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Date: September 12, 2021
“Is Fungus the Plastic of the Future? Plastic changed the course of manufacturing forever, but came at a cost. Mycelium technology might be the solution and the next big boom … a plastic-like replacement with so many uses and new opportunities for products, companies, and profits. Let’s explore mycelium technology and how it can help us achieve a more renewable and cleaner future.” |
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Date: September 10, 2021
“Who would have thought that sandbags could be inspirational? They were originally used for flood control and military bunkers but they have now been adapted for home construction. The bags are made of natural materials like hemp or burlap or more durable synthetic materials like polypropylene which is water, rot and insect resistant. These bags are filled with 70% sand and 30% clay and are laid in courses to build the walls, similar to bricklaying. The most common structures look like big beehives or igloos as the curved walls provide good lateral stability. The system has no tensile strength, so the structures must be built into compression forms like domes and arches. However, they could take on other forms like straight walls if they are topped with conventional roofs. The earliest version of earthbag homes can be traced to Gernot Minke, a German professor. However, it gained momentum thanks to Nader Khalili, an Iranian architect. He established the California Institute of Earth Art and Architecture in Hesperia. Khalili developed and patented the superadobe building system, which uses mile-long fabric tubes that can be pumped full of soil and laid in coils to create a structure. He envisioned these structures providing temporary housing in case of natural emergencies or for low-cost housing. His most popular design is the Eco Dome, 400 sq ft structure that was featured on HGTV. Advantages: Disadvantages: |
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Date: September 07, 2021
“The Future of Solid State Wind Energy – No More Blades. Wind power is one of the fastest-growing renewable sources that works well at scale, but it isn’t perfect. What if we could scale down wind turbine power to something that could fit on your roof? And be self-contained with smaller moving parts … or maybe no blades or moving parts at all? Let’s look at some future alternatives for harnessing wind power.” |
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Date: September 06, 2021
“Earthships are off-grid houses made of trash. These off-grid homes are fully self sustainable and do not require any utilities for comfortable living. Amazingly, the beautiful earthships are actually made out of garbage. In New Mexico’s desert town of Taos there is a large community of like minded people that dwell in earthships. In this episode we explore why they are there and why they choose this way of life.” |
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Date: July 16, 2021
“Stroads are streets that are designed like roads and in doing so, fail at being good at either one. They are too sprawling and hostile to be good streets, and they are too busy and complicated to be good roads. Stroads are inefficient, unsafe, expensive, and ugly. This video introduces the concept of Stroads, and talks about why you will (almost) never find these kind of places in the Netherlands: because here all roads need to have a single purpose as either a motorway, connector road, or end-destination street. The name “stroad” was invented by Strong Towns as a way to explain why road design in the US is fundamentally broken.” |
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Date: July 08, 2021
“Urban noise is a common problem, and the vast majority of it is created by motor vehicles. Noise is far too often dismissed as a minor nuisance, rather than the legitimate health issue that it is. The book “Curbing Traffic” has a chapter about the health impacts of noise pollution. I explore the research in the book, and visit Delft, the city that is highlighted in the book as being a shining example of what can happen when noise pollution is taken seriously. This video explores the problem that farting cars, farting motorcycles, and farting mopeds create in our cities.” |
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Date: July 06, 2021
“1. Absolutely Gorgeous 37-foot Denali Tiny House by Timbercraft Tiny Homes Buy from Timbercraft Tiny Homes 2. The Most Beautiful Tiny Houses Mint Loft EDITION 3. The Henderson I guess…if you can afford one… People with the money have a right to spend it…so, I’m casting no shade… …I’m just getting more and more, kind of…tiny homes seem to be becoming like the eco dome…which was organically launched from a movement, to shelter those without a home…as inexpensively as possible…What started out as “we can build a structure for $2000”, became an opportunity for exotic builders to descend and cash in with luxury domes…But where are the practical initiatives at, which aspire to give the homeless and poor a home? We need the low cost homes in this world…Upscale luxury homes aren’t really doing the down trodden any good…They cannot afford them. Homes with massive price tags seem largely antithetical, to the whole idea behind these homes. |
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SUB-BLOG ARCHIVE – FRONTIER SERIES |
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Date: April 27, 2021
“Meet Bob Wells and the rest of the real life nomads who inspired ‘Nomadland.’ Driven out of their homes by the economic crisis and the retirement crunch, thousands of older Americans have traded the suburbs for the open road. Learn about this growing subculture and the realties they face finding work, staying connected and living a #VanLife.” |
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Date: March 06, 2021
“Shadow built this incredible floating island with salvaged and reclaimed materials. The island comprises a 2-story float home, a floating chicken coop, floating gardens, and even a floating compost shed! He’s been living on the water for 17 years and working hard to protect the Widgeon Slough area in BC, Canada. He gathers wood from the river to use as firewood, he grows some of his own fresh food in barrel gardens, and he collects fresh water from a nearby spring. He filters his greywater on a floating raft with multiple plant and husk filtration layers, and he composts his food and human waste to ensure that nothing goes overboard. You can follow Shadow on Instagram and YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEX9ThVbOfXLWD-IO4aRJ_w Each part of the island is floating independently with its own off-grid solar panel to provide electricity. This way, if the island breaks apart during a storm, the power system won’t be damaged. Shadow uses a skiff to collect wood from the river and to get around his island. For longer journeys into town, he uses his kayak to get to the road, and from there, he uses a bicycle to get to town for supplies. He also has friends and family who help him with obtaining supplies. Shadow says the main threats to the area are poachers, pollution, film crews, and the local government spraying pesticides to control invasive species and opening the area to be a park. The government has been trying to evict him for years, but he feels that his presence is needed to keep people accountable for the harm they’re inflicting on this delicate ecosystem.” |
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Date: March 04, 2021
“Olot (Catalonia, Spain, population 34,000), an old town in the midst of the Pyrenees’ foothills, is well known for its forested volcanoes, country estates (“masías”) & evergreen pastures, but when Fina Puigdevall talked to her former classmate Carme Pigem about revamping her restaurant Les Cols plus building her new house, neither of them could have imagined that, later on, the former would become a celebrated Michelin-starred chef, and the latter a Pritzker-prize-awarded architect. Puigdevall grew up in Les Cols, her family’s 15th century masia. In 1990, in an attempt to save it from development, she opened a restaurant in the former stables downstairs. With no formal culinary training, she worked her way to two Michelin stars by 2010 (which she has held since). In 2000, she hired Pigem and RCR architects to open up the space to the outdoors: they designed a light/water cube in the kitchen and a huge glass wall framing the apple orchard and chicken run. The result is a dining experience that feels immersed in the outdoors. When Puigdevall wanted to expand her own home – a former mill straddling a creek – to accommodate her family of five, RCR Architects told her they wouldn’t touch the original structure, but proposed something completely new in the middle of the former corn fields. What they dubbed “Horizon House” is a corten steel structure carved into the hill. Large walls of glass can be opened to allow the fields – now planted with native crops like buckwheat- to enter the home.” |
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