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With the much-ballyhooed release of Marchi Mobile’s $3 million, 40-foot mobile mansion, I began to wonder how many of our regular readership would plunk down the cash for this re-emergent dinosaur representing pure gluttony. Austria’s Elemment Palazzo land yacht constitutes one of the more unconscionable developments in (you pick) housing or motoring. (Pay attention, they’re now accepting orders.)

Celebration of insatiability and ugly designs

Photo by Marchi Mobile

The design of the Elemment Palazzo appears to reflect the mutant offspring of a Ferrari and a Winnebago. According to Tecca, this greenhouse-gas-spewing nightmare comes complete with fireplace, a bank of large-screen monitors, rainfall shower and a pop-up bar with under-floor heating and party lighting that, when activated, increases the rolling 430-square foot interior space by 80 percent. (Pinch me and tell me this is just another Disney attraction.)

Environment, what environment?

Photo by Tecca

You’ll sleep with a clear conscience knowing that the Elemment Palazzo, while weighing in at 20 tons, uses one-fifth less fuel than vehicles of its size, according to its manufacturer. That savings, they say, come from its sleek aerodynamic designs. (Is there another vehicle of its weight and size that people use for recreational travel or vacation housing, or are the rest just moving vans and mobile missile launchers?)

Life in the fast lane

Photo by Marchi Mobile

From the captain’s chair the sordid rest of the world is at your command, rushing by on the Autobahn as you throttle up to speeds over 90 miles an hour. (I do like the rotary windshield wiper.)  If this vehicle had only come out sooner, California’s Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger could have used it for his governor’s mansion. Read more about the Elemment Palazzo at the Daily Mail. By the way, the price in England is only £1.9 million.

No explanation necessary

Photo by Marchi Mobile

As the builders at Marchi Mobile explain, “Marchi Mobile as an automotive brand represents exclusivity and extravagance that requires no explanation.”

Enough said.

Green architecture doesn’t have to cancel out traditional community designs or striking good looks. EcoHome magazine’s second annual design awards announced this week went to breath-taking examples that mixed innovation with traditional appeal. I like to poke fun at platitudes. But it’s tough to play the comedy card when home designers create such exquisite homes that advance our culture. Here are four of the winners:

Architecture that looks great and acts green

Photo by EcoHome Magazine

Samsel Architects of Asheville, N.C., came up with the designs for the Celo Residence, a 1,538-square-foot home that captured an EcoHome Grand Award for its sustainable 3,750-gallon rainwater catchment cistern, low-flow toilet systems, and low-VOC interior paints. Read the details at EcoHome.

There was an old home in Nantucket

Photo by Inman News

Take one 264-year-old home on Nantucket Island, restore it to the charm of its original architecture, add a kitchen and bath – and do it all while meeting LEED insulation and air sealing requirements. Kudos (and a Grand Award) to Rosenberg Kolb Architects of New York City. Read more about the winners at Yahoo.

Aloha by Design

Photo by EcoHome Magazine

The trick was to build the 45 subsidized homes of the Kumuhau Subdivision on Oahu using solar power and rainwater drip irrigation, earning  LEED-Gold certification. Praise for architects Armstrong Development of Honolulu. Inman News offers a comprehensive write up on these homes that reflect traditional plantation architecture, honoring nature.

Going, going, green

Photo by EcoHome Magazine

The award-winning GO Home in Belfast, Maine, is only the 12^th home in the nation to earn the “Passive House” designation, and EcoHome predicts its solar, south-facing orientation will recover $170,000 in energy costs over three decades of use. The house, designed by architects at GO Logic Homes of Belfast, has a pending LEED-Platinum certification.

Bravo!