Blank, windowless exterior walls that get plenty of sun exposure could become vertical farms with the addition of recycled modular scaffolding. A project called GreenBelly aims to make use of these wasted urban spaces to provide fresh food to the surrounding neighborhood with a system that’s easy to transport, install and remove, and it doesn’t even require hookups to utilities. A six-level GreenBelly system made of reclaimed scaffolding and wooden pallets taking up just 35 square meters of land can produce over 14,000 pounds (6400kg) of vegetables per year.

The basic module contains a soil bed, two aeroponic towers and a hydroponic wall, capable of growing hundreds of plants at a time. Multiple modules fit together like Legos, stacking vertically to create multi-tiered open-air structures that harvest rainwater and run on solar energy. The bottom unit contains a farm stand for selling the produce to local residents, and the top level contains beehives to help pollinate the plants and produce honey. Producing and selling food in the same urban location allows the stand to sell fresh produce at fixed, affordable prices.

Created by AVL Studio, a design boutique specializing in sustainable architecture, the GreenBelly system could be run as an educational project by a school, an assistance program for homeless people or an addition to an existing restaurant or market, or its individual modules could be rented out to locals in a manner similar to community gardens. How it’s managed would likely depend on who owns the land it’s built on. The architects estimate the cost of a 20-module unit at about 30,000 euros (roughly $35,000 USD), which could be recouped after three years of operation.

It’s an interesting proposition for the many blind building facades found in an average city, especially in areas where fresh produce is harder to come by. AVL Studio envisions the GreenBelly system being especially valuable in disadvantaged neighborhoods. They’re currently raising money on Kickstarter to build more prototypes at various scales, which could be exported in containers to places that need them most, like Palestine.

We all want to be smiling when we go but if you’re “going” at one of Okinawa, Japan’s cute and creative public restrooms, grinning comes with the territory.

Flickr member Okinawa Soba (Rob) has a thing for public restrooms – not that there’s anything wrong with that – and he also has a camera. The combination is unexpectedly serendipitous, though the photographer deserves full credit for employing the latter with great discretion when exploring the former.

Based in Okinawa, a southern Japanese island prefecture rich in culture, history and tragedy, the photographer snapped most of his posted public restroom shots over the past decade. Take the so-called “Tangerine Toilet”, photographed in late 2015 and located in the mountain village of Izumi. Some say the restroom is modeled after a pumpkin but unlike our familiar Halloween jack o’lantern squash, Japanese “kabocha” pumpkins are only orange on the inside.

Angler of the Dangler

That’s NOT water under the bridge – it just sounds like it. This decidedly fishy public toilet is located in Nago, a city of just over 60,000 in northern Okinawa. Like many of the island’s mimetic public restrooms, this koi-shaped toilet appears rather sun-faded and soot-streaked, indicating appreciable age. Like most of Japan’s public restrooms in general, however, it’s well-maintained and surprisingly clean on the inside.

The Write Stuff

Situated near a small park in Okinawa City, this pencil-stub-shaped public restroom reflects some of the cultural norms of the island in that the urinal is doorless while the toilet (an old-fashioned “squat” model) lies behind a stout metal door. Photographer Okinawa Soba (Rob) snapped the literary loo in April of 2015.

Smells Finny

This gorgeous public restroom located in Okinawa’s Awase district is THE place to pee, er, be if you’re in the neighborhood and hear nature’s call. Heck, we’d visit it whether nature’s calling or not! Designed with color-coded entrance ways for each gender, this bright and beautiful public toilet features both traditional and modern commodes to suit any preference.

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Going In Style Cute Creative Public Restrooms Of Okinawa

Due to their sizes and shapes, water tanks and towers lend themselves to artistic embellishment as these dozen creative examples refreshingly illustrate.

A waterpark? In the middle of MY Mojave Desert? It’s more likely than you think… or at least it was, before the Lake Dolores Waterpark (later the Rock-A-Hoola Waterpark and then the Discovery Waterpark) circled the drain for the final time in 2004. The water used to “power” the park(s) came from underground springs fed by the Mojave Aquifer and was stored in an enormous water tower shaped like – and painted to resemble – a Coca-Cola can.

