This week charity: water drilled another well in Ethiopia… this one with funds raised from an event called Twestival (Twitter plus festival). In just 2 months, the 100% volunteer effort raised funds from all over the world and has completed the first well for a northern Ethiopian village.

To watch the videos (there are 4) of the drilling visit charity: water, Twestival event site.

seen on eco-modernism

The Kul-Kul Bridge over the Ayung River, an iconic symbol of the school

Green School aims to connect learning and creativity in an inquiry based approach to education. The campus is built of sustainable materials (Indonesian bamboo, traditional mud walls, local alang-alang grass) and is cooled/powered by sustainable energy solutions (micro-hydro power, solar power, bio-diesel, and natural air-conditioning).

Find out more about Green School from their website

or read the Green School Classroom Blogs

Mepantigan Center

Children at the Ayung River

photos from Green School’s photo gallery

via Cool Hunting

Sunday, July 20, 2008, a show opened at the Museum of Modern Art that looks to be both interesting and thorough about the challenges architects have faced selling the idea of prefabricated houses. The show encompasses a timeline, beginning in the 1800’s with factory-produced buildings. It then spans the next 200 years, showing how the idea of prefabricated housing returned with each new architectural movement and yet, has continuously struggled to find solid footing.

The show not only encompasses historical stories, plans and pictures, but an array of models, including a walk-in model in the exhibition space. The finale is 5 fully built homes on the 54th street lot of MoMa. The pictures look completely surreal, with these 5 homes right in the middle of the skyscrapers of Manhattan.

Check out the MoMa site for a complete journal of the show, including pictures and a video of the installation process: www.momahomedelivery.org

The NY Times also has a good review of the show, including a slide show.

Just spent a few days in Portland, Oregon, and had a great time, but “coveting” is not a pleasant experience, I have to say. Anyway, Portland in July is so beautiful it’s kinda sick. The sun is bright, the air is clean, the breeze is perfect and everything is in full bloom. It’s like walking through a very convincing sales brochure designed to keep you there forever (with no hint of the less than perfect weather of fall/winter/spring).

CITY OF NEIGHBORHOODS: Portland is fairly condensed with it’s famous and smart urban planning. Outside of the downtown area is a whole host of connected neighborhoods, and each of these has a specific feeling and it’s own little commercial district. It’s actually easier to walk or bike than to drive, which makes the streets very active on a human level.

Portlander’s love their gardens in the summer!

LOCAL FRESH FOOD (and coffee!!) CULTURE: You wanna see some people freak out over food? Talk to a Portlander about coffee, or watch them all glaze over when talking about berries in the summer. Chef-owned unique restaurants are everywhere throughout downtown and mixed through the neighborhoods. Almost all of them pride themselves on using local fresh ingredients and tailoring the menu to what’s in season. And the Saturday Farmer’s Market is packed with people! You can even get authentic southern Chicken and Biscuits from fellow Raleighite, Walter Alexander at his Pine State Biscuits stand.

Saturday Farmer’s Market in Portland

TRANSPORTATION OPTIONS: Wow. I’m not a big city girl and figuring out a bus system or mass transit can be a little intimidating to me. Not so in Portland. The city grid itself is very easy to understand and on top of that, there is a great (and free) streetcar system downtown, a light rail system, and a bus system which are all used by the whole population. Cycling is hugely encouraged and supported through bike lanes and paths. There is even a skateboarding/skate route noted throughout downtown. AND they have Zipcar, cars that sit around in convenient places for you to reserve for an hour or longer and then just walk the block or two to where it is, hop in, and get where you wanna go.

Portland Skate Route

Portland Bike Crew watching an anti-Foie Gras protest

PARKS and RECREATION: There are big and small parks all over the city, some celebrate nature and big scenic views, some are restful, or for dogs, or fun for children, or for roses. Whether in the heart of downtown or in larger natural areas within cycling distance of the core, they are all well used. There are also street festivals and markets everywhere all summer long.

Enjoying the rock fountain at Jameson Park

Tanner Springs: quiet urban park with natural grasses and sustainable water features

EMPHASIS ON QUALITY OF LIFE: It’s a different vibe that as an east-coaster, I just find shocking. At least through my rose-colored glasses of a visitor, it seems like in Portland, yer not about “what you do” as much as yer about “what you did last weekend.” The emphasis is different. The competitive feeling is more about what kind of outdoor “gear” you own than your work status.

Green roof in Alberta Arts district

I’ll have a “things to do on your visit” post tomorrow, and then I’ll leave it alone

Public Art that’s gorgeous, AND with a purpose! “Green Energy Design” is an event hosted by Interni Magazine during Milan Design Week. “It focuses on the creative processes of a series of Italian and international design talents, through projects characterized by a highly experimental, multimedia approach, capable of transmitting design culture and expression to the city as a whole.”

