The roof of this Malibu house is made from the wings of an aeroplane.

The suspended wings rest over self-supporting glass walls that front the hillside house, which was designed by American architects Studio of Environmental Architecture.

Parts of the aeroplane tail shelter the master bedroom, while the fuselage covers a guesthouse, barn and artist’s studio that are each housed in separate buildings.

The cockpit of the plane creates a roof with a large skylight to a meditation pavilion, located towards the edge of the site.

At the rear of the house, concrete and rammed earth walls nestle into the hilly landscape.

The architects had to register the house with the Federal Aviation Authority so that pilots would not mistake it for a crashed jet.

Other American houses recently featured on Dezeen include one with a twisted cantilever and another beneath the famous Hollywood sign - see all our stories about projects in the USA.

Photography is by David Hertz, Carson Leh & Laura Doss.

Here's a description from the architects:

This project exists on a 55-acre property in the remote hills of Malibu with unique topography and panoramic views looking out to a nearby mountain range, a valley, and the Pacific Ocean with islands in the distance. The site was previously owned and developed by the eccentric designer Tony Duquette who developed over 21 unique structures incorporating found objects from all over the world. In 1995, the Malibu fire destroyed all but a few steel “Pagoda”-like structures. When I first visited the site I was struck by the fantastic views but also the creativity by which Duquette appropriated found objects and made them look as if they were originally crafted like traditional indigenous structures.

In searching for inspiration, I imagined a roof structure that would allow for a un-obstructed view of the mountain range and distant views. The client, a woman who co-owns a Mercedes car dealership, requested curvilinear/feminine shapes for the building. The progenitor of the building’s form was envisioned as a floating curved roof. It soon became apparent, that in fact, an airplane wing itself could work. In researching airplane wings and superimposing different airplane wing types on the site to scale, the wing of a 747, at over 2,500 sq. ft., became an ideal configuration to maximize the views and provide a self supporting roof with minimal additional structural support needed.

By incorporating many of the previous pads and retaining walls we sought to minimize significant grading and subsequent impacts to the existing topography and landscape. The wing structures are conceived to be positioned to float on top of simple concrete, shot-crete, and rammed-earth walls that are cut into the hillsides. The floating roofs will derive simple support from steel brace frames, which will attach to strategic mounting points on the wing where the engines were previously mounted. Frameless, structural self-supporting glass will create the enclosure from the concrete slab on grade into the wing as roof.

The scale of a 747 aircraft is enormous - over 230 feet long, 195 feet wide and 63 feet tall with over 17,000 cubic feet of cargo area alone and represents a tremendous amount of material for a very economical price of less than $50,000 dollars.

In researching aircrafts we began to realize that there are hundreds of airplanes that have been retired to sit in the deserts of California and are sold at the price of their principal raw material, aluminum. The idea of utilizing recycled components and appropriating them in creative new ways was certainly consistent with the existing context of the Duquette structures. Additionally, incorporating prefabricated lightweight components off site and delivering them to the remote site via helicopter, although at a cost of $8,000/hr. became realistic after considering the cost of getting traditional labor and material to the site.

After visiting the planes and verifying with the building department that there is nothing specifically prohibiting the use of an airplane wing as a roof, we began to explore the actual structure of the wings in particular and examined if other components might be used for additional accessory structures on the property. Although, we did find out that we have to register the roof of the house with the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) so pilots flying overhead do not mistake it as a downed aircraft.

As we analyzed the cost, it seemed to make more sense to acquire an entire airplane and to use as many of the components as possible, like the Native American Indians used every part of the buffalo. Therefore, the property is to consist of several structures all made with components and pieces of a Boeing 747-200 aircraft.

The Main Residence will use both of the main wings as well as the 2 stabilizers from the tail section as a roof for the Master Bedroom. The Art Studio Building will use a 50-foot long section of the upper fuselage as a roof, while the remaining front portion of the fuselage and upper first class cabin deck will be used as the roof of the Guest House. The lower half of the fuselage, which forms the cargo hold, will form the roof of the Animal Barn. A Meditation Pavilion will be made from the entire front of the airplane at 28 feet in diameter and 45 feet tall; the cockpit windows will form a skylight. Several other components are contemplated for use in a sublime manner, which include a fire pit and water element constructed out of the engine cowling.

