly.

Living Color

(image via: FreakingNews)

Slinkachu hardly has a monopoly on the questionable practice of painting snails. Take the example above, obviously crafted by someone of some talent but who prefers to let their work speak for them. It bears repeating that anyone seeking to emulate Slinkachu by attempting their own series of snail shell artistry should ensure that they use only non-toxic paints.

This Is Sparta?

(image via: Ant Graffiti)

Though it appears by the looks of it to be a semi-skilled work of photo-shoppery, the snail above is more noteworthy for the message than for the medium. “Ant-agonize All Humans”, reads the glammed-up gastropod above, which hails from Sparta, Georgia. Wouldn’t it be cool if there were 300 of them sliming about? Wouldn’t it be even cooler if they decided to invade Athens?

(image via: MaikT)

Painted or not, snail shells are marvels of natural engineering and evolutionary design. Are we humans so arrogant as to think we can improve on a design that can trace its lineage back hundreds of millions of years? Perhaps “improve” isn’t the right word… “complement” works much better.

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15 Fantastically Futuristic Plant Growing Design Concepts

Angie — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 18:00:25 +0000

Not all of us own land for farming, but even urban dwellers can grow gardens and plants. There are more and more fantastic green living concepts being designed for people who want to try out their green thumb. Here are 15 fantastically futuristic plant growing design concepts.

One Pot, Two Lives

(image credits: Yanko Design)

The planter and fish tank work together to make your fish and your plant healthier. The system works by the fish poo acting as a moist fertilizer for the plant. The filter system helps to maintain neutral PH quality in the water for the fish while extending the watering period by about one week for the plant. One Pot, Two Lives was created by designers Sheng-Zhe Feng and Ling-Yuan Chou.

Urb Garden

(image credits: designawards)

Urb Garden by Xavier Calluaud allows people who do not have space for traditional horizontal gardens to indulge in gardening. Vertical food gardens encourage urban dwellers to grow their own food. It comes with a self-contained drip watering system, keeping the plants hydrated. It was also designed for organic recycling to act as plant fertilization.

PC Green Computing Concept

(image credits: core77)

Designer Luis Luna created this green computer concept design called “O.” The project was inspired by the oxygen and the photosynthesis cycle, trying to reduce the amount of CO2 that computers generate. This CPU is both decorative and meant to encourage a green thinking lifestyle for computer users.

Kitchen Garden & Moss Bathmat

(image credits: La Chanh Nguyen,La Chanh Nguyen)

Designer La Chanh Nguyen came up with both of these green living concepts. The Kitchen Garden basically grows over the pot holding kitchen utensil and provides a vertical garden. The chef can cut some fresh aromatic herbs as needed. How about a moss bathmat? Moss Carpet utilizes the humidity of the bathroom as well as water dripping off a person to stay watered. It would also provide a very different feeling under your feet than most people experience when stepping out of the shower or tub.

Office Partition & Foot Rest

(image credits: yankodesign)

Having plants in the office is not a new idea, but designers Jinsun and Seonkeum Park have a couple of plant growing concepts that you have doubtfully seen in the office yet. For those of you trapped in the dreaded cubicle, perhaps office life would seem a bit less bleak with a Breathing Partition? They claim it will bring an ever-lasting oasis to an otherwise dull and dreary office environment. Not for you? Then how about a grass foot rest to allow a feeling of nature under your bare feet?

Le Petit Prince

Le Petit Prince was designed by Martin Miklica and was one of the 2009 Electrolux Design Lab Competition winners. This intelligent robotic greenhouse concept was designed to help with future exploration and expanding population on Mars. The four-legged pod can carry and tend to a plant inside its glass container. It also can send wireless communication to other greenhouse robots, allowing them to learn from each other.

Ecohabitare

(image credit: trendsupdates)

If you don’t have the farming land for a garden, surely you have enough space to hang a “picture?” Ecohabitare is a vertical garden designed by Daniele Adamo and Ravel Casela. Made from flat plates manufactured from recycled packages, this portable vertical garden takes 20 minutes a day to harvest and irrigate. The fertilized soil only needs changed once a year when you add new seeds. It requires about 9.8 feet or 3 meters of wall space and is best suitable for growing chives, parsley, tomato, basil, mint, bold, strawberry and rosemary.

