“This concept master plan aspires to indicate, through its design strategies, a future that is positive and hopeful in all aspects. Striving to maximize social engagement, the plan creates an urban structure that promotes walking and healthy activities in its multitude of parks, paths and trails. The development will also preserve existing stream and wetland communities, returning clean, healthy water to the ecosystem at equal rates and in the same patterns of the undeveloped site through the use of integrated strategies. The overall goal is to make Liuzhou’s water cleaner, to make its air fresher, and to make its people happier. Befitting its designation as a demonstration project, the plan demonstrates what is possible in Liuzhou, in China, and in communities around the globe. The project serves as a challenge to seek excellence in placemaking that will enable Liuzhou’s children to live and work in concert with a world full of potential and opportunity.” McDonough + Partners
This is a brilliant concept by the folks up at MIT’s SENSEable Cities Lab which have just won the American round of the 2010 James Dyson Award for inventing the Copenhagen Wheel. The article goes on to illustrate just how far the US has to go in the use of bicycles as a viable means of transportation:
“The team of MIT students, lead by Christine Outram, opted to name their creation after the very bike-friendly city of Copenhagen. That says a lot about the depressing state of affairs of bicycling in America, where less than a half percent of people get to work each day by bike, according to the 2000 U.S. Census.”
Ode to the day when riding even in a city like NYC is not a war. Maybe products like this will help get all those “others” to start pushing themselves over the bridges and into the gauntlets of Manhattan. I’ll be waiting for the support.
This is for that 50% of architects who don’t completely believe Global Warming is a critical component to the future of the planet and the future of the profession. See stats below from an article in October 2009, Architect Magazine:
Over the summer, 960 readers of Architect participated in a survey about their green beliefs. In it, we asked participants to select from four statements the one that best characterizes their attitude toward sustainability. Fewer than half (46.4 percent) chose the statement, “It’s vital that we design and build sustainably, in order to conserve scarce resources and prevent further global warming.”
One group (12.8 percent) dismissed the issue outright: “Global warming is a myth perpetuated by the media, and green building is a fad—it’ll be forgotten in 20 years’ time.” Yikes. Others (6.7 percent) doubted that green-building efforts in America could offset the damage caused by industrialization in China and India.
The largest (and to me, most interesting) group of naysayers (34.1 percent) fell somewhere in the middle, subscribing to the following statement: “I’m not sure that global warming is caused by man, but energy conservation makes economic sense if we’ll be less dependent on other countries’ oil.”
- Ned Cramer, Architect Magazine
Recently came upon Joachim’s work on Popsci which we posted last week under “This Is Already Possible, Sci-Fi Architecture.” Very intriguing thought process between the marriage of Biology and Architecture rather than the standard greening of what is already bad mentality currently the rage in the profession. Seems like he could offer a very interesting perspective compared to those of William McDonough and Michael Reynolds for our sustainability sub-plot in the film… maybe an interview is in line.
Wheat Field, Pullman, Washington courtesy pullman-wa.com
via: Popsci
The grain crops that we humans depend on daily to hold body and soul together are annual crops — they have to be planted every year. They germinate, bear their delicious product, and then die off; the following year, a brand new crop is put in to take their place…
Perennial grain crops, if they existed, could require less fuel, less fertilizer, less herbicide and pesticide, and help prevent erosion by remaining deeply rooted in the soil throughout the winter (and indeed for years). Perennials return nutrients to the soil, where annuals require artificial fertilizers to supplement depleted soil, and return nothing. According to a paper in the current issue of Science, perennial grains, currently being researched at a number of universities, including Washington State University (WSU), could become the norm within two decades…
According to John Reganold and Jerry Glover of WSU, lead authors of the paper, the perennialization of grain crops would count among the greatest innovations in the history of agriculture, feeding the planet’s hungry humans in a much more efficient, future-proof way.
Whenever I hear of genetic modification of agriculture it freaks me out. I guess I read too many Michael Crichton books as a kid but it just seems like a very, very dangerous endeavor. Especially at this point as we watch how our technological skills have lead us to an unstoppable oil spill just because we could.
“The significant problems we have cannot be solved at the same level of thinking which we created them.” - Albert Einstein
This is a great article on Popsci about Michell Joachim’s work
Architect Mitchell Joachim points out, frequently and without prompting, that his futuristic proposals are always based on existing technologies. No wonder he feels the need to say it. Consider some of his ideas: jetpacks tethered together in swarms, houses grown from living trees, low-altitude blimps prowling New York City with chairs hanging below them for pedestrians to hop on and off (24/7 ski lifts on Broadway!), and WALL-E-like machines that erect buildings and bridges from recycled waste…
The structures would be pressed or melted into shape or wrapped with metal bands, which is what recycling plants do now. All that would change is the shape—like switching the mold on a Play-Doh press, but on an industrial scale. “We could do it yesterday,” Joachim insists.
“The idea of sharp metal boxes is just done,” Joachim says. “We design cars with the principle that no one would ever die in a car accident again.”
Joachim’s willingness to forgo lucrative commercial projects in favor of running a nonprofit dedicated to the reimagining of a future he won’t even be around for is, say his colleagues, exactly what makes him so vital. Traditionally, “cities are built incrementally by real-estate interests,” says Richard Sommer, the dean of architecture at the University of Toronto. “What’s important about Mitchell’s work is that he [takes] a visionary approach.”
While doing research for a Waterfront Park design summer camp (spots still available) that I’m leading in late July with Junior High students at the Center for Architecture, I came across all these great videos for the Rising Currents exhibition. I’ve seen this exhibition in person and went on a private boat tour a month back which had each design team present their concepts at their sites around the harbor. Some very inspiring ideas to engage the inevitable sea level rise and use it as a benefit for human and natural health. Definitely well worth the time to check out these videos in your leisure at home, work, or across the globe. Be sure to watch all five team videos.
I occasionally see furniture like this and always wonder how functional it is, or how hard it is to maintain. Regardless, it’s very cool in concept. This Grass Ottomon was design by GH Design out of Woodside CA.
We covered this project a while back, before Emily Pilloton and Matt Miller set out on their 36-stop tour. Their plan was to fill and airstream camper with various design inventions that exemplify the role that design can play in changing our communities. The thought was that they could deliver their message directly to the doorsteps of average citizens.
They have since completed their tour and shared their experience with Core 77 which can be found here.
I know we have posted quite a few agricultural/horticultural related post lately, and rightfully so, since so much farmland continues to be eaten up by development (see article). As a result, many families and individuals like Novella Carpenter are turning to urban farming as a source for locally grown food. Novella describes the experience of urban farming in her new book, Farm City.
