Peter Mokaba, Polokwane

Name : Peter Mokaba, Polokwane
Capacity : 46,000

The Peter Mokaba Stadium is situated in Polokwane (previously known as Pietersburg), the capital of Limpopo, South Africa. It currently serves as a football stadium and as an international athletics venue.

The stadium comprises only a main stand and three grass banks at the moment, but it will be upgraded in preparation for the 2010 FIFA™ World Cup.
The roof over the existing west stand of the Peter Mokaba Stadium will be removed and replaced by a roof that covers the entire western stand of the new Stadium. An additional 20 rows of seating will be built around the entire stadium to increase capacity to 40,000. In addition to the structural work, the Peter Mokaba stadium will be provided with first rate equipment, including an electronic scoreboard in the northern stand, new floodlights, sound system and a fire detection and protection system.

Seoul Transforms a Freeway Into A River and Public Park

A stream runs through the center of Seoul, dividing the city into North and South, but for three decades it was totally buried beneath a busy downtown highway. In 2003, as part of a vast urban renewal project, the highway was removed and the stream was recovered and turned into a beautiful 5.8 km urban park. Demolishing roads in favor of urban parks is is a development project we can really get behind.

The Cheonggyecheon stream was formed during the Joseon Dynasty in order to provide drainage for the city. It lasted for hundreds of years until the 1940s, when the city became so populated that a shanty town popped up around the stream and began polluting the area. The stream was gradually covered over with concrete, and by 1976 a 5.6 km elevated highway was built on top of it.

Considered an example of ‘successful industrialization and modernization’, the highway remained there until 2003, when city planners tore it down to revitalize the area and help Seoul remake itself as a modern environmentally friendly city. The Cheonggyecheon Restoration Project took two years and cost around $281 million, but it has created a thriving stretch of green public space in the middle of the city.









What was once a dividing line between the north and south parts of the city has been recreated as an urban park that bridges the gap and brings people together. Over 75% of the material torn down from the old highway was reused to construct the park and rehabilitate the stream. Now fish, bird and insects have made their way back into the urban river, and the area surrounding the park is about 3.6 deg C cooler than other parts of the city.









In addition to the restoration project, Seoul has also implemented transportation planning, rerouting traffic through other corridors and adding more public transportation. As a result there has been a decrease in the number of vehicles entering the city and bus and subway use has increased. Even though the city took away one of the major thoroughfares, they were able to redirect and decrease traffic through efficient planning and expanded public transportation. Sounds like an amazing renewal project with many, many benefits.

www.inhabitat.com

Style at Home - April 2010

Style at Home - April 2010
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STYLE AT HOME brings an exciting and stylish voice to the world of home decorating. It's the primary choice for Canadians who are interested in living in style.

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Style at Home - March 2010

Style at Home - March 2010
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STYLE AT HOME brings an exciting and stylish voice to the world of home decorating. It's the primary choice for Canadians who are interested in living in style.

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Style at Home - February 2010

Style at Home - February 2010
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STYLE AT HOME brings an exciting and stylish voice to the world of home decorating. It's the primary choice for Canadians who are interested in living in style.

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Style at Home - Januray 2010

Style at Home - Januray 2010

PDF | 230 pages | 31 Mb | English

STYLE AT HOME brings an exciting and stylish voice to the world of home decorating. It's the primary choice for Canadians who are interested in living in style.

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Gary Neville's Home, Bolton UK

Bolton Council in the United Kingdom may soon see the construction of its first zero-carbon underground home. Designed by Make Architects for green enthusiast and British football star Gary Neville, the one-story, nearly 8,000 sq ft structure has been designed to be beautiful and functional while keeping energy consumption to a minimum.

Far from classification as a drab bunker, this thoughtful design not only considers its eco-impact, but keeps in tune with the tranquil and expansive meadows and hillsides which surround it. The positioning and orientation of the property was carefully thought out, building materials will be locally sourced, and traditional building methods will be used where possible. A ground source heat pump will provide the heating and photovoltaic panels and an on-site wind turbine will generate renewable energy.Almost all of the home will be constructed into the hillside, which, according to the design firm, “enables the surrounding moorland to seamlessly flow across the roof.” The layout takes the form of a flower, with the “petals” hosting areas to eat, relax, entertain, work and play, all around a central kitchen. When lit at night, the house will leave a distinctive, glowing floral impression on the darkened landscape. Amusingly, some have compared the structure to the famed Teletubby house, which admittedly shares some aesthetic value. However, the architects at Make contend their inspirartion arose from Skara Brae, a neolithic underground settlement in Orkney.

While the house will likely be quite costly, the eco-standards it is implementing will certainly make it a worthwhile and impactful venture. The structure has already been selected as an exemplary project within the Government’s ‘Planning Performance Agreements for Renewable and Low Carbon Energy Schemes’, and it is anticipated to be so advanced that the government is considering using the scheme as a benchmark for all future zero-carbon developments. The team hopes that construction permits will be granted soon in order to commence preliminary work on the residence this year.

