Sundance Channel

Step inside the latest in sustainable home design

Perrin Drumm — Mon, 02 May 2011 07:00:18 +0000

Architect Michelle Kaufmann, whose brilliant work I've lauded before, recently updated "Smart Home: Green + Wired," her exhibition at the Museum of Science of Industry in Chicago (MSI). The exhibit features mkSolaire, a three-story loft-style house suitable for urban environments. It meets Kaufmann's criteria for modular housing, an idea she developed when she and her husband were searching for their own green home. Using off-site, modular technology, Kaufmann is able to simplify the construction process and make sustainable, affordable and well-designed houses accessible to more people.

Return to Sender

Perrin Drumm — Thu, 27 May 2010 19:08:43 +0000

Good design seems to have penetrated every market from light sockets to whole communities, but there remains one product that has, until now, escaped its loving touch: coffins. The ubiquitous plush and pearlescent models are big, expensive and just plain ugly. It’s hard to imagine any believer or practitioner of good design being buried in [...]

Less and More: The Design Ethos of Dieter Rams

Perrin Drumm — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 22:15:26 +0000

Over the last 40 years Dieter Rams has established himself as one of the most influential designers of our time. His work at Braun alone has solidified his legacy, not to mention his accomplishments at Vitsœ and his company sdr+. “His elegantly clear visual language not only defined product design for decades, but also our [...]

Designer Spotlight: Ross Lovegrove

Sundance Channel — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 18:00:00 +0000

Like many of the great ones, Welsh designer Ross Lovegrove is something of an enigma. He has a very wide variety of tastes, and an equally wide range of skills when it comes to creating interesting, functional, thought-provoking designs that continue to inspire praise, criticism and even a little head-scratching. He once told Wired [www.wired.com], [...]

Design Makes a Difference: The Future Is Here

Sundance Channel — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 16:00:00 +0000

The forward-looking designs of the Electrolux competition [www.electrolux.com] are great for a number of reasons: they are smart, thoughtful concepts that make living green even easier and they solve some persistent problems (and isn’t that what great design is supposed to do?). Got food waste? Want to save water? Looking to breathe easy? They’ve got [...]

Bent Ply: The Best of Both Worlds

Sundance Channel — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 21:00:00 +0000

So far this week we’ve been chatting up cork as a great sustainable material, which it is, when used correctly and enjoyed in moderation. Of course, materials use isn’t all there is to sustainable design or engaging in green behavior or buying green stuff; production methods and the way things are built play a big [...]

“Your Green Home” Contains Valuable Green Building Tips

Sundance Channel — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 15:15:00 +0000

Building homes and renovating them is an industry that can seriously benefit from the green philosophies of recycling, reusing, and sustainable design. Whether you are talking about heating, cooling, insulation, air circulation, foundations, septic systems, windows, plumbing or anything else under the roof, there is a green option for you. “Your Green Home: A Guide [...]

Designer Spotlight: MioCulture’s Green Design for Everyone

Sundance Channel — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 15:00:00 +0000

In our discussion of design this week, we’ve been trying to find a balance between sustainability and stuff. When executed properly, sustainable design can both enrich our lives by providing form and function while being created and produced with smart, green, future-looking materials, and it’s harder than it sounds. One company, though, has managed to [...]

In the Future: Design Through Bytes, Not ________

Sundance Channel — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 15:00:00 +0000

The inherent contradiction between “sustainable design” and creating more stuff — whose relative necessity and functionality may vary from person to person — is a difficult issue for TreeHuggers to reconcile sometimes. While our favorite designs sure look good and offer a greener alternative and lighter carbon footprint [www.sundancechannel.com], does the benefit of owning them [...]

Transformer Designs: Transforming the Way We Think About Stuff

Sundance Channel — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 15:00:00 +0000

One of the things TreeHugger tries to promote most diligently is that good sustainable design, while being green and fun to look at, can solve problems as well. While all of the designers we mentioned yesterday [www.sundancechannel.com] do that in their own way, there’s one trend that we’ve been seeing more and more of lately: [...]

Best of Sustainable Designers: Making it Green; Making it Work

Sundance Channel — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 15:00:00 +0000

Yesterday, we laid out a few ideas [www.sundancechannel.com] for why product design is important, and why sustainable product design has a huge potential to change the way we think about, buy, and use products, from everyday gadgets to once-in-a-lifetime artifacts. Think about it: what if everything you consumed was not only less harmful, but netted [...]

Why it Matters: Green Design

Sundance Channel — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 15:00:00 +0000

Each Friday, we point TreeHugger’s green spotlight on a designer practicing sustainability and incorporating green into their designs. Either through materials selection and use, manufacturing practices or finishing techniques (or a combination of the three…or any number of other, smaller — but no less important — considerations), they’re creating beautiful, useful, functional artifacts that leave [...]

Designer Spotlight: Josh Jakus

Sundance Channel — Fri, 18 May 2007 15:00:00 +0000

Anyone who’s taken a good look at TreeHugger over the past couple of weeks is likely to have seen one or more of our series of posts [www.treehugger.com] about HauteGREEN [www.hautegreen.com], a sustainable design exhibition that’s part of New York City’s Design Week. Mixed among the International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF [www.icff.com]) and other yearly [...]

Designer Spotlight: Bambu

Sundance Channel — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 13:00:00 +0000

When it comes to design, and especially the sustainable design that we like to highlight at TreeHugger, there are several general ideals that we check out before giving it the thumbs up. Things like materials use, manufacturing process and end-of-life considerations paid (is it recyclable or reusable?) are all important, but one generally stands out: [...]