Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

Sims 4 Apartment Building Construction and Design
Playing some Sims 4 and just sharing my creation. via YouTube Capture.

By: Katie Weant

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Sims 4 Apartment Building Construction and Design - Video

Photo by NordNordWest/Wikimedia Commons

Last spring, Arup, the design and engineering firm that brought the world the Centre Pompidou and the Sydney Opera House, unveiled their latest hypermodern architectural creation in Hamburg. From the outside, the surface of the 15-unit apartment building just looks like a bubbling green lava lamp stretched over an entire building. But those moving bubbles serve a function: they help to feed and order the living algae embedded within the Bio Intelligent Quotient (BIQ) buildings exterior skin. In turn, the 8-foot by 2-foot glass panels of green scuzzthe buildings $6.58 million bioreactor faadepower the entire structure, making it the worlds first algae-powered and theoretically fully self-sufficient building ever.

Conceived in 2009 as part of Hamburgs International Building Exhibition, Arups BIQ building is part of a European movement to design carbon neutral, self-sustaining, and renewably powered structures. (Germany, for example, is pushing to achieve 35 percent national energy reliance on renewables by 2020.) Alongside a series of houses demonstrating solid timber carbon-locking constructions and greywater recycling systems, the BIQ was funded in large part by the German government as a means to incentivize the development of new adaptive, smart construction materials. Of all the technologies on display, though, algae power has perhaps the finest pedigree and greatest potential.

Research on the energy potential of algae, once just considered a slimy pond nuisance, began in earnest during the gas crisis of the 1970s at Americas National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Producing about five times as much biomass per square foot as soil grown plants, and thriving on carbon dioxide, algae have the potential to grow almost limitlessly and produce oily lipids and gases that can be transformed into relatively clean energy. But official research largely ended in the 1990s as scientists concluded that the benefits of feeding, fostering, and harvesting algae were not yet competitive with then-low oil prices. Still, many independent research groups kept the dream of algae power alive over the next couple of decades, slowly improving the efficiency and cost effectiveness of proposed systems. From 2009 onwards, at least a few plans for algae bioreactors have floated around the design community and academic circles, although few very have become reality.

Photo courtesy of IBA Hamburg

The BIQ is the first residential structure to fully realize the dreams of algae power advocates. The building is coated on its two sun-facing sides with glass-plated tanks of suspended algae. Pressurized air is pumped into the system, feeding the organisms carbon dioxide and nutrients while moving them aboutcreating the lava lamp effectto keep them from settling on the glass and rotting. Scrubbers clean off any sticking biomass, freeing up more sunlight for the remaining algae to perform photosynthesis. Periodically, algae are culled, mashed into biofuel, and burned in a local generator to produce power. Excess can be sold off for food supplements, methane generation to external power providers, or stored for future use. The result is a building shaded from summer heat by algae foliage, insulated from street noise, and potentially self-generating the power to sustain its own harvesters, heat, and electricity.

Critics of the design and of algae power in general argue that transforming algae into biofuel requires energy, as does manufacturing and pumping in nutrients. They also take issue with the fact that the BIQ is not totally self-sufficient and that algae technology is more expensive than solar power. They claim that these points make the technology more of a novelty than a useful solutionor at least that its potential has been over hyped.

Even Arup will concede to most of these points, admitting that the BIQ has only achieved 50 percent energy independence thus far. However they believe that total independence is within reach, especially by integrating solar into the design. The costs$2,500 per square meter for the bioreactor system aloneare astronomical, but the developers hope that as the technology evolves, prices will decrease, while the savings of fuel reduction will offset the remaining extra costs. They hope that soon high-energy consuming businesses like data centers will help pilot their tech in the search for grid independence, and that algae power can take off in residential homes within a decade.

