design inspiration

biomimicry education summit

2010-07-12T22:56:00.000-07:00

last week i was privileged to attend the 2010 biomimicry education summit at autodesk's san francisco offices. it was inspiring, motivating, educational and a lot of fun. i met some great people who are teaching and learning about (and sort of discovering) biomimicry. i even had some offers to purchase my thesis manual, more on that later! interestingly, universities in canada (ontario college of art and design and the university of calgary) seem to be embracing biomimicry more readily than in the u.s. although arizona state university has created innovation space which teams up graphic and industrial designers with engineers and business students to solve design challenges and bring their designs to the marketplace. they also stress sustainability and biomimicry in their pursuit of elegant design solutions.

students from these programs talked about their experience working on the biomimicry institute's student design challenge. for the past 2 years students have been working with pacific outdoor gear based in bozeman, mt and pika designs to create innovative new outdoor gear. i participated in a brainstorming team to envision expansion ideas for upcoming design challenges including funding options and strategic planning for a proposed year-long challenge. it's an exciting time for biomimicry education and makes me even more sure that i went to the wrong grad school. learning is supposed to be challenging, yes, not soul-destroying. but i've found motivation from my involvement with the community of biomimics and my friends at project m so i've managed to find my way. i'll end by mentioning some of the great presenters that inspired me this past week. thank you to: janine benyus, cindy gilbert, sam stier, valerie casey, marjan eggermont, bruce hinds and carl hastrich, thomas knittel, steven vogel, christopher viney, dawn danby, jeremy faludi and tom mckeag for re-affirming my belief that i'm in the right place with the right people trying to create a better future together.

2010 solar decathlon

2010-07-01T13:58:00.000-07:00

i've always been a big fan of the solar decathlon and am glad to see that europe has gotten in on the game too. the decathlon was started by the u.s. department of energy in 2002 and challenges university-level architecture programs to create livable, solar-powered homes. this year the decathlon went to madrid and featured 17 universities, including 2 from china. here's a link to inhabitat's article about virginia tech's lumenhaus, the winner this year and the competition in general. congrats to tech! there's also a great bamboo house so check out the slideshow. here are some images:

IKAROS, the university of applied sciences rosenheim, germany

living equia, the university of applied sciences of berlin, germany

re:focus, university of florida

urcomante house, universidad de valladolid, spain

home+, stuttgart university of applied sciences, germany (my favorite)

building innovation

2010-06-07T22:17:00.000-07:00

a couple of buildings caught my eye today as i was browsing my favorite sites. these two come from the online version of the architectural review, a british architecture magazine. the structures are very different but innovative in their own way. the first is the bamboo house designed by benjamin garcia saxe in playa avellanas, guanacasete, costa rica. the house is designed as two main modules, one for the bedroom, one for kitchen and living space, which are shaded by large umbrellas. the modules are joined by an open patio in the middle and most of the walls are made up of permeable screens which maximize breezes. it looks like a casual tropical paradise, i'd love to spend some time there.

the second structure is the kaze paulista building which houses a salon and office space in sao paulo. i initially thought this building was in japan with its clean, ultra-modern aesthetic. it was designed by forte, gimenes & marcondes ferraz arquiteto. the slanted planes of glass remind me a little of the seattle public library. the form of the building helps with passive ventilation, as the article states: "the glass facade is part of a controlled ventilation and passive temperature control system. window panes can be opened, allowing the passage of air through all the internal environment, cooling it on its way to exhausters on the top floor." there are some very nice air flow diagrams on the page as well. here are some images.

living buildings

2010-05-10T16:15:00.000-07:00

a couple of buildings have caught my eye this week. the first are the edgar street towers designed by iwamotoscott architecture from an article on inhabitat. (also check out iwamotoscott's very innovative jellyfish house on their site.) the two towers spiral as they rise and intertwine to create an open lung system with central areas that are filled with plants. these areas (or bio-filtration terrarium's as inhabitat calls them) will act as air purifiers for the entire building. the building also features fiber-optic daylighting, the fiber-optic cables will channel daylight into the interior of the building, and a perforated skin for shading and minimizing wind resistance. here are a few renderings:

the second structure was actually built in 1993 in osaka by gaetano pesce, an italian architect and designer. the exterior is covered with indigenous plants which grow out of "pockets" constructed of steel-covered concrete panels and fiberglass. here's a link to an article about the building and here are some shots of the exterior:

there's also another article about the "what would you ask nature?" biomimicry challenge in fast company. this week's team features ideo and the usgbc and has to do with communication and structure within an organization. some natural strategies investigated include feedback loops, swarming and the importance of keystone species. the article is on the long side but worth the read.

