This modern house is designed to maximize panoramic views and energy efficiency!

Posted on 19/08/2021 by Chi Thukral

Most people think that living in an energy-efficient home means they have to sacrifice their dreams of owning a big house with a pool but that is a myth and Faulkner Architects is here to bust it beautifully! The client requested every room be oriented towards the Sierra Nevada Mountains. It took some out-of-the-box thinking, but somehow the design team managed to stay in the box while achieving that goal.

Called Viewfinder House, this home is located in Truckee, CA, a launching point for myriad outdoor activities in every season. Even at 7,200 square feet with a pool, the design offers unique architecture and environmentally friendly features. The body of the home is made up of two rectangular boxes, with connections between the spaces via covered porches. The lower level is contoured to match the property line, but the upper level is rotated to take full advantage of Pacific Crest mountain views.

The team relied on steel for the base to hold up against deep winter snow, and an exterior rain screen of red cedar, which also shields the home from the street while allowing natural light to filter in. Passive design elements create shade and promote energy efficiency throughout the home, starting with the roof overhang that protects the glass doors from weather and solar gain inside the home. High-efficiency boilers conserve energy and work in conjunction with effective radiantly heated floors.

The back of the lower level takes advantage of earth sheltering to organically insulate the home, and natural ventilation is found through window and door placement. Faulkner Architects emphasized using enhanced-efficiency glazing and insulation for a tight construction envelope. According to a press release, these combined efforts help the building achieve a 14.5% improvement in efficiency, above the already strict California energy code. Outdoors, the surrounding hillsides are covered in native plants and mature trees. The materials removed from the pool and house excavation were saved and used for the nearby terraced landscaping.

Designer: Faulkner Architects

This sustainable home produces energy and stores excess solar power in two Tesla powerwalls!

Posted on 08/07/2021 by Shawn McNulty-Kowal

An essential pillar of AMA–Austin Maynard Architects is sustainability. Whether that be achieved through solar energy, Tesla batteries, external Venetian blinds, or all the above–building homes that leave small footprints on our environment is something of the utmost importance for the architects at Austin Maynard. Finishing work on their Garden House, the team of designers has built their most sustainable house yet, one that works as a power station, producing more sustainable energy than it uses.

On average, the Australian home uses 19 kWh of energy on any given day. Turning that statistic on its head, Garden House produces 100kwh of energy with help from a 26 kWh Tesla battery. Finding the future of home sustainability through this sharing of energy, Garden House is powered by solar energy and powers the block’s shared energy grid. Since many Australians utilize solar panels to power up their homes, Garden House is in good company on a narrow street filled with garden oases and blooming greenery. Careful not to disrupt the natural terrain in and around the house’s lot, AMA developed Garden House’s layout and connected pavilions based around the network of pre-existing garden spaces and trees. This set the stage and literally the foundation for the home’s commitment to producing more sustainable energy than it requires to run.

The architects behind Garden House ensured that the home utilized passive building techniques, filling out the roof with solar panels in addition to outfitting the inside with double studded wall insulation, underfloor insulation, formed from an insulated concrete slab. Even the building materials used were chosen for their sustainable edge, opting for recycled bricks to build the home’s linked pavilions behind its shingled white garage. Inside, the home does not require any gas for internal insulation of any kind–hot water, space heating and cooling, hydronic heating, and pool heating is all supplied through highly efficient heat pumps. In addition to being a fully automated smart home that runs on two Tesla power walls, the designers also did not disrupt the lot’s original landscape and natural greenery in building Garden House.

Tucked away in a lush paradise of a backyard, Garden House is a lot more than meets the eye. At first glance, Garden House’s garage showcases a humble home with a pentagon frame wrapped in optic white shingles. Beyond the garage, linked brick pavilions connect family rooms and bedrooms and appear as separate buildings entirely, joined only by mirrored glass corridors that reflect the surrounding leafy gardens. Each pavilion was designed to break up the bulk of the home into four smaller scale zones. Inside each section of the home, concealed doors grant access to the whole home as well as the garden. Open balconies and lofty kitchen doors open up to the gardens, filling the home and its garden with a paradisal air.

Designer: Austin Maynard Architects

Using the home’s side entryway, the humble garage transforms into a lush backyard garden joined by concealed brick pavilions.

From the street, Garden House appears as a simple, pentagon-shaped home wrapped in optic white shingles.

Beyond the garage, Garden House blossoms into the family home that it is, accommodating five family members.

The home’s linked brick pavilions house bedrooms and family rooms that are connected by mirrored glass corridors.

