Before I was blogging here at Blisstree Green I was blogging at b5media’s Offbeat Homes (among other green-minded structure sites) so I have this long term love of green architecture going on.  From time to time I was thinking I’d share some killer green houses here. One, because I LOVE green architecture, and two, it’s good to see what’s happening in the green building realm.
There’s a notion, among folks I’ve met, that all green dwellings are weird, kooky, or minimal (read boring) but that’s not true at all. I actually do like the unique green dwellings, but many green homes …read more

Three days ago, in Offbeat Gingerbread Homes 2008 – Part One I mentioned that I’d post a cool gingerbread contest soon. The contest – Bake for A Change, is a cool eco-gingerbread house contest.
This is a pretty basic contest – contestants must apply sustainable features to an edible gingerbread home. Each house must have at least 4 identifiable green home attributes and the whole darn house must be edible.
Last year’s winning house:

As you can see, last year’s winner had oodles of sustainable design aspects. You can see many more cool eco-homes at the BFAC2007 entries site.
You can enter …read more

In Offbeat Gingerbread Homes 2008 – Part One we saw, what else, gingerbread homes. Here are some more delicious creations…
This gingerbread home, from Rock Recipes is not that offbeat, but I like it anyhow, and am especially impressed that it lights up.

The details on this lighted gingerbread home are extraordinary – see many close-ups here.

Last year everyone loved the post; The World’s Best Offbeat Gingerbread Homes. With that in mind, I hunted down some new treats to share. This by the way, is getting harder to do. I think the world needs more creative gingerbread assemblers.
One of Offbeat’s favorite gals, Michelle Kaufmann has a killer (and gorgeous) template plus recipe posted that teaches you how to make your very own organic GingerLotus. Not quite as livable as the the mkLotus, unless you happen to be made out of sugary dough, but very cool.

Honestly, I don’t think this offbeat house got quite the love it deserved the first time around; which is why I’ve decided that it should be our classic post of the week.

Not only is this house totally unique, but it’s a sewing leap. Seriously, could you knit a house? When I was 8 I tried to knit a scarf, and didn’t get very far, so I’m impressed.
Plus knit flowers! Imagine the benefits; less care, water savings, and they’re always in bloom – too cool. Read Knit Yourself A Home to learn more, and to see other great images of this …read more

Now, if you’re a music know-it-all, maybe you can guess from the post title which classic offbeat structures we’ll be viewing this week.
Did you make a guess yet?
What sort of structure will it be? Let’s see…

To conclude this week long celebration of the last Offbeat year, I thought I’d do a nice wrap-up.
The kick off: A Super Special Sunshiny Day at Offbeat Homes
The best of Offbeat Homes:

June 2007
July 2007
August 2007
September 2007
October 2007
November 2007
December 2007
January 2008
February 2008
March 2008
April 2008
May 2008

Thanks:
Offbeat Homes would like to thank…
Thanks to these great b5 media blogs…
Best Offbeat Reader Comments of the Year
Thanks for hanging out for the celebration. Coming up this week, I’ve got something pretty cool planned here at Offbeat, so stick around.

We’ve hit the last month in the year celebration – yahoo. Here are my four favorite posts from Offbeat May 2008… Hmmm, it seems like we were just at May
The Powerlight Office Space – I love this space. Also I rarely blog about offices, so this was a good break.
I’d like to live, under the sea… – Senosiain Arquitectos creates some of the most unique work I’ve ever seen.
Offbeat Play Structures for Your Unique Child – I love cool kid play structures.

My New Favorite Real Estate Website! – I’ve been spending a lot of time here, so I …read more

Continuing on with our year celebration here are my four favorite posts from Offbeat April 2008…
Antonino Cardillo’s Vaulted House – I pretty much adore everything Cardillo creates. The colors, the lines, the minimal factor.
Outstanding Offbeat Organic Beauty – the Work of Robert Harvey Oshatz – His work is so amazing.

Arte Luise Kunsthotel – This hotel may be one of the best in the world. I love the whole idea of themes by artists.
 
 The Most Stylish Blogger Spaces In the World! – So far, a theme day post hasn’t made the top four in any of the months this year. However, …read more

Continuing on with our year celebration here are my four favorite posts from Offbeat March 2008…
I double dare someone to build an entire house out of these… – I really like shaped and nicely designed bricks and other building materials. If you’ve got kooky building supplies, you might not even need a weird home design to pull off an offbeat home.
Classic Offbeat Homes: Favorite Posts of Spammers – I more like this post because someone emailed me later and had some ideas about why “Eating the Biscuit City” was so popular with spammers. Um, the ideas are not …read more