African Architecture and Design

Earthquake proof Earthen School Pakistan

2011-12-21T02:21:00.000-08:00

Design Boom writes about "...tipu sultan merkez' earthen school in jar maulwi, pakistan by berlin-based architectural and engineering practice ziegert roswag seiler architekten ingenieure has received this year's holcim award for sustainable construction within the asia-pacific region.

The first level of of the two-story building is constructed with cob walls comprised of locally sourced clay, sand, straw, water and earth. resting upon brick foundations,the interior spaces are protected from moisture penetrating from the ground or rainwater.

The upper floor is a bamboo framework filled with an earthen mixture. the combined result of the structure absorbs humidity and the mass of the thick 60 centimeter bearing walls
reduces the temperature of interior spaces by 8 degrees celsius during the 40 degree summer heat.

Local residents were able to build their new community facility by implementing appropriate construction technologies and skills which were already present within the village.

Accra Twin Towers

2011-12-21T02:01:00.000-08:00

Design Boom writes about "...lisbon-based practice frederico valsassina arquitectos has designed the 'accra twin towers' to be positioned along liberia road in urban context of accra, ghana. overlooking the gulf of guinea, the pair of structures contrasts the encompassing development
of dense suburban scale buildings, becoming a visible landmark.

Placed upon a limited plot size, the program is divided into residential and office levels within the 40 floors. reaching 160 meters in height, the external form is generated by taking away cubic masses from an interior corner, gradually opening a void between them. within the widest point of the gap and elevated
above ground level, an outdoor terrace and swimming pool is connected to the base's recreational floors.

An extension of the existing street life, three floors of shopping welcome visitors into the program. a range of dwelling sizes
may be created with a modular arrangement to provide flexibility of market trends during construction without interfering with the exterior's aesthetic composition. the steel mesh protects the dominant glass curtain walls from direct and harsh sunlight, reflecting and filtering intense radiation.

INCHSCAPE.Ki

2011-11-26T19:35:00.000-08:00

Their website says..."INCHSCAPE.Ki is a multi-disciplinary architectural practice with an approach of putting careful consideration into architecural briefs.

Inchscape was established in 1983 as a full service firm,embracing true imagination and creative expertise that satisfy the client and the professional community.

Photos courtesy of "INCHSCAPE.Ki

Anam City

2011-10-31T16:27:00.000-07:00

According to their website and blog "...ANAM city is a dynamic model for sustainable development that balances ecology with economic growth, delivers world-class quality of life across generations and leverages technology within the African culture of collective progress.

ANAM is simultaneously a model city and a new model for sustainable development in Africa. It is a project that fundamentally reorganizes society in order to bring about real and lasting change. It is an alternative paradigm — variably referred to as agropolitan or rurban in development planning circles — that combines the benefits of modern urban living with those of rural communities and traditional productive landscapes. It is at its core an initiative to generate local economic opportunity, but it is equally a strategy for using technology — within an integrated logics framework for conceptualizing the African city — to improve people’s lives..."

African Frescoes

2011-10-26T23:51:00.000-07:00

These amazing photos of West African Frescoes created by the Gurunsi women of Tiebele for decorating their traditional adobe homes also share similar geometric pattern with shapes found on the calabashes of Fulani women. These motifs can also be found on the frescoes of traditional adobe buildings found in Northern Ghana, Niger, Northern Nigeria and Cameroon.

Paragon Architects

2011-10-26T22:10:00.000-07:00

According to their website "...Paragon Architects is a dynamic and innovative architectural design business, based in Johannesburg / South Africa, and active since 1997. It is the originator of the Paragon Group of design businesses.

We love what we do, and it shows. Our work is driven by true passion for the process of architecture, and by a hands-on engagement with all opportunities presented in the modern building industry. We believe that the true measure of our skill is our ability to engage at all levels and with all players that make up the colourful world of construction.

Our buildings look forward. We embrace the future, because we will be a part of it. With its problems and responsibilities, and with its great freedoms and achievements.

Most of all, we have not lost our sense of humour, and we are genuinely optimistic. Our work and our business conduct have a solid and consistent ethical basis, and we consider ourselves as generalists.

Our business has been built on our willingness to apply our knowledge to almost any design task, and we have completed buildings and projects of many different types in almost all property industry sectors. Our current core competencies lie in the design of workplace environments, specifically head offices, along with retail, sports and leisure architecture.

We have expanded our operational footprint beyond Southern Africa into Africa, and have specific current project interests in Angola, Ghana, Uganda and Rwanda. In 2009, we established a practice under the name of Paragon Arquitetura in Brazil.

Paragon Architects is known for being flexible and diverse in its approach to design. Our work is not style-driven, but lifestyle-driven. Elegant and efficient planning are at the core of our designs.

We understand the needs of our commercial developer clients, and know how to find ever new architectural forms in a competitive property market. To this extent, our work is fashion-driven, and we move forward from project to project, as our skills grow and our clients’ trust in our ability grows.

The Soweto Theatre

2011-10-13T00:45:00.000-07:00

According to Afritects Architects "....The Soweto Theatre is to provide equitable access to arts & culture facilities for the residents of Soweto, the largest satellite district of the city of Johannesburg. The aspirational characteristic of the first public building in Soweto was highlighted as necessitating a unique response calling for a building that the community would take ownership of and feel invited to use and enjoy.

This was answered through an assembly of forms that directly responded to their function whilst exposing their interior connective tissue of ambulatory lobbies to the curious eyes of a passerby. This legibility is contradictory to the standard theatre prototype.The architectural concept arises from solidifying the existing pathways of people through the site when travelling between home and work.

The form has two fortress walls that contain ancillary spaces and hold the three different core theatre venues: a 90-seater, a 180-seater and an auditorium of 430 seats. Unlike others of its type, this is not a solid secret box but exposes all its contents: from everywhere you can identify each of the theatre boxes and also relate to the exterior through the light fissures between the forms.

Each theatre box is clearly identifiable through its primary colours of yellow, blue and red, rendered through ceramic tiles.

The quasi-moiré pattern effect is achieved through using two different tones in both matt and gloss; the resulting basket weave pattern glistens with the sun rays and glimmers at night as car lights reflect off it. This beguiling effect is intended to parallel an African dancer with its glimmering torso and flashes of body adornments.

Sustainability is addressed through the determined use of local labour; the patterned application of the tiles both stretches and develops local skills; finally, the ceramic tiles through their colour fastness will withstand the African sun for 100 years. The main foyer is an outside tent-covered area signifying ‘event’ and where ‘teaser’ performances can happen to entice people...."

Haven Homes

2011-08-20T02:37:00.000-07:00

According to their website "...Haven Homes is the Real Estate subsidiary of Haven Global Resources Ltd, a firm registered as a limited liability company in Nigeria. Haven Homes is focused on developing unique, luxury homes that are based on western comforts and lifestyles.
We specialize in creating homes that model after the rich, luxurious, western aristocratic homes previously only seen in movies.
Our focus is to provide our customers with ultra luxurious homes that offer unique and individual layouts, abundant natural light, mezzanine levels, galleries, bridges, atriums and sometimes, roof terraces..."

Nigerian Bottle House

2011-08-20T02:02:00.000-07:00

Energy Refuge writes about using PET plastic bottles that are an environmental nuisance as the one of the main building components for sustainable housing.

A lot of us are also working to see how we can recycle used discarded water sachet bags(pure water) into building products.

Photos courtesy of Energy Refuge website

Shrinkfish

2011-03-26T04:13:00.000-07:00

according to their website "...Shrinkfish® is a newly incorporated Media Studios in Abuja, Nigeria with a special focus on animation and dynamic content as related to Entertainment, Corporate Identity, Branding, Advertisement solutions, Flash content, Internet and Multimedia presentations. It is our utmost intention to make a change in the animation and media industry in Africa starting from Nigeria..."

"...Apart from producing own content in 2D Animation, we offer Services in both 2D as well as 3D Animation under the supervision and management of a top African and European team whose experiences in film, television, Internet and print media go back to over 15 years..."

Syrian Beehive Houses

2010-07-10T10:27:00.000-07:00

Treehugger writes about Syrian Beehive houses that are "....Designed for the desert climate, the beehive homes keep the heat out in a few ways. Their thick mud brick walls trap in the cool and keep the sun out as well (beehive homes have very few, if any, windows). The high domes of the beehive houses also collect the hot air, moving it away from the residents sleeping at the bottom of the house..."

Photos courtesy of Treehugger

Yazd's wind-catchers

2010-07-10T10:03:00.000-07:00

Makezine writes about traditional wind-catchers that are built on the top of buildings in the city of Yazd in Iran.

It says "...When I visited the 3000-year-old city of Yazd, Iran, the old school technology I was most fascinated by is the windcatcher. Seen atop many a building in this arid city with an annual rainfall of 2.4 inches and summer temps frequently pushing 104°F, these towers are the predecessors to the swamp cooler. Basically, the wind shafts on the rooftops have directional ports, and only the one facing away from the incoming wind is left open. The wind gets sucked in and pushed down over water below, and the cooled air is circulated through the house. In the ancient homes I saw, the room at the bottom of the wind shaft had a little pool of water and the sides of the room were often built-in brick benches covered with carpet, where the dwellers would spend the hottest part of the day..."

Photos courtesy of Makezine

Lagos Keys

2010-06-30T13:19:00.000-07:00

Lagos Keys is a proposed development by Pinnacle Point Group. According to there website "...Pinnacle Point Lagos Keys will create the ultimate luxurious lifestyle with opulent residential homes set on spacious 3000m² private erven, with panoramic vistas across the lush golf course and landscaped gardens. Offering picturesque serenity, breathtaking views and timeless elegance, these freestanding, sumptuous mansions and palatial villas will be designed in a selection of styles including Classical, Mediterranean and Colonial..."

Shenzhen and Hong Kong Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture.

2009-12-16T12:15:00.000-08:00

FastCompany talks about the "...Hong Kong's Business of Design Week and the dual openings of the Shenzhen and Hong Kong (or Hong Kong and Shenzhen, depending who you ask) Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture. But the short answer is, duh--if you haven't heard, China is where the money is. (Well, not always, but more on that later..."

Photo courtesy of Fast Company Website.

Afritecture

2009-10-30T13:10:00.000-07:00

The Afritecture website says "..The influence of Africa in modern art and music is well documented. From the the works of Pablo Picasso to the sounds of Rhythm and Blues, elements of African styles are globally acknowledged. The African accent on today’s built environment, however, remains less celebrated.

Unlike the term ‘Western Architecture’, which conjures up images ranging from Greek Temples to Post Modern high rises, African architecture tends to be viewed through a very narrow prism. A hut is usually what comes to mind. Rarely is African architecture observed with reference to antiquity or to exemplary contemporary architecture.

This website aims to change that.

Over the centuries, cultures within continental Africa have developed and used numerous design principles in the design and construction of their surroundings. Out of necessity, availability, and creativity, these aesthetics - which are as varied as the continent’s vast cultural diversity, and further modified as they have passed through the screens of Eastern and Western cultures - are still prevalant within today’s urban context not only in Africa, but throughout the world.

This website , a platform through which the influence of this design vernacular in modern day Architecture, Landscape Architecture and Interior Design is showcased, is less about architecture in Africa, but more Africa in architecture. We also aim to be an exploration of this vernacular, within the context of the past, the local, and the present, with the hope of inspiring further investigation and admiration..."

Compressed Earth Block Prototype

2009-08-27T13:05:00.000-07:00

Open Source Ecology writes about the Compressed Earth Block Making machine that can me fabricated by small communities to enable them produce their own cheap sustainable eco-friendly blocks.

African Digital Art

2009-08-05T07:45:00.000-07:00

African Digital Art Blog "...is an online collective, a creative space, where digital artist, enthusiasts and professionals can seek inspiration, showcase their artistry and connect with emerging artists..."

It recently featured the work of of Amina Abdala an Architectural Designer based in Tokyo with more than 10 years experience in architecture, 3D computer graphic design, project management and production management.

Bio Degradable Insulation

2009-05-28T04:46:00.000-07:00

A cutting edge Bio degradable Insulation for Construction and other purposes has appeared in the market.Their website says "...Greensulate™ is an affordable, environmentally-friendly drop-in replacement for the expanded polystyrene used in cavity walls and structural insulating panels.

Greensulate™ is produced from natural byproducts, such as buckwheat hulls and cotton burrs, without heat or light input. With superior strength and comparable insulating properties, Greensulate™ insulation helps you reduce the amount of energy used to build your home, and increases your efficiency over the long haul..."

Constructs LLC

2009-04-16T12:24:00.000-07:00

According to their website "...Constructs LLC is a company that synergizes architecture, urban planning, landscaping, and building technology into a single unit geared towards bringing modern architecture and building techniques to Africa.

Sustainable Human Settlements Consult Limited

2008-12-01T09:30:00.000-08:00

According to their website "...SHSC Sustainable Human Settlements Consult Limited, founded in Lagos, Nigeria in 1995 as a partnership of Mustapha Zubairu (Architect/Planner and urban development and management expert), and Stella Zubairu (Architect and Facilities Management Expert), has continued to grow in organization resources and experience to meet the challenges of increasingly complex projects..."

