My Urban Garden Deco Guide

Romantic find by fellow blog: Designspotter.com:

' a variety of flowers of different sizes & types of illumination, which come alive only at night: Giant Lotus Flowers, intermittently opening & closing, changing colors at a subtle pace; while delicate tulips, illuminated by one color of varying intensities; and masses of gently glowing dewdrop flowers create an poetic ambience of tranquility, sensual beauty & pure serenity. They are made from metal mesh, laser-cut panels and glass spheres, utilizing LEDs & driven entirely by solar energy

Designer: Gaston Zahr & Merav Eitan (Israel)
Manufacturer: O*GE Interactive Gallery (Israel)
Inspired By: Nature
Material: Solar Energy, LED'd, Aluminum mesh, Steel plates and tubes
Colours: at daytime: silver / white at nightime: RGB
Dimension: Lotus: 4.2m, Tulip: 2.1m, Dew drop flower: 1.2m

A qualified architect and active promoter of sustainable living, Paulina Wojciechoska created Earth Hands to further this project by developing earth made homes. And I love her tub - a great option if the full Monty option is a bit out of touch!

From Ask the experts:

Paulina Wojciechowska was born in Poland and spent her formative years in Afghanistan and India. She became fascinated by age-old architecture created by artisan builders. After studying architecture in Great Britain, she traveled to the United States and Mexico to study natural, alternative and indigenous building methods. She apprenticed with Nader Khalili at Cal-Earth, as well as with strawbale building pioneers Athena and Bill Steen at the Canelo Project. Out of this experience, she has written the book below which is the first book published on the emerging methods of earthbag building. Paulina has established a nonprofit trust, "Earth, Hands & Houses," which supports building projects that empower indigenous people around the world to build their own shelter from natural materials that are available locally. She would be happy to consult on any project that would employ her broad range of training and skills.

It seems Michelle Obama has created a veg patch at the White House.
I guess that says a lot about the Hipness of the Grow your Own trend.

Urban space is rare and that can hamper ones real life ambitions in the food growing department.

But good news: this planter seems a very good solution . Get it at http://www.urbangarden.bz/
'We have created a unique design of a 100% organic raised western red cedar planter that allows one to grow approx. 50 to 55 vegetables, herbs, and plants all within a 3x4 footprint of space.  We also have a small herb garden design of the same organic construction.'
' The Urban Garden addresses the two major issues that keep most people from growing their own produce. Time and space.!'

The micro organic garden design allows for low maintenance.

The three foot by four foot footprint allows apartment and condominium owners to have a garden on most balconies. Fresh organic produce awaits you with your purchase of the Urban Garden.'

http://www.urbangarden.bz/
 

Discovered Metalco  and love this high spec outdoor shower by designers Staubach & Kuckertz.

Available in orange , white and beige.

Clever budget find by Not Cot : ' Just noticed at MoCoLoCo that the new IKEA Summer 09 collection is on its way~ and after some IKEA site searching found all the new summer pieces here and all of the solar lights here! One nice thing about the IKEA selections, they all run on replaceable rechargeable batteries and use LEDs!'

[And I agree that  the other summer pieces are very good too!

Greenmeme.com is an edgy design company ..or rather a team of conceptual design innovators.
I love their Live within skin creation that they describe as follows:

'A modular vertical garden, water jet cut screens combine CAD manufacturing techniques with plants.
These walls can be pro-actively used to address issues of air quality, storm water runoff, thermal insulation, and sound attenuation.
Live Within Skin can serve both interior and exterior applications and may be adapted to most environmental conditions through plant selection, integrated irrigation, and lighting. We encourage the use of rainwater harvesting and catchment systems or other techniques of water reuse when possible.'

ABOUT Greenmeme

Started in 2005, Greenmeme is the continuing vision of artists Freya Bardell and Brian Howe, where a collaborative group of artists, ecologists, architects, scientists and builders come together to create sustainable, ecologically focused work which varies in scale, materiality and context. Through these experimental partnerships with experts in other relevant fields, our strategies of representation are in a constant state of research and design. From living walls to interactive installations, our work provides a multi-layered experience of unique urban and natural ecosystems, integrating living, playful sculptures into informative environments

 Green roofs were in vogue a few centuries ago. The practice has recently resurfaced but  in a limited way as only those able to hire talent could afford it because installation was so tricky.

Now London based http://www.urbanroofgardens.com is making it as easy as a mail order click & tick exercise .

One can order a box that will cover 12 square meters for just under 600 hundred pounds. 

ECO NOTE

This democratisation of a valuable eco tool for urban living has started but would be dramatically accelerated by the sale at outlets like IKEA!

Fellow blogger Rochelle Greayer  has spotted THE ultra cool solar design

' The SunShade has taken the generally poorly executed concept of solar lights for the landscape and revolutionized it. It is a shade by day and a light source at night. Automatically responding to light conditions to make the transformation, these solar powered lights are excellent for a hotel pool area or outdoor restaurant.
Creator, Lianne Genugten describes the design on her website:

The flexible solar cells in the cover of the parasol collect energy from the sun. As the sun goes down the shade transforms into a lampshade and brings light during the night. By means of sensors, the SunShade opens and closes automatically.

Like a mechanical flower, it reacts to day and night.

I wish I could figure out how to upload the little video of the change from garden shade by day to funky landscape lamp by night but I am struggling… so you must visit her site to see the video of the change .'