Dattatreya Mandal:

The long Navy Pier has long been one of the iconic venues of Chicago. In fact, this 1,010 m stretch is considered to be one of the top tourist spots around Lake Michigan. However, in spite of its grandiose nature, the celebrated pier still doesn’t possess a credible spatial link with the rest of the metropolis. Well, as an architectural solution, BIG architects and American based AECOM have envisaged their ambitious proposal for a complete ‘revitalization’ of this important water front.

BIG architects + AECOM: chicago navy pier proposal

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Pratima Kalra:

Cruising through the neighborhood or down random alleys on a skateboard will now become far more interesting than it was. All you have to do is think, and you will find yourself sliding along without the need to move. Chaotic Moon Labs had earlier dazzled you with their Kinect controlled or motion controlled ‘Board of Awesomeness’, and now they are out with an upgraded version of the same, called ‘Board of Imagination’

Board of Awesomeness

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Rahul Gupta:

Depleting resources have left us with bankrupted energy depository and we need to do a better job to save our planet and need to think more about long term methods before ruining it entirely. Contributing towards the same cause German designer, Eric Strebel came up with a concept of three wheeled electric runabout dubbed as ‘Willow’.

Willow RuN-A-BouT

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Rahul Gupta:

Have you ever thought of using pay phone booths as libraries? If not, you might get a chance of seeing them for real. Architect John Locke has conceived the idea of changing New York City pay phone booths into guerilla libraries. According to New York City sidewalk estimates, there are 13,659 pay phones. Architect John has till now changed two pay phone booths into guerilla libraries on an experimental basis.

Guerrilla Libraries

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Dattatreya Mandal:

Modular homes basically allude to the ‘factory made’ scope of housing, which in itself entails lesser cost of production and overall low carbon footprint. These dwellings are manufactured in separate components or modules, and then assembled, fixed and constructed on site, upon a pre existing foundation. However, as per guidelines, they should strictly follow the local building codes of layouts and structural strengths, as opposed to manufactured houses, which only have to comply by a single federal law of HUD. This stringent constructional protocol tends to impart greater efficiency, yet lesser cost to modular dwellings, thus making them ideal for the eco conscious among us.

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Dattatreya Mandal:

Maglev trains, as we all know are propelled by a low emission system of magnetic levitation, instead of a conventional set up of wheels, axles and bearings. This levitation process in itself suspends and guides the vehicle, thus improving upon the speed and noise mitigation of the rail oriented commute. Well, in relation to this, Czech industrial design student Jan Koutník has conceptualized his indigenous version of maglev based transportation, which seeks to improve upon the overall level of user transit convenience.

Magellan C2 by Jan Koutnik

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Sonia Renthlei:

Using alternative energy is the only way we can go about ensuring our survival in the years to come. Since almost all forms of alternative energy are renewable, there’s no chance of sources depleting anytime soon. But, proponents of green energy will know that harnessing power from sources like the wind, sun and tidal waves isn’t as easy as it seems. Since they don’t exist at a steady rate, the odds against being able to harvest a steady stream of energy is high. As such, the energy output is far less compared to that gained from conventional sources like gas and oil.

Wringing More Energy out of Everyday Motions

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Sonia Renthlei:

Designing competitions give ordinary folk a chance to present their concepts to the world, envisioning change and innovation. They also pave the way for governments to establish infrastructure based on them. The Harlem Edge is one such competition that encourages residents of Harlem to come up with redevelopment ideas for the now decommissioned Department of Sanitation site. Competitors are asked to create a concept taking into consideration public access, urban agriculture, creative programming, facilitation of economic activity, and sustainability.

Greenhouse Transformer

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Sonia Renthlei:

Modern architecture is vastly different from that followed centuries back. Buildings of today incorporate a lot of sleek lines with a minimalistic approach. They also take into consideration the importance of making use of environmentally friendly building materials. If you look closely, you’ll notice that several modern establishments have solar vents, roof gardens and large windows that are strategically placed to facilitate the movement of wind and the entry of natural light. So, what happens with old meets new? Well, get ready to find out with MEI Architecture’s parking garage located in Almere, The Netherlands.

MEI Architecture’s Block 11

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Rajeev Kumar:

Researchers at the Newcastle University have successfully identified a stratospheric bacteria as a new source of power of the future. Named as Bacillus Stratosphericus (BS), this is the most important component of a new bio-film developed by them for electricity generation in a microbial fuel cell (MFC). The super bug is usually found 20 miles above the earth. However, it was first found on earth in the Wear Estuary in Sunderland, UK. It is believed to have been brought to earth surface by the process of atmospheric cycling during which evaporated water first rise to the stratosphere and then fall back again on earth.

Space bacteria

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Dattatreya Mandal:

Agriculture has been one of the major human activities that have been practiced over the millenniums for the sole purpose of sustaining life. In this regard, the fascinating scope of agriculture has expanded beyond just growing crops or husbanding animals. In fact, it is a crucial economic sector in itself, which employs about one-third of humanity. However, as with other important ‘industries’, this huge ambit does contribute to adverse environmental impacts all over the world. In relation to this, Brazilian industrial designer Gabriel Henrique Floss has come up with his electric powered agricultural equipment that insinuates a low emission side of affairs.

ARAM

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Abdul Vahid V:

Solar researchers from Kerala, a southern state of India, have designed the world’s first integrated solar energy storage roof tile. Utilizing special electronics, the researchers have managed to develop solar tiles with integrated battery to store the generated power. Forty researchers of the Amrita Center for Nanosciences, headed by Shanti Nair and Vinod Gopal, have worked on the coveted project.

