In Constructing a Sense of Place: Architecture and the Zionist Discourse (Ashgate, 2004), architect and planner Haim Yacobi has compiled a fascinating collection of essays on how the Israeli landscape was born. The book begins with the 1934 Levant Fair, for which the flying camel logo (right) was developed to represent the growing Jewish community […]
Way before there were electronic ways to condition our temperatures, cooling methods were built into the architecture of traditional Middle Eastern homes. Such as the beehive homes found in Syria.
Beirut and other cities in Lebanon may still be recovering from the 2006 with Israel; but this has not prevented the construction of a new green complex at the American University of Beirut. The complex, named the Charles Hostler Student Center, was the only college building to be listed on the prestigious American Institute of […]
Slated for a 2011 finish date, Knafo Klimor Architects look to be the first Israeli firm hired to design a green building in China. Their concept: to bring the greenhouse inside the house. The team breaks from the model, where historically, Israelis look to the United States, or at least Europe to fulfill their design […]
Last week we wrote about Kibbutz Kramim, a cooperative in the Negev that is currently working on building a multicultural model of environmental sustainability in the form of an eco village. And this week we’d like to introduce you to Elias Messinas, the green architect behind the operation. Messinas’ firm is the strategic environmental consultant […]
If being more environmentally friendly is one of your New Year’s resolutions, you might consider going to one of the great “green” events hosted by the Porter School of Environmental Studies at Tel Aviv University this week. First up is a screening of Urban Legend – an environmental documentary by Nitzan Horovitz that was presented […]
Freelance writer James Glave has successfully turned the planning and construction of a shed on his property in British Columbia into a thriving trade. His book, “Almost Green,” his own blog site devoted to the book and his promotional activities selling it, coupled with the Facebook group and the website devoted to renting out the […]
Cutting Edge Architectural Design - Innovative Power Generation
A bus stop that grows its own foliage as shade? A children’s playground, made entirely from trees? A shelter made from living tree roots that could provide natural protection against earthquakes in California? “Eco-architecture” may sound like a Buck Rogers vision of an ecologically-sustainable future, but that future is now thanks to the guidance of […]
Stay tuned for our future eco-tour of Dubai, but in the meantime let’s take a look at some green goings-on in Dubai. Because we’ve been pleasantly surprised to discover that very interesting things are happening over there. For starters, the Dubai government recently issued a requirement that all buildings in the emirate be constructed with […]
Roasting in the summer, freezing in the winter? Welcome to life in my Jerusalem apartment, and thousands of others like it. But if buildings are built according to environmental and climatic principles, it doesn’t have to be that way. “Jerusalem has virtually the perfect temperature for houses,” explained green architecture consultant, Valentina Nelin when I […]
One weekend a year, Tel Aviv’s architectural treasures open their doors and allow the public to learn about and appreciate the urban environment. In this unique annual event structures such as historical buildings, private homes, designer lofts, unique gardens, and even construction sites are made available in a project called Houses From Within. This year […]
We’ve already had a green kitchen party, we’ve learned about ways to conserve water while greening the old bathroom; we’ve even talked about ways to green your bedroom (hey, you know what we mean). Today we’re moving over to the living room, with a focus on energy conservation. Roughly two-thirds of our annual energy budget […]
Micheal Reynolds is a true visionary of a sustainable way forward for humanity, housed in buildings that use throwaway materials and don't need external power or sewage systems.
Two Architecture lecturers from the Technion Institute in Haifa have designed a high-rise sustainable energy apartment complex that includes greenhouses for all its residents, and are building it in Wuhan Province, China. Tagit Klimor and David Knafo, who also run their own architectural practise Knafo Klimor, with offices in Tel Aviv and Haifa, believe in […]