I am a big fan (and used to be a big user) of Sketchup, the easy-to-use drawing software that Google now gives away. They teamed up with Dwell Magazine run a design competition encouraging designers to "think about your idea of a comfortable and sustainable dwelling, and to share it with the world."

The winner is Drew Wilgus, whose entry "stood out for its sustainable elements, integration into the local landscape, keen material use, and striking aesthetic."

The designers tell us that "Environmental Design is on Formtanks' agenda and we're looking towards a more sustainable approach to business. With this in mind the 2d3d Group attempts to produce "more from less" through a simple proposition; utilise a single sheet of steel in the most efficient way."

So they cut this intricate and stunning base out of a single sheet, which is then "then hand formed and immaculately finished by experienced engineers."

Photo: courtesy Richard Byrd

Got three million and change? Get in line. The hottest eco-friendly home on the market is a $3.5 million, LEED Platinum, 1920s Spanish stunner recently renovated by Adrian Grenier’s go-to green expert Richard Byrd of “Alter Eco” fame. The guy may be brand new in the eco-development department, but in this, his first sustainable home, he hits all the marks. Think reclaimed materials like 300-year-old Spanish roof tile, CFL bulbs, solar trees, low-flow sinks and toilets, and a carpet made entirely from post-consumer waste recycled plastic water bottles. (Check out more pics after the jump!) And that's not all...

Don't have much use for Yellow Pages anymore; I scan and pitch business cards so don't have much use for them either. Nonetheless, London-based designer Afroditi Krassa has designed a simple tube to contain about 394 yellow pages in this clever idea. Somewhere on her un-navigable website Core77 found:

"This card holder design re-uses last year's YellowPages directory as its main material. The directory needs to be trimmed to the right diameter (approx. 394pages), rolled up and inserted into a metal tube. The size and exact use of the object is up to the maker, from photos to notes, business cards to envelopes. The product can be stored either vertically or horizontally."

A few years ago, after my laptop was stolen, I tried to see if I could do everything that I previously used a computer for in my Palm Treo. I bought a folding keyboard, good headphones, word processing software and more so that my office could fit in my pocket, trying to reduce the cost and quantity of hardware I needed to do my job. (I wrote more about the experiment here)

Industrial design student Kyle A. Koch is trying to do the same thing with his iPhone.

image: [re]design workshop LDF 2007

A year has passed since the 2007 London Design Festival and we are getting ready for this year’s creative events, imaginative exhibitions and installations taking place between September 13th to the 23rd across London. To make sure you don’t miss out on any green events, here a basic round-up guide with all the sustainability related events at London Design festival 2008.

Industrial design site Core77 runs incredible contests where designers are supposed to spend no more than an hour coming up with responses to a challenge; in this case it was to reinvent the backpack. Whenever they do these things I can never believe a) that they actually do it in a hour, and b) how talented the designers are.

I don't find Guntar's winning entry, shown above, to be that interesting, it appears to be a backpack version of a garment bag. The judges thought "This was not only a great concept, but a great presentation as well. We like how the functionality was well thought out, considering the needs of the everyday student. The fabric swatches were a great touch--it gave us a lot of ideas on how else the bag could look and feel. Critique: We'd like to know how long this really took him..." [Ouch!]

Recent Comment by JSDreyer : "I'm trying to figure out the motivation for such a contest like the 1 hour design. Is ..." [read]

A lovely looking straw bale cabin in the Dutch countryside by Jurgen Bey and Rianne Makkink, built as part of an exhibition of 13 art projects. Can't tell you much about it as the designer gets the incomprehensible website design of the month award at ::Jurgenbey.nl More pictures at Designboom