Indy's Blog

April 16, 2012   Posted by: Indy

How buildings and the furniture in them are coming to life

From BBC Click

The buildings in our cities could quite literally come alive in the decades ahead. Spencer Kelly looks at a series of projects that will allow buildings and even the furniture in them to be able to sense how they are being used and adapt to changes in the environment around them.

It opens the way for chairs to know who is sitting on them so they can become more comfortable and buildings to change their own heating and lighting without human intervention.

BBC Click – link to full videohere

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March 30, 2012   Posted by: Indy

Working Inside the Box: Shipping Container Buildings Catch On

When entrepreneur Malcom McLean developed the intermodal shipping container in 1956, he became more than just an inventor; he became an architect. Today, when these containers aren’t moving cargo on truck, ship, and rail, they are being used for various methods of habitation: a home, office, and—in at least one case—an environmental education center.

The Los Angeles design group APHIDoIDEA is working on plans for an Environmental Center of Regenerative Research & Education (eCORRE) Complex, a place where evidence for recycling’s potential is written on the corrugated steel walls. With close proximity to the second busiest port in the world, the firm has proposed a building made from 65 shipping containers. The eCORRE complex would boast a slew of sustainable innovations including a botanical garden “green roof” and the incorporation of reusable energy sources.

Shipping around the worldThe Boucher Grygier Shipping Container House in East Bay, California uses three 40-foot insulated containers forming a 1,350 square-foot, three-bedroom house. The container insulation helps moderate temperature, though all container buildings can be fitted for insulation. The building design, as well as being aesthetically pleasing, limits solar heat gain in summer and facilitates it in winter.

Billed as the largest container city in the world, Project Keetwonen in Amsterdam is a 1,000-room dormitory for college students. Each unit has a bathroom, kitchen, bedroom, study area, and balcony. Each also has central heating, high-speed Internet access, and a central phone system.

The Container City System is a series of buildings made from shipping containers throughout the United Kingdom used as a nursery, sport and youth center, retail, office, and living space. The system began with Container City I, constructed in 2001 along the Trinity Buoy Wharf in London. Four stories tall, over 80 percent of the complex is made from recycled material. Due to high demand, Container City II was built next door in 2002. The system has 18 projects completed thus far, with two more in the works.

Full story at Ecomagination
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March 26, 2012   Posted by: Indy

Kuwait to launch US$2.5-US$2.8bn airport tender

By Reuters Monday, 26 March 2012 4:24 PM

16 international companies are said to have expressed an interest in the airport tender.

16 international companies are said to have expressed an interest in the airport tender.

Kuwait will launch in coming weeks an initial tender for construction of a second terminal at its international airport, a project worth around KWD700m to KWD800m (US$2.5bn-US$2.9bn), state-run news agency KUNA said on Monday.

The project should be finished by late 2016, KUNA quoted the undersecretary for the Ministry of Works, Hossam al-Tahous, as saying in an interview. He said 16 international companies had expressed interest in the project.

The first stages of the tender will include work on the design and consultancy services, Tahous said. Tenders for the second phase which will include construction should happen in the middle of next year, he said.

He said the ministry hopes that solar panels could provide some 10 percent of the terminal’s energy supply.

In recent years inefficient planning and tensions between the cabinet and parliament have plagued policymaking, blocking important infrastructure and economic development projects in the OPEC member state.

Any progress on the airport terminal project will come as a welcome sign that Kuwait is working to break down hurdles for foreign investment.

In the past decade, Kuwait has attracted just US$1.5bn in foreign investment, or a mere 0.5 percent of total Gulf inflows, while Yemen attracted US$3.5bn.

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March 23, 2012   Posted by: Indy

Global makes a major presence at the Dubai Office Exhibition

@Indyfrt Tweet : Global is making a major presence in the Campus at the Dubai Office Exhibition in May ! Welcome to the Mid East Global !

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