Story Telling Competition Entry 5

Wireless Vacuum Cleaner™ for Car Interior Cleaning

This is a Good product for your car. Has an excellent reach because of the long cable. Water pressure is good enough to take almost all dirt away from the surface even before you start wiping it

Wireless Vacuum Cleaner™ for Car Interior

-The 3-way nozzle is just perfect to wash any vehicle
-cable length given is good (at least to me as I can draw power from 10 ft distance which suffices my need)
-forms foam really better to wash the vehicle
-ease of usage/ assemble/ pack the product is very simple (even school going kid can do it)
-almost all accessories of this are inter-compatible making it an all-rounder

Amazing power and motor seem to be powerful. Please don’t get confused or compare it with our normal vacuum cleaners which we use to clean our house. Vacuum cleaners we use for our house are 10-15 times more powerful than the car vacuum cleaner. Car vacuum cleaners work on car’s battery, so performance limitations will be there.

All in all, a good product for non-commercial use.

Should stop using plastic straws

Plastic never goes away.

Plastic is a durable material made to last forever, yet 33 percent of it is used once and then discarded. Plastic cannot biodegrade; it breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces.

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Plastic spoils our groundwater.

There are tens of thousands of landfills across the globe. Buried beneath each one of them, plastic leachate full of toxic chemicals is seeping into groundwater and flowing downstream into lakes and rivers.

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Plastic attracts other pollutants.

Manufacturers' additives in plastics, like flame retardants, BPAs and PVCs, can leach their own toxins. These oily poisons repel water and stick to petroleum-based objects like plastic debris.

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Plastic threatens wildlife.

Entanglement, ingestion and habitat disruption all result from plastic ending up in the spaces where animals live. In our oceans alone, plastic debris outweighs zooplankton by a ratio of 36-to-1.

Plastic piles up in the environment.

Americans alone discard more than 30 million tons of plastic a year; only 8 percent of it gets recycled. The rest ends up in landfills or becomes 'litter', and a small portion is incinerated.

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Plastic poisons our food chain.

Even plankton, the tiniest creatures in our oceans, are eating microplastics and absorbing their toxins. The substance displaces nutritive algae that creatures up the food chain require.

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Plastic affects human health.

Chemicals leached by plastics are in the blood and tissue of nearly all of us. Exposure to them is linked to cancers, birth defects, impaired immunity, endocrine disruption, and other ailments.

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Plastic costs billions to abate.

Everything suffers: tourism, recreation, business, the health of humans, animals, fish and birds—because of plastic pollution. The financial damage continuously being inflicted is inestimable.

Start to use Reusable Stainless Steel Straw- Save Earth!

Tree Snake Houses Stand on Stilts at Portugal's Pedras Salgadas Eco Resort

The Pedras Salgadas Eco Resort in Portugal just celebrated the completion of two new accommodations - the Tree Snake Houses. Stilted high into the trees and accessed via a long ramp, the single room cabins are a charming addition to the lodgings at the spa and nature park. Luís Rebelo de Andrade and Tiago Rebelo de Andrade designed the two treehouses, which were prefabricated by Modular System and assembled on site to help reduce the project's impact.

Pedras Salgadas Eco Resort is a quiet retreat in the Parque de Pedras Salgadas, a pristine national park in northern Portugal. The popular spa & nature park started with seven little cabins perched on short stilts amidst the trees. Now they have added two more exclusive cabins lofted higher in the trees and accessed via a long ramp. The Tree Snake Houses are long and slender and more charming than dangerous.

The treehouses were designed by Luís Rebelo de Andrade and Tiago Rebelo de Andrade, who also helped design the original cabins and the overall plan for the resort. To minimize impact, the modular treehouses were prefabricated and then assembled on site. In accordance with the overall sustainability plan, the accommodations have minimal impact on the surrounding eco system. Natural materials and lots of daylight further the experience and help immerse the guests in the forest. Each treehouse has a bedroom with a writing desk, a bathroom, and a kitchenette.

Teton County Children's Learning Center Brings Sustainable Design to Jackson, Wyoming

Many children's make believe adventures revolve around wooden forts in the mountains; the new Teton County Children's Learning Center by Ward+Blake Architects and D.W. Arthur Associates Architecture has captured this dream in the wilds of Jackson, Wyoming. This children’s daycare facility reflects the rustic decor of the Teton region, while achieving LEED Gold certification with an energy-efficient, low-impact design.

