List/Grid Tag Archives: Green
In February we featured the launch of El Mandara Ecolodge by Lake Qarun in Fayoum, Egypt, a project owned by a group of friends that decided to take their chances in starting a new hope towards sustainability in dire straits times for Egypt. The getaway had a great launch and have seen plenty of progress in reputation building. With the weather in Egypt warming up for a hot summer, we packed our bags and headed southwest of Cairo for a personal visit over at the little lodge by the lake. After about 40 minutes of driving on the highway and another…
![Plastic Bags – The Planet’s Silent Killer [infographic]](http://urbanpeek.com/wp-content/themes/channelpro/timthumb.php?src=http://urbanpeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/how-convenience-is-killing-our-planet-e1339764547581.png&h=400&w=596&a=t&zc=1)
How convenience is killing our planet: More and more people around the world are becoming aware of the environmental issues caused by the excessive use of plastic bags. Considering their somewhat placid appearance, the impact of plastic bags on the environment can be devastating. I stumbled upon this interesting infographic by Arte Ideas, simply explaining the impact plastic bags have on our planet, since they were intoduced a quarter of a century ago.
As Egypt’s economy suffers from the dire straits following the 2011 revolution that ousted the long time ruler Hosni Mubarak, almost every person started to dream of the potentials Egypt has towards fulfilling one’s future ambitions. One of the great examples I’ve seen belongs to a group of friends of mine that have decided to sail against a very windy sea. Their kick starter was an idea to turn a set of old deserted huts on the coast of Lake Qarun in Fayum, Egypt into an oasis Eco-lodge serving time-share and rental based accommodation. Taking the risk of investing into a stagnant economy…
This project is an architectural proposal for a school as well as a recreational and associative centre to be built for the young people of the Palestinian camps. Designed by the architect Mario Cucinella in the framework of the 1st Italo-Palestinian technical table on Eco-Architecture and renewable energies held in Ramallah in March 2010
The American Institute of Architects (AIA) Committee on the Environment (COTE) has announced the 2011 COTE Top Ten Green Projects, naming the top 10 examples of sustainable architecture and green design solutions that protect and enhance the environment. The COTE Top Ten Green Projects program celebrates projects that are the result of a thoroughly integrated approach to architecture, natural systems, and technology. They make a positive contribution to their communities, improve comfort for building occupants, and reduce environmental impact through strategies such as reuse of existing structures, connection to transit systems, low-impact and regenerative site development, energy and water conservation,…
This 28-floor building situated in Kowloon Bay in Hong Kong, China, named 18 Kowloon East, is not one of the many similar glass-glazed skyscrapers. Design firm Aedas, was requested to create an environmentally sustainable project for mixed-use needs with efficient office floor plates. The result came out stunning, a tower, housing 32, 400 square meters of offices, retail spaces and car park at the lower portion of the building; the last is surrounded by extensive plantations as “green” was picked as the theme of the project. This brilliant idea of planting the greenery on the car park zone, the lower levels of the tower, acted…
The world’s most famous and creative toy LEGO has inspired a design studio flussocreativo from Italy to create an ecological station facility – Leco recycling bin. It consists of four polymer units in order to the Italian utilization color system – 2 bigger ones – white and yellow (for paper and plastic) and 2 smaller bins in blue and green (for aluminum and glass). Each box pulls to open from the front and can be stuck stably on each other imitating the LEGO puzzle, which gives the user a chance to create different configurations according to the space requirements. This…
The population of the World is reaching a staggering 7 Billion inhabitants this week, marking a critical time for us to consider the conservation of natural resources to ensure a sustainable planet for future generations before sucking up all the good out of it. Experts are already releasing their estimates of the population growth till the end of the century. One forthcoming United Nations report estimates that the number may reach 15 billion – more than double current levels, and 5 billion more than what was previously predicted. So what does this mean for our planet and its resources? The first billion people accumulated over…
Street furniture mainly represents the secondary role to the city perception, while facilitating our existence in it and giving it some character. Mostly all of the urban furniture is disengaged – streetlights are not matching garbage bins and benches, bus stops are steeped in advertisement, traffic lights are totally out of city style and so on. The Copenhagen based firm KiBiSi found a solution to the urban landscape mess – the sTREEt. It was designed especially for the Gwangju Design Bienalle 2011 in South Korea. The main idea of sTREEt is described as weaving a functional line to the cityscape,…
