Patent Room

The Eco House, by Diseño Earle, is to be the first zero-carbon-footprint villa built in Southern Spain. The home is long and narrow to fit on the plot and is crowned with a unique, angled roof design that allows for solar panels to be installed for maximum exposure to the sun, and to allow air to pass over and cool the home. The design calls for extensive use of louvered glass panels to let plenty of natural light into the building while reducing heat. A geo-thermal system will be installed to provide both cooling and heating.

"The foreclosure mess is casting a shadow over New York’s Hamptons this summer. One result: An 18,000-square-foot Bridgehampton home has been reduced from its $27 million asking price to 'just' $19.5 million."
- Via The Wall Street Journal

The world's first moving building is planned for construction in Dubai. Each of the tower's 80-floors can move independently of each other or be choreographed to move in unison. Power for the building will come partially from turbines and solar panels installed on each floor. The building will be constructed from prefabricated units built in an Italian facility and attached to a central, utility core, around which the floors will rotate.
• World's first ‘building in motion’ ready in 2 years

Donald Trump announced a project to build a 62-story tower jointly with Dubai developer Nakheel. The hotel will feature a $30 million penthouse and will be built on Palm Jumeirah island. The structure, to be made of stainless steel and glass, will consist of almost 400 apartments and 400 hotel rooms.
• Donald Trump Launches new Hotel and Tower on Palm Jumeirah Dubai

SnickarPer of Sweden has an extensive line of retro-styled doors for entryways, from the front door to the garage. We especially like the nautically-themed portals shown above.
• SnickarPer
• Via Materialicious

While many brokers provide virtual video tours of apartments, Mr. [Max] Ribitzky has taken the concept to a more intimate and personal level, a live interactive apartment showing, via video conferencing software. With more and more foreigners snapping up Manhattan apartments, the technique could make it easier to close a deal.
- Via The New York Times

"... water flowing through the facade has left it badly damaged. Some panels are visibly cracked and peeling, and many of their steel frames have rusted. A frieze of poured concrete, spelling 'Storefront for Art and Architecture,' is in particularly bad shape: the final E now resembles an L with two drooping appendages."
- Via The New York Times

At Trulia Hindsight you can enter in a city and watch an animated presentation of property growth over time. Dots bloom on the map to represent where new home growth is happening. It's an interesting display that shows how communities grow and change through the decades. The map above was frozen over Los Angeles in 1948.

"Built to withstand bone-shaking winds off the Atlantic, their [crofter's cottage] 4ft-thick granite walls are nigh impossible to punctuate with sufficient windows for contemporary taste, and their lack of insulation makes winter heating an economic challenge... Now at last, there are plans to build new homes on some of the best plots in the Western Isles that will look like a crofter's cottage of a century ago, but with the views and all mod cons."
- Via The Telegraph

Resorts catering to the high-end market are offering unique and opulent swimming pools to help attract guests. The pools often cost millions to build and take on Olympic proportions.

Fueled by unprecedented competition for guests, hotels are pouring millions of dollars into pools—not bathtub-size afterthoughts, but sybaritic, resort-style pool complexes and waterside amenities. These new ersatz beach clubs go beyond the well-stocked cabana to add acres of real estate, residential design and furniture, gadgets, and increased staffing.

The Tuscan-villa pool at the Bellagio (shown above) in Las Vegas features misting fans and fountains. Pools at the Bellagio are kept at different temperatures so sensitive swimmers can find the perfect fit. At the Burj Al Arab resort in Dubai (shown below) the pools -- one for men and one for women -- feature large windows offering panoramic views of the Persian gulf.
• Photo Gallery of Pools

"Atop six stories of parking lots, Antilla's living quarters begin at a lobby with nine elevators, as well as several storage rooms and lounges. Down dual stairways with silver-covered railings is a large ballroom with 80% of its ceiling covered in crystal chandeliers. It features a retractable showcase for pieces of art, a mount of LCD monitors and embedded speakers, as well as stages for entertainment."
- Via Canoe: Home & Garden

It's time to step out of the cattle car and into luxury on your international travels. Many foreign carriers are raising the bar on personal service by including private cabins, cavier and vintage champagne on their flights. Qantas passengers (shown above) are treated with fine wines, espresso and a personal phone. Travelers on Emirates (shown below) can stretch out in a private suite while enjoying a private mini bar, desk and a 23-inch TV with more than 600 channels. Newsweek offers a tour of the most exclusive and luxurious international carriers on their site.
• Newsweek photo gallery

"The Sackners say that moving their archive -- the largest private collection of its kind -- into their new apartment resulted in something unexpected: Both the house and the apartment were the same size, 5,100 square feet, but the apartment provided more art space. 'We were only able to hang 240 works in our house. There are 640 works hanging in this apartment,' Marvin said."
- Via Miami Herald

Residences at 20 Pine, the former location of Chase Manhattan Bank's headquarters in downtown Manhattan, start at $715,000 for a one-bedroom condo. Two penthouses in the building are being offered for $3.1 and $3.2 million. The Terrace Lounge on the 25th floor (shown above) is open to all residents who want to take in the city views and enjoy the reflecting pool and gardens. The building also features a Library Lounge adjacent to the lobby where residents can read and reflect in a sofa-filled environment.
• 20 Pine

" 'Acting is my career, architecture is my passion,' Pitt said in the statement. As 'my first major construction project,' the Dubai hotel will feature 'environmentally friendly architecture, but also embrace my career in entertainment.' "
- Via Bloomberg

The Random Weave chair ($599) from West Elm looks like its clean lines were sculpted out of a thicket of vines. The chair and stool were made from abaca bark, a banana tree relative. To see more contemporary wicker and rattan furniture, be sure to check out a photo gallery from the Los Angeles Times.

This surrealistic building was found in Israel by Andrew Dupont and posted to Flickr. Does anyone know anything about this building or the architect? We'd love to share more of their work.

This contemporary styled Palm Springs home was built in 1974 and was recently renovated by designer Xorin Balbes and architect Paul Ashley. The home makes extensive use of glass on the exterior and is in a walled compound for privacy. As you can see in the photo above, the home is a fine example of blended indoor and outdoor living. There are a total of 4 master suites and the house has mountain views.
• Bedrooms: 4
• Bathrooms: 5.5
• Listing Price: $3,775,000
• View Listing
• Via Luxist: Crescent Drive, Palm Springs, Estate of the Day

"As they swell, the suburbs are changing. Perhaps none ever quite resembled the colourless domestic enclaves popularised by 1970s television programmes such as “The Brady Bunch”; now, they look nothing at all like them. America's suburbs are ethnically and demographically mixed—sometimes more so than its cities. Many are less dormitories than economic powerhouses."
- The Economist

The Amoeba, from The Simple Light, is a sophisticated, modern light design that presents a unique look depending on the angle from which it is viewed. The light is suspended from a single cord and wraps the exposed bulb in a sensual ceramic body.
• The Simple Light