Cliff House

Off the grid means many things to many people. The Cliff House on Muskoka Lakes, Ontario, interprets “off the grid” as grand self-sufficiency. Designed by Altius Architecture Inc, the home’s form is both integrated in the landscape’s mass and floats above it using cantilevers and floor-to-ceiling glass. The Cliff House plays with all the elements — stone, water, fire, earth, wind, and sun. Read on to find out how!









Sitting on a ledge above a lake, the mass of this 3200 sq. ft. home echoes that of the large granite boulder it rests upon. The local granite is brought inside to act as a thermal mass for the two fireplaces that bookend the living space. In the summer, prevailing breezes and thermal vent stack, along with a green roof, keep the building naturally cooled. The sun plays the key role of providing electricity thanks to a solar electric system, storage batteries, and a power inverter. There is also a solar thermal system that uses evacuated tubes to heat both the in-floor heating and solar thermal storage tanks.

There are a host of other sustainable features but what is really striking is the home’s sense of relaxation on the land. Its sensitivity in integrated design is accomplished by using design elements and materials that not only look exceptional but enhance the performance of the space.

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.

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