Dymaxion Sleep is a hammock-like structure created by designers Jane Hutton and Adrian Blackwell. Part of the International Garden Festival at Jardins de Métis/Reford Gardens in Quebec, the installation invites visitors to relax while lying above beds of aromatic plants – e.g., lemon geraniums, lavenders, and peppermint. Smile when you breathe in. Smile when you breathe out.

Hat Tip: treehugger.com Photo by the artists.

A man in Wales has built a wonderful, “hobbit”-like house that shows “maximum regard for the environment” by using completely natural materials and sustainable building techniques. Bilbo would certainly be impressed. More info at simondale.

Inspired by lily pads floating on the water, the Green Float Project is an extremely unusual community concept involving the creation of artificial rafts to support an enormous sustainable floating city. Beware the giant frogs.

Next time you’re in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, New York, check out the world’s only, LEED-certified bowling alley. Brooklyn Bowl uses 100% wind power and energy-saving LED stage lights, provides huge-capacity bike racks, and has spruced up the neighborhood by planting 16 trees. If you can’t make it to Brooklyn Bowl in person, you can visit their website at brooklynbowl.com.

HAT TIP: inhabitat.com.

We missed a rather significant bit of architectural news in our green building posts last week. The “largest solar-powered office building in the world“ was recently completed in Dezhou, China. The design of the Sun-Moon Mansion is based on the sun dial and “underlines the urgency of seeking renewable energy sources to replace fossil fuels.” Aside from the obvious sustainable nature of the solar panel-clad exterior, other green features include advanced roof and wall insulation practices resulting in an energy savings of 30% more than the national standard.

Las Vegas is far from being America’s greenest city, but if its latest destination is any indication of those yet to come, there’s hope. CityCenter is not just an $8.5 billion shopping/resort/entertainment hub, it’s the largest LEED-certified development ever built. LEED® (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification is the recognized standard for measuring building sustainability and was designed to promote design and construction practices that reduces the negative environmental impacts of buildings and improves occupant health and well-being. CityCenter achieved LEED® certification for its innovative approach to site development, preserving indoor environmental quality, water savings, energy efficiency, and materials selection.

Big Ass Fans certainly qualify as green products (they enhance cooling by up to 25% at about the same rate of energy consumption as a single refrigerator light bulb). But their facility is also a green marvel. Recently awarded a LEED Gold plaque, their testing facility in Lexington, Kentucky, uses 35% less energy and 60% less water than a standard commercial building.

Photo: a Big Ass Fan in a Cincinnati Segue Store.

Despite the tension this week in Copenhagen over China’s carbon emission controls, it is clear that a great deal of sustainable progress is being made in the country. Some very exciting green architecture is being proposed for the country’s growing urban communities, including a towering vertical Urban Forest.

Designed for Chongqing, the project consists of a stacked vertical forest designed to bring more nature and open space to very densely populated area. HAT TIP: inhabitat.com.

The roof of the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, is comprised of two and a half acres of undulating hillocks that help regulate the building’s temperature and filter water runoff. It’s also a habitat for a wide variety of indigenous plants, flowers, butterflies, and birds.

Designed by architect Renzo Piano, the Academy is “the largest public Platinum-rated building in the world (according to LEED standards) and also the world’s greenest museum. To see more, visit calacademy.org.

For years now if you’ve wanted to live in a pre-fab green home you’ve need a lot of, uh, green. Now Clayton Homes is launching a simpler, more affordable line of energy-efficient prefabricated homes that cost a mere $45 to $49 per square foot (un-constructed), meaning you can get an average-sized environmentally sound home for around $45,000.