With food production being increasingly de-localized and city infrastructure strained, Urban Food Jungle aims to provide a space where food is produced right where it is consumed. AECOM designed this conceptual cityscape in the face of dwindling resources and diminishing food security and it looks like an ambitious idea that includes build a sustainable food production network which supports local restaurants in a spectacular center such that visitors can view the entire process from farm to table.

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Post tags: aecom, aquaponics, eco design, farm to table, Green Building, green design, green food production, sustainable design, sustainable food, urban food jungle, urban jungle

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Post tags: "energy efficiency", adaptive reuse, Architecture, concrete, contrasting facade, eco design, Exit Architects, green design, green renovation, Holy Week Museum Hellin, Museo de Semana Santa de Hellín, old and new, Spain, sustainable design, U-profile glass

Recycling cans couldn’t get much quirkier or lovable than these PACMAN containers that gobble-up garbage like their computerized namesakes. Designed by Portuguese studio AND-RÉ, the cans are simple round items of urban furniture that help residents of Vilamoura separate out their trash. Each one is identified with a mouth in a starkly different color – blue, yellow, black or green – which makes recycling even easier than before.

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Post tags: AND-RE, green design, PACMAN Recycling Containers, portugal street design, public garbage design, recycling, recycling cans, sustainable design

Germany fed a whopping 22 gigawatts of solar power per hour into the national grid on Saturday, setting a new record by meeting nearly half of the country’s weekend power demand. After the Fukushima disaster, Japan opted to shut down all of its nuclear power stations and Germany followed suit after considerable public pressure. This seems to have paved the way for greater investment in solar energy projects. The Renewable Energy Industry (IWR) in Muenster announced that Saturday’s solar energy generation met nearly 50 percent of the nation’s midday electricity needs AND was equal to 20 nuclear power stations at full capacity!

Read the rest of Germany Sets New Solar Record By Meeting Nearly Half of Country’s Weekend Power Demand

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Post tags: "solar energy", 2020 energy goals, alternative energy, clean tech, cleantech, eco design, EU, Fukushima, germany, green design, meltdown, news, nuclear, nuclear disaster, nuclear power, protests, renewable energy, solar panels, sustainable design

Read the rest of Artist Yumiko Matsui Recreates the City of Tokyo Entirely From Paper!

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Post tags: Art, biodegradable paper, Denpoas-in Street, green materials, humble paper, japanese paper art, osaka, paper city, paper sculptures, recycling / compost, Shibuya girls, Tokyo, Yumiko Matsui

Read the rest of 24 Gorgeous Green Lamps That Look Great With Energy-Saving LED Bulbs

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Post tags: energy efficient lighting, green design, green floor lamps, green lamps, green lighting, green pendant lamps, green task lamps, green wall lamp, lamp buying guide, LED, LED bulb, light emitting diode, low energy lighting, Philips LED bulb, recycled lamp, sustainable design

More than 5,000 Cambodian garment workers have failed to reach an agreement with their employers after an 11 day strike. They were asking for a $5 pay raise from their base salary of $61 that requires them to work for eight hours a day, six days a week –  plus another $25 per month to cover transportation and housing costs. The garment factory supplies clothing to J.Crew, Old Navy, Gap,Banana Republic, H&M, and Levi’s.  Click ahead to read more about the strike and why an agreement isn’t being met.

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Post tags: Banana Republic, Cambodia, eco-fashion, Ethical Fashion, GAP, green fashion, h&m, J.Crew, Levi-Strauss, Levis, Sustainable Fashion, sustainable style, sweatshop labor, sweatshops, workers rights

Read the rest of Mesmerizing Photos of Temporary Housing Erected by Stuttgart 21 Protestors

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Post tags: eco design, found objects, Frank Bayh & Steff Rosenberger-Ochs, germany, green design, makeshift homes, protests, railway, Recycled Materials, shipping pallets, stuttgart 21, sustainable design, temporary housing, temporary structures, tent city, tents, Urban design

Here’s one design that really “cleaned up” at New York Design Week – an LED lamp disguised as a broom. Spotted by our editors at ICFF, the MoodBroom by Peteris Zilbers looks like a mundane mop at first glance, but upon further inspection, you can see that it is actually a source of light. The quirky design is named for the fact that its light color can be switched to match the owner’s mood, and the humorious lamp had showgoers doing double-takes all day long.