The Arup team is made up of futurists. The same year that they unveiled the BIQ, they released the Its Alive report, envisioning a 2050 with mega-skyscraper vertical farms, jet-powered maintenance robots, and photovoltaic paint, a classic wish list of quasi sci-fi tech. So its probably reasonable to question how realistic their optimism about algae power is. But theyre no longer the lone nuts on the road to mass algae power. Grow Energy of San Diego, founded in 2012, has produced two home algae bioreactors and hopes to be able to manufacture, deliver, and install its first systemsgenerating 35 percent of the average homes energy with minimal maintenancefor $12,000 per system starting next year.

Meanwhile, in late 2013, scientists developed a very simple techniquebasically a specialized pressure cookerto turn algae into cheap, competitive, biodegradable, non-toxic, and relatively clean oil in just an hour, and believe they can mainstream the technology within 25 years. And just this year, the state of Alabama launched the worlds first algae-powered wastewater treatment plant in the town of Daphne, cleaning water, generating fuel, and serving as proof of concept that the technology is improving, gaining widespread support, and proving itself on larger and larger scales.

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Hamburg Now Has an Algae-Powered Building

2014 Stratco Patios Dunk Contest
Jahii Carson (Wollongong Hawks), Torrey Craig (Cairns Taipans) and Brian Conklin (Townsville Crocodiles) competed in the 2014 Stratco Dunk Contest as the Pre...

By: nbl

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2014 Stratco Patios Dunk Contest - Video

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Halifax Regional Council has voted in favour of some revisions to a proposed bylaw for sidewalk patios.

The proposal had asked for bar owners to have a required liability insurance of $5-million, up from a current $2-million, but an amendment tabled by Councillor Reg Rankin put the new figure at $3-million.

Councillor Waye Mason said hes okay with the decision for now.

I expect staff will come to us in a couple years and say, Were having issues and we need to $5-million, I think thats going to come eventually, but its okay to phase it in, said Mason.

Council is also going ahead with a supplementary staff report which will look at a tiered fee structure and possible subsidies for small patios.

Mason said he fears council will approve year-round patios for those that qualify, shortly after theyve been taken down for the year.

We might be able to get the bylaw rushed through quickly enough, that its approved in time for those patio owners so they dont have to take them down, said Mason. But thats looking a lot less likely after today because council asked for some changes and weve scheduled the public meeting that wont happen until a week at the end of October.

Mason said having outdoor patios year round would be a huge deal for Halifax, and will add to the attractiveness of the city.

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Patio bylaw public hearing next month

SAN FRANCISCO A handful of startups are getting traction in smart clothes, mainly for athletes. They hope that the electronics increasingly disappear into the shirts and socks, and that a broader set of companies helps establish the emerging category.

"Today retailers don't know where to put these products -- by the shirts, but then it's an expensive shirt, or by the electronics," Pierre-Alexander Fournier, chief executive of Hexoskin, told us after a talk at the Designers of Things conference here.

Hexoskin embeds the electronics for its smart shirt in a device about the size of a stack of business cards. It contains two microcontrollers, a Bluetooth radio, a USB controller, a 4 GByte SD card, and a battery adequate for about 14 hours of operation.

"We'd like this part to disappear into the clothing, so you don't think about it," Fournier said. "It could be the size of a button, run on a coin cell so you don't need to charge it, and be something you can put in a washing machine. We are not there yet, mostly because of power consumption, which determines the battery size and device form factor."

Hexoskin puts into its shirts about a dozen dry sensors measuring ECG, respiration, temperature, and blood oxygen level. "We can meld data from these sensors to get blood pressure and other data," said Jean-Francois Roy, its chief technology officer.

Smart clothes makers face manufacturing challenges, too.

"Knitting using conductive wire will be best for production, but it's not yet available, and when it is, we may need to build some special machines for it," Fournier said. "Polymer laminates are very precise, but less comfortable and not suitable for use with all kinds of textiles, because sensors need thermal transfer."

Fewer than five manufacturers can make clothes with embedded sensors today. "There's a huge gap between the clothing industry and the electronics industry," he said. "It's like travelling back to the 19th century when you visit these factories."

