All images by FG+SG Fernando Guerra, Sergio Guerra, via Archdaily

It is hard to call a big expensive second home in the country green. On the other hand, sometimes they are just so stunning and have so many great design ideas in them that you just can't help but post it.

There is no form of architecture more ephemeral than the condo sales office, where a lot of money is spent to construct a temporary building that tries to represent the image of the building. Rarely does it go against type.

Another ephemeral and ubiquitous object is the shipping container.

LEGO CNC milling machine & open source robotic arm. Image credit: Marta Malé-Alemany.

Meet George Jetson: (FAB)BOTS are robots or machines that fabricate structures and spatial formations for architecture.

Dan Rockhill's Studio 804 is such a wonderful idea for teaching architecture. He and his team design, build and then sell a house every year in challenged parts of Kansas City, and each is an innovative mix of design and technology.

All images courtesy of Design Flute

"Plug-in living" is coming to India, in the guise of what design blog Design Flute is calling India's first prefab green villa.

TreeHugger has been a big fan of Steve Glenn and his Living Homes since it started. But when I first heard that they were coming to Canada I was a bit dubious, after a few years of working in the business here.

Once again we see how in architecture and design, regulation drives innovation; when Vancouver allows backlane housing, we get an explosion of ideas and prototypes. Architect Michael Katz and designer Janet Corne offer the L41 ("all for one") that squeezes everything you need for comfortable living into 220 square feet.

All photos by Javier Callegras from CG Architectes

Mocoloco shows us the CrossBox by CG Architectes, built from four shipping containers....Read the full story on TreeHugge

In January I visited Toronto's Urban Mode for the opening of their new Blu Dot showroom, which I thought was very attractive. What I didn't know until I was researching the new Sustain Trio MiniHome was that it was a green prefab!

Images Dalton Portella via Archdaily

Shipping containers look so cute, and they are cheap.