The inside of the home features brick interiors for a rustic look in an otherwise extremely modern home.

Two Tesla power walls store the energy acquired from the roof’s solar panels.

Lofty doors and huge windows bring the family even closer to their backyard oasis.

Natural sunlight fills the halls and bedrooms throughout Garden House.

Ash black metal accents brighten natural wood cabinetry work.

Exterior Venetian blinds keep bedrooms from overheating due to the overflow of natural sunlight.

This compact, energy-efficient personal air-conditioner uses water and wind to keep you cool and breezy

Posted on 01/07/2021 by Sarang Sheth

Created to mimic the effect of an ocean breeze, but indoors, the evaCHILL is a tiny air-cooler that’s small enough to be carried around the house, cools + purifies the air, and consumes less energy than a table fan.

Evaporative cooling isn’t really new. It’s literally existed for billions of years – or as long as sweat-pores have. We sweat and our body cools down as the sweat evaporates; it’s simple, effective, and requires hardly any energy. The evaCHILL builds on this nifty technique with its portable evaporative cooler. Pour water into its reservoir and the evaCHILL uses a built-in fan to help create a cool mist that can bring down temperatures by as much as 6 degrees.

Designers: Eugene Dubovoy & Vladimir Levitin of Evapolar

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The evaCHILL compact size and footprint make it perfect for personal cooling. Unlike an AC that guzzles electricity to cool an entire room, evaCHILL cools YOU instead. Small enough to be placed on a desk or a bedside table, the air-cooler creates a fresh and chilly microclimate around you that’s a couple of degrees cooler than your surroundings. A button on top lets you control the cooler’s fan speed, while an ambient blue light on the sides helps you see the water level within the evaCHILL’s reservoir.

A lid on top lets you access the evaCHILL’s reservoir, pouring water in whenever it runs out. The reservoir holds enough water for a couple of hours of cooling, and a clever hack to reduce the temperature even further is to just pour water from the fridge into the evaCHILL. As the water evaporates, it’s combined with filtered air that’s pushed out the front, creating a cool breeze. The evaCHILL’s internal air filter uses a patented inorganic material that traps particles, dust, and allergens while preventing the growth and accumulation of bacteria and molds. Unlike most air purifiers/conditioners that require you to change the filters with time as they get dirty/moldy, the evaCHILL’s filters stay sterile even after months of use.

The entire device stands at less than 7-inches tall, yet it can cool an area of 45 sq. ft. Roughly the proportions of a smart speaker, the evaCHILL weighs 26-ounces and comes with a nifty handle to carry it around. It consumes just 7.5W of power too, which is a stark reduction compared to air conditioners that can easily consume 1000W, and charges via USB, allowing you to plug it into a power bank or even in your car charging-outlet for portable anywhere cooling!

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This wind-powered street light is peak sustainable technology for urban architecture!

Posted on 10/06/2021 by Ruchi Thukral

We are going through a climate crisis and a large part of it is due to energy consumption. As the population increases, more and more energy is consumed which leads to the planet getting warm faster. To help combat the problem, Berlin-based designer and student, Tobias Trübenbacher, created Papilio – a street light that is powered by wind and conserves energy thereby reducing CO2 emissions on a large scale if implemented.

Papilio was designed to combat light pollution and growing energy consumption that has a big impact on our planet. It is an insect-friendly street light that generates energy from wind. The climate-neutral energy generation becomes an aesthetic play at all times. It has an integrated Savonius wind rotor for which the wind direction is irrelevant so it can be installed anywhere. The street light has been designed with an insect-friendly light spectrum and gets automatically activated only when needed. Cities become more windy as we build them up higher and Papilio is a sustainable solution that will let us light up streets while reducing the impact on the environment!

“Would be nice if the excess energy can be given back to the grid. Imagine every light pole having this. It would create a ton of almost free energy.”

Designer: Tobias Trübenbacher

This sustainable office building uses passive energy practices and promotes biodiversity with their green roof!

Posted on 17/04/2021 by Shawn McNulty-Kowal

CABI is an international nonprofit committed to solving problems related to agriculture and the environment through fact-based scientific expertise, improving the lives of people across the globe– those who work for CABI needed an office that reflected their mission. Taking on the project, Scott Brownrigg designed a sustainable headquarters based in the UK that features a rolling green roof and encourages biodiversity through highly energy-efficient building practices.

