Ikea is now offering solar panels and home batteries to its customers in the UK. The Scandinavian furniture chain is partnering with solar firm Solarcentury for the venture, with prices for solar battery storage starting at £3,000 (about $3,970 USD).
The home batteries are designed to work with existing solar panels, or as part of a new combined home solar panel / battery storage system that Ikea is selling.
— theverge.com
The Swedish furniture retail giant first starting solar panels in the UK back in 2013 to grow on a (then) heavily subsidized green energy market but ceased sales in 2015 when the British government announced its plans of cutting solar subsidies by up to 90%. Just a few months later, IKEA returned... View full entry
While Tadao Ando has built religious structures before--famously, the Church of the Light--he has rarely worked with figurative icons of religion, preferring a more abstract approach. This has changed with his open-air prayer hall in the Makomanai Takinoreien Cemetery in Sapporo, Japan, where a... View full entry
Now in its fourth year, Passage Insolites (Unusual Passages), invites artists and collectives to create a work of urban intervention, constructing an off beaten trail through downtown Quebec City that offers unusual and surprising encounters. Put on by EXMURO, an organization that works on... View full entry
The Trump administration said Tuesday that it will waive environmental reviews and other laws to replace a stretch of border wall in San Diego, moving to make good on one of the president’s signature campaign pledges.
Critics including the Center for Biological Diversity criticized the move as overreach and a threat to the environment.
— pbs.org
"Last week, the House of Representatives approved the administration’s request for $1.6 billion to start building Trump’s border wall," PBS NewsHour reports, "which would include replacing 14 miles (22 kilometers) in San Diego covered by the latest waiver and building 60 miles (96 kilometers)... View full entry
The Institution of Structural Engineers revealed its anticipated shortlist for the 2017 Structural Awards, which are regarded as the most prestigious award competition in the industry. Now in its 50th year, the competition distinguishes the achievements and valuable... View full entry
Since 1961, the UIA (International Union of Architects) Prizes has distinguished professional architects around the world for their qualities, talents, and actions that have had an international impact on the field. For 2017, Toyo Ito was awarded with the Gold... View full entry
The state government will audit the use and ban the supply of the potentially flammable building cladding that led to London's deadly Grenfell Tower inferno, in what it styles as Australia's toughest fire safety reforms. [...]
Better Regulation Minister Matt Kean said the government had undertaken an audit sample of about 180,000 residential and commercial towers constructed in NSW since the 1980s.
About 1000 of those buildings "may have [unsafe] cladding", the Minister said.
— The Sydney Morning Herald
"The [New South Wales] state government said it would introduce reform that would identify buildings encased in unsafe cladding," the Sydney Morning Herald reports, "require them to be inspected and force building owners to foot the bill for replacements and ban the sale and supply of unsafe... View full entry
Architects, designers, and students who took part in PennDesign's LA+ Journal LA+ IMAGINATION ideas competition put their creativity to the test in envisioning a new imaginary island. The only rule? The island couldn't be larger than 1 square kilometer.Out of ... View full entry
Constructed by Swissrope/Lauber Seilbahnen AG, Frutigen, this suspension bridge in Switzerland is now the globe's longest (and arguably, most scenic, as it hovers above one of the deepest valleys in the country). The two-foot-wide bridge, which helps connect two mountain towns, has cut the time it... View full entry
The man known for his modern, white, geometrically intricate buildings spends his summers in a simple, cedar-shingled farmhouse built in 1907 that he bought from the family of the original owners in 1984. On a July afternoon, Mr. Meier was in his study there, painting watercolors. — The New York Times
For nearly 30 years, the 105-story tower has been a mystery. Located in Pyongyang, North Korea, the Ryugyong Hotel was billed to be the world's tallest hotel but has yet to host a guest, making it instead, the world's largest unoccupied building. But, on Friday, the country took down some walls... View full entry
New York City is in the throes of a humanitarian emergency, a term defined by the Humanitarian Coalition of large international aid organizations as “an event or series of events that represents a critical threat to the health, safety, security or wellbeing of a community or other large group of people.” New York’s is [...] a “complex emergency”: man-made and shaped by a combination of forces that have led to a large-scale “displacement of populations” from their homes. — The New York Review of Books
"What makes the crisis especially startling," author Michael Greenberg continues in his latest piece for The New York Review of Books, "is that New York has the most progressive housing laws in the country and a mayor who has made tenants’ rights and affordable housing a central focus of his... View full entry
It's the start of a new month! That means the Curry Stone Foundation has revealed their latest group of Social Design Circle honorees. Since this January, instead of awarding a single winner with the 2017 Curry Stone Design Prize, the foundation has been recognizing... View full entry
Back in June, the Ross Development Trust and the City of Edinburgh Council released a shortlist of seven finalist teams, all competing for the chance to lead the revitalization of the Ross Pavilion. Located in the heart of the capital of Scotland, the site sits below the Edinburgh Castle at the... View full entry
After weeks of negotiations with the International Olympic Committee, Los Angeles officials have reached a deal to host the 2028 Summer Games under terms they hope will generate hundreds of millions in savings and additional revenues.
The agreement will bring the Olympics back to Southern California for a third time, after Los Angeles hosted in 1984 and 1932. It also opens the door for the 2024 Games to be held in Paris.
— latimes.com
Spiraling costs and notorious budget overruns have discouraged other cities from pushing towards being a host to the 2024/28 Summer Olympics, but Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti thinks otherwise and hopes to avoid unpredictable spending by reusing existing venues and infrastructure. As the Los... View full entry
