Architecture using carbonated drink cans

When you finish drinking your beer from beer can, what do you usually do with an empty can? Just throw it to the garbage? Well, you have more options : make your own beer can sofa, get some hamburger for free or you can use it as a material for a facade of your house.

Can Cube’s facade is a system of aluminium carbonated drink cans which are enclosed in an aluminium frame. It was designed by Archi Union Architects using and integrating renewable systems to make it highly efficient and sustainable. This structure saves the energy that is normally wasted during recycling processes, by reusing them in their current form.

Can Cube’s facade

This Can Cube design is an innovative residential and office building in Shanghai, China. The two first floors are used as the office space, the next levels are aimed to be a space for private living.

Aluminium frame keeps the structure light and easily adjustable by its occupants. Windows sections within the structure provide a full control of sunlight during the all seasons. What is more, the facade works along the underground heating, cooling systems, rainwater filtration and solar energy systems, all of this minimize the waste of energy.

Shanghai Metal Corporation offers customers high-quality aluminium and other metal products. For more information please don’t hesitate and visit the website or send us inquiry. English speaking staff will be more than glad to help you. Download also our application by scanning QR code below or follow us on Social Media.

    

Silvia M.//SMC Editor

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Credits : archdaily.com, worldconstructionnetwork.com, googleimages

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Forget Home Furnishings, IKEA Enters The E-Bike Market

IKEA has certainly surprised us with many clever home-furnishing solutions. Most importantly, IKEA, with its roots in the super “green” country of Sweden, could not leave its homecountry’s highly socially conscious citizens disappointed. When it comes to act environmetally friendly, IKEA comes right up in the top list worldwide as leader of clean technology. In fact, IKEA has big goals for 2020 that includes a plan to obtain 100% of the energy it consumes in its stores and buildings from clean energy and to grow more wood than it uses.

Plastic bags were far gone six years ago, CFLs and LEDs were introduced as replacement for high-energy consuming incandescent light bulbs back in 2010, affordable home solar panels were recently made available in the UK, a number of electric car stations were installed at stores across the world and now IKEA has entered the electric bike market.

Yes, e-bike FOLKVÄNLIG can be found in two IKEA’s retail stores located in Vienna, Austria. Still in its inception phase, the e-bike is expected to become viral and shortly reach out to many different stores. The electric bike’s design has already received various awards at the Taipei Cycle Show, Eurobike and the IF Design Award.

FOLKVÄNLIG in Swedish means ‘user- friendly’, which is probably what IKEA is trying to address here with its sleek e-bike that could take you anywhere within a distance of 60 to 70km, aided by a powerful electric motor of 250Watt that could get you a total pedal-assisted range up to 45mi/72km per charge.

The e-bike also features an easy rechargeable system to its removable in-frame lithium-ion battery pack that takes about five hours to recharge, as well as a Shimano transmission that provides six different driving modes.

Should it prove successful, IKEA’s FOLKVÄNLIG e-bike must also come in a foldable variant, which gives the market even more room for growth.

Shanghai Metal Corporation offers a wide range of metals such as aluminum, widely used in beer can manufacturing. To find out more, please visit our Website or send your inquiry here. Our English speaking personnel will be more than pleased to help you. Follow us on  LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel. Or you could try our new mobile app by scanning our QR code.

Source and photo credit: technologicvehicles.com, treehugger.com, greenoptimistic.com, ubergizmo.com, cleantechnica.com, flickr.com

Camilla G.//SMC Editor

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Goldfish Gets Brain Surgery

In Melbourne, Australia, an apparently regular occurrence is taking plaice (pun intended) – a fish surgery. Dr. Tristan Rich at Lort Smith Animal Hospital operated on a goldfish named George to remove a large tumor.

To prepare for the surgery, Rich had George swim around in a bucket of water laced with anesthetic to knock him out, the hospital explained in a Facebook post. A spokesperson from Lort Smith told NBC News the surgery cost about $300 AUD and, despite how unusual it seems, it’s not the first of its kind.

