Teams have 72 hours to re-design an urban area in a pretty crumby satellite city in Israel. It’s guerilla urban architecture. We’ve all had the same thought: it’s been built, we’re stuck with it. This ugly urban mess we have created is here to stay and there’s nothing we can do about it; may as […]
More green wisdom from the United Kingdom: this week Clare unravels the many reasons to celebrate and cherish woodlands. Anne Frank found solace in the giant Chestnut tree that stood outside her home, while a Moroccan activist risked arrest to protect a precious stand of Cedar trees. And in Israel, to the outrage of Omer’s […]
“Cancer City”: Even if Masdar City does materialize against all odds, Nicolai Ouroussoff doubts its relevance to the rest of the sustainable world. The New York Times critic Nicolai Ouroussoff has diverted the Masdar City argument from a project that might not lift off – the laughing stock of the Middle East – to something […]
The Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority paves the way for sustainable building in the increasingly “green” emirate. Although green building codes have existed in the United States, Australia and elsewhere for a while, the same phenomenon has only recently been adopted in the Middle East. Israel’s first eco-tower aspires to incorporate, and Intel has already achieved […]
Tel Aviv’s first ‘green’ office tower uses recycled, sustainable and domestic building materials and ecological maintenance procedures for a long-term low impact on nature. Israel’s scarce water and energy resources were foremost in the minds of constructors Ronen and Alon Azouri when they designed Tel Aviv’s first ‘green’ office tower. Using recycled sustainable and/or domestic […]
Dubai’s designers protest a planned development project with this musical power plant If we continue to usurp every inch of undeveloped land in order to protect consumption, we will likewise destroy the very biodiversity upon which all life depends. Everything matters: that blade of grass? It’s someone’s food. Those bobble-eyed frogs? They get eaten too. […]
Rabbi Ian Pear believes that public institutions should take the lead in generating environmental awareness. The relationship between ecology and worldwide religions has taken center stage recently. Islamic leaders are speaking out and two traveling Americans found all manner of environmentally aware Muslims in their country. Also, if it ever lifts off, the famous “Ground […]
Think of Israel and high tech, and the first word that pops into most minds is…Intel. Since setting up shop in the country in 1974, Intel Israel has been responsible for developing the Pentium and Centrino chips which power most PCs around the world. But in the future, if you put together Intel and Israel, […]
It’s a tent, it’s a tunnel, and it funnels the year-round cool Shamal wind. We’ve been so enthralled with the Land Art Generator Initiative and the various designs that they have made available to the public, that we just had to share another with our readers. We’ve covered the solar thermal music designs that are […]
Green Prophet interviews Sarah Kopp about why she built her straw-bale house in Israel. A house made of straw and mud: sounds like the Biblical Jews enslaved in Egypt building cities with bricks that wouldn’t hold together. Yet Sarah Kopp built a house from bales of straw held together by chicken-wire, plastered with a mixture […]
The carbon-neutral city, Masdar, has all-but-failed. Can this urban park in Hong Kong do better? Architectural firm Foster & Partners have their stamp all over the Middle East: they had a hand in Masdar City, that ambitious carbon-neutral city plan that has turned into an embarrassment, and they are “greening” Jordan’s Queen Alia Airport. While […]
Glass may be beautiful, but in the Middle East, it’s far from eco-friendly It’s one thing for environmental bloggers to criticize architects or project managers for designing buildings that do nothing to preserve natural resources or inspire beauty in moderation. Foster and Partners, prolific in the Middle East, and just about anything built in Dubai […]
Israeli Haim Dotan incorporates the soul of nature into his art and architecture Few things make our green hearts soar more than an architect with a gentle, artistic, nature-loving touch. Although we learned this week that cave homes built into volcanic rock withstood seven centuries of time’s wrath, it is also true that dense urban […]
The First Phase of Tel Aviv’s first “Green” high rise to be completed in January [image via emporis.com] Although the Middle Eastern sustainable development agenda lags behind the western world, several recent developments and innovations demonstrate that we can keep pace. Studied Impact in Dubai has designed a renewable power plant that is fit for […]
Tel Aviv’s first green hi-rise, Ohio-Israel partnership, Volkswagon and more headlines related to Israeli cleantech and the environment. Image via [nivs]. During the week of July 20, 2010, “wind prediction” company, Pentalum raised $9 million. Tensions between Israel and Lebanon over natural gas in the Mediterranean heated up and Rosetta Green and Seambiotic are partnering […]
Planning is in full swing for ecoQ, an international environmental protection expo taking place in Qatar in September 2011. (From left to right: Haitham Shehab, Dr. Saif Al Hajari, and a member of the ecoQ team) Next September, the Qatar International Environment Protection Expo (ecoQ for short) will be presenting an international showcase of eco-friendly […]
An Australian family of five goes on a 5-month worldwide eco-tour. Their adventure begins at Kibbutz Lotan in Israel as GoEco volunteers for 5 weeks. Read about the Wood-Auster family experience, told by dad Arron. My wife Amy and I (Arron) made a decision to pull our family out of the day-to-day suburban world in […]
JRES plans to make learning about renewable energy a reality for all citizens Though not everyone in Jordan has an eco-conscience, such as the local thieves who are scheming ways to divert water, the country’s conferences and other initiatives suggest that the environmental movement is finally gaining ground. And the Jordanian Society for Renewable Energy […]
The third “Think Green” conference, held in Amman this week, encourages green buildings and sustainable communities. [image of an apartment building in Amman via: Sezgin Aytuna] We heard about Jordanian Queen Rania’s activities earlier this week, and now we will hear what HRH Princess Sumaya Bint El Hassan has been up to. For the past […]
Young Israeli and Palestinian Architects Are Invited to Join World Renowned Architects for a Week of Green Building Lectures, Site Visits, and Workshops. With cooperation from Friends of the Earth Middle East, Hebron Polytechnic, and the Porter School for Environmental Studies (among many others), the International Non-Profit Organization ECOWEEK has announced that from July 25th […]
Image credit: © 2009 Farshid Assassi, Courtesy of BNIM Architects. The International Living Building Institute Offers an Earthier, more Holistic Building Standard. The Omega Center for Sustainable Living (above) and the SF EcoCenter (below) are Potential Candidates for Certification. Twenty-three years ago, when then Chair of the United Nation’s World Commission on Environment and Development […]
Green Prophet looks to ancient Iran for some current alternative ideas to electricity-powered air con. Catch the wind with the bagdir wind tower! The concept of “green building” has taken off in Israel over the last few years. The need for ecologically efficient housing and offices is becoming more urgent as the cost of heating and […]
By taking into account embodied energy, Catherine and her husband half the energy required to build their home. In her recent Ted talk, Catherine Mohr encourages us to look at the bigger picture when discussing and analyzing green stories. Whether we weigh the benefits of a LEED certified project against the energy required to ship […]
Moshe Safdie’s Habitat ’67 designed for Montreal World Fair a model of sustainable living. Image via Wikipedia. Sustainable building is gaining some speed in the Middle East, but at a pace that is powerless against escalating climate damage. The Gutman Visitation Center’s Living Building in Jerusalem and Qatar’s LEED certified convention center offer good examples […]
Hassan Fathy, an Egyptian architect saw the value of natural building long before it became a fad in the west. Green Prophet has railed against projects like Dubai Burj Tower. We have pounded our chests at the audacity of Masdar City’s “zero” footprint claim, and we have decried the potential consequences of unsustainable approaches to […]