tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-88088801396884534472024-02-07T01:09:52.495-05:00Architecture for Guerillasdesign, technology, and ecologyAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03339343412411265524noreply@blogger.comBlogger102125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8808880139688453447.post-73380300396471934652014-05-02T13:46:00.001-04:002014-05-02T13:49:13.704-04:00The Infrastructure of Health<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Life expectancy differential in urban areas - Washington, DC, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation</span></td></tr>
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<i style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“We say, ‘You are what you eat.’ Well, we are what we build.”</i><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Susan Piedmont-Palladino, Curator, National Building Museum</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The built environment has a tremendous impact on health and
wellness, and nowhere is this more evident than in our cities. In a 2013 </span><a href="http://www.rwjf.org/en/about-rwjf/newsroom/features-and-articles/Commission/resources/city-maps.html" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">study
released by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation</a><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, it was found that being
born (and living) just a few metro stops apart in Washington, DC can mean a
difference in life expectancy of up to 7 years. Where babies born to
mothers in Northwest Washington DC, Arlington and Fairfax Counties in Virginia,
and Montgomery County, Maryland can expect to live to be 83 or 84 on average,
that average drops to just 77 or 78 years for residents of Southeast Washington
DC, and parts of Prince Georges County Maryland. For those familiar with
the Washington, DC metropolitan area, these figures probably don’t come as much
of a surprise - there is a very evident socio-economic gap between the
communities of Northwest DC and those to the Southeast. And Washington,
DC is not unique in this sense. All around the world, cities are divided
by a complex and often entrenched set of factors relating to wealth, opportunity,
and policy which, as the study above points out, can be a major detriment to
the health of the cities inhabitants. Increasingly, the built environment
is being looked at as a key influence on community health, wellness, and
prosperity.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In a recent panel discussion on ‘Creating Healthy Places’
sponsored by <a href="http://uli.org/">The Urban Land Institute</a>, Scott
Kratz, the Director of the <a href="http://www.thearcdc.org/partners-programs/partners/11th-street-bridge-park">11<sup>th</sup>
Street Bridge Park</a> in Anacostia, addressed this succinctly: “Your zip
code should never determine your life expectancy.” In his view, <i>place</i>
is the largest determinant of health. As an architect and designer, this
concept reinforces my own belief that the environments we create are never
benign. The buildings and public spaces we help build are more than just
projects to place in a portfolio – they are real places with a very real impact
on the lives of people who live in them. At the most basic level, the built
environment should promote and ensure both individual and community health.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Creating Healthy Places - The 11th Street Bridge park and Beyond" Panel Discussion</span> </td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>An Evolving View of Cities and Wellness</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today, the concept of health is better expressed by the word
‘wellness’ which describes a much broader view of personal prosperity. In
the past, being healthy was considered mostly a personal choice. Do you
eat well? Do you exercise and stay active? Do you practice good
hygiene? To a certain extent, this is still true of course, but we now
know that there are many more external factors that influence health which
exist outside the realm of personal choice. And this is where the
role of the built environment – and ourselves as designers– becomes critical.
This changing view on health acknowledges that the physical environment
of cities and the inherent services they provide can impact the wellness of
entire communities. Numerous studies are beginning to quantify the
benefits of cities designed with health and wellness in mind. Living near
parks and open space <a href="http://www.fastcoexist.com/3029115/if-you-live-near-a-park-youre-more-likely-to-be-happy?partner=rss">promotes
happiness and mental health which correlates to a decrease in unemployment and
increase in insurance status and income</a>. Food Deserts – areas without
access to a full range of fresh and healthy food options – are <a href="http://www.dchunger.org/about/facts.html">linked to higher rates of
obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and other long-term health issues</a>.
And many <a href="http://www.policylink.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=lkIXLbMNJrE&b=5156723&ct=8710291">jobs
cannot be reached without access to comprehensive public transit options</a>.
These are just a few examples, but the message seems clear – for healthy
communities, we need to design cities with robust and inclusive access to open
space, food health, transportation, safety, and education.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Housing and Full Spectrum Communities<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the same panel discussion, Maureen McAvey, a Senior
Resident Fellow at The Urban Land Institute also touched on upward mobility and
the idea of maintaining community as a contributor to wellness. She noted
that many residents in low-income neighborhoods are faced with a difficult
choice upon moving up the economic scale. In order to attain property or
a lifestyle with increased access and benefits, the residents are forced to
either leave their current community or stay and continue to struggle with the
issues that exist in many low-income neighborhoods. Instead, McAvey argues that
we need to design “full-spectrum” communities where all levels of housing and
access to services are represented to allow for upward mobility within the
community. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>New Generation, New Thinking</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">McAvey also sees potential for change being initiated by the
younger generation of city-dwellers. “The new generation thinks
differently, so we have an opportunity to design our cities differently.”
Where decades past have seen movement out of urban centers and a heavy reliance
on vehicles, the new generation is trending towards moving back into the city
and leaving cars behind. Many young people today are willing to trade-off
large living spaces for a better location. The sharing-economy is also
helping to reinvent the idea of urbanity. Car and bike-share systems are
re-shaping the way residents and tourists get around the city.
Airbnb-style accommodation networks are revolutionizing the way people find
housing without long-term lease or purchase commitments. And companies
like Uber are allowing people to use their own goods and services to become
micro-entrepreneurs. This <a href="http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21573104-internet-everything-hire-rise-sharing-economy">collaborative
consumption</a> stresses sharing over ownership and empowerment over
reliance. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As our society starts to adapt to this new model of
citizenship, we’ll see the physical nature of our cities start to change as
well. As designers, we need to acknowledge this evolution and recognize
it’s potential for improving the overall wellness of our communities. We
should involve not just clients, but the community in our design process.
We should promote and insist on equal access to open space, transportation, and
nutritional health as part of </span><i style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">every </i><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">project program and not just those
that call specifically for it. We should think like the new generation
and help shift the paradigm of empowerment and ownership as integral to the
health of our cities communities. As Albert Einstein famously said, “We cannot
solve our problems with the same method of thinking we used to create them.”</span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03339343412411265524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8808880139688453447.post-70171538605978882152014-04-30T16:26:00.001-04:002014-05-02T13:47:17.942-04:00Design Disrupted - The LDN LAB Experiment<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<i style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: #999999; font-size: xx-small;">This post was written as part of an ongoing research grant sponsored by <a href="http://www.rtkl.com/" style="color: #ff8832; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">RTKL Associates</a>. The research is an attempt to understand and redefine how architecture and design firms operate traditionally and how they can evolve to function dynamically in a changing industry.</span></i><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The LDN LAB Experiment - Redesign the London BikeShare Totem</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">I was more
than a little nervous. I was nervous because I was about to present in front of
some of the best and brightest colleagues I have at <a href="http://www.rtkl.com/" target="_blank">RTKL</a>. I was nervous because
the presentation included a handful of ideas that were critical of the way we
operate as a design firm. I was nervous because I just drank too much coffee
and I stayed up too late the night before. Oops. But I was most nervous because
I didn’t have any answers. I had ideas, sure – but no real answers. I started
my Kagan research because I wanted to challenge RTKL and prove that innovative
design was not just the product of lone creative geniuses, but instead, how we
collectively work, how we’re organized, and what our actions say as a firm.
RTKL had just flown me halfway around the world to present my findings at the
<a href="http://www.rtkl.com/2013-rtkl-design-conference-london-lab/" target="_blank">2013 RTKL Design Conference</a> in London; and now, I had the opportunity to wow
everyone with my super-amazing, world-changing solutions. This was my chance.
Only, that’s not the way it works and it was never really that simple to begin
with.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><a href="http://www.rtkl.com/about/sustainability-and-performance-driven-design/" target="_blank">Performance Driven Design</a> is a great idea. A lot of people get hung up on the fact that
it’s difficult to define, but that’s actually a major part of its strength and
potential. I personally don’t believe that PDD is one definable method and we risk
alienating people if we try to present it as such. To me, PDD is more of an
ethos – more performance-based than prescriptive. Every studio within the firm
works a little differently, and every project is unique. Performance Driven
Design is simply the notion that every project, regardless of size, type,
location or program should be treated as a unique design opportunity. The best
possible solutions should be researched, tested, and implemented to produce the
highest performing result possible. Sounds like that’s just good design, right?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">It is. But
again, it’s not that simple. Before any project even hits the desk, so many
things happen that can hamper those efforts. Projects are preemptively
categorized and funneled into singularly focused practice group buckets.
Project teams are assembled and administered based on redundant, generalized
expertise to achieve maximum efficiency. Most major project-defining decisions
are made early on by a handful of senior-level employees and then handed down
to production teams. All of these typical practices are great for efficiency,
but they limit any chance at design innovation, which is the key to Performance
Driven Design.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Much of the
Kagan <a href="http://architectureforguerillas.blogspot.com/2013/09/design-disrupted.html" target="_blank">research</a> I’ve done has led to three broad ideas meant to combat this
conservative design process and allow for innovation to be an integral part of
RTKL’s design identity – </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">“Kill the Studio”,
“Give It Away”, and “Flatten the Pyramid.”</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"> “Kill The Studio” is an attempt to
move away from an overarching practice group-based structure so that every
project is approached as a unique design challenge by teams layered with
multiple types of design expertise. “Give It Away” is an effort to impart a
deeper meaning to our work by assimilating research and development into the
everyday design process as well as at a firmwide level through dedicated R+D
teams, academic partnerships, pro-bono work and internal research-pursuit
programs. “Flatten the Pyramid” is a move to enable and promote junior-level
employees to decision-making stakeholders within the firm. This will balance
out traditionally conservative senior leadership decisions and provide critical
experience to create future leaders at RTKL. These are not groundbreaking ideas
by any stretch, but they are necessary if we want to truly operate as an
innovative design firm.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><br /></span>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">LDN LAB Design Activity</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">At the 2013
RTKL Design Conference, I was fortunate enough to have a chance to test these
ideas. In a very well-crafted and ingeniously-supplied design exercise drawn up
by Paul Anstatt, Carlos Alba, Sally Hart and personally curated by members of
the London office, the design conference attendees were asked to go to three
distinct locations around the city of London, using design to reinterpret the
ubiquitous bike-share totem. In the true spirit of using the design exercise as
a field experiment, I was given the ability to organize the three teams based
on a few theories that roughly correlated to the ideas above.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">To test out
the “Kill the Studio” hypothesis, we put together a team of seven members, each
one from a different practice group and with different areas of professional
expertise. The idea here was to see if combining multiple types of expertise
and experience would have any impact on design. To test “Give It Away,” the
team was formed by attendees who all provided strong emotional responses to
design as it related to them personally in a pre-conference survey. Here, we
were looking to see if a distinct design outcome would emerge from team members
who viewed design as something deeper than a formal exercise. Finally, to test
“Flatten the Pyramid” we put together a team of all junior employees –
associate level and below – to see if the result might differ from a typical
top-down hierarchy-based team.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">I will admit
that prior to the design exercise I was a little skeptical we would see any
distinct results from a two-hour activity. However, the results were more clear
than I could have ever asked for. During the activity, I was able to watch each
team in action. Seeing that, in combination with the end results, clearly
showed that we already have incredible talent and drive on our team and with
just a few basic changes to the way we do things at RTKL, we can indeed be one
of the best and most innovative design practices in the world.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">The “Kill
the Studio” team greeted me with a resounding “Which option?!” when I asked to
see their design progress. As it turned out, rather than focusing on just one
design solution, the team was cranking through multiple options. I asked them
how they were undertaking the design and they described the design process as
more of an improvisational jam session than a linear march to a singular
solution. One person would suggest an idea, they would mock it up, and then
someone would add onto it with a complimentary idea. They would eventually
reach a point where the design felt “complete” or a brand new idea would
emerge. The process would then start all over again, with each new iteration
taking on an identity of it’s own. As I continued to question them on how they
were making decisions and who was leading the design, it quickly became evident
that a flat organization had emerged. Everyone had different skill sets, ranges
of expertise and approached the design challenge through a different lens. If
everyone on the team had the same background, then a general hierarchy based on
experience would have most likely emerged and the potential for divergent ideas
would have narrowed. Instead, the fact that everyone had unique perspectives
based on varied backgrounds allowed a much more open and wide-ranging
discussion on ideas and generated a hyperactive process that produced a diverse
set of design options.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">The site for
the “Give It Away” team was situated in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoreditch" target="_blank">Shoreditch</a>, a transitional neighborhood
located just north of the downtown business district. It’s proximity to the
business district and traditionally low rent make it an area ripe for development.
The signs of that transition were evident. The team immediately took note of
the diversity of people they met and the colorful street art that permeated the
frenetic collision of old buildings, new buildings and construction sites. When
asked about the neighborhood, one local citizen remarked that they ‘really
liked the area, but we’re nervous about what it could become in a year.’ As the
team continued to interview and interact with the local community, it became
apparent that their design solution would have to be more about place and
community engagement than just a new bike kiosk. Claire Bedat, from the
Washington DC office, noted that “Talking with the people really got us
started.” And Camilla Simas from Sao Paolo followed with “Whatever we do, the
project has to be about interaction. It has to be open and allowed to mutate.”
The major question they decided to answer: How will people engage with it and
use it to make a statement about their place? Now, even though this might not
be thought of as traditional research and development, the depth of their
inquiry seemed to approach the true spirit of it. All of their observations –
especially their interaction with the local population – led them to instill a
deeper meaning to their design process and ideas. In other words, the
‘research’ they conducted allowed them to look beyond the activity as a
straightforward task to redesign a bike kiosk, identify an underlying
opportunity and approach it as a way to affect change.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">At the very
outset of the Design Activity, I walked with the “Flatten the Pyramid” team to
their chosen site in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brick_Lane" target="_blank">Brick Lane</a> – an eclectic neighborhood known for it’s
delicious curry houses and an ever changing population of different ethnic
groups. The excitement to be out designing in the streets was palpable. As we
wandered through the crowded streets bursting with activity, bright colors,
strange sounds and smells (both good and bad), and a sense of riotous
adventure, it was difficult to keep the team together. There was just too much
to see and too much excitement to avoid. In fact, by the time we reached the
site, one team member had already wandered off to on their own to see more. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">The
team quickly decided that in order to really immerse themselves in the design
process they needed to separate into smaller teams and explore the area further
before meeting back at the site to start designing. The group darted off in
every conceivable direction to investigate, talk with the locals and drink in
the new atmosphere. It was obvious that they were excited to have complete
design freedom. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">All too
often, young employees are only seen as tools for production, due to their
limited experience. Ironically though, that limited experience is one of their
greatest assets. Without their frame of reference narrowed by years of working
on similar projects, young designers are often better suited to approach design
from new and exciting points of view. Combine that with their inherent passion,
energy and understanding of new social and technological trends, it seems more
than plausible that giving young designers a voice at RTKL would be a critical
step towards generating new ideas and promoting innovation. Freed from the
typical hierarchy of the design process, this became all the more obvious to me
when the team showed up with their solution after the design activity. It was
by far the most whimsical, using big ideas and very ‘out of the box’ thinking
to achieve their final design result.</span><br />
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<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgayJ2fZ1f-lUWuG5iiptyeVclS28F0nSmVrwy3ucHptR_kgcoIi0DJZ_dxzCwLi7gCMd9YquLMGvyrIYKEM7MzeCWYijO-EaFdBXR9zF4Blv_S2lStZF7hmEcXNhpH3vdd5l5E3gohDUM/s1600/LDN+LAB+Models.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgayJ2fZ1f-lUWuG5iiptyeVclS28F0nSmVrwy3ucHptR_kgcoIi0DJZ_dxzCwLi7gCMd9YquLMGvyrIYKEM7MzeCWYijO-EaFdBXR9zF4Blv_S2lStZF7hmEcXNhpH3vdd5l5E3gohDUM/s1600/LDN+LAB+Models.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">LDN LAB - Design Activity Models</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">So now I was
no longer nervous. Not because my presentation and the design activity were
over. Not because the caffeine had worked it’s way out of my system. And not
because I felt like I had any answers. I wasn’t nervous any more because I
realized that we don’t need to start with answers and we probably shouldn’t
ever start something thinking we have them. In the end, the design conference
activity showed me that all we need to do is start the conversation, get our
ideas out into the open and try them. Sometimes the results will amaze you.
That’s Performance Driven Design.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><br /></span>
<a class="twitter-share-button" href="https://twitter.com/share" via="Arx4Guerillas">Tweet</a><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03339343412411265524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8808880139688453447.post-40853983587799404942013-09-13T17:36:00.000-04:002014-04-30T16:35:08.764-04:00Design Disrupted<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: #999999; font-size: xx-small;">This post was written as part of an ongoing research grant sponsored by <a href="http://www.rtkl.com/" target="_blank">RTKL Associates</a>. The research is an attempt to understand and redefine how architecture and design firms operate traditionally and how they can evolve to function dynamically in a changing industry.</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #4c4c4c; font-size: 10pt;">"Good companies fail because they do
everything right."</span><span style="color: #4c4c4c; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #4c4c4c; font-size: 10pt;">Clayton M. Christensen, </span><i><span style="color: #4c4c4c; font-size: 10pt;">The Innovators Dilemma<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #4c4c4c; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In a recent <a href="http://www.metropolismag.com/July-August-2013/The-Power-of-Ideas/" target="_blank">article</a> for Metropolis Magazine,
Susan S. Szenasy wrote about the sense of "malaise" that many
"mature" architecture firms are experiencing today. She notes that
these firms tend to write-off their lack of creativity and perceived passion
for design to the likes of the economy, unwilling clients, a shift to
fast-track design, and any number of other excuses we're all too familiar with.