Air-conditioning Curtain / Vertical Planter

(image credit: designboom)

This air conditioning curtain concept was designed by Laura Boffi. “Fresco Di Lana” is made from wool and meant to be kept wet via a water pump. The air-conditioning curtain could perhaps be considered swag except it also functions as a vertical garden. The wet wool filters hot air, cooling it as it enters the house. The wet wool provides pockets in which to grow your food, flowers, or plants indoors.

Envi Urban Waste Management

(image credits: behance)

Designer Julien Bergignat created Evni, one of 58 projects that was shortlisted for the 2009 BraunPrize competition. Envi is a foresight urban dustbin, promoting composting from biodegradable waste. The concept design shows the benefits of urban recycling in which the waste turns into compost for the plant it carries.

Refrigerator That Grows Plants

(image credits Yanko Design)

Designer Hanna Sandström worked with Green Fortune & Whirlpool to come up with a refrigerator that will nurture a seed into a plant. It’s meant to grow herbs and organic greens that you might normally purchase. Although still in concept design stage, the system should automatically water and give light to the refrigerator garden. Not possible? Once upon a time, the same thing was said about ice spitting out the refrigerator door. Growing plants in your frig would give garden fresh a whole new meaning.

Ekokook

(image credits Yanko Design)

Designer FALTAZI came up with Ekokook, one of the coolest kitchen concept systems ever invented. You can watch the video below whether you understand French or not and see it in action. Ekokook does it all, from use and re-use of your solid waste, liquid waste, organic waste, oh…and cook too. It has a combo fridge/freezer, steam oven, and two-tier dishwasher. Non-smelly waste is placed into a bin and compacted into briquettes. The double sink collects water that is filtered to be reused on the plants hanging above it. Organic waste is taken care of by earthworms and then further recycled into food for indoor and outdoor plants.

Volksgarden Hydroponics

(image credits: gizmag)

Volksgarden is not a concept design but a reality of an effective hydroponic garden on wheels. It’s a ferris wheel ride for plants, growing up to 80 plants at once, taking 45-50 minutes to complete a rotation, spinning 24/7. The unit only takes up 1/3 of the floor space used by a conventional flat garden. Omega Garden Technology claims Volksgarden yields three to five times the comparable weight per watt average per harvest. This seems like a great way to grow your own food . . . or weed.

Home Farming

(image credits: designboom)

Philips design completed a project on how we might eat and source our food in 15-20 years from now. This Home Farming concept is a self-contained farm for growing plants and raising fish. This vertical garden is a step beyond those above as you would also be able to provide meat with your veggies. Below is a video of their design probe looking at the future of food.

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The Impermanence of Memory: Recycling Storage Into Art

Delana — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 18:00:02 +0000

The sad truth about our electronics consumption is that we often end up throwing away obsolete technology. How many of us have found ourselves wondering what to do with a stack of floppy disks or a box full of VHS tapes? London artist Nick Gentry uses these aged bits of technology to create something new and entirely different: fine art with a soul.

His paintings are, in themselves, quite haunting and lovely. Gentry favors humans as subjects, and his portraits are full of personality. But even more impressive is the fact that these portraits are painted onto the physical data storage devices of yesteryear. While at one time every computer user was familiar with floppy disks, we are now trending toward large hard drives or servers to store our data. As a result, those old floppies are going unused.

Nick Gentry puts them to good use, utilizing the unique characteristics of the storage media to create enthralling portraits. Many incorporate the landscape of the disks into the overall picture; others simply atop their bumps and ridges. The artist makes no attempt to conceal the true nature of his “canvas,” however; the disks’ labels are visible, giving one a jarringly private view into the former lives of these thin pieces of plastic.

As lovely as these pieces are from an artistic standpoint, they also serve to remind the viewer of all that we lose in our lifetimes. Memories slip away on forgotten disks shoved to the back of a closet. Letters, records, and creative pursuits are locked away in the magnets of the disks.

The environmental aspect of Gentry’s work certainly can’t be ignored. By taking the obsolete devices and turning them into art, he is saving the disks from an eternity in a landfill. With these paintings, the artist is rebelling against the disposable society where we so freely and quickly throw things away. According to the artist, he is challenging the notion of a disposable world by breathing new life into what many would consider garbage.

If you’re interested in having your own collection of unwanted floppy disks immortalized as art, Gentry’s website includes directions for sending him donations of obsolete storage media.

