Pritzker Winner Ito’s Sustainable Dome Still Shines

One of many seating configurations in the dome, supported by 25,000 pieces of sustainably sourced wood. Image by Mikio Kamaya via Toyo Ito & Associates.

Pritzker Prize-winner Toyo Ito's Odate Dome in Japan, made with sustainably harvested wooden support beams and translucent Teflon, has performed well in many monsoon storms. Read more →

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Two Quirky Turbines, Combined At Sea

image via MODEC

A Japanese company will apparently give hybrid wind-and-tidal energy a go with a device employing Darrieus and Savonius turbines. Read more →

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Asia Seizing The Clean Energy Future

The recently completed Greenland Tower in Zhengzhou, China. (image via SOM)

The fifth edition of the Low Carbon Competitiveness Index shows China, Japan and South Korea beginning to outshine Europe. Read more →

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Asian Giants Embracing More Clean Energy

Japan Solar Installation

Japan, China, and India add strong reasons to expect the already-underway renewable revolution will scale even further and faster. Read more →

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Hitachi ROPITS A Mobility Support Robot For Elderly

ROPITS

How would you like your car to come pick you up, then drop you off at your destination? Hitachi is developing such a vehicle with its ROPITS prototype. Read more →

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Solar Greenhouses Rise From Fukushima’s Ashes

Fukushima, solar, agriculture

The circular hydroponic greenhouses stand alongside solar panels in the same fields that were destroyed by tsunami waves and nuclear fallout in 2011. Read more →

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Building Better Barns: Two Innovative Japanese Designs

The experimental Même "House of the Future" (left) and sustainable Barn House concept sit side by side on a Hokkaido field. Image via co+labo.

Two side-by-side green building experiments in Hokkaido, Japan, attempt to merge passive designs with ancient methods to align with the rhythms of nature. Read more →

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Glass Masonry Façade Conceals Green Urban Oasis

A private tree garden acts as a buffer between the living room (left) and the glass masonry wall (right) facing the street. Image by Koji Fujii / Nacasa & Partners, via Hiroshi Nakamura & NAP.

A glass-block wall helps add privacy, natural light and a quiet green buffer space between a three-story townhouse and the din of a busy Hiroshima, Japan, intersection. Read more →

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Japanese Firm Invents Skyscraper-Eating Demolition

Image of Akasaka Hotel demolition via Taisei Corp.

Japan's Taisei Corp. has come up with a "green demolition" method that essentially demolishes structures from the inside out, slowly chewing the building down to the ground, floor by floor. Read more →

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Community, Faith Merged Under One Green Roof

The chapel design appears to rise directly out of the ground. Image via Bakoko.

A new design for a faith-based community center in Kyoto, Japan, uses a figure-8 green roof, blending secular and religious institutions into a continuous whole. Read more →

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