Monthly Archives: June 2008

GreenPix Zero Energy Media Wall

June 30, 2008eco-friendly products, fo' real?, green, my ninjas please!, renewable energy, solar, sustainable architectureorangemenace

Installed on the Xicui entertainment complex in Beijing [near the site of the 2008 Olympic Games], GreenPix is a sustainable LED media display applied to the glass curtain wall. with integrated photovoltaic cells. The largest color LED display in the world, GreenPix will also incorporate the photovoltaic system integrated into a glass curtain wall system in China. The intention is for the building to ‘mirror a day’s climatic cycle’, harvesting energy from the sun to power the LED display after dark.

Designed by Simone Giostra & Partners Architects along with the ninja masters over at Arup, the LED media wall will “provide the city of Beijing with its first venue dedicated to digital media art, while offering the most radical example of sustainable technology applied to an entire buildingâ€™s envelope to date” says Giostra. The building opens to the public in June of 2008, marked by special video installations and performances by a number of different artists. Here’s some additional info:

GreenPix is a large-scale display comprising of 2,292 color (RGB) LEDâ€™s light points comparable to a 24,000 sq. ft. (2.200 m2) monitor screen for dynamic content display. The very large scale and the characteristic low resolution of the screen enhances the abstract visual qualities of the medium, providing an art-specific communication form in contrast to commercial applications of high resolution screens in conventional media faÃ§ades.

All this information + seriousness aside – is this thing actually green / sustainable? I mean, it’s siiick, sure – you’ve got to love beautiful displays of modern technology, and the integration of digital media in architecture. But, does using all that PV to power a giant LED display really make the project green or is it just a wash? Just a thought…

Urban Spectacles of Wood Lookin Boy

June 29, 2008clean businesses, current events, eco-friendly products, fo' real?, green, green art, green living, my ninjas please!, YouTubejessie

Many moons ago I posted on this dude Scott Urban & his spectacular Urban Spectacles of Wood. Well, Scott has been carving up a storm for the past nine months & most recently made a couple frames for Raydio G from Chicago’s Hotstylz. I know you have heard their silly & thoroughly lovable ‘Lookin’ Boy’ but if not:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvmfruWKdik[/youtube]

Apparently Raydio wore one of the pairs to the BET Awards last week. Did anyone see them? I missed it…

I still want a pair of my own.

Greening 360 Winnett Ave.

June 28, 2008DIY Green, green, green living, sustainable architectureorangemenace

Reminiscent of A PreFab Project, 360 Winnett Ave. is a new site that will chronicle the design + construction of Jeremy Bell’s new home for him, his wife, and their future family. They currently own a small bungalow, and have decided to tear down the existing property to build a larger, contemporary ‘green’ home in it’s place. Working with Altius Architecture Inc., the Bell’s hope that by documenting their experiences building a ‘green’ home they can educate and encourage others to do the same.

[Image: Front Elevation]

Our story is actually pretty simple â€” We’re an average couple who is planning on starting a family soon, but we’d like a little more room before we get started. So we’ve decided to tear down our existing bungalow and in its place build a larger, more modern home.

However, at some point along the way our priorities changed. While we still need the extra space, we’ve come to realize we should be building a smarter home and not just a bigger home. We’ve also come to appreciate our eco responsibilities and we felt it was important to document the realities that came with this decision [text from Jeremy Bell].

[Image: Ground Floor Plan]

While things seem to just be under way, you can head on over to the 360 Winnett Ave. site to see the working drawings and some model shots. There should be more to come in the future as things progress – in particular Jeremy has mentioned some time-lapse photography of the construction process and more high-res images as time goes on.

[Image: Second Floor Plan]

Should be interesting to see how things develop – we’ll be sure to track this project and feature it again on GreenMNP.

::GMNP thanks to Jeremy Bell for contacting us about his ongoing project – we look forward to seeing the house under construction::

Putting the Wind to Work

June 26, 2008fo' real?, green, green living, my ninjas please!, renewable energy, wind, YouTubeorangemenace

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQbl1c63Ofo[/youtube]

So, this video here is KILLING ME.

Seriously though, we should put the wind to work – why should it be blowin’ around without being productive? My ninjas, please.

::Via greenfab::

Underwater Sculpture Reef

June 24, 2008green, green art, mnp is for the aminalsgreen

Even though we’ve been majorly slacking off on our ART DAY! representation – you all already should know how we feel about art. Right? Just checking.

That being said, this project by Jason de Caires Taylor was lifted from the pages of Modern Design – a European freeware mag in which MNP was recently featured.

Words cannot describe how beautiful and absolutely haunting these statues are. The most astute and learned of our readers will even notice the allusion to Mt. Vesuvius tossed in there for fun.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzMP4MJmfQE[/youtube]

The best thing about these sculptures is that they are there to help produce a natural (naturally man made, anyway) reef for all the pretty fishies. Preserving the ecosystem is paramount for Taylor, and the big draw for artificial reef is that it alleviates pressure from the naturally occurring and rapidly disappearing counterparts.

This project is also a study of and a metaphor for “change over time.” As our original source says, Jason’s sculptures gradually give way to their sea environments, changing, changing and changing, and likely even disappearing over time – all to promote ocean awareness. These sculptures are visitable by glass-bottomed boat and/or underwater scuba tour.

In Spain, Water Is a New Battleground

June 8, 2008sidenotejessie

Swaths of southeast Spain are steadily turning into desert, a process spurred on by global warming and poorly planned development…This year, farmers are fighting developers over water rights. They are fighting one another over who gets to water their crops. And in a sign of their mounting desperation, they are buying and selling water like gold on a rapidly growing black market, mostly from illegal wells. [nytimes.com]

beware of alligators

June 7, 2008greenjessie

so, i have been MIA for a minute now & i apologize for that. truth be told, i have been temporarily relocated to the wilds of southeast texas for work. and let me tell you, wild it is. posts will be sporatic for the next few months, but i promise i will be thinking of my ninjas as i sweat my booty off down here.

this little dude was hanging out on our site before i got down here. he started acting up and was promptly shot…by a wildlife ranger. i guess it is true what they say, don’t mess with texa(n)s.

ALSO: i would love love love to get some input/posts/suggestions from any of you ninjas out there.Â this site needs love while i am knee deep in chemicals & alligator doo. jessie@myninjaplease.com holler.