Tag Archives: Sustainable Homes

This sustainable house has an aquaponic system that connects a pond for edible fish & a rooftop garden!

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Think of the Welcome to the Jungle House (WTTJH) as a sanctuary for a modern sustainable lifestyle. It enables carbon-neutral living with the most luxurious and artistic aesthetic! It addresses climate change with a design that blends sustainability, landscape, fauna, and architecture for them to exist symbiotically. WTTJH is located in Sydney and the most interesting feature is the aquaponic rooftop masked within a heritage-meets-modernism interior style. This example of sustainable architecture shows us that the future is bright for environmentally conscious design without compromising on form or function.

WTTJH is built within a rejuvenated heritage façade of rendered masonry, steel, timber, and greenery – it is where Victorian row terrace housing meets and a post-industrial warehouse aesthetic. The two-story home was close to collapse and originally occupied the 90sqm triangular site. Due to strict heritage controls, it was untouched and in despair till the rejuvenation project by CPlusC brought it back to life in a way that was conducive towards a better future for the industry and the planet.

The original window openings have been framed in pre-rusted steel and juxtaposed with new openings framed in gloss white powder coat steel which adds a wonderful then-and-now element. A black photovoltaic panel array on the northern façade harnesses sunlight throughout the day and acts as a billboard for the sustainability in the architectural structure which is a contrast to the original heritage facade. The rooftop is made from steel planter beds that provide deep soil for native plants and fruit and vegetables. The garden beds are irrigated from the fishpond providing nutrient-rich water created by the edible silver perch (fish)!





The house features a glass inner skin that is fully operable from the outer punctuated masonry façade, providing an abundance of natural light and views while maintaining privacy. This interstitial zone also helps with passive thermal regulation across the upper floors with planter beds ‘floating’ in between the glass and masonry skins to provide cooling to internal spaces via transpiration. The floating planter beds are also an integrated structurally engineered solution to the lateral bracing needs of the masonry wall.

The journey from ground to roof begins with the raw textures of burnished concrete and fiber cement panels, ascending a steel and recycled timber stair to the bedroom and bathroom level finished in rich and warm timber boards lining the floors walls, and ceilings. The upper floor living space continues with timber flooring and a recycled timber island/dining bench to warm the space. The kitchen has been assembled from an array of machined and polished metals contrasting the concrete and timber finishes of the floors below. Unpolished stainless steel and brass and gold anodized aluminum glow and glean light revealing their factory finishes.

A colonnade of thin steel blade columns supports the roof above and has been deliberately staggered perpendicular from the building’s edge to provide shade from the afternoon sun to keep the building cool in Summer without the need for mechanical shading devices. Above are the hot-dip galvanized planter beds that form the roof structure in its entirety. These structural roof ‘troughs’ are the roof beams spanning up to 8.5M while holding deep soil for the planter beds, exposed at their bases to create the industrially raw ceiling finish below, a detail complimented by the factory finishes of the kitchens stainless steel and brass.

It is an architecture that explores active and passive systems, the poetic, the emotional, and the nurturing capacity of human beings to reverse the impact of climate change and to establish resilience through architectural design that addresses some of the profound pressures on the natural world. It is both a functional and a symbolic advocate for innovation design and sustainable living. It is the architecture of climate change activism where sustainability, landscape, fauna, and architecture exist symbiotically.

Climate change must be reversed, and human beings must become sustainable in every aspect of their lives. Conserving our resources and becoming more sustainable as a species is now critical to our very survival. Almost 100 years ago Le Corbusier famously said that ‘A house is a machine for living in’. If we are to survive the next 100 years a house must be ‘a machine for sustaining life’ and it must promote those values in its architectural expression to the public who largely consume architecture through the media where the image is everything. If we are to promote these values, they must be an intrinsic part of the conceptual fabric of a project.

Architecture that is not only beautiful: an architecture that generates and stores power; an architecture that harvests and recycles water; an architecture that produces fruit, vegetables, fish, and eggs; an architecture that recycles and reuses the waste it produces. Architecture nourishes the mind, body, and soul. Architecture where landscape, food, nature, garden, environment, energy, waste, water, and beauty exist symbiotically.

Designer: CplusC Architectural Workshop

Sustainable Homes designed to reduce carbon footprint + convert you into sustainable architecture advocates!

