The ProtoHouse features long, fibrous threads of plastic, unlike other 3-D printing projects which use sand or concrete.
The ProtoHouse may look like something out of science fiction, but when it’s done the architects say it will be the first house you can say came from a 3D printer. (Pics)
Continue reading… “Will the ProtoHouse win the 3D printed house race?”
In Japan, land can come at a premium, especially in big cities. For urban dwellers, sometimes the only option is to build small. Really small. (Photos)
Continue reading… “The minimalist living trend in Japan”
Saltire Center at Glasgow Caledonian University.
Brian Sullivan, a librarian at Alfred University, wrote “the academic library has died” in an opinion piece responding to the gloomy tone of a 2011 report on the future of academic libraries. “One reason for cause of death is that library buildings were converted into computer labs, study spaces and headquarters for informational-technology departments.”
Continue reading… “Academic libraries are shaping the future of learning and research”
An abandoned Walmart becomes a library.
Thousands of big box stores sit abandoned and empty all over America, including hundreds of former Walmart stores. Each store takes up enough space of 2.5 football fields. More that 698 million square feet of in the U.S. is used by Walmart’s and is one of the biggest environmental impacts. But at least one of those buildings has been transformed into something arguably much more useful: the nation’s largest library. (Photos)
Continue reading… “Abandoned Walmart in Texas becomes largest library in the U.S.”
Wind loft
Are you looking for a place where you can get away from it all? The designers at Morphocode ave come up with a futuristic-looking loft space. They have combined the age-old concept of lighthouse-style dwellings and the forward-thinking fields of offshore wind turbines. (Photos)
Continue reading… “Wind turbine loft living not for the faint of heart”
Continue reading… “25 egg-inspired innovations”
New Century Global Center
The New Century Global Center is officially the largest freestanding building in the world. At 1.7 million square meters, the New Century Global Center is capable of housing the equivalent of 20 Sydney Opera Houses. (Photos)
Continue reading… “World’s largest building officially opens in China”
Play-i is making robots to encourage tangible play with technology.
The tech world has collectively decided that programming is an essential skill all kids should learn, perhaps even before they learn to read. The programming market has been saturated with tablet apps aimed at raising the next Zuckerburg.
Continue reading… “Play-i’s robot will teach your child to program”
Floating hotel
The small Arab state of Qatar will host the World Cup in 2022. New concerns about the desert weather, cooling, accommodation and infrastructure have risen in discussion. (Photos)
Continue reading… “World’s first floating hotel for the 2022 World Cup”
Masdar City will use solar energy and other renewables , and will be car-free.
Mankind is rethinking how we build the structures we live and work in which is changing the way our cities look and feel. According to architect Philip Beesley, our cities of smooth stone and steel may become more like floating forests – with buildings that can think and breathe and cool themselves.
Continue reading… “Future cities will have buildings that can think and breathe”
The New York team proposed that a net-zero park be created within a three-block-long stretch of central median running down Allen Street on Manhattan’s Lower East Side.
One of the biggest challenges faced by people who are associated with building cities is being able to create open space when there seems to be none left. How do they give people in cities public spaces (parks, gardens, squares, even wide tree-lined streets) to gather and room to breathe in our increasingly built-up and built-out urban environments? (Pics)
Continue reading… “Designing new public spaces for our increasingly crowded cities”
Urban architecture could take on a much different form as scientists make huge strides in robotics, natural building materials, and new construction methods.
Cities are complex ecosystems and they are confronting tremendous pressures to seek optimum efficiency with minimal impact in a resource-constrained world. While architecture, urban planning, and sustainability attempt to address the massive resource requirements and outflow of cities, there are signs that a deeper current of biology is working its way into the urban framework.
Continue reading… “Drones, bacteria, and 3D printers will build the cities of the future”