spotcoolstuff      design

Some people look at a billboard see an advertisement. The people at the Polish company Front Architects looked at a billboard saw the potential for a utilitarian dwelling. From that vision sprang the 290 square feet (27 square meter) Single Hauz. At that size, the Single Hauz is too small for a permanent family home. But its light weight means that this Hauz can be built atop of a concrete pylon. And its thin profile means that it will fit into tight spaces. The result is the same Single Hauz design that can be replicated in a field or in a crowded urban space or even in the middle of a lake. Now THAT’S cool!

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Beijing National Aquatic Center, known colloquially as “The Water Cube,” is open in time for the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics. The walls are constructed of ETFE, a semi-transparent plastic, in a Weaire-Phelan structure. The result, from both the inside and out, is a structure that looks like it came from the set of Cocoon. The ecological properties of the building are striking as well — The Water Cube features solar power, rain water collection system and an air-conditioning system that uses recycled water.

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