Why Businesses Should Go Green With Their Architectural Plans
Moshe Safdie, Metalocus in China
passive design
Las Vegas Going Green in a Quest to Become Saudi Arabia of Solar Power
A green oasis in the desert? Las Vegas is shedding its old image and preparing for a future without fossil fuels Las Vegas is a town built around big ambitions, its founders turning an arid wilderness into the premier entertainment paradise in the world. However, in recent times it has been undergoing something of an […]
Ceramic tile factory Turkey produces roof tiles as bird shelters
Ottoman traditions of building mansions for birds, a tile factory Hitit Terra in Turkey had a new idea: turn some of the tiles for roofs into nesting boxes for birds
New Yorkers go hard against fossil fuels, divest $215.5 billion pension funds from fossil fuels
You got to love New Yorkers. They are real, and they are often serious. And they like to walk the walk. So New Yorkers have a lot to celebrate now that their elected mayor Mayor Bill de Blasio declared that he will stop all new fossil fuel projects within and serving the city. Great talk, but what are locals doing really?
5 underground homes and hotels for desert dwellers and tourists
Some advocates of eco architecture say that for preserving the urban space the higher up you build, the better. But with an astonishing amount of desert landscape all around us, in Asia, in the Middle East, Africa and even in the United States, we’re thinking – let’s showcase the buried homes, the sustainable buildings that have […]
4 Houses find shade from Saudi sun with sliding Islamic shutters
Dom Arquitectura designed 4 Houses in Jeddah, a large city in western Saudi Arabia, where summer temperatures often surpass 109 °F. Hit the jump to find out how the studio used Islamic and passive design to keep the homes cool.
Louvre Abu Dhabi Finally Breaks Ground on Saadiyat Island
It has been more than three years since France’s Pritzker prize winning architect Jean Nouvel won the bid to design a sparkling new art museum for Abu Dhabi, and now construction on the new Louvre has finally broken ground.
Mediterranean Net-Zero Home Based on 3,500-Year-Old Israeli Design
Team Israel is all pumped up to show off their design skills at the upcoming 2013 international Solar Decathlon competition in China with All [e] Land – a Mediterranean net-zero prefab dwelling based on a 3,500-year-old archetypal Israeli design.
Green-Thumbed Journalist Nick Leech Defends Gulf Design
Just when thousands of expatriates were fleeing their Gulf homes during the global economic collapse four years ago, Nick Leech was moving in. He was one of the lucky ones, but that has more to do with his diverse talents than good luck. Originally from the UK, Nick first trained as an architectural and design […]
A Simple Piece of Fabric Transforms Bahrain Gateway (PICS)
A new pavilion by A-Bureau takes back an area of downtown Bahrain overrun by traffic – even if only temporarily. Right in the midst of the worst government crackdowns in Bahrain last year, we interviewed Camille Zakharia – a talented photographer whose work has been shown all over the world. Recently he sent us images […]
Ksour – Adobe Granaries That Keep Food Cool Berber Style
This beautifully-restored adobe granary in Tunisia keeps food cool without any kind of mechanical intervention. The benefits of earth architecture have been well-documented on Green Prophet, so we were very excited to discover these wonderful adobe granaries called Ksar (Ksour is plural) on our Tunisian journey. Possibly built as early as the 12th century by […]
Sheikh Khalifa Medical City Gives New Meaning to Retail Therapy
SOM is behind the new Sheikh Khalifa Medical City in Abu Dhabi, which will feature all kinds of “retail therapy!” The 2.5 million square foot Sheikh Khalifa Medical City in Abu Dhabi will combine three state of the art hospitals in one giant, green space. Aiming for two Estidama pearls, the new center designed by […]
Yaniv Pardo’s Twisting Tower for Netanya in Israel
Netanya’s efficient new twisting tower will be powered by geothermal energy and transform this once-obscure Israeli city. We have a real soft spot for earth architecture, such as Nader Khalili’s gorgeous domes and arches fit for space, and these amazing Syrian beehive-shaped buildings that have lasted hundreds of years, but we also acknowledge the great […]
Sustainable Architecture Saudi Style: King Abdullah Financial District
Although the massive 3,300,000 sq m King Abdullah Financial District in Riyadh will feature a variety of “green” initiatives, this is definitely sustainable architecture Saudi style. We applaud any individual or organization that seeks to green up their portfolio, and Saudi Arabia is no exception. Really, it’s difficult to blame the Kingdom’s residents for striking […]
Kibbutz Lotan’s Free Eco-Guide App Makes Getting Back to Nature a Breeze
Anyone who is interested to transition to a more sustainable way of life will benefit from Kibbutz Lotan’s comprehensive eco-guide app. Many socially and environmentally conscious citizens dream about leaving the grid for good and getting back in touch with nature, but the general lack of sustainable infrastructure and available information in the Middle East […]
Croatian Firm to Design Istanbul’s First Disaster Prevention & Education Center
Radionika Arhitekture from Croatia won an international design competition to design Instanbul’s Disaster Prevention and Education Center, which is hoped to create more public awareness about earthquakes in particular. In the last two months, two large earthquakes in Turkey claimed a total of 670 lives – deaths that might have been prevented with better disaster […]
Op Ed: Don’t Let Money Rob Egypt’s Green Building Success!