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With the world turning topsy turvy since the pandemic hit us, living in a sustainable, conscious, and smart manner has never been more imperative. Our homes should seamlessly integrate with, and nourish the planet, not drain her resources and reduce her lifespan. Being at one with Planet Earth, while taking rigorous care of her has never been more of a priority. In an effort to encourage an eco-friendly way of life, sustainable architecture has been gaining immense popularity among architects! They have been designing sustainable homes. These homes aim to harmoniously merge with nature, co-existing with it in peace, and allowing us to live in equilibrium with the environment. They reduce their carbon footprint and encourage a sustainable and clean lifestyle. And, not to mention they’re aesthetically and visually pleasing as well! From a breathtaking residential building in Mexico that comes with its own vertical forest and solar panels to a sustainable and flat-packed home that looks like a cruise ship – these amazing homes will convert you into sustainable architecture advocates!

Designed by Mexico-based Sanzpont Arquitectura, ‘Living In The Noom’ puts you in the lap of nature and luxury. Its sanctuary-esque design focuses on three broad pillars – Wellness, Sustainability, and Flexibility. The community features multiple 4-storeyed houses with a uniquely alluring triangular shape, characterized by vertical bamboo channels and a vertical forest growing on the outer facade of the building. Finally, the structure culminates in a terrace on the fifth floor that has solar panels for harvesting energy, and an urban garden where the residents can grow their own food. The project integrates bioclimatic and sustainable strategies such as rainwater harvesting, wastewater separation, wetland for greywater treatment, biodigesters, compost area, and more notably the vertical forest on the outside of each building, which aside from providing a touch of greenery, also filters/purifies the air coming through into the house, and helps reduce the temperature of homes – a phenomenon more commonly known as the Heat Island Effect.

For Anderson Architecture, constructing their latest Off Grid House in the native bushlands of the Blue Mountains in Australia came with its own slew of challenges, but as they describe, “a site’s chief problem should always be the source of its key innovation.” Operable without a backup generator, the Off Grid House is a bi-level home that’s essentially split into two sections. The two sections of the Off Grif House appear as two steeply pitched skillion-roofed boxes facing opposite directions and providing entirely different functions for passive insulation and energy generation. One of the roofed boxes, the sun-lit box, serves as the home’s sleeping quarters, storing the ample sunlight and heat during the day to keep the bedroom warm at night. Then, the escarpment-facing box is on the other side of things, receiving little to no direct sunlight during the day.

This airy modern home features lush gardens, solar panels, and a recycled water system to make living a 100% off-grid home possible with style! Architect Rodolfo Tinoco designed Casa Jardin to be so well equipped that it fend for itself in any situation. It has all systems in place to provide food, water, power, and shelter during natural disasters. The unique structure has several details that help reduce its environmental impact, promote a sustainable lifestyle and provide plenty of privacy if you are on a vacation (that’s also why it’s conveniently located by the beach)! Casa Jardin is built just one block from Tamarindo Beach which is Costa Rica’s main tourist destination. It is a blueprint for self-sustaining architecture. “I wanted to create a prototype that would provide food, water, and power, and also protect during catastrophic situations like droughts and floods,” said architect Rodolfo Tinoco who designed the home for himself and his family.

This off-the-grid home comes fully ready to move in and is equipped with water tanks, solar panels, and autonomous waste disposal — no plug-ins needed! There are two models – mOne and mTwo – available for sale at $199,000 and $379,000. All the features are the same, however, the only difference between the two models is the floor area – the smaller one is suited for two inhabitants and the larger one is made for a small family. The two models come move-in ready, fully furnished, with the technology to use solar energy and recycle water, no utility hookups are needed. The units are ready to host you for 365 days of complete autonomous living. It doesn’t even require laying a foundation, just a flat surface!

The Sail House is a spacious, self-sufficient, nautical-themed home with a unique form inspired by large white sails on ships. It is designed by Los Angeles-based architect David Hertz who is celebrated for sustainable architecture. Sail House was also selected as the 2021 Architizer A+Awards Jury Winner for Residential/Private House! Sail House has a central structure called the main house with several guest houses bordering it and all nestled on the lush Bequia Island in the Caribbean – didn’t I say it literally brings a cruise home? Since the Caribbean is a notoriously difficult area to source building materials, the team made sure that the entire project – the main house and the guesthouses – were prefabricated offsite, flat-packed, and delivered in 15 shipping containers. This ensured minimal site impact to the sensitive ecosystem and was nearly zero waste which is important because otherwise, the construction waste would have had to be transported out of the island which would increase emissions.

