Sustain Our Earth

A new breed of high-rise architecture is in the process of being born, thanks to the collaborative efforts of modern design pioneers. Envisioned as the best sustainable option for meeting world housing demands and decreasing global carbon emissions, wooden mega-structures are now one step closer to becoming a reality.

“Big Wood,” a conceptual project to the eVolo 2013 Skyscraper Competition, builds on the premise that wood, when harvested responsibly, is one of the best tools architects and engineers have for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and creating healthy communities. Aspiring to become one of the greenest skyscrapers in the world, Big Wood challenges the way we build our cities and promotes timber as a reliable platform to support tomorrow’s office and residential towers...

Stockholm-based studio claesson koivisto rune have has created 3 sleek typologies for prefabricated homes that draw from the distinctly scandinavian landscape and approach to efficient living.

The 'Tind' residences draw their name from the norwegian word for 'mountain peak', a concept informed by the remarkable lack of sharp pointed peaks in scandinavian mountain systems. The softened edges of the range lend the landscape a particular beauty that finds its way into the architecture in the form of a truncated, single pitch roof. Floor-grazing windows are relegated to major walls and all apertures lie flush with light-drenched interiors. Rather than a perforated volume, the home is a rhythmic composition of built material and void, and despite the various models of kit houses, every interior is organized by a central entrance way or staircase and seeks to blur notions of interior and exterior.

While prefabricated homes have many historical iterations, the architectural integrity of the 'Tind' series is preserved through culturally relevant approaches to living...