The Solar Tree shown above is by Ross Lovegrove, with Artemide. “Solar Tree, doesn’t use energy but takes it from the sun, and is a sinuous tree made of steel tubes that support bubbles, each of them accommodating 38 sophisticated solar cells linked to a system of batteries and electronic devices hidden in the base. LED lighting. The bubbles light up at night thanks to the light accumulated by the solar panels by day.” Look at it! A beautiful and whimsical sculpture in an urban setting. YEA!

Ofigea, by Jacob Foggini, with Nice, is a giant centipede-like series of lit up discs. “It has a linear development of 55 m x 1.2 m dia (disc), 4 m high, and consists of hundreds of LED-lit discs in iridescent colours, made in methacrylate M-Cryl, a regenerated product, saving 70% of energy compared to a first-rate equivalent.” It symbolizes metamorphosis and regeneration…and it’s super cool.

See Interni Magazine for full details
Storry originally seen on MocoLoco.com

The City of Raleigh currently is updating its Comprehensive Plan for the first time since 1989. Over the next 20 years, the city is expected to grow by 70 percent and reach a population of 700,000. Kids City is one element of the City’s strategy to educate people on the issues and engage them in envisioning Raleigh’s future.

Emma Farquhar sees the future clearly, complete with flying cars, the river all Raleighites long for, and her house in the trees.

Kids have eco-visions too! Check out “The Solar Hotel!”

The Mudcats stadium moves downtown, and all the important people of Raleigh are there enjoying the game.

Industry moves downtown too. Shown here is a Gatorade factory…and right beside it, there’s a chocolate factory. Chocolate and Gatorade…new energy for the downtown core!

You can always count on kids for the big ideas, the creative avenues we all wish for but are afraid to develop. Kids Day 2030 brought a little fun into the idea of planning – and maybe to the future reality of Raleigh.

Brad Pitt’s “Make It Right” project of rebuilding houses in the Lower 9th Ward has gotten a lot of press since December, when he announced it, but this is a bandwagon well worth jumping on, so I’ll add another tribute article to the list.

According to the MIR website, after spending considerable time and effort in New Orleans trying to help and talking with leaders, citizens and victims, “Pitt realized that an opportunity existed to build houses that were not only stronger and healthier, but that had less impact on the environment.” He got a group of experts together and they came up with the Make It Right project, with a goal of constructing 150 homes in the Lower 9th Ward, and emphasis on affordable systems that could be replicated.

The group chose 13 accomplished architects and tasked each of them to design a real-world home solution. All of the designs are to the building codes of the area, designed with various green and sustainable materials and practices, fit within a very tight building budget ($150,000), and have designed in flood precautions. Each house is raised off the gound, they all have some form of escape hatch to the roof, and they all have waterproof safes for valuables.

Billes Architecture, New Orleans: 2 homes to start building in March

“Make It Right” helps Katrina victims in the Lower 9th Ward get a house by providing the difference between their assets and the cost of rebuilding. Each homeowner chooses any of the 13 provided design options. Pitt and Hollywood producer, Steve Bing, together contributed an initial $10mil, and a lot more has been raised since then. According to the website, as of today, they have enough to build 80 of their goal of 150 houses, and the number increases as more people contribute.

The best part is – it’s REAL! According to Metropolis Magazine, they are breaking ground on the first five homes this month.

Graft, LA and Berlin: 1 home to start building in March

See pix of all the home designs, an incredible installation called The Pink Project, information about the Lower 9th Ward, all the details on the MIR project AND how to contribute at the Make It Right website.

There is also a great article in the March issue of Metropolis magazine.

Brio54 is the latest group of residential designers promoting the combo of modern design with green living and affordability. They show 3 impressive plans on their new website, including a home designed for a downward sloping suburban lot, a design for an urban infill lot, and a design for converting a 1960’s ranch. Beautiful pictures and descriptions, along with conservation and health considerations are all on the website. The price is not yet available though…

(first seen on MocoLoco)

The face of downtown Raleigh will be changing soon, with a new and contemporary energy conscious building for the headquarters of the North Carolina chapter of American Institute of Architects. There was a state-wide competition to find the right statement which, of course, includes aesthetic and functional awesomeness as well as fulfilling the goal of creating a building that uses at least 55 percent less energy than traditional styles when it opens in 2010.

Out of 68+ entries from architects all over the state, Frank Harmon Architect was chosen as the winner. The firm’s entry used the footprint of the building as well as the surrounding landscape in a way that will make the public space inviting, and will warm the entire area of currently cold character-less government buildings. Personally, I can’t wait for the addition.

The Raleigh News and Observer has a great article detailing energy-saving elements of the design, as well as the goals behind the project.