Posts Tagged ‘design’
Floating Home
Posted in Research, Visions by Kate Archdeacon on August 27th, 2010
Source: Metropolis Magazine
A competition proposal to develop a floating city has developed into ‘the world’s first off-the-grid floating building’ in Rotterdam.
Towed into place in the Rijnhaven harbor late this spring, the 10,764-square-foot pavilion is made of three geodesic domes designed by Bart Roeffen, a local architect. It grew out of a competition proposal for a floating city developed by Roeffen and fellow students at the Delft University of Technology. “We thought it was a brilliant idea to promote Rotterdam as a city on the water to anticipate the effects of climate change,” says Arnoud Molenaar, program director of the Rotterdam Climate Proof Program.
The city is expanding its current harbour by 20% and this expansion has created the space for up to 5000 similar floating structures that could potentially use the harbours and docks that are being superseded.
Original article by Cathryn Drake on Metropolis Magazine
Daily Dump: Waste Management Design
Posted in Models by Kate Archdeacon on July 1st, 2010
Via Worldchanging
From the case study by Bryan Boyer & Justin W. Cook for Helsinki Design Lab:
With a background in entrepreneurship, and experience co-founding one of India’s leading design schools, Poonam Bir Kasturi was no stranger to big challenges when she began to take note of the amount of waste filling Bangalore’s streets. Running a business and even creating a new school from scratch were successful projects built on Kasturi’s creativity and intellect, but as structural challenges, they were known quantities—familiar institutions for which many models existed. To address her growing interest in Bangalore’s waste, Kasturi would have to redefine the boundaries of the problem, while also designing the right kind of approach to the challenge. With the ultimate goal of improving India’s ability to manage its waste, Kasturi created the Daily Dump, a business that offers composting and recycling products and services actionable on an individual level, yet primed for coordination in a larger network of action. In the wake of failures left by many top-heavy, centralized approaches to waste management, The Daily Dump’s bottom-up, instant on solution is a powerful alternative.
At a basic level, the efficacy of waste management depends on three key factors: the attitude of individuals, the practices that those individuals engage in, and the extent to which municipal services enable and support these practices and attitudes. Failure in any one of these areas damages a community’s ability to manage their waste. Similarly, isolated accomplishments within one part of the system will not yield significant results without coordinated accomplishments on the other factors.
The Daily Dump was born out of recognition that Bangalore was a messier city for all of its growth and that the municipality and various NGOs attempting to fix the situation were stumbling. Due to evident corruption and bureaucratic sluggishness, efforts to enhance the centralized waste infrastructure were deemed by Kasturi as an important long-term effort, but one in need of a more immediate counterpart.
With municipal services faltering, Kasturi’s focus turned to attitudes and practices. The Daily Dump was established as a for-profit social enterprise in order to give the organization a high degree of flexibility in pursuing their goal of improving urban waste management in India. Free from any obligation to donors, the organization is able to change tack quickly to act on opportunities as they emerge. Using the market as a persistent reality check, the growth of the Daily Dump comes at a relatively slow pace but is fundamentally durable and road tested.
From the outset, the Daily Dump was designed as a business with three critical aspects: it would promote waste management generally rather than its own products, it would provide education in addition to tools, and it would offer a “clone” model which allows like-minded parties to duplicate the business.
Read the full case study on Helsinki Design Lab.
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Regenerative Design & Intentional Sustainability
Posted in Movements by Kate Archdeacon on May 31st, 2010
Source: Worldchanging
From “Living Future 2010: Bill Reed on Regenerative Design” by Julia Levitt:
Thought leader, designer and consultant Bill Reed led a lecture and discussion on regenerative design on the first morning of the 2010 Living Future unConference. He opened by offering two big questions to the audience: if sustainability is about sustaining life, then what is life about? What will our design practices and organizations look like if we are intentional about sustainability?
As one of his main points, he discussed that the words we use are powerful tools for both inspiring and deluding ourselves, so it’s important to be honest about what we mean. “Sustainable” and “regenerative” are words which, when spoken conscientiously, evoke a much more comprehensive and long-term vision than “green,” “recycled,” or even “energy efficient.” Even “carbon neutral,” he argued, isn’t really his idea of sustainability. If the ultimate goal is to replicate nature and to create systems for sheltering and feeding ourselves that are truly regenerative, it’s important to recognize that sustainability is not the same as zero.
As an example of what this philosophy looks like in a business venture, he described his interaction with a cooperative grocery store in Brattleboro, Vermont. The client originally wanted to create a LEED-certified building to house its store, a goal to which Reed (a founding board member of the US Green Building Council and original LEED faculty) responded with a question he said he asks often: “‘do you want to do LEED, or do you want sustainability?’” During what he referred to as the “Double Train Wreck Meeting,” he proposed a set of recommendations for systemic change. His clients, not ready to move beyond their idea of a simple green grocery store, politely asked him to leave, and didn’t call back for a year.