CABI’s new headquarters in Wallingford hones in on passive sustainability as its main focus. The building’s location and orientation were specifically chosen to minimize solar gains, allowing for shade in the warmer months and plenty of sunshine during the colder months. To achieve natural air ventilation, the building dons a perforated facade, allowing cool air to flow throughout the interior day and night, and then heat recovery ventilation pre-warms fresh air during the winter months. While this means for maintaining natural airflow is energy-efficient and passively sustainable, it also works to keep office workers comfortable in the age of COVID-19, allowing for fresh air to enter the building throughout the day. While all the energy-efficient practices take place inside the building, CABI headquarters’s exterior promotes biodiversity through a living roof, attracting insects and birds to its sprawling green hills.

Scott Brownrigg firm director Ed Hayden describes a sort of symbiotic relationship between the building and its occupants that was achieved through, “A traffic light system [which] alerts users when the building gets too hot or doesn’t have enough fresh air. It will prompt occupants to open their windows and increase the levels of fresh air in the building.” CABI has come a long way since its conception in 1910, hosting close to 180 members inside its new, sustainable headquarters.

Designer: Scott Brownrigg

From the outside, CABI’s new headquarters appear as two rolling hills.

CABI HQ is filled out with floor-to-ceiling windows that dissolve the barrier between the outside and inside, bringing its occupants even closer to the environment.

Inside, office workers enjoy natural air ventilation through the building’s perforated facades.

Scott Brownrigg designed CABI’s new headquarters to merge seamlessly with its surrounding environment.

Situated in the middle of a manicured lawn, CABI’s location was specifically chosen to minimize solar gains.

A perforated facade allows fresh air to flow into the building throughout the day.

A traffic light system was put in place to indicate when the office could use some fresh air, signaling workers to open their windows.

This net-zero home produces no waste or carbon – aesthetics & sustainability co-existing in architecture!

Posted on 06/04/2021 by Ruchi Thukral

Architects and designers all over the world are trying their best to incorporate sustainability in their work. Biodegradable, carbon-neutral, eco-friendly, etc. are not just trends or buzzwords, these imply that we may have potential solutions to reduce the load on our planet and slow down the climate crisis. Sustainable structures create an impact on an ‘architectural’ scale and that is why I am fascinated by Baboolal, a net-zero home that produces no waste or carbon. Baboolals stay in North Carolina and they realized that their entire community lives in the exact same cookie-cutter houses that consume excess energy and they knew they wanted to create change by setting an example.

Architect Arielle Condoret Schechter was up to the challenge of designing their dream net-zero home. The home had to be well-insulated, air-tight, and energy-efficient because to reach a net-zero energy bill, the structure has to produce as much energy as it consumes. Therefore Babool house features a photovoltaic array on the roof to generates solar power. It is also covered with a white cool-roof membrane and the windows are triple-glazed and protected with deep roof overhangs to prevent energy loss.

The Babool house also had to be a functional place for the parents, children, and their pets along with being sustainable. The core is an open, airy, and inviting central common family area while all of them have their own private bedrooms to retreat to. The spacious floor plan includes a gourmet kitchen, elaborate dining, and living areas, as well as deck access across the back of the house. It also has a study/music room, laundry room, pantry, and a two-car garage. To bring the outside scenic landscape in, the architect added operable glass doors to reduce energy loss and increase the visual spaciousness. The design encompasses a progression: one enters the house from the south which opens up into the main living space looking out into the natural views in the north creating a powerful indoor-outdoor connection.

“Our driving concept for the Baboolal residence was the Japanese principle of ‘Shakkei’ – borrowed landscape or scenery. The north side of their property is adjacent to a gorgeous grassy meadow which is part of a neighbor’s property. This north side is the dominant view from the Baboolal residence, so we are ‘borrowing’ this view. Borrowing the landscape is not just a Japanese design principle, but also one used prominently in British landscape design since the 1700s,” said Schechter. The home’s layout seamlessly flows from one zone to another. The modern aesthetic and net-zero strategies combine to make the Baboolal home beautiful, energy-efficient, sustainable, and carbon-free!

Designer: Arielle Condoret Schechter

This solar farm provides 300 MWh of renwable energy per year & is a community space at the Burning Man!

Posted on 05/04/2021 by Ruchi Thukral

Think solar farm meets the art and that is what the Solar Mountain by Nuru Karim is – the intersection between efficient clean energy production and unique architecture! The modern structure is constructed from recycled timber and clad in solar photovoltaic panels which also is one of the ten shortlisted projects for Burning Man‘s 3,800-acre Fly Ranch in Nevada – see? I meant it when I called it architectural art.

