The 2011 Zombie Safe House Competition is an annual design competition to create the best safe house in the event of a zombie apocalypse. Imagine the world being run over by zombies, what’s the safest place for you?

The organizers believed that artists, designers and architects have the solution and will save mankind!

From over 200 entries, the designers have ingeniously incorporated sustainable design principles in their safe houses. From self-sustaining food production and water storage…

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… to utilizing pre-fabricated materials (container vans)…

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… to self-generating power (zombies in a giant hamster wheel), …

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… and even adaptive re-use of existing structures…

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… while staying perfectly safe and stylish.

Head on over to their website and vote for the best! Voting ends on October 31. – green guide

Our rainy Saturday last weekend was spent visiting two new creative spots in Manila.

We first headed to New Manila in Quezon City to check out 10A Alabama St., an old bungalow which is now home to three creative spaces: the showroom of Resurrection Furniture & Found Objects Gallery, the art gallery of RAW, and the tea bar of Hausbesetzer Laboratory.

Resurrection Furniture

Architect Leah Sanchez and interior designer Binggoy de Ocampo, both from UP Diliman, are the creative minds behind eco-friendly Resurrection Furniture. True to their store’s name, the two designers give a new life to “dead” objects—old and damaged furniture, salvaged wood, and “junk” of all sorts—by refurbishing them back to life or upcycling them into new functional pieces. I admire them for seeing the beauty in the things that many would consider ugly or garbage.

We love the wood dining chairs, the console table made from unfinished salvaged wood, the white armchairs, and the card catalog. Oh, I want the card catalogue!

Aside from furniture, lighting and small decorative objects, the shop also has a collection of small sculptural pieces by artist Ling Quisumbing. The pieces are mostly an assemblage of found objects such as used pencils and scrap wood.

Even their price tags and calling cards are upcycled. They are made from old library catalog cards. Their calling card even has a note encouraging the person to find another use for it, maybe as a bookmark or even as a greeting card.

To know more about Resurrection Furniture, visit their website here and their facebook page here.

Tomorrow, we’ll be sharing the rest of  10A Alabama St. with Robert Alejandro’s RAW art gallery and Jetro Rafael’s Hausbesetzer Laboratory.

Last Saturday, many cities around the world joined Earth Hour and turned off their lights for an hour to show their commitment to sustainable living. After that, what?

Turning off the lights for Earth Hour is representative of the small deeds and actions, when observed by everyone, will contribute in making the earth a better place to live in (sorry for the beauty pageant cliche). After Earth Hour, what else can we do?

Make do and mend!

During World War II, Make Do and Mend was the slogan of the people to promote a more frugal lifestyle because their supplies and financial resources were limited. Now, we may have the money to buy all sorts of material things but our natural resources, especially energy from fossil fuels, remain limited. Plus, land pollution, because of solid wastes, remain to be one of the leading global environmental issues.

So, say goodbye to wasteful living by being a mindful shopper/consumer and by using your stuff (not just clothes) until they ‘die’. Learn how to repair, re-purpose, and recycle to cut down the amount of solid wastes that go into landfills. Hope these pretty vintage posters will inspire and remind you to make the most of what you have.

*images via farouche, clare owen, and this is temporary

We were told about this Kenneth Cobonpue car during the CebuNext show. Cool right?!

” ‘Phoenix’—the name Cobonpue has given his automobile design—has a form made of rattan, bamboo, steel and carbon fiber. It projects this era’s thrust towards artisanship and craftsmanship, biodegradability and environment-friendliness, as opposed to assembly-line production and high technology—the contrast between man’s handiwork and machine. By coincidence, the car is unveiled at a time when the world is facing the horrors of potential nuclear calamity, the fallout from a technology reduced at the mercy of nature.” Source

Read the rest of the article here.

*Photo courtesy of Kenneth Cobonpue

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Sorry for the relative silence here.  All three of us suddenly have an overwhelming amount of work! I don’t know why. But based on experience, I blame it on the nearing holiday season. Projects, events, and deadlines start to pile up beginning in  October because everyone wants to finish everything before Christmas.

So, it’s not that we already ran out of interesting ideas and projects to share. In fact, we already have several posts lined up! We just need to find the time to work on them. Here are some posts to watch out for:

• Lilli and Ana’s trip to Calauan, Laguna to join Habitat for Humanity’s Blogger’s Build
• Ardel and Lilli’s trip to La Union to tour Thunderbird Resort, Poro Point and to attend the launch of Point Residences
• New spacelift projects c/o our df readers Ina and Weng
• An update on UP ID’s Upgrade Project
• Heima’s new furniture collection
• New space matters feature on a compact condominium studio

For now, here’s a cute video from takepart on using less plastic. Hope this will entertain and inspire you to use less and less plastic everyday. (thanks orange for the tip!) df

Has it really been a year?

We started off Conscious Living by encouraging everyone to change our perspectives. Green living requires a fundamental shift in thinking and living, and resulting in reducing our consumption patterns.

Then, we showed how green spaces are really cool spaces built for the right climate. By using passive cooling techniques, we reduce the energy consumed to cool the space mechanically. Some techniques we illustrated were locating the proper orientation, maximization of openings , employing cross ventilation, taking into account the stack effect, installing sunshades at windows, and elevating the structure, venting the roof and having good insulation.

We also presented measurement systems that could assist us in evaluating how green our choices were. These were the carbon footprint and embodied energy. These two measured the byproducts and energy consumed of the lifecycle of materials and goods.

Moreover, we shared some water-saving tips for your home.

We capped off the year by summing up all our tips into one cool video for your viewing (and learning) pleasure.