"...We continue to operate as a general practice and have provided a full range of architectural and project coordination and management services, environmental management, urban development and management, urban governance related projects. We maintain long-standing relationships with consultants, construction industry and product supply interests. Since our inception we have sought public and private project assignments emphasizing changes that result in distinctive lasting and serviceable design..."

Images courtesy of SHSC

Abodes for the Coastal Inhabitants of West Africa

2008-11-19T06:07:00.000-08:00

While accompanying my mum to one of the markets in Enugu about 4 months ago, we went the section that sells dry shrimps(aka crayfish). While she was buying some crayfish she told me that most of the crayfish in the market now comes from Bakassi area of Nigeria area now. This is because the catches which mainly came from the central Delta is no longer in demand because a lot of their crayfish is tainted by oil and fuel slicks from the leaking crude oil pipes in the creeks. This rather unfortunate calamity has destroyed the means of livelihood of a lot of fishing villages in the Niger Delta.

I believe that a lot of the fishing communities do have to re-settled to land based housing schemes because we can design modern housing schemes that borrow a lot of ideas from their traditional architecture which could end up serving them better.

Most of the fishing communities of West Africa tend to live in houses built on stilts or poles embedded in the river or sea-bed because of constantly changing daily or seasonal level of the river and sea water around them.

By incorporating rain collection devices on the roof as well as portable solar distillation equipment will alleviated a lot of problems the inhabitants have with access to clean drinking water.

The intended source of power supply will be from Photovoltaic and wind generated power.

Fish, crayfish and seafood drying can also be carried out on the retractable canopy of the proposed building prototype. Collection tanks for sewage and Grey water incorporated with algae will gradually break down the waste which could be used in the suspended vegetable gardens attached to the abode.

The concrete substructure will be held up by friction piles driven to the shallow seabed. The superstructure will be a light wooden/aluminum/polyethylene building bolted to the concrete base that could be easily adapted to the family size of the inhabitants.

With a lot of the Nigerian coastal communities facing problems from poverty, destruction of their ecosystems, lack of clean drinking water I believe that we can contribute design,construction and technological ideas that could be used to develop modern housing schemes. These design could be influenced by Ijaw,Kalabari, Ogoni, Urobo, Iteskiri traditional architecture but still maintain the functionality, durability of an abode built on top of water.

Master Holdings

2008-10-24T06:45:00.000-07:00

Their website says "...Master Holdings (Nig) Ltd is a Civil Engineering & Buildings Construction company that is wholly indigenous with some expartriate engineers in its employ.

Since the company's birth in 1984 it has maintained a policy of delivering projects ahead of schedule with a special flare for thoroughness, efficiency, perfection and durability.

Initially the company concentrated on buildings construction, but branched into the roads and bridges construction market in 1994. Since then, Master Holdings has become synonymous with excellence in Civil Engineering Construction, especially roads, bridges and erosion control.

Master Holdings (Nig) Ltd was founded by Mr Kanayo G Nwandu, a 1978 Quantity Surveying Bsc (London) (Hons) graduate. He had his very rich experience in Civil Engineering and Buildings Construction in DANSEL, a highly reputable Civil Engineering and Buildings Construction Company, whose existence spanned from the 1950s to the 1980s. It was while having his tutelage in DANSEL, where he rose to be the Managing Director, that his ambition to form a very formidable, efficiant, organised and performing Road Construction Company was nurtured.

And so, in 1984, Master Holdings (Nig) Ltd was incorporated with Mr Kanayo G Nwandu as its Chairman/Managing Director. As a holding company, it is also involved in Real Estate, dry Cleaning Services, Travel Agency Services, Quarry, etc. Bus as at now, the Company's main business trust is Civil Engineering and Buildings Construction, with a non-pariel expertise in..."

Logo courtesy of Master Holdings (Nig) website

Essential Interiors

2008-10-21T14:57:00.000-07:00

Their website says that " ...Essential Interiors was established over 8 years ago, offering a complete interior design, supply, project co-ordination and installation service. Customer satisfaction is our watchword and over the years, we have built up an impressive clientele base, both local and international. Our hard earned reputation is due largely to our well trained professional staff and management whose varied experience of the Nigerian market coupled with a fine blend of innovative ideas and knowledge of the very latest trends in the industry make Essential Interiors one of the leading Interior Design consultancy firms in Nigeria...".

Its Management team is headed by Titi Ogufere "...who earned her qualification in Interior Design in Ireland. She is vastly experienced and is on the board of the Interior Designers Association of Nigeria (IDAN) and only recently started Essential Interiors Magazine based in Nigeria to promote Interior Design decoration and Garden Design..."

Phtotos courtesy of Essential Interiors

Philippine Earthbag Construction

2008-10-17T14:30:00.000-07:00

The Green Home Building writes about an "... Earthbag Construction System is proving to be fast, inexpensive, sturdy and environmentally friendly. It also does not require an army of professionals to build – just eager, willing and able people of both sexes and all ages.

A building technology originating from the Middle East, developed by an Iranian-American, is generating a buzz in the Philippines as an environmentally benign solution to a pressing shortage of shelter and school buildings. Nader Khalili, the awarded California-based architect/author and teacher of Iranian-American earth architecture, says his ceramic house and earth architecture techniques are also a quick, inexpensive way to build mass shelters for calamity victims.

But it was a young Filipino entrepreneur, Illac Diaz, who found Khalili’s architectural innovations suitable for the Philippines, where, even without natural and man-made disasters, housing and classroom shortages are acute.Mentored by Khalili himself, Diaz is showing that the Earthbag Construction System is proving to be fast, inexpensive, sturdy and environmentally friendly. It also does not require an army of professionals to build – just eager, willing and able people of both sexes and all ages.

Diaz is the Executive Director of My Shelter Foundation, which looks for ‘uncommon solutions for common problems’. He pointed out that the old Filipino construction technologies, using wood, cane, stones and other forest products, are no longer suitable and practical given the country’s severe deforestation. Concrete has also been an unrealistic alternative for people without adequate means to have their homes – or any other building – air-conditioned, due to its heat retaining properties. Even electric fans use considerable energy, generated through imported, costly and irreplaceable fossil fuel.

Diaz’s technology, however, which is an adaptation of Khalili’s Earthbag ceramic house method, uses material found right under people’s feet – soil. Other materials used are straw sacks and barbed wire for structural support, water pipes, oil drums for windows, and a little cement.Diaz first put the construction innovation on display by building a model house made of ‘mud’ in Escalante, Negros Occidental, in the central Philippines in honour of a recently deceased aunt who had lived there. Then, realising many public school children in the Philippines, particularly those farthest from the capital city of Manila, barely had roofs over their heads as they attended classes, Diaz decided to launch a school building campaign that he hoped would be adopted elsewhere.

Siargao Island of Surigao del Norte, in eastern Mindanao province, sits on the edge of the Pacific Ocean. Though it has become a favourite destination for dedicated surfers from around the world, Siargao, like many other places in the Philippines, badly needed buildings that would at least provide adequate protection from the elements. In many areas of Mindanao, with its serious environmental, peace and order problems, thousands of Filipino students receive lessons in makeshift classrooms. Often they are in an open field with only a tree’s sprawling branches to offer some kind of cover.

Diaz noted that the current design for Philippine school buildings was both uncomfortable for students and energy inefficient. Classrooms were hot and dimly lit so electric light bulbs were needed. The discomfort of the classroom may have been contributing to the high student dropout rates, he thought.

With domed or arched roofs, whose weights are supported by the walls, Diaz’s school buildings – and houses – have no pillars. They also do not use hollow blocks. Steel drums are employed to shape and provide the opening for rounded windows and pipes are strategically placed to let air in and out to cool the structures. A little cement is used in some places just to ‘glue’ things together.

The first three-room school that My Shelter Foundation built in Siargao, in collaboration with the Abakada Foundation (a Filipino non-government organisation focusing on the provision of educational facilities in rural areas) has cost about 150 000 Pesos, but Diaz expects the price to fall even further as he and his partners become more experienced in the use of the technology. The project took less than a month to complete.

Diaz, who has patented the construction technology, said conventional building techniques ‘did not take into account nature’. He said they destroyed the environment, polluted the water, and required a lot of energy for cooling because ‘metal sheet roofing generates a lot of heat’, requiring air-conditioners or electric fans. As the main component of Diaz’s construction – soil – is free and readily available, there is also less need for imported materials.

‘Maybe the Western building techniques are not (appropriate) for developing countries,’ Diaz said. ‘Earthbag’ structures are also fireproof. Diaz said fire,
in fact, ‘cooked the soil and turned it into brick’, strengthening the material in much the same way heat makes pottery stronger. Hence, Khalili calls his handiwork ‘ceramic housing’.

Supposedly better able to withstand typhoons and earthquakes too, Diaz said the structures could last 50 years or more, and are then recyclable. They can remain where they are so dust can return to dust, even without help from humans, he said..."

Photos courtesy of The Green Home Building website

ArchitectAfrica

2008-09-10T14:33:00.000-07:00

Architect Africa is a news and information network for the African Built Environment according to their website. Their goals include "...

1. To be the best African Built Environment News & Information Network on the Internet.
2. To provide full and free access to our systems to all visitors and users.
3. To publish from the fastest and most reliable servers and delivery network available.

Palmyra House

2008-09-06T11:41:00.000-07:00

Inhabitat says "...Pitched as having over 800 uses, the Palmyra Palm (or Borassus) is recognized as one of the most important trees in Cambodia and India. Earlier this year, Indian born architect Bijoy Jain of Studio Mumbai illustrated the ecological potential of the palm when he designed and built the beautiful Palmyra House. Constructed entirely from locally sourced and sustainably harvested palmyra, the home is sited on a working coconut plantation in the East Indian coastal town of Alibaug..."

Photos courtesy of inhabitat

Design Decisions

2008-08-25T07:44:00.000-07:00

Their website says "...Design Decisions is an interior design firm established in California in 1990. Our Lagos office opened in 1993 and has grown to be recognized as the leading interior design consultants in Nigeria. In 2007, we expanded our services to South Africa.

We are influenced by the grand scale and fantasy of Californian style, the business savvy required to do business in Nigeria, and the creative blend of African motifs in South African interiors. These global influences reflect in our projects and give them a unique approach to making critical design decisions.

We focus on commercial, residential and hospitality design. We are a multi-disciplinary practice, incorporating architectural and interior design, as well as project management services for developments such as apartments, luxury homes and corporate headquarters..."

Photos courtesy of Design Decisions

India’s First Green Housing Project Completed

2008-07-31T15:47:00.000-07:00

In an article featured in the blog Inhabitat, it says "...According to the Planning Commission, India will need to generate at least 700,000 MW of additional power by 2030 to meet growing electricity demands. India will certainly be looking towards alternative energy sources to generate a substantial portion of this energy. Although solar energy production in India accounted for a mere 1.7% of the world total in 2007 (80 megawatt peak (MWp) power compared to a world total of 4,700 MWp), several great green strides have been taken by the country to harness the immense potential of solar energy. The latest example of this future forward thinking is Rabi Rashmi Abasan, India’s first completely green housing project.

Sanyo's Solar Ark

2008-07-12T14:01:00.000-07:00

Photon International says "....In 2000, Sanyo claimed it wanted to create a 3.4 MW installation, the world's largest PV system, as a »message to the 21st century.« Instead, the 630 kW Solar Ark, dedicated on April 3, has become a symbol of pragmatism by using modules with deficient power that were headed for the junk heap.

In biblical times, Noah was said to have used »gopher wood« to build his ark.
While no one really knows what kind of tree it came from, it must have been a good wood, the kind that could withstand torrential rains and merciless floods. But one wonders how Noah would have responded to Sanyo Electric Ltd.'s modern-day version of his construction, called the Solar Ark. Unlike Noah's grand design, the 630 kW PV »vessel,« located next to Sanyo's semiconductor factory in Gifu, Japan, doesn't use state-of-the-art modules. Instead, the Solar Ark, which celebrated its grand opening on April 3, is constructed to large extent from factory rejects. What was intended as a testimonial to the future has become a symbol of pragmatism.

Back in 2000, Sanyo decided to mark its half-century anniversary by building the Mega Solar, a 3.4 MW monument to clean energy. It would include a 1 MW Solar Ark, fronted by a Solar Wave with 1.8 MW, with another 0.6 MW on the neighboring factory's roof. The installation was to use Sanyo's highly efficient HIT cell technology, a hybrid of crystal silicon and thin-film amorphous silicon assembled in modules with current efficiencies ranging between 14 and 15 percent, the planned successor to Sanyo's monocrystalline cells. The installation's design was lauded by the president of Sanyo's subsidiary Soft Energy Company, Toshimasa Iue, as »our message to the 21st century.« But soon the message began to look bleak.

That October, a scandal started brewing in Japan. Sanyo was caught illegally selling monocrystalline modules with insufficient output, exceeding a government-mandated 10 percent negative tolerance by 3 percent. The then-president of Sanyo Solar, Minoru Hagiwara, had known about the problem for two years, yet he continued to instruct salespeople to market the potentially defective modules. He was subsequently fired (see PI 11/2000, p. 26). A few days later, Sanyo Electric president Sadao Kondo resigned. Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) considered filing a criminal complaint against Sanyo Electric for allegedly falsifying labels on the modules. In December, METI suspended the company's modules from the Japanese subsidy program for three years.

