Appreciates all types of design ideas.
Good form & function should always work hand in hand but at times designs needs to be push through all types of boundaries.
There is no standing still for design,only moving forward.
Showing posts with label eco-friendly design. Show all posts
Showing posts with label eco-friendly design. Show all posts
It is a huge solar powered waterfall standing 105m above sea level, designed by Swiss architecture firm RAFAA for 2016 Olympic Games. Named the Solar City Tower, the building is equipped with solar panels, the solar energy to pump seawater to its top, and resulting falling water spins turbines that produce energy during the night.
For some occasions, the tower can transform into an urban waterfall the designer calls "a symbol for the forces of nature." RAFAA expect to fill the building with an amphitheater, auditorium, cafeteria and shops. This solar city tower even includes bungee jumping and a “glass sky walk” on the very top.
"The aim of this project is to ask how the classic concept of a landmark can be reconsidered. It is less about an expressive, iconic architectural form; rather, it is a return to content and actual, real challenges for the imminent post-oil-era. This project represents a message of a society facing the future; thus, it is the representation of an inner attitude. Our project, standing in the tradition of "a building/city as a machine", shall provide energy both to the city of Rio de Janeiro and its citizens while using natural resources."
In partnering with PUMA, a leader in sportswear, shoes and products, we looked to create a game changing packaging system that would greatly reduce their footprint and build on their initiatives toward cleaner, greener, and safer practices contributing to a better world around us.
The challenge was to look at one of the most difficult and stagnant issues facing the retail industry in regards to sustainability and environmental harm: packaging, and more specifically shoeboxes. Boxes contribute to millions of tons of waste a year and even with proposed second uses, they are eventually thrown out.
For 21 months, boxes and systems were studied: how to fold them, how to ship them and how to reduce them. But all of these were incremental steps; reduction can only do so much. Finally, we explored getting rid of them altogether. We discovered a new design solution, a “clever little bag”.
Why is it so clever? By providing structure to a cardboard sheet, the bag uses 65% less cardboard than the standard shoe box, has no laminated printing, no tissue paper, takes up less space and weighs less in shipping, and replaces the plastic retail bag.
The cardboard structure is die cut from one flat piece of material and has no additional printing or assembly, thus it can be returned to the stream faster and more efficiently. The structure was created with four walls that taper in to allow for secured stacking, another important element left over from the original shoebox.
The bag is non-woven which means less work and waste (it is stitched with heat). It protects the shoes from dust and dirt in the warehouse and during shipping. The “clever little bag” is an iconic brand element upon leaving the store as it replaces the plastic shopping bag, and it is also used for shoe storage in travel suitcases. The bag is made of non-woven polyester consisting of recycled PET, and eventually is also recyclable.
With our ‘clever little bag’, Puma kicks-off the next pivotal phase of it’s sustainability program. The tens of millions of shoes shipped in our bag will reduce water, energy and diesel consumption on the manufacturing level alone by more than 60% per year. In other words: approximately 8,500 tons less paper consumed, 20 million Mega joules of electricity saved, 1 million liters less fuel oil used and 1 million liters of water conserved.During transport 500,000 liters of diesel is saved and lastly, by replacing traditional shopping bags the difference in weight will save almost 275 tons of plastic.
In changing the packaging and distribution life cycle from the ground up, we want our new design and comprehensive solution to encourage other retail companies to follow suit. That such a little bag can have such a big impact...you can see why we called it clever.
The roll out of the new packaging and distribution system is planned for 2011.
Green Lighthouse, Denmark’s first CO2 neutral public building, demonstrates that sustainable design is not a question of stuffing the building with brazen, expensive high-tech gadgets, but that it starts with good old fashioned common sense. In fact, 75% of the reduction of the energy consumption is the direct consequence of architectural design.
The building is going to serve as a showcase for sustainable building at the UN’s Climate Conference here in Copenhagen in December later this year. Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation, Helge Sander states; “Everyone who has had a share in the Green Lighthouse project has every reason to be proud.
It is a stylish, exemplary, climate-friendly construction, which will help focus the attention on Danish know-how during the forthcoming climate summit. At the same time, the building can serve as inspiration to other universities and builders, while also contributing to the construction industry’s knowledge base of sustainable building solutions”.
The parties involved in the project are the Danish Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, the University of Copenhagen, the City of Copenhagen and the window producers VELUX and VELFAC.
To achieve carbon neutrality, many green design features were incorporated to reduce energy use and provide a holistic and healthy indoor environment for students and faculty. The building itself was oriented to maximize its solar resources, while windows and doors are recessed and covered with automatic solar shades to minimize direct solar heat gain inside the building. Plentiful daylight and natural ventilation are provided by means of the carefully placed VELUX skylights, Velfac windows and the generous atrium.
Finally, sensibly integrated state-of-the-art technology has been applied: heat recovery systems, photovoltaic panels, solar heating, LED lighting, phase change materials, geothermal heat are just some of the technologies that are seamlessly integrated into the building.
Architect: Christensen & Co Arkitekter Client: Danish University and Property Agency Users: Faculty of Science (30 staff / 50 daily users) Area: 950 m² (site 3000m²) Project: May 2008 Construction: October 2008 Completion: November 2009 Collaborators: Hellerup Byg (contractors) Cowi (engineering) CCO staff MC, MC, TN, MS, TB, AM Misc Partners behind project: Danish University and Property Agency, Copenhagen
