Modern Book: Nano House

source  http://blog.2modern.com

Aw man we’re absolutely loving the book “Nano House: Innovations for Small Dwellings.” It’s exactly the sort of thing we need right now, considering that space is at a premium nearly everywhere and there’s a strong need for keeping our footprint on the planet as light as possible. Featuring forty examples of small, brilliant, future-minded and eco-responsible homes (with less than 650 square feet of living space each), this book offers not only the most exciting ideas for houses we’ve seen in a while, but also the most up-to-date solutions for those whose space is at a premium, or when the landscape must be left as undisturbed as possible and more.

The photos in here are literally stunning. Even if you don’t plan on going this out of your way for the environment yet, you’ll still find a ton of space-saving and maximizing ideas for your own home. And the photos are just inspiring to look at in themselves. We like how the book is divided into sections: built compact houses, small and mobile, micro-retreats, big ideas for low energy and big ideas multiplied. Written by Phillis Richardson and published by Thames & Hudson, this title will be available October 17th, 2011 and will retail at $29.95 for a hardcover book full of color photos and smart words. More here!

Purple House

source  archello.com

 

Nowadays obsession for ethnicity seals national identities. Most people seem to ignore the erratic unfolding of ancient fluxes which moulded European lands. Lost in their dull present, they forget the rich pathways leading from the past to our time. Just a few memories. By the middle ages, between 1130 and 1194, England and to some extent Wales and Ireland, shared with Sicily a common Norman domain: Byzantine mercenaries and recognizers of Arabian culture after capturing Sicily, these conquerors from the North Sea introduced a fascinating network between the shorelines of the north and Mediterranean. Making British history for the first time since the Roman era, they broke once more the islands’ isolation. Introducing the number zero and many innovations from Middle-Eastern regions into Europe - not least bringing back ancient Greek and Roman classical text manuscripts - they laid the foundation for the birth of a Modern European era. But history is full of violence: the dominant possession of a submissive culture manages to disguise the larceny by carefully rewriting history; and where memory lacks misunderstandings begin. Learning from this, might architecture heal history’s wounds? Might it have the power to awake the missed routes concealed behind day-to-day life, revealing the whole cloaked behind the gloomy curtains of ignorance?