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Bob Basset Creations: A Mix of Steampunk, Masks, and BDSM

Marc — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 18:00:55 +0000

Bob Basset is an artist whose creations are as fantastical as he is; Bob Basset doesn’t really exist, he’s a virtual stand-in for the four talented Ukrainian leatherworkers who produce the unique creations under his name. The group is made up of Oleg and Sergey Petrov, Andrei Patlin and Andrey Makaruk, and has become an underground success selling to a niche group of steampunk fans, BDSM participants, and those who simply appreciate fine leatherwork and one of a kind items. Here’s a tour through some of Bob Basset’s most intriguing and famous works:

(Images via bobbasset)

One of Bob Basset’s newest creations, this steampunk toy takes the form of a dirigible meant for battle. Much like the giant airships that grace almost any story or film in the steampunk genre, this production has the clockwork elements and old fashioned aesthetic that marks it as a steampunk creation. Ships like this were the Victorian dream: beautiful in form and function, and powered by steam, the production of such ships would be incredibly green relative to the soot spewing machinery of the day.

(Image via bobbasset)

A closer look reveals the level of detail placed into each of Bob Basset’s works, as a small steampunk soldier is visible in front of a wall of machinery. This dirigible is even more interesting because it strays far from Bob Basset’s more common creations: masks.

(Images via steampunkpics, xtreamer, boingboing)

The upsurgence of interest in steampunk in recent years has been reflected by Bob Basset’s output, as they begin to concentrate increasingly on oddball masks that showcase the leather and metal aesthetic of the genre. One can’t help imagine these masks being used for survival after an ecological (and apocalyptic) disaster. Their fine craftsmanship almost makes one wish for an excuse to use them… almost.

(Images via hemmy, odditycentral)

Nature’s most famous fictional creature is undoubtedly the dragon; a creature revered by many cultures as the ideal mix of grace, wisdom, and danger. Bob Basset gives one the opportunity to explore the possibilities of a fictional past in which dragons could be carried around as pets. Each of these visually compelling dragons is a fully functioning bag.

(Image via coolthings)

Taking a closer look reveals dragon wings that look leathery and realistic. Each piece is a testament to the skill of Bob Basset’s leatherworking. They use traditional methods to come up with the most untraditional creations. They also often use resin, metal, and wood to add variety to their designs.

(Images via legox, affigold)

While the steampunk mask designs are interesting in that they hearken back to the Victorian era, many of Bob Basset’s masks are darker and appear to be from a future of ecological collapse. These post apocalyptic designs are a mix of BDSM and road warrior.

(Images via bobbasset)

One of H.P. Lovecraft’s most legendary fictional creations, Cthulhu is an amalgamation of all that is evil. Bob Basset has many models of this creature’s face, but this is by far the most detailed. One can’t help wondering if we’ll look something like this in a hundred generations, considering the amount of harmful toxins that are polluting our air and oceans.

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31 Aquariums From Wow to WTF [Pics]

Angie — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 18:00:19 +0000

People enjoy watching fish swim. It’s soothing in our otherwise crazy high-speed lifestyles. Fish habitats come in practically every shape and size you can imagine. Some are works of wonder while others are more like WTF were they thinking when they designed that aquarium. These are 31 of those very unique aquariums found around the world.

Want an Aquarium?

(image credits Born Rich,hometone,gizmodo,Sydney Morning Herald,Born Rich)

Fish habitats have come a long way since simple rectangular aquariums or a round bowl. If you want some fish and need an aquarium, the sky is the limit nowadays. . . or perhaps your budget is deciding factor. If you want fish in the kitchen, but not to eat, then there are kitchen table bars for that. Sofas come with aquariums on both sides. There are aquariums to hang on the wall that resemble flat screen TVs. Fish in an iPod? It’s been done. There are even space-age hanging aquariums so your fish habitat will not take up any of your valuable floor space.

glass-art

(image credits: Vanessa Mitrani )

If you have a fondness for glass art yet also want to keep fish as pets, there are dozens of options available for you. These decorative fish tanks by Vanessa Mitrani have organic bubbles that balloon this way and that to provide an environment in which betas can survive. Cleaning is done with a soft sponge and water.

Ice

(image credits doseng)

Want fish but not the mess of cleaning their habitat? Of course, you would not get to enjoy watching the fish swim either in this type of aquarium. The aquarium is made of ice and the fish are frozen inside it.

Strange or Cool?