She implies that these explanations are really just excuses, and firms use them
to point the finger at everyone but themselves. She's right. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #4c4c4c; font-size: 10pt;">But it </span><span style="color: #4c4c4c; font-size: 10pt;">is</span><span style="color: #4c4c4c; font-size: 10pt;">
time to point that finger at ourselves. The industry is changing and any
architecture firm that doesn't adapt to those changes won't survive. We all
know about the difference between </span><i><span style="color: #4c4c4c; font-size: 10pt;">design</span></i><span style="color: #4c4c4c; font-size: 10pt;"> and the </span><i><span style="color: #4c4c4c; font-size: 10pt;">business
of design</span></i><span style="color: #4c4c4c; font-size: 10pt;">. It's ok to admit it -
RTKL is set up to be a business. It has to be. RTKL is a publicly-traded
company that employs over 900 people across the globe in a complex field right
smack in the midst of an historically crappy economy. That's business, and it's
time we stop using it as an excuse. The core of our business is design. It's
what we get paid to do and design is, at its most basic, about innovation.
Architectural design that is not innovative is not design - it's just
documentation. To be “the best design firm in the world" - as CEO Lance
Josal challenged us - innovation must be completely integral to who we are and
what we do.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #4c4c4c; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, how do we do it? The "malaise" that Szenasy spoke of
is real and it’s affecting all parts of the firm - from our product to our
public perception to our employee satisfaction. RTKL already has in place an
existing process, structure, and culture that have evolved over the course of
the firm’s 67 year history. If we want to disrupt that "malaise" that
has developed, it's time to reevaluate how we're organized, the way we work,
and the message we promote. Opposing the inertia of a large, diverse company is
never easy, but it's absolutely necessary in order to evolve and compete. Some
of today's most innovative design firms are doing unprecedented things, and
RTKL can too if we're willing to disrupt the status quo and make some changes
to how we operate.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #ff8000; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">KILL THE STUDIO<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #bfbfbf; font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">INCREASE RANGE OF EXPERTISE<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #bfbfbf; font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">PROMOTE SERENDIPITY<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #4c4c4c; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The success of our firm is a direct result of
the process we implement to design. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: #4c4c4c; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Practice Groups are a Compromise<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="color: #4c4c4c; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Practice Group studios are set up for efficiency
- not innovation. If the same team does the same project over and over again,
they get really good at it. It's efficient, but it gets repetitive. This tends
to stifle innovation. Add to that the fact that projects are not as simple as
“one-building-one-use” anymore. Design today is about systems, not objects. A
hospital is not just a hospital - it’s a mixture of healthcare, commercial,
hospitality, education, technology, and probably also part of a larger campus.
Healthcare expertise, albeit the most critical in this example, is really only
one part of that design equation. What if RTKL restructured its Practice
Group-based hierarchy (Health, Workplace, Commercial, etc.) to be less rigid,
and thus imposing, by de-emphasizing the idea of a singular overarching
expertise driving design? Traditional Practice Group expertise could still be a
part of the organizational structure, but RTKL could identify and strengthen
other critical areas of innovation to integrate into the design process. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #4c4c4c; font-size: 10pt;">For example, <a href="http://www.unstudio.com/" target="_blank">UNStudio</a></span><span style="color: #4c4c4c; font-size: 10pt;"> – a critical darling in the design world (and
for good reason) - recently reorganized and "relaunched" their firm
as an "open-source, web-based knowledge hub" to promote a more
"fluid, flexible, and agile knowledge-based approach to work and engaging
the world." Sound like a lot of buzz-words? Yeah, probably - but there is
substance to the syntax. In order to disrupt the traditional approach to
design, UNStudio reorganized their structure and staff expertise into four
"knowledge platforms" - Sustainability, Materials, Organization, and
Parametrics. In other words, every project is approached and executed not
through the lens of traditional project typology – i.e. hospital, school, bank,
etc., but through a new set of parameters promoting "co-creation" and
“happy accidents” reflecting the design and technological trends of today
rather than of the past. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJetDy7xIz69oFLSYj975nLjkiUkGGLhscQ-A6fmJ_SxLU8YEtivhbpZfXcgGN2wzsAZCZ0ajdsD21qVR6qKoRJum1KyJeriwNQp3H2F-4Cwcqxp5g8pL9hvoO773qTkr9tqoVs4FSgP0/s1600/Image+01+-+UNStudio+Knowledge+Hub+Realignment.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJetDy7xIz69oFLSYj975nLjkiUkGGLhscQ-A6fmJ_SxLU8YEtivhbpZfXcgGN2wzsAZCZ0ajdsD21qVR6qKoRJum1KyJeriwNQp3H2F-4Cwcqxp5g8pL9hvoO773qTkr9tqoVs4FSgP0/s400/Image+01+-+UNStudio+Knowledge+Hub+Realignment.jpg" height="400" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Self-organizing groups, or '</span><a href="http://www.unstudio.com/research/asp/launch-open-source-knowledge-sharing" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;" target="_blank">knowledge platforms</a><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">' as identified by UNStudio</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="color: #4c4c4c; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #4c4c4c; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Could RTKL instigate new ways of design by
implementing a different or broader range of integral expertise outside of
traditional practice groups?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: #4c4c4c; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The "Cooperative Advantage"<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #4c4c4c; font-size: 10pt;">Transcendent ideas come from a collision of
diverse experience and viewpoints. The architect is no longer the "master
builder" building cathedrals in medieval Europe. Everyone has an opinion
and there are specialists for everything - use them. Input from consultants,
outside expertise, and even the general public can allow for more detailed,
responsive, and intelligent projects. In the book </span><i><span style="color: #4c4c4c; font-size: 10pt;">Where Good Ideas Come From - The Natural History of
Innovation</span></i><span style="color: #4c4c4c; font-size: 10pt;">, Steven Johnson defines
open-source or, the “cooperative advantage”, as a way to reduce the cost of
creation:</span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #4c4c4c;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">"</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">The burden of coming up with good ideas is no longer shouldered exclusively by the </span></span></span><span style="color: #4c4c4c; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">company itself. Good ideas can come from anywhere."</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #4c4c4c; font-size: 10pt;">He goes on to cite an experimental competition
hosted by the District of Columbia in 2008 called </span><i><span style="color: #4c4c4c; font-size: 10pt;">Hack the District</span></i><span style="color: #4c4c4c; font-size: 10pt;"> (later renamed </span><i><span style="color: #4c4c4c; font-size: 10pt;">Apps
for Democracy</span></i><span style="color: #4c4c4c; font-size: 10pt;"> in very typical DC
fashion…) in which residents were asked to submit software applications that
utilized open-source data provided by the DC Government to make the city better
and more accessible. In less than two weeks, over 47 apps were submitted. The
ideas were so insightful and designed from the ground up that the Obama
administration eventually appropriated the idea and created </span><i><span style="color: #4c4c4c; font-size: 10pt;">Apps for America</span></i><span style="color: #4c4c4c; font-size: 10pt;"> which is currently hosting similar competitions in dozens of
states. Johnson calculates that the original competition flushed out 47 novel
ideas in two weeks for approximately $50,000 worth of prize money compared to
the traditional method of in-house or sourced development that would have taken
over a year to produce and cost more than $2,000,000 for a single idea.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #4c4c4c; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In short, design is ultimately about the
user-experience, but all too often, we take a myopic view of “the user”. Today,
the user is more than just the paying client. We are the user, the public is
the user, and there is something to learn and teach with every project. Good
design engages the entire world as the user and the more diverse expertise we
bring to the table as designers, the more complex and critical we are able to
make our projects.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIgOVeFZTZjZ9nfc5CGRtXCE5JkbO00Z8r16zfsS1fxR_M4bMwbcgk37cXmIhA_qiGQ5wRucm6Njc0Cx7sGaVJ7OqjkiC8ISXZVqhZqeowbRJRcrj5QOWGvF5ykTVQZsTWxMJfMpaeEHM/s1600/Image+02+-+Crowdsourcing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIgOVeFZTZjZ9nfc5CGRtXCE5JkbO00Z8r16zfsS1fxR_M4bMwbcgk37cXmIhA_qiGQ5wRucm6Njc0Cx7sGaVJ7OqjkiC8ISXZVqhZqeowbRJRcrj5QOWGvF5ykTVQZsTWxMJfMpaeEHM/s400/Image+02+-+Crowdsourcing.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">The power of the crowd.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="color: #4c4c4c; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Could RTKL implement a collaborative mechanism
to incorporate more diverse and specialized expertise <i>and</i> foster public engagement in the design process? <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #ff8000; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">GIVE IT AWAY<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #bfbfbf; font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">INCREASE
R+D OPPORTUNITIES<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #bfbfbf; font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">CREATE
OWNERSHIP & EMPOWERMENT<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #4c4c4c; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The character of the firm is based on the
culture of it's employees and the message they promote. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: #4c4c4c; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Be Your Own Client<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="color: #4c4c4c; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The excuse that client's don't want or aren't
willing to pay for cutting edge ideas isn't really a valid one.
"Bread-and-butter" projects exist for all firms, but internal
exploration of out-of-market projects and knowledge-based research let the firm
and it's employees test ideas, form new relationships, and promote their brand
through action and experience. If an idea is uncovered at RTKL that furthers
our mission to better the world through design, the ability to research and
develop it should be present and encouraged. The firm should be a platform for
action by actively providing support in the form of time, resources, and
professional network to enable the exploration of ideas.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #4c4c4c; font-size: 10pt;">The firm <a href="http://kierantimberlake.com/home/index.html" target="_blank">KieranTimberlake</a></span><span style="color: #4c4c4c; font-size: 10pt;"> is known throughout the industry as a leader in
innovative sustainable design and it's position as such is backed up by the
list of clients who consistently seek them out for it. However, a lot of firms
advertise themselves as sustainable design experts - what makes
KieranTimberlake different? A recent project highlights why. Through their
client-driven work, the firm realized that the measurement and analysis of
existing buildings both new and old would be critical in evaluating performance
and making future projects more efficient. The problem was, existing real data
was difficult to come by and there were too many technological limitations with
little ability to re-integrate that information back into the design process. So,
KieranTimberlake tapped themselves to fix that. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNUhVuAAV8s_Co0AK_6OiRkjRBd7c5CZYNi7vXPp8w5pFMX-mCIYEnjXNwBiQ7ykhJVFsreUE2PrrR8JkzHml3J9jJPmdmpyMEW3AexRZoLP4a90wEVRvdv4YmR8w0ODgQPgy3KbbE04c/s1600/Image+03+-+KieranTimberlake+Sensor+Network.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNUhVuAAV8s_Co0AK_6OiRkjRBd7c5CZYNi7vXPp8w5pFMX-mCIYEnjXNwBiQ7ykhJVFsreUE2PrrR8JkzHml3J9jJPmdmpyMEW3AexRZoLP4a90wEVRvdv4YmR8w0ODgQPgy3KbbE04c/s400/Image+03+-+KieranTimberlake+Sensor+Network.jpg" height="247" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">KieranTimberlake Wireless Sensor Network, Architect Magazine </span><a href="http://www.architectmagazine.com/technology/wireless-sensor-network.aspx" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;" target="_blank">2013 R+D Awards Winner</a></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #4c4c4c; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To do so, they used their "internal
research group" - a committed team of twelve people from diverse
technical, design, engineering, and programming backgrounds - to study and
develop a "flexible kit of inexpensive thermal and moisture sensors plus
the ability to monitor them and improve experiments remotely, and finally the
capacity to export the data into a BIM program." Although this project
cost them time and money, it did several critical things for them. For
starters, it allowed them to collect and analyze the data they found missing
from the field and integrate it into their design process. This put them at the
forefront of the design-led data collection movement and positioned them as
industry leaders. In addition, not only were they able to use the sensors and
collected data for themselves, but they were also able to market the technology
to other firms and clients. They essentially created a market through in-house
research and development. Finally, the project has won numerous awards and
garnered much industry buzz which served as marketable proof to their commitment
to innovative sustainable design and backed up the conceptual message the firm
promotes as it's mission. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #4c4c4c; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Could RTKL introduce a dedicated platform for
research and development to explore innovation in design outside of the
boundaries of client-driven work?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: #4c4c4c; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A Firm is Known for It's Ideas<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #4c4c4c; font-size: 10pt;">Projects are the most public of self-commentary
on a design firm’s aspirations. The projects that RTKL does should carry a
message and back up the firms design mission. If RTKL is a firm that wants to
change the world through design, then we have to </span><i><span style="color: #4c4c4c; font-size: 10pt;">do</span></i><span style="color: #4c4c4c; font-size: 10pt;">
projects that change the world through design. In reality, we know that not every
mall, hospital, or desert masterplan we design is going to change the world -
but, </span><i><span style="color: #4c4c4c; font-size: 10pt;">some</span></i><span style="color: #4c4c4c; font-size: 10pt;"> of them should and every effort should be made to
do so whenever possible. A system of evaluation should be put in place to not
only measure the physical impact of our buildings, but also the social impact
and message we send. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #4c4c4c; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Personally, I realized that I fell in love with design
when I figured out that I could change the world with it. Part of it was the megalomaniac
in me – wait, you mean I can have control over the way things work through
design? Yes, please. But, part of it was also the understanding that what we do
can make other people's lives better. RTKL is a big company, and it has many
resources on hand – specialized skills, financial backing, a global network, an
international marketing platform, and most importantly, people that care. Everything
RTKL needs to make a difference through design is present. We need to make
every effort to support and promote that.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #4c4c4c; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://aplace2go.org/" target="_blank">A Place To Go</a> is a volunteer-led effort at RTKL to raise
money to design and build a sustainable toilet for a school in Machakos, Kenya.
At its core, A Place to Go is an attempt to make the world a better place
through design. It’s also an experiment to prove the power of design. Can
design build a toilet and improve the sanitary conditions of 150 students? Can
design test new ideas about sustainability and resilience by using waste to
create energy? Can it cross-pollinate employees, ideas, and skillsets across
the office to generate new ways of doing and funding projects? Does it make a
statement about what RTKL stands for? I think it does. And although this post
is part of a research project, I won’t miss an opportunity to make a shameless
plug – go to the website, get involved, and help RTKL prove that it can make
the world better through design.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3zRY71tnPHyscOCmFSlKgxfeDK_v9eeo8dcJtd9iXUobN30iW6bzcgW2PtkbeCOo-_AY3hAuKExDWbhiGXn3BIzzOvmrkXMXmIvpeWBk1w23pcBU2XY6PtfM1P4oLuidQefde_Pxbjhg/s1600/Image+04a+-+A+Place+To+Go.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3zRY71tnPHyscOCmFSlKgxfeDK_v9eeo8dcJtd9iXUobN30iW6bzcgW2PtkbeCOo-_AY3hAuKExDWbhiGXn3BIzzOvmrkXMXmIvpeWBk1w23pcBU2XY6PtfM1P4oLuidQefde_Pxbjhg/s400/Image+04a+-+A+Place+To+Go.jpg" height="200" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">A Place To Go is an employee-funded effort to build a biogas toilet in Machakos, Kenya.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #4c4c4c; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Could RTKL increase its social impact </span><i style="color: #4c4c4c; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">and</i><span style="color: #4c4c4c; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> innovative design by actively
pursuing out-of-market projects? </span></div>
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<span style="color: #ff8000; font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">FLATTEN THE PYRAMID<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #bfbfbf; font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">CREATE
STAKEHOLDERS<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #bfbfbf; font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">PROMOTE
ENGAGEMENT<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #4c4c4c; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Employees drive a firm's production mechanism -
let them make some of the decisions on what the firms does. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: #4c4c4c; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Infiltrate Junior Stakeholders Up<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="color: #4c4c4c; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Organizational charts tell us who we are - and
who we aren't. The typical organizational chart is shaped like a pyramid. At
the top, and smallest cross-section of the pyramid, are the 'decision-makers.' They
are usually senior-level employees with more project and leadership experience and
have a share of interest in the company – call them 'stakeholders.' Below the
decision-makers are various levels of ‘do-ers’. In terms of running a company,
this makes sense. Important decisions are relegated to a small group of
stakeholders who have a better understanding of managing a business. However,
when it comes to fostering innovation, consolidating decisions to senior-level
employees may actually hinder the process. While most senior-level employees
would never oppose innovative design, the reality is, and rightly so, most are
too busy running a company, attempting to secure a profit, or simply have too
much to lose to really push for disruptive innovative design.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhscqoMFweWQweHh20rYmXZNISyb_OBKqynocFAvC2ez4aMf8OC7YGnBaqR2lsa6ElZTHhbPBnYkVN4cY9lRaPIgRl_4ll955iK97ct9q7ovwM8MU1Ywa-mwJ8z40iwXqXiLfrphX6toa0/s1600/Image+05+-+Pyramid.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhscqoMFweWQweHh20rYmXZNISyb_OBKqynocFAvC2ez4aMf8OC7YGnBaqR2lsa6ElZTHhbPBnYkVN4cY9lRaPIgRl_4ll955iK97ct9q7ovwM8MU1Ywa-mwJ8z40iwXqXiLfrphX6toa0/s400/Image+05+-+Pyramid.jpg" height="216" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">But we don't want to flatten these pyramids...</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #4c4c4c; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When you look at the 'Leadership Council' –
essentially RTKL's in-house board of ideas and process – 50 of the 67 members
are Principals or above. This means that approximately 75% of the stakeholders responsible
for making firmwide design, technology, and process-related decisions are also
responsible for managing studios, personnel, projects, and finances. These
decisions are difficult, time-consuming, and far-reaching. Perversely, younger
employees may have the strangely complimentary advantage of inexperience and
lack of responsibility. In short, younger employees have no reason not to shoot
for the moon. At the risk of generalizing, the new generation of designers are
typically more socially-minded, technologically savvy, and willing to take
risks. They have nothing to lose and are hungry to get involved and make a
difference. If RTKL wants to foster innovation, it would make sense that
employees who are willing to push the boundaries and disrupt the current trends
of design are made into stakeholders.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #4c4c4c; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Could RTKL balance the current structure of
business-minded stakeholders and decision-makers with a more disruptive-minded
and enabled crop of junior employees?</span></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #4c4c4c; font-size: 10pt;">I’m glad Szenasy chose the word ‘malaise’ to
describe the feeling in some ‘mature’ design firms. It’s an incredibly apt
term. According to Wikipedia – the holder of all knowledge – </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaise"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">malaise</span></a></span><span style="color: #4c4c4c; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> is defined as “a feeling of general discomfort
or uneasiness, of being ‘out of sorts’, often the first indication of an
infection or other disease…” In the end, RTKL will continue to design. It’s our
job. But how we do that is up to us. Will we continue to accommodate that sense
of uneasiness and risk letting it fully develop into a malady that further
affects our product, mission, and culture? Or are we willing to take a chance
and disrupt that trend by making innovative design the driving force of the
firm? </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #4c4c4c; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Light, sans-serif;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03339343412411265524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8808880139688453447.post-35492314848782208842013-06-05T15:30:00.000-04:002013-06-06T08:50:14.574-04:00Design Disrupted<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><i><span style="color: #999999; font-size: x-small;">This post was written as part of an ongoing research grant sponsored by <a href="http://www.rtkl.com/" target="_blank">RTKL Associates</a>. The research is an attempt to understand and redefine how architecture and design firms operate traditionally and how they can evolve to function dynamically in a changing industry.</span></i></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh77DHGEzui44RbKxULG4P_98voBDLsDkQuiSlslvUty88Mu0a1ld_z9SZaAlUfZIlp3OQabFiRsHQ2mHY5oq_JPsqJoKApShGKgbVqkKuTr0r8dVrdj_91vtf9ldnbNnzlIB3ZBZAwVxs/s1600/Dinosaur.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh77DHGEzui44RbKxULG4P_98voBDLsDkQuiSlslvUty88Mu0a1ld_z9SZaAlUfZIlp3OQabFiRsHQ2mHY5oq_JPsqJoKApShGKgbVqkKuTr0r8dVrdj_91vtf9ldnbNnzlIB3ZBZAwVxs/s320/Dinosaur.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">I
spend a lot of time on the internet. It's a dirty little habit I picked up in
college. Or, maybe it's something I picked up because I get bored at work.