and finally, an article about design inspired by bugs. there are chairs based on insect tracks and buildings with "tunnels" viewable from the outside like an ant farm. and while the pieces and buildings are certainly bioinspired i don't get the sense that it's for the sake of sustainability or efficiency which i feel is important. in any case, here's the wood lice trail chair:

biomimicry challenge update

2010-05-07T11:19:00.000-07:00

here's an update on the biomimicry challenge sponsored in part by the biomimicry guild. an article in fast company article written by alissa walker highlights the collaboration between brightworks and taller de operaciones ambientales, an architecture firm in mexico city. toa is unique for the fact that they already have a biologist on staff. juan rovalo helped lead a workshop to redesign the idea of ecodistricts and city planning. the team looked at mycelium, a fungus, and fairy ring mushrooms. they investigated the idea of borders in nature and planned open space. there are plenty of great videos of the creative team in process and beautiful sketches. here's an illustration of their solution:

"it's a different approach when you're talking about solutions in the office," says [team member] rodríguez. "the environment was really leading our discussion. you can refer to different things and point to them--that doesn't happen in the office. it's a creative way of exploring and it was really an exploration."

that quote sums up nicely everything that i find so exciting about bioinspired design.

pollen as inspiration

2010-04-27T13:59:00.000-07:00

technically it's spring, although you wouldn't really know it in san francisco, we've been inundated by weekly winter rainstorms. but it is spring and spring means a few things: fresh growth, sunshine, mild temperatures... and allergies. but all things in nature can teach us their secrets and pollen is no exception. i wanted to mention this article from the nytimes science section about "origami" pollen. pollen, like most living organisms is susceptible to dessication (drying) and has to maintain a certain level of moisture to survive. according to dr. eleni katifori of the national academy of sciences flower pollens have evolved to fold in on themselves to hold in moisture as they waft through the air. the article also quotes dr. karifori as alluding to bioinspired design, "i could imagine that engineers could get inspiration from just looking at pollen grains.” yes, i agree.

here's a beautiful electron microscope image of a lily pollen grain.

and a link to a video of the pollen in action.

bioinspired design in the news

2010-04-13T09:57:00.000-07:00

i regularly read the the new york times online and fast company's design section and always find something interesting so i thought i'd share two recent articles which caught my eye.

the first article is from the new york times science section about scientists studying underwater organisms to learn the secrets of submerged glue-creation. russell j. stewart is a professor of bioengineering at the university of utah where his lab is studying the sandcastle worm, which lives in the california intertidal zone. this worm uses a specialized organ on its head to produce a potent glue which even in cold seawater can harden in 30 seconds. it uses this glue to bond together grains of sand and create a sand tube in which to live. stewart notes that humans have not yet discovered the secrets to underwater glue-creation which could help not only with nautical applications but also in repairing human organs. the article notes that most glues used for surgery are used externally and can invoke negative reactions from the immune system.

here are some close-ups of the sand castle worm and its home.

there's also a video of the worm in action.

i want to include this quote from the article which seems to be the prevalent view on bioinspired design: “in my view of bioinspired research or materials, i almost always don’t think it’s safe to be slavishly wed to the specific chemistry,” dr. j. herbert waite said, “but rather to distill the important concepts that can then be mimicked.” dr. waite is a professor at uc santa barbara.

next is a short article about designer chuck hoberman's adaptive building initiative which is his design solution to the fact that building facades can account for up to half of a building's energy usage. his company's first finished project is for the POLA building in tokyo which features automated polycarbonate shutters in between two glass layers which respond to light sensors during the day and light up with leds at night. hoberman says in the article "if a building can change, it can respond to the environment and self-optimize," here, here!