The Solar Ark - a symbol of sincere regret

That, says Yoshio Nagasuji, sales assistant in Sanyo's Clean Energy division, is when plans for the Solar Ark began to assume another guise. Instead of highlighting its new HIT technology by building what was to be the world's largest PV system, the company decided to use the Solar Ark to salvage the essentially useless monocrystalline modules that were being taken back from customers in exchange for normal ones. It is no coincidence that the number of recalled modules - 5,476 - was only slightly greater than the 5,046 modules that ended up on the monolith. By using the recall as an alternate means of »populating« the Solar Ark, the company not only saved face, but a lot of money as well. At the time of the scandal, the Financial Times estimated that replacing the customers' modules would cost the company 500 million JPY, about $4.6 million back then.

To Sanyo's credit, it has been very frank about reusing the substandard modules, and about trying to regain customers' confidence. »We have done this to show our sincere regret that this problem has occurred,« reads a company message on the web page for the Solar Ark, »and to express our willingness and determination to both remember what happened and how important it is to maintain quality.«

Even in its diminished state, the Solar Ark has to be admired as one of the most impressive BIPV structures in existence today, probably doing a better job of promoting solar than any previous PV installation. Passengers on high-speed bullet trains can't help but notice the edifice as they ride past on a nearby railway line. The curved structure has a length of 315 m; its highest point is 37 m. The south-facing wall containing the modules, which are installed at an angle of 81°, is 7,500 m². The modules also light up 77,220 LEDs installed in a red Sanyo logo and a white »Solar Ark« sign. Below the center portion of the Solar Ark, Sanyo has opened the Solar Lab, a museum with information on solar energy, including exhibits for children.

And what about the Solar Wave, the sea of modules that were supposed to front the Solar Ark? Nagasuji says Sanyo's chairman and founder, Satoshi Iue, has told the Japanese media the company still intends to install it where the parking lot now stands. »Maybe in two or three years. But it's only a plan,« Nagasuji says somewhat ambiguously. What would the capacity be? »Nobody knows,« he admits.

The only thing anyone knows at this point is that the Solar Ark is a magnificent construction that has helped salvage Sanyo's damaged reputation while giving the orphaned module.

Photos Courtesy of Sanyo website

Studio Monte Rosa

2008-07-01T15:51:00.000-07:00

According to the website of the Energy Science Center "...Studio Monte Rosa is a special mountain hut, which has been planned for the Swiss Alpine Club (SAC) by the Department of Architecture.
The project covers from the conception to the final execution all the phases and technological blocks needed for the realization of this unique building.

In fact, the new Studio Monte Rosa is in the middle of a natural reserve with extreme alpine conditions, yet energetically to 90% self-contained and self-sufficient (90% autarchy).

All Purpose Shelters Limited

2008-06-28T18:13:00.000-07:00

Their website says that All Purpose Shelters Limited operates as a consortium of Architects, Quantity Surveyors, Structural/Civil Engineers and Mechanical/Electrical Engineers. This Nigerian based firm specializes in residential, retail and architectural restoration projects.

Lagos Energy City

2008-04-26T13:53:00.000-07:00

Lagos Energy City is a 763 hectare project that will enhance the role of Nigeria and West Africa to be a leading player in the energy industry specifically in the oil and gas markets. Positioned to be the regions first integrated hub, it will be divided into 2 zones, zone 1 is aimed to be the regions leading convention and tourist destination; zone 2 or the Energy City Zone will provide a world class business and residential environment that will cater to the entire energy industry and all companies in its value chain. Strategically located in Badagry Town of Lagos it is in close proximity with the entire ECOWAS market.

Photos courtesy of Lagos Energy City website.

Pinconsult Associates Ltd

2008-04-20T01:25:00.000-07:00

According to their websitePINCONSULT ASSOCIATES "..was established in 1985 to provide highly competent professional consultancy services in the fields of civil engineering, structural engineering, and building management. This practice became a limited liability company PINCONSULT ASSOCIATES LIMITED in 1993 for a wider coverage of engineering activities and a better corporate image.

The collective experiences of the partners embrace a wide variety of engineering problems and, therefore, are able to make an important contribution to the success of every project for which the Practice is commissioned.

PINCONSULT ASSOCIATES LIMITED is based in Lagos, Nigeria, to serve clients throughout Nigeria, but is able to establish sub-practice bases throughout the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

All assignments are carried out to internationally recognize standard bye-laws in the respective fields of engineering and the resultant construction management.
Since 1990, the Practice has been engaged in the Oil and Gas Sector of the Nigerian economy. It provided consultancy services for Tankages, pipeline, aviation facilities substructures for platforms, and procurement.

In 1994, the Practice set up a Project Management team to meet the challenges of the emerging construction industry in Nigeria. The emphasis of this team was to alleviate the problems that relate to Schedule, Performance and Cost.

In the year 2000, the Practice commenced preliminary research on Pipeline Integrity Services to provide adequate support for the Pipeline sector of the Oil Industry in terms of quality control and assurance. The Practice now offers a full complement of the Pipeline Integrity Services (PIS)..."

Photo courtesy of PINCONSULT ASSOCIATES

Bamboo Revolution

2008-04-16T09:56:00.000-07:00

In an article in Newsweek magazine titled "Stronger than Steel" , Lily Hunag writes about how "bamboo may be the most useful raw material ever to be overlooked.The talks about the bicycle built by Nick Frey a junior at Princeton out of Bamboo.

"...Although a common building material in many tropical countries, it's considered "the poor man's timber," and in the West it's mainly decorative. As the world goes green, however, bamboo's essential qualities are beginning to win converts. Environmental organizations are promoting its use as a building material, architects are putting it into green homes, and makers of flooring, furniture and now bikes are quietly setting up their industries for a bamboo revolution.

Despite its lowly reputation, bamboo may be the strongest stuff on the planet. It has greater tensile strength (or resistance to being pulled apart) than steel, and it withstands compression better than concrete. Both qualities are essential to keeping the plant, which grows to nearly 60 meters but is only as wide at the base as the very top, from falling over. It needs the compression strength to hold up its own weight and tensile strength to bend in the wind without breaking..."

Other interesting attributes associated to bamboo include:

1.It has the ability to be formed be formed into Plywood."..."Our concept of strength is, it doesn't move, it doesn't break," says Dan Smith, who owns Smith & Fong, the largest manufacturer of bamboo plywood in the United States. "The Chinese concept is, you've got to bend with things. If you don't bend, you break. Bamboo's strength is in its ability to bend, and that's the miracle."

2. Some species grow very fast which makes it a very sustainable material."...The Western mind is also opening to bamboo's environmental qualities. In both temperate and tropical climates, it grows as quickly and abundantly as a weed. Though most often used as an alternative to timber, bamboo, with its underground rhizome root system that continually regenerates the plant when the stalks are cut, is technically a type of grass. In fact, it grows faster than any other grass—in some conditions well over a meter a day..."

3. Its structural strength,affordability,versatility has made it attractive to Eco-Architects and builders."...Designers are getting more creative as they embrace bamboo as an alternative to lumber. Environmentalist architect Michael McDonough has incorporated bamboo in his two working prototypes for sustainable housing, e-House and ArcHouse. E-House has all-bamboo floors and cabinetry. A stalk of bamboo becomes a finer version of plywood once it's split from the top and milled into smooth strips. ArcHouse, a modular home, has an exterior made from double panels of bamboo oriented strandboard—bamboo strips compressed and cross-positioned for strength— and insulated with foam made from the oil of orange peels. The panels seal tighter than conventional insulation, and McDonough is the first to replace wood strandboard with bamboo. "It's dinosaur grass," he says, yet it's pushing the engineering curve..."

Bamboo is still a niche material in the United States, but it's catching on. Smith & Fong first cracked the markets in 1989 with flooring and, later, a laminated bamboo sheet called "plyboo." Sales grew at an average of 26 percent a year until 2003, then accelerated to nearly 40 percent three years ago. The company now has 30 types of flooring and 60 options in plyboo, and has begun engineering gymnasium floors and bamboo structural beams. Bambu, a U.S. maker of housewares that are distributed by Whole Foods, has begun to draw attention at its plant and showroom in Shanghai.

Some excerpts and photo's in this article are taken form Newsweek and the Smith & Fong website.

Affordable prefab from South Africa

2008-03-16T23:04:00.000-07:00

Inhabitat says "..ABŌD™ is a prototype prefab created by BSB Design for use as affordable housing in South Africa.The simple design uses a strong, natural shape as the core. It’s durable, lightweight and can be easily shipped in a compact box for quick on-site assembly. Perhaps it’s the shape or the vibrant colors of the corrugated paneling, but this design brings a cheerful presence to a very serious issue: addressing the need for high-quality, low-cost solutions to South Africa’s housing shortage..."

Photos courtesy of Inhabitat

West African Commercial Architecture

2008-03-11T15:12:00.000-07:00

Commercial architecture within West Africa from Banjul to Yaounde is coming into its own style.SkyscraperCity profiles some of these projects from the conceptual to on site construction stage which are remarkable in their style and form.
A lot of these buildings are featured in the West African section of Skyscraper City.However I believe it would be a great idea to see some inherited forms from Traditional African Architecture being incorporated, to form a fusion with the Neoclassical,Victorian, and modern building technology widely adopted today in Africa.
Photos courtesy of SkycraperCity-West Africa

Centre d'Art Applique

2008-02-23T03:20:00.000-08:00

Centre d'Art Applique could be described as the first African industrial design centre that specializes in Product,furniture,packaging, corporate and ceramic design. Their goal is to provide a fusion world class contemporary design with a African flavour and theme.Centre d'Art is probably leading the way to produce the continents first
Creative consultants like Frog Design etc.

CobHouse

2008-02-23T02:41:00.000-08:00

Cobhouse is an environmentally sustainable project by Simric Yarrow to build alternative buildings out of Cob, sustainable timber,straw and clay in South Africa. The aim is really to build a house out of recycled building materials like cardboard, as well as sustainable ones.

Photo courtesy of Cobhouse blog.

Zambian Architecture

2007-12-09T04:01:00.000-08:00

The Zambian Architecture website writes about traditonal design types as well construction methods in Vernaluar Zambian Architecture.The use of sutainable building materials in vernaular Zambian Architecture is very prominent and I beleive could influence some of the western building concept being adopted in the continent.

The Victoria Falls Safari Lodge is a very good example of a build that had adopted vernacular architecture and adapted it in a mordern building as mentioned in the Zambian Architecture website.

Photos courtesy of the Zambian Architecture website and Victoria Fall Safari Lodge

Henry Liu's Green Fly-Ash Bricks

2007-11-15T15:17:00.000-08:00

The National Science Foundation website says "...Researchers have found that bricks made from fly ash--fine ash particles captured as waste by coal-fired power plants--may be even safer than predicted. Instead of leaching minute amounts of mercury as some researchers had predicted,the bricks apparently do the reverse, pulling minute amounts of the toxic metal out of ambient air.

Each year, roughly 25 million tons of fly ash from coal-fired power plants are recycled, generally as additives in building materials such as concrete, but 45 million tons go to waste. Fly ash bricks both find a use for some of that waste and counter the environmental impact from the manufacture of standard bricks.

"Manufacturing clay brick requires kilns fired to high temperatures," said Henry Liu, a longtime National Science Foundation(NSF) awardee and the president of Freight Pipeline Company (FPC), which developed the bricks. "That wastes energy, pollutes air and generates greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming. In contrast, fly ash bricks are manufactured at room temperature. They conserve energy, cost less to manufacture,and don't contribute to air pollution or global warming."

Once colored and shaped, the FPC bricks are similar to their clay counterparts, both in appearance and in meeting or exceeding construction-material standards.

Supported by NSF's Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, Liu has been working since 2004 to develop the bricks. The first phase of support enabled him to make fly ash bricks more durable by engineering them to resist freezing and thawing
due to weather. Liu is now working from a second-phase SBIR award to test the brick material's safety and prepare it for market.

"Green manufacturing is a focus for the nation," said Tom Allnutt of NSF's SBIR program, who oversaw Liu's award. "Liu's innovative use of fly ash to manufacture high quality building materials will potentially decrease some of the negative environmental impact of coal-fired power generation while meeting increasing demands for greener building materials."

While researchers need to study the bricks further to determine how the mercury adsorption occurs and how tightly the metal is trapped, the new findings suggest the bricks will not have a negative impact on indoor air quality.

On average, air contains low amounts of mercury that can range from less than 1 nanogram per cubic meter (ng/m3) to tens of ng/m3--a small fraction of the Environmental Protection Agency limit for continuous exposure.

Inside a confined experimental chamber, the bricks did not raise the mercury levels in the surrounding air (originally more than one nanogram), and instead appeared to lower the concentration down to roughly half a nanogram.

Engineers from FPC of Columbia, Mo., developed the bricks with NSF support and reported their findings on mercury leaching at the May 7-10, 2007, World of Coal Ash Conference in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Henry Liu has received a number of NSF awards since 1980 and founded FPC after retiring as professor of civil engineering and director of Capsule Pipeline Research Center, a state/industry university cooperative research center established by NSF at
University of Missouri-Columbia in 1991 to research and develop capsule pipeline technology..."