Regardless, I spend a lot of time there, and when I do, I inevitably end up on
some design blog and I find myself looking at something "innovative".
A giant robot that eats suburbs and poops out green space? Cool. A high-rise
covered in synthetic hair that generates energy in the breeze? Sweet. A
pro-bono community improvement project that turns a bus stop into an after-hours
nightclub and cinema? Yep. I like that. So, I download as many images as I can
in hopes of copying, emailing, blogging, or tweeting about it later.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">But
then, after the initial excitement dies down, I find myself questioning what I
do at work. <i>We can do that - why aren't
we doing that? Are we doing that? If we're not, we should be, right?</i> It’s
always been a frustrating line of questioning for me. I can fill up my free
time with ideas competitions and volunteer work to get some of that creative
enthusiasm out, but what I really want is for that level of innovation and
gusto to be a part of what I do sitting behind my desk every day. And I know I’m not alone.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE4A9hWjUYMpbPmpsa9hhPxG9nL7iMVkKM9bynB1g_pow_iFpcPIJJwDqoyH8uj3u_M8u91HZZ-E-9HF7QQRZV-BOEl7aRHBAjIxIxSU4V2eukjQlEmcGYOeSSLbamycsWc6_hqaS1FVc/s1600/Straw+Scraper.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="291" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE4A9hWjUYMpbPmpsa9hhPxG9nL7iMVkKM9bynB1g_pow_iFpcPIJJwDqoyH8uj3u_M8u91HZZ-E-9HF7QQRZV-BOEl7aRHBAjIxIxSU4V2eukjQlEmcGYOeSSLbamycsWc6_hqaS1FVc/s400/Straw+Scraper.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Strawscraper by <a href="http://belatchew.com/en/" target="_blank">Belatchew Arkitekter</a></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">I
get it. Maybe those ideas aren't “real” and would cost ridiculous amounts of
money and take crazy special effects to pull off. Or there's not enough time in
the schedule and money in the budget to research and develop a solution better than
the status quo. And maybe frankly, there are way better things for us to
improve upon before we start trying to grow hair on our buildings. But there's
value in all of that. There’s value in brain exercises and pro-bono work and
buildings made of meat just like there's value in efficiently designing and
delivering a real project that brings a profit through the door. The real question
is <i>can we make a business out of it?</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Sure.
Why not? Some of my favorite design firms seem to be making quite a successful
practice out of a steadfast commitment to innovation and pushing boundaries.
<a href="http://www.big.dk/#projects" target="_blank">BIG</a>, <a href="http://www.unstudio.com/" target="_blank">UNStudio</a>, <a href="http://oma.eu/" target="_blank">OMA</a>, and <a href="http://www.mvrdv.nl/#/news" target="_blank">MVDRV</a> – to name a few we’re all familiar with –
continuously pop up on my innovation radar (think spidey-sense but with design
rather than catching criminals). But it’s not just boutique firms either. Some
of the big “corporate” firms are starting to invest serious time and money into
fostering innovation and culture as a way to set themselves apart as industry
thought-leaders. So what is it that allows for these practices to be considered
the best design firms in the world and to succeed all while pushing “dangerous”
and “edgy” ideas?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Well,
in my opinion, they don’t act like architecture firms anymore. The traditional
architecture firm is dead – it just doesn’t know it yet. In the past,
architecture was about making objects, and as a result, the architecture firm
was set up to reflect this model - hierarchal organizations structured around
formal specialists. But the world we live and build in is way more complex now.
The days of slow, methodical, and partitioned design firms is over. Architecture
today needs to be a discipline of systems, not objects.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Let’s
be honest, RTKL doesn’t lack creativity and there is no dearth of innovative
thinkers. Not by a long-shot. They’re all around us. I sit next to some of the
most passionate, bright, and talented people I’ve ever met, and I bet you do
too. It’s not a lack of talent and creativity that holds us back from being the
best design firm in the world – we’ve just been too hesitant as an organization
to change and embrace a new way of thinking to truly become thought leaders.
Innovation doesn’t happen through incremental changes to existing techniques.
Instead, it happens when you step back from everything you know, and challenge
yourself to look at the problem in another way.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">I
submitted this Kagan because I believe that RTKL can – as CEO Lance Josal
challenged us – be one of the best design firms in the world. But if that’s
what we really want and are <i>truly</i>
committed to, we need to radically change the way we think, how we’re
structured, and allow our culture to be a driving force in the design process.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Next Episode: <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">DISRUPTION, A HOW-TO
GUIDE<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<div class="MsoPlainText">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">How do we disrupt the
status quo at RTKL and become the innovative design force we want to be? Five
ideas:<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">1. Kill the studio<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">2. Give it away for
free<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">3. Embrace friction<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">4. Let technology do
the talking</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">5. Flatten the
pyramid<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03339343412411265524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8808880139688453447.post-58286707993980619962013-01-04T13:26:00.000-05:002013-01-04T13:33:42.738-05:00Designed Impermanence<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Crunch. Crunch. Boom.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Holy
shit, that’s cool. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And
by “cool”, I mean mesmerizing. I’m standing on the corner of 16<sup>th</sup>
and L Street in Washington, DC, watching what is essentially a mechanical
dinosaur eating its way through an empty building. The building being
demolished is now nothing more than a crumbling ruin of concrete chunks and
rebar curly-cues – a heavy, slow, animal that real-estate evolution has chosen
to leave behind. The new building that grows up in its place will be lighter,
smarter, and better adapted to its surroundings. It will hopefully carry forth lessons
learned in all its previous iterations. The mechanical carnivore I’m watching
sate it’s appetite on the doomed structure is doing so not out of malice, but
in the name of progress – the way nature intended. Sort of.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1FdsvOfGtR2t0ApqO5S81HC0Ra7ASbQ_PBx0pTMrSD96x5cAH2WiKzb6ii5EWDcz6IsH6fUudr39_rYzxeK3eoEqhpEYXuMzD_fdbH3t3zqeD7AWreo9SXWXOjw2wPJj-HDscfUOXnKg/s1600/MechaDino2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1FdsvOfGtR2t0ApqO5S81HC0Ra7ASbQ_PBx0pTMrSD96x5cAH2WiKzb6ii5EWDcz6IsH6fUudr39_rYzxeK3eoEqhpEYXuMzD_fdbH3t3zqeD7AWreo9SXWXOjw2wPJj-HDscfUOXnKg/s400/MechaDino2.jpg" width="350" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In
his <i>Futurist Manifesto</i>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Sant%27elia" target="_blank">AntonioSant’Elia</a> commented that “every generation should build their own city”, and I
believe he was right. Our buildings should reflect our contemporary ideals and
stand as indicators of the progress we’ve made and the future we intend to create. However, as I stand watching the machine
crunch through concrete and steel producing tangled piles of rubble, I can’t
help but wonder if our buildings are <i>too</i></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
permanent and if this permanence is holding us back from true innovation and
progress. Culture, technology, and fashion are constantly shifting trends that
change with the daily push and pull of society, but our buildings often stand
idle for 60 years or more with little more than periodic facelifts along the
way. Why aren't our buildings designed to more fluidly adapt to the changing
needs of society? </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Demolishing
buildings in the traditional manner is both expensive and wasteful. As
efficient as that badass mechanized dinosaur was at its job, it wasn’t actually
“eating” any of its meal – it was merely destroying it. Somewhere in the
distance, I hear Mother Nature weeping at the waste. At its feet lay a massive
pile of concrete, rebar, sheet metal, and other detritus that is now nothing
more than landfill and scrap recyclables. It was looking like a major effort to
demolish this building, and the only benefit is the empty space it will leave
behind. It seemed to me that the cost and associated hassle of demolition and
disposal were often deterrents to a healthy turnover of buildings and
infrastructure. How many buildings are left in place and given only minor
adjustments over time because the cost of demolition and redesign and
construction is prohibitive? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Buildings,
and the cities they make up, are indeed complex machines that involve countless
hours of investment, planning, design, and construction, so it’s no wonder that
permanence is seen as a virtue. But designed impermanence could also be a
virtue worth implementing. After tearing myself away from the scene of the
building being methodically destroyed in such awesome hungry-mechanized-dinosaur
fashion, I attended a photography exhibit on the city of Detroit (<i><a href="http://www.nbm.org/exhibitions-collections/exhibitions/detroit-is-no-dry-bones.html" target="_blank">Detroit Is No Dry Bones</a></i> at the <a href="http://www.nbm.org/" target="_blank">NationalBuilding Museum</a>) and its vast area of now derelict real estate. Huge swaths of
development that previously housed one of America’s most successful and
innovative cites now stand empty and crumbling. The photographs of vacant
skyscrapers, abandoned theatres, and neighborhoods of uninhabited homes were
proof that cities can easily grow, but cannot necessarily shrink to adapt. What
if the city were built to be dismantled?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitqPA67qbQr1RSCECGlZURGQ_VUny628_BjWLic7Q_QfytzqYeJxWuj8E2pcb5Wf5d3cNNztjKEEjBsdZcLHDr27tAUoUWrULoqu63-Nr7Pu7FVWWvaqBMiKg_-gTQ3ahs6z2bVpIqlfw/s1600/Del+Ray+Building.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitqPA67qbQr1RSCECGlZURGQ_VUny628_BjWLic7Q_QfytzqYeJxWuj8E2pcb5Wf5d3cNNztjKEEjBsdZcLHDr27tAUoUWrULoqu63-Nr7Pu7FVWWvaqBMiKg_-gTQ3ahs6z2bVpIqlfw/s400/Del+Ray+Building.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Del Ray Building - Photo from Detroit Is No Dry Bones by <a href="http://camilojosevergara.com/Harlem/Corn-Exchange-Bank/1/" target="_blank">Camilo Jose Vagara</a></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Imagine
a dense urban core where skyscrapers still grace the horizon but with an
ever-adjustable skirt of development surrounding it. Houses and small
commercial buildings sit lightly on the land and are all built to be erected
and dismantled as needed – their parts and pieces easily reassembled somewhere
else or even combined with others to make new buildings. Voltron would be proud.
