The guys who run FreeGreen, the free homeplan website, are so smart; they could have just hired architects to do plans, and would have had to go to the trouble of deciding which architect to hire; instead they write a brief and run a competition. Now they have the work of hundreds of architects to chose from; established firms with the works in the drawer, young designers hoping to be discovered. But they are not the only ones who benefit; everyone can look, vote and learn from over 400 submissions. The challenge was to "re-envision the typical suburban home in an ecologically conscious manner that also reflects today's modern lifesty...Read the full story on TreeHugger

Image credit: ManTownHuman "We, in ManTownHuman, believe that a more critical, arrogant and future-oriented cadre of architects and designers can challenge the new eco-centred, bureaucratic, anti-intellectual, fragmentary, localising consensus and in this way can lay the ground rules for overcoming the cosy rut in which architecture now finds itself." Every now and then a subject for a post comes along that is so wrong headed that I struggle with whether I should fan the flames of publicity, or leave it well alone. But as the rece...Read the full story on TreeHugger

Photo by Jaymi Heimbuch The first keynote of the day at Greener Gadgets came from Yves Behar, founder of fuseproject and one of our favorite designers around TreeHugger, dreaming up things from bike helmets to the One Laptop Per Child computer. And its no surprise why. He's all about integrating sustainability into every aspect of design, from cars to undies. During his talk, Behar covered some cool design pr...Read the full story on TreeHugger

JAI Designer Kizzy Knight models a denim vest from her fall 2010 collection at the NOW Showcase. Credit: Emma Grady Local, independent, and sustainable designers showed their designs for fall 2010 this past weekend at the NOW Showcase, an apparel tradeshow co-op. We caught up with Designers Linda Loudermilk; Kizzy Knight from JAI (above); Raina Blyer from Read the full story on TreeHugger

Leather packaging design by Sebastian Vecchio and Guillem Ferran. Leather might not seem the most treehugger-liked material, but like with any material, it depends how you use it, where it comes from and what processes it has undergone. A few craftsmen and designers in Catalonia, Spain, got together and created some beautiful pieces to promote certain local trades (in this case the leather production) to prevent them from disappearing in the region due to the pressure of cheaper products from China or elsewhere. The project is called La Pell, which means the skin ...Read the full story on TreeHugger