Taupo could be in for a new eco-sustainable housing community, reshaping the way houses receive heat, electricity, water, and use wastewater. The New Zealand Clean Energy Centre (NZCEC) is currently investigating whether or not this would be feasible. The community would use geothermal or biomass heat to heat homes; generate electricity from solar [...]

One person’s rubble might be potential material for Gap Filler’s new office. Sustainable Habitat Challenge (SHAC) and ReGeneration Trust New Zealand are collaborating to build an office for Gap Filler in Colombo St, Sydenham, with the help of volunteers and as many recycled or sustainable materials as possible. Gap Filler project co-ordinator Coralie Winn said [...]

The ReGeneration Trust and SHAC (Sustainable Habitat Challenge) are keen to get rebuilding Christchurch. In January 2012, we’ll be running a six-day building project – starting from scratch, we’ll be working with builders, architects and a crew of young people to create a funky, recycled, moveable office for the Gap Filler project. Gap Filler is [...]

Tim Bishop, Electric BMX Bicycle 24″ wheels, nine continents motor, kelly controller, 48V, 350Watt-hour LiFePO4 battery pack Range: 12km.  Top speed: 37km/hr   Parts List www.evassemble.com 1 x Capacitor-16S-30A-BMS (Capacitor-16S-30A-BMS)  = $69.00 1 x KP-J(240W) Charger (KP-J(240W))  = $36.00 1 x Kelly KBS48121,50A,24-48V BLDC Motor Speed Controller (KBS48121,50A,24-48V)  = $146.00 www.e-bikekit.com nine continents motor via Ebike-kit [...]

“Anyone can build an eco-home,” he says, “but it doesn’t solve anything. There is nothing to stop them turning up the thermostat. What’s more interesting is the way people live and behave.” So the Triangle has allotments and polytunnels where people can grow their own food, and a car club and a scooter club that [...]

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  Baltimorean Will Homan, along with Pernilla Hagberth from Sweden and Clementine Blakemore from England, took on the Auburn University Rural Studio challenge: plan, design, and build a $20K house in Hale County, Alabama that could potentially be produced as a viable alternative to trailers in the area and purchased with a 502 Direct Loan. Above you see the project, from beginning sketches to [...]

Apparently there are adobe state homes in Hastings [or Wellington?].  Does anyone have some photos?

Materials for Architects and Builders is written as an introductory text to inform students at undergraduate degree and national diploma level of the relevant visual and physical properties of a wide range of building materials. The third edition has been significantly enhanced by the incorporation of full colour images throughout, illustrating the materials and in [...]

The New Zealand Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA) has developed a Home Energy Rating Scheme (HERS) for New Zealand households based on software simulation of energy loss and demand. The software requires hourly data to represent the differentclimates zones around New Zealand, especially for larger population centres. These climate data consist of hourly records [...]

    Masterton home eco-aware – Local News – Wairarapa Times-Age. In 2007, Steven, an industrial design engineer, began work on the eco-friendly house he would take three years to build with his own hands. He even built the kitchen and every piece of furniture from the shelving to the beds, and fitted solar panels, [...]

    Intelligent water cycle for active climate protectionHow ingenious it would be if we could store and reuse the heat from the run-off shower and bath water that we use each day before it disappears down the drain forever! Now you can – with a heat recovery system from Hansgrohe. The Pontos HeatCycle system is [...]

A few simple building rules could have saved billions of dollars and kept thousands of people in their own homes after the Canterbury earthquake, Far North Mayor Wayne Brown says. The problems showed the complicated building codes of recent years were no help, because they were ignored or not understood. The excellent performance of old [...]

Pocket parks are frequently created on a single vacant building lot or on small, irregular pieces of land. They also may be created as a component of the public space requirement of large building projects. Girard Fountain Park, a 0.15-acre pocket park in the Old City neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Pocket parks can be urban, [...]

12 office/studio spaces constructed from 32 recycled shipping containers on an abandoned strip in Providence, Rhode Island. There are also links to many notable container projects such as Container City, Illy Cafe, Puma City, and Adam Kalkin’s 12 Container House But the devil may be in the details – how are the windows be installed and flashed? And how [...]

Lyndall Hancock has spent a lifetime with a rainwater tank beside the house. Over the years, the Dunedin woman has used water collected from the roof – running down through pipes to a tank beside the house – for cooking, cleaning and even drinking, once strained and boiled. Now aged 80, Miss Hancock lives in [...]

VisionWest has seen one church grow to provide holistic care and support for all people physically, emotionally, spiritually and intellectually. The Trust provides housing, a kindergarten, opshop, community care, for the Henderson community in Auckland. VisionWest Community Trust has been offering community-based services to people in West Auckland since the 1980’s. The Trust was formally incorporated [...]

“It is not enough to design purely for life safety,” says Auckland architect Barry Copeland. “A resilient house, as well as surviving structurally through an earthquake, needs to continue its function as a family home.” In response to the Christchurch earthquake, Copeland, working with seismic engineer Barry Davidson and wastewater systems engineer Ian Gunn has [...]

BedZed Development:   Freiberg Housing   Medium Density Housing, Christchurch:   Frankton Proposal:   Existing Housing in New Zealand:   What We Can Do (Roger Buck)   Bricks Work – After 22 Feb Earthquake:   Urban Growth – Two Examples of Another Way [Article Submitted to the Christchurch Press on Urban Form] Although the evidence [...]