Camouflaged Mobile Home for Nature Observation or Spying on People

Whether you’re the ultra-paranoid type that wants a camouflaged living space or are just a fan of cool green design, it’s hard not to love this bizarre mobile home. It’s a fake hedge on wheels… that just happens to have a semi-hidden room inside it.

The ‘Porta Hedge’ is covered in recycled plastic Christmas tree branches to blend in with natural greenery, and can be powered with solar panels. Inside are a couple rope swings and chalkboards (why, you ask? Well, why not?). It even plays prerecorded bird songs from its hidden exterior speakers.

The makers of Porta Hedge just returned from a summer tour of America, conducting a study on whether the combination of artificial branches and birdsong will encourage wildlife to use the Porta Hedge as a home.

And, hey, good news – it’s now commercially available! That’s right, get your very own Porta Hedge and use it to observe wildlife, spy on people, prevent complaints by neighbors about an ugly motor home sitting in your driveway, or as the perfect space to lounge around in your tin foil hat.

Link [Porta Hedge] via [Dornob]

Growing Chair: From the Forest to Your Living Room

Instead of cutting trees down to create chairs, why not create chairs made from living trees? That’s the idea behind the ‘Growing Chair’, an attempt to make trees and plants grow into chairs that can be harvested and brought straight from the ‘field’ to your living room.

Designer Michael Bussein describes his vision:

The Nature Manifesto

Having evolved from nature, we have gradually differentiated ourselves from it. Modern society has come to build itself on the perception that nature and man are separated. This differentiation has come to inhibit us and our way of creating. We have now reached the point when the way forward is going back.

We have to accept that we and everything we create are part of nature.

This mindset is essential for evolution as a whole. When applying this to our way of thinking we will liberate ourselves from stagnated conventions.

To move further we need to incorporate the living matter that surrounds us. Let us use the complexity of living nature and include it in our creations. These creations will then redefine the way we reconstruct nature. Only then will we truly move forward.

It is time for man and nature to reunite.

Fast-growing willow trees and a Russian vine are planted together and grown in a chair-shaped ‘greenhouse’ that trains them to retain the shape of a chair. Once the plants have grown strong, the greenhouse is removed and the chair is cut from its roots.

It would be interesting to see what the chair looks like once the greenery, including the vines holding the willow trees together, would look like once it died. It seems that keeping the trees and vines rooted in soil would make for a prettier final product. But, it’s a fascinating idea all the same!

Link [Erik Sjödin] via [Ecofriend]

Target Goes Eco with MIO Designs

Eco-friendly versus affordable: do you always have to choose? Not at all – and soon, getting eco-friendly goods will be as simple as heading to your neighborhood Target. Philadelphia-based green design firm MIO has debuted a new line of cool green outdoor stuff now available at Target stores across the country.

Inhabitat has the scoop:

MIO is the newest name to be added to the mega-retailer’s enviable list of designers that already includes heavyweights like Michael Graves, Orla Kiely, and Isaac Mizrahi.  Their philosophy, which champions design that should be both responsible and desirable, is clearly visible in the new line of bright, functional and fun products that will surely instill some “Green Desire” among shoppers who still need to buy stuff, and might as well buy green.

The product assortment includes eight outdoor items made from recycled and renewable materials including a watering can, trowel, cultivator, weeder, mini herb garden, solar lights, hammock and composter ranging from $7.99 – $99.99.  The assortment will be available on April 12 for a limited time at Target stores with select items available online.

Are hardcore greenies gonna flock to Target to buy these things? Maybe not, but it does put ‘green’ at the fingertips of a huge number of mainstream consumers, and that’s big. And, hey, we’ve all gotta run to Target sometimes. Beautiful, sustainable and affordable – what’s not to love?

Link [Inhabitat]

Sweet Refurbished Vintage Furniture by Livin’ Pop

When it’s time to replace your saggy old couch and junky hand-me-down furniture – or you just want a fresh new look – secondhand is definitely the greenest way to go. But, as a few rounds of thrift store and garage sale shopping will show you firsthand that vintage goods are often a bit sad and worn, themselves.

That doesn’t mean you have to settle for faded, stained fabric or scuffed, scratched drawer faces that have seen better days. Buenos Aires design firm Livin’ Pop shows us how vintage furniture can be given a modern makeover that instantly turns these old treasures into sleek, beautiful pieces that look brand-new.