Gawthorne’s Hut is stationed on an expansive plot of Wilgowrah’s farmland, right beside a small, quaint pond. The tiny home was born out of Wilgowrah’s desire to introduce the possibilities of alternative income sources for farmworkers. Designed in a similar form to other farmland structures like hay sheds and outbuildings, Gawthorne’s Hut’s 30-degree roof hosts an array of north-facing solar panels to provide the farmhouse with internal and external power. Since the project aimed to create a sustainable, off-grid tiny home, Anderson needed to get the solar panels’ orientations facing a direction where the greatest output could be stored for use. The solar panel roof angles at 30-degree and faces the north to acquire the most solar output. With the solar panels facing the farm’s north side, double glazed timber windows and doors direct the views to the farm’s south end and offer natural ventilation on hot days as well as insulation for the colder nights.

Meet ARCspace, a modular architecture firm that is constantly creating innovative designs and material development to do its part in curbing the emissions for their industry using sustainable, affordable, prefabricated homes. All structures are prefabricated for highly efficient and quick builds which reduce emissions and minimizes waste. ARCspace reports the buildings are “spec-built from the ground up in 40-60% less time and cost than traditional construction.” Residents can fully customize their tiny homes or even scale up to the size of traditional homes and have a huge range of interior design details to choose from including optional elements that provide off-grid power and water. Some homes feature self-contained atmospheric water generators called Hydropanels that are grid-independent and pull a few liters of drinking water out of the air each day.

Meet the world’s first triple net-zero development – the Seventy-Six complex! Triple net zero means the highest standards of reaching net-zero waste in three categories – Energy, Water, and Waste. It is an award-winning project that revitalizes the community of the historic South End, explores new boundaries in sustainable development while being conscious about the environment, costs, and social implications. Seventy-Six is designed by Garrison Architects and it consists of three mixed-use buildings. Building A is a seven-story structure of spanning over 40,320 square feet, Building B, is a nine-story structure spanning over 136,080 square feet, and Building C is also a seven-story structure that spans 40,320 square feet. The buildings all include studio, one, two, and three-bedroom apartments, as well as commercial spaces that can support the residents like a salon, daycare, urban farming zones, etc.

The House in Chamois is a highly modular and adaptable structure, designed to make our sustainable architecture dreams come to life! This modern, prefabricated home by Torino-based firm Leap Factory has named all their projects as ‘Leap Houses’ and each home’s entire design is constructed with a modular system built of natural, recyclable materials that allow for maximum flexibility. Every component for the House in Chamois was produced and designed in Italy to reduce environmental impact and construction site waste.

This bamboo structure is built from a series of intersecting 14-meter tall bamboo arches spanning 19 meters, interconnected by anticlastic gridshells which derive their strength from curving in two opposite directions. It employs one of nature’s greatest strategies for creating large spaces with minimal founding pillars. For example, in a human ribcage, there are a series of ribs working in compression are held in place by a tensioned flexible layer of muscle and skin. This creates a thin but strong encasement for the lungs. Similarly in Arc, arches working in compression are held in place by tensioned anticlastic gridshells. These fields of gridshells appear to drape across the spaces between impossibly thin arches soaring overhead and although the gridshells appear to hang from the arches, they actually hold them up.

The post Sustainable Homes designed to reduce carbon footprint + convert you into sustainable architecture advocates! first appeared on Yanko Design.

These prefab homes take 60% less time & money to build – an affordable solution to sustainable homes!

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ARCspace began as a pilot program as a potential solution to the extreme homelessness crisis in L.A. but has now grown into a range of several accommodation options ranging from 160 to 10,000 square feet.

The construction industry is responsible for 28% of the global emissions and construction-related industries like glass and cement add another 10% to the global emissions. If you think about it 38% of the world’s emissions is a lot and if we find sustainable solutions for the construction industry, we can make a large positive impact rather quickly because it will ripple out to related industries and therefore we can scale up sustainable development faster. I know it is an unlikely approach, but to make the biggest dent when solving a problem we have to start by untangling the biggest knot! ARCspace is a modular architecture firm that is constantly creating innovative designs and material development to do its part in curbing the emissions for their industry using sustainable, affordable, prefabricated homes.