Read the rest of Peteris Zilbers’ MoodBroom is a Quirky LED Lamp Disguised as a Broom

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Post tags: "green furniture", broom lamp, broom shaped lamp, eco design, green design, ICFF, International Contemporary Furniture Fair, lamps at icff, LED, led broom lamp, LED lighting, LED lights, LEDs, mood broom, moodbroom, new york design week, peteris zilbers, sustainable design

Read the rest of Jeff Dah-Yue Shi’s Brilliant Bamboo LED Lights Double as a Modular Building Material

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Post tags: b, Bamboo LED, bamboo wall, Gold Pin Design Mark, green materials, Jeff Dah-Yue Shi, LED wall, Taiwan Design Center's Award, Taiwanese Design

In 2008 Gensler broke ground on the sustainable Shanghai Tower in the Pudong district of Shanghai, China. The tower is currently in construction and it’s one of three supertall buildings in Pudong, including the Jin Mao Tower and the Shanghai World Financial Center. The elegant structure spirals up to the sky, and once it is completed in 2014 it will become the second tallest tower in the world — only second to the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. The 632 meter tall structure is a testament to both modern architecture and the potential of engineering, and it also sets a precedent for sustainable super structures. The tower will take the form of nine cylindrical buildings stacked atop each other, enclosed by layers of glass, and hosting public space for visitors including atriums, gardens, cafes, restaurants, retail space, a hotel, and 360-degree views of the city. The building will also include a rainwater recycling system and a series of wind turbines able to generate up to 350,000 kWh of electricity per year. But most notably, the tower’s glass façade was designed specifically to reduce wind loads on the building by 24%, which means that fewer construction materials are needed (including 25% less structural steel). We recently spoke to Gensler‘s Chris Chan, Design Director and member of the tower’s design team, who gave us some insight on what it has taken to get the Shanghai Tower built, and how Building Information Modeling (BIM) has played a crucial role from concept to construction. Jump ahead for our fascinating interview with Chris!

This interview is brought to you by Autodesk – Removing the barriers to better business.

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Post tags: "sustainable architecture", "sustainable skyscraper", asia's tallest sky scraper, asia's tallest tower, autodesk, autodesk revit, autodesk suite, BIM, BIM tools, building information modeling, CAD, CFM, chris chan, chris chan architect, chris chan design directory, chris chan gensler, computational fluid modeling, eco skyscraper, eco tower, Gensler, Gensler architects, gensler asia, green skyscraper, green tower, Revit, shanghai skyscraper, shanghai tower, skyscraper design, supertall skyscrapers, supertall towers, sustainable design, sustainable tower, tallest skyscraper after burj dubai, tower design, world's second tallest skyscraper, world's second tallest tower

We’re counting down the minutes until we can yell out “Summer!” and dive straight into a pool of bright blue water. Just in time to beat the heat, we’re giving away an Eco Swim by Aqua Green swimsuit of your choice to help you make the most of your sunny days. So whether you’re all about hanging poolside in a barely-there bikini, or prefer a more conservative look when taking a dip in coastal waters, Eco Swim has options aplenty for the bathing beauty.

ENTER TO WIN HERE >

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While making the rounds at NY Design week this week we spotted these cool LED flower lights by California-based design studio Light&Contrast. Inspired by the Japanese art of flower arranging, the Ikebana lamps earned an ICFF award this year. The flower design is adaptable and flexible and can swivel in different directions or be mounted on a wall. The playful lamps use Front Light Optical Waveguide technology, which helps it to emit a warmer and softer glow.

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Post tags: Design Week 2012, Front Light Optical Waveguide technology, ICFF, Inkebana Lamp, led light, LEDs, LightContrast, new york design week, ny design week

Lighting designer Christopher Poehlmann is no stranger to Inhabitat or the International Contemporary Furniture Fair in New York City. We’ve long been a fan of Poehlman’s gorgeous, sculptural ‘New Growth’ lamps, which are lighting fixtures fashioned from recycled pipes into the shapes of tree branches. Although 2012 marks CP Lighting’s 18th year at the ICFF, the firm continues to produce exciting new eco-friendly furnishings for every new show, putting them high on our list of favorite designers. Poehlmann’s latest creation is this incredible tree-shaped floor lamp and dining room table combination that literally stopped us in our tracks. Like all of Poehlmann’s work, it’s hand-crafted from recycled pipes to produce a uniquely organic design piece.

