Art, Architecture and Design Professionals On TFOD

"Passivhaus" or "Passive House" is a  philosophy that provides standards, which ensure the energy efficiency of a building by reducing its ecological footprint and utilizing measures that don’t require much external energy for heating or cooling of spaces. These structures are designed so immaculately that they’re capable of maintaining the overall temperature of the house without the use of active heating / cooling systems like ACs and heaters.

One would wonder at the eternal charm of garden cafes, of picking up your evening coffee and sandwiches with a wholesome dollop of green surrounds and fresh air! But, the attraction is all too visibly evident, and the reasons why it is thus can go find themselves out as garden cafes get ever more happening, turning up their charms at all times during the day to dish out scrumptious treats in verdant felicity. Surely, the green input ups café décor to levels of sublimity and following are some garden cafes that drive home this fact.

In the busy lives we lead, we hardly get any time to pause. In the architectural sense, though, there are several spatial breaks such as porches, corridors, courtyards, and staircase landings; which subconsciously give us an opportunity to 'pause' - to breathe freely, relax our minds, and get rejuvenated for the chores that lie ahead of us. Using spaces becomes such a habitual activity that we hardly realise the presence, and even lesser perceive the effect, of these pause spaces. An interesting blog by Heli Haribhakti takes us on a whirlwind tour of the Pause Places seen on TFOD Photo Gallery - uploaded by architects and designers across the country!

The future of design and production has more or less been hijacked by 3D printing technology. This method of additive manufacturing (as it is also called) is proving to be so hugely advantageous on so many counts that it is getting adapted into a variety of industries ranging from construction and rocket building to food and confectionary. There is little to be imagined  about the extent of the impact of 3D printing is likely to have on the design industry, with inroads made in the realm of furniture design already altering the visuals of the shape of things to come. Interestingly, it is the chair, the seat that has caught the initial focus of 3D printing trials with many designs and prototypes already produced, making it the crystal ball that shows how the future is going to look.

Passivhaus is a building standard code developed in the 1970s as a result of coordinated efforts between German and Swedish researchers aiming to find a method to reduce energy consumed in construction and maintenance of buildings, mainly to counter the effects of the oil embargo being felt by the builders in the Pacific Northwest of USA. Though Passivhaus, probably named after the passive solar techniques employed in it, was voluntary to adoption, it demanded rigorous standards before a house or building could be certified as such. It translates as a whopping 85 – 90% reduction in energy consumption (without the support of any alternative fuel sources deployed) and a few tens of thousands of buildings across the world have been constructed in this (certified) method. A recent Passivhaus experiment is embodied in a charming Seattle house designed by Malboeuf Bowie Architecture.