Fun Fact: ARCspace is a division of Sustainable Building Council Ltd., located in the Los Angeles Cleantech Corridor so as a parent company, the goal of Sustainable Building Council Ltd. is to bring together experts in construction, architectural design, engineering, building, environmentalism, and innovative technology to address housing needs around the world. The mission is to work together to create efficient, cost-efficient, and long-lasting housing. It began as a pilot program as a potential solution to the extreme homelessness crisis in L.A. but has now grown into a range of several accommodation options ranging from 160 to 10,000 square feet. All structures are prefabricated for highly efficient and quick builds which reduce emissions and minimizes waste. ARCspace reports the buildings are “spec-built from the ground up in 40-60% less time and cost than traditional construction.”

Residents can fully customize their tiny homes or even scale up to the size of traditional homes and have a huge range of interior design details to choose from including optional elements that provide off-grid power and water. Some homes feature self-contained atmospheric water generators called Hydropanels that are grid-independent and pull a few liters of drinking water out of the air each day. Affordable solar panels are another add-on option, however, the primary supply still comes from onsite plumbing and electrical systems. Units can be linked end to end or stacked up to four units high with stairways connecting each unit.

In addition to avoiding toxins in construction, ARCspace puts a focus on smart home features that are energy-efficient and healthy. The company employs a variety of sustainable technologies such as environmentally friendly, vegetable-based spray foam insulation and specialized window coatings that keep excessive heat out while allowing natural light in. It also uses recycled materials throughout, including for decking and outer cladding. For temporary work sites or emergency housing needs, impermanent foundations mean the units can be relocated with minimal site impact. They can also be set up in as little as 24 hours once onsite with a small team using cranes to stack modules then following up with window installations.

High-grade steel is the primary material selected for durability and seismic safety requirements in California. Steel also makes the prefab homes resilient in the face of high winds while also being highly fire-resistant which is another climate crisis-induced problem in California. It is also easier to maintain and long-lasting because steel won’t succumb to termites. Finally, it can be easily reused or recycled! “We do not utilize or work with any form of used containers, not even 1-trip containers (those only used one time). Shipping containers are manufactured with materials known to cause cancer such as LED paint, DDT wood flooring, and often have insecticide coatings, etc,” says the team as they point out how they are different from shipping containers.

The company said, “Last year, ARCspace collaborated with Habitat for Humanity to create an Emergency Shelter Project in the San Francisco Bay area using America’s first prefabricated foundation and worked with local trade schools to help prepare a new workforce with an understanding of emerging sustainable building technology.” This quick-build housing showed the potential for ARCspace to provide affordable housing but also served as inspiration for those considering a career in green design. ARCscpace is working on changing buildings, landscapes, urban designs, and policies that make cities and living cleaner, more efficient, more beautiful, and more equitable for their citizens.

Designer: ARCspace

The construction industry is responsible for 28% of the global emissions and construction-related industries like glass and cement add another 10% to the global emissions. If you think about it 38% of the world’s emissions is a lot and if we find sustainable solutions for the construction industry, we can make a large positive impact rather quickly because it will ripple out to related industries and therefore we can scale up sustainable development faster. I know it is an unlikely approach, but to make the biggest dent when solving a problem we have to start by untangling the biggest knot! ARCspace is a modular architecture firm that is constantly creating innovative designs and material development to do its part in curbing the emissions for their industry using sustainable, affordable, prefabricated homes.

Fun Fact: ARCspace is a division of Sustainable Building Council Ltd., located in the Los Angeles Cleantech Corridor so as a parent company, the goal of Sustainable Building Council Ltd. is to bring together experts in construction, architectural design, engineering, building, environmentalism, and innovative technology to address housing needs around the world. The mission is to work together to create efficient, cost-efficient, and long-lasting housing. It began as a pilot program as a potential solution to the extreme homelessness crisis in L.A. but has now grown into a range of several accommodation options ranging from 160 to 10,000 square feet. All structures are prefabricated for highly efficient and quick builds which reduce emissions and minimizes waste. ARCspace reports the buildings are “spec-built from the ground up in 40-60% less time and cost than traditional construction.”