There is no waste to be landfilled, and the cost of dismantling – not
demolition – is more than made up for by the new stock of building components
left in its wake. As Detroit grows, so can its boundaries. As Detroit shrinks,
buildings can be easily removed to reveal open plots of land for agriculture or
public spaces. Density can quickly and easily be managed to adapt to a city’s
needs. Constantly shifting buildings will allow for and encourage continuous
innovation and improved functionality as we reinvent the city.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9Vfm7JgT-LhhzFnc-fPcE18Y6LXtZ7zgYRYftZexqx1hlWZRBTNSw-pt42Wy15xon4V4O4Lwh4XTOanwoO14NfhwNibx5YUaPcG35ZByfVlohlSGnI43oEERS8JA_xc9H6WM__wcO3U0/s1600/Suburb+Eating+Robot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="323" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9Vfm7JgT-LhhzFnc-fPcE18Y6LXtZ7zgYRYftZexqx1hlWZRBTNSw-pt42Wy15xon4V4O4Lwh4XTOanwoO14NfhwNibx5YUaPcG35ZByfVlohlSGnI43oEERS8JA_xc9H6WM__wcO3U0/s400/Suburb+Eating+Robot.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Suburb Eating Robot by <a href="http://www.maynardarchitects.com/Site/houses/Pages/CV08.html" target="_blank">Andrew Maynard</a></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlfcYAv7ieGmq2ifBK3uQTe8EK3n9R8KXGznzZV9S5Vg3T0Kh1TZfIH0rR1Z7EmvT2cum7OWrKh8XGxZrXDw6VZ5P6QoD82fUBsArqmzgl_0h6v_1zY056BnbbJSIg513OREvtdwQD4Dg/s1600/Don+Quijote_Dali.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="286" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlfcYAv7ieGmq2ifBK3uQTe8EK3n9R8KXGznzZV9S5Vg3T0Kh1TZfIH0rR1Z7EmvT2cum7OWrKh8XGxZrXDw6VZ5P6QoD82fUBsArqmzgl_0h6v_1zY056BnbbJSIg513OREvtdwQD4Dg/s400/Don+Quijote_Dali.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Don Quixote and the Windmills, Salvador Dali, 1969</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><i>...As he was saying this, they caught sight of thirty or forty windmills standing on the plain, and as soon as Don Quixote saw them he said to his squire: </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div style="color: #666666;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><i>"Fortune is directing our affairs even better than we could have wished: for you can see over there, good friend Sancho Panza, a place where stand thirty or more monstrous giants with whom I intend to fight a battle and whose lives I intend to take; and with the booty we shall begin to prosper. For this is a just war, and it is of great service to God to wipe such a wicked breed from the face of the earth."</i></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><i>An excerpt from</i> The Ingenious Hidalgo Don Quixote De La Mancha <i>by Miguel Cervantes</i></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-size: small;">People hate windmills. Not since the valiant Don Quixote first couched his lance, set spurs to his trusty steed Rocinante, and charged with the bravado only he could muster, have windmills been more feared and loathed. There is, as our hero noted, a war being waged against this ingenious machine.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFOafkLxzT96cQzdELBAq0cHU71aMIB4co03dUy35iDu8LTstOARsmvjJcbYx2WuDvUZWbhyphenhyphenVc8M9rIXJeol4B08Cm76BNlFhagUdJwp150vH21ueY1fhLTEeWOSeFLqcO2THLGpqQ6X4/s1600/Nishtafun_01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFOafkLxzT96cQzdELBAq0cHU71aMIB4co03dUy35iDu8LTstOARsmvjJcbYx2WuDvUZWbhyphenhyphenVc8M9rIXJeol4B08Cm76BNlFhagUdJwp150vH21ueY1fhLTEeWOSeFLqcO2THLGpqQ6X4/s400/Nishtafun_01.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Vertical Axis Windmill in Nishtafun, Iran. Photo by </span><a href="http://www.carolinemawer.co.uk/blog/2011/01/mills-driven-by-the-wind/" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" target="_blank">Caroline Mawer</a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">.</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">In use since antiquity, all <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windmill" target="_blank">windmills</a> function under one simple principle - they are a device used to translate the raw power of the wind into rotational energy. The earliest windmills in widespread use were first observed in Persia in the 9th century, and were actually oriented horizontally. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panemone_windmill" target="_blank">These machines</a> had sails that rotated around a vertical axis and were used to either grind grain or pump water. Only later did they take on the iconic tower form that so tormented our poor heroic hidalgo from La Mancha.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">In the midst of the Industrial Revolution, steam power replaced the brute force of wind and water as the primary source of generating energy. Then, to add insult to injury, the rise of the petrochemical age - namely our old friends coal and oil - effectively pushed the traditional windmill to the fringe of the energy-generating landscape, rendering them little more than nostalgic contraptions and refurbished tourist attractions. It was in this transition however, that the key benefit of the windmill was lost. Like it's also-besieged cousin, solar energy, the main attraction of using wind to derive energy, was that the input was free, provided at no additional charge by mother nature. Expensive, non-renewable, extracted resources hate windmills.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7ySpfM3xGw2xWmRJOg5XKQft2N80Sts-RxNIFotbBbQyTopXdI6wWkEM0fU2zYCy_x5t-Y8UkoL_IO3vH4kz6Bux9SG000CvhUrZIB-wLqZRbTIKJv1Oe80ZP1l1Cr7pgUDmj-rHOiVs/s1600/Altamont.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7ySpfM3xGw2xWmRJOg5XKQft2N80Sts-RxNIFotbBbQyTopXdI6wWkEM0fU2zYCy_x5t-Y8UkoL_IO3vH4kz6Bux9SG000CvhUrZIB-wLqZRbTIKJv1Oe80ZP1l1Cr7pgUDmj-rHOiVs/s400/Altamont.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Wind Farm at Altamont Pass, via </span><a href="http://blogs.worldwatch.org/revolt/wind-turbines-for-the-birds/" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" target="_blank">World Watch Institute</a></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">But the windmill evolved. The modern iteration of the windmill is the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_turbine" target="_blank">wind turbine</a>, and like it's predecessor, it harnesses the naturally occurring force of the wind to generate power. Only now, the wind turbine transcends traditional mechanical advantage of yore, and produces electricity. Whereas the monstrous giants of Senior Quixote's vexation could only leverage their output locally, the electricity generated by the leviathans of today can be used immediately on site, stored in batteries, or fed back into a larger power grid system. A valuable step forward. Such gracious monsters. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Unfortunately, a wind turbine is still just a glorified windmill. And people hate windmills. Even <a href="http://www.holyrood.com/articles/2012/04/23/trump-to-protest-against-wind-turbines/" target="_blank">Donald Trump hates windmills</a>. In early 2012, Trump was the main attraction in a 500 person protest against a planned wind farm in the North Sea off the coast of Scotland. Said Trump in his rousing statement: "Tragically the Scottish taxpayer no longer has a voice in this destructive process because the First Minister and his government are ramming these proposals through the planning system at lightning speed, even though the rest of the world already knows that they produce a totally unreliable and very expensive form of power." It should also be noted that the wind farm, once complete, would be visible from his <a href="http://www.trumpgolfscotland.com/" target="_blank">newly constructed coastal golf course.</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">But these protests are not just confined to the elite. It is a common occurrence now for citizen groups to band together to stop wind farms from being constructed in their communities. They do so under the auspices of wind turbines being a visual and auditory nuisance. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Jacobs" target="_blank">Jane Jacobs</a> and her NIMBY followers would be proud. But it is here where we must disagree with a very disagreeable Mrs. Jacobs - if not in my backyard, then where? </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN4yuqYVv5VG9m4HztreHIfTy7QZ-jL1HYE9xyH_7FHz39SYppB-1NETMLD53C4iJe2QSVtQuIXi8XNgmjhPmIwY_7Du36PnGeB-7Hjg-OdEbzJ2lHuguZXXQa1tVifYJM1WHbOo67F7Y/s1600/Windmll-Protest.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN4yuqYVv5VG9m4HztreHIfTy7QZ-jL1HYE9xyH_7FHz39SYppB-1NETMLD53C4iJe2QSVtQuIXi8XNgmjhPmIwY_7Du36PnGeB-7Hjg-OdEbzJ2lHuguZXXQa1tVifYJM1WHbOo67F7Y/s400/Windmll-Protest.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.southernstar.ie/article.php?id=387" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" target="_blank">Protesters</a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> in West Cork County Ireland.</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">To be fair, wind turbines are not a magic bullet. They will not single-</span>handedly<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> solve the energy crisis. They will not ween a state off of foreign energy dependence. In fact, there is ample evidence on either side to both prove and disprove the ejaculations of Mr. Trump and his band of merry protesters. Some people may find them ugly. They may make noise. They may even kill a few birds (although nowhere near as many as </span><a href="http://www.currykerlinger.com/birds.htm" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" target="_blank">large expanses of glass on tall buildings do</a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">…). But all of these studies are missing the point. Windmills (and wind turbines and wind pumps and wind chargers) are a proven link to our past technological triumphs and directly tied to our continued success in the future. The benefits of generating energy from naturally-occurring, renewable sources cannot be understated if we have any desire to sustain our rapidly growing population and simultaneously protect the planet we live on. If we halt the evolution of windmills because they are ugly, because they are loud, because they are imperfect, then they will fall as monsters, ugly, loud, and imperfect.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><i>"…For God's sake!" said Sancho Panza. "Didn't I tell you to be careful what you were doing, didn't I tell you they were only windmills? And only someone with windmills on the brain could have failed to see that!"</i></span></blockquote>
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</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03339343412411265524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8808880139688453447.post-24375779334416298392012-02-06T12:38:00.011-05:002012-02-06T14:26:50.856-05:00The Colorful and Interactive World of Energy Consumption<span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" ><a href="http://modi.mech.columbia.edu/nycenergy/" style="font-size: small;"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 558px; height: 461px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCKuKjDcglIiIuFp0M5xQ2t9n3fwDM69DcBFPekxCNTCQ2YE4Dy4cgKBgkpMxGkmQKhBH6LLD2iKJGNIAOvfVEv67GB9gSIluy_CM0fZqsRhyfpnAMNFjoHIozSd4Qtbhq5YzNgFYNxz8/s400/Energy-Use-Map_Columbia-U.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5706103185207320722" border="0" />New York City Building Energy Map</a></span><div style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span>Let's face it, we are a graphic-loving species. If a picture is worth a thousand words, how many words is an interactive graphic map of annual building energy consumption for New York City worth? </span><span>Visualization is an important asset when trying to explain complex ideas or figures. It becomes even more important when attempting to identify and quantify </span><span>comparative</span><span> data as critical as energy usage in urban areas. </span></span></div><div style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://modi.mech.columbia.edu/">The Energy, Infrastructure, and Development Lab</a> at <a href="http://www.columbia.edu/">Columbia University</a> has released a graphically interactive map of New York City that displays estimated building energy consumption per block. According to the report: </span><div><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><blockquote>The map represents the total annual building energy consumption at the block level (zoom levels 11-15) and at the taxlot level (zoom levels 16-18) for New York City, and is expressed in kilowatt hours (k Wh) per square meter of land area. The data comes from a mathematical model based on statistics, not private information from utilities, to estimate the annual energy consumption values of buildings throughout the five boroughs.</blockquote></span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The overall map is keyed to provide a color-coded comparison of energy consumption at the macro-city level, however, as you hover over each block, more exact data is displayed for each block including lot land area, average floor area, and fuel and electricity use. The map provides a playful and graphically interesting tool to compare and contrast energy statistics in New York City.</span><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf1bKjcKGdTmPa6FTOcDdXU0taHO5XHq0zmk-g9It7WSfvwA6gyA_uSdWEsIuGL8FYu0ms3wba9K43q1rjZOujel_-oLOQbOR8mFvGBTT1sh66eBzobicxChW_ctF_87jJGUFBaMfu90k/s400/Energy-Use-Chart_Columbia-U.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5706103125482143378" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: small; float: left; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; cursor: pointer; width: 548px; height: 410px;" border="0" /></span><div><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><br /></span></span></div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);font-size:85%;" ><div><span><u><br /></u></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Seen first on <a href="http://gizmodo.com/5882542/new-york-citys-energy-consumption-mapped-out-building+by+building">Gizmodo</a>.</span></span></div></span><div><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Images via Columbia University<br /><br /></span></span></div></div></div><a href="https://twitter.com/share" class="twitter-share-button" via="Arx4Guerillas">Tweet</a><br /><script>!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs");</script>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03339343412411265524noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8808880139688453447.post-43124530534824053132011-10-27T11:52:00.001-04:002011-10-27T11:58:50.787-04:00Boo!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje4tio46gHFjeBINLOF3VgxPIdboxE43Yb9K2gAdpyvhSjVOy_JRDaFtcyHKLQg-Ln0pcy9BzUVwtjeRFMGpovWMbSGttBY1t9nY7-AuPP5rZ3eygkd09g8mhihey7TuPgrMC_aVxTmVQ/s1600/stencil-boo.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 273px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje4tio46gHFjeBINLOF3VgxPIdboxE43Yb9K2gAdpyvhSjVOy_JRDaFtcyHKLQg-Ln0pcy9BzUVwtjeRFMGpovWMbSGttBY1t9nY7-AuPP5rZ3eygkd09g8mhihey7TuPgrMC_aVxTmVQ/s400/stencil-boo.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5668200624992867122" border="0" /></a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03339343412411265524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8808880139688453447.post-63149916453603175872011-10-26T20:40:00.010-04:002011-10-26T21:57:20.465-04:00The Splendor of Excess<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqJzQ34gIwgqvXvUu0hbAIAHbvMRaxVgt25qPtiBp10hYmsJs9pCDMGn_BVGDaJBEug_2m_BjA0XfDi4YT2VD5uy9gHEJgImU1C1y4F8WJA6cPJv71FmTKKBXfpf6AvLM_VMxLDC05MLk/s1600/Metalmorphosis_David-Cerny_02.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 568px; height: 454px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqJzQ34gIwgqvXvUu0hbAIAHbvMRaxVgt25qPtiBp10hYmsJs9pCDMGn_BVGDaJBEug_2m_BjA0XfDi4YT2VD5uy9gHEJgImU1C1y4F8WJA6cPJv71FmTKKBXfpf6AvLM_VMxLDC05MLk/s400/Metalmorphosis_David-Cerny_02.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5667982055661464274" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">Metalmorphosis by </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.davidcerny.cz/">David Černý</a><span style="font-family:arial;">. Photographs by Flickr user </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/rflphotography/sets/72157610232035161/with/3236004080/">Rick_28105</a><span style="font-family:arial;">.</span></span> <span style="font-family:arial;"><br /><br />What a splendid waste! <span style="font-style: italic;">Metalmorphosis</span> is a 7.6m tall animated sculpture by Czech artist David </span></span><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" >Černý</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">. </span><span style="font-family:arial;"> The fountain, which is 14 tons of rotating stainless steel plates, adorns the courtyard of a corporate center in Charlotte, North Carolina, USA. As a sculpture, it is a work of artistic and mechanical wonder. The head of the any-man slowly rotates in and out of existence - a thousand pieces in all directions - a confused mind in pure blinged-out ignorant bliss. It's powered by internal motors which are controlled by the artist via internet link. You can watch a live webcam of the fountain </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.metalmorphosis.tv/">here</a><span style="font-family:arial;">. <span style="font-style: italic;">Metalmorphosis</span> is an artistic statement in engineering that kinetic buildings and other large-scale public objects could become commonplace. The many potential applications limited only by doubt. </span> <span style="font-family:arial;"><br /><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiomLpc2tnsO1E6SbRaeEX2ZCwZvZMaM75gxC3wLLZUmKEZnkWOHkdJdZsE5TVh0EwxHAv5BzSPwVAX09OrHbHwDe7XPBfFMo5fkwxGTUzTlGfAt0gGuTVHCJV0E6_YLu_PcZSIWhsouyw/s1600/Metalmorphosis_David-Cerny_03"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 573px; height: 382px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiomLpc2tnsO1E6SbRaeEX2ZCwZvZMaM75gxC3wLLZUmKEZnkWOHkdJdZsE5TVh0EwxHAv5BzSPwVAX09OrHbHwDe7XPBfFMo5fkwxGTUzTlGfAt0gGuTVHCJV0E6_YLu_PcZSIWhsouyw/s400/Metalmorphosis_David-Cerny_03" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5667981930365441074" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">As a symbol, it excels even that of it's engineering. The shear size and materiality of the sculpture renders it visually and physically grand. It's familiar form and incorporation of water make it feel playful and whimsical. A grand statement for any successful corporation, indeed. However, rotating in it's </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sisyphus">Sisyphean</a><span style="font-family:arial;"> glory, the continuous rotation and flow of water belies it's own inherent imagery of excess. What could possibly be a better symbol of waste than one spitting out water in perpetuity? It is, at once, a grand gesture of accomplishment and the spoils that come along with it.<br /><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzUYiICbymVdR3OLg9ReMSivrsPj-Lw9g5Y57EvJWtVsHoDyfQDc50xkSU8elClRCComGuVpvIA6Z6JemxhmuZIiAo3dAVBf7Mg24yJAI_5zLmbhVZV1VF7pMPWrYG0_HRXrdXevkz1nI/s1600/metalmorphosis_david-cerney_01.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 577px; height: 373px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzUYiICbymVdR3OLg9ReMSivrsPj-Lw9g5Y57EvJWtVsHoDyfQDc50xkSU8elClRCComGuVpvIA6Z6JemxhmuZIiAo3dAVBf7Mg24yJAI_5zLmbhVZV1VF7pMPWrYG0_HRXrdXevkz1nI/s400/metalmorphosis_david-cerney_01.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5667981564403975490" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;"> </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"> <span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />Seen on </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/10/view/17224/david-cerny-metalmorphosis.html">DesignBoom</a><span style="font-family:arial;"> and </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2011/10/metalmorphosis-mirror-fountain-by-david-cerny/">Colossal</a><span style="font-family:arial;">.</span></span></span><br /><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/share" class="twitter-share-button" count="horizontal" via="Arx4Guerillas">Tweet</a><script type="text/javascript" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03339343412411265524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8808880139688453447.post-35543417965203332802011-10-17T12:10:00.010-04:002011-10-26T22:15:35.652-04:00Mediated Matter - Neri Oxman at Greenbuild Toronto<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzTMKCcb_JbTnZ_eHS-5VkBRZLTAYAvhP2Ey9gCJuSula_9cZHbZZBRCrFYZ7UZLASrhtjW28hyknfIlibnbUJ8rW3t1IRzIzcECD457Qm7aa6ONP-CH-lrvl7st0-cDyOD7qcgVqAlwc/s1600/012.