Creatively named “The Ranch,” the Rafter J Childcare facility was designed by the team of architects to achieve three objectives: to fit into the ranch-like neighborhood, experientially stimulate the children, and to achieve LEED Silver certification. Boston-based D.W. Arthur Associates Architecture was brought into the project by local firm Ward+Blake Architects to bring some expertise in childcare design to the table. It’s fitting that D.W. Arthur’s mission is to educate children through experiencing their spatial environment.
The exterior of the building celebrates the regional vernacular ranch style of the local neighborhood, and it incorporates many natural materials in its skin. Made from rammed earth, cedar wood, weathered wood, glass and steel, this 12,000-square-foot facility rises and falls almost as if mimicking the surrounding mountains. Beaver slide-like enclosures and other slatted fences help to break up the exterior of the building, while creating shading devices for the building. Various shed roofs allow for natural light to penetrate deep into the building through angled clerestory windows. Also, many of these shed roofs are covered with sod in order to control storm water runoff.

M:OFA Unveils Air-Filtering Green Office for the Delhi Pollution Control Committee

When the Delhi Pollution Control Committee set out to build a new office, they wanted it to be an expression of the work they do to clean the environment. The winner of their design competition was Manifestation: Of Fluid Architecture (M:OFA), whose proposed building is a giant urban filter that soaks up pollution through its pores and pumps out clean air and water. The new office complex will use both passive and active strategies to reduce energy use, and it will soak up polluted air through the walls, generate its own energy through photovoltaics, collect rainwater from the roof and process black and grey water for further use.

The Delhi Pollution Control Committee’s design brief for their new building called for an affirmation of the organization’s purpose, which is to improve environmental quality through sustainability. M:OFA responded to this brief with a building that acts like a sponge – soaking up pollution and spitting back out clean air and water. The design for the six-story office begins with the building’s orientation to provide natural daylighting and encourage breezes from the prevailing winds. Walls and the large overhanging roof were arranged to shield the interior from the sun and prevent overheating.

The building itself is made from bentonite clay-lined foam concrete with micro cavities that acts as a filter to clean out polluted air. Living walls and gardens interspersed throughout the building work to pump out fresh and clean oxygen into the space. During the winter, underground mechanical filters force polluted hot air from the basement through the hollow walls, which acts as a heater and reduces pollution at the same time. In the summer, rooftop mechanical filters pump in fresh air and continue to help keep the pollution in check.

The parasol roof acts like a basin to collect rainwater, which is stored in cisterns underneath the building. Photovoltaic panels generate electricity for use in the building and are stored in batteries to power outdoor lighting at night. Sewage and grey water from the building is processed through an on site reed bed and koi pond. An anaerobic digester produces methane that is used in a co-generation gas engine for more electricity. Leftover waste is used as fertilizer in the gardens and landscaping and the clean water is used in a chilled beam system to provide cooling. The new office for the Delhi Pollution Control Committee in New Delhi is underway and is expected to be complete in 2014.

Via ArchDaily

Green-Roofed Villa Topoject Emerges from the Hills Near Seoul, Korea

Instead of creating walls and fences to demarcate a plot situated in a small valley near Seoul, Korean architects AND (Architecture of Novel Differentiation) designed a house that is nestled into a hill and spirals up from beneath it. Villa Topoject flows with the hilly topography of the area to create semi private outdoor spaces that blur the line between exterior and interior. 

The house is clad in black-stained cedar panels that, with cedar’s earthly quality, visually merge with the ground and contribute to the warmth of the place. The protruding balcony floats above a decked terrace ground floor level that opens up to a shallow pool of water and a small creek running along the site. The first floor houses a living room, bedroom, study and greenhouse, while a guest suite and storage are accommodated underground, “at the tail” of the building.

Villa Topoject is a home for a couple who would like to enjoy rural life. Strongly linked to the ground, the house is a land-building hybrid that allows residents to be in direct contact with the land, like farmers. As the building gradually emerges from the landscape, the residents seem to observe nature more like tourists, benefiting from the beautiful balcony views of the area.

Less is More at Norway’s Minimalist Juvet Landscape Hotel

We're excited to share yet another study in classic minimalist design, this time from Jensen & Skodvin. Their Juvet landscape hotel in West Norway features 10 tiny rooms that fit snuggly into their picturesque surroundings with virtually no environmental footprint - like these adorable pods from France and this incredible treehouse studio. Intrinsically respectful of its mind-blowing natural surroundings and light on materials, this boutique hotel comprises the epitome in eco-architecture. But beware! It costs a hefty €300 to spend a night.

An award-winning design, Juvet became a reality when Knut Slinning, its owner, discovered that the Norwegian government was spending a boatload of money to renovate portions of the country’s National Tourist Route. He then commissioned Jensen & Skodvin to construct ten mini-rooms out of soft, fast-growing pine on what was an old farm property, each with at least one wall of glass to emphasize connectedness with nature.