High-grade steel is the primary material selected for durability and seismic safety requirements in California. Steel also makes the prefab homes resilient in the face of high winds while also being highly fire-resistant which is another climate crisis-induced problem in California. It is also easier to maintain and long-lasting because steel won’t succumb to termites. Finally, it can be easily reused or recycled! “We do not utilize or work with any form of used containers, not even 1-trip containers (those only used one time). Shipping containers are manufactured with materials known to cause cancer such as LED paint, DDT wood flooring, and often have insecticide coatings, etc,” says the team as they point out how they are different from shipping containers.

Residents can fully customize their tiny homes or even scale up to the size of traditional homes and have a huge range of interior design details to choose from including optional elements that provide off-grid power and water. Some homes feature self-contained atmospheric water generators called Hydropanels that are grid-independent and pull a few liters of drinking water out of the air each day. Affordable solar panels are another add-on option, however, the primary supply still comes from onsite plumbing and electrical systems. Units can be linked end to end or stacked up to four units high with stairways connecting each unit.

In addition to avoiding toxins in construction, ARCspace puts a focus on smart home features that are energy-efficient and healthy. The company employs a variety of sustainable technologies such as environmentally friendly, vegetable-based spray foam insulation and specialized window coatings that keep excessive heat out while allowing natural light in. It also uses recycled materials throughout, including for decking and outer cladding. For temporary work sites or emergency housing needs, impermanent foundations mean the units can be relocated with minimal site impact. They can also be set up in as little as 24 hours once onsite with a small team using cranes to stack modules then following up with window installations.

The company said, “Last year, ARCspace collaborated with Habitat for Humanity to create an Emergency Shelter Project in the San Francisco Bay area using America’s first prefabricated foundation and worked with local trade schools to help prepare a new workforce with an understanding of emerging sustainable building technology.” This quick-build housing showed the potential for ARCspace to provide affordable housing but also served as inspiration for those considering a career in green design. ARCscpace is working on changing buildings, landscapes, urban designs, and policies that make cities and living in the cleaner, more efficient, more beautiful, and more equitable for their citizens.

Designer: ARCspace

Sustainable Homes designed to reduce carbon footprint + help you achieve that eco-friendly lifestyle!

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Living a sustainable and eco-conscious life in today’s crumbling world has become imperative! And, architects are trying their level best to create homes that reduce their carbon footprint and encourage a sustainable and clean lifestyle. And, we’ve curated some of our favorite sustainable home designs that not only take care of Mother Earth but also take our breath away! From a sustainable and DIY-friendly home made from “Air Concrete” to a home that produces energy and stores excess solar power in two Tesla powerwalls – these sustainable homes will have you living in the most eco-friendly way possible!

In the quest to find the perfect substitute many alternatives like foamcrete, papercrete, and hempcrete were created. Now we’ve got aircrete – a foamy mixture of air bubbles and cement which is cost-effective to produce, DIY-friendly, and has the essential safeguarding properties needed for construction. Hajjar Gibran had the idea to create AirCrete homes and DomeGaia brought it to life. The aircrete mixture is a lightweight and low-cost building block that is fireproof, water-resistant, insect-proof, and serves to insulate the structure. AirCrete reduces construction costs by 10 times and is an easy material to work with for single-story homes.

Garden House produces 100kwh of energy with help from a 26 kWh Tesla battery. Finding the future of home sustainability through this sharing of energy, Garden House is powered by solar energy and powers the block’s shared energy grid. Since many Australians utilize solar panels to power up their homes, Garden House is in good company on a narrow street filled with garden oases and blooming greenery. Careful not to disrupt the natural terrain in and around the house’s lot, AMA developed Garden House’s layout and connected pavilions based around the network of pre-existing garden spaces and trees. This set the stage and literally the foundation for the home’s commitment to producing more sustainable energy than it requires to run.

One of my favorite things about tiny homes is the loft-style beds because they give you a little private cozy corner and that is exactly how the bedroom in Natura is set up. It has a multifunctional king-sized bed with plenty of storage under the frame. The bedroom also has a single large window that makes it more spacious and allows for a lot of natural light to flood your top floor. The space optimization goes beyond the bedroom, there are many built-in spaces for you to put the things you own under the stairs as well as in the walls! The choice of materials for exterior and interior has been kept in line with the eco-friendly mission – there is wood paneling on the exterior, a thick corkboard layer on the front to add a defining feature that doubles as a breathable, fire-retardant area by the bedroom.

