Hasta La Ideas

This riverside holiday house in South Limburg, the Netherlands, is raised on tree trunks to prevent flooding and clad with charred wood to reduce the need for maintenance (+ slideshow).

The small residence was designed by architecture studio Upfrnt, alongside charred timber consultancy Zwarthout. It is located on the banks of the fast-flowing Geul river, where construction is usually restricted to protect the environment, but was permitted as it replaced several dilapidated structures.

The design team used the traditional Japanese Shou-Sugi-Ban technique to burn the surfaces of the cedar cladding panels, creating a sealed surface that will protect itself and almost never need repairs.

The floor of the house is raised up by over a metre on a series of reinforced oak logs, as the nearby river is prone to frequent flooding. A wooden bridge links the entrance to the woodland pathway behind, while a series of steps leads down to the water’s edge.

The house incorporates several sustainable technologies that minimise its carbon footprint. “Upfrnt strive to design buildings that are in harmony with their environment,” explains Weijnen.

Alongside triple glazing and thick insulation, the house uses solar energy for heating and electricity. Waste water is also collected and filtered, so that it can be fed back into the river.

To enable a speedy construction, the house was prefabricated in Amsterdam by construction firm WHD Interieurbouw and was assembled on site in just three months.

We’ve featured several houses on Dezeen with charred timber facades. Others include a curved house in Japan and an extension to a mill-keeper’s house in England. See more architecture featuring blackened wood »

Other sustainable houses we published include a self-sufficient house in China and an energy-generating home in Japan.

Photography is by Hans Peter Föllmi.

Here’s some extra information from the design team:

Sustainable passive holiday house completed on the River Geul

Tucked away on the banks of the River Geul in South Limburg is a unique new holiday house created by Upfrnt architects, WHD Interieurbouw and Zwarthout. Permission to build on the Geul, one of Holland’s few fast flowing rivers is rarely granted because of the impact on the environment. Nevertheless the local council of Gulpen-Wittem was prepared to support this sustainable project in exchange for the removal of the original dilapidated buildings.

An interesting challenge for all parties was the frequent flooding of the river. In order to prevent water damage, the house was raised on poles made from local trees. A risen path was created to connect the house with the alley behind it.

Upfrnt strive to design buildings that are in harmony with their environment. The house is built following passive principles and has a low carbon footprint. Extra insulation and triple glass ensure year round comfort. Warm water is generated by solar heating. Electricity for cooking and heating is provided by solar panels elsewhere on the grounds. Sewage connection is unnecessary due to the use of a Helofytenfilter. Waste water is filtered and purified allowing it to flow back into the river cleaned. Use of the underground ventilation pipe for warming and cooling the incoming air increases living comfort considerably.

The complexity of building on stilts and the innovative sustainable character of the house required a resourceful team. Amsterdam based building company WHD Interieurbouw worked together with ZwartHout and the architect to bring this project to successful completion.

Despite huge window panes and an expansive view, the house is extremely private due to the positioning on the property. The house was prefabricated in Amsterdam and constructed on site. The silver sheen on the black exterior is the result of using the Shou-Sugi-Ban technique (Japanese burning of cedar panels) rendering the house virtually maintenance free. The building was completed within three months.

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by Upfrnt and Zwarthout appeared first on Dezeen.

News: glow-in-the-dark roads, a childbirth training kit in a back pack and spicy paper that keeps food fresh have been announced among the winners of the world’s biggest design prize, the INDEX: Award (+ slideshow).

Earlier this evening in Elsinore, Denmark, design organisation INDEX: Design to Improve Life announced five winners of the annual award, that showcases international design projects that address world challenges such as climate change and poverty.

This year there are two winners from the award’s community category and three winners from the body, home and play categories. The five projects will share €500,000 – the largest design prize in the world.

Scroll on for more details of the winners:

Copenhagen Climate Adaptation Plan – community category

The Danish capital city of Copenhagen has won the community category award for it’s Climate Adaptation Plan. The environmental strategy is intended to be a framework for sustainable design solutions. The plan includes creating designated green roofs and water boulevards in the streets to direct rainwater into designated spaces.

Here’s a short film about the strategy:

FreshPaper – home category

A simple sheet of paper called FreshPaper by Fenugreen has won the home category award. The paper product is infused with a mixture of spices that keeps fruits and vegetables riper for 2-4 times longer.