Fournier showed the Hexoscale shirt and its electronics, which he wore to the talk at the Designers of Things event.

Costs are another hurdle. The Hexoskin shirts sell for $169 each without the electronics or $399 with them. Fournier said startups are still experimenting with business models around selling clothing versus services.

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Smart Clothes Seek Slim Electronics

Project File: Real Deal Countertops, Fall 2014
Charleston Home + Design speaks with Rafael Quedavez of Real Deal Countertops about a project, featured in the Fall 2014 issue.

By: ChasHomeAndDesignMag

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Project File: Real Deal Countertops, Fall 2014 - Video

Colorado Springs, CO (PRWEB) September 25, 2014

Miracle Method, the nations leading provider of surface refinishing solutions for a variety of healthcare facilities, will be exhibiting at the 27th annual Healthcare Facilities Symposium and Exposition (HFSE), held September 30 through October 2, 2014. The symposium brings together leaders in the healthcare industry, from design firms to healthcare owners, to improve the design of healthcare facilities in response to the continuously changing healthcare environment.

Miracle Method will be at the HFSE, held at Navy Pier in Chicago, IL, demonstrating its process for repairing and renewing leaking shower pans, cracked and stained showers, outdated tile walls and floors, and damaged laminate countertops and vanities. Our unique refinishing process permanently seals grout, says Chuck Pistor, President of Miracle Method, which helps combat the growth of bacteria on tile grout and shower pans. This has become a major asset to a hospitals infectious disease program.

The Miracle Method process is both affordable, saving hospitals up to 75% of the cost of replacement, and fast. Replacing tile in a typical hospital bathroom can take up to ten days, Pistor explains, while Miracle Method can generally repair the tile and refinish the same bathroom surfaces in three days or less. Miracle Methods process works equally well on porcelain, ceramic tile, laminates, fiberglass, cultured marble, and acrylic surfaces.

With 135 offices across the US and Canada, Miracle Method can provide its services to virtually any hospital. To learn more about Miracle Method and to read case studies, visit http://www.miraclemethod.com/commercial or call 888-741-3511.

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Miracle Method Surface Refinishing to Attend Healthcare Facilities Symposium & Expo

HAMILTON, Ohio -- A suspicious fire in Butler County destroyed two garages and caused extensive damage to six houses plus a motor home early Thursday morning.

VIEW PICTURES OF THE DAMAGE

The blaze started about 6 a.m. at a home in the 600 block of Sycamore Street.

"I turned off of Pershing ontoMLKthere was fire about two stories high into the air then so the structures were totally involved before we arrived," said Deputy Chief Jeff Shaw with Hamilton Fire Department.

First responders managed to knock down the flames fairly quickly otherwise all of the homes might have been destroyed due to how close they are to one another, according to Shaw.

No injuries were reported, but property damage is estimated at $200,000.

Shaw said the fire may have started in one of the garages and then spread to the second garage and eventually the six homes.

The house at 611 (Sycamore St.) had severe siding damage. Siding was melted off from the heat, he told the Journal-News, adding that residencesat 609 and 623 Sycamore St. also had siding damage from the heat.

Two homes 615 and 619 Sycamore St. had one-room additions that were a complete loss, Shaw said. Both of those houses also saw their garages go up in flames.

A motor home behind a home at 623 Sycamore was also damaged.

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Suspicious fire' damages 6 houses in Hamilton

Hardwood Flooring Installation 1 of 3 - Factory Direct Floorings
Factory Direct Floorings is located in Kennewick, WA and offers a full line of flooring including engineered hardwood. We sell materials for you to install o...

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Hardwood Flooring Installation 1 of 3 - Factory Direct Floorings - Video

Hardwood Flooring Installation 2 of 3 - Factory Direct Floorings
Factory Direct Floorings located in Kennewick, WA sells and installs carpet, wood, laminate, vinyl, tile and more.

By: Factory Direct Floorings

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Hardwood Flooring Installation 2 of 3 - Factory Direct Floorings - Video