The 747 represented the single largest industrial achievement in modern history and its abandonment in the deserts make a statement about the obsolescence and ephemeral nature of our technology and our society. As a structure and engineering achievement, the aircraft encloses a lot of space using the least amount of materials in a very resourceful and efficient manner. The recycling of the 4.5 million parts of this “big aluminum can” is seen as an extreme example of sustainable reuse and appropriation. American consumers and industry throw away enough aluminum in a year to rebuild our entire airplane commercial fleet every three months.

Wing house, as a work in progress, has many plans for the implementation of environmental features. The sole fact that an entire 747 is being used to construct a main residence and 6 ancillary structures, is environmentally sustainable in that the material being used is 100% post-consumer waste, and the plane has already been engineered so that additional material and man power are not necessary as they would be if the structure was to be built from the ground up. Solar power, radiant heating and natural ventilation will be incorporated as well as high performance heat mirror glazing.

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London designers StudioSuperniche have designed a series of structures made of the blue fence that surrounded the Olympic Park site in east London during construction.

The fencing around the eleven-mile perimeter of the site is now being replaced with wire mesh and StudioSuperniche are using the blue-painted plywood to design structures for the area, to be used by residents after the Olympic Games have finished.

The structures are inspired by activities displaced from the area by the Olympics development and include allotment sheds, boats and a boat house, ping-pong playing facilities and a bird-watching post.

The first of these structures will be exhibited at an exhibition called Parallel Cases as part of the International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam, 26 September to 13 December, at the RDM Campus.

StudioSuperniche is made up of students Kieren Jones, Will Shannon, Ottilie Ventiroso and Oliver Wainwright.

See another intervention at the Olympic Park fence in our previous story.

Here's some more information from StudioSuperniche:

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The Blue Fence Project

StudioSuperniche has designed a series of pavilions made from the blue construction fence that has surrounded the site for the 2012 Olympic Games in East London since 2006.

The Blue Fence Project is an independent study into how the eleven miles of plywood fencing – which is currently being replaced by a wire mesh fence – can be recycled to make provisional structures for the Olympic Park after the Games, encouraging local activity in the initial stages of the ‘legacy’ plan.

“The endless blue fence has become a hugely political symbol in east London,” says Oliver Wainwright of StudioSuperniche.

“We’re trying to transform its negative connotations of forced regeneration into something which will encourage local communities to use the site after the Games and reclaim it as their own.”

The group has focused on activities which were displaced from the area by the Olympic development, from allotment fields to boating clubs, markets to bird-watching, and designed temporary structures to accommodate and stimulate the return of these uses.

“In light of the economic crisis, we imagine that developers will be slow to build the planned new town of glistening shops and apartment blocks that the Olympic Legacy Plan promises,” says Wainwright.

“It’s imperative to get people using the site as quickly as possible after the Games to avoid it becoming yet another vacant memorial to a fleeting sporting moment. Hopefully the temporary activities in this transition period will become established and feed into longer-term developments on the site.”

The first structure to be completed, which will be unveiled on Friday 25th September at the International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam, is a two-storey bird hide and wall of nesting boxes, responding to the enthusiastic culture of birdwatching in the Lea Valley, where over 200 species of bird have been recorded.

StudioSuperniche is a collective of architects and designers, currently in their final year at the Royal College of Art in London.

They are Kieren Jones, Will Shannon, Ottilie Ventiroso and Oliver Wainwright.

The Blue Fence Project will be exhibited at the Parallel Cases exhibition of the International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam, from Saturday 26 September – Sun 13 December, at the RDM Campus, Rotterdam-Heijplaat.

The Olympic Legacy Masterplan Framework proposes a plan of ‘field evolution’ in which many plots on the site will be vacant, dedicated to temporary ‘transition uses’ over the next forty years.

The wetlands of Lee Valley Regional Park are one of the major inland wintering areas for birds in Britain, annually supporting over 10,000 waterbirds.

Nationally important numbers of Tufted Duck, Pochard, Goosander, Great Crested Grebe and Coot use the Lee Valley Regional Park. Over 2,500 Tufted Duck winter here.

Internationally important numbers of Gadwall and Shoveler winter in the Lee Valley Regional Park. Lee Valley Regional Park is one of the most important sites in the UK for wintering Bitterns.

