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Recycled suitcase sculptures 'unpack' metaphysical baggage of the refugee experience (Video)

Using recycled materials and audio recordings from refugees, this exhibition hopes to deepen understanding and connection with those who have had to flee their home countries.




b

Angular small house is inspired by Dutch and Japanese design

Clad with reclaimed cedar, this modern and quirky house fits on a small footprint.




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Immigrants get a new microbiome when they come to the U.S.

Unfortunately it's not an improvement.




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Plant-based meat takes center stage at Kroger

Vegan burgers, sausage, deli slices, roasts, seitan, and even jackfruit are moving to the meat department at the nation's leading grocery retailer.




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Deadly Floods in Thailand Are A Symptom of a Larger Problem

Since July, floods have ravaged Thailand, causing $3 billion in damage and killing nearly 300 people. But as the waters approach the capital city, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra says he is confident




b

A New Form of Subsidized Housing and Urban Intensification: Living in a Billboard

It makes sense; They have great views, lots of exposure to wind and sun, and think of all the exercise you'll get climbing up.




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Gorgeous New Tree House Hotel in Thailand Offers a Green Retreat from Bustling Bangkok

Just a 30-minute ride on public transportation outside the Thai capital, travelers will find a cluster of jungle tree houses where they can breath clean air, explore a lush landscape, and sleep under the stars.




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The Week in Pictures: A Cacti Chandelier, Bourbon and Maple Peach Cobbler, and More

A eccentric design hangs living cacti and lighting from the ceiling, a vegan cobbler is delicious, a luxury treehouse is a great escape in Bangkok, and more.




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Instant Car Showroom Is Built Out Of Shipping Containers

Design takes advantage of a shipping container attribute: Speed.




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Thai Tourist Trade Contributing to Burma Elephant Trafficking

A new video from the Ecologist Film Unit shows how baby elephants are being smuggled into Thailand from Burma for tourism.




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Swooping Bamboo Structure Is a Children's Paradise

Using local materials, this impressive bamboo structure features a microcosm of imaginative spaces designed for a range of playful activities.




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Temporary bamboo bridge replaces tourist attraction in Thailand

floating bridge is described as "a magnificent piece of engineering."




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Multi-layered urban housing prototype packs in plenty of great small space ideas

Using a series of overlapping mezzanines and spaces, this accessible, urban housing prototype explores the possibilities of living small but comfortably in the city.




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There's a story behind that kimchi on the supermarket shelf

Many exotic ingredients aren't on shelves because people ask for them, but more so because the governments of those countries are actively promoting them.




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Innovative prefabricated bamboo trusses hold up this new sports hall

Marrying the traditional material of bamboo with modern engineering, this impressive sports hall in Thailand was constructed without steel reinforcements or connections.




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Wonderful Uber ad demonstrates why we have to get rid of cars

Whether they are are autonomous, self-driving or "shared" like Uber and Lyft, they are still congestion.




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Snakes invading Bangkok homes, thanks to urban sprawl

The fire department had received 31,801 calls this year for help in removing snakes, three times as many as in 2012.




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Are electric cars part of the climate solution or are they actually part of the problem?

If we are really going to make a dent in emissions we have to take real estate away from people who drive and redistribute it to people who walk and bike.




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We need walkable, wheelable, scooterable and strollable cities, and what we are getting is more sprawl

Fewer people are walking and more people are voting with their gas pedal.




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American roads are dangerous by design, and more people are dying than ever before

"The time for complacency has passed. We must treat this crisis as if our lives, and the lives of our friends, families, and neighbors, depend on it. "




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Why you should embrace the 'microadventure'

Don't wait for a big exotic trip to get outdoors. How about squeezing it in between 5 pm and 9 am?




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Is there a difference between hiking in built-up areas vs. wilderness?

Researchers in Austria put this question to the test.




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Artists bring life to Toronto's Feel Good Lane

How to make a utilitarian back lane into a wonderful public amenity.




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Walking is urban epoxy

It supports economic growth, social development, and environmental stewardship.




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OLED lighting makes a beautiful chandelier

French lighting design company Blackbody makes the new lighting tech an object of desire.




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After 139 years, General Electric stops making light bulbs

There will be indignation, but this is the result of one of the most successful transformations of a market in our lifetime.




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Behold the revolution: LED bulbs are now as cheap as incandescents

Who would have imagined that this would happen so fast?




b

Big bulb manufacturers conspiring with Department of Energy and Trump to slow the LED revolution

By 2020 every light bulb is supposed to put out 45 lumens per watt. It's a Bush-era regulation that the current government wants to roll back.




