The Leaf House, a tropical beach house was designed by Mareines + Patalano Arquitetura is located in Angra dos Reis, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The Leaf House was inspired by Brazil’s Indian architecture, perfectly suited for the hot and humid climate where it stands, Rio de Janeiro. The roof acts as a big leaf that protects from the hot sun all the enclosed spaces of the house, such as the verandas and the in-between open spaces. These last two types of space are the main social areas, the essence of the design. They allow trade winds from the sea to pass trough the building, providing natural ventilation and passive cooling.

The architects see this as low-tech eco-efficiency where it has the greatest impact; as the concept of the architectural design. Mareines +Patalano, in agreement with the client, understand the idea of a tropical beach house as a means of enhancing the interaction between man and nature, trying not to separate them completely. There are no corridors and inside and outside are almost fused. Rain water is harvested from the roof for re-use. With its natural finishes, organic aesthetics and richness of details, the house is in harmony with the exuberant Brazilian nature.

Homes in the tropics rarely need much more than a breeze in order to keep the environment comfortable. As for other sustainable design techniques, the roof harvests rainwater for use in the house, and the interior is naturally finished with wood, stone and natural fabrics. We suspect the wood was harvested locally, and can only hope it was done so in a sustainable fashion. Above all the Leaf House is amazing inspiration for organic design that brings the outdoors in. It protects the inhabitants from rain and sun, while bringing in fresh breezes to cool the interior.

Simply a piece of paradise!

SHH took on the Kensington House project with a commission to create a complete interiors scheme for the six storey, 1,114 sq m house. The new-build property is a contemporary take on a Georgian terrace house, set within a classic west London square. The property is comprised of a very generously proportioned reception room, large formal dining room, family room, cinema and pool room, all located on the lower 3 floors. The entire first floor is occupied by the master suite, with the remaining two floors taken up by 5 further bedrooms and en suite bathrooms.

The client’s brief was simple. The house had to suit the needs of an international couple with a large family. As for the look? ‘Cream, off-white and funky’.

The house is entered at upper ground level, which consists of a double volume entrance foyer, a free-floating staircase and the principal reception room. A centrally-located double door ushers visitors into the 66 sq m reception room. The front part of the room is to be used as the formal area and has been treated in a more prescribed manner, whilst the garden side of the room has a less formal feel. The garden is reached via the main staircase and is comprised of a passage leading into the family room at the back and the dining room at the front, both of which can be accessed through the centrally located internal kitchen. The family room is comfortable, warm and airy, decorated using soft creams and natural shades. The dining room, with it`s formal proportions, uses a minimalist Italian table and chairs from Minotti to great effect against the spectacular backdrop of a cross-combed polished plaster fire breast. The jewel in the room is the Hellbob light, designed by Ruhl Haagmans.

Dispelling a myth…

To achieve this, he and his team combined many passive and active systems to create a cost-effective model for the community. The finished luxury home, the Chestnut House, is set upon a knoll with ocean views in Newport Beach. Although it would be difficult to claim this as affordable housing, Heinfeld does seek to dispel the myth that green costs more, and designed a home that provides an abundant sense of luxury but also an energy efficient and healthy home.

Description of an award winning house…

This award winning modern 4-bedroom, 4-bath house wraps itself around a central courtyard that emphasizes a combination of indoor and outdoor living.  The courtyard is used to passively heat and cool the house with prevailing breezes that are common in the southern California coastal climate. In the center of the house is the 2-story living area, which flushes hot air up and out to naturally ventilate the home with the help of a whole house fan. Two of the bedrooms are upstairs and are connected by a perforated bridge, which further assists air circulation. And above the kitchen is a large skylight with insulation properties similar to an R-11 wall.

Boasting green design…

The home boasts many other green design elements like an ENERGY STAR cool roof, with a 5.3 kilowatt solar system that provides for almost all of the home’s energy needs. The pool has its own solar hot water system for wintertime dips. Some of the interior walls are integral plaster that require no paint, while the rest were painted with low-VOC paints. The exterior was painted with low-VOC paints over Douglas Fir siding. And most of the flooring is composed of terrazzo, made from recycled glass and aggregates, and is an integral part of the passive heating and cooling systems.

Keeping the house on a budget…

Heinfeld kept the house on budget by balancing the expensive energy systems with simple interior finishes. A design choice that gives the home a minimalist and airy aesthetic that also suits its location on the coastline.

