an office extension made from old windows and doors!

It really is possible to creat structures from old windows! and have it look elegant... I'd never have thought it was made from what was found http://www.shedworking.co.uk/2008/11/garden-office-made-with-recycled.html

looking at other blogs

have been looking at other blogs lately that are of the design variety and came across this one that showcases designers showing their design space. As my last project is a school for architect student and a design space thought it worthy of looking at! seems a ping pong table is the play-time activity du jour should maybe include one...

http://wherewedesign.com/

no but seriously it's interesting to see the materials that some of the low cost spaces have used, and obviously good to see examples of layouts

TBWA Hakuhodo - ad company

coffee shop shading

I was looking at arch daily and saw this coffee shop + shade design by ateliermob architects

the reason i bring it to attention is because of the photos shown of how the circular holes in the shading roof were created. I think that should my sheds green roof be designed in concrete then its defiantly a project to keep in mind for the construction and details of the roof in relation to holes and different depth sections.

but im very wary of the use of concrete in such an organic environment so....

http://www.archdaily.com/40851/coffee-shop-shading-surface-ateliermob/

Newcastle-Upon-Tyne Greenest UK City

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/nov/19/forum-for-the-future-award-newcastle

This article on guardian website I found uplifting that an industrial city such as newcastle has made such staggering green progress 8th place in year 2007, 4th place last year and now NUMERO UNO...

However I got a little irritated when the praise for the cities development and promotion of electric cars came up. "The city has also become the electric car capital in a government-backed experiment, which will see 1,000 charging points installed in Newcastle and Gateshead over the next two years."

While reducing CO2 direct emissions through the use of cars is commendable in this apparently large-scale project, are electric cars not simply displacing CO2 emissions to the source of the electricity needed to power these cars? Creating a system that promotes the use of bicycles is much better for the environment though with the Uk weather I can understand that bicycle use is not a year round practical programs. But maybe with the redesign of a sort of carriage that could be powered by one or maybe more of the new bicycles that can reach high speeds on minimal turns is where money should be put!

ok going back to the ice once again

Was going through my hard-drive and came across my own photos of ice/ cracked and melting quite like them and thought'd i'd share as im planning keep the natural pattern of ice that i've drawn on cad for my roof garden

yeah had a few more but i think you get the basic idea

Greenwich Green Party Drinks...

Last week went to a pub in Greenwich, which was rather nice and cosy- as well as having popped up a few times since passing through it, to join in with Green Drinks. Kind of a failure, didnt find any members there, just book club people. So I'm trying to find another group to join that interests me... more on that later when i find something exciting

Guggenheim Design It Shelter Competition

http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/education/sackler-center/design-it-shelter/winners

Just thought i'd post a link to this competition by Guggenhiem, where participants had to design a shelter. They had to work using google sketch up and earth, and it could be placed anywhere in the world. The winning design is out of cork which acts as a noise and heat insulator, i think the shelter has a rather interesting design and it certainly seems to have been made to appreciate the landscape of the site. With our shed design's soon coming to a close think its interesting to look at these shelters. A lot of them were actually created by the students and lived in for a short period before submission. Anyways off to look through the rest of the submissions
http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/education/sackler-center/design-it-shelter/winners