Zen Homes Slider Pictures

Wednesday, November 26, 2014

You will be amazed at this #extraordinarybuilt #homes

#Uniquehomes and #buildings



From Dose Com

These are built from various materials and places:  log cabin, water tank container van, grain silos,

Amazing.  Unique.



Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Earthbag building

Unique buildings to save money and resources.


From Earthbag building


New methods of constructing buildings have to be designed to expand the reach of present resources.  Other methods of construction are relatively weak because of frequent typhoons.

Thus ABAKADA (headed by executive director Crisel Cudiamat  and MyShelter foundation  (headed by Illac Diaz) collaborated on school building project using the indigenous material. and uses of a lot of self help.  The buildings are sturdier, and more typhoon resistant and costs 40% less.  Since the materials are indigenous, and there is entrepreneurship.  Money flows back to the community. Using imported materials like cement and steel bars disrupts the cash flow to the community, and drains our foreign exchange.


Improving the housing for the favelas and slum areas (Rocinhas) at Rio de Janeiro

It is more fun criticizing

Rizal Philippines | September 22, 2014




Old Rocinha


New Rocinha



From Globe eye - improving the favelas

From Geography Learn on the Internet

I again saw at the TV the AJ feature on Rocinha, one of the 600 favelas at Rio de Janeiro.   Favelas are the equivalent of slum areas - make shift houses and of light materials.. Starvation amidst plenty.   Rocinha is beside Copacabana. and fronts the gorgeus beachfront property.  It is home to some 90 to 160t population


Very near the Copacobana beach

Saturday, September 13, 2014

Urban Cactus design

Rizal Philippines  | September 13, 2014

From Makadoodh blog



This design, the cactus building design in Rotterdam, maximizes the sunlight radiating to the building. It thus enables more green to grow and more light to the occupant.  The living things on earth are inspiration to the design and makes living healthier and better

The sandbag house (cf Rio house of Illiac Diaz)

Rizal Philippines  September 13, 2014

From Makaadoh blog

Many of the modern housing design would use natural local materials and that makes the construction cheaper and even cute.




Our very own Illac Diaz has the Rio Dome made entirely of soil and sack  (The sack has to be tough though otherwise when the sack rots, the soil will spill over.)   We can have one made of empty PET bottles?   Will this last long ?


Biomimetic buildings copy termite mound design

September 13, 2014




From treehugger

From Japahfs - use of termite mound technology at Eastgate center a 9 story building in Zimbabwe Africa

The above building uses natural ventilation and is bio mimetic.  It mimicks the termite mound design.

It thus saves on air conditioning costs. There is flue at the top where hot air gets out, and has holes at the side wich catches the breeze.





"The Eastgate Centre is a shopping centre and office block in central Harare, Zimbabwe. The building was designed to be ventilated and cooled entirely by natural means — it was biomimetically modeled on local termite mounds. It was probably the first building in the world to use natural cooling to this level of sophistication. Because of its altitude, Harare has a temperate climate despite being in the tropics, and the typical daily temperature swing is 10 or 14° C. This makes a mechanical or passive cooling system a viable alternative to artificial air-conditioning. But long before the building was created, passive cooling was being used by the local termites. Termite mounds include flues which vent through the top and sides, and the mound itself is designed to catch the breeze. As the wind blows, hot air from the main chambers below ground is drawn out of the structure, helped by termites opening or blocking tunnels to control air flow.
Via: Z + Partners"




Naturally ventilated building of Sony -bioskin

Philippines   |   September 13, 2014



Sony is well known, a high profile company as it is, in leadership in construction of naturally ventilated building.  Its Tokyo HQ is known to be using natural ventilation.  Rainwater are collected at rooftops and runs through pipes which are in placed in front of the buildings.  The circulating water cool the building.  The concept is called Bioskin






From Riva - although not employing the natural ventilation design this Sony HQ in Germany whose design is by star architect Helmut Jahn has a more than 26, 444 open space for parking, service areas, and  stations for  for transportation

High performance commercial building design pdf

From Mechandz - almost all old historical buildings were naturally ventilated
Making your building green:

Repositioning this site as unique homes and building design

Rizal Philippines | September 13, 2014



My first impression is that building design should be modern:  that of using space age materials (that are expensive) that are earthquake and typhoon resistant (as are modern buildings in Taipei and Dubai) or using pre cast of out of  the building methodology (in factories) or curtain walling.

We have a list of the most  unique building design around the world

I watched at Al Jazeera where Vietnamese architects had the following projects:

1. Very tall flower pots that had trees and gardens;

2.  Low cost housing for Mekong river residents (cost about $4,000.00 only) by Vo Trong Nghia architects using modular design and bamboo

From design boom