Students from the American University of Cairo designed SLIDES – a solar-powered modular home that is slated to compete in next years Solar Decathlon, but lack of financial support could keep this groundbreaking project from being realized. When students from the American University of Cairo were accepted to compete in the 2012 Solar Decathlon design […]
Karim Rashid Brightens Up Cairo with the Amazing Komb House
Karim Rashid’s incredible Komb House exhibited in Cairo last year features the most cutting-edge eco-technologies without compromising its colorful “wow” factor! We think Egypt needs a little brightening up, and it seems that Karim Rashid agrees. The New-York based Egyptian design master presented the incredible Komb House at last year’s Le Marche exhibition in Cairo […]
The Mashrabiya House Beats the Heat with Traditional Arabic Technique
This contemporary home located between Bethlehem and Jerusalem is wrapped in a Mashrabiya screen, which keeps the home nice and cool even on scorching hot days. We’ve lauded the benefits of ancient building techniques many times before. Both Hassan Fathy’s incredible mud structures in Egypt and ancient Syrian beehives are a model for sustainable design […]
Rothschild Foundation Moves To Greener Windmill Hill
Last month the Rothschild Foundation moved into a renovated dairy building situated on the Estate at Windmill Hill, in Aylesbury, England. The Rothschilds feature prominently on this news site, mostly because the family’s green superstar is involved in a host of environmentally-positive programs. We recently featured an interview with David de Rothschild, and reviewed Plastiki, […]
Mashrabiya: 12th Century Light & Cooling For Lebanon’s USJ Campus
Contemporary architects in the Middle East revert to ancient techniques to cool and light new buildings. The earliest known Mashrabiya dates to 12th century Baghdad, Iraq. A special architectural feature that provides passive cooling both in and outside of the building, it was particularly popular in Iraq during the 1920s and 1930s. Unfortunately, the Al Rasheed […]
EXCLUSIVE: On Dubai’s Saner Future With Former Foster & Partners Partner
In an exclusive interview, Emanuel Mattutini, one of the first Foster & Partners’ Associate Partners to move to the UAE, talked to Green Prophet about Dubai’s next era of development and his new architectural firm. Dubai’s next era of development will be entirely more sane than the last, according to Italian architect Emanuele Mattutini. Formerly […]
DI Bernhard Gruber Designs Cool Green Playground For Hot Climes
Before we know it, the Middle Eastern sun will be hot enough to fry eggs on the sidewalk and kids will want to stay inside in front of televisions to escape the heat. But DI Berhard Gruber has designed a playground that is not only cool enough to play in, but also teaches kids about […]
After Four Years, Dubai’s “Holey” O-14 Tower Finally Opens
After four years, the O-14 is finally complete, and is as righteous as it is “holey.” Dubai has been eclipsed recently by a host of exciting developments in Abu Dhabi and Qatar, the first Middle Eastern country to host the World Cup. In part, this is because the splashy Emirate was forced to adopt a […]
Pacific Green Inaugurates Masdar City’s Sustainable Palm Gates
These beautiful Palmwood® gates at the entrance of Masdar City help keep the hot desert winds at bay. What should the gates to the world’s most talked about carbon-neutral city look like? For starters, they should be built out of a material that is sustainable, and they should blend in with Foster & Partner’s high-tech/ancient […]