Photos courtesy of National Science Foundation

Highly Efficient Green Buildings

2007-11-13T14:56:00.000-08:00

Quirks and Quarks says "...Most people agree that a major problem facing our planet today is the rising level of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere. So environmentalism has now become mainstream, with recycling, fuel efficiency, and reduced use of plastic all part of our daily lives. But one area that still needs dramatic improvement is the construction and design of the buildings we live and work in. It's estimated that forty percent of our greenhouse gas emissions in North America come from our homes and offices. So researchers and builders are looking for ways to 'green up' our homes.

In existing buildings, this isn't easy. Dr. Danny Harvey, a geography professor at the University of Toronto, lives in a typical Toronto home. And he's doing all he can to lower his home's impact. He's installed triple-glazed windows, a high-efficiency furnace, and a light coloured roof in order to improve his home's efficiency. He's sealed all the small cracks he can find, and installed extra insulation to prevent heat leaking. All together, he's reduced his impact by about 25

But the really large changes are going to come with new home construction. While many homes outside urban areas are getting larger and larger, Andy Thomson, a Toronto architect with Sustainable Design, is moving in the opposite direction. He's designing homes that are less than 300 square feet in size. Based on trailer homes, he's using the latest in materials and design to create family dwellings that produce their own electricity, and are so efficient, they can be completely heated and cooled using barbeque tanks of propane.

But not everyone's going to be willing to move into such a small domicile. Instead, it may take development of new materials to improve home construction. One of these is a wood product developed by Michael Sykes, the creator of the Enertia home.

He's discovered that the resin in pine wood crystallizes at room temperature, and is exploiting this in the creation of homes that don't require a furnace to heat. Instead, the wooden walls absorb heat from the sun during the day, and release it at night.A big change that needs to happen if we're going to create green communities, is to change the actual design of our living environments. Both the homes themselves, and the makeup of the communities we live in. Amanda Mitchell, from the University of British Columbia, is part of a team that works with developers to come up with environmentally friendly community designs..."

Photo courtesy of Quirks and Quarks

ApproVideo

2007-11-09T21:38:00.000-08:00

The ApproVideo website is "... a new Video wiki/blog site developed by the Engineering for Developing Communities Program (EDC) at the University of Colorado and PlanetMind.

This site provides a collection of already published short videos illustrating a wide range of sustainable and appropriate solutions for developing (and developed) communities worldwide. You will find innovative ideas, tools, cutting edge programs,case studies, and initiatives in the areas of education, health, energy, water, sanitation, etc..."

Afritects of South Africa

2007-10-23T22:30:00.000-07:00

Afritects was established in 1998 and has quickly established itself as one of the notable practices in Johannesburg – South Africa.

The firm has already left a trail of uniquely designed buildings in it wake ranging from commercial and hospitality to institutional typologies.

Afritects operates out of it own studio at 236 Afritects Place in Ferndale, Randburg.

Photos courtesy of Afritects

Modern Green Architecture in Accra

2007-09-19T02:48:00.001-07:00

In article by Shelley D. Hutchins featured in Architect Magazine "...California-based Stephen H. Kanner, FAIA, has expanded his practice to another West coast—the one in Africa. Accra, the capital of Ghana, has captured both his attention and his creative passion. “Ghana is on the coast and faces the same direction—southwest—as Los Angeles,” he says, so its conditions are not entirely alien to him. But Kanner's chief lure was best friend and longtime collaborator Joe Addo, who moved back to his birthplace four years ago.

On his first visit there, Kanner was so impressed by Addo's efforts to revitalize his hometown, he offered the full support of his firm and his own financial investment. “Joe is really involved in political issues that will better the quality of life through roads, water systems, and schools,” Kanner explains. Together they've formed a development group called Concept Ghana, with a focus on improving low-income housing, aiding in neighborhood and city planning, and designing upscale housing to help lure wealthy Ghanaians back home.

The Augustino Neto Condominiums, slated for completion in 2008, are among the for-profit projects. The 1,500-square-foot units will sell for about U.S. $300,000. All 25 condos have two bedrooms, two and a half baths, and two balconies opposite each other for unimpeded cross-ventilation. The ¾-acre site is on the airport road, which also houses the city's embassy row. “The town grew around the airport, and the wealthiest district happens to be right below the flight path,” Kanner says. But the building's debut of Concept Ghana's soon-to-be-patented material, PozzoGhana, will help insulate against jet-engine noise. The green building product, which combines local sedimentous soils, waste palm kernels, and Portland cement, will form the exposed structure of the condo building.

The condos will showcase other sustainable materials easy to come by in Ghana: bamboo for the poolside cabana and balcony railing; adobe plasters for the walls; and recycled oil drums as large-format shingle siding. Responsibly harvested native woods in wide planks will lend clean, contemporary lines to wall panels. “The building's frame is our concrete product,” Kanner says, “then we mixed in ancient local building materials in a modern way.”..."

Photos courtesy of Architect Magazine

Beckmann-N’Thépé Architects

2007-09-08T01:39:00.000-07:00

Françoise N’Thépé and Aldric Beckmann, founders of Paris-based firm Beckmann-N’Thépé
Sam Lubell's article in Archrecod says"...It’s always difficult to be a young architect.."

"...the challenges are especially acute in France, due to a strongly established hierarchy and a conservative outlook on experimentation, especially toward those without much experience. “People don’t want their money to be spent by ‘amateurs,’ ” says N’Thépé. The situation is even more difficult for her, since she is a woman and a minority (she was born in Cameroon). “Yes, I sometimes feel myself as an exception,” she says..."

"...N’Thépé studied at the Ecole Spéciale d’Architecture in Paris (she originally wanted to be an interior designer, but amazingly she signed up at the wrong school!), where she studied with French architects Odile Decq, Paul Virilio, and Frédéric Borel. She worked for French/German firm LIN. Beckmann, born in Paris, studied at the Ecole d’Architecture Paris la Seine, and worked for architects François Seigneur,Will Alsop, and Jean Nouvel. The two met at Seigneur’s office, where N’Thépé was freelancing.

Their first big break came when they won the Nouveaux Albums des Jeunes Architectes Award, a major prize organized by the French Ministry of Culture, in 2001. The requests and contacts that came after this allowed them to formally start their new firm the following year.

The firm has a strong interest in research and investigating new materials and new processes, combined with sensitive, intuitive design. Their buildings are unique, sculptural (N’Thépé says the firm has a “plastician” way of drawing projects), and even sexy, but they all feel strongly rooted in their locations. “Our first approach to architecture has always been about how cities function,” says N’Thépé. “We’re very aware of how our ‘sculptures’ emerge, about the context and the stories we want to create.”

With its Versailles project, completed in 2005, the firm made small changes throughout the Classical-style school, like spiral-shaped neon lighting, new skylights, and bright new colors. It also fit a bold translucent Teflon membrane on top of the building’s courtyard, and created a futuristic new classroom with a translucent drop ceiling that projects fluorescent lighting patterns and colors. Their public housing project, finished this year in a tight development zone called Paris Rive Gauche, maximizes natural light through a large “fault” cut into its center.

The Vincennes zoo project will use artificial materials like steel, Teflon, glass, and plaster to create naturally inspired forms, such as massive rocks and a bubbly, translucent greenhouse dome. The firm, which has also stayed busy participating in exhibitions in Paris, Bordeaux, and Brazil, is now looking to branch out in both architecture and urbanism, “especially abroad,” says N’Thépé. So, if all goes according to plan, there will be a whole new set of hierarchies and expectations to defy..."

Photos are courtesy of Beckmann-N’Thépé website

Uche Isichei Architects

2007-08-28T21:11:00.000-07:00

According to their website "...Uche Isichei Architects are a small design oriented architectural practice offering creative solutions to our clients. We are committed to creating fantastic living and working spaces that enhance the lives of our clients. Our projects are designed responsibly using ecologicaly sustainable materials and “green” design strategies like passive solar heating. We design a wide range of projects and are happy to talk to you to find out what we can add to your project...".

Photos courtesy of Uche Isichei Architects.

Stefan+Antoni+Olmesdahl+Truen Architects

2007-08-18T13:25:00.000-07:00

Stefan+Antoni+Olmesdahl+Truen are a team of architects whose style consists of a fusion of vernacular and contemporary design with a tint of minimalist architecture.

HABITAT Magazine says "..The Architectural and design team responsible for this exemplary residence were appointed by their client to create a double dwelling development in Greenpoint..."

Photos courtesy of Stefan+Antoni+Olmesdahl+Truen website.

Constructing the future

2007-08-18T00:30:00.000-07:00

According to Monocle magazine "...The Gantenbein Winery, in Fläsch, Switzerland has been the prototype for an entirely new approach to bricklaying: using modified industrial robots. Traditionally, the promise of industrial robots has been that they would replace the human workforce.

But these projects, led by the Architecture and Digital Fabrication laboratory at ETH Zürich, demonstrate a different result: architects are free to create designs and patterns of a precision that simply could not be achieved by hand.

Monocle spoke to Professors Fabio Gramazio and Matthias Kohler, who have been collaborating on the project with partners Keller AG and Bearth & Deplazes, about what it means for both building and buildings, and the industry's initial reaction to a prospective army of robot builders..."

Photo courtesy of City of Sound

Design Africa

2007-07-25T13:44:00.000-07:00

Their Website says "...Ultimately, Design Africa is a portal, your portal, to designers with uncommon vision, to potential partners, to beautiful products and striking design statements, and to statements of another kind:

Stories of the designers, artisans and communities involved in the creation process, stories of the materials used and the meaning behind the items produced, and of course, stories of dreams turning into business plans and reaching around the world from the original design source, Africa.

Design Africa’s mission is twofold: to help today’s distinctive African design emerge, and to accelerate the economic development of the communities and countries involved through the positive impact of exports. That started with our presence at SIDIM 2006. Building on its success, we are pleased to present 19 companies from five countries that span the continent..."

Image Courtesy of Design Africa

Traditional African Buildings are Energy Efficient

2007-07-16T13:24:00.000-07:00

Anyone that has been in a Traditional African buildings would notice that they are always cooler inside even when it is very hot outside.

Well it seems that a study by the British Architectural firm - Robert Adam Architects has shown that Traditionally constructed homes are generally more energy efficient than those with lots of glass.

Eco Skyscrapers

2007-06-09T11:17:00.000-07:00

We can build skyscrapers that not only have low- carbon footprints but also are sustainable. The Skyscraper Museum and The New York Academy of sciences have come together to highlight the emergence of state-of-the-art sustainable skyscraper design.

"...Skyscrapers enable urban density and can produce energy efficiency and healthier environments.Featuring leading architects and engineers who have pioneered a range of strategies, from high-performance structures to low tech, bio-climatic towers, MIXED GREEENS examines new directions in the future of tall buildings around the world..."

Zero-Carbon, Zero-Waste Abu Dhabi's New Green City of Masdar

2007-05-20T15:03:00.000-07:00

Vikki Miller of Building writes about the "Walled City of Masdar" in Abu Dhabi which will be one the world's first zero-carbon and zero-waste cites in the world after Dongtan and Huangbaiyu in China.
"...The Masdar development in Abu Dhabi is a 6 km sq, car-free “walled-city” scheme. The development is being driven by Abu Dhabi’s Future Energy Company and will include a new HQ for the company as well as a new university.

Norman Foster said: “The environmental ambitions of the Masdar Initiative – zero carbon and waste free – are a world first. They have provided us with a challenging design brief that promises to question conventional urban wisdom at a fundamental level. Masdar promises to set new benchmarks for the sustainable city of the future.”

Above is the worlds Solar land area.

Unveiled today at the Cityscape conference in Abu Dhabi, Foster + Partners said Masdar would be a dense, walled development constructed in two stages. The first phase would see the construction of a large photovoltaic power plant, which would later become the site for the second phase.

The surrounding land will contain wind, photovoltaic farms, research fields and plantations, so that the city will be entirely self-sustaining, the architect said.The development is set to open in late 2009..."

Photos courtesy of Building and Wikipedia

ah'bé

2007-05-06T09:19:00.000-07:00

According to their website "...ah'bé integrates planning and design, approaching projects with a contextual perspective, and investigates site, program, and project intent with rigor, intuition, and rationality. We address every project holistically, regardless of size, utilizing the diverse resources of our staff, emphasizing the fundamental significance of the design of a place and the relationship of the place to its larger environment. We see landscape as a continuum of relationships, one that is dynamic and sensitive, and that reflects the interconnectedness of human and natural systems..."

Photos courtesy of ah'bé

Solar Facelift

2007-04-20T16:17:00.000-07:00

Metaefficient writes about "...The facade of this Manchester skyscraper (owned by CIS, an insurance company) was original covered with
small mosaic tiles, but after only six months, they began to detach and fall. A solution was needed, and a company called solarcentury came up with a clever idea replacing the failing tiles with solar cells.

Not only do the solar cells provide a weatherproof barrier, they also generate about 390kW of power for the building. In total, 7,244 Sharp 80W modules are used to cover the entire service tower (but apparently only 4898 of these modules are "live" the others are "dummy modules" — strange). The building also has 24 wind turbines on the roof, which provide 10% of the total power used by the building..."

