bPSE Structural Engineering

Photo: Flickr, CC Might Expand to Other Countries Speaking of "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle", IKEA Sweden wants to make it easier for owners of old IKEA furniture to give it a second life. Against their own commercial interest, the company is offering a free online platform where sellers and buyers can find themselves, and they aren't even taking a cut of the transactions. Read on for more details.... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Above: a piece from the Lifeguard collection. Photos: Courtesy of Leo Battistelli. In 2002, Argentine artist based in Brazil Leo Battistelli began working with the remains of a porcelain factory. During the following eight years, he has experimented with the discarded materials in sculptures, installations, utilitarian objects and prototypes, and has even built his whole studio with the furniture the factory threw away and worked with the venue's production chain and materials.... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Photo via user Crath on reddit The Second "R" Something else than carry bagel sandwiches, that is (see below). This one might only apply to geeks, but then again, if you have lots of empty CD and DVD spindles, chances are you also have a bunch of disorganized cables in a pile somewhere.... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Bamboo is round and hollow while floors are flat and solid, so to make bamboo floors they cut the stuff up into strips and compress it with resin into solid chunks, that can be sliced into flooring. They make a lot of it in China; they also make a lot of regular furniture and produce a lot of waste. Somebody had the idea of taking that scrap and compressing it into chunks and voila: EcoTimber Strand Poplar Flooring was born. ... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Photos: Jasmine Van Hevel, Mauro Brigham and Olivier Papegnies via archdaily A landmark water tower in the Belgian village of Steenokkerzeel has demonstrated again that almost any structure can be repurposed; in this case it has been converted into a single family house and meeting facility. Some might be a bit nervous living in it, such a tall structure so close to the airport, but if you like watching planes it is the place to be. The living room is on the... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Living Steel commissioned an interesting article on the history of steel and iron prefabs. Professor Miles Lewis explains how Britain shipped wrought iron and corrugated steel houses to California and Australia during the gold rushes of the 1850s, when housing was in short supply. ... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Cameron Sinclair of Architecture For Humanity always says that the last thing people need after a disaster is another architect's idea for instant housing, but that hasn't stopped TreeHugger Best of Green Young Architect Andrew Maynard from looking at the problem of the flooding in Pakistan and writing:

Many would suggest, correctly, that what a disaster of this magnitude DOES NOT need is another idealistic architect proposing yet... Read the full story on TreeHugger

All images via the Interactive Institute - www.tii.se "A regular torch shows what is hidden in the dark, the Watt-Lite shows the hidden use of electricity", this is the essential purpose of a set of three lights created by designers at Stolkholm's Interactive Institute. The Watt-Lite is a rather inventive form of smart meter that finds a straightforward way of demonstrating how much energy a building is using in the style of real ... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Image from Ahmad Humeid Recycled pallets, or skids, are becoming the basis for a whole new genre of architecture. And for good reason: they are sustainable, recycled, and make use of discarded packaging. The recently built pop-up Jellyfish Theatre in London, is made of old materials including 800 market pallets. But everyone is doing it. This family home in Amman Jorday was designed with the outer wall made of industrial pallets. ... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Photo: Banksy.co.uk Poor Dolphin World-famous guerilla artist Banksy has made many environmental statements in the past, but we think this one is particularly clever, especially with the events of the past few months. Check out the video after the jump to see the coin-operated kiddie ride in action.... Read the full story on TreeHugger