(image credits gizmodo,Born Rich,gizmodo,novate)

The Spillarium has a waterfall effect to circulate and purify water in the aquarium. It might also keep your fish swimming like crazy to avoid spilling out of the hole and into the ceramic fish’s mouth. If you enjoy watching fish swim, but dislike feeding them and cleaning their tank, you must check out the Aquapict LED Jellyfish Aquarium. It contains three electrified life-like jellyfish, made out of silicone, to seem as if they are swimming. On the lower left, “Swimming Around In Circles” aquarium is only a concept at this point, but was designed for your fishies to feel free. It “loops the fish around in an infinite tunnel of water and glass.” The lower right aquarium is for breeding fish. It plugs into your computer via USB to help you track and monitor optimum breeding conditions.

Fish Fans

(image credits Luxury Housing Trends,Opulent Items,Opulent Items,Elseware Inc)

Nothing new here, but it does show variety in where you can keep your fish. Do you have high stress at work and need a way to relax? The aquarium desk takes keeping fish at work to another level. In fact, you can sooth your stress level while watching fish swim in any room of your house. There are all shapes and sizes of coffee table aquariums. Too dull for you? Then how about keeping your fish in the bathroom sink or in the back of the toilet?

Cruelly Cramped to Free Roam Pipeline

(image credits Collections Etc,xinhuanet,The contaminated)

Apartment living often leads to needing every precious square foot. It seems cruel to keep your fish in a tiny half bubble tank on the wall, but some people like it. Another cruel yet odd aquarium design can be found in a Beijing hotel lobby. The fish survive for only six days before a big flushing and new fish stock replaces the old. The polar opposite of cramped and cruel is the pipeline fish tank that zigs and zags all over a cafe. These fish are free roaming, swimming from one aquarium to another by way of pipelines which connect them.

How To Clean?

(image credits Opulent Items)

The Labyrinth Aquarium is without a doubt very cool. However, with a price tag of $6,500, it seems as if it should come with a person to clean this opulent aquarium. Just the same, it’s pretty neat to look at the fish swimming freely throughout this enitre fish tank.

The Aquarium Phone Booth

(image credits RX thepirata, Benoit Deseille and Benedetto Bufalino,lady_stardust9)

Artists Benoit Deseille and Benedetto Bufalino created this telephone booth aquarium as part of the Lyon Light Festival in France. They stated, “With the advent of the mobile telephone, telephone booths lie unused. We rediscover this glass cage transformed into an aquarium, full of exotically coloured fish; an invitation to escape and travel.”

Aquarium Arch

(image credits fish-and-dreams)

Aquariums are pretty much in every design imaginable. This aquarium archway would definitely attract attention in any home, office or business.

3D

(image credits fish-and-dreams)

This project aimed at showing the designer’s capabilities in realizing your ideas and fantasies that go beyond the usual and standard. This 3D bar aquarium is creative and cool, definitely a winner in commanding attention.

Bar with an aquarium dancefloor filled with sharks

(image credits QUA Bottle Lounge)

There are many bars around the world that are built around an aquarium, but not so many where the dance floor is a giant fish tank. In Austin, Texas, this cocktail lounge is called QUA Bottle Lounge. The dance floor is filled with sharks.

Aquadom

(image credits id4,,vagabondish)

The Radisson SAS hotel in Berlin Mitte, has a 25 meter tall elevator encased inside a giant aquarium. It is the largest acrylic glass cylinder aquarium in the world. It holds 900,000 liters of sea water and 56 different fish species. Every day, divers take care of feeding the fish and cleaning inside this massive and unique tank.

Georgia Aquarium

(image credit: textransfer)

The Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta is advertised as the “world’s largest aquarium.” It has 100,000 animals of 500 different species. The aquarium holds more than 8.1 million gallons of marine and fresh water. Pictured above is the The Ocean Voyager exhibit tunnel is a 100 foot underwater tunnel which includes the vast majority of the aquarium’s water and almost 100,000 fish. Other aquatic animals are displayed in five different galleries: Georgia Explorer, Tropical Diver, Ocean Voyager, Cold Water Quest, and River Scout.

Dubai Mall Aquarium

Inside the Dubai Mall Aquarium is one of the of the largest tanks in the world and featuring the world’s largest viewing panel at 32.8m wide and 8.3m high. Over time, Dubai Aquarium will have more than 33,000 living animals, representing more than 85 species including over 400 sharks and rays combined.