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Post tags: Christopher Poehlmann, CP Lighting, eco design, found materials, green design, green interiors, green lighting, ICFF, International Contemporary Furniture Fair, Lamps Made from recycled pipes, locally sourced materials, new growth, new york city, new york design week, Recycled Materials, recycled pipe lamps, sustainable design, tree branch lamps, tree lamps

Like many Americans, you may be lighting up the barbecue this holiday weekend — but if you want to set yourself apart from the bands of boring black grills, take a cue from our guide to stylish green grills. From DIY creations to hot spots that also double up as planting pots, whether you’re cooking up a sustainably raised burger or a tofu dog, each of these grills will help you streamline your holiday resource use without limiting your fun!

Read the rest of Four Stylish Green Grills for a Sustainable Memorial Day Weekend!

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Post tags: altoids, altoids grill, bbq, bbq Memorial Day, bbr Altoids, Black + Blum, DIY, diy barbeque, diy grilling, eco barbecue, eco grills, green bbq, green grilling, green holidays, Lapin Kulta, Memorial Day, repurposed materials, solar cooking, upcycling

Talk about upcycling — this tiny barbeque grill is made from a single Altoids Sours tin, two salvaged computer fan guards and a handful of nuts and screws, and it’s big enough to handle a wiener or a hamburger patty! Instructables user vmspionage claims that he (or she) got the inspiration from the eBq, which employs the larger Altoids mints tin, but in the name of progress vmspionage has made that original grill look like a 1980s computer by comparison.


Read the rest of The ‘Altoids Sours’ BBQ Grill Is Curiously Awesome!

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Post tags: altoids, bbq grill, green bbq, repurposing, upcycling, vmspionage

Yesterday, the City of Los Angeles made eco-history, by enacting a citywide ban on plastic bags. The vote, which passed through the L.A. City Council, made Los Angeles the largest city in the U.S. to ban plastic bags. Consumers in the L.A. area will be asked to bring their own bags to local retailers and markets.

Read the rest of Los Angeles Becomes the Largest US City to Ban Plastic Bags

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Post tags: eco design, green design, Los Angeles, plastic bag ban, sustainable design

Read the rest of 6 Awe-Inspiring Designs Made From Food!

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Post tags: 6 best, agricultural waste, Alison Knowles, Andrea Trimarchi, Art, arti performance, biodegradable designs, biodegradable materials, boom!, building blocks, cacao, canned food, Canstruction, chocolate weapons, Design Academy of Eindhoven, earth day, Eleanor Roosvelt High School, Eric de Laurens, fish scales, flour, Fluxus, food, food design, food photography, Formafantasma, french design, glasses, goggles, Héctor Galván, healthy eating, Israel, limestone, local produce, matthew carden, mexico, NYC, Omelette, orange peels, Ori Sonnenschein, political message, recycled fish scales, Recycled Materials, Recycled Plastic, recycles materials, Royal College of Art, salad, Simone Farresin, Skidmore Owings and Merrill, small landscapes, Small World, soft colores, Solskin Peels, sustainable food, tangy orange

Bibliophiles are sure to get a kick out of BRC Designs‘ new “Spineless” chair, which is made up of the spines of hundreds of old books. Spotted at ICFF this past weekend, the literally literary seat has a color-blocked design that references Mondrian. The designer, Benjamin Rollins Caldwell, explained that he obtained many of the books for free at thrift shops and selected the spines that had the most titillating titles.

Read the rest of BRC Designs’ Spineless Chair is Adorned with the Spines of Old Books

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Post tags: "green furniture", Benjamin Rollins Caldwell, book chair, BRC Designs, chair made out of book spines, chair made out of old books, design week, eco design, green design, ICFF, International Contemporary Furniture Fair, new york design week, recycled furniture, spineless chair, sustainable design

Author Angela Youngman has released a guidebook that will immerse you in world of green roofs through case studies, imagery, and must-know terminology related to design, build, and installation of these vegetated scapes. Green Roofs is not a self-help manual, but rather a light read that takes a broad stroke look at many of the variables and considerations surrounding what should really be called “living buildings.”

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Post tags: angela youngman, Biodiversity, book review, green roofs, guide book, living building, Living Walls, publication, resource, stormwater pollution, urban gardening