I don't think we're in Detroit anymore, Toto...

Foster + Partners carbon neutral design "Motor City" won a competition back in April in Aragon Spain, but I just discovered it today and felt it was worth a mention. The shape and design, given the surrounding background, didn't exactly scream sustainability. But I digress...

The roof of the pavilion, designed with the slick curves of an F1 racer, is laden with photovoltaic cells, solar thermal tubes, and wind turbines. The resulting aerodynamics, in addition to the modified guts and gears, make the building carbon neutral.

Want to take a virtual tour?



I, however, only believe in the claim of carbon neutrality 10 years after construction...with biiiig stacks of reports/facts/evidence. Regardless, I was pretty amazed with the work F+P has done over the years. Pretty amazing stuff.

Then again, I'm not sure I would want to change the landscape of Aragon, Spain. Beautiful.

Anywhoo, from their website:

Foster + Partners has won the international competition to create La Ciudad del Motor -Motor City – a major new leisure and cultural zone within a new motor sports centre in Alcañiz, Aragon, it was announced today. The scheme was chosen from a shortlist of internationally-renowned architectural practices; Jean Nouvel, Dominique Perrault, UNStudio and MVRDV.

The design of Motor City is inspired by the sleek aerodynamic aesthetic of the racing car. The smooth forms and volumes of the building are sculpted by solar and wind patterns with a lightweight roof that floats over the entire complex. Motor City will use passive environmental controls as well as harnessing renewable energy, enabling the whole complex to be carbon neutral.

The roof integrates sustainable design elements such as photovoltaic cells and solar thermal tubes on its surface together with an array of wind turbines. The sweeping roof culminates in a tower which gives the development its identity. When illuminated at night, it will become a beacon for Motor City, echoing the nearby Parador of Alcañiz announcing a new era of sustainable development for the region.

The practice is opening a new office in central Madrid in May to look after and develop its work in Spain. This competition win is the latest in a group of projects the practice has recently won throughout Spain that includes Madrid’s City of Justice, the headquarters for Repsol YPF, a winery for Faustino and a masterplan for Seville.

I'm going to take a nap in the bath...

How do you turn a dilapidated, run-down lot like this...

...in to a palatial, weather manipulated, sliding roofed, floating walled, mini-house in South London -- that is -- in South London for £210,000 (about $435,000 US)?

With a second mortgage from your father to cover construction costs, and around a bazillion friends to put it all together for you.

A steel-framed house is pretty difficult to construct when you can't afford a crane. But somehow, Monty and Claire made magic, constructing this beautiful dream home out of nothing (how much free pizza and beer do you need to offer to do something like this?!?!).

But really, how cool can this house be? It's sammiched TIGHT between two surrounding brick structures. There's just enough room for one bathroom? They're so close to the neighbors that side view windows wouldn't even work. They must be squeezed at the gills, right?

Well, the bed in the master slides to the side to reveal a bathtub underneath. I'd say that kind of space management can be filed under cool.

In actuality, just about everything in this house can be classified as cool, seeing as it all rotates, slides or spins to add more space.

There's the wall on the master:

The window on the upper mezzanine:

The huge, corner-positioned doors on the side of the dance studio. Yes, a dance studio. FYI: The floor is made out of a Sycamore tree that was cut from the site:

The kitchen cabinets that work at a slant to fit into the odd-shaped nooks and crannies:

And yes, once again, the sliding bed/bath:

Want to take a virtual tour?

Take your seat on the internet Routemaster HERE.

Visit the Pekham House's main website HERE.

Simplicity comes at a price...

Contrary to popular opinion, I still think London is the most expensive city in the world.

Why?

Not because of the housing or cost of living of the petrol or the PPP (pound per pint), but because of the Binvention.
Given the simplicity of the design, the Binvention is quite neat - not to mention it gives me a use for all those bags I'm (yet still) accumulating. If only my 29-year-old Alzheimer's would stop preventing me from GRABBING MY CLOTH BAGS FROM THE DOOR KNOB...sheesh.

But $132 [£64.99]?

I'd rather go out and buy a plastic wall-mounted hook, thus leaving me with $130 in which to buy beer and fill the aforementioned bags.

Side Note: Did you know that people in Singapore use about 2.5 billion plastic bags per year? That comes to 2,500 bags per family - almost seven per day!

From the website:

Binvention is a stylish home recycling unit that enables you to re-use plastic carrier bags to compartmentalise and sort cans, paper, and plastic.

There's space for 4 carrier bags to sort your rubbish in...Binvention gets your recycling sorted, and makes a cool, chic feature of the previously unglamorous recycling bin. Heralded as 'super slick' by Time Out magazine, Binvention makes light work of separating waste for recycling.Not only is it a laudable environmental product, it is also a truly desirable design piece. Binvention was short-listed for Best Eco Product at Grand* Designs Magazine Awards.

*Apparently the Grand stands for price.