Climate-responsive H House celebrates the heritage of Kosovo

Recycled materials, energy-saving systems and references to Kosovan culture have been woven throughout the H House, a handsome and contemporary residence in Čaglavica, a village near the Kosovo capital of Pristina. Designed by 4M Group, the home serves as a beacon of optimism and energy-efficiency for the self-declared independent state, which has been defined by a long and troubled history. Sustainability is paramount to the dwelling and is expressed through the adoption of passive deign principles, locally sourced and recycled materials and sensor-activated fixtures.

As a partially recognized state and disputed territory in Southeastern Europe, Kosovo is home to a rich culture and a long history of war. “Demonstrating awareness of the dichotomy of Kosovo’s recent history, the client wanted a house where safety and security was paramount, but with open, light-filled interiors,” said the architects, adding that they wanted to “reflect the cultural legacy and illustrate a renewed optimism in Pristina with the creation of the H House.” As a result, the outer appearance of the home takes inspiration from the Fustanella, the traditional Albanian dress worn by men, and mimics the folds of the white garment in its multifaceted facade.

The angular exterior also has a practical purpose as well. The architects followed passive solar principles in the design of the airtight building to mitigate the region’s extreme temperature fluctuations and also installed heavily insulated reinforced concrete walls as well as deeply recessed triple-glazed windows. The construction materials and labor were sourced locally and recycled materials were used wherever possible. Consequently, the H House only takes a little energy to maintain a comfortable indoor environment year-round.

Related: MVRDV will transform the Tirana Pyramid, a former communist monument, into an education center

In addition to low-tech strategies, the architects installed smart systems for comfort control including automatically operating louvers and window fan lights. Heating is supplied via a dual air/water thermal heat pump that also powers the underfloor heating. A wood pellet boiler provides supplemental heating. Low-energy lighting and water-efficient fixtures have also been installed.

+ 4M Group

Via ArchDaily

Photography by Ilir Rizaj and Fitim Muçaj via 4M Group

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Harbor town in Germany unveils urban-chic hostel made out of repurposed shipping containers

Berlin-based Holzer Kobler Architekturen and Kinzo Architekten have collaborated on Germany’s first upcycled hostel and its nothing short of spectacular. The Dock Inn is made out of multiple repurposed shipping containers that have been carved out to create 64 guest rooms which all feature a vibrant interior design that mixes urban chic with industrial charm.

Located in Warnemünde, Germany, the Dock Inn shipping container hostel is surrounded by the local harbor and shipyard. According to the designers, the rough charm of the industrial location was the perfect place to pay homage to the shipping containers’ former life at sea.

Related: Gorgeous Catalan building renovated into an eco-friendly hostel in Barcelona

The hostel design used the industrial nature of the containers to create a modern, contemporary hostel with a vibrant urban feel. A maritime theme runs throughout the space, which is filled with reclaimed furnishings, to pay homage to the containers’ seafaring past.

The hostel’s various shipping containers were configured in a way to house 64 rooms with 188 beds, with most looking out over the harbor. There are varying sizes of guest rooms, from private rooms to dormitory-style spaces that have eight single beds. The rooms are compact, but with sleek interiors that give off a sophisticated, contemporary aesthetic. Bright red walls contrast nicely with all white linens in some rooms, while upholstery made of natural materials in muted colors give off a nice earthy feel in other rooms. Throughout the interior, large windows allow natural light to flood the interior spaces.

The hostel also has a number of social areas such as a large lounge, computer room, galley kitchen, on-site restaurant and even a spa on the rooftop level. Throughout the common areas, the designers used several reclaimed materials such as the old shipping pallets that were configured into ample seating space in the lounge.

