Green Village Residential Villa Development Bali

There website says"...Ibuku is an international design-build team creating a new way of living.  We exist to provide spaces in which people can live in an authentic relationship with nature.  We do this by designing fully functional homes and furniture that are made of natural substances and built in ways that are in integrity with nature..."

"...Best know for creating the architecturally award winning bamboo buildings at Green School, our current project, Green Village, is an innovative residential villa development located within walking distance to the river valley campus.  We are a full service design company that creates one of a kind designs for both residential and commercial spaces as well as artisan crafted bamboo furnishings inspired by a timeless Scandinavian design sensibility. Ibuku’s custom furnishings have captured the imagination and heart of some of the world’s leading designers, entrepreneurs and politicians..."

Photos courtesy of Green Village

Abodes for the Coastal Inhabitants of West Africa

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.

CobHouse

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.

Highly Efficient Green Buildings

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

Modern Green Architecture in Accra

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

Solar Facelift

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

Open Architecture Network

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

Mwanza Rural Housing Progamme

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

Bangkok Bio-Solar House

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

Saija Hollmén, Jenni Reuter and Helena Sandman the trio behind the women’s centre in Rufisque, Senegal

"...The women’s centre in Rufisque, Senegal is remarkable in many ways. Designed by a trio of young Finnish architects: Saija Hollmén, Jenni Reuter and Helena Sandman, it uses locally tested construction methods, combines them with recycled materials and reinterprets traditional planning configurations. But the complex has not just provided a new social and training facility, its creation has been influential on the lives of everyone involved, Senegalese and Finns alike. It is an important step in the development of the recognition of women in this West African country..."

Anne Anstruther said ".‘A house to under to baobab tree’, the centers is modelled on traditional compounds in this part of West Africa, with to strong to perimeter surrounding buildings turned inwards to to communal court. The baobab is one of the few trees left in an area that is starved of wood. Main It shades one of the two entrances to the complex, to gateway that leads to the communal hall.

The to other public entrance is on the north-west to corner of the compound. Here is an attempt to make to small public square, on to which the centre’s shop and restaurant open. The attempt is fine – what’s needed is response from the surrounding owners of the congregation buildings, who think they cannot afford to give under much ace to metre of to their land to the public realm..."

This project is also covered in detail at webpages of Cecilia María Martínez Zambrano

Diébédo Francis Kéré, founder of the "Bricks for Schools" project in Burkina Faso

"An architecture student in Berlin, took upon himself the cause of ensuring that his village would not be deprived of a school, and with a group of friends in Germany, Kéré set up a fund-raising association, Schulbausteine für Gando
Bricks for the Gando School. The idea met with a positive response and, having secured finance through the association, Kéré also obtained the support of LOCOMAT (a government agency in Burkina Faso) to train brickmakers in the technique of working with compressed stabilized earth. The project is a recipient of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, Ninth Award Cycle, 2002 - 2004."

He says " My presence in Europe has allowed me to look further beyond the horizon than most of my compatriots. Among other things I have realized that school education and training are the basis of any social, professional and economic development."

"The idea is to adapt traditionally temporary clay building methods to produce long-term, climatically high quality results by modifying materials and construction principles."

Clay House Project, Namibia

"...For well over a decade the Clay House Project has followed a program of patient investment in order to bring the ancient technology of clay construction into the mainstream in Namibia...""...It has been a program composed of many different activities over the years, from demonstration buildings, pilot projects and networking with communities and authorities. A basis of mutual respect and cooperation pave the way for its current endeavor where people in a squatter area learn to build their houses from locally available clay...""...The
EcoSouth Network is a dynamic entity, moving with finesse between the grassroots and e-mail connections. Structure is less important than contacts among people and organizations; in a sense it exists beyond, in spite of, and instead of, structure..."