the POLA building at night

a facade for foster + partners' buildings in madrid's city of justice, where the spain's supreme court is located.

there's also a slideshow of his work.

growing design

2010-04-02T12:45:00.001-07:00

a quick re-post from inhabitat about tokujin yoshioka's crystal chandelier. i've blogged about his crystal chairs which are grown the same way, this chandelier just takes the idea a step further and adds the dimensionality of light.

from inhabitat: "...the designer equates his newest design to 'a star descended from the sky emitting many rays of light in the space.' yoshioka’s artificial star was once just a collection of crystals floating in a mineral bath. the crystals solidified into a dynamic sphere using a technique that slows down movement and provides a structure for natural gathering. while his pieces are being created, yoshioka plays music to help guide them around a desired mold."

here are some images:

it reminds me of a diatom shell, although less geometrically structured, or maybe just at another scale. in other news, i just sent my design + nature manual off to blurb for printing, cross your fingers that they don't chop my pages off in strange places...

realtime collaborations

2010-03-12T14:31:00.000-08:00

i've been happily following news of an interesting mix of companies that are uniting for the common cause of biomimetic design problem-solving. the initiative is called "what would you ask nature and is being sponsored by the biomimicry institute, the designer's accord and fast company. basically it's an open invitation to companies to submit real-world design challenges. submissions will then be vetted and presented to a team of design problem-solvers which will consist of a "biologist at the design table" (provided by the biomimicry institute through a pre-existing program) and design-thinkers from smart design, ideo, and taller de operaciones ambientales. this is an amazing opportunity to have design-thinkers at the highest level take on real problems and arrive at solutions. i can't wait to see what arises.

image from the designer's accord.

for more information see fast company's article about the collaboration.

living design

2009-11-04T09:44:00.000-08:00

a post on inhabitat about the living light sculpture in seoul, south korea caught my eye and led me to investigate some fascinating interactive experiences and sculptures produced by the living, a collaborative effort between david benjamin and soo-in yang. the living light communicates with the korean ministry of the environment to track air quality in seoul and illuminates on the lighted map which neighborhoods have the highest quality. you can text the sculpture for reports on various regions of the city.

here's a video of the light in action:

Living Light (Seoul, 2009) from David Benjamin on Vimeo.

another of the living's projects, amphibious architecture, involves monitoring water quality in new york city. here's a blurb from the project page: "two networks of floating interactive tubes, installed at sites in the east river and the bronx river, house a range of sensors below water and an array of lights above water. the sensors monitor water quality, presence of fish, and human interest in the river ecosystem. the lights respond to the sensors and create feedback loops between humans, fish, and their shared environment. an sms interface allows citizens to text-message the fish, to receive real-time information about the river, and to contribute to a display of collective interest in the environment."
you can (pretend to) text the fish hanging out near the sculpture and they will respond with real-time information about their surroundings. be sure to check out the video on the project page to see how it all works. the installation was commissioned for toward the sentient city, an exhibit by the architectural league of new york. the exhibit explores the interaction between smart technology, architecture and the ecology of the new york.

here are some beautiful photos of the installation:

design + nature workshop!

2009-10-13T11:28:00.000-07:00

i've officially scheduled my first design + nature workshop for sunday 11/8/09 (also happens to be my b-day). i'm tying it into an existing nature walk taking place at the don edwards national wildlife refuge. this will give us access to microscopes to look at some of the organisms that live in the salt marsh and the adaptations that allow them to survive in a saline environment. this workshop will be kind of an experiment but i'm hoping to inspire some designers to start consulting nature when solving design problems. it will also be a big learning experience for me and is hopefully just the beginning of a series of workshops.

here's the invite:

in addition i got my thesis website up! it took some serious hours inspecting javascript and css code but i managed to bend the web to my will. best viewed in firefox.

here are some screenshots:

defining the "bios"

