Misc
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Whole-Tree Building: How to Craft Super-Natural Eco-Homes
The effect is astonishing: by using the natural shape of trees rather than milling them into dimensional lumber, the resulting architecture becomes organic and lifelike as if it were a living, breathing and growing structure – though correspondingly more difficult to construct, each custom branch and trunk needing to fit somehow in with the rest. Aside from the breath-taking eco-aesthetic of his whole-tree houses and homes, Roald Gunderson ‘s work has a number of benefits for the environment as well as a client’s pocketbook. Time, energy and money are saved by skipping the normal steps of processing raw wood into standard wooden structural sizes. Also, less carbon is released into the air and the naturally curved wood branches are stronger than their straight-and-narrow counterparts.Bart Prince is a very hard architect to pin down – and he prefers it that way. While some contemporary all-star architectural designers like Frank Gehry are known for signature styles and materials, Prince prefers to be inspired to create unique solutions for each site and situation. In discussion with Dornob, he noted that one of the highest forms of praise one can receive is when someone tells you they recognized something as your design because it looked unlike anything you have done to date. His inspirations include such ground-breaking architects as Antoni Gaudi, Frank Lloyd Wright and Bruce Goff – designers who diverged from the mainstream styles of their times. Looking at just a few works by Bart Prince can easily be misleading.
(A) Futuristic, (B) Retro, (C) Organic or (D) Architecture
Natural Architecture: Home-Grown Artistic Tree Houses
Patrick Dougherty is a builder and yet not an architect – he is perhaps best described as an artist and sculptor, a wood craftsman the likes of which most of us have never seen. Rather than cutting, planing, leveling and assembling rectilinear wood structures he shapes living trees into amazing natural tree buildings. What started as simple arbosculptures quickly become inhabitable spaces and entire built environments. Some of the results seem like churches or gazebos, religious or resting places deep in the forest, as shown in the pictures above.
Jean-Pierre Langellier and Brice Pedroletti Guardian Weekly Imagine it is 2010. The place is Dongtan, the world's first purpose-built eco-city. It stands in the middle of the marshes at the eastern tip of Chongming, China's third-largest island, at the mouth of the Yangtse river. None of the buildings is more than eight storeys high.
China to Build First Eco-City
Living Grass Walls Completely Cover the Interior of London's Dilston Grove Gallery!
Acclaimed British artists Heather Ackroyd & Dan Harvey recently transformed a landmark church in South East London by completely covering its interior in a layer of living grass! Known as Dilston Grove , the church-cum-art-gallery in Southwark Park, now features a lush green interior that will continue to grow as time goes on. <a href="http://ad.doubleclick.net/jump/Inhabitat/art;article=articlename;kw=content1;sz=300x250;ord=123456789?" target="_blank" ><img src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/ad/Inhabitat/art;article=articlename;kw=content1;sz=300x250;ord=123456789?" border="0" alt="" /></a>
Temptation
Every so often an email lands in my inbox from perhaps the cruelest man I know. Chris from Welcome Beyond dangles dream designs in front of me and it is all I can do to stop myself from hocking everything I own, jumping a plane and escaping to the hand picked boutique vacation properties that litter the pages of their website. Chris has cruelly tempted me again with a Spanish beauty and oh the temptation!