Naturally, the home is designed to save energy and money over time. Heinfeld says, “Sustainable homes — indeed, all sustainable buildings — are the marriage between time-honored design practices and the best of new technologies available today. Sustainability is not a trend or fad. It’s a value decision. Sustainability should no longer be viewed as an alternative design and building practice, but instead the preferred design and building practice.”

Learning and building an Eco-Dome is an excellent way to prepare for building a larger design such as the 3-bedroom house, because it provides a hands-on learning experience on the essential aspects of Superadobe construction. The Eco-Dome’s size of approximately 400 square feet (interior space), makes it a manageable structure for the first time owner builder. The finished “very small house” is self-contained and can become a small guest house, studio apartment, or be the first step in a cluster design of an Eco-Village of vaults and domes.

Some features of the Eco-Dome include:

• Built from local earth-filled Superadobe coils (soil-cement or lime-stabilized earth).
• Tree free.
• Maximum use of space through alternative options.
  The main dome and four niches, depending on local code approval, can function as:
  a) main living room, entrance hall, kitchen, bathroom, bedroom (called “bed-womb” because of it’s small, organic form!)
  b) living room, entrance hall, and three bed-rooms.
  c) living room, entrance hall, two bedrooms, and a bathroom.
• Self-contained single unit (potential for a guest house or studio apartment) or double unit (larger family residence).
• Can be repeated and joined together to form larger homes and courtyard houses.
• Can be built by a team of 3-5 persons.
• Designed with the sun, shade and wind in mind for passive cooling and heating.
• Wind-scoop can be combined with a rated furnace unit, depending on local code approval. Solar energy and radiant heating may be incorporated.
• Interior furniture can be built-in with same material.

Wall Glamour

Wall Glamour produces vinyl wall stickers in a huge range of designs and colors which can be used to brighten up homes, workplaces – or indeed any flat and smooth surface. Their new product, Wall Stickers is meant to help people decorate their house with unique wall art without such a big effort. The Wall Stickers can be used in the living room, the children’s bedroom or even in the bathroom. Whether you call them wall stickers, decals, transfer, wall art or wall tattoos you can easily create a unique look and it’s all in your hands!

These colorful Wall Stickers are really easy to apply and with them you get plenty of instructions, the Glamour site even has a “How to apply” section where you can find all the information you need (all it takes is to follow the four steps) and even more, they even got a color section where they explain alot of interesting stuff you need to know before painting a room or adding colorfull stickers to it.

These Wall Stickers might be the touch your dull or less colorful house need to be what you have dreamed it beeing. As there are so many models i wish you good luck in finding the one that suits you! (I already found what suits me)

The building material for the Dome House is expanded polystyrene, “the fourth-generation building material” after wood, iron, and concrete.

Having cleared the world’s strictest building codes in Japan, the Dome House is approved by the Japanese Ministry of Land and Transport.

The special expanded polystyrene challenges the prevailing common sense.

By kneading “antioxidant solution” into expanded polystyrene, or the building material for the Dome House, active oxygen can be suppressed, resulting in the prevention of aging and the recuperation of your health. Also,because the Dome House is a formaldehyde-free building, you don’t need to worry about sick-house syndrome.

Wrapping up the entire Dome House seamlessly with an antioxidant solution, the Dome House helps recuperate your health and enhance clean global environment.

Because the Dome House uses expanded polystyrene as the building material, excellent thermal insulation can be obtained. Also, owing to its dome-shape, the Dome House allows the air to circulate by convection without being accumulated at the corners. For these reasons, air conditioning costs can be reduced substantially. The Dome House is an incredible ultra-energy-saving building.

Not only is the Dome House structurally the most stable in shape, but also, unlike iron, it does not get rusted, nor, unlike wood, does not get rotten or eaten by termites. The Dome House offers a comfortable living space semi-permanently.

The streamline curvature of a dome helps to dissipate wind energy.

The Dome House is not only stable in structure but also extremely light in weight. It is because of this lightweight that the Dome House can withstand earthquakes.

The Dome House can be built by assembling Dome Pieces. Each Dome Piece weighs only 80kg. Since assembly is quite simple, if performed by 3 or 4 people, it takes approximately 7 days to complete a Dome House.