Latest Home Design

Viktor Ramos, an architecture student, elaborates a brilliant idea to solve the Israel-Palestinian conflict. Victor’s simple but absolute genius concept shows bridging the Palestinian and Israel territories with huge structures, that can uphold life, house people, and let the people, animals and goods free transit. These bridges will be over each country’s ground so that nobody will become isolated. This project is obviously huge but if it is structurally possible, it will bring a new look of these two county’s geography. These bridges can eliminate many of the demands of the inhabitants of both states by providing the resources they needs.

Designer : Viktor Ramos via [BLDGBLOG]

Here is German designer Lars Contzen’s “contzentrade showroom” in Hanau, Germany has a new style. It was great wall material, wall paper, glass and laminates are exposed to interested architects and interior designers who can establish a date for a visit and arrange to discuss their projects.

Site and Location

The Interlace is located on an elevated eight-hectare site, bounded by Alexandra Road and the Ayer Rajah Expressway, amidst the verdant Southern Ridges of Singapore. The development is commissioned by local developer, CapitaLand and its partner, Hotel Properties Limited (HPL). Ole Scheeren, partner in the renowned architectural firm, Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA), was invited to create a Beverley Hills style luxury large-scale residential complex on the former Gillman Heights site.

With about 170,000m² of gross floor area, the development will provide 1,040 residential units of varying sizes with extensive outdoor spaces and landscaping. The site completes a green belt that stretches between Kent Ridge, Telok Blangah Hill and Mount Faber Parks. Together with Gillman Village, residents can enjoy a variety of nature trails and restaurants within walking distance of the site.

Ole Scheeren said: “The design addresses concerns of shared space and social needs in a contemporary society and simultaneously responds to issues of shared living and individuality by offering a multiplicity of indoor/outdoor spaces specific to the tropical context.” Scheeren is responsible for the office’s work across Asia, including the China Central Television Station (CCTV) headquarters and the Television Cultural Center (TVCC) in Beijing, and the MahaNakhon Tower in Bangkok. His previous work also includes the Prada Epicenters in New York City and Los Angeles.

The apartment blocks are stacked in hexagonal configurations to create an interconnected network of living and communal spaces integrated with the natural environment.

Controversial Design


The project aims to generate ample spaces and opportunities for social interaction and shared activities while also providing intimate spaces of privacy and quietness – simultaneously fostering a sense of community and maintaining individuality and identity. Commentators have said that the controversial design of Interlace building, shares a similar look to the work of Soviet era Architects.

Environment-friendly Factors




The design capitalises on the generous size of the site and further maximises the presence of nature by introducing extensive roof gardens, landscaped sky terraces and cascading balconies. Above-ground vehicular circulation is minimised, liberating large green areas within the development. The Interlace incorporates sustainability features through careful environmental analysis of sun, wind, and micro-climate conditions on site and the integration of low-impact passive energy strategies.

Extensive residential amenities and facilities are interwoven into the lush vegetation and offer opportunities for social interaction, leisure, and recreation.

Trees, plants and flowers form a part of the residential program and provide a lush tropical environment for the residents to enjoy and provide settings for leisure activities. A number of landscaped open-air voids are introduced to allow light and air to the basement level and first floor parking deck, creating areas of lush vegetation and trees below ground and connecting these subterranean spaces visually and through planting, to the courtyards above.

Two types of roof garden space are provided – Sky Gardens located where there are blocks overhead; and private roof gardens located on roofs open to the sky. The Sky Gardens offer a variety of public programs and can be used by all residents.

Panoramic views across and beyond the site are offered throughout the project, given the advantageous site elevation, massing and overall height. Views from Superlevel 2 Sky Gardens will be at the top of the tree canopy; therefore creating a more enclosed feeling and a focus on foreground. Views from Superlevels 3 & 4 will be well above the surrounding tree canopy, offering distant panoramic views of Singapore’s CBD and the Sentosa coastline towards the sea.

Extensive residential amenities and facilities are interwoven into the lush vegetation and offer opportunities for social interaction, leisure, and recreation.

Remarkable Vision

Songdo IBD is a pedestrian city - the furthest residential districts are only a thirty-minute amble from the centre. All blocks are designed to connect pedestrians to open space, walking/biking corridors, and public gathering areas. Songdo IBD is located within the Incheon Free Economic Zone. This new metropolis will be connected to the Incheon International Airport, one of the world’s busiest, by a 7.4 mile highway bridge, and linked by subway to Seoul and its surrounding suburbs.

It is being developed by New York-based real estate developer Gale International in a joint venture with Korea’s POSCO E&C. In fact, Songdo’s backers, which include Gale, Morgan Stanley and Korean steelmaker Posco, are betting the city can become a northeast Asian trade hub, linking nearby Shanghai and Tokyo.

Furthermore, Songdo IBD will also feature a first-rate system of public transportation and green transportation schemes comprising buses, subways (with connections to Seoul and Incheon City), and water taxis zipping along the city’s seawater canals, as well as extensive bike ways and electric-car rentals. Preferential parking spaces will be available for low-emissions vehicles.

The Songdo International Business District, “The Gateway to Northeast Asia,” will be the first new city in the world designed and planned as an international business district.