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 550px; height: 355px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzTMKCcb_JbTnZ_eHS-5VkBRZLTAYAvhP2Ey9gCJuSula_9cZHbZZBRCrFYZ7UZLASrhtjW28hyknfIlibnbUJ8rW3t1IRzIzcECD457Qm7aa6ONP-CH-lrvl7st0-cDyOD7qcgVqAlwc/s400/012.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5664509759296690930" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;"><a href="http://web.media.mit.edu/%7Eneri/site/projects/projects.html">Neri Oxman</a>, who directs the <a href="http://www.media.mit.edu/research/groups/mediated-matter">Mediated Matter</a> research group at the <a href="http://www.media.mit.edu/">MIT Media Lab</a>, recently spoke at Greenbuild 2011 in Toronto. The group studies the naturally occurring relationship between structure and function within the natural environment, and how digital fabrication technologies can shape the way synthetic materials are developed. What is the natural material logic? Once we understand the natural logic of a material and how it relates to the function and response of the macro-structure, how can we translate this material logic to built form?</span></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />In her presentation, Oxman discussed a fundamental difference between the way natural materials are generated and the way in which we "build". </span><span style="font-family:arial;">When we construct objects today, we use a component-based design logic. Each element within the object is a distinct layer with a separate function. A typical wall section might include vertical and horizontal structural elements for support, layers of sheathing and barriers for containment, insulation for temperature mitigation, and glazing for visibility and aesthetics. In this approach, various layers are assembled to produce a "functioning" element. This is where Oxman sees a fundamental flaw in the design process.<br /><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHyIe04xiSwHEiIbrRyvNVTtrE3uEJe8e-MBN7oQazt8Xsje39oLDdQAEz-SMC-5kiMKav4llujSUYXHL8EHu9fNo2jnXinuTarHen_UztIzjDQmug5KpSU5pGbZfAUZppMoxx_a20l6Q/s1600/013.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 583px; height: 376px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHyIe04xiSwHEiIbrRyvNVTtrE3uEJe8e-MBN7oQazt8Xsje39oLDdQAEz-SMC-5kiMKav4llujSUYXHL8EHu9fNo2jnXinuTarHen_UztIzjDQmug5KpSU5pGbZfAUZppMoxx_a20l6Q/s400/013.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5664509841129234946" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">In nature, form is dictated by a combination of structure and environmental performance. Rather than "separation and distribution", natural materials are derived from "continuity and distribution". Plants are composed of one type of material, but utilize different genetic variations to respond to different needs. Bone is also a naturally occurring material that develops with different densities depending on where they are located and what function they accommodate. Bone is able to directly respond to changes in it's environment. The bone structure in pregnant women is known to grow more dense to accommodate the additional weight, whereas bone that spends time in the gravity-free environment of space tends to grow less dense.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">It is this distinction in assembly and response that Oxman sees as the future of material technology. She envisions a future where materials are designed to modify themselves in response to external factors. Building skins are able to modulate themselves in response to the micro-climate. In the next 100 years, she sees the rise of bio-fabrication and construction in which material distribution and density are controlled by use at a micro-scale. Structure is fluid - strong and stiff where necessary, flexible and light where not. In the next 1000 years, Oxman is even more progressive, extolling the possibility of genetic construction where materials and structures are "grown".</span></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03339343412411265524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8808880139688453447.post-45756686183138772532011-08-07T19:14:00.017-04:002011-08-07T21:18:03.358-04:00Of Buildings and Time<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_D2phyw5hkyQZ40n4T4hVOBZP6YUNiFkq6rlX8YuqqeuJUmjd1EALzmg2T2ZtTE5meZqGYObWVaFk7M8fg7N-JWGGUl0o72hkoJ5TJKDwAav_kwCuAhm5uam2FF2ggmowW1nRxRBIAfg/s1600/day.night.map.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 403px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_D2phyw5hkyQZ40n4T4hVOBZP6YUNiFkq6rlX8YuqqeuJUmjd1EALzmg2T2ZtTE5meZqGYObWVaFk7M8fg7N-JWGGUl0o72hkoJ5TJKDwAav_kwCuAhm5uam2FF2ggmowW1nRxRBIAfg/s400/day.night.map.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5638274003525436418" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Image via <a href="http://benabb.wordpress.com/2009/07/31/sci-fi-reality-on-the-process-of-non-division/">SciFiReality</a>.</span><br /><br />The earth is big. But amazingly, it's scale is still small enough for us to visibly measure its impact on our practice and understanding of events. From the beginning of our existence, most of our actions have revolved around the rising and setting of the sun. Tall buildings may introduce a strange new paradox to our experience of time and routine.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time">Time</a><span style="font-family:arial;"> is a very tricky thing in theory, but it also gives us a simple, equitable way to mark out the actions of our lives. Routines are developed around regular time periods - breakfast in the morning, work during the day, sleep at night.</span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;"> Routines tied to time occur over all intervals. Many religions promote regular acts of faith that </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">occur periodically over longer lengths of time.<br /><br /></span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramadan">Ramadan</a><span style="font-family:arial;">, for instance, is an Islamic holy month, in which practicing Muslims spen</span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">d that time fasting and promoting spiritual betterment. Many Muslims fast during the day and do not eat or drink from dawn until after sunset. After sunset, families traditionally break fast in a meal called the </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iftar">Iftar</a><span style="font-family:arial;">.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">A cleric from Dubai suggests that people living in the upper floors of the Burj Khalifa - the worlds tallest </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">building at 828 meters tall - should fast longer owing to the fact that the sun sets later according to the vantage of the upper floors.<br /></span></span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgnn6g70LCH38tOIQ0gcVatuxJJIbvKF3XK5yptjrqdpDU_QY9u9C9sbnf93mUaiz3c5563GwCo6Ui8Mg1toXydNvX9SCKq1mi7KM2D7bAf0PzlqgTjrOGNtlZGWhyphenhyphenSi27g6LOuL5_ihs/s1600/Burj-Khalifa.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 555px; height: 366px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgnn6g70LCH38tOIQ0gcVatuxJJIbvKF3XK5yptjrqdpDU_QY9u9C9sbnf93mUaiz3c5563GwCo6Ui8Mg1toXydNvX9SCKq1mi7KM2D7bAf0PzlqgTjrOGNtlZGWhyphenhyphenSi27g6LOuL5_ihs/s400/Burj-Khalifa.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5638270507271660002" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;"> </span></span><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" >Burj Khalifa. Image: Hadrian Hernandez/Gulf News<br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">Per the </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-14437334">BBC</a><span style="font-family:arial;">, </span></span><blockquote style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">"...Dubai cleric, </span><span style="font-size:100%;">Mohammed al-Qubaisi, has been quoted as saying that people living above the 80th floor should fast for an extra two minutes, while those on the 150th floor and higher should wait for three more minutes before eating or drinking."</span></blockquote><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">Therefor, a person fasting at the ground level of the Burj Khalifa will be able to break fast three minutes prior to one fasting at the top floor - say 8:57pm as compared to 9:00pm. Given that the two individuals at fast exist in the same moment of time, the building's immense geometry has allowed it t</span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">o physically span our combined <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_perception">perception</a> of time by allowing a routine to exist simultaneously in two states, daytime at one end of the structure, and nighttime at the other. There is precedent, however. The earth's rotation causes day and night to exist simultaneously in time, as well as localized differences in day and night at mountains, but those are natural occurrences. The Burj Khalifa may be the first example of a human-made structure impacting our time-based routines at the scale of the earth itself.</span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQNlzqA0TLjXL-7wiEvsaQRZm_hKNQoti_-0YxdOoGQeDd_1XzHFqg2gJAkzkQwuXrRRJgNeD8o4JxQ5zgAzJDlZWUgEe5WnNeD5WBuBOUpkDBko6EeCXUn5oDMsQk4lGJ798aEaMdMho/s1600/red_time_b.gif"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQNlzqA0TLjXL-7wiEvsaQRZm_hKNQoti_-0YxdOoGQeDd_1XzHFqg2gJAkzkQwuXrRRJgNeD8o4JxQ5zgAzJDlZWUgEe5WnNeD5WBuBOUpkDBko6EeCXUn5oDMsQk4lGJ798aEaMdMho/s400/red_time_b.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5638283608605404450" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_dilation">Time Dilation.</a><br /></span><br /></span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">Is a tall building a form of time travel? Not really - it's more of a time-bender. But at certain heights it <span style="font-style: italic;">can</span> alter our perception of it. The experience of day and night, as interrupted by our built environment. As the scale and complexity of our creations grow, the implications of their physical nature will continue to generate and inspire unforeseen consequences. </span><br /></span><br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/share" class="twitter-share-button" count="horizontal" via="Arx4Guerillas">Tweet</a><script type="text/javascript" src="http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03339343412411265524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8808880139688453447.post-41595567174020508712011-07-19T20:32:00.010-04:002011-07-19T21:46:01.166-04:00Of Bridges, Counterfiet Money, and International Relations<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4Exlok3N55MDyr7ji1ew3i8ZH7QZkcr-vOSPBigw5VJmGQLQXLHbd5PMtzbIUzjwDVYl093kZi4JnAdpNHTnO1DsVwx15RXVcwJUc-ttKlSdr_883SIDeQ1rIbqPeJt1RY-gknyydrBg/s1600/Ponte_Vecchio_at_Sunset.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4Exlok3N55MDyr7ji1ew3i8ZH7QZkcr-vOSPBigw5VJmGQLQXLHbd5PMtzbIUzjwDVYl093kZi4JnAdpNHTnO1DsVwx15RXVcwJUc-ttKlSdr_883SIDeQ1rIbqPeJt1RY-gknyydrBg/s400/Ponte_Vecchio_at_Sunset.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5631241173639271506" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponte_Vecchio">Ponte Vecchio</a>. Photo by Flickr user <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/sherseydc/">Stevehdc</a>.</span><br /><br />The </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridge">bridge</a><span style="font-family:arial;"> has long been both a physical and symbolic construction of positive connectivity. The theory goes that a bridge connects two distinct areas by spanning some obstacle, be it physical or metaphysical. The bridge as structure stands particularly noble when connecting nations. It's materiality promoting development, commerce, and, at it's most basic, trust. </span> <span style="font-family:arial;"> </span><span style="font-family:arial;"><br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyW-BYxdkqc7LvPo6wpV1SxGsP5skCxjBUoi1W5s1oksCTHPxxPlWa2sNkRMMMFMp4mvOFbiHZfcbtKeb8HCildQQyKzQCkJ5ZwrOAp77eZtrT9-NJ8cfyJEaiAxec5ouRfc5oCMx3LrA/s1600/AFRO+NOTE+BACK_BIG.jpeg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 205px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyW-BYxdkqc7LvPo6wpV1SxGsP5skCxjBUoi1W5s1oksCTHPxxPlWa2sNkRMMMFMp4mvOFbiHZfcbtKeb8HCildQQyKzQCkJ5ZwrOAp77eZtrT9-NJ8cfyJEaiAxec5ouRfc5oCMx3LrA/s400/AFRO+NOTE+BACK_BIG.jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5631241052126419650" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">1000 AFRO Note by <a href="http://www.big.dk/">BIG</a>.<br /><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoRuV3rt1Hg4cOEAAxa0guPKBwvHq476ho8o0OyGdkinsp38cCoR85dVmc6HprhW2vEqkzLWjfenULp68CVLlvFUUFvo2CxDxvhOqZoizvM-sEVMwSPEF0xOsKAn6DopNOPCDfyXCuvsQ/s1600/EURO+NOTE+BACK_BIG.jpeg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 205px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoRuV3rt1Hg4cOEAAxa0guPKBwvHq476ho8o0OyGdkinsp38cCoR85dVmc6HprhW2vEqkzLWjfenULp68CVLlvFUUFvo2CxDxvhOqZoizvM-sEVMwSPEF0xOsKAn6DopNOPCDfyXCuvsQ/s400/EURO+NOTE+BACK_BIG.jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5631240819391353714" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">1000 Euro Note by <a href="http://www.big.dk/">BIG</a>.</span><br /><br /><a href="http://www.big.dk/">BIG</a>, The Bjarke Ingles Group, has designed a series of monetary notes consisting of a 1000 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euro">Euro Note</a> and a new corresponding 1000 AFRO Note, in an effort to promote a "United African Currency". Both banknotes graphically portray a proposed bridge that would span from Africa to Europe via the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strait_of_Gibraltar">Strait of Gibraltar.</a> The bridge, massive in scale, would provide commercial development, residential property, and other public functions as well as the typical modes of transport. </span> <span style="font-family:arial;">According to BIG: </span><blockquote style="font-family: arial;">The bridge is conceived as an inhabited overpass uniting Euro-African typologies—such as Firenze’s Ponte Vecchio and Le Corbusier's Obus Plan for Algiers—into an intercontinental hybrid of city and infrastructure. The investment in concrete and steel doubles as load-bearing structure for living and working spaces for the many immigrants anticipated over the next decades, and will help establish the bridge itself as a bicontinental city in its own right.</blockquote> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw3AJaYj6a13fCYvnFTZfiaWcjDTvnuj0wMXPrg6y7LDoFGnIZ9jd5pHyR8AhXPps7yWeAJY4hgd1y-F6sP0IS1znaqSWIuQ374dj_hc79Ahdq8EGwSlozSagafZaCR_GA1pRwhOD0X58/s1600/Strait_of_gibraltar.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 386px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw3AJaYj6a13fCYvnFTZfiaWcjDTvnuj0wMXPrg6y7LDoFGnIZ9jd5pHyR8AhXPps7yWeAJY4hgd1y-F6sP0IS1znaqSWIuQ374dj_hc79Ahdq8EGwSlozSagafZaCR_GA1pRwhOD0X58/s400/Strait_of_gibraltar.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5631240130380482866" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">The Strait of Gibraltar as seen from space. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Strait_of_gibraltar.jpg">Photo</a> via NASA.</span><br /><br />The bridge is materialized space that attempts to connect two landmasses with physical infrastructure but also to stimulate economy and relations.</span><span style="font-family:arial;"> Because of this, it is ironic and somehow just, that real money would be the perfect medium to convey and promote such a project. The structure represents a real connection between Europe and Africa, which in turn, promises increased movement, commerce, and their effects. Both sides are guaranteed a double-edged sword, experiencing both the benefits and headaches of this improved connection. But in the end, new and ever-evolving economies and relationships could be forged by the bridge - an ambitious, yet honest physical structure. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">Seen first on <a href="http://bldgblog.blogspot.com/2011/07/geopolitical-redesign-or-bridge-between.html">BLDG BLOG</a>.</span></span><br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/share" class="twitter-share-button" count="none" via="Arx4Guerillas">Tweet</a><script type="text/javascript" src="http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03339343412411265524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8808880139688453447.post-71534955821213946732011-06-28T20:32:00.017-04:002011-06-28T22:47:04.564-04:00Wear Your Grass on Your Sleeve<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2FCwMA68j_jyhZ-HCGLjeTB_7kleEjTM7sXraQzOiGBytsw4u5oaZ4C3D_Vk2yiZDiW8uw3KxGo2Hh9pijPbF-conUI3rjwpbpiCtbAvPHPiKXwoDIRbrSmqfdJVYlq1-RwbrCna6DWg/s1600/Grass-Bear-Skin-Rug_Lautner.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2FCwMA68j_jyhZ-HCGLjeTB_7kleEjTM7sXraQzOiGBytsw4u5oaZ4C3D_Vk2yiZDiW8uw3KxGo2Hh9pijPbF-conUI3rjwpbpiCtbAvPHPiKXwoDIRbrSmqfdJVYlq1-RwbrCna6DWg/s400/Grass-Bear-Skin-Rug_Lautner.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5623440437148929602" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Grass Skin Rug</span> by <a href="http://www.earthwormhole.blogspot.com/">earthwormstudio</a>.<br /></span></span><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />It's like a bear skin rug - without the bear. Hopefully the bear left behind is out there somewhere, being a bear. Instead, curl up and watch your favorite movies on a nice piece of the countryside. The right patch of grass can be downright comfortable and even adds a great splash of green to any naturally day-lit room.</span> <span style="font-family:arial;">And why stop there? Strike a pose in your best </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.woostercollective.com/2011/06/yeti_fresh_stuff_from_misstika_at_new_yo.html">Grass Yeti</a><span style="font-family:arial;"> suit.<br /></span></span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbkWlDzwZ8Gb_IGj_fUnXozoh-ycO6VX5UWd-QyQPp_pOdiQ-XHNnM8CL-UnQ5Sp5qQ50KGjCUUGILArXaKezm8s5l1cew5ktxGIHnR-mmN58v1oOjFkmAidzm1t3INyzqRlRr3WcSOQk/s1600/Yeti-Misstika_03"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbkWlDzwZ8Gb_IGj_fUnXozoh-ycO6VX5UWd-QyQPp_pOdiQ-XHNnM8CL-UnQ5Sp5qQ50KGjCUUGILArXaKezm8s5l1cew5ktxGIHnR-mmN58v1oOjFkmAidzm1t3INyzqRlRr3WcSOQk/s400/Yeti-Misstika_03" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5623440761399900498" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisHz1mSrNWBDC6h1oyBykMWDwc2g-8yyKhwWLtdQ8uiCuKM6G2handM6ydG5zwZl7blYGE8QEEnOeXCRZzRSj1SeHzMIoQOSLJ_Pvh7JYBR6I0j-G0PkFB1aVLKgiOxmQKWimX3-dFn88/s1600/Yeti-Misstika_02"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisHz1mSrNWBDC6h1oyBykMWDwc2g-8yyKhwWLtdQ8uiCuKM6G2handM6ydG5zwZl7blYGE8QEEnOeXCRZzRSj1SeHzMIoQOSLJ_Pvh7JYBR6I0j-G0PkFB1aVLKgiOxmQKWimX3-dFn88/s400/Yeti-Misstika_02" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5623446198489674034" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:78%;" ><span style="font-style: italic;">Yeti</span>, by Misstika at Figment Festival in New York. Seen on </span><span style="font-size:78%;"><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.woostercollective.com/">Wooster Collective</a></span><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:78%;">.</span><br /><br /></span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;"><span>The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grass">grass</a> family is one of the most abundant plant forms on earth. It is important in every ecosystem it inhabits - providing a vital energy source to the food chain around it. It also helps to filter rainwater into the soil below and even holds the top layer of earth in place. And it's entirely renewable for the cultavatively curious. Why wouldn't you want some grass walls, floors or clothes?<br /><br /></span></span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;"><span>"Calm down. Stroke the furry wall."<br /><br /></span></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj06pj65Vn1N2MFjkEVBGW8C9ojGOZMcez8HC3spSWF4O1Z5NVJbiTa0M0UuyEwGmrum8nszegRnyYanZw-om4-bJeYP14_pgiq2i4uM3ExaEVAYRmmvOT7K4BXYlST4CRppi5wjuukJ0o/s1600/Furry+Walls.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj06pj65Vn1N2MFjkEVBGW8C9ojGOZMcez8HC3spSWF4O1Z5NVJbiTa0M0UuyEwGmrum8nszegRnyYanZw-om4-bJeYP14_pgiq2i4uM3ExaEVAYRmmvOT7K4BXYlST4CRppi5wjuukJ0o/s400/Furry+Walls.