While much of the park has been vandalized and scavenged for metal, the water tank can blame its current tattered & faded state on the Mojave’s blistering desert sun. Kudos to Flickr user Hans Proppe (shadowplay) and Imgur user loganbush for snapping the eerie and evocative images above.

Leggo My Necco

The circa-1927 New England Confectionery Company (NECCO, for short) building in Cambridge, MA is now occupied by offices of Swiss-based pharmaceutical firm Novartis, who graciously repainted the iconic Necco-wafer water tower in 1997. Flickr user Jill Robidoux (jylcat) snapped the tank on January 1st of 2003 and it’s a good thing she did: Novartis de-necco’d the tank in 2004 by painting it over in a boring-by-comparison pharma theme.

Behind The 8-Ball

The giant 8-ball water tower in Tipton, Missouri came and went like a Fast Eddie Felson pool shot in the dark… and then it came back again, this time to stay. According to the Jefferson City News Tribune, in 1968 the water tower was creatively dressed in a billiard-ball theme by its owners, the Fischer Pool Table company. The water tower was ceded to the city and painted all-white after Fischer closed in 1977 but Tiptonians wanted their landmark back so in 1999, the tower was restored to its previous 8-ball livery. Minnesota Fats is likely looking down and smiling.

Cone Job

The only paint on the Grand Central Water Tower in Johannesburg, South Africa, is the aqua blue corporate corporate logo near the top… anything else would be superfluous. The curious conical tower was built in 1997 and stands 40m (131.2 ft) tall, assuming it hasn’t already tipped over.

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Wet Look 12 More Cool Creative Water Tanks Towers

A garage door’s main function is keeping what’s inside safe from prying eyes but these creative garage doors keep all eyes focused on the outside.

Sometimes great garage doors aren’t planned, they end up being thrust upon us. Such was the case of a corrugated garage door belonging to Imgur user elusive92. When the door’s owner discovered some unsightly and unskilled graffiti had disgraced his garage door one May morning in 2013, he didn’t get mad, he got even… even better, thank goodness all they did this time was graffiti but not everyones that lucky, if you’re not that fortunate and need your garage door repaired then checkout Garage Door Repair in Glendale Heights, IL. they’ll be able to help.

Taking the old adage “when life gives you lemons, make lemonade” to heart, elusive92 hired local graffiti artist Lake13 to not only cover the anonymous scrawling but replace it with a work of graffiti art – with the emphasis on the art part. We think he succeeded rather well, don’t you?

Community Communion

“Every time I drive by this house, I marvel,” admits Flickr user William Keckler., who titles his photo taken in early December of 2012 “The Holy Sacrament of the Garage Door”. No telling what’s parked inside… perhaps the Popemobile.

“To The Broke-Ass Batcave!”

Looking to produce an ultra-low-budget Batman flick? Well look no further than South St. in Philadelphia, where one creatively painted corrugated roll-up garage door says so much with just two colors. Eric from Geekadelphia snapped the bargain-basement Batcave door way back in July of 2008 – let’s hope it hasn’t been painted over by Alfred since then.

Arts Of The West

The above creative composition was included in a portfolio of garage doors by RC Cabinets & Closets as an example of a “garage door decal”. We’ve seen garage door decals and frankly, this ain’t no garage door decal. The above tableau doesn’t appear to be a decal at all – note how the painted portions extend off the garage door itself. Odds are this exquisite door is a unique creation as well.

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Close Calls 12 Breathtakingly Creative Garage Doors

The Moooving Art project in Shepparton, Australia, promotes the region’s dairy industry via dozens of fiberglass cows creatively painted by local artists.

The Moooving Art Project was established in 2002, inspired in part by the very successful “Merry Moos” campaign featured at the Shepparton agricultural show. So what’s the deal with Shepparton and cows, you might ask?

In a nutshell, Shepparton is the largest town in the Goulburn River valley, located just over 100 miles (175 km) north-northeast of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia. The region is Australia’s largest producer of dairy products and the aim of the project is to celebrate the positive impact the cow-driven industry has made on the local economy. Flickr user rotheche snapped some of these “outstanding in their field” designs in April of 2009.

Though most of the models sport the standard bovine pose, a few feature out-of-the-ordinary modifications. Fancy some relaxing on the above “Cowch” whilst enjoying a sunny summer’s day down under?

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Cows Of A Different Color The Moooving Art Project