Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Stunning Shipping Container City Springs up in Mexico

Stunning Shipping Container City Springs up in Mexico

by: www.renttoown.ph
from www.inhabitat.com

www.renttoown.ph


This hip, colorfully painted shipping container city recently sprung up just outside of Mexico city. Created by a small community of businesses, the project features restaurants, gallery space, bars, funky stores and even living spaces constructed completely out of recycled shipping containers.

www.renttoown.ph


www.renttoown.ph


Container City is located about two hours outside of Mexico City in Cholula, and is comprised of about 50 standard shipping containers. The developers took 4500 sq meters (48,500sq.ft) of space and plopped down the containers, stacking them to create courtyards, alleys and streets. The containers were then painted bright colors and outfitted with lighting, kitchens, dining areas and more. There is even an open public area with ping pong tables where people can go and hang out.

www.renttoown.ph


www.renttoown.ph


The city consists of restaurants, juice bars, normal bars, funky little shops, bookstores, art galleries as well as a few residential apartments. There’s plenty of outdoor space to sit around and hang out and there are events and bands scheduled all the time.

www.renttoown.ph


www.renttoown.ph

Hoover: This container city is great for compact city spaces.

Monday, April 18, 2011

Room in a Box: Saving Interior Space via Bedroom Cubes

by:www.renttoown.ph
from: www.dornob.com


Hoover: This room can be created anywhere in your homes.


room-box-interior-exterior by www.renttoown.ph

Some people walk into unfilled apartments for rent and find it impossible to envision living in them – others see a blank slate to be filled with creative possibilities. For those in either camp, this self-contained, twelve-piece prefabricated room is a great plug-and-play solution.

room-in-living-room by www.renttoown.ph

The component parts of the Z Box by Dan Hisel are made large enough to be few in number, but small enough to carry up winding stairs and slot through conventional human-scale doorways.

room-box-layout-plan by www.renttoown.ph

Once on site, assembly is relatively simple and low-impact – it can be positioned wherever you want it within an open-plan layout, creating space within but also shaping space around it. In addition to color and texture cues, the structure pulls back at the base to make it feel more like the box is a floating element within the dwelling, not a permanent built-in object.

room-in-a-box by www.renttoown.ph

Curtains pull back to reveal a beautiful wooden bedroom (which would work great as a study, library or other meditative space, too), while modern wire mesh gives it a sense of security and autonomy when viewed from the rest of the residence. There is shelving inside and outside as well as nooks for pets, slots for shoes, diffused lighting and other elements making the most of each square inch displaced by the box.

Monday, April 11, 2011

Eco-Friendly Home Improvement

Eco-Friendly Home Improvement

www.renttoown.ph
http://www.youtube.com

with Jonathon E. Stewart

Just a few small changes to your home can make a big impact on the amount of energy and water you use. Take a few minutes to implement these easy energy adjusters, and you'll save money while helping to save the planet.



Hoover: Simple tips to make your homes energy efficient and earth friendly!

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Tiny Houses & Little Lots: Floor Plans for Very Small Homes

by: www.renttoown.ph
from: www.dornob.com

tiny-house-architecture-www.renttoown.ph

Floor plans for small houses often look cramped on all sides, drawn furniture crowding each interior space. Not so with the work of Atelier Bow-Wow, an architecture and design group that (as the dog-referencing name suggests) specializes in the creation of extra-small dwellings as well as tall residences on tiny lots that bridge the gap between ‘little’ and ‘luxury’ living.


tiny-house-architecture-www.renttoown.ph

There is an art to small space living and tiny home design that goes beyond making little lots feel bigger or making the most of what you have. Done right, a small structure can feel downright comfortable and cozy – not just livable or sufficient. These designers have no room for small minds, just big ideas for small spaces.

tiny-house-architecture-www.renttoown.ph

Take this tower home for instance: the plans above show just how small each level is, but the sectional models reveal a series of interconnected spaces – and photos of the finished structure are the most amazing of all, illustrating the clear visibility up, down and all around inside the house.

tiny-house-architecture-www.renttoown.ph

Other architectural projects from this firm may look more conventional on the outside by have amazing details, like the wooden walls, shelves and staircase structure of the more conventional-looking house with plans and sections as shown above.

tiny-house-architecture-www.renttoown.ph

Even their own live/work studio spaces fit into an extremely skinny lot – a simple tower with much more going on inside than you might first realize.

tiny-house-architecture-www.renttoown.ph

Again: the use of open-tread stairs, warm materials and generously-sized windows make these places more of an adventure than most homes could hope to be. Besides, with all of the new technology available today for building structures we sometimes forget that the best way to go green is to build small.




Hoover: BIG IDEAS ON SMALL SPACES. What do you think?

Sunday, April 3, 2011

How To Grow Fresh Air

Want clean, fresh air in your homes the natural way? Watch this! You don't need an air purifier.