Grandio uses its technology to keep the architectural industry to date with its building system that allows for 99% offsite construction. In October 2020, they unveiled their very first prefabricated concrete home called Hüga. Today, the team has developed an advanced enough system using the same technology that can be deployed for commercial, hospitality, and residential functions thus scaling up its positive impact on sustainable construction. Hüga was made to find a solution for the unsatisfying demand in housing and public buildings because that industry has remained the same for centuries. ‘the use of brick in our constructions for over 5000 years is a clear example of how the construction industry is reluctant to change.

Named the Kvivik Igloo, the tiny, prefabricated houses perch the hilltops of Kvivik, overlooking the bay and surrounding mountains. Designed to look like tiny hobbit cottages, each Kvivik Igloo is built with a hexagonal frame and design elements meant to echo the past. Lined with asphalt panels, the Kvivik Igloos can sprout grass and greenery from their roofs and sides to really transport residents into their favorite hobbit fairytale. The igloo’s living roof not only adds to its charm but also to the tiny home’s sustainability factor, creating a heightened nesting place for birds and woodland creatures alike.

Before the manufacturing process, Pod-Idladla was conceived by Clara for young professionals to have a sustainable, affordable, and multifunctional living space. Inside, the living areas form one fluid space, rather than individual rooms. Walking through the unit’s front door, vertical storage solutions line the unit’s veneered walls and universal brackets allow the plywood storage bins to be moved around the pod. Even the pieces of furniture, from the kitchen table to the living room sofa, have dual purposes to optimize the unit’s space allowing residents to customize the space however they like. To merge practicality with convenience, the shower is even located in the passageway, which is outfitted with duck boarding, or slatted wooden flooring to keep the timber from getting wet.

Designed for a client who wanted a timeless and practical holiday home, I imagine he is truly enjoying his quarantine overlooking the Pacific Ocean because that is where I would be living out the pandemic if I had the option. The eco-home has 3 floors, 6 bedrooms, 9 bathrooms, and is one of Australia’s most expensive homes. The exterior is anything but that of a conventional house – it has several large domes stacked upon each other and covered with green roofs to blend in with nature. The unusual shape and use of natural materials truly optimize the natural sunlight and ventilation that Domik gets due to its premium location. It almost looks like the house is wearing a hooded cloak of eco-consciousness.

The team at i29 Architects wanted to maximize their client’s living space indoors, so a clever combination of pitched roofing and dramatic diagonal coping gives the floating home high ceilings, a striking exterior display, and protects the roof from heavy rainfall. From the start, architecture and design went hand in hand for the team at i29 – one influencing and catering to the other, and vice versa. Further on this, i29 says, “Architecture and interior design are always intertwined and connected on each level to make a clear and unified experience. The floating home exterior design is the result of a space extensional study within the interior and vice versa.”

Please join me in dreaming about the rest of our lives living in our Casa Ojalá units. This dreamy circular tiny home is actually a supermodular structure that can be arranged in 20 different ways to accommodate all parts of your life within one functional unit. Italian architect Beatrice Bonzanigo created the luxury cabin to elevate tourism in destinations that are immersed in nature. Casa Ojalá blurs the boundaries between interior and exterior in the most organic ways. The build, aesthetic, and CMF has all been inspired by sailboats. The cylindrical structure operates with a manual mechanism made with ropes, handles, pulleys, and cranks. The compact 27 sqm cabin can be configured with rollable walls that let guests create different open and closed spaces.

Meet the newest modular home office in my collection, the DROP office by In-Tenta – a tiny home for two people that lets you live anywhere, including your backyard! The main appeal of a tiny home remains privacy and mobility, both of which are answered by the DROP office. While most tiny homes focus on setting up the place for a single owner, DROP provides two comfortable and fully equipped home offices. The dimensions of the cabin match that of a shipping container, the design is built and ‘dropped’ onto the site of your choice, reducing the environmental impact of construction! Need a break from work? The outdoor deck and fully openable windows allow you to immerse yourself in your surroundings.

