The architects from Mareines + Patalano in Brazil, created a beautiful eco-friendly beach house in Angra dos Reis, called Casa Folha (Leaf House), one hour south of Rio de Janeiro. Shaped like a giant lotus flower, this house’s concept is inspired by Brazil’s indian architecture, said to be perfectly suited for hot and humid climates. For this project, the architects were looking to integrate the living spaces with the surrounding environment, connecting the occupants with nature. As such, most of the living spaces are open to the outside and most of the materials used for the construction of the house are natural.

There’s a lot of neat green elements in their design. The roof protects the occupants from the sun and collects rain water in the center. The roof is also supported by a central steel column that also redirects the collected water to be used to water the plants in the garden and to flush the toilets.

There are no air conditioning systems in the house. The house is cooled through natural ventilation, taking advantage of the breeze from the sea. Most of the material used for the construction of the house is natural or recuperated. For example a portion of the wood floors comes from old electrical posts. This is definitely a green vacation home that’s respectful of its surroundings and the environment. Hopefully this is the beginning of a new era of environmentally friendly vacation homes.

source: Mareines + Patalano | inhabitat

NOOK is a neat and new little stool made from an innovative material called VarioLine, a material made of solid structural outer layers and a lightweight foamed inner core, resulting in a panel that is very stiff, impact resistant and exceptionally low weight. This makes the stool easy to clean, weather proof, water proof, impact resistant, chemical resistant and recyclable!

NOOK was created by award-winning designer Patrick Frey with a single sheet of VarioLine. It can be used virtually anywhere and comes in various color options. Currently retailing for 229€, the stool recently won the 2010 iF product design award.

NOOK is manufactured by VIAL GmbH, a family-run company with its headquarters in Germany that plans to continue to work with Frey. The plans for their furniture collection is for the collection to be guided by the principles of ‘conviVIAL living’ and to develop striking, weatherproof furniture that encourages a modern form of vibrant sociability.

These stools are a great and fun addition to any room in a home or office. For example, they would look great in the kids’ section of a modern dentist office. Also imagine what a great impact they would make in a library, replacing the traditional step stool found there. Don’t you think they’re a lot more appealing?

source : VIAL

It’s nice to see an increase in modern pet furniture and accessories. Modernist pet owners no longer have to live with tacky items that clash with the rest of their home. They can now apply similar design aesthetics when selecting items for their pets. Gregory Kenny from Kilowatt Studio, a woodworker and designer from Vancouver (BC), created two beautiful modern cat beds that will look great in any modern space: Pod (shown above) and Nest (below), inspired by birds.

The beds are individually hand crafted in Canada, using wool, bamboo and organic cotton. So not only are they beautiful but they are eco-friendly as well. Another good reason to buy them is that a portion of the sales goes to the Vancouver Orphan Kitten Rescue Association.

Of course, these cute beds can also be used by small modernist dogs.

photo : Kilowatt Studio

ORIGINAL POST DATE : 2008-10-07

It’s great to see that the majority of people recycle nowadays. Even malls such as the Eaton Center have recycling stations in their food court but also in other locations throughout the building. There are more and more recycling stations on the streets of Montreal and I would imagine this helps reduce the amount of waste in the landfill. Which makes me believe that it’s time to get to the next step : composting.

Thanks to companies such as NatureMill, composters are now more user friendly. The ones carried by NatureMill are said to be automatic and odor free. The can be left indoor or outdoor and turn food into compost in only 2 weeks. They also come in a variety of colors (PRO Edition).

Source : NatureMill

Everything is done automatically. All you have to do is add the food and take out the compost every 2 weeks.

source: NatureMill

The PRO Edition can even be used in small offices and restaurants! I wonder if restaurants use composters. If not, I think they should and maybe even pair up with landscape companies so that all that organic compost can actually be used.

source: NatureMill

The composters can be purchased directly from NatureMill or in places such as Home Depot for $329 for the PLUS Edition and $399 for the PRO Edition.