Cardboard street art created by Yaron in Czech Republic, no other info found.

Wooster Collective

Christine Lee with the spirit to create by hand and the ambition to make the thrown away useful:

From my tendency to engage in highly process-driven tactile endeavors and my training in the craft based disciplines of woodworking and furniture design. i explore stretch and refine the typical associations and intended functions of mundane materials. My architecture and the natural environmnet, particularly where a strong connection exists between structure and site.

Shims and a thousand uses for them.

Phonebooks and their many new uses.  Why do I find these on my apartment steps? Its time to create an ordinance that phonebooks can only be delivered at request.

A perspective of unwanted phonebooks and their depth or as Christine would eloquently put:

the outdated phone book represents the weaving of a visual pattern found in organized information with a behavioral pattern existing in repetitive processes

A closeup of names and her creation

Her repetitive process creates as though it came from nature

Steel case meets paper

via missleelee

COP15: protests, threats of walk outs, controversy, more transparency and many suspect failure. But what do you know, artists have something show.

Deemed starving and out of money, which some believe to be the economic solution for a positive environmental future, artists have lead the sustainable lifestyle before the word ‘sustainable’ became popular and green washed.

Some of the finest international artists have come to support Copenhagen talks with illustrations of a positive environmental outcome for policy success and a bleak artistic forecast of whats to come if world leaders continue their current path.

If you haven’t been paying attention to the talks its been a flurry reports, its like a teenager’s emotional transition to adulthood and their constant crush status updates on pretty famous people–a sign that politics has caught up to twitter.  As Bill McKibben states:

COPENHAGEN—The Bella Center is a swirl of chatter, the streets of Copenhagen are a swirl of protest. Depending on what hour you listen to the news bulletin, the U.N. climate negotiations have “come off the rails” or are “back on track” or have “stalled” or are “moving swiftly.” Which is why the only people who really understand what’s going on may be a small crew of folks from a group of computer jockeys called Climate Interactive. Their software speaks numbers, not spin—and in the end it’s the numbers that count.

When the talks stalled out, the Pope got on action with holy sentiment that an agreement could be made.

Rethink Climate supported the Cop15 event with 26 international aritists shown below on their press release (Thilo Frank-Vertical Skip Shown Above).  For more events check out Arts for COP15.

Henkrik Hakansson Denfrie-Atmosphere

Bill Burns made a sample to be put on order at a chinese factory, hopefully demand doesn’t create a supply. (Sarcasm)

Ruri with Glass Rain

Tue with Green Fort

Olafur Eliasson with Your Water Colour Machine

MAPT gets in on the action and builds a modular pavilion.

Copenhagen has a shipping container graveyard, because it costs more to dispose of the container instead of buying a new one.

Nice outside and in.

As the climate talks have come to an end, there is no knowing what really came out of it.  It became a tangled mess that will take a great deal of time to unwind, with the most important nations, US and China not coming to any real agreement.  Woohoo!?!?!

Second edition of some cool eco-stuff you might have missed over the weekend.

(Above picture) Plastic coffee stirrers upcycled into upscale designer tables by Studio Verissimo.  They also use this common coffee shop waste to make chairs and chandeliers in 3 colors.  Via Ecofriend

Marti Guixé, a Spanish designer, designed the Xarxa Sofa which is basically a chair which holds pillows that can be rearranged for personal comfort.  Via Freshome

Yesterday’s News’ set of 12 colored pencils made from recycled Chinese newspapers are available for a reasonable $10 as an alternative to wooden pencils.  Via Inhabitots

SRI International boosts the energy-efficiency of OLEDs with a new design, called COLED (“Cavity” OLED), which generates as much as five times the output of a standard OLED using the same amount of energy.  Via Gizmag

YoungWoo & Associates along with New York based architects LOT-EK, came up with a winning design for Pier 57.  The Hudson River Park board and community advocates chose their design (which incorporates used shipping containers) to revamp the old pier into something green that everyone can enjoy and close by  to the newly opened Highline.  Via Treehugger

San Francisco is finally going to start building its first zero energy house in 2010.  Designed by LSarc Architects, the home features a 1500-gallon water reclamation system which also collects rainwater to irrigate the backyard vegetable garden and an eight kilowatt solar array.  Via Ecofriend

Carhenge is a play on Stonehenge in Alliance, Nebraska.  The cars are actually placed in accordance with the real Stonehenge whose original function has been hypothesized to be for healing, burial and/or worship by a very early culture.  Via Inhabitat

By channeling the roots of trees across a river in the span of 10-15 years, a bridge is created in the rainforests of Cherrapunji, India. Via GreenUpgrader

Normal bike lights not making you feel safe enough while riding at night?  Not to fear, Lightlane is going into production pretty soon. Via WorldChanging

In other bike news, good news everyone! “Bike commuting rates have sky rocketed, going from 483,145 commuters nationally in 2003 to 664,859 in 2007. That’s a 37.6 percent increase in the number of people who take their bike to work.” Via Good

Ever dream of sneaking away and setting sail on a cargo ship to an exotic port in the comfort of your own home? How about taking your shoes and socks off  in a subway car without other passengers giving you a crooked look? The newest in modular design gives you something close to these  quirky daydreams, as illusion transforms into the freedom of your own home.

Auro Foxcroft, a led furniture designer, found subway cars for $200 each mounted them on top of a roof, and reworked them into  the ultimate office and relaxation space.  A true modern day artist, inspired by  being broke and wanting a unique  place to work, he resorted to seeking funds through London’s gracious rebuilding programs. Result? Auro setup the Village Underground.  My opinion? Respectable graffiti and modern furniture will turn any unwanted subway car into a symbol of avant-garde green space.

Lot-ek has taken to export/import  in the re-engineering of urban development. One of these home kits, as shown above, will definitely set you apart from your neighbors, eliciting a new sense of prominence, in an age where the standard home has become as toxic as imported children’s toys and exported recyclables filled with contraband.

Puma-City takes “mobile homes” to a whole new level with its demountable cargo spaces amping up the simplicity of lego building to a new level of modern  architectural design.  The modular space features a lounge, multiple offices, a press area, a large open balcony, a bar and, of course, storage space.

Adam Kalkin brought cargo containers into his architectural manifesto, but endeavored to add some new features  by hybridizing his creation, above, with an airport hangar.  Another cargo creation of his, below, is coined “The Push Button Home,” which means push a button and a cargo container unveils its insides by hydraulically dropping or pushing the walls aside.

The only cargo space I haven’t seen yet is the cargo container tree house, but wherever these designs go next, all levels of creativity are sure to come.

Images courtesy of LOT-EK, Village Underground and Architecture and Hygiene/Peter Aaron.

via LOT-EK

via INHABITAT

via TREEHUGGER

via VILLAGE UNDERGROUND

via ARCHITECTURE AND HYGIENE