+ Holzer Kobler Architekturen

+ Kinzo Architekten

+ The Dock Inn

Photography by Max Schroeder and Sebastian Dörken

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Housing pods made of recycled plastic offer an alternative to festival tent waste

Outdoor festivals and events have been popular across the world since the days of Roman gladiators and for good reason. They are a great way to enjoy music, art and other entertainment while being surrounded by nature. Unfortunately, festivals are also associated with a lot of waste. One company, Above All C6(n), is leading efforts to find a solution for the temporary tent accommodations that often get left behind at these events. With the knowledge that thousands of tents get tossed after major festivals, the company created the Pod(o), a reusable sleeping pod made from recycled, single-use plastic rather than virgin materials.

Charlie Hall, founder and managing director of Above All C6(n), said, “People were really interested in the technology behind it as well as the design, but what makes it especially appealing is the fact that it, like all our building components, provides a use for single-use plastic, which is a truly global problem.”

Related: 100% recyclable cardboard tents could solve the waste problem at music festivals

In addition to repurposing plastic originally headed to the landfill, Above All designed the Pod(o) to be multi-purpose and durable. The modular design makes the pods adaptable for a variety of uses. They are stackable, can be linked together and can even connect to solar power, a water supply and a bio toilet.

For portability, the pods can be taken apart, transported and set up in another location by just a few people. The goal is for the Pod(o) to be used again and again for years as a replacement for single-use tents at many events.

Currently, the design of the Pod(o) accommodates two people, but the company is working to scale the design for larger options. Based out of Christchurch, Dorset, U.K., Above All has also designed other modular and portable structures intended for community use. The company focus is aimed at fixing problems within the construction and housing markets, such as waste during and after construction, longevity of products and shortage of availability.

Beginning with the initial idea of sturdy and reusable festival lodging, it didn’t take long for the company to envision other uses for the pods. Now, it plans to promote them as a solution for all types of temporary housing needs: people in between accommodations, those affected by natural disaster, military persons or firefighters stationed remotely, workers designated to a construction site, people at sporting tournaments and workers and visitors to other pop-up events.

“We aim to create a local sustainable legacy,” Bex Ricketts, the business development manager of Above All, told Inhabitat. “Collect locally, employ locally, make locally, re-use locally and benefit local charities. Sustainable as engineered for zero-waste, 100 percent reusable and lasts indefinitely. Creating a legacy is most important, as something that has been created to last for generations has to be useful and designed to be future proof.”

+ Above All

Via Archinect

Images via Above All

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Stacked shipping containers transform into a thriving arts space in Venezuela

Venezuela-based architecture practice Pico Colectivo has stacked recycled shipping containers together to transform a vandalized property into the new Cultural Production Zone in the city of Guacara in Carabobo State, Venezuela. Built atop an existing structure, the colorful cargotecture addition offers a creative gathering space for the community with mixed programming that ranges from a skate plaza to a recording studio and music room.

The Cultural Production Zone is located on a site where the existing building had been vandalized during protests. In a bid to reactivate the depressed site and address the lack of centrally located creative spaces in the city, Pico Colectivo was tapped to breathe new life to the property. Funds from a state program were used to purchase the project’s shipping containers, technical equipment and cultural tools.

“The strategy is based on supplying the old building with these devices, inserting multiple structures into a single, more complex system, like parasites that lodge on a foreign body,” the architects explained of the additive architecture. “The design establishes a use of parts and components from modules and patterns similar to the properties of the same structuring objects. A substructure supported by previous foundations. A building assembled on top of another, by means of individual terminals that are added until organizing the whole.”

Related: Shipping container food halls slated to revitalize Southern California neighborhoods

Completed in 2016, the 550-square-meter Cultural Production Zone comprises three floors. On the ground floor, the TV studio, administrative office, bathrooms and a recording studio and control room are housed within the original building. Stairs placed inside an angled shipping container lead up to the second and third floors that include the exhibition gallery, image lab, rehearsal studio and control room, meeting area and an open-air coffee bar with elevated views of the city. The grounds include a skate plaza and an urban garden.