Treehugger got the inside scoop straight from the design firm:

These pieces are made by Livin’ Pop, a small design firm from Buenos Aires that follows the trend of mixing old with new, but in a sweeter, lighter way than the before mentioned brand. Check more of their pieces in the extended and get inspired to renew your own!

Livin Pop’s philosophy is to make old new, and their aesthetics are inspired in the ’50s and ’60s. The brand is ran by Lucila Nissen and Sofia Moreno, two local designers, and sells by request through their website.

For those outside Buenos Aires, their pieces offer great ideas to rejuvenate those old pieces you may find at a flea market. The red and gray sofa chairs and the stripped one are especially nice combinations.

Check out more photos at Treehugger and the Livin’ Pop website. I know I’m inspired to peruse my local secondhand shops with these design ideas in mind.

Link [Treehugger] + [Livin’ Pop]

Renewable Dress Design by Fernando Brízio

If you’re tired of how your dress looks, don’t throw it out! Instead, wash it and draw on a new design!

That’s the concept behind Fernando Brízio’s renewable clothing line. The video below shows how placing colored felt-tip pens in the pockets of a dress changes its appearance over time. Within one hour, the colored ink bleeds into the fabric and creates a one-of-a-kind design for each occasion. The owner can then clean the dress and color it in a different way for each time they wear it.

No word yet on whether the dress is made from sustainable fabrics or if the ink is eco-friendly but it’s a good start toward some innovative green design!

Urban Renewal Furniture: Innovative, Sustainable Solutions

How’s this for creative thinking: two design students at Syracuse University are creating furniture from common items like street barricades simply by rearranging some nails. Jeffrey Gerlach and Andrew Stanley combine their passion for design with sustainability to create a range of projects centered around urban design and DIY.

From Design Milk:

This is our DPW ADK furniture — born from a spontaneous need and evolved from a simple vision the department of public worth Adirondack chair is true upcycling a modern and sustainable take on the classic Adirondack chair all that is needed is the rearranging of some nails when we don’t have much we make much more of what we have now go show your public worth…

I could definitely see this kind of thing catching on in urban gardens. After all, Adirondack chairs can be crazy expensive – and why use virgin wood when you could give a previously used object a new life?

Link [Design Milk]

Innovate or Die: A Bike Makes Clean Water

In addition to reducing pollution by taking cars off the road, bicycles can be used to bring clean water to people around the world. Team Aquaduct won the Innovate or Die contest by creating a pedal powered vehicle that transports, filters, and stores water for the developing world.

The YouTube description explains how the Aquaduct works:

A peristaltic pump attached to the pedal crank draws water from a large tank, through a filter, to a smaller clean tank. The clean tank is removable and closed for contamination-free home storage and use. A clutch engages and disengages the drive belt from the pedal crank, enabling the rider to filter the water while traveling or while stationary.

Who Says Solar Panels Have to be Ugly?

This solar gadget charger, in the shape of a bonsai, proves that you can have both form and function when it comes to solar panels.  Made by Vivien Muller, the PhotoSynthese charger has 54 photovoltaic cells.  The branches are composed of detachable parts that, when put together, create the shape of the tree.  You can rotate the parts different ways to create the shape you want. You can also perch your gadgets in the tree branches while they charge.

No word yet on the price or whether this is actually going into production, but what a cool idea.  We’d love to see more examples of functional green design!

Link [Inhabitat] + [Behance]

Nearly Waterless Washing Machine Coming in ’09

A ‘nearly waterless’ washing machine developed by Leeds University researchers is set to debut in 2009. And when they say nearly waterless, they mean nearly waterless – as in only 1 cup. On top of that, it needs only a ‘pinch’ of detergent, and the clothes come out almost completely dry, so there’s no need to throw them in the dryer or even mess with clotheslines. It also uses just 2% of the energy of a conventional washing machine.

From Physorg.com:

“We have shown that it can remove all sorts of everyday stains, including coffee and lipstick, while using a tiny fraction of the water used by conventional washing machines,” Burkinshaw said.

When doing a load of wash, users throw their clothes in like a normal washing machine. Then a cartridge in the back of the machine adds plastic chips – about 45 pounds (20 kg) of them – to the load. Next, a cup of water containing the detergent is added. After the water dissolves the dirt, the chips absorb the water, without the need for a rinse or spin cycle. When finished, a grill at the bottom of the machine opens to collect the chips.

We’re just beginning to see what can be achieved when people actually put a lot of effort into sustainable, earth-friendly products and designs. Since washing machines account for a huge chunk of household water use, this could really help us all save lots of water. Green tech FTW!