This prefab modular home includes an open floor plan + arched ceiling with curved pinewood walls!

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Modular homes have been on the rise. Even if we’re only dreaming, each one of us is searching high and low for our own prefabricated getaway somewhere far away in the woods and modular homes offer a feasible means to create our own dream cabin in the woods. Whether we’d like one for work-related retreats or for family holidays, Woonpioniers, an Amsterdam-based architecture, and design studio has created Indigo, a modular building system that designs homes to replicate one of your dreams.

Depending on the home you’d like to build with Woonpioniers, Indigo’s structure and shape may vary. Recently, Lia Harmsen collaborated with Woonpioniers to design her live-in workspace for sculpting. The finished custom two-floor home measures 861-square-feet and features fixed-end moment building practices that produce a beautiful, curved interior leading from the wall to the ceiling. The fixed-end moment frame of the home offers an open-air floor plan, giving complete access for the building’s interior layout to take shape, leaving behind the spatial restriction of support beams and partitions.

Inside, the topmost section of the pinewood sheets that make up the home’s wall curves and connects to the ceiling, producing beam-like support for the building’s structural forces without the physical need of additional beams. Woonpioniers built the bendable wooden sheets themselves, making small incisions in the wooden sheets until they curved to the desired shape. Below, pigmented concrete fills Indigo’s ground floor while the stairs and the upstairs bedroom is lined with ProFi flooring from solid timber and given a transparent coating for a finished look.

From the outside, Harmsen’s dark-as-night Indigo live-in workspace features floor-to-ceiling windows that cover the whole of the structure’s front and back facades. The abundance of natural light showcases the home’s floorplan, which features a small kitchenette, dining area, living room, and bathroom located below a staircase with integrated storage options that leads to the home’s loft bedroom.

Designer: Woonpioniers

From the exterior, Indigo appears to have a traditional frame, but a closer look showcases curving interior walls.

Indigo’s exterior facades are paneled with pinewood and connect to a metal roof.

The curved walls provide the loft with a cozy frame and an organic placement for the built-in skylight.

From both ends of the loft, Indigo features a triangular floor-to-ceiling window.

The materials used to build Indigo were chosen for their self-regulating properties were responsibly sourced for an overall minimal environmental impact.

The first floor of Harmsen’s Indigo features a small kitchenette and dining area on one side, and a woodfire oven delineates the kitchenette from the rest of the floor plan.

The polished concrete flooring is only found on the first floor and bathroom interiors.

Equipped with integrated staircase storage, Woonpioniers made clever use of the 861-square-feet on which Indigo rests.

The kitchenette’s countertop was built by Lia Harmsen herself.

Across the room from the kitchen, Indigo also features a small living area.

Sustainable architectural designs that coexist with nature, and encourage an eco-friendly way of living!

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With the world turning topsy turvy in 2020, living in a sustainable, conscious, and smart manner has never been more imperative. Our homes should seamlessly integrate with, and nourish the planet, not drain her resources and reduce her lifespan. Being at one with Planet Earth, while taking rigorous care of her has never been more of a priority. In an effort to encourage an eco-friendly way of life, sustainable architecture has been gaining immense popularity among architects! They have been designing sustainable homes. These homes aim to harmoniously merge with nature, co-existing with it in peace, and allowing us to live in equilibrium with the environment. And, not to mention most of them also manage to be quaint, cute, and super pleasing to the eyes!

LCA Architetti designed a home made from cork, straw, and wood, creating a minimal and sustainable home that is close and connected to nature. Deemed, The House of Wood, Straw, and Cork, it aims to minimize the impact and damage on the environment, by creating a home built from recyclable and prefabricated construction materials. The textured cork cladding minimizes the building’s energy demand. Sustainable, delicate, and quaint, it’s a perfect home in the Italian countryside!

Studio Vural designed the Dune House, an off-the-grid home on the shores of Cape Cod. The house has an autonomous power source and network, backed up by wind turbines and a solar field, which produces clean and pure energy. The home is inspired by a squid’s rainbow flash, by their ability to power themselves. Hence, the end result was a house that powers itself! The architect describes it as, “the next generation of hyper-sustainable houses which must be aggressively pursued to turn the tables on climate change.”