The Fly Ranch in the Nevada Desert is a permanent, off-the-grid space proposed by the organizers of Burning Man and the Solar Mountain is one of the finalists because it aims to contribute 300 MWh of electricity per year while also providing interactive zones for the community. The Burning Man team partnered with Land Art Generator Initiative (LAGI) for a multi-disciplinary design challenge – LAGI 2020 Fly Ranch and now the shortlisted entries, including the Solar Mountain, will move to the next stage of prototyping.

Solar Mountain by NUDES, a Mumbai-based architecture firm, is designed to be both an interactive installation as well as a source of clean energy for the community. Fly Ranch is home to several natural hot and cold springs, three geysers, hundreds of acres of wetlands, dozens of animal species, and more than 100 types of plants – this natural landscape is what inspired the curvaceous form of the Solar Mountain so that it seamlessly blends into the existing setting. The infrastructure is created keeping in mind one of the core needs for the space – the unified community of creatives and locals. “With this in mind, the narrative behind the design is divided into three parts: grow energy, interact, and play,” elaborates Karim.

The wavy construction is going to be a modular, pre-fab renewable energy infrastructure. It consists of four units and each unit measures 30m in length, between 5m-30m in width, with a maximum height of 15m. Each unit will have 182 solar panels of 300-watt capacity that will generate 1.2kwh/day. NUDES calculates the estimated total clean energy that can be harvested from the four units containing a total of 728 solar panels to be 873 kWh per day! This means Solar Mountain has the capacity to generate 318,645 kWh annually and can power the site’s requirements as well as other activities in the festival. Designed using net-zero principles, in the hopes of addressing larger issues such as climate change and global warming, Solar Mountain’s aim is to produce more energy than it will consume. Burning Man but where we actually use the ‘burning’ bit to generate clean energy!

Designer: Nuru Karim of NUDES

This sustainable mirrored cabin has a special ultraviolet coating that helps avoid bird accidents!

Posted on 16/03/2021 by Ruchi Thukral

Mirrored cabins look beautiful because they blend into the landscape naturally. However, the biggest problem mirrored cabins have is that they confuse birds and cause many accidents resulting in bird deaths. A mirror can be psychologically damaging to a bird because it cannot perceive reflection and confuses it with reality so it might try to fly through the mirror or attack its own reflection thinking it’s another bird. Keeping this in mind, Prashant Ashoka who designed Casa Etérea’s made sure that this modern cabin will not be detrimental to birds that live in areas surrounding the dormant Palo Huérfano volcano in central Mexico. Apart from birds, the reflective structure is also self-sustaining and environmentally friendly!

Nestled just 20 minutes from San Miguel de Allende, Mexico (a UNESCO World Heritage Site), Casa Etérea provides breathtaking views of the volcanic and starry landscape. “The vision was to create a theatre to nature, so sustainability was crucial in achieving a truly complete integration with the environment,” explains Ashoka. Not only does the glass and mirror exterior reflect the hillsides and mesquite trees, but a special patterned, ultraviolet coating allows birds to see it as a structure that eliminates the risk of impact. The off-the-grid cabin can host two people comfortably within the 75-square-meter space. It is 100% powered by solar panels and includes all amenities for a comfortable stay like a king-sized bed, a luxurious living space, a kitchen and laundry facilities. Casa Etérea includes a water harvesting system that collects and reuses rainwater for daily activities and is enough to fill the striking copper bathtub perched next to the bed. Ashoka chose natural materials like jute, leather, wood, and stone to align the interior aesthetic with the scenic setting of the cabin while keeping sustainability at its core.

To ensure minimal site impact, the entire foundation was formed from rocks collected from the surrounding mountain. Casa Etérea is positioned in a way that allows for effective ventilation and the insulating glass regulates temperature control – it is highly energy-efficient without sacrificing the panoramic views from the floor-to-ceiling sliding glass doors. You can open the cabin to the outdoors and step directly onto the patio or enjoy the pool area olive and pomegranate trees provide natural shade. Ashoka also wanted to engage the local community meaningfully so guests at the cabin will be connected with local providers for activities like horseback riding, guided hikes, and ATV tours. The name Etérea translates from Spanish to ethereal, and the cabin’s design embodies the art, beauty and connection to the natural environment in every element that holds it up.

Designer: Prashant Ashoka

This futuristic luxury camper comes with HEPA filters + pet bed for a unique glamping experience!

Posted on 07/02/2021 by Shawn McNulty-Kowal

Whenever I go camping, usually on the walk over from my tent to the campsite’s outhouse, all it takes is the sight of a luxe RV trailer to convince me of investing in one for my next trip. While the unique, sweaty joy that follows waking up in a cozy – if not sweltering hot – tent is irreplaceable, there’s a regal comfort to an RV’s rugged and homelike nature that always seems to outshine the old camping tent. There’s a new RV pulling into the campsite from the team behind Bowlus Road Chief, known as the world’s first aluminum travel trailer, and it’s the debut of their latest luxury RV, the Terra Firma.