Link [Physorg.com] + [Xeros]

Wooden ‘Islands’ Allow Beachgoers to Enjoy Rocky Coast

Architect Vincent Guallart has come up with a way to access jagged, rocky oceanfront property that’s low impact and quite beautiful.  These hexagonal wooden ‘islands’ were built along a rough coast in Spain to allow locals to enjoy the beach comfortably without any major construction.  Guallart says they allow sunbathers and swimmers to enjoy a ‘previously nonexistent platform’.

Guallart is known for edgy, eye-catching designs, like this concept for the centerpiece of Polish city Wroclaw’s bid to host Expo 2012, a World’s Fair.

Link [TrendHunter] + [Guallart]

Recycling Dumpsters for Use as Gardens, Skateboard Ramps & Swimming Pools

This gives ‘dumpster diving’ a whole new meaning: getting somebody’s unwanted used dumpster and turning it into a swimming pool.  Or, perhaps your urban apartment building doesn’t have any green space, and you’d love to stretch out on some grass for a picnic just a few steps from the front door.  Just fill up one of these giant waste receptacles with some dirt and plant some green things, and you’ll have an insta-lawn.

This is one of two proposals unveiled by design graduate Oliver Bishop-Young for the reuse of dumpsters (referred to as ‘skips’ across the pond).   Aside from the above-mentioned creative reuses, Bishop-Young proposes a website where people can detail the contents of their dumpsters so that other people can scavenge it.  The database would be searchable by a variety of filters including item or location (a temporary demo can be viewed here).

What an awesome idea! There are so many items thrown into landfills every day that could easily find a new home if people just had a chance to grab it.  Free stuff and less waste – who could complain?

Link [Environmental Graffiti]
Photo credit: dezeen.com

Indoor ‘River Ecosystem’ Aquarium and Hydroponic Garden

French designer Mathieu Lehanneur has created an incredible item that serves as an art installation, aquarium, fish hatchery, hydroponic vegetable garden and home décor at in one. The refrigerated aquarium houses freshwater fish, with vegetables growing in glass pods on top. The vegetables get their water from the tank, and then filter and purify the water for the fish. It’s its own little mini river ecosystem indoors.

I don’t know about the snakes, but all in all this is a pretty sleek and sexy design, and an interesting approach to dealing with the global food crisis. Check out the video of the installation below:

Via [Inhabitat]

New Vivavi Eco-Friendly Furniture Store at Riverhouse in NYC

Good news for NYC-area fans of sustainable, beautiful furniture and home furnishings! Vivavi – the brainchild of last week’s Who’s Who in Green, Josh Dorfman – has just announced the opening of their latest project – an Eco Pop Up store inside the Riverhouse, an LEED Gold-rated condo building (yep, the one where Leo DiCaprio has digs). It’s open to the public 7 days a week and it’s a veritable treasure trove of luxe modern green design.

From The Lazy Environmentalist:

Set inside a model 2-bedroom unit overlooking the Hudson River, the store features contemporary RC Green sofas and accents, the latest in luxury green lounging from Animavi, a Team 7 sustainably furnished dining room, a bedroom set featuring Okooko’s unique aesthetic and naturally made mattress, an office nook courtesy of Knu Furniture, a nursery outfitted by Oeuf, and loads of others other fabulous pieces from designers such as Amenity, Brave Space, Christian Rathbone, Iannone Design, Knoend, Larson, Lulan, Maku Furnishings, Modern Bamboo, Ortolan, Until Kara and Vers. We also feature the artwork of Sandy Schimmel who transforms tiny scraps of junk mail into visually stunning designs.

The Riverhouse is in Battery Park City, and the store is located in unit 8D adjacent to the Sales & Design center. Hours are Monday – Friday 10am to 6pm, Saturday and Sunday noon to 4pm.

If you live elsewhere in the U.S. and are lamenting the fact that you can’t check it out in person, head on over to the website where you can indulge in some internet retail therapy. If you aren’t already familiar with Vivavi, prepare to be blown away – it’s the kind of sexy green design that inspires poetry of love and devotion.

Link [The Lazy Environmentalist] + [Vivavi]

Vertical Farms are Beautiful and Productive

Imagine walking along a city street, looking up at the tall buildings around you and seeing beautiful hues of green, red, purple and other vibrant colors through glass windowpanes instead of just concrete and steel. Vertical farms wouldn’t just be a super smart way to grow local food in urban environments – they’re pretty, too. And, they’re well on their way to becoming reality.