Woonpioniers designed the sustainable and modular Indigo Cabins. Bio-based materials were used to create homes that nourish the planet and provide an intimate connection to nature. Wood, cellulose, straw, hemp fibers, wool, earth, and clay were used in building the home. The cabins can be easily assembled, reassembled, and dismantled. It effectively minimizes the utilization of material and energy, inculcating an eco-friendly and environmentally conscious home.

For the greenhouse, Hague drew inspiration from the Mimosa Pudica plant which closes its leaves when it senses danger and that is how she came up with collapsible beams featuring inflatable hinges. It gave the greenhouse a unique origami effect and also enables the structure to be easily flat-packed for transportation/storage. Rows of these bamboo-paper greenhouses can be connected to shared houses constructed from the soil, which has a high thermal mass, providing shelter from extreme temperatures in India.

The Shenzhen Terraces are designed to encourage sustainable living and the structure will be the center of the student community at Universiade New Town in Longgang District. Think of it as a multi-dimensional urban living room for the busy college town. The terraces are all stacks of unusual shapes because the idea is to build them around the existing outdoor public places – evolving spaces without disrupting them. All the buildings in the structure will be connected through the second floor and the small outdoor atriums throughout the community are actually places where the terraces converge to connect. “Shenzhen Terraces aims to bring vitality and innovation to the area through a seamless integration of landscape, leisure, commerce, and culture,” says MVRDV.

The students from the Southern California Institute of Architecture transform India’s Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi into a sustainable and culturally engaging hub that is also capable of purifying the air. The idea was to design a structure that can reduce the environmental impact of air travel while enhancing mobility across New Delhi which is the capital of India and one of the most polluted cities in the world. The Green Gateway proposes a future where airports are more than buildings and let the passengers connect with the site through every element of the structure. The concept has been envisioned for a future where flying cars are the norm and that means a drastic increase in domestic air travel.

Created with biophilic principles and parametric design tools, the hypnotizing prefab timber modules, Mitosis will be optimized to be flexible and scalable. This will let the building continue expansion with time in several different urban settings while accommodating the changing times which often results in changing needs. The ability to expand the structural hub is where the building gets its name from. Mitosis can be used for a wide range right from creating communities with off-grid, single-family homes to high-density, mixed-use zones in cities. GG-loop’s pilot project Freebooter was the foundation for Mitosis and is in itself an award-winning pair of prefabricated, cross-laminated timber apartments that were completed last year in Amsterdam.

BiodiverCity will be planned to be a sustainable city where people and nature not only co-exist but thrive. There will be “buffers” between 50 to 100 meters that will surround each district in order to form a harmonious relationship between the people, the land, and the wildlife – think of these buffers as architectural glues for the new ecosystem. To keep native animals safe in spots that are being inhabited by humans, the builders will also include canopies, waterways, and boardwalks. In line with this strong green approach, there will also be green roofs and open spaces to create a symbiotic relationship between people and nature.

The team at i29 Architects wanted to maximize their client’s living space indoors, so a clever combination of pitched roofing and dramatic diagonal coping gives the floating home high ceilings, a striking exterior display, and protects the roof from heavy rainfall. From the start, architecture and design went hand in hand for the team at i29 – one influencing and catering to the other, and vice versa. Further on this, i29 says, “Architecture and interior design are always intertwined and connected on each level to make a clear and unified experience. The floating home exterior design is the result of a space extensional study within the interior and vice versa.” Inside, the floating home’s three floors are connected by an atrium, which extends through all three levels. Just above water-level, a split connection in the atrium’s middle levels leads to a loggia terrace for unobstructed views of the canal.

The Luum is an eco-friendly bamboo structure located in a conserved area in a native jungle, within a conservation-minded residential development called Luum Zama. The temple’s design is highly influenced by parametric architecture and features five catenary arches made from Bamboo. Designed by CO-LAB Design Office, the temple’s design uses bamboo sustainably grown in the neighboring Chiapas state. Flat sections of bamboo were bent and cold-molded on site, before being shaped into the 5 catenary arches. For structural stability, the designers wove together multiple bamboo beams into a triangular mesh, with a dual-layered woven bamboo lattice on top for further cover. Sitting atop the grand bamboo structure is a canopy of local Zacate, or straw thatch, giving the structure protection from heat and even rain.