“The design is a remarkable way of re-thinking, re-purposing and re-combining an old tradition with industrial knowledge into an easy-to-use everyday consumer product for everyone,” said jury member Patrick Frick.

Raspberry Pi – play category

A tiny computer that intends to teach young people about computer programming has picked up the play category award. The micro computer, called Rasberry Pi, was designed in 2006 by a computer scientists from University of Cambridge.

Jury member and founder of Design Indaba conference, Ravi Naidoo said: “We must prepare our kids better for an even more digitalised world, and not just envelope them in ready-made tech as we have been doing so far. Let’s take it to the next level and live creative lives instead of leading edited lives.”

Smart Highway – community category

The second winner in the community category was Smart Highway – an interactive road designed by Dutch designer Daan Roosegaarde in collaboration with Dutch firm Heijmans Infrastructure.

The project proposes to place interactive, glow in the dark visual tools that would inform drivers when roads are slippery and charge an electric car whilst driving.

The Natalie Collection – body category

A birth simulation learning kit in a ruck sack by Laerdal Global Health has won this years body category award. The Natalie Collection is made up of three devices for training birthing assistants in essential child birth care.

The three tools are a low-cost reusable suction device to clear airways of newborn babies, a baby mannequin for training in newborn care and resuscitation methods and a wearable bag for simulating essential care during child birth.

“A pilot would not fly a plane without proper training and flight-simulation. So why should a midwife be any different?” said Naidoo.

This year the organisation received over 1000 competition nominations from 73 countries. A jury that included Ravi Nandoo and Paola Antonelli, curator of design and architecture at New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMa), selected 59 finalists earlier this year, from which the five winners were selected.

All five have been awarded €100,000 and an exhibition of the nominees and winners will be open in Copenhagen’s King’s Gardens through to 29 September 2013.

Previous INDEX: Award winners include an inflatable bicycle helmet and a free eyeglasses program for Mexican children designed by Yves Behar’s fuseproject.

Here’s a film featuring CEO Kigge Hvid discussing the project:

See more environmental design »
See more design features »

Images courtesy of INDEX: Design to Improve Life.

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winners announced appeared first on Dezeen.

News: a 21 metre high living wall containing 10,000 plants and 16 tons of soil will help reduce flooding in London, according to its designer.

The huge green wall, designed by Gary Grant of Green Roof Consultancy and covering an entire facade of a hotel, covers 350 square metres – making it the largest wall of vertical plants in London.

The permanent feature is located on the exterior wall of the Rubens at the Palace hotel in Victoria. It is made from a range of different plants that are all recommended by The Royal Horticultural Society as the best pollinators to attract wildlife such as bees, butterflies and birds to the urban environment.

The wall, which was unveiled this week, has been designed in an attempt to reduce local environmental issues such as surface flooding and air pollution. The 10,000 plants are irrigated by harvested rainwater that is caught in dedicated storage tanks on the roof, which Grant claims will reduce surface water flooding.

“The living wall is irrigated using rainwater harvested from the roofs and stored in tanks before being fed through the wall, from which it evaporates,” said Grant. “In this sense the project is a sustainable drainage system.”

London mayor Boris Johnson is promoting sustainable drainage systems – or SUDS – to combat flooding in the capital, Grant said. “Victoria suffers from surface water flooding because of the preponderance of sealed surfaces such as roads and roofs. Occasionally when there is heavy rain the surface water drains are overwhelmed and flooding ensues.”

The project was undertaken as a result of an audit to identify new locations for green space, carried out by local organisation Victoria Business Improvement District (Victoria BID). The wall will be maintained by green wall compnay Treebox.

Here’s a time lapse video of the installation of the wall:

Other green walls we’ve featured include: a family house that conceals a three-storey wall of plants behind its slate-clad facade and a leisure centre in Amsterdam that was designed as a fortress covered in plants.

See more green walls »
See more stories about plants »

Photographs are courtesy of Rain Communications.

Here’s more information:

Victoria BID and the Rubens at the Palace Hotel unveil London’s largest living wall designed to reduce urban flooding in Victoria

Standing at 350 square metres with over 10,000 ferns, herbaceous plants and 16 tons of soil, Victoria welcomes the unveiling of London’s largest living wall designed to reduce urban flooding.