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Halogen bulbs banned in EU as of September 1

The LED revolution will not be stopped.




b

Money can't fix circadian rhythm problems. Sunlight and freedom can.

Circadian rhythm lighting products won't fix body clock problems.




b

After the big Northridge earthquake, a mysterious cloud appeared above LA – here's what it was

Calls came into emergency centers and even the Griffith Observatory from LA residents who described seeing a “giant silvery cloud.”




b

Could smart phones soon be grown from 'living materials'?

How would design for obsolescence change if materials that conduct electricity or emit light could be grown and repair themselves, like bone?




b

This is why we're not furry (and may explain baldness)

Ever wonder why humans don't have hair everywhere?




b

Integrated "Shopping" Bag In Award-Winning Bicycle

Whenever my husband asks me to "pick up a couple of bottles of wine" while shopping, I get surly. My favorite bike panniers are, without exception, NOT well equipped to handle heavy, glass bottles that may shift in




b

Ultramarathoners Running 10,000-Kilometer Silk Road Route to Raise Awareness About Water Shortages

Seventy-two days after setting out from Istanbul, champion distance runner Kevin Lin Yi Jie and a small team of other athletes have covered 4,434 kilometers of their 10,00-kilometer goal: Running the




b

Vincent Callebaut Designs "Bionic Arch"- A Green Skyscraper For Taiwan

When Jerry wrote about Vincent Callebaut's proposed vertical farm for New York City, he called it a Locavore Wet Dream; I called it one of the silliest, most overwrought jump-the-shark vertical farm ideas ever




b

Recycled Play Structures Bring Joy to Schools in Rural India

Artist Shilpa Joglekar works with rural communities in India and Taiwan to create much-needed play structures out of natural and recycled materials.




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Could Cities Benefit from Small-Scale, Local "Urban Acupuncture" Projects Like This? (Photos)

Woven from bamboo, this inviting structure transforms an empty lot in busy Taipei into a haven where neighborhood residents can relax and gather over a fire.




b

These clever concrete defense pods double as mangrove planters (Video)

This design is a hybrid of existing concrete sea defenses that can hold a mangrove seedling inside.




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Taipei's forest bus brings lush nature to the concrete jungle

Draped in moss, orchids, lilies, and ferns, this city bus transports riders to a whole new world.




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Mirrored shipping container becomes an invisible urban art gallery

Built as an extension for a local high school, this new urban space blends into its tree-lined surroundings.




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Tiny 355 sq. ft. micro-apartment is expanded with adaptable mini-loft

A small apartment gets enlarged by knocking some walls down and adding a multi-functional staircase and mini-loft.




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Taiwan promises to ban all single-use plastics by 2030

Finally, one nation is taking firm, clear action toward going plastic-free.




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Space-saving design makes one child's bedroom a fun hideaway

A small child's bedroom becomes a magical little place to sleep and play.




b

Arched basement coworking space offers inspiring 'rain of light'

An old basement is transformed into a beautiful new shared multipurpose space for working, learning and leisure.




b

People of Sydney: Tell Us About Your City

Sydney is white Australia's birthplace, settled as a penal colony in 1788. Many of its first white inhabitants would be very surprised to learn that it is now often recognized as one of the world's top ten most liveable cities. Earlier this year it was




b

Foaming Ocean Whips Beachgoers into a Frenzy

Beach-side foam party gone out of control? Not quite. A shoreline north of Sydney, Australia was transformed into the "Cappuccino Coast," as one journalist put it, with foam swallowing up an entire beach and half the nearby buildings, including the




b

Elderly Man Killed By Neighbor for Watering Lawn in Australia

According to CNN, a 66 year-old man was beaten to death on his front lawn by his 36 year-old neighbor for watering it yesterday in Sydney, Australia. Apparently, the pair started arguing over his water usage, and the victim sprayed his neighbor with




b

Australia Stepping Back From The Coal-Fired Edge

Climate change is powerfully symbolized by severe drought. Extended, widespread drought can make potable water scarce. Desalination plants are energy intensive and expensive to build and run: the several recently build or planned for Australia may




b

International Bicycle Film Festival Comes Down Under

By some oversight we’ve missed the opportunity to alert readers to the International Bicycle Film Festival of 2007 until now. After it has already blitzed 13 cities worldwide, it finds itself skidding to a halt for a few weeks in Australia.