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5623444747218647810" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;"><span><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1226229/"><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:78%;" >Get Him to the Greek</span></a></span></span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;"><br /><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/share" class="twitter-share-button" count="none" via="Arx4Guerillas">Tweet</a><script type="text/javascript" src="http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><br /></span></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03339343412411265524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8808880139688453447.post-26877021837611112672011-06-19T21:02:00.017-04:002011-06-20T22:45:31.794-04:00How Tall is Too Tall<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFISvt5mVrzLjEYfhADyn1mRn8lzHkhGuCgGxt3GjXKVwUu9oCrN_YuVTEw_PkVSmYWLGYTaJEcVyZXPDGjM7w0XxZrUVE9mJiTGQJk4sUj42vI3Z4kXxPT2SAfcI3dd__jWLZUtB9sys/s1600/lake-tahoe-redwood-trees-DeclanMcCullagh.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 409px; height: 612px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFISvt5mVrzLjEYfhADyn1mRn8lzHkhGuCgGxt3GjXKVwUu9oCrN_YuVTEw_PkVSmYWLGYTaJEcVyZXPDGjM7w0XxZrUVE9mJiTGQJk4sUj42vI3Z4kXxPT2SAfcI3dd__jWLZUtB9sys/s400/lake-tahoe-redwood-trees-DeclanMcCullagh.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5620466598676251666" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" ><span style="font-family:arial;">Photograph by </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.mccullagh.org/image/10d-18/lake-tahoe-redwood-trees-5.html">Declan McCullagh Photography</a><span style="font-family:arial;">.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">We often say that we should follow the biological examples set forth by nature when we design. But what happens when our ambitions are greater than the limits of natural design? Take the height of a tree for example - in many cases, the taller the tree, the more energy it can harvest. Since trees naturally grow close to one another, they need to grow vertically to reach the sun amidst it's neighbors. The taller the tree grows, the more access to life-giving sunlight it has. However, any successful quest for the sun would surely be folly - and nature knows it. At the upper limits of a trees structural and functional capacity there is a point where the need for more height becomes obsolete. Growing taller would mean too much energy is invested in moving water from the roots to the upper branches and leaves. The quest for height is counteracted by the physical limits of the trees natural capabilities and thus, an upper limit is reached.</span> <span style="font-family:arial;"><br /></span></span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJT12jUYeLByqMQzhDs0GOWIWENNBQNoIncj7ycd1KRVbuDvnI-wxwpOmuwK_Xcgid6LL83HIauR-quuqbjpmf-doVH18kUhr2Bb4D7YEenl67yj0WeEJr-to9zp42bb482MkSRlBVFQc/s1600/coastal-redwood.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 406px; height: 304px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJT12jUYeLByqMQzhDs0GOWIWENNBQNoIncj7ycd1KRVbuDvnI-wxwpOmuwK_Xcgid6LL83HIauR-quuqbjpmf-doVH18kUhr2Bb4D7YEenl67yj0WeEJr-to9zp42bb482MkSRlBVFQc/s400/coastal-redwood.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5620494734490359426" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Coastal Redwoods via <a href="http://coastalcare.org/2010/12/yurok-tribe-indians-seek-land-for-a-tribal-park-on-the-north-pacific-coast/">Coastal Care</a>.</span><br /><br />The tallest tree now generally accepted as the tallest living is a 379.1 ft (115.56 m) Coast Redwood in Redwood National Park, California. The height of the Coast Redwood Tree is within the upper limits of a trees natural boundary. Any taller, and the energy required to function would be too great to validate it's successful existence. What are the upper limits of buildings? </span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"> <span style="font-family:arial;"><br /><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUGLuiydkMlK9tGASElA8CZv42xsXBiiOTM9W_cQQVFLkOfLrCgS1S972_9iKZ9FQ61c01Ql7fn2aTpAMO9_u04fZrA7v9QkYT_iIqbMmya_2YRb5iq-dPZemKY374JFe6lhAQiVq_L40/s1600/Burj_Khalifa_building.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 402px; height: 603px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUGLuiydkMlK9tGASElA8CZv42xsXBiiOTM9W_cQQVFLkOfLrCgS1S972_9iKZ9FQ61c01Ql7fn2aTpAMO9_u04fZrA7v9QkYT_iIqbMmya_2YRb5iq-dPZemKY374JFe6lhAQiVq_L40/s400/Burj_Khalifa_building.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5620464907164899442" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-style: italic;">The </span><a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burj_Khalifa">Burj Khalifa</a><span style="font-style: italic;">.</span><br /><br />The tallest building in the world is the </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burj_Khalifa">Burj Khalifa</a><span style="font-family:arial;"> in Dubai, UAE. It measures 2,717 ft (828 m) tall. The building, designed by </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.som.com/content.cfm/www_home">Skidmore Owings Merrill</a><span style="font-family:arial;">, is undeniably a marvel of modern design and construction. The sheer enormity of the structural, mechanical, and planning needs of a building this tall alone warrant it's status as one of humankinds greatest achievements. The structural system of the building was an elegant solution to excessive height. According to </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://gulfnews.com/business/property/burj-khalifa-towering-challenge-for-builders-1.561802">Gulf News</a><span style="font-family:arial;">: </span></span><blockquote style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">"To support the unprecedented height of the building, the engineers developed a new structural system called the ‘buttressed core', which consists of a hexagonal core reinforced by three buttresses that form the ‘Y' shape. This structural system enables the building to support itself laterally and keeps it from twisting."</span></blockquote><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">The strength of this revolutionary system allowed the engineers to add more floors than building was originally designed for. The building will apparently also use </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.paktribune.com/news/index.shtml?226169">solar power</a><span style="font-family:arial;"> to heat 140,000 litres of water a day for use in residential and commercial use in the tower. </span> <span style="font-family:arial;">However, the building still consumes a massive amount of resources to operate. Consider the comparison by The </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.theredwhiteandgreen.com/2010/01/04/burj-dubai-worlds-tallest-building-is-a-marvel-of-ecological-excess/">Red White and Green</a><span style="font-family:arial;">: </span></span><ul style="font-family:arial;"><li><span style="font-size:85%;"><strong>Water: </strong>Around 250,000 gallons of water a day</span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;"><strong>Electricity:</strong> At peak times, roughly 40,000 kilowatts — the equivalent of 500,000 100-watt light bulbs burning at the same time</span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;"><strong>Raw materials:</strong> Nearly 40,000 tons of steel — enough to stretch a quarter of the way around the earth if laid end to end</span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;"><strong>Wasted space:</strong> The upper 30+ floors are so tiny, they can only be used for storage.</span></li></ul><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">The building is an enormous achievement of excess. Beautiful and terrifying.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:arial;">But can they become bigger without some type of radical new technology? Can a building of that size exist without consuming more than it takes to operate? Give back even?<br /> </span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;"><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZkk_NU2MMcRDe1wvq0CnHqgUGS772EPGcVzj9TmlVhSitNGKwseTRmaP-hklw08ehN9KWQUWtliQaMydzPSHUvH1ZsZY8mqgg5fXsxuh2qUbsJtG47IFPWqeDiOx9CpdM7guwkCQo3uM/s1600/Brueghel-tower-of-babel.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 401px; height: 302px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZkk_NU2MMcRDe1wvq0CnHqgUGS772EPGcVzj9TmlVhSitNGKwseTRmaP-hklw08ehN9KWQUWtliQaMydzPSHUvH1ZsZY8mqgg5fXsxuh2qUbsJtG47IFPWqeDiOx9CpdM7guwkCQo3uM/s400/Brueghel-tower-of-babel.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5620498320196953154" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-style: italic;">The Tower of Babel by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pieter_Bruegel_the_Elder">Pieter Bruegel the Elder</a>.</span><br /><br />A <a href="http://dvice.com/archives/2011/04/kingdom-tower-w.php">building twice the size of the Burj Khalifa</a> boasts of the idea of reaching for the gods - a true <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_of_Babel">Tower of Babel</a>. A feat that surely will be attempted, and probably even achieved some day. But like the tree before it, will it do something for humanity, the earth, or for something else altogether - our ego and physically awe-inspiring proof of our dominion over this planet. Will the world be better with it, than without it? That's what nature knows. and is trying to tell us. It only allows for something to exist when that something is a both a benefit to itself and everything else around it.<br /><br />Inspired by <a href="http://io9.com/5813349/what-is-a-trees-maximum-possible-height">What is a Tree's Maximum Possible Height</a> as seen on <a href="http://blog.io9.com/">i09</a>.<br /></span></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03339343412411265524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8808880139688453447.post-59680666822474798772011-06-14T12:39:00.008-04:002011-06-14T13:30:13.623-04:00Of Bricks and Bacteria<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfWAHPdt584Ax-Z8c9Nr0v0_m4kFmdtyr3VnYBCRpDT3UMiSROOHDHpbWkBQtFq_gmSPb9bSRiQvtwfRZGl0_V6jGuDRdkLxBJCO_cATrQ6Db5Zrs5cOk22gUFStqZWV-NiXY0AZ9HFns/s1600/metropolis_next_generation_brick_02.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 444px; height: 295px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfWAHPdt584Ax-Z8c9Nr0v0_m4kFmdtyr3VnYBCRpDT3UMiSROOHDHpbWkBQtFq_gmSPb9bSRiQvtwfRZGl0_V6jGuDRdkLxBJCO_cATrQ6Db5Zrs5cOk22gUFStqZWV-NiXY0AZ9HFns/s400/metropolis_next_generation_brick_02.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5618128221890242018" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">On average, the kiln-drying process for one brick emits 1.3 pounds of carbon dioxide. Every year, 1.23 <span style="font-style: italic;">trillion</span> bricks are made around the world. The environmental pollution associated with this process totals more than that of all aviation pollution worldwide. Fire-kilned <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brick">brick</a> has been around for over 5000 years, making it one of the oldest - if not the oldest - manufactured building mate</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">rial in the world. Introduced to the world by the Romans, the technology surrounding brick has changed little over that span. However, as manufacturing and technology increases, the environmental impact of the material is being unearthed. The traditional method has never changed because there was no reason to change it. Now there is. And now you can grow a brick.</span> <span style="font-family:arial;"><br /><br />Ginger Krieg Dosier, 24 year-old architecture professor</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;"> with a passion for microbiology, and chemistry, and winner of the <a href="http://www.metropolismag.com/story/20100512/the-better-brick-2010-next-generation-winner">Build a Better Brick competition</a> sponsored by Metropolis, has invented a brick manufacturing process that works sans heat. According to Bustler: </span></span><blockquote style="font-family: arial;font-family:arial;" ><span style="font-size:85%;">"Dosier's process replaces baking with </span><span style="font-size:85%;">simple mixing, and because it is low-tech (apart from the production of the bacterial activate), can be done onsite in localities without modern infrastructure. The process uses no heat at all: mixing sand and non-pathogenic bacteria (sporosar) and putting the mixture into molds. The bacteria induce calcite precipitation in the sand and yield bricks with sandstone-like properties."</span></blockquote><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">The brick represents a twofold advantage over the traditional methods of kiln-firing. First, the environmental impact. By replacing the most environmentally damaging part of the manufacturing process - the firing - the process is rendered almost entirely natural. The brick relies on the active ingredients to produce chemical reactions to achieve the brick's hardness and strength. Second, again by replacing the firing process, the physical infrastructure required to manufacture the brick has been reduced. Without the need for large firing kilns, the process becomes much more suited to rural and developing areas where a manufacturing operation can be set up quickly, on site and local, and without permanent structures or facilities.<br /></span></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">See the whole process of making a brick <a href="http://www.metropolismag.com/story/20100512/the-better-brick-2010-next-generation-winner">here</a> at Metropolis. </span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"> </span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi35ryx8eDDMx5MTP1qiTvokoaT99v-ciBtI8MdqctQdk7uVyC-J5Ya2zA7HJXlJ1xHGO7tr3EGo25IKiNUxJMBv6D91CrlvelSuBT1pX2lNdU-R-gQErC_AOmAiUQLCyXt2IKqF_pzdXw/s1600/metropolis_next_generation_brick_01.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 453px; height: 193px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi35ryx8eDDMx5MTP1qiTvokoaT99v-ciBtI8MdqctQdk7uVyC-J5Ya2zA7HJXlJ1xHGO7tr3EGo25IKiNUxJMBv6D91CrlvelSuBT1pX2lNdU-R-gQErC_AOmAiUQLCyXt2IKqF_pzdXw/s400/metropolis_next_generation_brick_01.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5618128352818721362" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">As a type of unit masonry, the brick lends itself to small-scale and mass production. However, the idea of growing structural components is intriguing. Could the scale be increased, and entire building structures be grown organically from the ground up? Moreover, if the active ingredients were designed to not just activate, but multiply, could we see structures grown with the precision typically reserved for Mother Nature? Strength where required, and lightness where it is not. This would relate very well to the theories of<a href="http://architectureforguerillas.blogspot.com/2009/10/neri-oxman-and-process-of-form.html"> Neri Oxman</a> and <a href="http://architectureforguerillas.blogspot.com/2010/11/ice-nine-or-how-to-grow-concrete-from.html">iGem Synthetic Biology</a>. </span> <span style="font-family:arial;"><br /><br />Seen on <a href="http://io9.com/5811560/bricks-made-of-bacteria-could-build-a-more-sustainable-world">I09</a>, <a href="http://www.bustler.net/index.php/article/bioengineered_brick_wins_2010_metropolis_next_generation_design_prize/">Bustler</a>, and <a href="http://www.metropolismag.com/story/20100512/the-better-brick-2010-next-generation-winner">Metropolis</a>. </span></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03339343412411265524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8808880139688453447.post-1264984048256896362011-05-16T12:35:00.004-04:002011-05-16T13:27:38.085-04:00The Library as Vending Machine<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjbV49oQl_qUIrHYxS94Muy84sPlXQUIu61imDjOnMWd22et0Ft9je3XFj3EjFd037JLIKAEGhN5Ko87TIygsIfAa9LqgwdAptatHUT9TXoXmlzxYdfUMnsZXF8LTVH91FbJW4ofJNeUg/s1600/Vista_de_la_Biblioteca_Vasconcelos.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjbV49oQl_qUIrHYxS94Muy84sPlXQUIu61imDjOnMWd22et0Ft9je3XFj3EjFd037JLIKAEGhN5Ko87TIygsIfAa9LqgwdAptatHUT9TXoXmlzxYdfUMnsZXF8LTVH91FbJW4ofJNeUg/s400/Vista_de_la_Biblioteca_Vasconcelos.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5607366064527473170" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">There is something mysterious and exciting about walking down a dark narrow library aisle - the stacks closing in over top of you, the dusty smell of aging paper, and the possibility of stumbling upon a book you never even knew existed. This is the experience of silently wandering through countless libraries all over the world. Unfortunately, this experience is also at odds with the fast-paced immediate retrieval experience that is the digital age we find ourselves in currently. Starting your search may be as easy as typing in the broadest definition of the topic, and result in countless digital paths of inquiry - akin to browsing through dusty stacks as organized by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dewey_decimal_system">Dewey</a>. However, if you know exactly what you are looking for, the ability to narrow down feedback results can be as precise as you can type. Results can be almost immediate - and all from the comfort of your home computer or mobile device. This is the wonder and detachment of the internet and digital information.<br /></span><br /><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ESCxYchCaWI" allowfullscreen="" width="425" frameborder="0" height="349"></iframe><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The new <a href="http://www.uchicago.edu/features/20110516_mansueto/">Joe and Rika Mansueto Library</a> at the <a href="http://www.uchicago.edu/index.shtml">University of Chicago</a> has bridged the gap between physical records and digital accessibility with it's "Automated Storage and Retrieval System" that "takes inspiration from commercial inventory techniques". The books and manuscripts are stored in special preservation-condition bins and bar-coded so that the system knows exactly where to send it's robotic retrieval arms for delivery. The user short-circuits the traditional method of library searching, and instead, is greeted by the worlds largest vending machine. Instead of Honeybuns and Cheetos's, pressing B5 will bring you Shakespeare and Darwin.</span> <span style="font-family:arial;"><br /><br />The technology is indeed highly sophisticated and brings a new level of organization and ease to a process once fraught with uncertainty and confusion. The search for information has become more direct and efficient, however, gone are the days of exploration and tangential discoveries that often lead to new avenues of research. The Joe and Rika Mansueto Library uses an online catalog that allows users to digitally "search" the library holdings. It would be interesting to know if a certain amount of "randomness" could be built into this search so users are given several options to branch out their search. The catalog could have a built-in "I'm Feeling Lucky" function similar to Google's Search Engine, or even a recommendation function similar to Amazon's "User Who Searched for This Product Also Searched For..." </span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Seen on <a href="http://gizmodo.com/5802009/university-of-chicagos-robotic-library-makes-your-librarian-obsolete">Gizmodo</a>.</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Video via <a href="http://www.uchicago.edu/features/20110516_mansueto/">University of Chicago</a></span></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03339343412411265524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8808880139688453447.post-12442271990395433142011-03-28T12:13:00.009-04:002011-03-28T13:28:08.066-04:00Of Robots and Clouds<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikEnktwTsLJpUHF2krSJLrbDty5gGSQialb1xigiE_82GW-NptGvvZEq24j5OoYs5zf8YsjMvjQltWWjkiKRvP-A1rPlOJxikdZMGx-FWFW2wsHNJmkAo85MmLRlHMCYp7amu2-f_zv8I/s1600/blimp.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikEnktwTsLJpUHF2krSJLrbDty5gGSQialb1xigiE_82GW-NptGvvZEq24j5OoYs5zf8YsjMvjQltWWjkiKRvP-A1rPlOJxikdZMGx-FWFW2wsHNJmkAo85MmLRlHMCYp7amu2-f_zv8I/s400/blimp.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5589182044178029874" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">In the summer of 2022, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qatar">Qatar</a>, a small country on the Arabian Peninsula will host the<a href="http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/index.html"> FIFA World Cup</a>. In the summer of 2022, temperatures are expected to reach, as they do now, up to 120 degrees Fahrenheit (50 C). <a href="http://www.fifpro.org/">FIFPro</a>, the global football players union stated that temperature extremes such as this "...