The Rubens at the Palace Hotel living wall, on the doorstep of Buckingham Palace, reaches over 21 metres high. It will be packed with over 20 seasonal plant species including buttercups, crocuses, strawberries, spring bulbs and winter geraniums.

The flowers have been chosen to ensure the wall is ‘in-bloom’ all year round, attracting wildlife such as birds, butterflies and bees, and the permanent feature will provide a vibrant focal point for the local area. The living wall will be one of London’s most visually impactful and colourful vertical gardens, brightening the popular tourist walk from Victoria station to the Royal residence.

The ground-breaking green project came to light following a Green Infrastructure Audit, a mapping process that sought to identify new locations for green space in Victoria that was carried out by the Victoria Business Improvement District (Victoria BID), the body representing over 250 businesses in the Victoria area including the Rubens at the Palace Hotel. As a result of the audit, the hotel commissioned concept designs for the wall in recognition of the environmental benefits the wall will have for Victoria.

The wall’s unique design enables it to capture rainwater from the roof of the building in dedicated storage tanks. A key environmental challenge in Victoria is the risk of flooding during periods of heavy rain, due to the low absorbency of urban surfaces. According to the Environment Agency, there are now around 534,000 properties in London on the Thames floodplain, and one in four in London are at risk of flooding.

Water collected by the tanks is channelled slowly through the wall, nourishing plant life and helping to reduce the risk of surface water flooding in the area by storing up to 10,000 litres at any time.

The project has received support from the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, through his Greening the BIDs programme (co-ordinated by the regeneration agency Cross River Partnership).

In addition, the wall will improve the air quality in the area, deaden noise and help to keep the hotel cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter. The vegetation can trap microscopic pollutants known as particulate matter (PM10s), high levels of which have been shown to cause respiratory illnesses.

The wall was designed by Gary Grant of the Green Roof Consultancy Ltd and installed and maintained by TreeBox Ltd.

Ruth Duston, CEO of Victoria BID, says; “While green infrastructure inevitably improves the aesthetics of the area it also has a substantial positive impact on the long-term environmental sustainability of an area. The Rubens at the Palace Hotel has demonstrated a huge commitment to the delivery of a sustainable agenda, their appetite to engage and lead on such an iconic project really showcases the greening agenda overseen by Victoria BID to deliver a model of best practice for London.”

Jonathan Raggett, Managing Director of Red Carnation Hotels, of which the Rubens at the Palace is a part of, said; “We’re excited to be unveiling the Living Wall on the side of the Rubens at the Palace. It was a project we bought in to from the very beginning and thanks to the belief and investment of our owners, it’s not only been brought to fruition but significantly enhanced from the original concept stage. We take the issue of sustainable tourism very seriously across the entire Red Carnation Hotel collection, and this wall will minimise the hotel’s impact on the environment and also improve the air quality and aesthetic in this part of London.”

Armando Raish, managing director of Treebox, said: “Due to the variety of plants used in its construction, we expect the living wall at the Rubens at the Palace to significantly increase the number and variety of bugs and bees in this part of Victoria, helping to promote biodiversity and return nature to this urban environment. The wall will also help improve the respiratory health of the people who live and visit Victoria by absorbing pollutants, an important feature of the wall given the mounting evidence that shows just how harmful particulate matter can be to human health.”

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will “combat flooding” appeared first on Dezeen.

If this chair looks familiar, it’s because it’s seemingly similar to the iconic Eames DCM chair that’s been a staple since 1946. Called the NoCo2 chair, it too will cradle you in a comfortable position, and also uses rubber shock mounts to buffer movement. Instead of new rubber, however, it repurposes old scrap tires to cushion both the back and seat. Unlike the Eames, extra tensioned padding is given to the seat for a “floating” effect, more comfort, and a cool modern aesthetic!

Designer: Peter Danko

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(Simple Made Better was originally posted on Yanko Design)

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News: students at the Eindhoven University of Technology have unveiled what they claim to be the world’s first solar-powered family car.

Called Stella, and resembling a squashed, wingless aeroplane, the vehicle can seat four people and can travel up to 600 kilometres, powered by solar panels mounted on the roof.

