Boxy new library by Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects designed to regenerate Halifax

The new Halifax Central Library, designed by Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects and local firm Fowler Bauld &Mitchell, has just been officially opened in Canada. Its simple massing, created by four box-shaped volumes placed on top of one another, create new axes within the orthogonal city grid and combines traditional library design with innovative programs. The library, comprising four slightly tilted volumes, aims to reflex the historical axis between the Halifax Citadel and the city harbor....

from Inhabitat - Green Design, Innovation, Architecture, Green BuildingInhabitat – Green Design, Innovation, Architecture, Green Building http://inhabitat.com/boxy-new-library-by-schmidt-hammer-lassen-architects-designed-to-regenerate-halifax
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First urban park on Las Vegas Strip is an oasis in the middle of the desert

Rather than cutting down trees to put up a parking lot, !melk designed a park to take over a previously paved section of the Vegas strip, occupying approximately six acres between New York New York and Monte Carlo. The Park, which opened April 4, is a water-wise urban microclimate with 250 shade trees and over 7,000 individual plants—native and adapted varieties—as well as several fun water features. Several 60-foot-tall shade structures were manufactured by a ship-building company in the Netherlands,...

from Inhabitat - Green Design, Innovation, Architecture, Green BuildingInhabitat – Green Design, Innovation, Architecture, Green Building http://inhabitat.com/first-urban-park-on-las-vegas-strip-is-an-oasis-in-the-middle-of-the-desert
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Residents go nearly two weeks without safe drinking water in this Texas town

When something goes wrong with a public water supply, utility officials often issue an advisory warning residents to boil water before using it for drinking, cooking, and bathing. Such measures are generally temporary—a brief period of caution while crews repair the source of the problem. However, residents of Corpus Christi, Texas have been living under a boil advisory for nearly two weeks, and it’s the city’s third in 10 months. Nobody knows for sure when locals will have access to safe drinking...

from Inhabitat - Green Design, Innovation, Architecture, Green BuildingInhabitat – Green Design, Innovation, Architecture, Green Building http://inhabitat.com/residents-go-nearly-two-weeks-without-safe-drinking-water-in-this-texas-town
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Recycled cigarette butt bricks slash energy consumption by 58%

Familiar habit: step outside, smoke a cigarette to relieve urban stress, toss what's left on the concrete. This small action, multiplied a few trillion times around the world, produces 1.2 trillion tons of waste. This waste is not strictly organic; mixed in with the plant products are heavy metals that can contaminate land and water. Even the increased popularity of vaping will do little to combat the increase of cigarette waste, predicted to grow by up to 50 percent by 2025. Perhaps inspired by...

from Inhabitat - Green Design, Innovation, Architecture, Green BuildingInhabitat – Green Design, Innovation, Architecture, Green Building http://inhabitat.com/recycled-cigarette-butt-bricks-slash-energy-consumption-by-58
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China to test crazy traffic straddling bus this summer

In China, traffic jams are serious business—like, ‘50 lanes of gridlock’ serious. A Beijing company called Transit Explore Bus is gearing up to test an incredible solution that we first reported nearly six years ago. A traffic-straddling bus the width of two traffic lanes could help alleviate some of the congestion in the city of more than 11.5 million people. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpiFJsWdCuY The so-called ‘straddling bus’ hasn't been built, but the model prototype...

from Inhabitat - Green Design, Innovation, Architecture, Green BuildingInhabitat – Green Design, Innovation, Architecture, Green Building http://inhabitat.com/china-to-test-insane-traffic-straddling-bus-this-summer
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World's highest glass bridge in China to include three crazy swings

http://inhabitat.com/worlds-longest-and-highest-glass-bottom-bridge-expected-in-china-next-spring/ http://inhabitat.com/haim-dotan-unveil-design-for-the-extreme-zhangjiajie-grand-canyon-glass-bottom-bridge/ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3598945/Is-world-s-terrifying-attraction-China-s-2-6-million-glass-bottomed-bridge-built-980ft-valley-bungee-platform-SWING.html Related: World's longest and highest glass bridge to open next spring in China Via...

from Inhabitat - Green Design, Innovation, Architecture, Green BuildingInhabitat – Green Design, Innovation, Architecture, Green Building http://inhabitat.com/worlds-highest-glass-bridge-in-china-to-include-three-crazy-swings
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"Vibranium" hyperloop pods will be 10 time stronger than steel

When Hyperloop Transportation Technologies announced that it would be using a new type of carbon fiber to make its capsules, what stuck out to many comic and film fans wasn't the technical details of the innovative new material, but the name: "Vibranium." The material takes its name from the fictional metal used in the Captain America comics to create the hero's nearly indestructible shield. However, the name isn't the only exciting thing about the startup's announcement. Unlike the...

from Inhabitat - Green Design, Innovation, Architecture, Green BuildingInhabitat – Green Design, Innovation, Architecture, Green Building http://inhabitat.com/vibranium-hyperloop-pods-will-be-10-time-stronger-than-steel
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