Blogs & Ecology

We have shown quite a few emergency shelter designs, but Rafael Smith may have come up with the first high-density multi-storey one. "This project is a shelter solution that meets the needs of emergency response but also provides victims with a more personal place to live; a base unit that can serve as a very basic shelter but also have the capabilities to upgrade and implement modern infrastructure. This shelter is also stackable. Many alternative housing solutions deal with small scale but can’t cope with large scale displaced populations."
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The Sandwich Bike, designed by Pieter Janssen and Basten Leijh of Bleijh Concepts and Designs of Amsterdam, was such a hit at the Salone de Mobile in Milan that someone broke in and stole the prototype....

While flipping through the always wonderful Australian Dyson Student Design Awards, we find the Flipp table by Daniel So of the University of Technology in Sydney. There are lots of extending and leaf tables about, and the description is a little over the top:

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Dutch designer Joost van Bleiswijk designs everything from candelabras to wall units out of stainless steel, all laser cut and interlocking. "A combination of fireplace, altar and cabinet. This piece is as a conclusion of cabinet designs over centuries."

It is also extraordinarily heavy and over the top, but there is method in this madness. He describes his method of working in Dezeen:

Combining sleek design, greener materials and extreme durability (we're talking like "spans the generations" durable), we liked the looks of Valcucine's new kitchen this past week at ICFF. The Italian kitchen designer, whom we've covered before, has replaced stainless steel and wood with glass while maintaining the idea that you (and your kids, and maybe even your grandkids) won't have to buy another kitchen. Ever.

Why is TreeHugger such a fan of flat-pack furniture? Well, it comes in tiny packages (that you can skip home from the store with) so they ship more efficiently, and anyone can turn a handful of two-dimensional pieces into three dimensions of form and structure. Blu Dot's Real Good Chair is a great example.

Check out the video for the particulars. If Mr. Squirrel can do it, so can you.

XXS Next House is 150 sq. ft. with kitchen. Cost: $21,500 (you assemble)

On first glance the slick web site for Next House, a Swedish prefab designer, is just a tad too glossy. Photos of the prefab houses are gorgeous, to be sure, but they are shot so you'll notice the house's integration with nature - and forget perhaps the fact that in these particular homes you'd be car dependent for every other thing you do besides sit at home.

TreeHugger loves the idea of mass customization and downloadable designs, but, until there's a manufacturer with a computer numerically controlled (CNC) machine in every town, it won't quite be ready for prime time. Until then, a Norwegian product development company called MELD have come up with what they think is the answer: platform design.

Disposable products aren't things TreeHugger gets behind very often -- there are a few exceptions, like these water bottle shoes or edible dishware -- but there are a few ideas out there that make the future of disposables look a bit brighter. Designer Oksana Bazanova has provided this alternative, a fun, flat-packing, Origami-inspired version that's made from waterproof paper.

Predicated on the idea that "there is always a better way," Brooklyn-based 4Korners has a small collection of furniture that combines sustainable materials and smart design to create sleek, efficient designs. We like the looks of the credenza, which, with a quick exchange of doors for drawers, can also be a sideboard or dresser; its design, vaguely reminiscent of 4Korners' fellow Brooklyn designers from Scrapile, uses wood scraps to create an engaging textural mosaic on the front of the piece.

Combining a handful of TreeHugger's favorite things, Bloxes are modular boxes built from flat-packed corrugated cardboard cutouts that can be used for everything from office furniture to modular walls. Inspired by LEGOs and utilizing some of the lessons you learned in high school geometry, Bloxes earn points for their smart, flat-packing design, modular construction and movability and surprising strength -- you can sit or even stand on the finished product.

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