Wouter Kalis and Corinne de Korver are two Dutch designers who have long been aware of the overall importance of sustainable accommodations throughout the world. Based in Amsterdam, the duo are dedicated to socially-conscious designs that incorporate simple and often recyclable elements, such as their most recent piece, “Social Unit.”  Devised as a solution for aid organizations in Holland, the cupboard bed space is part sleeping compartment, part storage space that fits the basic sustainability criteria: they are compact, inexpensive, durable and easy to maintain. The Social Units are produced entirely from consumer plastic waste such as bottle caps and beer crates, manufactured using woodworking techniques no more complicated than sawing, drilling or cutting.
The design was a response to the conditions of homeless shelters in Amsterdam. Although shelters offer people a single room in the Netherlands, the rooms often are full of broken, chaotic interiors with not enough storage space for all the personal belongings people carry around. The designers decided to help people find their way back into society, and concluded an interior should also be inviting and with positive signals.
They talked to the staff of Salvation Army and were told furniture should be easy to clean and ‘gorilla proof’, really strong. They found this recycled consumer waste plastic, made of bottle caps and beer crates, and that triggered it. They made a design that was functional, durable and green. It’s a modern version of the historical Dutch ‘cupboard bed’, that was traditionally built into a wall to preserve warmth and have some privacy in large families. And, it has a built in psychological side effect: it makes people feel secure and comfortable by giving them their own private space.
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Deciding to live in a tiny house involves making some big lifestyle choices. You’ll need to be happy with minimal belongings — hoarders need not apply. But cozy quarters also offer huge advantages. Tiny houses are far more affordable than standard-size houses. Most owners of tiny homes live mortgage-free. The lower building costs allow many people to pay cash upfront. Monthly costs — such as for heating, cooling and lighting — are relatively low.
Aevia — Consider the Source

Driven by a commitment to reduce energy consumption and built space, there’s a growing trend among the eco-conscious to build tiny homes. A new book, Nano House by Phyllis Richardson (Thames & Hudson), gathers 40 of the best-designed examples from around the world–all of which showcase an appreciation for the efficient use of space, materials, and resources.

“Once manufacturing is outsourced, process-engineering expertise can’t be maintained, since it depends on daily interactions with manufacturing. Without process-engineering capabilities, companies find it increasingly difficult to conduct advanced research on next-generation process technologies. Without the ability to develop such new processes, they find they can no longer develop new products. In the long term, then, an economy that lacks an infrastructure for advanced process engineering and manufacturing will lose its ability to innovate.” — Pisano and Shih
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When confronted with any of the following three people—and you have found it impossible to change their ways, say goodbye. These people passive-aggressively block innovation from happening and will suck the energy out of any organization.
1. The Victims
“I wanted a happy culture. So I fired all the unhappy people.” — A Successful CEO
Victims are people who see problems as occasions for persecution rather than challenges to overcome. Just when you think everything is humming along perfectly, they find something, anything, to complain about. So if you want an innovative team, you simply can’t include victims.
2. The Nonbelievers
“If you think you can or think you cannot, you are correct.” — Henry Ford
The link between believing and succeeding is incredibly powerful and real. Great leaders understand this. They find and promote believers within their organizations. They also understand the cancerous effect that nonbelievers have on a team and will cut them out of the organization quickly and without regret.
3. The Know-It-Alls
“This ‘telephone’ has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us.” — Western Union internal memo, 1876.
The best innovators are learners, not knowers. The same can be said about innovative cultures; they are learning cultures. The leaders who have built these cultures, either through intuition or experience, know that in order to discover, they must eagerly seek out things they don’t understand and jump right into the deep end of the pool. They must fail fearlessly and quickly and then learn and share their lessons with the team. When they behave this way, they empower others around them to follow suit—and presto, a culture of discovery is born and nurtured.
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Where the eye is upon superfluities, either of quantity or quality, rather than bare necessities, there self-maintenance passes over toward self-gratification, and vanity-wants and pleasure-wants supersede hunger-wants.  —W. G. Sumner and A. G. Keller (1927)

Spanish debt has again been in the firing line on financial markets after a review for possible downgrade from credit rating agency Moody’s on Friday. It cited weak growth and hefty regional spending as key challenges for the euro zone’s fourth largest economy.
Spain’s prime minister called early elections on Friday, gambling that a summer jobs boom may allow his Socialists to snatch victory despite economic stagnation that has contributed to the euro zone’s debt crisis. Although polls suggest the conservative opposition will easily win the Nov. 20 vote, Socialists have narrowed the gap in recent months as the economy begins to show faint signs of recovery.
Most economists expect strong employment figures during the tourism season, a key driver of the Spanish economy.
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While some baby boomers are acquiring second homes, others seem to have resurrected a hippie fantasy of living with the bare minimum of possessions and going where the spirit moves us. To do extreme downsizing, you’ve got to emulate Mother Hubbard. Your cupboards have to be virtually bare.
This is not mere de-cluttering. Extreme downsizing is, like old age, not for sissies. You start by realizing that if you lived in an apartment, you wouldn’t need all that lawn and garden equipment. Then it occurs to you that in a warm climate you wouldn’t need seasonal wardrobes.
Next, you become aware that you never actually look at the pictures on the walls or the collectibles set out so artfully on the tops of the cupboards. You have proof of this when you realize that the collectibles, which require climbing a ladder to be viewed properly, have grown furry edges. How could you not have noticed?
Research can be done so quickly and efficiently online that you no longer even need a dictionary, or for that matter, a phone book. Those wall-to-wall bookshelves can be replaced by a single hand-held electronic reader. There comes a day when things you used to treasure seem less important than the time it takes to look after them.
Aevia — Consider the Source