The Art Of Living with Art

A video exploration of a Soho loft designed by Azin Valy & Suzan Wines of I-Beam Design in New York City.

Sustainable on the farm

How was it when it comes to wearing chicken feather or rice straw? It may not be all feathers like you think. This is what I've read from Of Rice and Hen: Fashions from the Farm
"In the future, it might be perfectly normal to wear suits and dresses made of chicken feathers or rice straw. But don’t worry: These clothes won’t resemble fluffy plumage or hairy door mats. Scientists at the University of Nebraska –Lincoln plan to develop these agricultural waste products into conventional-looking fabrics as a way to reduce the use of petroleum-based synthetic fabrics."
"With millions of tons of chicken feathers and rice straw available worldwide each year, these agricultural wastes represent an abundant, cheap and renewable alternative to petroleum-based synthetic fibers, Yang says."
This is why million of ton chicken feather available. I guess it comes from chicken slaughter farm while of course many may comes from laying hens. If this assumption is correct, the value of recycling chicken feather into garmets outweigh the cost of running the factory farms. Such an approach would be more sustainable, but still short of the potential which could be achieved by eliminating the factory farm altogether. The idea of rice straw seems interesting, and possibly an alternative form of clothing or fabric that could be used around the world to create sustainable clothing solutions for more financially limited groups of people.
"Chicken feathers and rice straw also could become “green” fabrics used in carpets, automobiles, building materials and a host of other everyday applications — all at potentially less cost and with novel and sometimes superior properties than their synthetic counterparts, the researchers say."
This could result in a reduced environmental cost in terms of reduced chemical waste and biproducts from other methods which currently processes materials for carpets, automobiles, etc, which might lead to overall longer-term sustainability. As with many things, I suppose, time, and innovation will lead to more sustainable goods.

The Absolute Tower

Yansong Ma of the Beijing-based architecture firm MAD created this stunningly curvaceous building for the a new 50-storey condo in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. Scheduled to complete in 2009.






Very nice dot shoes!!

Thurman Street Lofts

The Thurman Street Lofts is a modern mix of functionality and aesthetics with four-story building include 16 loft condos on the upper three levels and 5,000 square feet of retail space on the ground level. One- and two-bedroom units in the building will range from 626 square feet to 1,892 square feet.

Belmont Street Lofts

The Belmont Street Lofts are a mixed-use project located in one of Portland's most culturally vibrant Southeast neighborhood.

The exterior skin is a rain screen system consisting of renewable Brazilian ipe wood and sunscreens. Radiant floor heating is fueled by a central broiler, supporting the design goals for energy efficiency.

The Belmont Street Lofts offer 27 loft/condo apartments ranging from 850-1,000 s.f., located over 4,000 s.f. of retail and some parking. Each treats the exterior wall as a porous, screen-like zone that gives each a strong presence in its context while also giving the occupants a reasonable amount of shade and privacy.

Boathouse in Amsterdam by Eindhoven Architecten BV

The following images are by Robert Beelen of Eindhoven Architecten BV for their design of a boathouse on a canal in Amsterdam.





The upper, private zone, has a more closed character and is clad with copper. This copper-clad "box" is carried by thin steel copper-clad columns with glass-panes and Western Red Cedar tiles in between. This provides the central zone with a more transparent appearance for the main living area. Below this, the concrete hull is the carrier for the arks upper zones. The horizontal jumps in the roof mark the horizontal division of the rooms and spaces. This horizontal spacing is also emphasized by the use of a split-level build-up.

Vertically, the ark is divided into three zones. The bottom zone is situated in the concrete hull below the water-surface. This zone contains some service-rooms and guestrooms. A window in the terrace supplies fresh air and daylight into the guestrooms. In the central zone the main living rooms are situated, like entrance, kitchen with dining-area and living-room. The upper-zone accommodates the private quarters; a study, the master bedroom with bathroom and wardrobe. This vertical zoning is expressed in the façade with the use of different kind of materials.

The boathouse of Rob van Hemert and Anneke Nieuwenhuis is situated in the Schinkel canal in Amsterdam, near the Olympic Stadium. It measures 17 by 6 meters (56 by 20 feet), with a total height of 7 1/2 meters (24 feet) from which 2 meters (6 1/2 feet) are below the water-surface.

Bamboo and more bamboo!!

"Bamboo scaffolding around skyscrapers in construction in Tsuen Wan, Hong Kong."