For most, RVs are so beloved because they offer the thrill of traveling off-the-grid while catering to the convenience of modern-day amenities like running water and filtered air. Boasting that and so much more, the Terra Firma tailgates Bowlus Road Chief’s Endless Highways Performance Edition, complete with the same 26-foot length body, reflective chrome exterior, in-floor heating system, and large lithium iron phosphate battery pack that allows for a week’s worth of off-grid traveling. On the inside, Terra Firma brings the elegance equal to that found in private jets and newer Tesla models equipped with plenty of high-tech features that meet the needs of even your furry travel companions.

In addition to smart technology that takes care of your doggo, Terra Firma features HEPA Air Filters with UVC to ensure you and your party are always breathing clean air no matter where the road takes you. The team at Bowlus Road Chief was sure to also include an embedded water filtration system that utilizes carbon filters through a two-stage filtration process, assuring travelers that they can look forward to clean, fresh drinking water after each hike. GPS tracking also runs through Terra Firma, allowing travelers to share their RV’s location and trip status with chosen users for an extra sense of security.

Lastly, whether you’d like to bring your cat or dog along for the trip, Terra Firma includes a built-in, personalized pet bed, along with pull-out food and water bowls. If your pup is ever too tired to join you at your side for a good hike, with Pet-Flex remote temperature monitoring, you can head up the mountain assured that sure your pets are safe and happy. Terra Firma is spacious enough to provide plenty of storage options, a tuckaway dog bed, and a master bedroom situated in the iconic curved end of the cabin, so let’s just ditch the tent already.

Designer: Bowlus Road Chief

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This vacuum cleaner works silently by simply rotating a knob and doesn’t need electricity!

Posted on 03/02/2021 by Ruchi Thukral

Vacuuming can seem like a big task but this clever non-electric vacuum cleaner works by your small actions! OMIT doesn’t compare in power to a traditional vacuum cleaner, but works silently and is handy – something we all wish we could say about our Karen coworkers! The best part about OMIT is that it requires NO electricity, making it a perfect off-the-grid and sustainable essential.

The designer thought of this idea while living with flatmates because he couldn’t use the noisy vacuum cleaner during weekdays. “I realized that about 70% of users can use vacuum cleaner only on the weekends, because of noise and trouble with cables. Even rechargeable ones, can forgotten to recharge. However, more than 80% of people use it for house cleaning. Furthermore, I found that before electric vacuum cleaners, manual vacuum cleaners were used in the 19th century. I thought that vacuum cleaners can be less noisy and more handy by omitting electricity,” said Morita on what inspired him to make OMIT.

This compact vacuum works by turning the knob several times and the force is transmitted to the suction fan while increasing the number of turns by a special mechanism. OMIT requires 5 turns of the knob to work for 10 seconds. So in order to make enough suction power, the mechanism works with several key elements. First is the planetary gear which increases the number of turns from 1 to 600. However, the gear needs to have huge force to turn. In order to create this huge force, the mechanism has a torque spring as the second key element. It not only transmits rotation power, but it also accumulates rotation power which in turn makes OMIT work longer. The third key element is the needle bearing that only rotates in one direction and transmits the force of the torque spring to the planetary gear steadily. The dust that is collected goes into a washable container which is easy to clean and maintain. The design features a new suction mechanism which makes it is possible to arrange all components linearly.

OMIT uses the Free Wheel Principle in its mechanism where pulling a string makes a wheel spin constantly with the centrifugal force of the wheel. However, the action of pulling the string can make the nozzle position unstable and the action is physically hard to keep suction power long enough. The key was to figure out how to control the air direction. “In order to make spinning more easy and stable, I added torque spring and planetary gear. The combination makes small action translate to big number of spins. When I found the principle, I designed the optimal component layout which defined the minimal shape,” explains Morita.

Not using electricity challenges the traditional handheld vacuum cleaners. OMIT could be a new typology within cleaning products – more powerful than the broom while using fewer resources than the vacuum cleaner! Even its form is different from its counterparts because the appearance comes from the functional aspect and usability itself, it is minimal yet powerful and solves the issue of noise + electricity consumpotion. OMIT is ideal for cleaning small spaces such as kitchens and desktops as well as car interiors – in fact, this might just motivate you to clean those nooks more often!

Designer: Hiroyuki Morita

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