Speaking of, Shanghai Metal produces the carbon steel used in surgical blades. As an ISO 14001 (International Quality Management System) Company and recipient of the “Star Enterprise Award,” Shanghai Metal Corporation prides itself on exceeding international standards of quality and reliability. We guarantee the best prices, quality support, and fast delivery. To find out more, please visit our Website or send your inquiry here. Our English speaking personnel will be more than pleased to help you. Follow us on  LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel. Or you could try our new mobile app by scanning our QR code.

Sources: NBC News, Metro

Siobhan R.// SMC Editor

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Luxurious Dream House Looks Like A James Bond-Inspired Villa

Dream houses are all over LA and its surroundings. But I bet you haven’t seen the Desert House designed by super-organic architect Kendrick Bangs Kellogg in Joshua Tree, located in Californias’ Mojave Desert is a fusion of what resembles a dinosaur-boned structure with a Flintstonesy feel.

Inspired by the rugged and hard surroundings the exterior of the house seems like an extension of it. Dramatically perched on the slope of a rocky hill overlooking the Mojave Desert, the property seems to disseminate amongst the rocks and stones. That feeling was only made possible due to somewhat a texture that could provide the numerous cast-concrete slabs of the exterior with touch and feel of the desert as materials.

The 3-bedroom house work began in 1988 and finished in 1993 in the 10-acre space, but the interior took about a decade for Kellogg and designer John Vurgin to create and design the house that the owners Doolittle always dreamed about. The Desert House is priced at $3 million, heating up the luxury real estate market of the Coachella Valley and surrounding desert. What makes the house so special and attractive is its balance of organic architecture. The masculine outside is counter-balanced by a somewhat feminine and warm intimate space by using concrete, steel, glass and copper for the interior, making the space genuinely comfortable to live in.

Highlights of the interiors are the parasol in the dining room made of some 800 pieces of sandblasted glass, the master bedroom’s self-standing bronze washing basin, massive amount of light and sun entering through continuous openings that separate the towering concrete panels. It is like living in a piece of art, every little detail in the house has been carefully thought of. You even feel like in a spa when listening to the water sound by the indoors waterfall. What about the scenery of the wide open arid landscape provided by spending some time in the bathtub? Breathtaking at the least.

“You don’t copy nature, you don’t emulate it, you take it for what it’s worth”, says Kellogg.

If there is any interest in checking out the property more details can be found at TTK Represents.

Shanghai Metal Corporation offers a wide range of metals such as copper, widely used in architectural artifacts and construction. To find out more, please visit our Website or send your inquiry here. Our English speaking professionals will be more than pleased to help you. Follow us on  LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel. Or you could try our new mobile app by scanning our QR code.

Source and photo credit: organicmodernestate.com, yatzer.com, hiconsumption.com, la.curbed.com

Camilla G.//SMC Editor

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How Much Do You Know About Copper?

1.Pyramid of Cheops

The first point of facts about copper is related to pyramids of Cheops. There were water pumping construction found by the archaeologists in this pyramid which was made partly from copper dated more than 5000 years ago.

2.Dead Sea Scrolls

When people Sea Scrolls, they will think that the classic items are made from animal skin. This principle does not apply in one of the Dead Sea Scrolls discovered in Israel. It is created by using copper. In the scroll, you will see the clues to find the hidden treasure.

3.New York’s Statue of Liberty

One of the materials used to construct the statue of Liberty is copper. It features 80 tons of copper from Norway. The craftsmanship was done in France.

4.Gold

When people want to get firm and tough gold, the manufacturer will add small amount copper. The train of gold is soft so that you can mould this material using your hands. Even though your jewelry is made from 24 k of gold, it still contains some copper.

5.Hieroglyphs

Copper was believed as the symbol of the eternal life. In the hieroglyph system, the ancient Egyptian people utilized the ankh symbol to represent copper.

6.Columbus

Columbus is one of the greatest sailors and explorers in the world. When he made a voyage to America, his ship was protected by using copper skin which eliminate the bio-fouling or even barnacles.

7.Copper cookware

Copper is the best material recommended by most high class chefs in the world. The material can transfer the heat better than any other material.

