Home Design Find

Spec House in Maine Gets LEED – Teaches Zero Carbon Design

Richard Renner Architects designed this carbon neutral home as a spec home at the request of a local construction company, in Maine, because the state’s residents like to build sustainably.  The state would qualify as the Sweden of the USA with 55% of its electricity coming from renewable sources – thanks to state legislation that [...]

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Architecture That Mimics Nature to Create a Breezy Micro-Climate

Privacy, yet with a feeling of open space is at a premium in our dense urban environments.  Wallflower Architecture has created a very private space in an urban milieu for a Singapore client by the extensive use of screens that hide in plain sight throughout this design. [...]

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Swimming Pool Acts as Thermal Storage in 17th Century Eco-Retrofit

What a relief it would be, in Britain’s chilly winters, to immerse yourself in this cozy sunlit pool. But that’s not its only benefit. This warm pool is itself a part of an eco retrofit of a 400 year old dwelling.

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“Glacier” Prefab House by Method Homes

Method Homes has a down-to-earth, contemporary design sensibility that informs their straightforward prefab homes.

Each uses locally grown and produced building materials such as certified Douglas fir framing material and reclaimed fir trim and cedar siding on the outside. Because the sample home here is built in a flood plain, it [...]

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The Rich Learn Sustainable Living on Luxury Cruise

Here’s some green luxury travel. There’s no air conditioning at all in the Zambezi Queen – just natural cross breezes provide ventilation on this African cruise boat in Botswana, on the Chobe River that runs through the Chobe National Park.

Hot water is provided by solar thermal hot water heating soaking up [...]

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A Minimal Brown and White Timbered Australian House

This wood-centric home is the work of an Australian architectural group that has been in the vanguard of sustainable development in Sydney for over a decade.
As both architect and builder, CplusC focused on timber to heighten the design of the Queens Park Residence.

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A Secret Forest Dwelling in the Heart of Singapore

I remember when I lived in Manhattan, how much I needed greenery. Here’s the house to answer that real need for city dwellers. The owner wanted this house, in the heart of Singapore, to feel just like living in a forest.
It certainly looks subversive; growing right up between two more traditional buildings… but what [...]

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Are Cool Roofs Cool Yet?

If every building had an energy-efficient  roof, we would be able to cool the surrounding areas and reduce heating and cooling costs inside the building. That is the reasoning behind a California law  requiring light reflective roofs on all new buildings.
It is already the law for new flat roofs here, and information is [...]

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Luna2: The First Private Beachfront Hotel in Bali

Meet the first private beachfront hotel in Bali – Luna2. Named after the first spacecraft to land on the Moon, Luna2 has “landed” in Seminyak resort – on of Bali’s most expensive areas. Because of its policy to accept only one booking at a time, the private hotel offers unforgettable stay to its guests who [...]

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Torres House: A beautiful mountain retreat by GLR Arquitectos/ Gilberto L. Rodriguez

The pristine beauty of the Sierra Madre Mountains is the home of the Torres House by GLR Arquitectos/ Gilberto L. Rodriguez. The 5,942 sq ft contemporary house doesn’t contrast with the surroundings, not at all – lots of natural materials (marble, wood and volcanic stone) have been used and the garden is in fact a [...]

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