From ecofriend:

Dickson Despommier, a professor of public health at Columbia University, hopes to make these zucchini-in-the-sky visions a reality. Dr. Despommier’s pet project is the “vertical farm,” a concept he created in 1999 with graduate students in his class on medical ecology, the study of how the environment and human health interact. The idea, which has captured the imagination of several architects in the United States and Europe in the past several years, just caught the eye of another big city dreamer: Scott M. Stringer, the Manhattan borough president.

Stringer’s office is “sketching out what it would take to pilot a vertical farm,” and plans to pitch a feasibility study to the mayor’s office within the next couple of months, he said. While many believe that the potential concept is being given outlandish shape and form which is both unrealistic and not probable, I’m willing for now to go ahead with the concept of all this. After seeing what I have seen take shape in Dubai, improbable structures no longer exist in my vision and I’m willing to believe that very soon I will pick my apple from the 16th floor-West Block!

These artist renderings show some of the incredible ideas being developed. Design is getting greener and smarter!

Link [ecofriend]

Paris Helium Balloon Shows Air Pollution Levels

A giant helium balloon in the skies of Paris gives city residents a very clear idea of how polluted the air is at any given time. The tethered balloon gives real-time reports of atmospheric pollution using a lighting system that can be seen from more than 12 miles away.

From Physorg.com:

A company called Aérophile announced its recent launch of the gas balloon, known as the AERO30NG Aérophile 5500 model, which is located in the Parc Andre Citroën in Paris. Aérophile manufactures tethered gas balloons as tourist and cultural attractions for places including Disney Village in Paris and the Great Park Balloon in Irvine, California.

The newest balloon, which is filled with 6,000 cubic meters of helium, will serve as both an eco-diagnostic public awareness tool as well as a tourist attraction.

Around the city, air pollution data will be collected by several sensors set up by Airparif, an organization that measures air quality in France. Based on this data, the Aérophile balloon will display two measurements: ambient air quality and air pollution produced by auto emissions, which is measured at major traffic junctions.

The balloon’s color signifies the ambient air quality using three projectors that are located in the middle of the balloon. For example, red signifies highly polluted air, orange for polluted, yellow for moderate, light green for clean, and green for very clean.

There’s a second display at the bottom of the balloon that shows traffic pollution levels. Both displays can be seen both day and night.

This is brilliant. What better way to get people to notice the city’s air pollution levels? It’s as simple as looking up at the sky. It couldn’t be more visible. Brilliant!

Link [Physorg.com]

New ‘Green’ Milk Jugs Not Cutting it with Consumers

So, apparently green milk jugs kind of suck. At least, that’s according to the Wal-Mart and Costco shoppers who have purchased the newly redesigned gallon jugs and complain about how hard they are to pour. These new jugs have been introduced because they’re cheaper to ship, better for the environment, cost less and provide fresher milk to the store. The new shape makes the jugs stackable and eliminates the need for crates. Indentations in the plastic give the jugs structural support.

From The New York Times, via Treehugger:

The jugs have no real spout, and their unorthodox shape makes consumers feel like novices at the simple task of pouring a glass of milk.

“I hate it,” said Lisa DeHoff, a cafe owner shopping in a Sam’s Club here.

“It spills everywhere,” said Amy Wise, a homemaker.

“It’s very hard for kids to pour,” said Lee Morris, who was shopping for her grandchildren.

Eco-Fail – not because it’s not innovative or is a bad idea, but because this is the sort of thing that turns off the millions of Wal-Mart shoppers from ‘green’ products and ideas. I mean, great way to turn the Wal-Mart set green – take away their easy pouring milk jugs and give them something to complain about, especially in this nation of resistance to change. They’re more than likely not going to care if the jugs help the environment if they can’t even pour milk into a bowl of cereal without spilling it.

A commenter on the Treehugger post suggested some kind of reusable accessory – stainless steel, perhaps – that mounts onto the jug to make it easier to pour. Great idea, but would Wal-Mart shoppers really go for that? They want simple, cheap and fast. Perhaps another redesign is in the cards – one that’s more practical for everyday use.

Link [The New York Times] via [Treehugger] via [Bag of Nothing]
Photo credit: David Maxwell for the New York Times

Chicago Plans New Harborside Green Space with ‘Eco-Bridge’

Chicago may just become America’s greenest city before long; they’re already working on a green roof program and a green alley project. Now, the city is working on an ambitious plan to provide residents with green space via an ‘Eco-Bridge’. The Eco-Bridge will be a semicircle around the Monroe Harbor, serving as a breakwater that will give Chicagoans calm waters for sailing and rowing. The bridge itself will also serve as recreational space, containing public parks and fountains.