Integrated solar power tile

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Sonia Renthlei:

Every modern home needs items to help make living easier. But it is also important that these products don’t release harmful toxins and chemicals which can pose a danger to the health and the environment. In keeping with increasing demand for green products, manufacturers of household items are rolling out eco friendly and useful objects designed to making life easy. They’re innovative, interesting and fully functional and serve to add comfort to your existence.

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Shreeja Narayanan:

Ooze Architects are spear heading their latest commercial/residential project in Gundala, 35 kilometers from Hyderabad, India. This project is based on a very innovative and interesting eco concept namely ‘Forest Life’ based on grouping together individual villas of distinct typologies in the existing forest with a much denser hub of residential towers and a commercial podium having several shops and offices, along the main road heading south from Hyderabad.

Forest Life’ / OOZE

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Dattatreya Mandal:

When it comes to the ambit of city based transportation modes, foldable bikes do not actually belong to a new conceptual trend. But, beyond the essence of novelty, it is the nature of credibility that should hold importance in an efficient design. In that regard, we cannot indubitably appraise the TODO foldable electric bike by designer Albert Lu, given the lack of provided information. However, a fully portable, low emission bike in an urban scope is more likely to adhere to our future needs of practicality and sustenance.

Foldable Electric Bike

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Pratima Kalra:

Do you find it inconvenient to use public transit system for daily commuting? Most people would agree that switching from a subway to a bus and then again to another bus, before you finally land in office, is rather hectic and abhorring. It is such times that make you wish there was an integrative system that combined together the pleasure of personal transport and convenience of mass transit. The reality of this dream may not be too far. Check out Luis Ferreria’s Zero Electric Vehicle Service and take a sneak peek into the future of public transportation.

Zero Electric Vehicle Service

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Sonia Renthlei:

Current pollution levels are alarmingly high, prompting experts to find out ways that can help reverse, or at the very least, halt this trend. But it can be difficult coming up with solutions on an individual level as most people don’t have a clue about how they can contribute to reduce pollution. A novel idea could, however, give people a chance to contribute towards cleaning up with air, all by wearing clothes that suck in pollutants.

Catalytic Clothing

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Sonia Renthlei:

Being able to successfully harvest renewable energy means never having to worry about running out of energy sources. Present technologies allow us to experiment with a variety of concepts and designs, which when perfected, become surprisingly viable. Though the energy generated may not be in league of that produced by fossil fuels in terms of density.

Wind Harvester

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Abdul Vahid V:

Power Felt is a highly promising thermoelectric device that can generate a charge from heat. The fabric can be employed to harvest power from anything that emits heat, for example, human body, roof tiles or a electronic devices. The technology has been conceived by a group of scientists at the Center for Nanotechnology and Molecular Materials at the Wake Forest University.

Power felt gives a charge

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Dattatreya Mandal:

Biofuel can be defined as the type of fuel that is derived from carbon fixation, through a biological process. The fuel components in themselves actually fall under a broader category, with their different individualistic qualities and impact on environment. However, generally speaking, they are all seen as cost effective and low emission alternatives to their carbon related cousins, fossil fuels. In this regard, worldwide biofuel production reached 105 billion liters in 2010, thus accounting for 2.7 percent of road transport fuel. However, in this article, we would briefly go through some uniquely smart technologies that convert byproducts into biofuel with improved potential for efficiency.

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Rahul Gupta:

Long believed to be signs of divine disapproval, volcanic eruptions have been documented for millenniums. With the advancements in technology helping people become more aware of the earth’s internal mechanism, researchers figured out that these fiery mountains could be tapped for producing geothermal power. And that’s not all as El Diablo, a restaurant located on the Spanish island of Lanzarote, is using the heat released by an active volcano to cook food for the visitors.

El Diablo Restaurant

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Nisha Changrani:

We all are aware of the fact that solar energy can be used for powering our homes, vehicles, appliances, even ski lifts, and many other arrangements that affect our day to day living. But, how about using it for education? Unthinkable, right? Well, then, here is the surprising revelation. Africa, one of the continents that is still holding the posterior end of development is all ready to set a benchmark in using solar power for educating its children. All thanks to the revolutionizing efforts of organizations like Institute of Art, Design & Technology (IADT) that are upbeat about pioneering such ideas.

School in a Box

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Jaspreet Kaur Walia:

Bioplastics, as the name suggest, are a new breed of plastics that come tagged with the green status. These are extracted from renewable sources, unlike one’s that are derived from petroleum. Natural materials like corn starch and vegetable oils have been long used to produce plastic. For example cellulose in wood pulp is still used to make cellophane. In this modern era, bioplastics are being used for mobile phone cases, car parts and even computer parts. The ever increasing oil prices and concern of the environmentalists to protect the nature from further deterioration has escalated the interest shown in biopolymers. But, have we ever contemplated on the fact that even bioplastics can pose a lot of difficulty in terms of biodegradation?

Producing plastic from plants

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Munmun Goswami:

Another episode resembling the discovery of Pompeii has lead to the tracking of a 298 million years old forest, buried under a coal mine near Wuda, in China. A team of American and Chinese scientists stumbled upon this lost forest of the Permian period under a Chinese coal mine. It is assumed that this mass of land had been obliterated from the face of the earth due to a volcanic eruption, exactly of the sort that had suffocated the entire population of Pompeii to an inescapable death.

The Lost Forest

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Rahul Gupta:

Today our building designs are technically advanced, efficient, cost effective and manufacturable. This is because of the growing concern of safeguarding the surroundings from degradation and the rising prices of building material. In response to these needs architectural firm Denoldervleugels came up with the concept of the Nature Activity Center in the Oostvaardersplassen.

VISITOR OVP

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