Tuesday, January 28, 2014
Foothills House by Strachan Group Architects
Strachan Group Architects have designed the Foothills House located in Pokeno, a small town located 50 kilometres southeast of Auckland, New Zealand.
From the architects
Set on the slopes south of the Bombay Hills, this is a large country house for a family of five with strong family ties to the local farming community.
The low-slung forms follow the natural land contour, anchoring into the slope just below the crest to deflect and protect against the strong south-westerly wind, and providing sheltered courtyards and verandahs to the north.
The two elongated shed-like pavilions define the Living Areas from the Bedrooms with an internal garden courtyard linking the two.
Durable materials used in their “raw” state blend with the natural landscape. The base of the building is of natural stack bonded concrete block with a steel structured lightweight roof umbrella suspended over highly glazed walls.
Greenfacts
- 3 Zones: Interior/Interior Courtyard/Outside Courtyard
- Interior courtyard uses irrigated planting to “condition” the internal air supply
- Large overhanging eaves to control solar gain in summer months
- Roof angled to allow maximum penetration of winter sun to exposed insulated concrete slab (mass) providing passive solar heating, and minimal reliance upon artificial heating sources
- Overhead double glazing, and use of thermal drapes to minimise heat-loss
- On site rainwater collection, storage and treatment for potable drinking water and extensive garden irrigation 75,000 litres
- Orientation of plan coupled with reduced glazing to south façade to minimise heat-loss
- Glazed louvres over internal doors to provide cross ventilation and natural cooling in summer months
- Low slung roof allows cold south/southwest winds to flow over the building envelope. Roof pitch follows natural slope of land and stepped floor levels minimize site excavation/cut and fill
- Double burning wood-burner for back-up winter heating using firewood sourced from site
- Composting on site of household vegetable waste
- Full on-site effluent disposal system for irrigation of native screen planting/wind breaks
Design: Strachan Group Architects
Photography: Patrick Reynolds
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Smart Mail Box – Safer and Smaller Digital Mailbox
Smart Mail Box is a mailbox system to replace our conventional indoor mailbox. When you live in an apartment, you know that the mailbox area features number of boxes next to each other with the apartment’s number, taking unnecessarily broader space as well as causing one’s own mail box difficult to find. Furthermore, the recipient won’t know accurately when a mail is arrived, there’s a possibility they might miss important mails. It is also highly possible for other people to get access to your private mails.
Smart Mail Box offers a new system where mailboxes are integrated into one to drastically reduce the space taken for these boxes. Upon the arrival of your mail, it will send you a text message to your cell phone, in this way, you know exactly when your mail arrives. To retrieve your mail, you need a password, it’s a better security to keep other people from accessing your private information, reducing the risk of identity theft.
Designers : Yun Young Ho, Lee Hyung Sub, and Ahn Young Gun
Smart Mail Box – Safer and Smaller Digital Mailbox is originally posted on Tuvie
No!sy Speaker by Subinay Malhotra
No!sy is a product designed to keep the growing customization into context and understanding the need of function complementing the aesthetics of a product. This speaker has been designed using the latest material and manufacturing technology, using the best possible wireless approach and voice recognition in a speaker. Material used in the construction of this product includes PC plastic and pattern stamped metal mesh. It is high on sustainability and fills the power needed by music lovers, the overall performance enhances the qualities of this product.
It’s a complete entertainment package, the compact size makes it highly portable, carry it with you anywhere for the best music experience with surround sound. The form compliments the function as shape improves the quality of the sound. No cords. No docks. No plugs. And it gets a whopping 15 hours of playback from a single charge, so you’ll need a rest before it ever will.
Designer : Subinay Malhotra
Tuvie has received “No!sy Speaker” project from our ‘Submit A Design‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their design/concept for publication.
No!sy Speaker by Subinay Malhotra is originally posted on Tuvie
Monday, January 27, 2014
29 Fails That Are Absolutely Winners (29 gifs)
People getting owned and owning themselves in GIF format! source : ebaums
The post 29 Fails That Are Absolutely Winners (29 gifs) appeared first on Seriously, For Real?.
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