Kuroshio Sea

The Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium is housed within the Ocean Expo Commemorative National Government Park in Okinawa, Japan. It is the world’s second largest aquarium behind the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta.

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We Built This City on Garbage: The Rapid Re(f)use Solution

Delana — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 18:00:35 +0000

Until recently, Fresh Kills landfill received most of the waste generated in New York City: some 38,000 tons every single day. Now that the landfill is closed, the city is left with a 2200 acre pile of garbage. In 2001, its tallest point reached higher than the Statue of Liberty. The former landfill is in the process of being turned into a public park following the capping of the garbage with an impermeable cover that, it is hoped, will bury the waste forever. But Terreform has a vastly different idea: rebuild and expand the city from decades of its own waste.

The non-profit green design group has proposed a radical solution to the abundance of waste in New York City: use it to build an entirely new addition to the city. Their Rapid Re(f)use project involves specialized robots which would process the garbage into usable material, almost like the 3D printers in massive scale. Terreform suggests that with the refuse in Fresh Kills alone, seven full-size Manhattans could be built. They indicate that the city could be extended and improved with the materials that already exist right there in the landfill.

In their concept, Terreform acknowledges that different types of materials would be useful for different applications: organic materials could be used for temporary scaffolding, plastics for windows and skylights, and metals for the “bones” of buildings. The automated robot workers assigned to comb through the landfills and turn trash into materials would be able to distinguish which type of material they were handling and use it appropriately.

The group believes that the project could be carried out in as little time as just a few decades. According to the Rapid Re(f)use project page, the robot 3D printers on which the project depends are based on technology that already exists in the waste management industry. Whether or not this idea ever actually comes to fruition (and it looks extremely doubtful that it will), Terreform makes a valid point: one day, our garbage will overwhelm us. Maybe it’s time we look to the more radical solutions to remedy the problem before we all end up on the Axiom for a five-year tour.

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You Dirty Beach: English Seaside Gets Eco Message

Delana — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 18:00:48 +0000

How often do we really think about all of the garbage that’s lurking on our beaches? Even if the sand itself looks clean, the chances are that there is all sorts of industrial and commercial waste under the surface. Artists Lou McCurdy and Chloe Hanks teamed up for the 2009 Brighton Fringe Festival to call attention to the problem of worldwide polluted beaches. McCurdy focused her attention on transforming plastic litter into beautiful works of art, while Hanks used eco-friendly paint to create temporary, thought-provoking graffiti.

Lou McCurdy previously won attention for her “More Plastic than Plankton” project, and she brought the same Earth-conscious mentality to the Dirty Beach Exhibition. She gathered bits of plastic, fishing nets, ropes and other pieces of litter from the beach and turned them into richly textured, brightly colored wall panels.

The panels illustrate just how permanent the plastic litter is, now one tossed bottle can exist nearly forever. And the vast majority of the litter that’s floating around in our oceans or creating an eyesore on the beach won’t be lucky enough to be picked up and made into lovely artwork; it’ll be in the waste stream for hundreds of years.

Graphic designer Chloe Hanks took a slightly different approach to the project. Rather than using materials that would last forever and ever, she meant for her images to be gone within a few days. She used natural methods to leave graffiti messages all over Brighton. The above graffiti was painted on with homemade, biodegradable paint. The small pieces play on familiar seaside imagery and funny sayings to call attention to the real problem of sea pollution. And by using the signature “Hanksy,” the artist plays on the name of England’s best-known graffiti artist, Banksy.

These two messages were left in prominent tourist areas and were, of course, designed to be impermanent. The first shows a group of single-use plastic items and the words “Weapons of Mass Production,” a reference to the overwhelming number of plastic items which are simply thrown away after one use. These cups, straws, bags and other pieces of trash often end up polluting streets, oceans and beaches. The second piece, which was made by stripping algae and lichen from a rock, bears the term “mermaid’s tears.” While they may sound beautiful, “mermaid tears” is the term used to describe tiny pieces of plastic that float around in the ocean and end up on beaches – either pre-production pellets or small, broken-down pieces of former plastic products.

By painting the octagonal sea defences with red beetroot juice mix and filling them with pebbles from the beach, Hanks turned the beach into a temporary video game. She says about the piece: “Compared to levels in MCS Beachwatch 1994, the average density of litter ‘invading’ our beaches from in-shore and off-shore has risen by over 110%. Hopefully it’s not ‘game over.’” Although the Dirty Beach Exhibit is over now, you can still see the photographic evidence of these eco-friendly art pieces at the project’s website.