More details from Inhabitat:

The Eco-Bridge was originally conceived in the early 1900s as part of the 1909 Burnham Plan of Chicago. The bridge is now being designed by hometown firm Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture. The Eco-Bridge is the last of the major recommendations drafted by the master plan to provide recreational opportunities, views of the city, and calm water for rowing and sailing. The two-mile bridge will connect opposite ends of the city center and Grant Park.

To give a modern and sustainable twist to the original idea, wind turbines will also be incorporated in the project to add economic value and show Chicago’s dedication to sustainability. An observation tower will be placed at the center of the bridge, providing spectacular views of the lake and city. The bridge also provides a chance to showcase the ecology of the Great Lakes and provide a safe environment for fish and water plants.

Chicago hopes that the Eco-Bridge will further enhance their bid for the 2016 Olympic Games – they hope the observation tower will be used to house the Olympic flame. It’s really a wonder why it’s taken so long to get this going, it seems like a great idea to promote the city’s sustainable initiatives, add recreational space, and create a draw for tourists.

The bottom photo shows the original 1919 plans for the Chicago City Center.

We’re proud to see this great city lead the nation in eco-friendly initiatives (EarthFirst headquarters are located in Chicago) and look forward to seeing more exciting things from the Windy City!

Link [Inhabitat]

Rotating Wind Power Skyscraper to be Built in Dubai

Bloody hell! (Oh, how I wish I could use that in conversation without sounding like an asshole.) That is one sexy building in more ways than one. From David Fisher’s Dynamic Architecture firm comes the Rotating Tower, a self-sufficient sun and wind powered design that will be built in Dubai. Construction is set to begin this month.

Inhabitat has the details:

The Dynamic Architecture building has been aptly named Rotating Tower as the floors would be capable of rotating around a central axis. It will be continually in motion, changing shape and giving residents the ability to choose a new view at the touch of a button. The form of the building would constantly change as each floor rotates separately giving a new view of the building as it turns. According to Fisher, the building ensures a very high resistance to earthquakes as each floor rotates independently.

The new tower is the first building of its size to produced in a factory. Each floor, made up of 12 individual units, complete with plumbing, electric connections, air conditioning, etc., will be fabricated in a factory. These modular units will be fitted on the concrete core or spine of the building at the central tower.

With so much wealth concentrated in Dubai, I think we’re going to be seeing a lot more green innovation coming out of this little country. Imagine the possibilities that are still out there even after incredible inventions like this are conceived and built. This takes the shiny, cool sci-fi future of your childhood dreams and wraps it all up in a green package that can help take us out of the age of oil and into a new era.

Link [Inhabitat]

Cradle to Cradle Design: 100% Biodegradable Furniture

In the last few decades, furniture has gotten incredibly wasteful. Think about how many crappy items you’ve purchased – tables, chairs, desks, bookshelves – that were made with such cheap materials in such a shoddy way that they fell apart after only a few years. Such throwaway furniture has increased the amount of crap that piles up in landfills day after day. You might think that going back to sturdier, more well-made furniture is the answer, but what if we could have 100% biodegradable furniture that could just be composted in your garden after you’re done with it?

Triplepundit has it:

A recently created design house by eight Dutch design students has embraced C2C fully. The company, called Artishok, has just completed its first designs after spending months researching the best 100% biodegradable materials for modern furniture.

The team was directly inspired by William McDonough, an architect, and the chemist Michael Braungart, the two inventors of C2C. The duo believes that another Industrial Revolution is at hand which is concentrated around ecological production methods.

The Artishok design studio embodies this perfectly, creating furniture from corn based plastics. Artishok’s products look no different than other designer stuff and the advantage of the Artishok items is that they virtually do not contribute to your carbon footprint. After use, you can safely throw the furniture on your garden’s compost heap without polluting the soil even 1%. That means that the eight students are about as close as any designers to replicating the natural cycle directly.

Because they’re made of 100% natural materials, they eliminate the garbage problem completely. Can you imagine, millions of people across the world never throwing another piece of furniture in the trash? That’s the direction we need to go in, for sure.  I can’t wait to see more furniture designers embracing the cradle to cradle concept!

Link [Triplepundit]
Photo credit: Flickr user jetheriot

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