The vehicle has been developed to take part in the new Cruiser Class category of the World Solar Challenge – a biannual 3,000km race race through the Australian outback from Darwin to Adelaide.

This new category will be introduced for the first time at this year’s event, taking place from 6-13 October, to reflect the growing interest in commercially viable solar cars.

Unlike the other categories, where speed is the main concern, the Cruiser Class is judged on criteria including comfort and usability. Cruiser Class vehicles must also carry a passenger as well as a driver.

“The design of the car of the future has to meet the needs of modern consumers,” says Solar Team Eindhoven, which is based at Eindhoven University of Technology. “The car must be capable of transporting a family from the Netherlands to France in one day, it needs to be suitable for the daily commute to work, and it needs to achieve all this in comfort.”

“Since the Solar Team Eindhoven wants to contribute to the development of a car of the future, the design demands more than just a focus on speed,” the team adds. “Comfort, ease of use, and feasibility are all key terms.”

The carbon and aluminium car features a buttonless, touchscreen dashboard and a responsive steering wheel that expands or contracts according to your speed.

Solar panels on the car’s roof will generate around half the energy it requires, with the remaining power coming from solar recharging stations.

Solar Team Eindhoven’s website provides more details of the World Solar Challenge race. “A large part of the energy to be used will be collected by solar cells as we travel,” it says. “During the race, there are only three opportunities to recharge the relatively small battery, which means the car has to be able to independently drive a minimum of 750 kilometers on electric energy. Besides the issue of energy and its management, navigation, safety and support will be essential.

“Once the race starts in Darwin, the teams are permitted to drive until 5.00 p.m. in the afternoon. After that, they have to set up camp in the outback and be ready to leave again at 8.00 a.m. The teams must be completely self reliant and must reach all seven checkpoints.”

Photos are by Bart van Overbeeke/TU Eindhoven.

Here’s some info from Eindhoven University of Technology:

TU/e student team unveils world’s first solar-powered family car

Solar Team Eindhoven starts World Solar Challenge in Australia with four-seater family car

The Solar Team Eindhoven (STE) of Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) presented the world’s first solar-powered family car today. ‘Stella’ is the first ‘energy-positive car’ with room for four people, a trunk, intuitive steering and a range of 600 kilometers. This is the car being entered by the student team in the Cruiser class of the World Solar Challenge that starts in Australia in October 2013.

A car that produces electricity

The solar cells of ‘Stella’- Latin for star and also a reference to the family character of the car – generate more electricity on average than the car uses and that means the surplus electricity can be returned to the power grid, thereby making the car ‘energy-positive’.

The car of the future

Solar Team Eindhoven has set itself the goal of developing the car of the future. By combining aerodynamic design with lightweight materials like carbon and aluminum, a very fuel-efficient car has been designed, which also has ingenious applications like a LED strip and touchscreen that make all the buttons and knobs we know today superfluous. Intuitive driving is enabled by a steering wheel that expands or contracts when you are driving too fast or too slowly. STE will have the car officially certified for road use to prove that this really is a fully-fledged car.

World Solar Challenge

University teams from all over the world will be competing in a 3,000 km long race through the Australian outback. Solar Team Eindhoven is taking part in the Cruiser class in which the emphasis lies on practical and user-friendly solar cars rather than on speed. The ‘solar race’ takes place from 6 to 13 October 2013. Back in the Netherlands there will be a tour of high schools to promote engineering and science in education.

The engineer of tomorrow

Thanks to Solar Team Eindhoven entry, TU/e is represented for the first time in the Solar World Challenge. A multidisciplinary team (with 22 students from six different TU/e departments) has spent a year on this project that involves challenges from the fields of energy and mobility. Cooperation with industry has given the students an opportunity to become familiar with top-notch entrepreneurship, thereby underlining TU/e’s vision of educating the engineer of tomorrow. TU/e professors prof.dr. Elena Lomonova and prof.dr.ir. Maarten Steinbuch are members of the steering group.

Eindhoven  University of Technology

Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) is a research-driven, design-oriented technology university with a strong international focus. The university was founded in 1956 and has around 7,200 students and 3,000 staff. TU/e is geared to the societal challenges posed in the areas of Energy, Health and Smart Mobility.

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to race across Australia appeared first on Dezeen.