The Salam Cardiac Surgery Centre is more than just a life-saving medical facility - it's also powered by the sun and built from discarded shipping containers. Located near the Nile River in Khartoum, Sudan, the facility is equipped with top-notch surgery rooms, diagnostic labs and more. The fact that it's built from old shipping containers makes it even more impressive and TAMassociati Architecture should be proud of their accomplishment. The project was also recently shortlisted as part of the 2013 Aga Khan Architecture Awards.

 

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Technology has come a long way, especially green technology. You might think that going green costs too much money, but you haven't considered all the ways it will save, especially on your heating bills, water bills, and electricity bills. Take a look at some of the best ways to make your home much more energy-efficient.

 

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Announcing the Top 30 Lighten Up! Competition Finalists!

We received nearly 200 amazing entries in our Lighten Up! LED Lighting Design Competition over the last few weeks, and after countless hours of deliberation, we’ve narrowed these entries down to just 30 finalists. Now it’s time for you to have your say! Vote for your favorite designs and decide which of these fantastic commercial and residential lighting projects should be awarded a $1000 prize from Elemental LED. Will it be this fully interactive LED drum wall, this billowing Cosmic Quilt, this gorgeously lit net-zero home in California, or these classrooms inspired by Galileo’s night sky observations? There are no doubt plenty of impressive designs to admire, but ONLY TWO can win. Cast a vote for your favorites, and if you happen to be a finalist, don’t forget to round up your friends and family and get them to vote for your design! Voting closes on Friday, May 10th, 2013.

VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITES HERE >

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After much anticipation, the moment we've all been waiting for finally arrived in the early hours on Friday morning, as the Solar Impulse airplane embarked on the first-ever cross-country flight for a solar-powered aircraft. At about 6:00 a.m., pilot Bertrand Piccard took off from Moffett Field at NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, CA, heading southeast, towards Phoenix -- the next stop in the cross-country voyage. From there, the Swiss-made plane will make its way towards New York City, and it'll do so without using a single drop of fuel.

 

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Designed by architect Michael Strain and his team, Levitation is a concept bike designed to power your smart phone and act as a mobile hot-spot with unlimited Wi-Fi access. It has an on-board generator and high capacity batteries which can store energy produced while cycling and a “drain plug” system that allows the user to plug that energy back into the grid.

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This week, the Rockwell Group announced exciting plans to build a treehouse-inspired Imagination Playground in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Brownsville. The firm is working with NYC Parks to transform a 1.5-acre section of Betsy Head Park into an active playground to encourage kid-friendly activity and play outdoors. The design of the new playground will feature a winding ramp that snakes around London Plane trees, jungle gyms that spill out into an open area and much more. Construction on the playground is set to begin in spring 2014 and the facility is expected to open by 2015.

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Romania may be better known for its gypsies than its architecture, but make no mistake: a whole new generation of eco-minded designers has emerged from the small European nation, which is currently showcasing its very first zero energy modular home concept - Soleta zeroEnergy One. On display outside the United States Embassy in Bucharest, the tiny home is a prototype developed by the Justin Capra Foundation for Investment and Sustainable Technologies (FITS). Powered by clean energy and remote-controlled by a smart phone, this lovely dwelling improves upon the first wave of eco-homes that had such tight envelopes it was impossible to breathe.

 

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Design student Jillian Tackaberry has imagined a way to have cleaner air at home using the purifying power of plants! The Air Drop is a beautiful hanging pendant with a layered filtering system built in. Created for the Electorlux Design Lab competition, Tackaberry explores how the to promote the properties one of nature’s best filtration systems, the air plant.

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NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has taken astounding photos of a behemoth hurricane swirling around Saturn’s north pole. According to NASA, the hurricane, which has been nicknamed ‘The Rose’, has an eye which is about 1,250 miles wide. This is 20 times larger than the average hurricane eye on Earth, and about 12 times larger than the entirety of the UK.

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The Maria Grazia Cutuli Primary School in Herat, Afghanistan is an incredible example of emergency school design in a war-torn area, and has been recognized as a finalist in the 2013 Aga Khan Award for Architecture. Designed by 2A + P/A, the bright blue complex is enclosed by a high boundary wall that helps to ensure a feeling of safety. Designed to utilize natural lighting and ventilation, the school also has a garden, which doubles as a green classroom, giving students a modern and sustainable education.

 

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The Environmental Protection Agency announced recently that they will provide over $500 million in grants and low-interest loans to the state of New York and state of New Jersey to improve wastewater and drinking water facilities ravaged by Hurricane Sandy. The funds will be awarded as grants to the states for both the Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Fund programs. In addition to improving statewide clean water systems, the funds will provide 6,000 short-term construction jobs collectively.

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Photo via Shutterstock

Just days after Europe placed a two year ban on bee-killing pesticides, the US government has released a claim that there is no clear link between widespread colony collapse and neonicotinoids, The Guardian reports. Seemingly ignoring a lot of research upon which the EU based their decision to ban pesticide use on crops that attract bees, the Department of Agriculture and Environmental Protection Agency blame plummeting bee populations on a mite.

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SPLA, a public development agency in Caen in France's Normandy region, has named Dutch architecture firm MVRDV the winner of an international design competition to revitalize the Presqu’ile de Caen. The winning proposal, which has been dubbed "La Grande Mosaique," calls for transforming the 600-hectare industrial area into a vibrant mosaic of gardens and attractive urban spaces that will seek to create a stronger connection between the city and the sea.

 

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Author Angela Youngman has released a guidebook that will immerse you in world of green roofs through case studies, imagery, and must-know terminology related to design, build, and installation of these vegetated scapes. Green Roofs is not a self-help manual, but rather a light read that takes a broad stroke look at many of the variables and considerations surrounding what should really be called “living buildings.”

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The world’s largest inflatable rubber duck sailed into the Victoria Harbor in Hong Kong yesterday. The 46-foot-tall and 55-foot-long floating sculpture, which is the work of Dutch conceptual artist Florentijin Hofman, was pulled into the harbor by a tiny tug boat, causing quite a stir among the curious locals. The Rubber Duck has already visited Sydney, Osaka and Sao Paolo, and will remain in Hong Kong until June 9.

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