The micro-compact low e-home is all-electric and powered by photovoltaic solar panels of 8 sqm with a small diameter vertical axis wind generator.
Day-time excess power is diverted into the grid. Night-time power is provided by the wind turbine and reserve batteries. Heating and air conditioning is ducted to each of the four function spaces. Long duration LED lighting is used internally and for the external walkways.
I wouldn’t call it exactly portable at 2 metric tonnes of weight, but it is an interesting and quite well though out concept. The Micro Compact home web site has several other variations of this shelter. The price is around 34000 euros per unit.
On my recent trip to Lappland, I met a guy who had built a small transportable fibre glass home mounted on a sledge. It could be moved around with a snow mobile and could house him and his dog. I think that architects who design miniature houses like the Micro Compact home could really learn a lot by interviewing people who have actually built and used homes like this in the real life. Sometimes there is a bit of an ivory tower situation between the architects and the real world users of portable homes.
And don’t let me get started on the huge RV truck conversions that they are building in USA. Sometimes they have a small garage built in the truck for another vehicle. Check out this example of these gas guzzling monsters.
This is the soundtrack to a consumer made iPod commercial that made it big time. It’s being remade in hi-def by TBWA for broadcast use.
Consumers creating commercials “is part of this brave new world we live in,” said Lee Clow, chairman and chief creative officer at TBWA Worldwide, based in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Playa del Rey.
“It’s an exciting new format for brands to communicate with their audiences,” Mr. Clow said. “People’s relationship with a brand is becoming a dialog, not a monolog.”
Check out the YouTube video that caught the eye of the ad agency.
Originally developed by Dutch designer Dré Wapenaar—who was commissioned by a non-profit to make the lives of tree-sitting activists a little easier—these tear-shaped tents hang suspended several feet off the ground. Though never actually used to stop chainsaws, since 1998 they’ve been in use at the Hertshoorn campsite, sleeping up to a family of four on the interior platform, which has about a nine foot diameter. More recently Wapenaar’s also added a bivouac for mourning the dead and an orb-shaped birthing tent (featuring a central pool) to his repertoire.
I’ve slept in a hammock out in the woods a few times just to test it out, but I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s not all that practical for most environments. For some unknown reason, all these different variations of tree based shelters really fascinate me. It must some sort of primal instinct of getting up there on a tree for safety during the night.
On a totally different note, I remember reading a detailed description of a radically different kind of tree shelter. I think it was in a Vietnam war related book (perhaps the sniper autobiography One Shot, One Kill which Reko borrowed to me?). Anyways, it was a square metal platform that was secretly placed to the upper foliage of a jungle by a transport helicopter. It acted as a base for a group of commando soldiers who lowered themselves to the ground every now and then to fight behind the enemy lines. The only safety it provided was that you couldn’t see it from the ground unless you knew what to look for. Somehow, metal doesn’t seem like the right kind of material to build a stealth base like that. One would think that every little trinket you drop on the platform would make a loud noise like a church bell.
Stealth camping is a concept that is closely linked to hammock camping in general.
camping overnight on land that is unmarked or signed, unimproved, unfenced and away from habitation without anyone’s consent or knowledge using the Leave No Trace principles.
*RISCON：A word coined from “Risk ( Danger, Crisis )” and “Control ( Administration, Management )”. This word connotes our aspiration to: “Control risk to the fullest despite unavoidable difficulty.”
Seriously, how far can you go with this anti-terrorism thing? It seems to me that in many historical periods there has been an external threat that has kept the society more or less organized.. keeping busy to keep the threat at bay.
Wrath of Gods, neighbouring nations, dragons, terrorist cells.. there is always something to keep an eye for.
Sorry for sounding like a broken record, but the it’s practically impossible to avoid this subject matter while keeping up to date with the modern media. I stumbled upon this picture while browsing China Daily!
To create truly striking digital art images, it is often necessary to combine computer procesesses with various analog source material. It’s difficult the resist the abstract beauty of the digitally colored incense smoke photographs. I think the whole concept and production method was invented more or less single handedly by Graham Jeffery. He shared his method at his Sensitive Light site. The Flickr group Art Smoke now has more than 500 photographs.
Well, I’m back from the wilderness. The bogs proved to be way too deep for my Scarpa alpine hiking shoes. I spent quite a few nights by the campfire drying my feet, shoes & socks. I also spent two nights at one of the most scenic wilderness huts in Lappland, the Vaskolompolo hut. Two other outdoor enthusiasts joined me to spend the night at the safety and comfort of the hut. One of them was Reijo, a retired border guard and the other one was Ivalo-Joe, a friendly gold miner who was hunting for bears in the area. He had a superb hunting dog with him called K.A. Lotti. I spotted a few bear droppings myself.. and half a dozen moose who chose to run away with great commotion and noise when I approached them.
We spoke about the habits of the animals, gold mining legends and other interesting and very non-urban subjects. During the first night there were some nice Aurora Borealis on the sky and we took the opportunity to take a few long exposure shots of them. (The new Aurea models by Philips remind me of them, by the way)
Once again, I was completely enchanted by the nature and the people of the North. I plan to return over there again and perhaps even do some gold panning one day. I heard that many men have panned the gold for their own wedding rings in the old days.
After I’ve returned to Helsinki, I’ve been a bit busy with work and real estate deals, so I haven’t had time to upload photograhs from the trip, but I’ll try to do it later. We’ll be moving to a new address next week.