The Grand Master Plan 


Long-term sustainability and the minimisation of the city’s carbon footprint have been considered in every design and engineering decision by master-plan architect Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates PC, and chief engineers Arup and Cosentini Associates.

One of the explicit goals of Gale International is to create an elegant urban environment with a significantly reduced carbon footprint compared to a standard baseline Korean or US design. In addition, Songdo IBD is master-planned for 40% green space – a much higher percentage than nearly any other Asian urban centre.

Songdo IBD is master-planned for 40% green space – a much higher percentage than nearly any other Asian urban centre.

By its very design, Songdo IBD will be an environmental standout not only in Asia, where many urban areas are in a state of ecological crisis, but the world. The city is using as one sustainability framework the evolving LEED for Neighbourhood Development certification, for which Songdo IBD was recently selected as a pilot project and partner by the US Green Building Council (USGBC). LEED-ND sets standards not just for green building but also for enhancing and protecting the overall health, natural environment and quality of life of a community.

Water efficiency is a hallmark of Songdo IBD’s development. Greywater systems from larger buildings will be collected, treated, and reused for non-potable uses such as flushing, cleaning and irrigation. The lake in the 100-acre Central Park and the canal system will use sea water, not fresh water, thus saving immeasurably on potable water supplies. The canals are powered by wind turbines and the entire body of water is refreshed every 24 hours.

Songdo IBD will be a model of the best of what is possible today as well as being able to grow and adapt to the environmental challenges of the future.

Aesthetic Concept

The Water Building Resort’s concept and architecture were inspired by the form of a falling drop of water. It is a sustainable building, envisioned and thought through to create a consciousness of water. Orlando shares his philosophy on architecture: “The integration of elements gives us an integral vision of the man with his environment and we answer to his needs, through an Architecture and a sustainable Urbanism.”

It is not only stunning from the architectural viewpoint; this ecologically friendly building is set to become the first building with the capacity to extract pure water from the air using an innovative generator and solar power. Tying in with the water theme, the building will also feature an indoor and outdoor aquarium, spa and wharf. The basement of the building will house a water tank, a filter system and a desalination plant to purify salt water.

The Water Building Resort is a sustainable building, envisioned and thought through to create a consciousness of water.

Innovative Design


This ecologically friendly building is set to become the first building with the capacity to extract pure water from the air using an innovative generator and solar power.

Green Features



De Urrutia's resort, designed for humid areas, will contain an aquarium, restaurant, gyms, spa services, and exhibition rooms. Moreover, the basement of this resort complex will have a water treatment zone for purifying rain water and salty sea water and a technological investigation centre to control and verify water quality. The resort makes innovative use of Atmospheric Water Generator technology to convert condensation and humid air into drinking water. At full capacity, an AWG system can produce 35,000 to 109,000 gallons of water per day.

To complement its water generating features, the Water Building Resort will also recycle water taking rain water as well as marine water, purifying it with equipment incorporated in the basement of the building. The façade of this elegant hotel is engineered to face the sun to make most use of its energy in order to purify water.

The TeexMicron generator is designed to work in warm, humid climates with an ideal temperature range of 20 to 40 degrees celsius (68 to 104 F) and humidity of 30 to 95 percent. The innovative technology behind the TeexMicron generator allows it to use ocean air condensation and evaporation. It is capable of producing of up to 5,000 litres of water per hour.

Studiomobile, an Italian architectural firm, have been working during the last couple of years in the United Arab Emirates and their most recent development is the concept seawater vertical farm. Their design, the Seawater Vertical farm utilizes seawater to keep cool and moisten greenhouses and to transform enough humidity back in to water to irrigate the plants. This project would be very much helpful where the supply of fresh water is limited and not much local cultivations are taking part. This project is very expensive but has been considered feasible because of the urban transport problem and the high soil value.

How the concept works :

Phase 01
The air going into the greenhouse is first cooled and humidified by seawater, which is trickled over the first evaporator. This provides a fresh and humid climate for the crops that in these conditions need very little water as they are not stressed by excessive transpiration.

Phase 02
As the air leaves the growing area it passes through the second evaporator which has seawater flowing over it. During this phase the humid air mix with the warm dry air of the ceiling interspace. thus the air is made much hotter and more humid.

Phase 03
The warm air is forced to flow upward by the stack effect that is temperature induced. In the central chimney the warm and humid air will condense when in contact with plastic tubes where cool sea water is pumped. In the surface of the condenser many drops of fresh water will appear, ready to be recollected in a tank to water the crops and for other uses.

Designer : StudioMobile via TreeHugger

Lights staircase is a low voltage (which implies a low cost) LED system with which you turn on your stairs with or without switch. The lights automatically open when you near the stairs, but they can also be controlled. There is also a generator connected to the system, so that in the case of a blackout of the stairs will still emit light for 12 hours.

Each staircase is illuminated by three low beam and all the hidden son is intelligent. If you want to buy the kit, it costs you $ 140. However, the kit includes four sets of light, so you must add $ 34.95 for each phase of the fifth.The total cost is quite high, but you can check in that light, every step of seconds, for example. – Via Gadget Venue