[do] not provide suitable conditions for a festival of football such as the World Cup". FIFA officials initially stated that the tour</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">nament, which is historically played in the summer months of June and July, would be moved to the winter months, but have since stated it would go on as planned during the summer.<br /><br /></span> </span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">Qatar engineers plan to air-condition the host stadiums through energy collected from solar arrays to combat the excessive heat, but also have a new trick up their sleeve: <span style="font-style: italic;">Robotic Clouds</span>. According to a <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/9435035.stm">video clip</a> on <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/">BBC</a>, The "clouds", constructed of lightweight, inflatable materials, driven by four turbine engines are powered by integrated solar collectors and would be remote controlled to follow the path of the sun, thus "shielding it from direct sunlight and providing a favorable climatic environment" for the stadium.<br /><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD-8thHL2Uoq9pgmH9oX8pQOoXJn68P2pKI7VBIDoociWdYsktv6NQsYlFl8poyT6f_Hc7wNUi_iwzpQHAmlgyqHyl6AHj3lHx0DqY8gp_ipTWbshNiDjFR4x2er-pFpv7kYeBhe-nwQg/s1600/Qatar+Robotic+Clouds.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 396px; height: 440px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD-8thHL2Uoq9pgmH9oX8pQOoXJn68P2pKI7VBIDoociWdYsktv6NQsYlFl8poyT6f_Hc7wNUi_iwzpQHAmlgyqHyl6AHj3lHx0DqY8gp_ipTWbshNiDjFR4x2er-pFpv7kYeBhe-nwQg/s400/Qatar+Robotic+Clouds.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5589182179543798242" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">This robotic cloud may be part of the natural evolution of the "</span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodyear_blimp">Goodyear Blimp</a><span style="font-family:arial;">" phenomenon, which began in 1925 as a platform for advertisement and eventually the television and video broadcasting of sports events. Add to this technology the ability to create remote controlled micro-climates, and a new breed of airships is born. One where, as </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://bldgblog.blogspot.com/">BLDG BLOG</a><span style="font-family:arial;"> notes "the next step in temporary event architecture will be a remote-controlled swarm of rearrangeable horizontal and vertical surfaces, forming ceilings, roofs, walls, floors, ramps, and stairways."</span> </span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;"><br /><br />The idea of a technology enabling users the power to control their environment is not a new one, but is still a</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">n extremely powerful one. </span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">One can easily imagine entire fleets being used to alter entire environments, programmed to mimic the circadian rhythms of far-off regions to enable agricultural production until now rendered impossible due to harsh climates. Or conversely, in a dystopic realization of the technology, </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >climate warfare</span><span style="font-family:arial;"> where fleets of robotic clouds are positioned to disrupt agriculture and other physical and social benefits of the sun.<br /><br />I am reminded of a scene from the recent <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0462538/">The Simpson's Movie</a> where helpless Springfielder's stand trapped under a dome and watch a live feed from their captor on a huge video screen above...<br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYYT_ccfNfgbg4C2qNs_shwDQPY0ZLb1N_prxNkxtfLk3goSPC4NrEJJ6lBR_K5Pzo8pkoRxj8nZxu2Quhj40ewTy9IIf4xqOANTrtwsMOFYik-0KBwzY9kuIXNCcavHtNe9uNMqG7znA/s1600/The+Simpsons+Movie.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 161px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYYT_ccfNfgbg4C2qNs_shwDQPY0ZLb1N_prxNkxtfLk3goSPC4NrEJJ6lBR_K5Pzo8pkoRxj8nZxu2Quhj40ewTy9IIf4xqOANTrtwsMOFYik-0KBwzY9kuIXNCcavHtNe9uNMqG7znA/s400/The+Simpsons+Movie.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5589182316648488914" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;"><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">Seen on <a href="http://bldgblog.blogspot.com/2011/03/cloud-tent.html">BLDG BLOG</a> and the <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/9435035.stm">BBC</a>. </span> </span></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03339343412411265524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8808880139688453447.post-5411291745740112712011-02-21T12:44:00.005-05:002011-02-21T13:31:56.057-05:00Nature in Architecture by Michael Pawlyn<span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;"><object width="446" height="326"><param name="movie" value="http://video.ted.com/assets/player/swf/EmbedPlayer.swf"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><param name="bgColor" value="#ffffff"> <param name="flashvars" value="vu=http://video.ted.com/talks/dynamic/MichaelPawlyn_2010S-medium.flv&su=http://images.ted.com/images/ted/tedindex/embed-posters/MichaelPawlyn-2010S.embed_thumbnail.jpg&vw=432&vh=240&ap=0&ti=1072&introDuration=15330&adDuration=4000&postAdDuration=830&adKeys=talk=michael_pawlyn_using_nature_s_genius_in_architecture;year=2010;theme=inspired_by_nature;theme=architectural_inspiration;theme=new_on_ted_com;theme=evolution_s_genius;theme=tales_of_invention;event=TEDSalon+London+2010;&preAdTag=tconf.ted/embed;tile=1;sz=512x288;"><embed src="http://video.ted.com/assets/player/swf/EmbedPlayer.swf" pluginspace="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" bgcolor="#ffffff" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" flashvars="vu=http://video.ted.com/talks/dynamic/MichaelPawlyn_2010S-medium.flv&su=http://images.ted.com/images/ted/tedindex/embed-posters/MichaelPawlyn-2010S.embed_thumbnail.jpg&vw=432&vh=240&ap=0&ti=1072&introDuration=15330&adDuration=4000&postAdDuration=830&adKeys=talk=michael_pawlyn_using_nature_s_genius_in_architecture;year=2010;theme=inspired_by_nature;theme=architectural_inspiration;theme=new_on_ted_com;theme=evolution_s_genius;theme=tales_of_invention;event=TEDSalon+London+2010;" width="446" height="326"></embed></object><br /><br />In this <a href="http://www.ted.com/">TED</a> Talk, designer Michael Pawlyn of <a href="http://www.exploration-architecture.com/section.php?xSec=15">Exploration</a> discusses the advantages of <a href="http://www.biomimicryinstitute.org/about-us/what-is-biomimicry.html">biomimicry</a> for the future of architecture and design. Pawlyn begins by citing a few examples of nature's own inventive ways of adapting to specific climate needs and indeed, makes a very clever analogy out of this evolutionary advantage: <blockquote>"You could look at nature as being a catalog of product's and all of those have benefited from a 3.8 billion year research and development period, and given that length of investment, it kind of makes sense to use it."</blockquote>Throughout the talk, Pawlyn uses examples of existing technologies and projects that learn from nature's example and use bio-mimicry to solve what he sees as the three necessary steps to becoming truly sustainable:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"> 1. Radical increases in resource efficiency</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"> 2. Linear to closed loop systems</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"> 3. Fossil fuel economy to solar economy<br /><br />Perhaps the most intriguing indictment against us is expressed in Pawlyns second step - the comparison of our current method of resource use versus the way nature does. Our current mode of design, consists of extracting resources, turning them into "short-life products", and then disposing of them. However, this contrasts greatly with the way nature uses resources. In the natural model, everything that is created is used, - the waste generated in one system, is used for energy in another. By altering our current mode of design to a "systems" model, we are able to add value to waste, which is currently now a completely negative by-product.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">Video via <a href="http://www.ted.com/">TED</a>.<br />Seen on <a href="http://www.archdaily.com/">ArchDaily</a>.</span><br /></span></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03339343412411265524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8808880139688453447.post-16449403120004454822011-01-06T23:34:00.004-05:002011-01-06T23:40:40.875-05:00Buckyball Distraction<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx8C-eX7Cw22q3OGHpOxJsOHl4imU39PhiHA_BWzDsF-1tng6CCOGCfjGGKEozfcT_LTolHd51EqbGHZEbtR-tJ6NE70F5N439QB1hHRojJaFLIbyDt5wnPMkYrSxvVEBH1Z6tw2rnp_s/s1600/Buckyball+Distraction+02.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 444px; height: 593px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx8C-eX7Cw22q3OGHpOxJsOHl4imU39PhiHA_BWzDsF-1tng6CCOGCfjGGKEozfcT_LTolHd51EqbGHZEbtR-tJ6NE70F5N439QB1hHRojJaFLIbyDt5wnPMkYrSxvVEBH1Z6tw2rnp_s/s400/Buckyball+Distraction+02.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5559298761371810002" border="0" /></a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03339343412411265524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8808880139688453447.post-90784638860723260772011-01-03T23:39:00.007-05:002011-01-04T00:18:01.029-05:00Kowloon Walled City<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMZqbQPw3p3QgHRyRzuA2H-p5hbfr0x3WQNmfQ8d2F4hAm_SCUVpRmLl1ncNQPFeTj7ga7_0o8VRO5hHhkMbzn4ALo4OOGBXPY3vQVeJyv_dm78fy9XnrUOvCRJAE4lroIdRRDMiUJIBA/s1600/kowloon-walled-city2.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 311px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMZqbQPw3p3QgHRyRzuA2H-p5hbfr0x3WQNmfQ8d2F4hAm_SCUVpRmLl1ncNQPFeTj7ga7_0o8VRO5hHhkMbzn4ALo4OOGBXPY3vQVeJyv_dm78fy9XnrUOvCRJAE4lroIdRRDMiUJIBA/s400/kowloon-walled-city2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5558194504168331954" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kowloon_Walled_City">Kowloon Walled City</a><span style="font-family:arial;"> was an urban Chinese island in the British-owned territory of Kowloon, </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hong_Kong">Hong Kong</a><span style="font-family:arial;"> characterized by it's incredible density, labyrinthine structure, and social make-up of pimps, gangsters, and opium dens. Founded as a Chinese outpost in 920 AD, the city was condemned to demolition in 1987 by the government of Hong Kong. It was demolished in 1993 after a six-year eviction process of it's residents. The city-within-a-city became notorious for it's reputation as an urban construction of hell-on-earth and indeed became a walled zone where most people could not enter without a high possibility of incident. </span> <span style="font-family:arial;"><br /><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZVc6puZtHleIK2OQGjwsgMMddeOwtR5wtSF7vW0RgCmaCjfI63swnXcmTxtxKj9gZR95LSaYvpdcoggSxarh1EfuYo130Ad5-1SP7ktJvcQVBBw28yrmVXrF8TV6q_YqOBgmAx8mO5ps/s1600/Kowloon-Cross-section-detail.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZVc6puZtHleIK2OQGjwsgMMddeOwtR5wtSF7vW0RgCmaCjfI63swnXcmTxtxKj9gZR95LSaYvpdcoggSxarh1EfuYo130Ad5-1SP7ktJvcQVBBw28yrmVXrF8TV6q_YqOBgmAx8mO5ps/s400/Kowloon-Cross-section-detail.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5558194441204880610" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">In 1993, prior to demolition, a team of <a href="http://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/switch-language/product/4000080709/ref=dp_change_lang?ie=UTF8&language=en_JP">Japanese researchers</a> was allowed to map the interior of the settlement and produced these colorful section diagrams showing both </span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">the social and sectional topography. The tangle of activities and spaces show an existence of incredible complexity and spatial relationshio to the inhabitants surroundings. However, as frantic and limitless as the graphic seems, it stands to reason that the true experience of the space was even more extraordinary than illustrated.</span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnCYKSrnruayRdhU-ChpvKbwrzZgAloWZMH_ImKE2juo8FNrBGYCdi7oNfWRUioXwcDIHk41f01u6XgnD_DC8_y-VRFw-f92fJB10gcoAJPyz-2JM-knLo3OhB86jKZo9ZPM5Ok2mGsoc/s1600/Kowloon-Cross-section-low.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 149px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnCYKSrnruayRdhU-ChpvKbwrzZgAloWZMH_ImKE2juo8FNrBGYCdi7oNfWRUioXwcDIHk41f01u6XgnD_DC8_y-VRFw-f92fJB10gcoAJPyz-2JM-knLo3OhB86jKZo9ZPM5Ok2mGsoc/s400/Kowloon-Cross-section-low.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5558194369148801650" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;"> </span> <span style="font-family:arial;"><br /></span></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">Seen on </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.deconcrete.org/2010/03/30/un-real-estate-kowloon/">deconcrete</a><span style="font-family:arial;">. Aerial image copyright Ian Lambot via </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.archdaily.com/95757/kowloon-walled-city/">ArchDaily</a><span style="font-family:arial;">. Graphics courtesy of </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://zoohaus.net/WP/?p=4872">Zoohaus</a><span style="font-family:arial;">.</span></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03339343412411265524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8808880139688453447.post-74137496753144542522010-11-29T21:30:00.008-05:002010-11-29T23:02:05.832-05:00Ice-Nine, Or How to Grow Concrete from Bacteria<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheINEBBjvHRi8C-P0xkioi7UwqsZQEzOJoQ4jheduL-o9Tn9ranslUM4V-oVqI59cgkLm6CKCQDiC9Oa-C4xTbKADGK8REHu5KCXMgI1eap_fFVc_rNZbFQYiX8pR-TrnfhpXAl-8lFN4/s1600/Newcastle_SEM8.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 325px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheINEBBjvHRi8C-P0xkioi7UwqsZQEzOJoQ4jheduL-o9Tn9ranslUM4V-oVqI59cgkLm6CKCQDiC9Oa-C4xTbKADGK8REHu5KCXMgI1eap_fFVc_rNZbFQYiX8pR-TrnfhpXAl-8lFN4/s400/Newcastle_SEM8.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5545185799551771058" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">In <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_Vonnegut">Kurt Vonnegut</a>'s 1963 satirical novel <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat%27s_Cradle">Cat's Cradle</a>, the protagonist follows the trail of a brilliant researcher's children who hold with them </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >ice-nine</span><span style="font-family:arial;"> - a chemical invention small enough to be carried under the fingernail, but potent enough to freeze all water on earth solid. The element is described as a "seed" that alters the atomic composition of liquid: </span></span><blockquote style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family: arial;">"There are several ways", Dr. Breed said to me, "in which certain liquids can crystallize - can freeze - several ways in which their atoms can stack and lock in an orderly, rigid way." That old man with spotted hands invited me to think of several ways in which cannonballs might be stacked on a courthouse lawn, of the several ways in which oranges might be packed into a crate. "So it is with crystals, too; and two different crystals of the same substance can have quite different physical properties."</span><br /></span></blockquote> <span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">He goes on to describe the stacking process</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">: </span></span><blockquote style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The theoretical villain, however, was what Dr. Breed called "a seed". He meant by that a tiny grain of the undesired crystal pattern. The seed, which had come from God-only-knows-where, taught the atoms the novel way in which to stack and lock, to crystallize, to freeze. "Now think about cannonballs on a courthouse lawn, or about oranges in a crate again", he suggested. And he helped me to see that the pattern of the bottom layer of cannonballs or of oranges determined how each subsequent layer would stack and lock. "The bottom layer is the seed of how every cannonball or every orange that comes after is going to behave, even to an infinite number of cannonballs or oranges."</span><br /></span></blockquote><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">And of course, the prolific advantages are described alongside the horrific consequences: </span></span><blockquote style="font-family: arial;font-family:arial;" ><span style="font-size:85%;">And that old man asked me to think of United States Marines in a Godforsaken swamp. "Their trucks and tanks are wallowing", he complained, "sinking in stinking miasma and ooze." He raised a finger and winked at me. "But suppose, young man, that one Marine had with him a tiny capsule containing a seed of ice-nine, a new way for the atoms of water to stack and lock, to freeze. If that Marine threw that seed into the nearest puddle...?" "The puddle would freeze?", I guessed. "And all the muck around the puddle?" "It would freeze?" "And all the puddles in the frozen muck?" "They would freeze?" "And the pools and the streams in the frozen muck?" 'They would freeze?"</span></blockquote><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">In 1963, Vonnegut pondered both the possibilities and the dangers of such technology through dark humor, the absurd, and the profane in this story of invention and the human hands that guide it. In 2010, however, the potency of this allegory is all to familiar as science, theory, and invention is constantly redefining the ability of humans to solve problems.<br /><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilXMQ2MNwPyLdFQkHSMLNCuYO_GIqjHP_Uo3I6RYoFLmWwfH_CU45jnC2sMiuf8aqnJWfyDxyxGA_dxI6QLBxmCQ2hwOnL6xobwXLLGXrcn8TgiuUWz86uc7tbDgLQ3HZDSeTUlqgFd8w/s1600/Newcastle_SEM3.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 325px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilXMQ2MNwPyLdFQkHSMLNCuYO_GIqjHP_Uo3I6RYoFLmWwfH_CU45jnC2sMiuf8aqnJWfyDxyxGA_dxI6QLBxmCQ2hwOnL6xobwXLLGXrcn8TgiuUWz86uc7tbDgLQ3HZDSeTUlqgFd8w/s400/Newcastle_SEM3.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5545185646065585362" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">For the annual <a href="http://2010.igem.org/Main_Page">iGem</a> synthetic biology contest, a group of students at Newcastle University have engineered <a href="http://2010.igem.org/Team:Newcastle/solution#Alkalinity_resistance">BacillaFilla</a> - a type of bacteria that, once inserted into a concrete crack with the proper growing media, will germinate and produce a "</span><span style="font-family:arial;">mixture of calcium carbonate, levan glue and filamentous cells" that will densify and "activate concrete repair". Eerily, the scientific name for the compound is called Bacillus Subtillus 168. According to the team: </span></span><blockquote><p style="font-family: arial;font-family:arial;" ><span style="font-size:85%;">BacillaFilla repairs concrete by producing a mixture of calcium carbonate, levan glue and filamentous cells in the cracks. Once we have applied BacillaFilla spores onto the concrete surface, they will start germinating in the presence of media. Once the cells have germinated, they will start to swarm down the crack. At the bottom of the crack when they reach a high density, they will use subtilin quorum sensing to activate concrete repair. BacillaFilla repairs concrete by 3 different processes: </span></p> <span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" >1. Some of the cells with produce calcium carbonate crystals, </span><br /><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" >2. Some of the cells will become filamentous thereby acting as reinforcing fibres in the crack and </span><br /><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" >3. All the cells will produce Levans glue which acts as a binding agent and at the same time it fills up the whole crack.</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> </span></blockquote><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">Interestingly, the bacteria only work through a <a href="http://2010.igem.org/Team:Newcastle/Swarming">swarming</a> process whereby the bacteria propel themselves to reach the point of germination. Also, almost in a pre-meditated response to detractors and grey-goo fear-mongers, the team has implemented a genetic "<a href="http://2010.igem.org/Team:Newcastle/Non-target-environment_kill_switch">kill-switch</a>" to stop the spread of bacteria.