8.Copper products

Copper is widely used as the construction and frame in water piping and distribution since it can resist from any bacteria. Some products made from copper include handrail, door knobs and finger-plates.

9.Copper tools

Copper is also helpful to lower the risk of explosion. The tools or products made from copper will never cause any fire or even spark. That’s why the electronic tools are made by using this material to prevent the explosion to occur.

10.Anti corrosion

Copper can last longer and it prevents corrosion to form. The nuclear authority in Sweden and deep sea exploration uses copper as the protection for their equipment and pipework.

As an international manufacturer and supplier for copper sheet and bronze sheet, Shanghai Metal Corporation produces slitting, edging, and oscillates winding to fit your specific copper requirements. To find out more, please visit our Website or send your inquiry here. Our English speaking personnel will be more than pleased to help you. Follow us on  LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel. Or you could try our new mobile app by scanning our QR code.

Source and photo credit: findfast.org, periodictable.com

William P.//SMC Editor

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Hang Your Garden Up-Side Down For A Sustainable Artwork

Designed for homes, LivingLight is a multifunction device that serves as luminaire and hanging garden. The concept behind LivingLight is very simple. It doesn’t need to plug into a wall to work – actually the moist soil acts as an “earth battery”. How does it work?  A copper cathodes and zinc anodes are pressed into the soil and connected to each of the 4 OLED LightBlades via 2 spring loaded contacts. These panels, in turn, are highly efficient, since it’s combined with biodegradable cellulose based thin-film battery that stores energy drawn from the electrolytes in the moist soil not used during day time.

LivingLight can be hung from the ceiling in clusters to create ‘hanging gardens’ indoors. A thin membrane avoids soil to fall out the bottom opening, securing the upside down vegetable plants to stay put and close to the light source. Another feature is the oil-free Cork Polymer Composite (CPC) pot, which is water impermeable and rot-resistant, whilst degradable and recyclable.

The herbs are watered through an ingenious gravity-based system that provides hydration for your plants via a large top-feeding water reservoir located at the top. Made of recyclable glass the reservoir reduces the maintenance cycle, also saving the water lost through evaporation and drainage in ordinary upright indoor plants.

LivingLight was designed by Michael Oechsle and was part of the Electrolux Design Lab 2012, reaching top 80 for global nominees. Its style and functionality call attention, especially when it comes to making the most of limited indoor spaces. It cleans and purifies the air indoors, whilst providing fresh goods grown in a sustainable and natural manner.

Shanghai Metal Corporation offers a wide range of metals such as copper, widely used in varying artifacts. To find out more, please visit our Website or send your inquiry here. Follow us on  LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel. Or you could try our new mobile app by scanning our QR code.

Source and Photo credit: trendhunter.com, foododdity.com, coroflot.com

Camilla G.//SMC Editor

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Can You Guess What’s Wrong In This Picture?

The photograph series “For What It’s Worth” by photographer and artist Dillon Marsh is at the very least surreal. By combining photographic precision and computer-generated imagery Marsh produces illogical images as an attempt to provide a graphic visualization of the quantity of copper extracted from the Blue Mine in Springbok, situated 550 km north of Cape Town.

Blue Mine, Springbok (1852 to 1912) 3,535 tonnes of copper extracted

The blue in ‘Blue Mine’ is in reference to the color of rocks in the mine as a result of copper coming into contact with oxygen in the air. Back to the mid-19th century copper was the primarily driving force behind the establishment of relatively remote area of the country such as Springbok, Okiep and Nababeep as formal towns. Following operations that began in 1852, the Blue Mine is recorded as the first commercial mining endeavour in South Africa. South Africa hasn’t been so commercial before, and with the discovery of copper deposits the town became a centre for mining prospectors with movement of people coming to Springbok also attracted by its near and steady supply of drinkable water.