Here’s to another year of green living! -green guide

Making things by hand is probably one of the greenest yet most under-estimated efforts that we can do to help our environment. One, we save on energy. Two, we get a sense of fulfillment and self-worth after completing a project. Three, because handmade stuff are invested with a kind of sentimental value, we are encouraged to use them over and over again (unlike those disposable, mass-produced items that add to the growing amount of solid waste).

Start relearning those home economics skills in sewing, paper crafts, and carpentry one project at a time. Check our diy category for possible projects and ideas. For the guys, you can also browse through Dude Craft for some “manly” projects. For the girls, Martha Stewart and Design Sponge are two other great sources for tutorials on handmade gifts and home essentials.

*paul overton posters via design bees

Have you seen UP Diliman lately?

I was there yesterday to enroll for my penalty course (booo!) and I saw how a few days of rain transformed the school grounds from being dry and brown (because of El Nino) to becoming fresh and green once again. Plus, thanks to the many fire trees in the campus, this is also the time of the year when UP is colored in a vibrant shade of orange! I remember reading a blog which likened the orange fire trees of UP to the pink cherry blossoms of Japan. Interesting comparison… I don’t mean to exaggerate, but driving and walking around the school yesterday was such a joy.

If there’s anything I love the most about my school, it would b the abundance of trees–the canopy of acacia trees around the academic oval, the narra trees and their fragrant flowers during summer, and the bright and colorful fire trees.

Apart from making a place fresh, cool and pretty, trees, especially in the urban setting, provide more important benefits. Studies show that the presence of green spaces provide restorative experiences, stress reduction, better worker attitude and well-being, reduced domestic conflict, less school aggression and conflict, and better learning abilities. These are the reasons why parks, gardens and other green spaces should be included in any community. Click HERE to read more on the benefits of urban nature.

[photo via tigris777: hardy bougainvillea remains pretty amidst the el nino dry spell]

Here in the Philippines, we are knee deep in el niño season. Water has not just become a precious commodity, but an expensive one too. While we are being advised to conserve water in our everyday use, we (designers, builders, and future homeowners) can take this further and reflect it in the designs of our homes and buildings.

1. HOLD OFF ON THOSE WATER FEATURES

Pools and ponds can definitely add charm to a place. Having a personal swimming pool in your home is certainly a luxury. However, these water-features are resource consuming. The volume may not be huge, but the water still needs to be changed regularly. Plus, they are not as easy to maintain. I’ve seen many a grotto with a dry, dusty and neglected pond. Also, if not designed properly, water-features can add humidity especially during high temperatures, making the air stuffier than normal.

2. PLANT A HARDY GARDEN

One of the biggest sources of water consumption is watering the plants and lawn. To reduce the amount of water spent while retaining that garden, plant hardy species that require minimal watering (ie. Carabao grass over Bermuda grass). Do not be restricted with cacti. Ornamental plants such as bromeliads, draecena, bougainvillea (above), hibiscus (gumamela), sanseviera, and yucca are equally drought-resistant.

3. INSTALL WATER-SAVING TOILET FIXTURES

There are toilet fixtures in the market today that promote water-conversation. Self-closing faucets at sinks are heavily favored in commercial spaces (like malls) today. Furthermore, waterless urinals are prevalent in male washrooms. There are shower heads that have adjustable settings for water-saving. Water closets have dual-flush systems that consume water depending on the person’s use.

4. HAVE AN ALTERNATIVE RESOURCE

Why not tap the rain as alternative source of water? Install a rainwater collection system. Not your usual water-barrel-under-the-downspout (though that would be a simple and affordable way), modern systems nowadays collect rainwater from roofs and run-offs from the grounds and collect the water into underground cisterns. The collected water then passes through a filtering system to make it drinkable (potable), or use as is (non-potable) for watering the plants, cleaning the car and flushing the toilets.

Why not recycle what you already used? Set up a wastewater recycling system. Waste water or greywater from bath, laundry and kitchen sinks (not from water closets please) are collected, filtered and re-used for non-potable sources. –green guide

I was impressed that Cebu’s furniture industry is actively developing materials, processes and designs that are sustainable. Most of their furniture pieces and accessories now rely on the use of indigenous materials. Because indigenous materials like buri, rattan, abaca, and coconut shells are locally available, more abundant, easily harvested and processed with less energy, they are much more sustainable than wood.

[Photo above, from left: Mantid Bench in rattan, leather and metal from Obra Cebuana. Sunny Day Cocktail Table in rattan, leather & metal from Obra Cebuana. Palwa Occasional Chair in palwa (cocnut fronds) & rattan from APY Cane. Floor lamps and pendant lamps in curled/bent rattan & metal from Accessoria Inc.]

Now, Cebu designers are already exploring the use of forest wastes such as twigs and branches as materials for furniture production. Two examples are Kenneth Cobonpue’s Kris Kros screen (also used for the interiors of Z Bar, to be featured later this week) that uses small bamboo twigs on metal frame, and Naturescast’s furniture and accessories (above) that use cast pulp made of recycled paper and forest wastes (branches and leaves).

[Photo above, from left: Loom Floor Lamp using recycled foil textile (for the shade) from Hacienda Crafts Company. Chaise Lounge in rattan, steel & reused textiles from Pacific Traders. Floor & Table Lamps using camera film on metal frame from Detalia Aurora.]

The industry is also looking into developing recycled materials for furniture and accessories. Hacienda Crafts Company is making woven textiles using shredded foil wrappers and bags of potato chips and other snacks. Such fabrics can be used for lighting (above) and accessories .

These efforts do not only make Cebu’s furniture industry a model of a green and sustainable industry, but they also contribute in making their designs stand out internationally. This just proves that it is possible to be green without sacrificing on beauty and quality.