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Japanese designer Ryohei Yoshiyuki has designed an ash tray made of used coffee grounds.

The coffee is meant to absorb the smell from the cigarette ash.

Here's a little more from Yoshiyuki:

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The name of project is "a cup of coffee".

Some people has habit that putting coffee grounds to the ashtray, so that it takes the smell.

From that habit, I designed ashtray "a cup of coffee" which out of coffee beans after we made coffee. It could fit for a cigarette with your "a cup of coffee".

A man
A break
A cup of coffee
A cigarette
even that little time might be the best moment in your day.

A cup of coffee is the ash tray that is made of the coffee beans that after we made coffee.

Enjoy a cigarette like you enjoy a cup of coffee.

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Oregon designers John Arndt and Wonhee Jeong of Studio Gorm have designed a kitchen where waste products are used to grow plants.

Drying dishes drip onto plants in terracotta containers.

Food scraps are broken down by worms and the resulting fertiliser used is for the plants.

A double-walled terracotta container acts as a refrigerator, cooling the inside as water evaporates through the outer wall.

The project is on show as part of and exhibition called Call and Rersponse at the Museum of Contemporary Craftin Oregon until 31 October.

Photographs are by Wonhee Jeong and John Arndt.

See also:

Vaisselier Système D by Matière A
Colo dishwasher by Peter Schwartz and Helene Steiner
Ethical Kitchen by Alexandra Sten Jørgensen

Here's some more information from Studio Gorm:

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Flow2

Oregon based studio Gorm (John Arndt and Wonhee Jeong) has designed a new version of their kitchen, flow and the kitchen of terrestrial mechanics.

Flow is a living kitchen where nature and technology are integrated in a symbiotic relationship, processes flow into one another in a natural cycle, efficiently utilizing energy, waste, water and other natural resources. It provides a space not only for preparing food but an environment that gives a better understanding of how natural processes work. A kitchen where food is grown, stored, cooked and composted to grow more food.

The flow products can be used independently but are far more effective when they work in concert as part of the larger system. The individual objects are relatively uncomplicated, acting as simple vehicles for the more complex natural processes to do the work. This kitchen is developed as a flexible system where resources are reused by several elements creating a dynamic flow between the products. The flow kitchen focuses on three major problem areas in the kitchen Waste, Water and Energy.

The hanging dish rack offers vertical storage for drying dishes saving valuable counter space, water from the dish rack drips on the herbs and edible plants, which are grown in the planter boxes positioned below the rack.

The refrigerator is one of the largest consumers of electricity in the home. The majority of the items we refrigerate do not need to be kept as cold as a standard fridge temperatures. The evaporative cooling fridge box keeps food cool through evapo-transpiration. The space between the double walls is filled with water which slowly seeps through the outer wall and evaporates, causing the inside temperature to cool. It is deal for storing vegetables, fruit, eggs, cheese and butter. The evaporative cooling fridge reduces the need for a larger conventional fridge.

The Storage jars are made from unglazed earthenware with beech wood lids. They utilize the natural porous properties of earthenware, which creates an ideal environment for maintaining the consistency of bread, extending the life of garlic and onions, storing grains and growing herbs. The beech wood lids which have natural anti microbial properties can also be used as cutting boards or serving trays.

Up to 40% of household waste can be composted. The integrated cutting board can be slid forward allowing scraps to be swept into the composting bin. Kitchen scraps, newspaper, junk mail and paper scraps can be added to the vermicomposter. Worms breakdown food and turn it into worm castings, a nutrient rich fertilizer (about 2 weeks start to finish). By pulling the handle finished castings are sifted into the collection tray where they can be dried out until needed. The fertilizer can be used in the herb boxes, added to houseplants or the garden.

The dish and utensil drawer provides the necessary space for storing plates bowls cups and cutlery in an economic and easy to access format.

Small trash and recycling bins.

The bag rack is used to hang net market bags, these can be used to hold onions potatoes or produce form the market. The rack can also be used to hang most any other type of shopping bag.

The gas cook top is made up of a floral pattern, offering an alternative to the conventional standards. The continuous surface allows pots to be easily moved on and off the heat source.

Flow2 is on display at the Museum of Contemporary Craft as part of the Exhibition Call and Response. The show will be up until October 31.

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