Photos courtesy of Metaefficient

Gapp Architects

2007-04-15T13:37:00.000-07:00

The recently opened Tinapa business resort was designed by this interesting Architectural firm based in South Africa.

According to their website"...GAPP Architects and Urban Designers has evolved to become one of South Africa´s foremost professional firms, with an award-winning portfolio of work in high profile and prestigious projects such as: The Apartheid Museum, The ArabellaSheraton Grand Hotel, The Western Cape Hotel and Spa, The Park Hyatt, Maropeng at The Cradle of Humankind, Freedom Park, The V&A Waterfront and Nelson Mandela Square to name just a few.

GAPP´s philosophy which encompasses a culture of mutual respect and open communication is apparent when visiting any of the offices in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban and the network of satellite offices in Port Elizabeth, Nairobi, Dar-es-Salaam, Calabar and Mauritius.

The GAPP team is defined by some of the most respected accomplished individuals across a complementary range of skills in the fields of Architecture, Urban Design, Urban Development Strategies, Services Design, Information Technology and Town Planning, together sharing space and ideas in a stimulating and well-organised work environment.

These aspects combine to provide a sound basis for GAPP to maintain the highest professional standards from design excellence to client collaboration and in so doing, to create a built environment which stands as a legacy now and will for generations hereafter..."

Photos Courtesy of Joburg.org and Hps, Tinapa

birsel + seck company

2007-04-15T11:57:00.000-07:00

The birsel + seck Company was started by Ayse Birsel and Bibi Seck who are both product designers. "...Their award-winning designs span the office, home, bath, retail and automotive sectors..." which include the well know brands like Herman Miller, Hewlett Packard, Target, and Renault.

Their website says "...Bibi Seck was born in Paris and spent his formative years in London, Paris and Dakar. He received his Master’s degree in industrial design in 1990 from ESDI, Paris. Before moving to New York in 2003, Seck was lead designer at Renault for 12 years and has extensive experience in materials and manufacturing, and guiding large design teams through complex problems.

Seck led the interior design teams for several production vehicles, including the Scenic I, Twingo II, Trafic, and Scenic II. Scenic I (1996) and Trafic (2002) won Car of the Year awards from the European trade press. While at Renault, Seck designed the F1 Micrograph watch for Tag Heuer, winning the prestigious 2002 Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève.

Seck has taught at Strate Collége School of Design and Management in Paris, at Université Technologique de Compiegne, and most recently at Pratt Institute...."

"...Ayse Birsel grew up in Izmir, Turkey. In 1989 she received a Fulbright Scholarship to complete her Master’s Degree at Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY.

Her 1993 design of the Zoë Washlet spearheaded Japanese manufacturer TOTO’s entry into the US market and has unofficially been coined the world’s most comfortable toilet seat. In 1996 she founded Olive 1:1. Birsel received a gold Industrial Design Excellence IDSA award for the Resolve system, her reinterpretation of the office cubicle for Herman Miller. In 2002, her collaboration with Bibi Seck on the design of a concept automobile interior for Renault led to the creation of their studio Birsel + Seck.

Recipient of the 2001 Young Designer Award from the Brooklyn Museum of Art, Birsel was a finalist at the Cooper Hewitt National Design Awards in 2002. She was named a Fellow at the International Design Conference at Aspen, and has taught at Pratt Institute. Her work is in the permanent
collections of Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum and the Museum of Modern Art..."

Photos courtesy of Birsel + Seck

MTS Property

2007-04-08T05:58:00.000-07:00

Timbuktuchronicles writes about the MTS property "..An integrated Real Estate company that offers:

-Property Development & Sales.
-Estates Management.
-Rental Services.
-Maintenance Services.

in Nigeria's growing real estate industry.

The Becon

2007-04-08T05:12:00.000-07:00

I attended the lecture by Marks Barfield Architects, The Quietrevolution, and Price & Myers at the building centre about the Beacon which is part of the Sustainable London, Power in the City lecture.

It was an impressive presentation and the duo Julia Barfield, joint Managing Director of Marks Barfield Architects, and Robert Webb, CEO of Quietrevolution were bombarded with a lot of interesting questions by the full house audience, which I think were answered satisfactorily.

The quietrevolution website says "...The Beacon is a 40 metre high Y-shaped structure, and is designed to be ‘planted’ along major roads and public spaces, reaching up to the stronger breezes above London’s buildings. Each Beacon supports five vertical 'triple-helix’ wind turbines called quietrevolution, each five metres high and three metres diameter designed to achieve ultra-quiet operation and more efficient utilisation of urban winds.

‘Most wind turbines are being planned in remote locations without any existing infrastructure. This isn’t efficient as 30 percent to 50 percent of energy gets lost
through transmission. We believe cities like London should take much greater responsibility for their own energy generation. London has a unique opportunity to make a difference in time for the Olympics’ said David Marks and Julia Barfield, co-designers of the Beacon.

Their partner in the project, Robert Webb, CEO of XCO2 and co-designer of The Beacon adds; ‘Within fifty years we will be living in a world which is 90 percent powered by renewable energy", with no sacrifice to quality of life. The Beacon is a showcase and a celebration of this revolution and is designed to bring the debate on wind generation directly into the cities..."

Link to Sustainable London PDF presentation.

Photo courtesy of Quietrevolution

Prism Designs

2007-04-03T15:25:00.000-07:00

Prism Designs Africa is an indigenous architectural design firm that specialises mainly in residential, institutional and commercial building in Kenya and Southern Sudan.

According to their website "...is a team of Registered Architects who hold Bachelor of Architecture Degrees from University of Nairobi and have been working together on construction projects in Africa for many years.

Our scope of work ranges from large commercial projects to intimate and personalised designs for private residences and no project is too large or too small to handle.

It is our firm belief that the success of a building, whether aesthetically, functionally or financially, is established through the design process.

It is in this process of lateral thinking that the talents, skills and energy of the practice is concentrated..."

Using state of the art computer aided design systems, we are committed to creating and identifying viable projects involving its project management, architecture, interior design, civil engineering, projects funding and procurement skills. Our services include:

● Development Consultancy
● Architectural and Quantity Surveying
● Civil and Structural Engineering
● Project Management
● Facilities Management
● Project Finance Structuring
● Interior Design & Space Planning

Photo courtesy of Prism Designs Africa

Woodless Construction

2007-03-25T15:18:00.001-07:00

Voiceofthedesert website features an article by Keith Smith that has shows the intricate construction steps of a Woodless mud building in Gorom-Gorom in Burkina Faso with the help of a photo blog.

It writes that "...Woodless construction is an approach to building in the sahel that uses traditional building techniques to build houses entirely out of mud, including the roof. Such houses save on scarce wood, encourage local industry by using local skills and materials, and provide good internal comfort, staying warm in cold season, and cool in hot season..."

Photo courtesy of Keith Smith's photo blog on Flickr

Singapore's floating towers

2007-03-25T14:39:00.000-07:00

Worldarchitecturenews writes about a new design of a residential tower proposed for development in Singapore.According to the World Architecture news website "...the Far East Organization, Singapore’s largest private development company, has commissioned the Office for Metropolitan Architecture for OMA’s first architectural project in Singapore – a 36-storey residential high-rise.

The 153 meter tall tower will be located at the intersection of Scotts Road and Cairnhill Road, in close proximity to Orchard Road, Singapore’s famous shopping and lifestyle street. With 20,000m² of built floor area, the building will provide 68 high-end apartment units with panoramic views.

The design strategically maneuvers within the highly regulated building environment to maximize the full potential of the site: Four individual apartment towers are vertically offset from one another and suspended from a central core.

The skyline of floating towers directly relates to the surrounding building volumes and explores the most attractive views towards the city center and an extensive green zone to the north. The lifted apartment towers reduce the building’s footprint to a minimum; the liberated ground level provides communal leisure activities embedded in the tropical landscape..."

Photo courtesy of Worldarchitecturenews.

Shelter by Nature

2007-03-18T23:47:00.000-07:00

The blog Liberia Stories reports about a sustainable building being built by Obadiah Gondolo out of stick and mud. The articale says "...He will make the walls out of mud, and the roof out of palm thatch. The whole process will take three weeks, and will cost him nothing since the kind landowner has let him have the small space in her yard for free.

Obadiah learned how to make a shelter out of nature's gifts when he enrolled in a free vocational training program offered by Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) in 2005. "JRS really did well for us," he says, referring to himself and the 30 others who were in his class. "It's the first institution that really taught me something useful."

Obadiah and his family (wife and two children) look forward to moving into their new place, which, though small, will also include a little shop. They are among the last Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) still living in a nearby IDP camp in Salala, Bong County. Obadiah is from the Salayea District of Lofa County, but has chosen not to return until he graduates from high school. Because of the long civil war, however, he is still an 8th grade student at St. John Elementary and Jr. High School. "Before I go back to Lofa I will also learn to be an automechanic," he adds..."

Photo courtesy of Liberia Stories

Open Architecture Network

2007-03-13T15:40:00.000-07:00

Open Architecture Network is an organisation started by Cameron Sinclair with the aim "....to generate design opportunities that will improve living standards for all" by providing an open-source platform through which ANYone can view, post, share, and adapt sustainable, humanitarian-based, scalable solutions.

The idea that designs and all associated documents can and should be shared within the decidedly proprietary architectural industry is truly innovative, and could very well aid in the reshaping of the entire architectural profession into a more socially-focused and responsible vocation.." according to theInhabitat blog

Most of the buildings are designed to be sustainable and affordable from the the construction to occupancy stage and are designed by the architects, designers, builders etc that are indegeious to where the building is proposed to be built.

Below is Cameron Sinclair's presentation at the TED conference

Photos are courtesy of Open Architecture Network

Telios Development Limited

2007-03-03T11:48:00.000-08:00

Their company is one of the top Property Development firms, that Design & Build commercial as well as private projects in Nigeria. Their attention to detail and high quality finishes coupled with an excellent team of Managers and designers has won them a lot of clientele in Abuja, Port Harcourt and Lagos.

According to their website "...The Telios Development Limited the foremost property development company in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, is a full-service real estate investment and development company that offers a comprehensive selection of real estate development and investment solutions which will facilitate, cultivate, and enhance your ideas and dreams.

With operations throughout Nigeria, we service a wide range of individual and corporate clients, satisfying them with the consistent delivery of timely, cost effective, and quality projects.

Our success has been demonstrated not only by outstanding projects we have completed, but also by a high percentage of clients that continually return to us for their construction and property..."

The company was pioneered by a group of talented professionals namely Uchenna Ekwueme (President and CEO), Gbenga Obaro, Osondu Anya,Sam Udensi, Debo Talabi, Wale Shoneye, Michael Adesanmi all of which are directors.

Photos courtesy of Telios Development

Massimiliano Fuksas Architects wins design competition of The African Inistitue of Science and Technology ,Abuja

2007-03-02T16:03:00.000-08:00

The RIBA website writes about how "...Massimiliano Fuksas Architects has won the international design competition to design the first campus for The African Institute of Science and Techology (AIST) to be situated in Abuja, Nigeria. The budget for the campus is envisaged to be in the order of USD360 million, although design and construction will be phased over a number of years.

TheAIST
will ultimately comprise several science and technology higher education campuses and smaller affiliated centres of excellence located throughout Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The AIST concept has been developed, nurtured and promoted by the Nelson Mandela Institution for Knowledge Building and the Advancement of Science and Technology in Sub-Saharan Africa (NMI). NMI and AIST is supported by the World Bank, African Development Bank, International Finance Corporation, and other world class financial and academic institutions.

Massimiliano Fuksas Architects beat off strong competition from a prestigious field of international practices. The other five teams to participate in the design phase of the project and present their schemes to the assessment panel were Allies and Morrison Architects(UK); Office for Metropolitan Architecture (Netherlands); Rafael Vinoly Architects PC (USA); Saucier + Perrotte Architects (Canada); and SeARCH b.v.

(Netherlands). The panel was impressed by the high level of architectural design shown in all submitted work and the imaginative variation of attitudes underlying masterplanning concepts..."

Pictures Courtesy of RIBA organisation

Building with Mud,Straw Bale and Timber can also help reduce our Carbon footprint

2007-02-28T14:51:00.000-08:00

Those of us that have been in a mud or adobe built building on a hot day are sure to notice how cool (temperature) they are compared to a concrete block building. With global temperatures set to rise in the tropics we might see the need to promote such building construction especially for single storey dwelling's.

In an article blogged about in Treehugger.com they write about using mud bricks, stone and Straw bale to build walls with good Thermal mass. Combined with over hanged roofs,trees, Natural ventilation and adequate orientation against intense sun rays, we could see a new generation of homes that require no air-conditioning during the hot days and nights.

However improved Thermal mass means improved Passive Solar Heating which would also help reduce the cost of heating if adopted in houses in temperate and desert climates.
Photos courtesy of Treehugger.com. Images scanned from Building construction Illustrated by Francis D.K Ching and Cassandra Adams who is the editor of the Green Home Guide.

Using indigenous paper for flexible wall partitions.

2007-02-21T23:12:00.000-08:00

Eco-Africa is an environmentally friendly company that uses indigenous plants and African artisans to produce a diverse range of craft paper.