+ Pico Colectivo

Photography by José Alberto Bastidas via Pico Colectivo

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Nature-inspired art gallery is built from bamboo and reused bricks

Belgium- and Brazil-based design practice CRU! architects channeled its passion for bamboo architecture and natural building materials into an art gallery in Catuçaba, a rural community about three hours east of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Spanning an area of 1,184 square feet, the project was commissioned by the owner of Fazenda Catuçaba, an idyllic farmhouse-style hotel that includes an operational organic farm. Building on Fazenda Catuçaba’s environmentally friendly practices, the art gallery was constructed mainly of bamboo and reused fired bricks.

More than just an exercise in sustainable architecture, the art gallery for Fazenda Catuçaba was also created as a social building project to benefit the local community. With help from the architects, a community eco-building cooperative constructed the project and provided training and job development opportunities for the local residents. The cooperative constructed the entire bamboo structure, while local workers from Fazenda Catuçaba’s on-site farm carried out the excavation work, foundation work and brick laying.

The design of the art gallery draws inspiration from the differing architectural styles of its two neighboring structures: the Fazenda Catuçaba’s colonial Portuguese-styled farmhouse and the Occa, an indigenous communal space built by an Amazonian Indian tribe. As a result, the exterior of the gallery features colonial Portuguese-inspired white walls and blue doors while the interior is marked by narrow passageways and courtyard evocative of Amazonian Indian architecture. A fountain installed in the patio connects to the river and strengthens the building’s connection with nature.

Related: This breathtaking Tulum art gallery was created by Peggy Guggenheim’s great-grandson

“The gallery is entirely based on the golden proportion — the width and height of the different parts correspond to the rules set by the Greek and Roman architects such as Vitruvius,” explained lead architect Sven Mouton. “It is meant to be a humble construction that fits the colonial style of the surrounding, but that also refers to the occa nearby. A Portuguese face with an Indian heart. Since art can be considered sacred, the spiritual language of a monastery arch-way was used to house the exhibitions. In the original sense a gallery was a covered walk or passageway, narrow and partly open along a wall.”

+ CRU! architects

Photography by Nelson Kon via CRU! architects

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Indonesia unveils first zero-waste restaurant built with sustainably sourced materials

Eliminating food waste is an arduous task for restaurants around the world. But one new eatery in Bali, Ijen, has implemented various strategic methods to become Indonesia’s first zero-waste restaurant. In addition to only serving sustainably sourced food and providing leftover food scraps to local farms, the forward-thinking restaurant was almost entirely built with reclaimed materials.

Ijen is part of the Potato Head Beach Club, which has locations in Jakarta, Bali, Hong Kong and Singapore. The zero-waste restaurant is located on the grounds of the Jakarta location. The design and operation of the open-air venue was designed to reflect the company’s ethos of running hospitality zero-waste venues with absolute minimal impact on the earth.

Related: Zero Waste Bistro offers four days of sustainable food and design in NYC

Ijen’s building materials feature a number of sustainable products mostly made from reclaimed materials. The interior furnishings include items made out of old motorcycle foam remnants and ethically-sourced Mersawa wood. The flooring was made from a cement mix comprised of broken plates and glassware. The candles found throughout the restaurant were with used cooking oil. Deadstock cloth napkins were given new life thanks to a local dye house. Even the menus are printed on sustainably harvested paper bound to boards made from recycled tires provided by local flip-flop brand Indosole.

Additionally impressive is the restaurant’s commitment to working with local fisherman and farmers to provide sustainable farm-to-table menu options. Executive Chef Wayan Kresna Yasa works with local fisherman to source fresh fish caught using a hand-reeling process. Vegetables are farm-fresh, and rice served at the restaurant is provided by the UNESCO-protected Jatiluwih terraces.

Although the kitchen strives to use all of its stock, there are a variety of methods used to reuse any leftover food scraps. Ijen staff members meticulously separate organic and inorganic waste. Additional food remnants are fed to pigs at local farms or composted on site. Shellfish shells are powdered and used in animal feed or fertilizer. All dry goods are sent to be recycled through a local responsible waste management service.

+ Ijen Restaurant

Via Treehugger

Images via Potato Head Beach Club

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