The hotel explores whether it is possible to build in nature without a huge footprint, and the rooms are practically bare on the inside save for a lamp, bed, and a couple of chairs. Although the bathrooms are painted canary-yellow, there are no wall hangings or other objects that detract from the spectacular scenery. Finally, the cabins are built on stilts to enable easy removal should that need arise, since, as Mr. Slinning notes, “we are only guests of nature.”

World's "First Floating Village" Unveiled by Baca Architects and ZM Architecture Design for Glasgow

 Baca Architects and ZM Architecture have teamed up with Floating Concepts to design what has been dubbed the world’s first “floating leisure village” at Canting Docks in Glasgow. The Scottish city—in which the docklands once served as a major industrial hub—has seen significant urban renewal in recent years and the mixed-use floating development could add to the city’s appeal. Plans for the location, which lies just off the River Clyde, include a boat-sharing facility, an 80-100 room pod hotel, single-family homes as well as a cafe and theater— much of which will utilize renewable energy.

The £30 million floating development is located directly adjacent to the Glasgow Science Center at the Pacific Quay, and will form a key part of the larger Clyde Waterfront redevelopment. Previous projects considered for that development include the ZM Architecture-designed solar power-generating floating lily pads. The Canting Basin development is designed around a floating horseshoe-shaped promenade, and public amenities at the development will include a public marina, an 80-100 bed pod hotel and a cafe and theater with rooftop seating. The hotel is comprised of modular stacking units atop a floating base, which has been awkwardly described as having the appearance of “luxury shipping containers,” with large glass facades to provide dramatic views of the river. The sloped elliptical theater can reportedly rotate (with the help of a tug boat) to provide views of events both on the water and on land.

The village will also provide apartments, townhouses and office spaces for residents, with lightweight steel frames allowing for three-story floating structures. The residential buildings, designed by Dutch and Scandinavian architects, will be available on an off-the-peg basis, and range from 1000-3500 square feet. All are designed with glass facades for views of the water, along with space for balcony and ground-floor level gardens, while on the outer edge of the property plantings will provide a buffer for the properties. Heat exchangers will harness the water for climate control for the floating homes, while grey water will be filtered and recycled on site.

While a large numbers of boats buzzing around the marina may not be the most ecologically sensitive thing, the developer’s focus on a water-borne, peaceful and car-free community certainly has its appeal. Each of the residential units will have its own berth, while office workers and visitors will be able to take advantage of a boat-sharing program and additional moorings to “encourage the use of the river for recreation and transport.”

The project was approved by the Scottish Executive last year, and is currently slated for completion by 2020.

BIG's Connecting Greenland: AIR + PORT Exhibit Proposes a New Future for Greenland

Dream it and they shall come. That's the premise of the POSSIBLE GREENLAND exhibit at the 13^th Annual Architecture Exhibition of the Venice Biennale, headed by the Danish Architecture Centre and curated by Minik Rosing and Nord Architects. This exhibit seeks to explore the huge potential and some of the challenges that face Greenland, a place that has gotten global attention of late due to its natural resources and its position on climate change. BIG (Bjarke Ingels Group) in collaboration with TENU, Julie Hardenberg and Inuk Silas Hogh created the Connecting Greenland: AIR + PORT portion of the POSSIBLE GREENLAND exhibit. The architects propose creating a multi-modal transportation hub for domestic and international travel just south of Nuuk, the capital.

Currently, Greenland residents rely heavily on air travel to get around, but are plagued by empty flights and staggering prices. BIG and its cohorts are proposing to address this domestic problem with a global solution. The Greenland Transport Commission identified the island of Augisunnguaq, south of Nuuk, as a potential new hub for connecting Greenland domestically and internationally by air and by water. But Connecting Greenland: AIR + PORT isn’t just about creating a new piece of transportation infrastructure. It proposes a variety of programs and mixed uses for the area as the genesis of a new paradigm of efficient transportation and vibrant public programs that would benefit the whole country. This holistic solution is what Bjarke Ingels calls Social Infrastructure.

This vision is part of Greenland’s attempt to position itself at the center of major world economies like Europe, Asia and America. Instead of positioning itself as a back-water in harsh and inaccessible part of the world, Greenland wants to explore its potential as a transit hub between Europe and America – increasing potential transit tourism while at the same time cutting costs for local commuters.

Other parts of the POSSIBLE GREENLAND exhibit include Cultivating Greenland, Inhabiting Greenland and Migrating Greenland, exploring the multiple aspects of the country as a way to work towards a more prosperous and connectedglobal future.