When they did call back, however, he said they apologized and told him that the ideas he’d left them with were “the best thing that ever happened to them.” They have since worked with Reed’s firm to change the co-op’s relationship to the community, to food suppliers, to the local forest service and more, transforming from a grocery store into what he called “a fooding process,” a place where people could come to shop for food, but also to engage with community, learn to grow and prepare food, and move the community toward self-sufficiency and food security.
Read the full article by Julia Levitt.
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Social, Ecological, Economic: Design Futures
Posted in Movements by Kate Archdeacon on April 14th, 2010
Source: Doors of Perception
From “Design, regions, and the two economies”
The stated ambition of Cornwall, in the the far south west of England, is to become a “green peninsular”[sic]. It’s an evocative concept, but people there interpret the word “green” in different ways. … The development of Newquay Airport, for example, is promoted by some business and tourism interests as a vital element in Cornwall’s regeneration; they want it expanded to handle more than a million passengers a year within 20 years. But others oppose airport expansion not only on environmental grounds, but also because it would lead to an even greater demand for second homes in Cornwall.
Cornwall’s Eden Project finds itself in a bind here: It struggles to reconcile its position as an environmental showcase with the fact that so many of its million-plus visitors go there by car.
A few years ago, persuasive alternatives to big-ticket, high entropy regeneration projects were thin on the ground. But today, a competing Cornish economic reality is emerging in the form of social and ecological projects right across the county. The region is filled with groups actively involved in the restoration of ecosystems, teaching each other environmental stewardship, recycling buildings and equipment, cultivating fungi, swapping seeds, growing medicinal plants, planting community fruit and nut tree nurseries. There are courses for families on green woodworking, permaculture, and blacksmithing and bushcrafts such as wild food foraging. This emerging social-ecological economy is restorative, self-reliant, and steady-state.
The question facing last week’s DottCornwall seminar on ‘emerging design practice’ was therefore a tough one: where can, and should, designers aspire to make difference? As Jeremy Myerson, the event’s chair, pointed out: “Designers have done well out of globalisation; the challenge facing designers now is whether they have the skills and sensibility to make a meaningful contribution at a local scale”. ….
Read the full article on Doors of Perception.
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End-of-life Design: Lighting Sustainability
Posted in Research by Kate Archdeacon on March 19th, 2010
Source: IOP Science via Environmental Research Web
Reducing environmental burdens of solid-state lighting through end-of-life design, C T Hendrickson, D H Matthews, M Ashe, P Jaramillo and F C McMichael; Green Design Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, USA
Abstract:
With 20% of US electricity used for lighting, energy efficient solid-state lighting technology could have significant benefits. While energy efficiency in use is important, the life cycle cost, energy and environmental impacts of light-emitting diode (LED) solid-state lighting could be reduced by reusing, remanufacturing or recycling components of the end products. Design decisions at this time for the nascent technology can reduce material and manufacturing burdens by considering the ease of disassembly, potential for remanufacturing, and recovery of parts and materials for reuse and recycling. We use teardowns of three commercial solid-state lighting products designed to fit in conventional Edison light bulb sockets to analyze potential end-of-life reuse strategies for solid-state lighting and recommend strategies for the industry. Current lamp designs would benefit from standardization of part connections to facilitate disassembly and remanufacturing of components, and fewer material types in structural pieces to maximize homogeneous materials recovery. The lighting industry should also start now to develop an effective product take-back system for collecting future end-of-life products.
Contents
2. Current state of design for LED SSL products
3. Product life cycles and green design principles
4. Green design of LED lamps and luminaires
4.1. Design for reuse and servicing
4.3. Design for product and component remanufacturing
4.4. Design for materials recovery
4.5. Establishing product take-back
Life Cycle Thinking: Key Issues and Indispensable Tools
Posted in Research by Kate Archdeacon on March 12th, 2010
Source: Core 77
Image: paul swansen via flickr CC
From the article by Lloyd Hicks
You might guess that the carbon footprint from a carton of orange juice is largely due to packaging, transportation and disposal, but the findings from a recent PepsiCo study may surprise you. When the entire life cycle of orange juice was included, growing the oranges turned out to contribute the most to the carbon footprint—mainly due to the production and application of nitrogen based fertilizers. It’s important for designers to recognize the impact made in every phase of a product’s life cycle. In this case, shifting agricultural practices may result in the most significant emission reductions, but designers are far from powerless to make improvements. The same study states that packaging and distribution represented 37% of the carbon footprint. With that in mind, how could a designer accurately test new scenarios to create an orange juice distribution strategy that has fewer impacts on the environment? How would he or she know if a plastic bottle is better than a gable-top carton or not? How do concentrated juice products size up?
Living Climate Change Video Challenge
Posted in Visions by Kate Archdeacon on February 22nd, 2010
Source: Inhabitat
As designers, we believe that envisioning the future leads to new choices and opportunities. Living Climate Change, an online community hosted by IDEO, presents a conversation designed to move the dialogue about climate change toward inspiring, human-centered scenarios that create new possibilities for business and society.
The Living Climate Change Video Challenge invites you to show us your vision of a future shaped by climate change, as we move along the path toward reduced carbon emissions.