Maybe Eco-Africa paper or other similarly produced indigenous papers could be used to create movable and Flexible styled partition walls or furniture. By forming the paper into an accordion shaped structure the possibilities of this paper architectural interiors becomes endless as reported in this story in the Architectural weekly.

Such structures could significantly make urban and rural housing projects in Africa more affordable and sustainable. A Similar paper honey comb technique has been used to produce the expandable chair show in the video below.

Their website writes about how "...Paper-making is a relatively new craft in Southern Africa. It developed as a cottage industry to help impoverished villagers, mainly women with young families to get by and feed their loved ones. The raw materials were readily available in the form of wild plants and shrubs that grow free and plentifully around their villages and communities. Programs were set up to provide simple, basic equipment for grinding the fiber into pulp and then to form the resulting pulp into sheets. Drying of the sheets was (and often still is) carried out by hanging them out to dry, often alongside the family washing.

The artisans-to-be are taught to use as their raw materials fiber collected from indigenous plants such as river reed, elephant grass, sisal, wild fig, and sun hemp, that grow wild and plentifully near and around their homes. They are encouraged to use traditional African tools like the "duri" and the "guyo" as ecologically sound techniques. Additional paper styles are created using cotton waste as the fiber resource, which is collected from textile mills and bring bright and pastel shades to the growing line of paper styles..."

Photo courtesy of Architectural weekly

Server Farms below Solar Chimneys could it work?

2007-02-13T15:17:00.000-08:00

The chimney effect (stack effect) created by a Solar chimney tower of about 1000m high according to the Environ Mission website would be able to achieve wind speed of between 60-80Kph. With the aid of heat storing thermal ponds on the ground level around the pond this updraft effect could be sustained during the non-solar periods of the night.

I was wondering whether server farms could be incorporated in a subterranean level below these solar chimneys. Why because apart from the thermal pools and the foundation of the tower there is really nothing else that will be located at the underground level around the tower.

Well considering the fact computer server farms are such energy sapping infrastructure could it be possible to have them at a basement levels below the solar chimney? The cheap energy generated by this infrastructure could be used to efficiently run these server farms. Also probably the chimney effect air pressure difference could be used to naturally ventilate and cool the server farms.

Would it not be amazing to use of convection air currents to achieve a very sustainable and Eco-friendly way cooling server farms and at the same time generate clean energy.

Are mud floors Cool?

2007-02-10T16:04:00.000-08:00

While on an Architecture School visit in Nigeria in 1985 to the Town of Bida, Niger State Nigeria we went to the traditional home of a Nupe Family. One of the things that caught our attention was the beautiful mud and mosaic floor that had broken spiral clay tiles embedded in it.

Mud is a very eco-friendly and affordable material even though some might think it is floor finish associated with being primitive or poor. However I think mud is very beautiful flooring material as long as you can compact it properly, keep it from cracking and water proof its surface.

In an article ("Track That Mud In!" Earthen Floors Are Hot) featured in the Tree Hugger Blog Alex Pasternack writes "...Because the floors can sometimes prove troublesome (high heels and table legs can cause cracks) a slowly growing number of "natural builders" like Bill and Athena Steen, both of whom grew up in adobe houses in the southwest, are working on making the floors "crack-free, solid, and really serviceable." (Mr.Steen’s canonical guide, “Earthen Floors,” is out of print, but an updated version is to be posted to the couple’s Web site, Canelo Project, within a few months.)

As durable as can be, among the greatest appeals of rammed earth construction (as also evidenced by this recent Architectural Review "Emerging Architecture" nominee) is the ease of getting rid of it -- and re-sourcing it if need be. And then there are the thermal benefits.

The high density and low thermal conductivity of earthen materials makes them passive solar devices, easily capturing and retaining heat during the day and releasing it at night. But as warm as earthen floors are, there's no denying their cool factor.

“When people walk in, they don’t say, ‘Oh, nice floor,’" says one natural builder. "Everyone gets down on their hands and knees to admire it...”

Photo Courtesy of New York Times.

J. S. Kalsi & Associates

2007-02-07T09:33:00.000-08:00

According to their website "...J. S. Kalsi & Associates is a group of registered architects Kenya specializing in the field of Architecture, Design-Build, Interior Design, Project Management, Computer Aided Design (CAD) and property development..."

Based in Nairobi Kenya and also with regional branches in Mombassa and Bamburi J.S Kalsi has positioned itself to handle projects in the East African Reigon whhich include Uganda,Tanzania, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, Mauritius and Seychelles.

Their portfolio includes numerous private, public and government in the East African sub-region.

Photos courtesy of J. S. Kalsi & Associates.

Design Union

2007-02-06T15:39:00.000-08:00

Design Union is an indigenous Nigerian design outfit that specialises in Architecture, Engineering,Graphics, Interiors, and Project planning.

According to their website "...Design Union consulting LLC was incorporated in Nigeria in the year 2000 to provide the highest level of professional consulting services in architecture, interior design, planning, engineering and graphic design. Our firm's commitment to excellence stems from the belief that great
enterprises and cultures start with great planning and design.

From our humble start, the firm has grown into a powerful consortium of over 25 professionals in various disciplines serving a wide range of clients on diverse projects around the country. Our clients include blue-chip companies like Oando PLC, Guaranty Trust Bank PLC, Standard Trust Bank PLC, and International companies/brands like Standard
Chartered Bank Nig. Ltd., Starcomms Ltd. and Chicken Licken Restaurants.

Highlights in the firm's achievements over the past few years include the creation of a new modern look for Oando service station outlets nationwide, the
re-branding/re-positioning of Starcomms as well as winning a design competition for the new Head Office building for Standard Chartered Nig. Ltd. For Atlantic Hall School, the firm took a 10-year long construction project site, turned it around and successfully completed it in 1 year.

Photos courtesy of Design Union.

Harnessing Wind Power for the Rural coastal Communities of Africa

2007-01-30T09:36:00.000-08:00

I don't know how many unused oils rigs lay wasting in the Bright of Benin which is off the coast of Nigeria's delta region but these facilites have the potential to be put into good use. Wind turbines could be erected to generate electric power for the rual coastal communities of the Niger Delta.

John Goghegan of wired.com writes in an article "Inherit the Wind" about how littered carcasses of unused oil platforms in the gulf coast could be used as the backbone of the first offshore wind farm in the United States.

"...The port of Iberia has never been busier. Situated on a narrow canal leading to the Louisiana coastline, the docks here throb with the sound of tugboats towing oil platforms to and from their anchorages in the Gulf of Mexico. When a drilling site is depleted, the platforms return to port; the docks are littered with rusting steel hulks waiting for their next run.

Click on Image on the Right to view animation of the new wind turbines design.

In December, though, one of these platforms, stripped and refurbished by a local startup, returned to sea with a new mission. The first of a flotilla to come, it carried wind-monitoring equipment as well as radar for tracking migratory birds. Those that follow will be topped not by drilling rigs but by windmills. The turbines are bound for an 18-square-mile area roughly 10 miles off the coast of Galveston, Texas, where the first offshore wind farm in the US is under construction. That’s right: The flower of sustainable energy is blooming in oil country. Get ready for the Great Texas Wind Rush.

Wind energy is the most promising carbon-free, nonnuclear alternative to fossil-fueled grid power. But regions with enough space and breeze for land-based wind farms—mostly in the Midwest—are far from coastal population centers; the cost of running transmission lines between generators and users is a major disincentive. That’s why wind-power entrepreneurs have set their sights on coastal waters. In the Atlantic, off Cape Cod, the 450-megawatt Cape Wind installation has been in the works for five years..."

Solar Chimney Project Update

2007-01-28T06:28:00.000-08:00

The CEO of Environ Mission Roger Davey talks about new technologies that will reduce the height of the solar chimney project. These technologies include new materials that retain heat better and saline heat retention ponds etc.

This is the Environ Mission Solar Chimney Video.

Roger Davey's Interview by PESN.com can be listened to here.

Freeform Construction

2007-01-18T14:24:00.000-08:00

The technology that was once restricted to producing prototypes in CAM (Computer Aided Manufacture) and RAFT (Rapid Automated Fabrication Technologies) industry is now being proposed to print buildings the way you print pages from your computer.

"...Freeform Construction is a truly adventurous and far-reaching new construction method which will change the very future of building and construction as we know it. It will revolutionise the way we build, it will enhance existing construction processes and bring about new capabilities for the construction process, and it will allow us to build in ways which simply weren’t possible before..."

"...Freeform Construction is about ‘printing’ buildings, as if you were printing this page. It’s about combining the whole design, construction and maintenance process into a seamless operation to produce structures and components which meet the challenges of our changing world and which will allow us to build on any terrain, against any backdrop, anywhere on the Earth, the Moon or Mars..."

Photo courtesy of Contour Crafting

Plug + Play Architecture

2007-01-17T13:55:00.000-08:00

Andrew Blum of Wired Home writes about high tech method of building green buildings developed by Steve Kieran.

"...Snapped together from a combination of modules, panels, and preformed structural frames, the Loblolly house, named for the loblolly pines here in the Maryland tidewater area, is a manifesto for a new way of building. Architect Kieran and his partner, James Timberlake, have long been known for their finely crafted and energy-efficient buildings and materials. But the Philadelphia-based pair wanted more than just high-profile commissions – they were looking for a breakthrough technology that would let them make smarter, greener structures that could go up quickly and cheaply..."

"...In 2001, after studying how the automotive, aircraft, and shipbuilding industries had revolutionized themselves over the previous 15 years, Kieran and Timberlake realized that architecture needed the equivalent of an integrated circuit. They began to combine glass, drywall, pipe, and wood frames into finished units, each precision-engineered for cost, beauty, and sustainability. In the Loblolly house, the walls and floors are made of panels (some as tall as 21 feet) that were manufactured with wiring, insulation, plumbing, and ductwork already in place. And the main power systems of the home, including two bathrooms and the galley kitchen, were delivered to the construction site in preassembled, plug-and-play units. After the site was prepared, the 2,200-square-foot house took three weeks to assemble..."

"...THE MOST EFFICIENT WAY to construct a house is to build it in a factory. This reduces a home's "embodied energy" – the amount of power expended in its fabrication and construction. And conventional homebuilding is dirty work. From the fuel used by commuting workers to onsite diesel generators, the construction and operation of homes and other structures generates 40 to 50 percent of all the greenhouse gases in the US, according to the US Energy Information Administration. On top of that, studies suggest that more than half of a home's leftover materials – drywall and lumber – winds up in landfills. Plus, as anyone who has ever remodeled a kitchen knows, construction work isn't exactly high tech. Raw materials are dropped off at the building site and then assembled by hand with hammers and saws. The so-called material systems approach developed by Kieran and Timberlake banishes this primitive model. Better still, it's future-proof: Homes may be built to last, but the modules of material systems structures are built to be upgraded..."

Photos Courtesy of Wired

AADA

2006-12-25T12:34:00.000-08:00

Africa now has its first Automobile design association called AADA.

According to their website the aim of the association is "...to bring together Automotive design enthusiasts, artists of all ages, professional designers and design students, of all nationalities, to promote design education, African culture, Heritage, and to encourage automotive design practice in Africa.."

AADA's goal is "...to develop and create a brand new automotive design language, A car that captures, Africa's rich culture and heritage..."

It will be good to witness in ones lifetime an African car 100 percent designed and built in Africa as some Ghanian's are already doing.

Photos courtesy of AADA.com

Ethiopia born Rahel Belatchew Lerdell, Sweden's Architect of the Year 2006.

2006-12-02T05:17:00.000-08:00

Nazret.com writes about Ethiopia born Rahel Belatchew Lerdell, Sweden's Architect of the Year 2006.

"...Rahel Belatchew Lerdell was appointed Architect of the Year by receiving 'Det Stora Formpriset' (Swedish for 'The Great Design Award') from Sweden's Residence Magazine..."

"...Rahel was born in Ethiopia in 1969, and grow up in Uppsala, Sweden. After receiving a Masters Degree in Architecture from Ecole Spéciale d'Architecture in Paris, Rahel worked as an architect in Paris, Luxemburg and Tokyo. After a decade of working abroad, she returned to Sweden in the year of 2000. Today Rahel runs her own architectural office 'RB Arkitektur', with both private and public clients. Rahel's architecture has attracted much attention in international media and has also been published in several architectural books..."

"...he jury, chaired by Residence's Editor-in-Chief Mårten Niléhn, recognized that some authors write the same book over and over again or return to the same character year after year. And some architects return to the same forms in an on-going greatest hits collection. Rahel Belatchew Lerdell does not belong to them. If you want to be a trademark, a Frank Gehry, a superstar who signs his or her autograph in steel and concrete
against the metropolitan skylines, it is an advantage to have certain characteristics and manners that are easy to distinguish..."

"...Another way to create a trademark is to deliberately try to drown your own attributes and creative tics, and start every building project from a blank sheet of paper. In which case a personal undertone is most often maintained, and for Rahel Belatchew Lerdell it is a certain continental elegance that shines through her buildings. They could as easily be situated in Paris as in Stockholm..."

"...As a Swedish version of Herzog & de Meuron she surprises with all her projects. Her architecture has got that certain something that you recognize when you see it but which is very hard to capture - our age. Rahel Belatchew Lerdell's design is contemporary and lasts long..."

