Natural Architecture

Natural architecture is the work of architects and artists that take natural beauty and combine it into their masterpieces. This idea was developed to bring humans closer to nature, designer homes and buildings that blend in with their natural surroundings and use living materials to make the most spectacular architectural designs.

Natural architecture is when the surroundings are used as the framework when designing a new building and usually incorporates a team of architects and artists.

Where Did it All Start?

Natural architecture was the design idea of architect Frank Lloyd Wright back in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. Before his death in the 1950’s Frank Lloyd Wright had designed some of the most spectacular natural architecture buildings and homes.

This carried on into the 1960’s when an artist group called the land art movement started creating spectacular art using only natural resources.

Falling Water House

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The most popular of all the natural architectural designs is Falling Water House which was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1935. This property in Pennsylvania in the USA took two years to build. The house sits over a waterfall and Wright used this as the basis of the home.

The home has been listed as one of the twenty eight places to visit before you die.

Toad Hall

Toad Hall was designed by Patrick Dougherty in 2004. Dougherty uses the natural resources around him to create spectacular masterpieces. Most of his work uses wood which is weaved together making human sized homes. Whilst the building themselves are uniquely beautiful, they are designed to disintegrate, and become one with nature again!

Reed Chamber

Reed Chamber was designed by Chris Drury in 2002. The UK artist uses wood, reeds and natural surroundings to create some of the most beautiful natural architecture, which aims to reflect human interaction with nature. Reed Chamber is a spectacular demonstration of his use of reeds blending into the natural surroundings.

Taliesin West

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This resort in western Arizona is another of the Frank Lloyd Wright designs. He was inspired by the rugged landscape that surrounded the area and designed a property which not only blends into the surrounding landscape, but looks as though it is growing out of the earth.

This property is made of sand and stone combined with a canvas roof. All the materials come from the surrounding desert, and Wright was keen to harness as much natural light as possible in order to aid environmental efforts.

Nest House

Nest House was another of Patrick Dougherty’s designs. Located in southern Indian, this property is made from a variety of woods all weaved together in a selection of huts, cocoons and buildings. All made to human size, here Dougherty combines his carpentry skills with his love for the environment, to create a spectacular wonderland of natural architecture at its best!

As global warming becomes an increasing concern world over, the desire of a few designers to reconnect with our natural surroundings, is a pursuit we should champion. Their work aims to provide a framework for others, to make others, us, consider our natural surroundings, and challenge our preconceived ideas. Should our buildings last forever, or should they evolve over time, passing back into nature, as we ourselves do too?

Article contributed by Distinctive Doors.

There are more and more inventions for wind generated electricitiy to be fed to the grid on the horizon. Many inventors are taking into consideration the birds, wild life and of course the flickering shadows caused by the regular wind turbines.

There are new wind turbines that have been enclosed to a certain extent to keep the birds from hitting them but none have been as different as this one.

Dutch researchers have developed the EWICON, a bladeless windmill with no moving parts that produces electricity by pushing charged water droplets into the wind.

The current design of the EWICON consists of a steel frame holding a series of insulated tubes arranged horizontally. Each tube contains several electrodes and nozzles, which continually release positively-charged water particles into the air. As the particles are blown away, the voltage of the device changes and creates an electric field, which can be transferred to the grid for everyday use.

The EWICON was designed by architecture firm Mecanoo using technology developed by Delft Technical University researchers Johan Smit and Dhiradj Djairam. The video below demonstrates how the EWICON works.

A number of Americans are looking for ways to reduce their consumption of energy. The reason for this is largely economical while others are seeing this as an environmental initiative. Either way, now is the right time to adjust your home the green way. Not only is it affordable, but also doable on a domestic scale. With summer starting, you wouldn’t want your electricity bill to be on the higher side.

You can simply start by taking all the unnecessary items and put it in storage. The result of this would be a much cleaner home, which is the initial step for making an efficient home. The less messy it is, the less time and energy you spend cleaning it. Furthermore, more space allows you more creative control over the aesthetic appeal of the home.

One of the important trends that have been seen in recent times is the fact that despite opting for green measures every year, the electricity bills do not seem to go down as per the expectation. The reason for this is that the prices of oil also affect the cost of generating electricity. Consider the fact that the US households last year spent $230 billion on energy.

Despite the high cost generation of energy, the domestic setup can save $40 billion for US by going green. One deployment that is quite appreciable is the incentives in Pennsylvania.

EnergyWorks program is an initiative which started in 2010 with the promise of working on the economics of going green on domestic level. One of its incentives is for financing these ventures. In the beginning of April, they launched the air conditioning and window financing program for affordable green homes.
All EnergyWorks program envisages reducing energy consumption by 40% and energy efficiency by at least 25%. The idea is to allow people who cannot afford green appliances low finance schemes. In addition, there’s an example of the geothermal project, which was recently launched in Nevada.

The U.S Department of Energy is offering Keystone Home Energy Loans on flexible terms to improve the state of energy efficiency across the region. The EnergyWorks program allows energy audits for homes followed by recommendations.

While the going green venture is being supported by incentives, another benefit is that it’s going to increase the resale value of the house. This thing would add value to the home and therefore, pay more.
An interesting study done by the University of North Carolina indicated that the mortgage default for energy efficient homes is markedly lower. The study also indicates that the loans taken for energy efficient residences had a good return on investment. It also equipped the home owners to improve the resale cost.

As a homeowner, you can contact EnergyWorks for a free independent analysis of the state of the energy efficiency in your home. Following the suggestions, you can work out the feasibility.
Using such measures, it is possible to reduce your energy bills by a large fraction. With the increasing real estate cost as well as rising prices of commodities, going green is still affordable. Even the loans are a worthwhile investment since they are going to payback in high terms. You can also look at green home improvement projects for the season.