Interior Design Sense

HEY READERS! Want to win a new washer and dryer and a year’s worth of laundry supplies?

Inhabitat is teaming up with Method to give you an incredible green laundry room renovation worth $8,500! One lucky reader is set to win a brand new energy efficient washer and dryer duo, some eco-friendly laundry room furnishings and accessories and an entire year’s supply of Method cleaning products! Enter to win this awesome prize package today!

ENTER TO WIN HERE >

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Post tags: cleaning, green cleaning, green design, green interiors, green products, method laundry detergent, sustainable design

Reverse graffiti is a type of street art that effaces – not defaces – public property. That’s right, the taggers or “scrubbers” that practice this art form actually remove filth from their canvases instead of adding it to create their imagery. We’ve been following reverse graffiti for a long time now, but a new sampling of it in Durban, South Africa recently caught our eye. Check out all of the gorgeous work this group of youngsters has completed by cleaning dirt and grime off of their town’s walls.

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Post tags: clean graffiti, durban, eco design, eco street art, green art eco art, green design, green graffiti, green street art, reverse graffiti, scrubbing, Street art, sustainable design

Inhabitat has long followed the innovative work of prefab pioneer Jennifer Siegal; from country schools to mod beach houses. This time, the Office of Mobile Design has ventured inland to install its latest design, the Prefab Showhouse. Formerly located in Venice, CA where it served as OMD’s showroom for inquisitive clients, the diminutive modular maison was just recently moved from its coastal location to be installed in the desert community of Joshua Tree where it will be the new home to Hollywood film producer Chris Hanley.

Read the rest of Sustainable Prefab Pied-a-Terre by Office of Mobile Design

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Post tags: mobile mini house, Office of Mobile Design, Prefab Housing, sustainable design

Opening Monday, March 15th in Long Beach, CA, EcoTopia is a competition and exhibition highlighting new concepts in green product design. The show will feature a variety of eco-products from designers that are all focused on fostering a healthy ecosystem and more sustainable society. The 20 products included in the juried exhibition will be available for viewing in Nectar Design’s Studios from March 15, 2010 to April 15, 2010.

Read the rest of EcoTopia: New Concepts in Green Product Design

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Post tags: eco design, Ecotopia, green design, green design competition, Green Exhibition, Juried Exhibitions, Nectar Design, sustainable design, Sustainable Design Competitions, Sustainable Exhibition

Read the rest of Crazy Pixel Building to Be Australia’s First Carbon Neutral Office

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Post tags: “wind turbine”, carbon neutral office building, carbon-neutral, eco design, first carbon neutral building in australia, Green Building, green design, grocon, pixel building, Solar Power, studio 505, Sustainable Building, sustainable design

Read the rest of BREEAM Awards Showcase the Most Outstanding Green Buildings in Europe

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Post tags: “sustainable architecture”, breeam awards, BREEAM excellent, Green Building, green building certification, green design, sustainable design

Olson Lewis Dioli & Doktor Architects recently shared their appreciation of upcycling with youngsters at the Brookwood School Sustainability Fair by teaching them how to turn trash into treasure. The firm taught children at the elementary school how to save simple wooden pallets from the incinerator and craft their very own bird abodes!

The children were provided with a premade kit made from the wooden pallets, and had help from architects on the scene to piece the parts together. The result of their efforts was a batch of adorable, hand made birdhouses perfect for encouraging birds’ own form of upcycling – nest building. The Sustainability Fair, which was open to the public, successfully gathered students, parents, community members, and organizations, in order to promote the use of sustainable practices, like upcyling, “a life-long habit”.

Thanks for the tip Henry Louis Miller!

+ Olson Lewis Dioli & Doktor Architects

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Post tags: birdhouse, carpentry, eco design, green design, Olson Lewis Dioli & Doktor, sustainable design

Just in time for spring, Hom, purveyor of stylish, modern, prefab double-wides, furniture, accessories, and lighting, has teamed with eco-friendly LA-based furniture manufacturer Cisco Brothers to announce a new line of sustainable outdoor furniture. Crafted with sustainable materials and environmentally responsible manufacturing techniques, the new line offers up a mix of tables, dining and lounging chairs for California-inspired indoor-outdoor living.

Read the rest of HOM and Cisco Brothers Unveil New Line of Eco-Friendly Outdoor Furniture

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Post tags: “green furniture”, cisco brothers, green design, green furnishings, green industrial design, hom, sustainable design, Sustainable Interiors, Sustainable Materials, Sustainable Outdoor Furniture

The next time your umbrella turns inside out beyond repair, think about mailing it to Taryn Zychal and giving it a second life. Recycling Zychal upcycles rescued umbrellas into hoods, umbrella dog rain coats, and organic cat nip filled kitty toys. Based in Philadelphia, her team takes their rule “No Broken Umbrella Left Behind” very seriously – scouring through trash in search of discarded umbrellas after a hard rain. Her styles have become quite worldly with donations of umbrellas coming from as far as France. For every broken umbrella donated to Recycling Zychal, the company donates $1 to a list of animal assistance organizations, shelters and causes.

+ Recycling Zychal

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Post tags: Cat Toys, green design, Hoods, inhabitat, Pet Coat, Recycling Zychal, Sustainable Cat Toys, sustainable design, Sustainable Pet Coats, Sustainable Pets, umbrella, upcycling

Within the next few months, we hope to start seeing more about an intriguing small-scale wind power technology that was first announced a few years ago. The Windbelt was devised as a wind power generator to meet the very modest power needs of families in third-world countries. The device is revolutionary for being non-revolving — most wind power is produced by something going around in a circle and turning on an axis to drive a generator. Windbelt, however, uses the oscillation of a thin strip of material held in tension with a spring to vibrate a magnet that generates electrical power.

Read the rest of Windbelt: Innovative Generator to Bring Cheap Wind Power to Third World

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Post tags: “wind power”, “wind turbine”, design for developing nations, green design, humanitarian design, humdinger, renewable energy, social design, sustainable design, Windbelt