"...- I am delighted and honoured, and especially pleased about the jury's motivation that captures the essence of my work where I try to avoid the most obvious repetitions, and instead aim to identify the uniqueness within each project, says Rahel Belatchew Lerdell..."

Photos Courtesy of rbaarchitecture.com and Arkinetia.com

Design Made in Africa

2006-12-01T15:05:00.000-08:00

The "Design made in Africa" exibition which started in Charlotte, NC a couple of weeks ago aims "...to reveal and confirm the talent that places Africa’s designers at the heart of modernity, while showing the value that lies in creating new models, and encouraging economic players (producers, publishers and distributors) to become involved in their development..."

"...This exhibition, traveling simultaneously in Africa and in North America and representing fourteen African countries is co-curator by Michel Bouisson and Céline Savoye. It features thirty-one designers and forty-five objects or collections, essentially everyday items, designed for daily use in contemporary everyday life- urban and rural - in Africa and beyond. All the works are original creations and are designed to be reproducible.

Launched by CulturesFrance/Afrique en créations, the city of Saint-Etienne and Saint-Etienne Metropole from a call for projects in 2004, the exhibition Design Made in Africa , shown at the Saint-Etienne International Biennale of Design, now travels across the globe to highlight African contemporary creativity in the world of design..."

Photo courtesy of The McColl Centre for Visual Art

The ArchiAfrika Organisation

2006-11-18T10:01:00.000-08:00

According to their website ArchiAfrika organisation aims to achieve the following in the feild of African Architecture:

"... To collect data on African Architecture: by designing or adopting (from Docomomo, Icomos, Unesco, etc.) methodologies as basis for a database, by producing databases on accessible sources (literature, internet etc.) and by making field studies through universities, (governmental) institutions and private parties..."

"...To make these databases and information world wide accessible and to rouse interest for African Architecture by, for instance, (re-)write the history of African Architecture, by launching a web site, by assisting university courses, by organizing and holding symposia and by organising exhibitions..."

"...To facilitate African architects and architectural institutions in the study, analysis and documentation of African Architecture, as well to supportthem in the development of their own work and the exhibition of this. We will also attempt to introduce African Architecture into contemporary discussion and practice of western Architecture..."

Ahmed Baba Institue, Tombouctou (Timbuktu)

2006-11-10T13:29:00.000-08:00

This institute "Ahmed Bbaba Center for Documentation and Research Tombouctou" created in the 70's.

It was established to be a repository and learning centre for Authentic African literature written in Arabic. It was also established to be a centre of information exchange in the area of Arab-Islamic culture in Timbuktu.

The buildings are designed and finished in traditional Malian architecture.

Photos courtesy of Creative Commons.org

Formula for Cheaper H and 2H Concrete Blocks

2006-11-09T22:48:00.000-08:00

1000 innovations writes about a new patent being developed to reduce the cost and at the same time maintain the reliability of the concrete block.

H & 2H bricks is a concrete mix formula developed by TRAORE Gaoussou for molding cheaper agglomerated concrete blocks that are still within the allowed strength tolerances. He has through his formula being able to achieve a 30% more economical block. In his own words this translates to "...30 % economy compared to the conventional brick, that means 30 % less cement, 30 % less sand and 30 % less water.." .

With soaring energy costs worldwide the price of cement is going to rise because it is a material whose manufacturing process relies on the use of non-sustainable materials like limestone, coal, natural gas and gypsum, so methods of construction that use less of this material would be welcomed by builders in developing countries.

These blocks also maintain the building standard for thermal and sound requirements in H and 2H concrete blocks.

You can contact TRAORE Gaoussou an inventor who has a patent pending for this formula, he is a director at "La Soudanais" Co.

Eco Friendly Airports

2006-10-28T11:39:00.000-07:00

The recently opened Suvarnabhumi International airport Thailand and the Madrid Barajas Terminal 4 International Airport in Spain are some of the few brand new airports that are leading the way in Eco-friendly and Sustainable Airport Facilities in the world today.

The Suvarnabhumi International is one of the first airports of its size that uses water cooled down by heat exchangers at a cogeneration plant as a coolant for its airconditioning system.

This cost saving technology seems to be a better alternative for the airport,rather than the norm of using expensive standard heavy duty cryogenic chillers.

The simplicity of the Suvarnabhumi Airport cooling system technology seems to be similar to the water cooled Chilled Beam technology.

Perhaps the soon to be completed new Ikeja Domestic terminal should utilize such affordable technology as the chosen method of cooling down the airport in the future.

The Madrid Barajas Terminal 4 International Airports bamboo ceiling feature and extensive use of natural lighting I think also makes it Eco-friendly-Sustainable candidate. The bamboo ceiling feature that gives the ceiling this "Sine-wave" effect .

According to the technical specifications on the Estudio Lamela on
of the project architect's website "... The ceiling finish to main roof is bamboo planks 100mm wide with 50mm gap (varies with geometry).

Bamboo treated to Spanish M1 standard for fire protection. Ceiling of lower passenger areas is made up of circular lighting disks (woks)
1,500mm diameter at 1,800mm centres suspended from galvanised steel frame..."

Bamboo being a fast growing flexible and strong natural material has been presented in a very amazing way as shown in the photos, you could not even tell its ordinary bamboo.

Photos courtesy of Estudio Lamela,Wikipedia,Shutter Photography

Standardising Traditional African Building Construction

2006-10-24T21:58:00.000-07:00

The mud brick building even as rudimentary as it looks,is probably one of the most affordable and sustainable methods of construction.

The abundance of this material "Clay" makes it very popular and affordable for low income people living in hot dry climates of Africa to use as versatile building material, Hence there is a need to have accurate building standards when building with this material.

Two organisations namely La Voute Nubienne which is covered on the Nubian vault article, has already developed its own building models and Osafa.org is in the process of launching its open source information databases according to an article covered in Timbuktuchronicles.

These information databases will provide free floor plans, building descriptions, drafts/photos and commercials calculations, materials etc.

Photos courtesy of La Voute Nubienne

Mwanza Rural Housing Progamme

2006-10-22T01:13:00.000-07:00

According to their website the Ashden Awards for Sustainable energy "...rewards and promotes excellent local sustainable energy solutions in the UK and the developing world..."

"...By rewarding the best, we raise awareness of the huge potential of local sustainable energy to both tackle climate change and improve the quality of people's lives. We aim to encourage its wider take-up across the world..."

One of the 2006 finalists for using agricultural residues to fire high-quality bricks for low-cost housing is the Mwanza Rural Housing Programme (MRHP), Tanzania.

"...An innovative brick-firing technology that uses rice husks, cotton waste and coffee husks instead of wood to fire bricks for house building.

This technology has led to the construction of 100,000 new homes for the people of Mwanza whilst at the same time saving an estimated 1,500 kilo-tonnes of wood in five years..."

Photos courtesy of Ashdenawards.org

Nubian Vault

2006-10-18T13:53:00.000-07:00

One of the La Voute Nubienne Organisation's main objective is to educate and promote the traditional technology of constructing low cost mud brick houses in the Sub-Saharan region of Africa.

In an article featured in Changemakers.net the organisation has established a VN technique aimed at standardising the construction techniques of Sub-Saharan mud brick houses. They also offer logistics and financial advice to potential builders on the benefits of constructing such buildings in the rural areas.

Photos courtesy of Changemakers.net

Bangkok Bio-Solar House

2006-10-09T12:45:00.000-07:00

In an article featured in the Inhabitat, the blog writes about a Thailands first Bio Solar House.

Sustainability is wholly integrated with home life with Thailands first Bio-Solar House, a completely self-reliant abode in Bangkok where nothing goes to waste.

The brainchild of Soontorn Boonyatikam, a professor of architecture at Chulalongkorn University in Thailand who is also the designer and occupant, the Bio-Solar House was developed in collaboration with a multidisciplinary team comprised of students and faculty from architecture, engineering and science departments.

Although the exterior features of the house differ little from the average middle-class Thai dwelling, its true powers lie in the installed functionalities that course through its interiors.

This concept I think could also come in handy with many housing schemes in Africa that produce a lot or recyclable waste that could be put to good use.

Photo Courtesy of Inhabitat.com

Eastgate Shopping Centre, Harare

2006-08-26T03:15:00.000-07:00

Z+Blog writes about the Eastgate Building in Harare Zimbabwe that is cooled and ventilated entirely by natural ventilation based on biometric termite technology.

The Eastgate Centre is a shopping centre and office block in central Harare, Zimbabwe. The building was designed to be ventilated and cooled entirely by natural means — it was biomimetically modeled on local termite mounds. It was probably the first building in the world to use natural cooling to this level of sophistication.

Because of its altitude, Harare has a temperate climate despite being in the tropics, and the typical daily temperature swing is 10 or 14° C. This makes a mechanical or passive cooling system a viable alternative to artificial air-conditioning. But long before the building was created, passive cooling was being used by the local
termites.

Termite mounds include flues which vent through the top and sides, and the mound itself is designed to catch the breeze. As the wind blows, hot air from the main chambers below ground is drawn out of the structure, helped by termites opening or blocking tunnels to control air flow.

Photo courtesy of Treehugger

Recycled Roads?

2006-07-27T09:16:00.000-07:00

With soaring global temperatures,bitumen based roads seem not to be as durable because of their low melting points, although concrete is a better alternative to bitumen/asphalt, it is however more expensive to construct with.

The mountains of discarded polythene bags used for "Pure Water" in many parts of West Africa could be put to good use if municipal administrations in the area(Lagos, Onitsha,Accra,Younde, etc)could borrow an idea, that is currently being adopted in India.

The Tribune of India reports that "...The Chief Minister of Delhi, Mrs Sheila Dikshit, has given a green light to K.K. Plastics Waste Management company for supply of bitumen mixed with plastic which is used for construction of roads, sources said.

The company has its base in Bangalore where it has constructed a two-km road with bitumen mixed with plastic. Plastic was not used earlier for road construction in the country.

Director of the Central Road Research Institute (CRRI), Dr P.K. Nanda said that bitumen mixed with plastic or rubber improves the quality and life of roads. These polymers increase the melting point of the bitumen. Bitumen melts in summer and roads break. If rubber or plastic is mixed with the bitumen, it does not melt resulting in longevity of roads.

He said that concrete roads could also be constructed, but its constriction cost was higher than the other substances used for the purpose. The Deputy Director of the CRRI, Dr Sunil Boss, said that polymers mixed with bitumen increased the construction cost up to six per cent, but increased the longevity of roads manifold.

He also stresses the use of plastic as it helps improve the environment besides creating a source of income and improving roadÂs life.

He said that plastic of good quality was not used for constructing roads. Polythene bags thrown by people, are often used for this purpose. They pollute environment. The ragpickers collect these bags from garbage and sell them at a lower price which are then recycled.

The Bangalore-based private company purchases these bags from ragpickers at high rates, make powder from it and mix with the bitumen. Three to four per cent plastic is mixed, but it improves the quality of roads. Plastic increases the melting point of the bitumen and makes the road flexible during winters resulting in its long life..."

Photo courtesy of Myspace.com and Fullpassport.com

Slee & Co Architects

2006-07-26T13:50:00.000-07:00

Their website writes "....Slee architecture and interiors is a multi-disciplined architecture and interior design practice operating in South Africa with offices in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Knysna.

The philosophy behind our design is to incorporate and respect the diverse aspirations and heritages of our clients; to learn from advanced technologies and to create a vernacular architecture, embracing our unique people, skills, climate and space.

Our architectural palette has its origins in the earth - muted earth colours, textured finishes reflecting abundant sunlight. Our built structures reflect simplicity and honesty, echoing the vernacular of local built forms. The beauty of detail is in the crude simplicity.

We create space to live in. Our expertise lies in residential spaces, holiday homes and lodges, and selective commercial work that falls into our design philosophy..."

Photos courtesy of Slee & Co Architects

Modern African Thatch Roofing

2006-07-21T08:34:00.000-07:00

With the cost of roofing materials like terracotta tiles, aluminum roofing sheets and corrugated galvanized metal sheet getting beyond the reach of the average homeowner in Africa, turning to the use of organic sustainable materials is fast becoming a better alternative.

Thatch can be beautiful, durable, safe,modern and does not only have to appear on rudimentary traditional African huts or Granaries.

Treating thatch with fire retarding chemicals makes them less flamable and with the drop in cost of fire and smoke detection systems fires can be detected and extinguisted, so it is probably time that African architects started to incorporate thatch into modern African buildings as it is already being done in parts of Southern Africa already.

Africa Roofing website says "... Established in 1994, is the export division of our group of companies. After informally trading for 5 years, our first company, Redruth Thatching cc saw the light in 1979.

Demand started growing from abroad for our products, and it was decided to develop a product range specifically for export purposes. From this, Africa Roofing was born ! We are proud to announce that in October 2000 with Safari Thatch & Bamboo Inc. in the USA we founded Africa Roofing Inc. in the state of Florida in the USA..."

African Architects

2006-07-20T08:09:00.000-07:00

Architect Africa is a directory of practicing architects in the Republic of South Africa.The site also covers other intesting stuff like free CAD software sites, Jobs, architecture news, the list of practices in South Africa and much more.