Nababeep South Mine, Nababeep (1882 to 2000) 302,791.65 tonnes of copper extracted

By 2007, however, most of these mines had run their course and production had stopped almost completely. As an attempted to represent the uncertain future for the towns and people of the region, Marsh placed impressive copper spheres in the arid scene of what once served as copper mine. “Whether they are active or long dormant, mines speak of a combination of sacrifice and gain”, describes Marsh. He also adds “their features are crude, unsightly scars on the landscape – unlikely feats of hard labor and specialized engineering, constructed to extract value from the earth but also exacting a price”.

Jubilee Mine, Concordia (1971 to 1973) 6,500 tonnes of copper extracted

Mash’s intention is “to create a kind of visualization of the merits and shortfalls of mining in South Africa, an industry that has shaped the history and economy of the country so radically”.  On the one hand, the development of the mines around Okiep contributed significantly to the demise of copper mining in south-west of England. On the other hand technology and skill were still transferred from these mines to other parts of the world. Unesco classifies the principle value of the copper mine site of Springbok an extension of the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape in the UK, for instance, also sharing a close association with other mining landscape in Australia, Brazil, India and Mexico.

Tweefontein Mine, Concordia (1887 to 1904) 38,747.7 tonnes of copper extracted

Shanghai Metal Corporation offers a wide range of metals such as copper, widely used in varying artifacts. To find out more, please visit our Website, WordPress, LinkedIn , Twitter , Facebook  and Instagram. Or you could try our new mobile app by scanning our QR code. Moreover, we sell directly from Alibaba , EC21 ,Tradekey or directly at sales@shanghaimetal.com.

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Source and picture credit: springbokinfo.co.za, designboom.com, visualnews.com, ignant.de, whc.unesco.org, dillonmarsh.com

Camilla G.//SMC Editor

Artificial Mineral Re-Created by Reverse Engineering Tech

How easy can you get hold of precious metals and stones in their natural form? Gold, copper, tantalum, aluminum is surely more commonly seen in varying forms of artifacts such as technological, artistic, auto parts, electric, machinery, etc. In addition to their number of applications, these metals also have great recycling properties, giving life to new devices at any time.

However, once the precious elements leave their mineral form, there is no way back to it until two artists had a great idea to create an artificial mineral from old metal parts. As part of the project “Revital Cohen and Tuur Van Balen” an artificial mineral was created: H / AlCuTaAu. The project was commissioned for Arbeid van de Dag, De Brakke Grond, Amsterdam.

The artwork uses precious metals and stones that previously comprised old computers, electric drills, cellphones, and other machinery components recovered from a bankrupt factory. The reverse-engineering work is a result of extensive research and “speaks of the provenance of technological artifacts and the value of labor”, says Cohen and van Balen, the artists behind the art piece. They have a really poetic way of showing the tension and entanglement between technology and nature to create artificial minerals, unnatural animals and poetic machines.

Cohen and van Balen are well known artists with art pieces such as 75 Watt acquired as a permanent collection by the Museum of Modern Art, MOMA in New York City.

Shanghai Metal Corporation offers a wide range of metals such as copper and aluminum, widely used in technological, artistic, auto, electric, machinery artifacts. To find out more, please visit our Website, WordPress, LinkedIn , Twitter , Facebook  and Instagram. Or you could try our new mobile app by scanning our QR code. Moreover, we sell directly from Alibaba , EC21 ,Tradekey or directly at sales@shanghaimetal.com.

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Source and pictures: cohenvanbalen.com, thecreatorsproject.vice.com, nextnature.net

Camilla G.//SMC Editor

Pay For Your Burger With Recycled Cans

Recycled aluminum cans have never been so wanted these days. Coca-Cola is the greater innovator when it comes to marketing campaigns such as China’s Coke Lyrics and now the partnership with McDonalds’ Australia, Coke Rewards, giving away rewards as you collect tokens.

Now McDonald’s takes one step further as an effort to get its fair share in this endless social marketing industry. Following an eco-conscious marketing move, McDonald’s in Stockholm is using recycled cans as currency in exchange for burgers. Part of an interactive campaign designed to the food chain company the advertising agency DDB Stockholm has created a huge incentive to young Swedes unwittingly clean up after them, especially during the summer time when parks and festivals leave behind piles of emptied aluminum beer and soda cans around the city.

