Inventions-galleries

FBM Architects have secured planning consent for an innovative residential scheme for the Vale of Aylesbury Housing Trust. The exciting regeneration project in Gatehouse Road, Aylesbury will provide seven low-cost homes, while retaining parking and improving access to surrounding homes.The Vale of Aylesbury Housing Trust have a rolling programme of regenerating problematic garage-sites within their portfolio and were interested in the use of off-site construction to accelerate the programme and to reduce costs. They also have a shared interest with us in the environmental benefits of re-using / up-cycling existing structures. This naturally led to the design proposal that reuses second-hand shipping containers to transform an under-used garage site, which suffers from anti-social behaviour, into an attractive ‘home-zone’ development. The scheme provides much needed single person accommodation for social rent using converted shipping containers to create contemporary, environmentally-friendly homes in a desirable area near to local amenities and within walking distance of the town centre.

The Rocketbook Everlast is a 36-page notebook with pages can be wiped clean with a damp cloth. This never-ending notebook could save a lot of trees over a lifetime, plus an Earth Edition purchase means a tree is planted on your behalf, too.

EcoLogic Studio has invented an algae-based ‘cladding’ system, called PhotoSynthetica. Large panels (16.2 x 7 metres, or 53 x 23 feet) are attached to new, or old, buildings. They ‘suck in’ unfiltered and polluted air from the street that then rises up through the panels. The algae capture the CO2 and other pollutants and releases photosynthesized oxygen back into the street or the building interior. The ever-growing algae are later harvested to produce fertilisers, bio-plastics, cosmetics and more. The company claims that two square metres of PhotoSynthetica panels can absorb as much CO2 as a mature tree.