African Heritage House

2006-07-02T06:36:00.000-07:00

The African Heritage House website says"....The African Heritage House overlooking the Nairobi National Park is described by the prestigious Architectural Digest as "an architecture rising from the sere Kenyan plain like an outcropping of earth, a vision of usefulness informed by the African genius for decoration." Designed by American Alan Donovan, co-founder of the African Heritage Pan African Galleries, the house is a combination of the mud architectures from across Africa. Visits may be arranged to the house through travel agencies, hotels, or contact us here.

The house is available for tours, meals (breakfast, lunch, and dinners on the rooftop or by the refreshing pool), conferences/functions, as well as overnight stays in its luxurious rooms, filled with African art and furnishings with modern appointments.."

Photos by Deidi von Schaewen and from African Heritage House

National Consultants, Ethiopia

2006-05-22T14:40:00.000-07:00

With a staff strength of about 35 professionals and a head office located in Addis Ababa, National Consultants has established itself as one of the leading Architectural, Engineering and Construction management consultants in Ethiopia.

Established since 1968 National Consultants has been involved in a number of high profile jobs in Ethiopia which include the Addis Ababa International Airport, Ethiopian Airlines Maintenance Hangar and the Maritime & Transit Services Enterprise.

Managed by a number of talented Ethiopians,which include Mr Assefa Bekele. Their website says that "...Mr. Assefa Bekele has been with the firm for the past 34 years. He is the Chief Architect as well as the General Manager of National Consultants. He has over 39 years of experience in Architecture and Project Management. He has held numerous leadership roles in some of the largest projects undertaken in Ethiopia. He has a Bachelor of Architecture from Addis Ababa University and a Master of Architecture from Cornell University..."

African heritage sites to go digital

2006-05-10T13:53:00.000-07:00

AFRICAST says"...Scientists in South Africa are digitizing Africa's rich cultural heritage sites to provide a virtual tour to those who cannot visit in person, while benefiting preservation of the sites.

Using the latest laser-scan and computer technology, they are creating 3D models and virtual landscapes of the sites in Sub-Saharan Africa, including a coral-stone fortress in Tanzania, an ancient mosque in Timbuktu, Mali,and Great Zimbabwe, Sunday Times reported.

These digital models and historical resources will be stored inan African cultural heritage and landscapes database that African scholars, libraries and universities will be able to use free of charge, said the national newspaper.

Prof. Heinz Ruther, a project leader based at the University ofCape Town's (UCT's) Geomatics department, said they hoped to eventually create walk-through capabilities, like a computer game,to familiarize African school children with these sites.

The newspaper said the project has been approved by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), which oversees the naming and preservation work of heritage sites around the world.

The UCT also co-operates with a project known as Aluka, which is tasked with building an "online, digital library of scholarly resources from and about the developing world, beginning in Africa."

The project aims not only at "virtual preservation" but also atassisting with the physical conservation of these sites, which arebeing eroded by the weather, time and human settlement, Ruther said.

The Kilwa fortress in Tanzania, made of coral stone, dates backto the year 1503. It is being eroded by storms and the wind.

Ruther explained that the accuracy of the 3D models, between one and five centimeters of the original, would assist with reconstruction should it become necessary.

The team has already finished models for four World Heritage sites, including Kilwa Great Mosque, dated about 1200 AD, and Kilwa Kisiwani Fortress (1503) in Tanzania; St Giyorgis, a rock-hewn church at Lalibela (dating

back to the 11th to 13th century) in Ethiopia; and the Grand Mosques of Djenne and Djingereiber in Timbuktu in Mali (14th and 20th centuries).

UNESCO convened the 29 session of the World Heritage Committee July in Durban, South Africa, finding that 16 of 33 endangered World Heritage sites are in Africa due to conflicts, lack of fund and protection..."

Rammed Earth Structures

2006-05-01T11:27:00.000-07:00

If the production of cement is one of the highest carbon dioxide emitters in the world today, how can we reform the way we build in order to reduce these emissions? One of the answers might lie in the use of rammed earth as a material for construction of buildings.

Julian Keable of Pearce Mccomish says "...Ramming earth has been a method of construction used for centuries in various parts of the world, and is commonly known by its French name Piseg .Earth is extracted from the ground and compacted in layers inside specially constructed formwork. After compaction the formwork is released and moved along to a new position in the wall, or upwards to the next layer. In this way the building goes up rapidly, layer by layer, row by row.

This technique can produce buildings that are strong, durable, safe and desirable. Above all, because earth is an abundant and cheap resource, rammed earth buildings are very economical; in addition, the majority of the investment goes directly into the local economy. The method has an essential simplicity, and with its unskilled labour intensity, rammed earth can be seen as a valuable tool in the generation of low-cost housing in developing countries, in both urban and rural areas.

Well built, rammed earth walls will compare favourably with other masonry materials, such as bumt clay bricks or concrete blocks, in compressive strength, erosion by moisture or seasonal changes of dimension. Costs will also, in most cases, be highly competitive..."

Photos and Illustrations courtesy of Pearce Mccomish

Arch Design Uganda

2006-04-30T08:29:00.000-07:00

They describe themselves as a group of developers, architects, contractors, suppliers, managers, economists that have integrated to form a team with the promise delivering greater architecture and engineering in Africa.

The Arch Design website says"....Fred Waix Waiswa together with two partners founded Arch Design five years ago. He brought with him a rich experience of design from the Petroleum Industry. He had worked for the petroleum giant Shell in several countries across the African continent.

His experience cuts across the continent, from Shell Uganda Ltd where he worked up to the level of Shell Projects Supervisor, responsible for Supervising Engineering for Shell projects, fuel stations, Office Building and depots right from the inception stage up to commissioning. He had also worked for the same company as a Retail Network Planner, in charge of retail marketing of Shell properties.

As a Design Engineer under the East African Shell Cluster, he worked on special Projects that included preparation of detailed designs and production drawings for, New To Industry (NTIs) modern retail outlets, Select stores (super markets), and motels, for Kenya Shell and B.P, Shell Mauritius and Shell Sudan. At Shell Rwanda sarl he worked on the Upgrade of storage fuel tank facilities, fire fighting facilities for the depot and the redesign and upgrade of the Shell Rwanda Head Office in Kigali.

At Shell Djibouti he took part in the Port Depot Seaport Fuel Terminal Upgrade as a lead Design Consultant, worked on new fuel pipelines at the Red Sea to the Terminal, fire Fighting facilities, Djibouti fuel Port Terminal and Drainage system and remodelling of Shell Djibouti Head Offices.

As an Architect/Partner at Arch Design, Kampala-Uganda, he has handled fuel depots for Jovenna Uganda Limited, Galana Oil Uganda Limited (Now Kobil Uganda Ltd.) and Head Office Building for Petro Uganda Limited. He was in charge of refurbishment of fuel Stations around Uganda and preparation of detailed Designs of Petro Uganda's ultra-modern services station with a supermarkets.

He has worked on various Commercial, Institutional and Residential buildings which include upgrade of Mweya Safari lodge to a 5 Star Hotel, Wakiso District Administrative Building & Council Hall, Mbarara District, Administrative Building & Council Hall, Soroti District Administrative Building & Council Hall, Mbarara District Local Government Administration. Soroti District Local Government Administration, Kiboga District Local Government Administration and Library for Ntale School.

He is a Corporate Member of Uganda Society of Architects (USA) and a Registered Architect with the Uganda Architects Registration Board (ARB)...."

Photos courtesy of Arch Design

13 Principles of Sustainable Architecture

2006-04-14T12:20:00.000-07:00

Kelly Hart of Green Home Building writes that "...As “consumers” we are frequently confronted with life style decisions that can impact our environment. There are a few choices in this life that can make a big difference in what the quality of life will be for those who follow us. Going with the flow of our culture is hard to avoid, and unfortunately the flow is not in the right direction for evolving a sustainable future.

uuOne of the most momentous choices that any of us will make is the kind of house we live in. I have come up with a list of thirteen principles of sustainable architecture that can guide you in your housing choices.

Small is beautiful. The trend lately has been toward huge mansion-style houses. While these might fit the egos of those who purchase them, they don't fit with a sustainable life style. Large houses generally use a tremendous amount of energy to heat and cool. This energy usually comes from the combustion of fossil fuels, depleting these resources and emitting greenhouse gases and pollutants into the air. Also, the larger the house, the more materials go into its construction; materials which may have their own environmental consequences. A home should be just the right size for its occupants and their activities. My wife and I (and our two dogs) have happily lived in a forty foot bus for the last four years. The key to this is efficient use of space, good organization, and keeping possessions to a manageable level. We do look forward to spreading out some in the passive solar, earthbag home we are building.

Heat with the sun. Nothing can be more comfortable for body and mind than living in a good solar-heated house. I say “good”, because proper design is crucial to the comfort of such a house. You may have gone into a solar house and felt stifled by the glaring heat, or perhaps you shivered from the lack of it. Good passive solar design will provide just enough sunlight into the rooms to be absorbed by the surrounding thermal mass (usually masonry materials), so that the heat will be given back into the room when the sun goes down. The thermal mass is a kind of “heat battery” that stores the warmth, absorbing it to keep the room from getting too hot during the day. Equally important to thermal mass is insulation (such as straw bales or crushed volcanic rock) that will keep that heat inside. Thermal mass materials need to be insulated from the outside, or else they will just bleed that warmth right back out. A rock house might have tons of mass, but be uncomfortably cold because of this energy bleed. So a good solar design will utilize materials of the right type in the right places, blending thermal dynamics with utilitarian design. There is much more to be said about solar design, and there are many good books on the topic.

Keep your cool. As I suggested above, a well designed solar house is both warm when you want it, and cool when you want it; that is to say, the temperature tends to stay fairly even. A good way to keep your cool is to dig into the earth. If you dig about six feet into the earth, you will find that the temperature there varies by only a few degrees year round. While this temperature (about 50-55 degrees F.) might be too cool for general living comfort, you can use the stability of the earth's temperature to moderate the thermal fluctuations of the house. If you dig into a south-facing hillside to build, or berm the north part of the house with soil, you can take advantage of this. The part of the house that is under ground needs to be well insulated, or the earth will continually suck warmth out of the house..."

Diagram courtesy of Recycle Works Organisation

Reducing reliance on utility supplied water

2006-04-09T09:02:00.000-07:00

When I was younger I noticed my grandparents in the village got all their fresh water from a massive underground rainwater collection tank that was constructed on their premises. Back then I was amazed on how full this tank was most of the time, which could be atributed to the sheer volume of rain that fell in that region of Nigeria in the rainy season.

Timbuktu Chronicles has previously covered this topic highlighting the benefits of such a system. Also there is also evidence that shows that we waste water less when we are involved in the process of collecting and storing it atimes.

People might wonder if a borehole is not capable of satisfying all there water needs? Well it could, depending on the quality of the aquifers around where the borehole is located (for Lagos it apparently it has to be more than 250m deep so it can hit the Abeokuta formation), the depth of the bore hole, and the frequency of usage. There have also been a lot of cases especially in Lagos and Port Harcourt, Nigeria were some of the boreholes have been contaminated by seawater or crude oil.

How can we harvest more rainwater in out cities to serve our drinking water needs and how can we recycle used bathing and washing water(reuse water) to flush our toilets?

In Hong Kong they have a system is some areas that uses strained sea water to flush toilets and urinals. Maybe the municipal authorities of the costal cities in Africa could adopt such a system. I don't see the point in spending so much money to purify water only to have it used in flushing the toilet, what do you think?

African deserts a potential clean energy goldmine?

2006-04-03T15:36:00.000-07:00

The technology of solar chimneys harnesses the power of solar radiation and thermal currents to generate Environmentally clean electricity.

The company pioneering this technology is Enviromission an Australian solar power company working together with a German Structural consulting engineer company called Schlaich Bergermann und Partner.

The Schlaich Bergermann und Partner website also says "...With solar chimneys the greatest problems of our times,the environmental exploitation and the poverty and population explosion in the Third World, could be solved immediately and peacefully. We have designed the solar chimney such that it can be built indigenous in countries with ample solar radiation. So it is effective in a double way with electricity and work instead of oil and coal. Besides investigating the solar chimney's principle and its thermodynamics we have optimized the construction methods for the glass roof and the high chimney as well as the appropriate turbines and generators – in collaboration with the worldwide best experts.."

Maybe African venture capitalists, investors and property developers could look at converting the Sahara and Kalahari deserts into vast solar energy farms and ecofriendly new cities.

Icosa Village

2006-02-09T04:56:00.000-08:00

In a story covered by Jill of Inhabitat she writes that"...Despite looking like something straight out of Star Wars-Icosa Village's collection of "Pod" prefab shelters are actually very down-to-earth. The pods are practical, affordable, and easy-to-build, with the pieces snapping together like Erector Sets.

Starting around $2000, the Bucky-inspired dymaxion shelters are super cheap, and are designed to be used for a variety of recreational, promotional, and humanitarian uses.

The Icosa Village website says"...Icosa Village offers temporary to semi-permanent shelter products that are suitable for a variety of recreational, promotional, entertainment, and humanitarian uses. It is our intention to become the preferred supplier of high value, low cost, aesthetically appealing shelter solutions to governmental, NGO, and international relief organizations addressing the worldwide refugee shelter crisis..."

Photos Courtesy of Inhabitat