LivingARKs, GardenARKs, and LandARKS are zero carbon off-grid buildings, which house up to 8 people. They are designed by ZEDfactory, the UK’s leading sustainable architectural firm led. They look great and have minimal impact if used with microgeneration in the form of solar panels or turbines. The LandARK is for use in hard to [...]
Many exhibitors and advice sessions at this great exhibition in Swindon off the M4.
It is an eco and green show for self builders, DIY fans, and small scale developers.
Get more info and tickets at The National Self Build & Renovation Centre, Swindon – The Big Green Home Show >
Electric cars – the future? The huge solar panels shade your car and charge it at the same time. Neat?
Car park with solar trees >
And another solar panel car park article >
Finally Building DIY on transport >
Seminars and study workshops about building & DIY techniques for the new self-builder at Swindon’s National Self Build & Renovation Centre.
Lots of other building & DIY type courses, usually free.
This is Sat 12th & Sunday 13th September 2009, see their site for directions, it is very near the west Swindon M4 junction (not the main [...]
We visited the Serpentine last year – the Pavilion design is an annual challenge for architects and designers.
The Frank Gehry design was fantastic, very open and stimulating, possibly as it is like a traditional park bandstand but exploded out. Our friends the great London band Nought played there on the opening night.
See also:
Building DIY [...]
For more images of Changi Airport Singapore >
Changi Airport Singapore is a great airport for the user – very spacious, green, fast to get through, and clean.
It has nearly a thousand (919 when built) energy saving skylights (ventilation flaps), a butterfly garden, koi pond and over 200 species of mostly tropical plants and trees.
It [...]
Visited the Serpentine in Hyde Park London today, the Pavilion is worth a visit. Basically a mirrored outdoor roof supported by long poles, there is also an extended roof that flows down to the ground, or near it, resembling an airplane wing. Very shiny mirrored surface which makes for circus trick mirror effects. It is [...]
Aarhus – world’s first Active House – zero carbon living.
South facing roof covered in solar panels and solar cells. In 30 years time the excess energy from these panels will equal the energy used in building the house. This means no carbon footprint.
It is a contrast the the Passive House which is a standard [...]
We visited the Grand Design 2009 exhibition at Excel London, it was very good.
We have images from it at our new large image photo section in our main website at BuildingDIY photo image library
In four sections:
Build
Gardens
Kitchens and Bathrooms
Interiors
Build was the least busy which indicates the ‘wannabe’ nature of the Grand Designs program. Drool after the [...]
This is more environmentally friendly than bituminous based products which are also horrible to put on (having done it myself!).
Rubber is a natural product and encourages tree planting so can’t be bad. Might get hot in the sun though – a very dark material. Isn’t global warming reduced by having a light roof colour? A [...]
