Light Expanded Clay Aggregate (LECA) masonry block, which was used in the construction of the Landskrona Townhouse, is a low embodied energy material, is relatively inexpensive, is lightwieght, has a high insulation R-value, and is made by heating the materials to 1200 degrees Celsius in a rotary kiln. The origins of LECA and other aggregates such as Gravelite, Perlite, and Rocklite can be traced back to the invention of Haydite (invented for the construction of the USS Selma) in 1917 in Kansas City, Missouri. In Europe, LECA block was first used in Denmark, Germany, Holland, and the U.K.

Light Expanded Clay Aggregate (LECA) masonry block, which was used in the construction of the Landskrona Townhouse, is a low embodied energy material, is relatively inexpensive, is lightwieght, has a high insulation R-value, and is made by heating the materials to 1200 degrees Celsius in a rotary kiln. The origins of LECA and other aggregates such as Gravelite, Perlite, and Rocklite can be traced back to the invention of Haydite (invented for the construction of the USS Selma) in 1917 in Kansas City, Missouri. In Europe, LECA block was first used in Denmark, Germany, Holland, and the U.K.

Annie Leonard, an activist and filmmaker from Seattle, Washington, finally got fed up with observing how her trash, whether recycled or dumped, completed a linear waste disposal system. So, Annie asked herself:

Hmm, if we continue to follow the waste process of extraction, production, distribution, consumption, disposal, we will most certainly deplete society of all of its natural resources that took billions of years to create underneath Earth's crust.

Leonard created a program that includes a website, blog, video, and data to support her efforts to stop the current Story of Stuff we experience in the U.S. and abroad today.

Technology Inspiration: The Tesla Model S

My favourite architect, Le Corbusier, was inspired by modes of transportation in the 20's as he created the genius project Villa Savoy, a home located north of Paris. Le Corbusier used his knowledge of industrial technology, which he learned from the French engineer August Penret, to create what he believed was a type of Utopian architecture. The gist: technology was his inspiration.

Last year, a studio at Harvard University worked on developing Utopian architectural styles based on an innovative BMW car called GINA. Frank Barkow of Barkow Liebinger led the studio in such a way that the students studied first its technologies. The most remarkable aspect of the GINA is the fact that its exterior skin moves and changes to adapt to its environment.