As DDB Stockholm puts it, “you’ll find a lot of young people with empty drink cans and empty wallets”. As Simon Higby, a DDB Stockholm creative, puts it, “Youngsters don’t always have so much cash, but sometimes they can get empty cans. So, accepting cans in return for burgers gets them to McDonald’s and the cans to the recycling depot. Everyone’s happy.”

All you have to do is to fill up a bag provided by McDonald’s with 10 cans in exchange for a hamburger or cheeseburger or 40 cans for a Big Mac. The recycling bags can be found attached to strategically installed billboards, which function as a dispenser for free bags – you just tug on the poster’s bottom to get your bag and you are ready to go to the nearest McDonald’s store to get your free burger.

The Swedish fast food chain now accepts “cards, cash and cans” and is an attempt to align the “making profit” during summer time with environmental concerns. By getting a burger the youngster will ultimately opt for fires or a drink to go with it, increasing sales of such items.

Shanghai Metal Corporation offers a wide range of aluminum sheet (aluminum plate) widely used in the manufacturing of Coke aluminum cans. To find out more about us, please visit our Website, WordPress, LinkedIn , Twitter , Facebook  and Instagram. Or you could try our new mobile app by scanning our QR code. Moreover, we sell directly from Alibaba , EC21 and Tradekey.

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Source and picture: adweek.com, ddb.se, inhabitat.com, adweek.com, creativityonline.com, coloribus.com, 11even.net

Camilla G.//SMC Editor

Fabbing 3D Printed Houses Using Soybean: The Revolution in Housing Industry

Imagine a time when we all could afford a house. Imagine a time when all houses no differently are “green” with zero environment impact. Each “green” house could be customized according to users’ needs and desires, but yet has the same features of traditional cement-and-brick houses to accommodate plumbing system, electrical wiring and insulation. These “green” housing structures are made of biodegradable soybean based material, which can be torn down and 100% recycled.

This future may be here sooner than we all could have imagined. Sofoklis Giannakoupoulous, a researcher at Barcelona’s IaaC (the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia) has been developing a building structure that is stronger than reinforced concrete. He uses a soybean-based brownish-looking powder that could be extruded – or 3D printed – that are more solid than concrete.

Soybean powder

Although it may sound absurd others companies have been experimented their own biodegradable mix materials to print chunks of buildings. Most notably companies such as Dus Architects and Ultimaker in the Netherlands have only printed so far a 3m-high, 180-kg sample corner of the future canal house using hotmelt, a bio-plastic mix that’s about 75% plant oil.

Watch here http://vimeo.com/87843940 the 3D Print Canal House – the world’s first movable 3D-printer pavillion. They plan to construct skycrapers by stacking and connecting the chunks together like LEGO bricks, forming multi-story complexes.

The technologies offered by the new 3D-housing-printing could revolutionize the way we make our cities. With 3D-printing we challenge the conventional building industry, one of the most polluting and environment harmful; there is no waste, construction costs are reduced, industrial waste from demolished buildings can be recycled and turned into new building materials and the new biodegradable materials are less expensive than concrete.

The future scenario of the 3D printing is yet to be seen but its game-changing potential is already provoking much interest in the public; over 2,000 people have come to visit the site, including the US president, Barack Obama.

Shanghai Metal Corporation takes pride in the manufacturing and trading of metal products used in manufacturing 3D printer parts. Tin coil, tin plate, and other metal clays such as copper, bronze, steel, have excellent features and properties in corrosion resistance and varying applications for printing plates, paint containers and parts used in 3D printers.  We guarantee the best prices, quality support, and fast delivery. To find out more, please visit our Website, WordPress, LinkedIn , Twitter , Facebook  and Instagram. Or you could try our new mobile app by scanning our QR code. Moreover, we sell directly from Alibaba , EC21 and Tradekey.

 

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Source and Pictures: 3dprintingindustry.com, 3dprinting-stocks.com, archdaily.com, huffingtonpost.com, gigaom.com

Camilla G.//SMC Editor