EDITT Tower, Singapore

Currently pending construction in Singapore, the EDITT Tower will be a paragon of “Ecological Design In The Tropics”. Designed by TR Hamzah & Yeang and sponsored by the National University of Singapore, the 26-story high-rise will boast photovoltaic panels, natural ventilation, and a biogas generation plant all wrapped within an insulating living wall that covers half of its surface area. The verdant skyscraper was designed to increase its location’s bio-diversity and rehabilitate the local ecosystem in Singapore’s ‘zeroculture’ metropolis.

Approximately half of the surface area of the EDITT Tower will be wrapped in organic local vegetation, and passive architecture will allow for natural ventilation. Publicly accessible ramps will connect upper floors to the street level lined in shops, restaurants and plant life. The building has also been designed for future adaptability, with many walls and floors that can be moved or removed. In a city known for its downpours, the building will collect rainwater and integrate a grey-water system for both plant irrigation and toilet flushing with an estimated 55% self-sufficiency.

855 square meters of photovoltaic panels will provide for 39.7% of the building’s energy needs, and plans also include the ability to convert sewage into biogas and fertilizer. The tower will be constructed using many recycled and recyclable materials, and a centralized recycling system will be accessible from each floor.

The University of Technology Sydney Tower, Sydney

Sydney’s ugliest building may soon be getting a new lease on life through to a plan to ‘reskin’ the entire tower with a high-performance photovoltaic skin. Architecture firm Laboratory for Visionary Architecture (LAVA) has proposed the retrofit, and if their plan is enacted it would turn the 1960’s brutalist building into a brilliant super-efficient eco-tower.

The University of Technology Sydney Tower has long been known as Sydney’s ugliest building (it even says so on their website). It was built in 1960 and it currently hosts the headquarters of the University.

LAVA’s proposed ‘Tower Skin’ concept would wrap the building with a lightweight composite mesh textile. The cocooned shell would then collect rain water, generate electricity and assist the ventilation system in cooling the tower. At night, the skin works as an intelligent media surface that communicates information on events in real time.

While this design is only concept, UTS is making extensive renovations on the tower with the goal of improving energy and water efficiency. Unfortunately, it probably won’t look as cool as this one. The concept design is on display at STATE. RESPOND in the Object Gallery in Sydney.
Inhabitat

Prototype for the House Arc Modular Home Unveiled

We love prefab designs, but we love seeing them come to life even more! Last July, we brought you renderings for the House Arc, a bicycle rack-inspired modular home designed by Joseph Bellomo, and now we’re thrilled to give you a peek of the prototype version which was just unveiled. Prefabricated and flat-packed into a 4-by-10-by-3 foot box, the House Arc can easily be shipped and assembled at its final destination.

The prototype is a 150 sq foot prefab home and weighs all of 3,000 pounds. Built to withstand tropical environments and nasty weather, the rounded design is like an “eggshell where you only need the minimal amount of structure and still have something that is incredibly strong,” says Bellomo. The frame is made from lightweight steel tubing and the foundation consists of a few concrete blocks. Designed to be off-grid, the home will be powered by solar panels mounted on the roof.Although not originally intended as a solution for catastrophe-wrought Haiti, Bellomo thinks his home might make sense as disastar relief housing, and is currently looking for sponsors and investors who may be interested in developing his prototype for that purpose. He says, “We’re going for a kit of parts that the average person can assemble quickly–like an IKEA house, only easier to put together.”www.inhabitat.com

Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Port Elizabeth

ALMOST all know where the name of this stadium. No other took the name of antiapartheid, Nelson Mandela. Dad and a great hero of South Africa who is willing to jail for 25 years fighting for racial differences in the country (apartheid).There is an additional name "bay" or the bay behind him, because the stadium is located in front of the Gulf of Nort End. The only world-class stadium in the Eastern Cape Province was built at a cost of U.S. $ 150 million (approximately USD 1.4 trillion). VIP has 150 rooms, 60 business class rooms, sports clothing shop, gym, 500 parking bays, and several multipurpose rooms. In addition, the stadium has 74 blocks of toilets.

It's one of the five new stadiums in South Africa (South Africa) which was built to hold 2010 World Cup, but in Cape Town, Durban, Polokwane and Nelspruit.

Stadium with the entrance 32 is designed with a unique purpose. Grooved dome. Has a multifunction, the stadium is 40 meters high. On the west side, the stadium consists of six levels. Whereas in the other three sides with only five levels of the total capacity of 48,000 spectators. However, after the World Cup will be reduced to 440,000 spectators.


Construction began in 2007, FIFA had hesitated whether to be completed by deadline, in January 2010. However, it was Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium to be completed even earlier, in December 2008. On June 6, 2009, the stadium was opened and attended by 17,000 local residents. A month later, the stadium has been used for the Confederations Cup.

On 28 November 2009, the stadium for the first time will be used for music Koser. Group and renowned singer will perform in South Africa, including the popular group Busta Rhymes.

Magnificent stadium by taking a big name world leaders, stelah World Cup will be the headquarters of Southern football team and the Kings Bay United.