The Challenge
Create an original video that envisions how climate change will impact our lives over the next 20 to 30 years. Looking beyond the doom and gloom and the policy discussions that have dominated the debate, how would you envision a human-centered, sustainable future? Which behaviors will change? Which will be preserved?
Tourism 2023 – creating a sustainable tourism industry
Posted in Research by Kate Archdeacon on February 15th, 2010
Source: Forum for the Future via Food Climate Research Network
The Tourism 2023 project sets out to help the UK outbound travel and tourism industry understand the challenges it faces and plan for a sustainable future.
Climate change, population growth, shortages of oil and other resources will have dramatic impacts on how, where, when – and even if – people travel, and will reshape the industry over time.
We explored how factors like these could lead to very different worlds in 2023, each holding very different futures for the industry. We worked with tourism experts to create four vivid scenarios, and then generate a vision of the sustainable future the industry wants for itself.
Major companies and organisations have now pledged to collaborate to create a commercially sustainable tourism industry by the year 2023 which benefits communities in tourist destinations and protects the environment.
ABTA, Advantage Travel Centres, British Airways, Carnival UK, Sunvil, The Co-operative Travel, The Travel Foundation, Thomas Cook and TUI Travel were the first to sign the Tourism 2023 Vision. The founding partners are inviting other organisations to sign up to this vision and take part in the next phase of work, which will help shape the future of tourism.
The scenarios, vision and a strategy to implement the commitments were launched at the ABTA Travel Convention in Barcelona on October 8th, 2009. More than 100 people with expertise in different facets of the industry – including business leaders, academics, legislators, campaigners and commentators – have been involved in creating them.
Download the report.
Tourism 2023 is coordinated by Forum for the Future and supported by Defra.
Public, Private: Sustainable Precinct Development
Posted in Models by Kate Archdeacon on February 8th, 2010
Source: The Ecologist
From “Forget eco-towns – real green house-building is already happening“, by Eifion Rees, 12th January, 2010:
Cambridge University’s expansion plans could change the face of sustainable building in the UK. In 2012, construction begins on the greenest development of its size and scope in the UK.
As far as trailblazing green building initiatives go, the development known as North West Cambridge (its official name as well as location) looks rather uninspiring at the moment, merely fields bounded by busy roads on the outskirts of an East Anglian university town. There aren’t many clues to suggest that, when construction begins here in 2012, it will change the face of sustainable building in the UK.
But that is what is scheduled to happen here with the creation of what will effectively be a new city quarter. The land is owned by Cambridge University, and the scheme is intended to accommodate the academic institution’s expansion over the next 25 years, when numbers of students and staff are expected to increase by 8,000. As a result 3,000 new homes will be built on this patch of the greenbelt, together with new faculty and research buildings, and a significant number of community facilities. This week, emulating universities in the US, Cambridge issued bonds for the first time with the aim of raising £400 million towards the cost of the £1 billion project.
From the North West Cambridge website:
The masterplanning proposals for the University of Cambridge’s North West Cambridge site are moving forward. To continue the success of this collaborative process we would like to obtain your views on the emerging masterplan. To this end, we have recently held a Public Exhibition as well as Public Workshops. These exhibitions and workshop form the next stage in the process of preparing the masterplan for the site – and provided an opportunity for stakeholders to contribute and comment on the proposals. The information that was on display includes:
* Introduction to the North West Cambridge project: The University’s need and vision – an introduction to what the project will offer local residents, students, faculty, staff and local businesses. This includes 3,000 new homes, 100,000 m2 of academic and commercial research space, accommodation for 2,000 students and local facilities and green spaces.
* Site: Context The site’s location and landscape features, and various site-specific opportunities that the masterplan should respond to.
The latest versions of the masterplan are available for public download, and are separated into four layers: Indicative Urban Structure, Indicative Landscape & Open Space, Indicative Land Use, and Indicative Access & Movement.
Contest: Redesigning the Farmers’ Market
Posted in Movements by Kate Archdeacon on August 13th, 2009
Sponsored by GOOD, The Architect’s Newspaper, The Urban & Environmental Policy Institute, and The Los Angeles Good Food Network.
How can better design ensure that food grown by local farmers is delivered and distributed to urban residents?
Demand for “good food”—defined as healthy, green, fair, and affordable—is rising. Whether it’s from a rural family-run farm, community-supported agriculture group, or a backyard plot, locally grown food is increasingly viewed as a solution for many economic, environmental, and health concerns.
Yet significant barriers exist in bringing that food to urban tables. Even if a steady supply of good food is available, it can’t be delivered without better distribution networks that efficiently move it to multiple outlets and consumers.
What we need is a massive shift in our food delivery systems that will provide a variety of opportunities for farmers to sell directly and effectively to urban residents, helping us redefine the path from farm to fork. It’s time to rethink our local farmers’ markets.
We want designers, architects, farmers, chefs, vendors, and farmers’ market shoppers to think about how good design can improve upon the modern farmers’ market experience.
Deadline: September 1.
Visit the competition page.