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Futuristic Eco-Kitchen Makes for Cleaner, Greener Meals

Delana — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 18:00:18 +0000

Overall, more household waste is created in the kitchen than any other room. Food preparation generates organic waste, recyclable trash, and grey water, much of which just enters the waste stream currently. It stands to reason that, if you want to reduce household waste, you would start there.

Industrial design group Faltazi saw a problem with modern kitchens: they hang on to 20th century ideals rather than offering a solution to 21st century problems. So the group decided to create a kitchen system that would operate on four principles: waste management, kitchen health, energy reduction and intelligent storage.

The Ekokook concept starts with more efficient food storage. Rather than the traditional two-compartment fridge/freezer combo, the Ekokook features sections to keep fresh fruits and vegetables fresh longer, encouraging the owners to eat more healthy, natural foods while cutting down on the electricity required to refrigerate food items. The steam oven and two-tier dishwasher help to further reduce the energy consumption in the kitchen.

But what really makes the Ekokook shine is its waste management systems. There are separate systems for solid, liquid and organic waste. Waste water from washing fruits and vegetables is recycled to water houseplants, organic waste is routed to an eco-friendly compost system featuring live earth worms, and recyclable wastes are sorted into their appropriate groups.

A few commonly-used household herbs or vegetables could be grown in the overhead ultraponics chambers, presumably using compost and grey water collected from the other components of the kitchen. The rest of the setup is dedicated to intelligent storage, with some overhead and some lower compartments being arranged to maximize space while allowing for freedom of movement in the ultra-modern, planet-friendly kitchen.

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Super, Man! How to: Recycle 100s of British Phone Booths

Delana — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 18:00:04 +0000

The iconic red British telephone box is recognized just about everywhere in the world. It’s been a symbol of British culture and traditions for generations. But today, with the rise of mobile phones and the inflated cost of caring for these public calling booths, BT has decommissioned thousands of red call boxes. But they offered towns a way to keep their telephone boxes even after the telephones inside were removed: for £1 and a great idea, communities were given the opportunity to give these proud red icons new life.

When BT (British Telecom) decided to do away with the red phone box that’s recognized all over the world, they gave councils a chance to keep their booths without the phones. Their Adopt a Kiosk program called for suggestions on what to do with the booths, and BT received thousands of entries. The village of Westbury-sub-Mendip in Somerset came up with the above solution: a micro lending library, where residents can borrow books, CDs and DVDs 24 hours a day. They simply leave one item for each item they take, and the entire village gets to enjoy both the presence of the iconic phone box and the convenience of a well-stocked lending library.

Would you believe this phone box is actually a miniature art gallery? The Gallery on the Green in Settle, North Yorkshire is thought to be the smallest art gallery in the world. It features postcard-size works of art from individuals, groups and schools. The idea behind the project is for residents and tourists to share thoughts and images from their travels, putting them in a public forum where everyone can see.

Residents in Waterperry, Oxfordshire took a different approach. Their phone box is a landmark for their town, especially since the main road is unnamed and most directions to anywhere in Waterperry include “go past the telephone box.” The town adopted their phone box from BT and turned it into a community center of sorts. Its use varies with the season: in the autumn it’s a fruit and vegetable exhange; in the summer it’s been used for poetry readings; in the winter it hosts a jolly Christmas display complete with carolers.

Loppergarth, in Cumbria, uses their adopted phone kiosk as a visitor information center. Visitors have only to step inside to view maps and learn about the area. The town also uses the phone box to display the crown for the town’s drag carnival queen.

Great Shelford, in Cambridgeshire, was the big winner of the competition. Their phone box is a changeable art installation featuring a (somewhat creepy) mannequin. The children of the local primary school make suggestions for the mannequin’s next persona, and its costume is change regularly. Guy Fawkes was the first historical figure to be honored in this one-of-a-kind public art installation.

Even before BT offered councils the chance to save their telephone boxes, they were removing them from locations all across Britain. Some of them ended up in the rubbish tip (garbage dump) and just screamed out to be saved. That’s just what Warwickshire artist Barry Robinson did when he pulled these three phone boxes from certain destruction and created “Telephone Tree,” a 20-foot-tall sculpture that he mounted in a field in his rural village. His neighbors weren’t quite as in love with the idea as Mr. Robinson, though, and called for it to be removed.