<br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioZV2dMY2LUZBXOP8Qd8h_1FcWV3VrKX3qc4eYa9RDdz9nmVaVA5upihLVik3OQ_7uRjIu5bt4OEtEaLyH7Od2S3l9EkjGskXxHsXgMEO9e9QsrwqidPvmxM2-q2wyqwIiGIab2DX1BIY/s1600/Newcastle_SEM1.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 325px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioZV2dMY2LUZBXOP8Qd8h_1FcWV3VrKX3qc4eYa9RDdz9nmVaVA5upihLVik3OQ_7uRjIu5bt4OEtEaLyH7Od2S3l9EkjGskXxHsXgMEO9e9QsrwqidPvmxM2-q2wyqwIiGIab2DX1BIY/s400/Newcastle_SEM1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5545185971230345682" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">O</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">f course, the ability to repair concrete from within is as exciting as the potential for a runaway concrete-producing super-bacteria is alarming. Material technologies such as this blur the lines between natural phenomena and synthetic architecture, border on Utopian ideals and science-fictional dystopias, and represent bold new ideas in research and development.<br /><br />Images via <a href="http://2010.igem.org/Team:Newcastle/solution#Alkalinity_resistance">TeamNewcastle</a> and <a href="http://www.ncl.ac.uk/">Newcastle University</a>. Seen on <a href="http://io9.com/5690968/the-bacteria-that-make-you-grow-concrete-in-your-mouth">i09</a>. </span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span><p style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></p>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03339343412411265524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8808880139688453447.post-36978248542525922312010-08-21T22:50:00.006-04:002010-08-21T23:30:31.140-04:00A View of the Pakistan Floods<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQc7q_N8jmnsC-vJmcAMoRQ3s4fnqkFtrnaUXB8DSqVsJFB58krQOSALVSN1l6VW5I4Yrn8I1d7FMlDEVBF3l7YSh9dhh9ECtSczjJa4Y4HeVGhMIoVTfXKcoEhTitdCxZQN-9WQHwc18/s1600/Pakistan-Flood_After.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQc7q_N8jmnsC-vJmcAMoRQ3s4fnqkFtrnaUXB8DSqVsJFB58krQOSALVSN1l6VW5I4Yrn8I1d7FMlDEVBF3l7YSh9dhh9ECtSczjJa4Y4HeVGhMIoVTfXKcoEhTitdCxZQN-9WQHwc18/s400/Pakistan-Flood_After.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5508070512243244498" border="0" /></a><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" ><span style="font-size:78%;">The Indus River Watershed on August 18th, 2010.<br /><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsz9huf9HUM_kxpn2-Oi0Rj1LWLPeb-npELKFt7bUWhJN6cpZU5U_22ONPUUmKVhHO6wvvJUw9ErrjgLXIFfZ8ITFAkHZm9s1sJT8UOJ__84iqQR8JheTERMOAwGT11Zkg44zwhAUWNkQ/s1600/Pakistan-Flood_Before.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsz9huf9HUM_kxpn2-Oi0Rj1LWLPeb-npELKFt7bUWhJN6cpZU5U_22ONPUUmKVhHO6wvvJUw9ErrjgLXIFfZ8ITFAkHZm9s1sJT8UOJ__84iqQR8JheTERMOAwGT11Zkg44zwhAUWNkQ/s400/Pakistan-Flood_Before.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5508070703131166642" border="0" /></a><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" ><span style="font-size:78%;">The Indus River Watershed on August 13th, 2001.<br /><br /></span>The beautiful imagery of this satellite image belies the terrible ongoing event that is causing it. The flooding in northern Pakistan started in mid-July when monsoon rains exceeded expectations and overwhelmed an already overstressed watershed of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indus_River">Indus River</a>. Since then, the region's population of over 15 million have been terribly affected - millions homeless, over 1,500 people dead, and most with little or no access to proper shelter, sanitation, food, or health care.</span><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" > Extent of flooding <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/world/20pstan_map.html">graphic</a> via The <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/22/world/middleeast/22pstan.html?_r=1&hp">NYT</a></span><br /><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" ><br />The situation is expected to worsen, as more rains are expected in the coming weeks.<br /><br />There are many ways to get involved. Donate time, money, or expertise to aid organizations or local communities. Spread the word about the event to friends and family. <a href="http://www.unicef.org/pakistan/reallives_6394.htm"> UNICEF</a> has made clean drinking water and food to be priorities among aid divisions. Donate via UNICEF <a href="http://www.supportunicef.org/site/pp.asp?c=9fLEJSOALpE&b=6161181">here</a>.</span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;"> The Red Cross lists shelter and medical aid as a major concern for immediate relief needs. Donate to the American Red Cross <a href="http://www.redcross.org/portal/site/en/menuitem.1a019a978f421296e81ec89e43181aa0/?vgnextoid=e8c584250c88a210VgnVCM10000089f0870aRCRD">here</a>. The Huffington Post has also assembled a more extensive list of ways to help <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/02/pakistan-flood-victims-ne_n_667303.html">here</a>.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">Images via <a href="http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=45400&src=eorss-nh">NASA Earth Observatory</a><span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span></span><span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span><span style="font-family:arial;">.</span></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03339343412411265524noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8808880139688453447.post-49531564516167321702010-05-13T20:27:00.005-04:002010-05-13T22:19:39.628-04:00LIVE BLOG - Promoting Green Building Rating Systems in Africa - 2015 Goals<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKYHFEx5Iqv7JL3MW3vS-amT3gcoEqYpmDkAT7gm3oIG3YZaT68Kk-cpF1htBP0a4FPSKqH9HkD31xQkXbhjMIw0F5lixSfBVAQnMIOrGUEHDmQ5AK5uatENJsHk7ZvCD95ZGKZ4FLG6U/s1600/Conf_2015-Goals1.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 322px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKYHFEx5Iqv7JL3MW3vS-amT3gcoEqYpmDkAT7gm3oIG3YZaT68Kk-cpF1htBP0a4FPSKqH9HkD31xQkXbhjMIw0F5lixSfBVAQnMIOrGUEHDmQ5AK5uatENJsHk7ZvCD95ZGKZ4FLG6U/s400/Conf_2015-Goals1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5470943258241239730" border="0" /></a><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" >2015 Goals</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">In the final day of the conference, there were several things left to do. Previously, the group spent two days engaged in discussions and brainstorming sessions. By the third day, it was evident that everyone in the room had a lot of ideas about how to move forward. There were three overarching conference goals:</span> <span style="font-family:arial;"> </span><blockquote><span style="font-family:arial;">1. Make commitments, develop elements of a strategy, and create a road-map for achieving those goals.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"> 2. Develop an outline for a continental network supporting the sustainable building industry and professionals, and for assistance in establishing green building councils.</span> <span style="font-family:arial;"> <br />3. Provide recommendations to UN-Habitat on how this can be achieved.</span></blockquote> <span style="font-family:arial;">Each country represented at the conference was asked what their specific goals were for the year 2015. The following are individual country goals for 2015:</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" ><br /><br />Uganda:</span><span style="font-family:arial;"> Written green building guidelines for different environmental regions in country.</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" ><br />Nigeria:</span><span style="font-family:arial;"> Establish a GBC. Complete an example building (pilot project).</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >Tanzania:</span><span style="font-family:arial;"> Integrate green building (re-integrate traditional sustainable building techniques) into codes. Pilot projects for schools, healthcare/clinics, and commnity centers for public awareness. Financial system in place w/industry support.</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >Malawi:</span><span style="font-family:arial;"> Environmental curriculum in schools (all levels).</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >Gambia:</span><span style="font-family:arial;"> Sustainable design guidelines.</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" ><br />Cameroon:</span><span style="font-family:arial;"> Grass-roots awareness campaigns at the local level.</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" ><br />Zambia:</span><span style="font-family:arial;"> Implement a GBC and get government commited to green building.</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" ><br />South Africa:</span><span style="font-family:arial;"> Integrate social aspects into rating systems.</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" ><br />Ghana:</span><span style="font-family:arial;"> Involve government and private sector into GBC development.</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >Ethiopia</span><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">:</span> Worldwide sharing of knowledge and goals (networking).</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" ><br />Morocco:</span><span style="font-family:arial;"> Complete a pilot project in each sector.</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" ><br />Burkina Faso:</span><span style="font-family:arial;"> Promote traditional methods of green building and integrate into codes/regulations. Create GBC and green building guidelines.</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" ><br />Egypt:</span><span style="font-family:arial;"> Mandate zero-emission codes.</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >Chad:</span><span style="font-family:arial;"> Develope institutional framework for GBC at a local level and connect to the Africa-wide and global GBC network.</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" ><br />Mauritius:</span><span style="font-family:arial;"> Be self-sustainable in all aspects (energy, food, materials, etc.).</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" ><br />Rwanda: </span><span style="font-family:arial;"> Tax-incentives for green buildings. Awareness campaigns.</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" ><br />Kenya:</span><span style="font-family:arial;"> Increase in demand for green building among developers and the public.</span> <span style="font-family:arial;"><br /><br />As these goals were discussed, several general themes emerged. There were four broad action-categories that each goal could be attributed to:</span> <blockquote> <span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >Policy Implementation:</span><span style="font-family:arial;"> Codes/regulations. Political support.</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" ><br />Market Transformation:</span><span style="font-family:arial;"> Financial Incentives. Industry Buy-in.</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" ><br />Guideline Development:</span><span style="font-family:arial;"> GBC's. Rating Tools.</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" ><br />Awareness and Education:</span><span style="font-family:arial;"> Curriculum. Pilot Projects. Awareness Campaigns.<br /></span></blockquote><span style="font-family:arial;"> </span> </span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03339343412411265524noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8808880139688453447.post-70179302662148306422010-05-10T20:56:00.005-04:002010-05-10T22:09:03.711-04:00LIVE BLOG - Promoting Green Building Rating Systems in Africa - Policy and Finance<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG8D3b-3hbjAwNJ5NF627K5gDtlG64Etk5Ef5rCzq4evstAAWi4CeBFYqphno0TsOb-Riu1idvyaHGFU_4uJJOiRJHCDzlJtwTRE80nKXNIBSY6Kau23GxURqG22P727JYgSbWn9N0i2k/s1600/Conference_Notes01.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 379px; height: 504px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG8D3b-3hbjAwNJ5NF627K5gDtlG64Etk5Ef5rCzq4evstAAWi4CeBFYqphno0TsOb-Riu1idvyaHGFU_4uJJOiRJHCDzlJtwTRE80nKXNIBSY6Kau23GxURqG22P727JYgSbWn9N0i2k/s400/Conference_Notes01.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5469828077835775346" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >How Can National and Local Government Policies and International Programs Encourage and/or Finance the Construction of Green Buildings and Rating Systems?</span> <span style="font-family:arial;"><br /></span></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">The <a href="http://www.unep.org/">United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP)</a> Sustainable Buildings and Climate Initiative is a program that studies and defines the global metrics of sustainable building policies. It is a policy-oriented program and does not deal directly with the technology involved in sustainable building practices. Rather, it explores the financial impact of green building and the industry reaction to the trends. These industry reactions are explored in terms of financial markets and government policy and input. </span> <span style="font-family:arial;"><br /><br />Niclas Svenningsen of UNEP states that in actual practice, the the long-term cost benefit of sustainable design is not a reality to the construction and development industry when compared to the high cost of initial investment. For it to become real, there need to be mechanisms in place to move the long-term savings of resource-efficient design to the front-end of the finance model. Enter the Stick, the Carrot, and the Tambourine. The stick that will get developers to implement sustainable design practices are policy measures such as the adoption of codes and regulations as well as penalties for under-performing buildings. The carrot, of course, is the opposite and offers tax incentives, and other rewards for well-performing buildings and development. The tambourine, though, is slightly more intangible, but perhaps less policy-oriented and therefore more relate-able to the public. The tambourine involves actions and initiatives that public promote sustainable building practices such as public relations, marketing efforts and awareness campaigns, and educational programs.</span> <span style="font-family:arial;"><br /><br />However, according to Svenningsen, the bottom line is that sustainable design cannot be promoted as a separate agenda. The concepts and benefits of green design need to be tied to other policy agendas. For example: Schools and offices with better indoor environments have statistically better performance records. Responsibly designed communities have a statistically lower rate of poverty and crime, and have a better public health record. If the benefits are explored and extolled in terms of larger issues, the ability to be implemented within the context of industry and government as a whole, from the top-down, becomes more likely. </span> <span style="font-family:arial;"><br /><br />In the opinion of the blogger, this is an issue that LEED in the United States has failed to address. Although there are some ties to government and industry, the system as a whole has positioned itself as an actual force within the market, rather than a network amongst it. This has commodified the green building field, and being a commodity, it inherently becomes an extra to the process of design and building. It is not promoted as a part of responsible design practices, rather, it is promoted as an additional service that can be included in a project if the client is able to fund the inclusion of the practices. Little effort is put into incorporating these practices into codes or regulations, and until it is done, "green buildings" will continue to be seen as a privilege instead of the norm. </span></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03339343412411265524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8808880139688453447.post-41861411992183041012010-05-06T15:32:00.013-04:002010-05-10T20:55:47.683-04:00LIVE BLOG - Promoting Green Building Rating Systems in Africa - Alternatives to Nation-Specific Green Building Councils<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0ke3MVo-XnFwKw5CA-gP7kqqvjNfDxRAWGxlhZhB0aEfjImqhXJkXSVWHozXh2kVWxWer8kHa5hTWHBiozW2ibe0vMphRJufoQ-VSpaWM-Mmg_xnLJV2QefQ1pS4UFnyKpspb0n_Jyw8/s1600/Conf_Intro-1.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0ke3MVo-XnFwKw5CA-gP7kqqvjNfDxRAWGxlhZhB0aEfjImqhXJkXSVWHozXh2kVWxWer8kHa5hTWHBiozW2ibe0vMphRJufoQ-VSpaWM-Mmg_xnLJV2QefQ1pS4UFnyKpspb0n_Jyw8/s400/Conf_Intro-1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5468267441476351378" border="0" /></a><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" >UN-Habitat Human Settlements Advisor Robert Kehew.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Alternatives to Nation-Specific Green Building Councils</span><br /><br />Although it is clear that the implementation of a Green Building Council is not a solution for instituting sustainable building practices in Sub-Saharan Africa, rather, it is a potential way to create a framework for developing the methods and metrics needed to advance the field of sustainability in Africa. However, a Green Building Council is a complex mechanism that relies on input and involvement from many different players within the building sector - architects, contractors, developers - as well as support from industry and government. So, while many countries in Africa lack formal economies advanced enough to support complex industry as well as battling political systems rife with corruption, the question arises, how small can a nation's building sector be and still support a full Green Building Council?<br /><br />If there is a correlation between a nation's Gross Domestic Product and the size of a building sector, then the smallest existing GDP's with a full-service Green Building Council are New Zealand and South Africa. The <a href="http://www.un.org/en/development/">United Nations</a> estimates that the building sector accounts for 5-15% of a country's GDP. According to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_African_countries_by_GDP_%28PPP%29">World Bank</a>, in 2009 South Africa is second in GDP among African nations behind Egypt, and almost twice that of the next two rankings (Nigeria and Algeria). After this, the number drops precipitously.<br /><br />If a country cannot support a full-service Green Building Council, are there alternatives? According to Robert Kehew of UN-Habitat and Bruce Kerswill of the World GBC, there are.<br /><br />Kehew lists Government-sponsored rating systems and Sub-Regional GBC's as options. Government rating systems are able to focus primarily on energy efficiency and can easily integrate simple rating metrics into existing regulations, however, many governments already deal with corruption and other issues that may minimize the importance of sustainable design within the larger political and social context. Sub-Regional GBC's are systems that may straddle several nations that share trading relationships, common codes and regulations, and/or cultural ties. This allows several countries to share cost, responsibility, and benefits. This model, however, also relies on the cooperation and power-sharing between potentially strained political systems and relationships.<br /><br />Bruce Kerswill of the World GBC recommends a phased approach to growth where larger, more developed nations act as a hub for smaller nations and assist in the development of rating systems and networking. This model requires that the developing country may need to adapt or customize the existing rating tools to suit their individual country-specific needs. This works well where countries share geographic similarities or borders, but may require additional time and effort where similarities or geographic proximity do not exist.<br /><br />Beyond this, are there more options? The immediate reaction from the writer of this blog is that GBC's may not be appropriate for countries at this stage of development. Where GBC's are systems that help to quantify, coordinate, and track the performance of green buildings (a very simplified definition), they are essentially bookkeeping measures. Where a nation lacks the infrastructure to support this system, it is possible that implementation of educational programs and community awareness campaigns about sustainable concepts and methods may be a better use of resources. Once these ideas and technologies are in place, and the advantages of sustainable design are understood and experienced, it would be a natural progression to then begin to quantify those results.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03339343412411265524noreply@blogger.com2