2009-09-06T10:39:00.000-07:00

this was the first week of my last fall semester (and my last full semester of grad school, 4 years is just too long to be in a grad program). but it should be an inspiring semester, i get to stray from the traditional graphic design curriculum and try some new ways of expressing creativity. i'll probably be writing a lot about a class i'm sitting in on at cca called "how would nature do that?", it's a design and biomimicry class and it should be integral in informing my thesis. this is especially true for workshop planning and carrying forth with creating design + nature pedagogy. i took 6 pages of notes in class complete with sketches, i can't tell you the last time i did that in a traditional design class.

i wanted to share some definitions that i found helpful in trying to understand how the world of design + nature (+ science) come together. i'm paraphrasing here what we talked about in class.

bio-utilization: using nature to solve problems or enhance existing human systems. ie. john todd's use of wetland plants to design wastewater treatment infrastructure at the omega center for sustainable living.

biomorphism: designing objects to look like natural forms, regardless of material or function. ie. chandeliers that look like deer antlers. it was also an art movement in the 1950s.

biomimicry: studying natures forms, processes and systems to inform human designs in the service of creating more sustainable designs, especially if they function in closed-loop cycles. ie. using the spiral shape found at the center of a calla lilly to create an impeller that circulates water efficiently, see pax scientific.

bioinspiration: using nature's principles to create new design solutions that go beyond nature's processes. ie. work being done at ciber by robert full's students, who oftentimes create robots that can walk up walls like a gecko. see my 7/23 post.

personally my own interests lie within the realm of biomimicry because it fully takes into account the question of efficiency and sustainability. i'm less interested in electronic gadgets and robots that function with animal-like properties. we need to take nature's processes and systems into account and create evermore efficient and organic designs.

natural filtration

2009-08-31T13:21:00.000-07:00

i've been spending the morning catching up on science news, listening to science friday podcasts about wind energy and perusing nytimes' dot earth and green inc. blogs. i came across this article about scientists re-discovering the cleansing properties of moss. a company called creative water solutions now offers sphagnum moss to help filter pool water and reduce chlorine-usage. founder dr. david knighton states: "'we just rediscovered what’s been used for centuries,' he said. 'northern minnesota is known for its clean clear lakes, and that’s one of the reasons.' dr. knighton realized he was on to something, he added, when he dropped some moss into his home spa and within a few days the water was crystal clear."

creative water solutions is researching larger-scale application of moss-filtration and has so far had success: "st. paul’s supervisor of aquatics, lynn waldorf, said the two-month trial had already cut the city’s chemical and pool maintenance bills. 'we weren’t using as many chemicals, we weren’t having to clean the pool as much, and the water quality was gorgeous,'"

here's an image of the moss which currently grows across the northern us and southern canada.

fat free design

2009-07-23T11:50:00.000-07:00

"fat free design" is actually a phrase i first heard from ross lovegrove but it continues to stick in my mind because it aptly states what i believe to be the future of design. another term could be "essential design," design that is pared down to its simplest, most useful parts with no extraneous waste.

i've been watching robert full's TED presentations online and trying to reconcile his statement that "we should not mimic nature" with my own views (and those of the biomimicry guild) that mimicking nature is one of the best ways to both learn from and pay homage to nature. but i see the same sparkle in full's eyes as i see in janine benyus' eyes when i view their presentations. essentially, they have the same core message: we must respect and preserve nature's designs while we still can.

i have stated that i do not want to focus on using nature's designs to create high-tech robots which are still made out of metal and plastic, but i do have a deep respect for full's work and that of other scientists and engineers using bioinspiration. here is robert full's TED presentation and i guess i will leave it up to you to figure out which side of the fence you stand on.

a recent article in the ny times science section about the movement of saharan lizards is no doubt old news to full and his students. full works at cal in the center for interdisciplinary biological inspiration in education and research.

sand + water

2009-05-16T10:44:00.000-07:00

before they slip my mind i wanted to upload a couple of things that have caught my attention in the last few weeks. the first is a plant that i'm sure will be very inspirational to biomimetic designers. it's called desert rhubarb, it's found in isreal and what makes it special is its self-irrigating form. its leaves are structured like a mini-mountain range (fractals in nature) with the valleys functioning as irrigation channels. according to the bbc article it's the only plant that has used this kind of structure to help it survive in the desert. here's a close-up view of a textured leaf which enables the plant to collect 16 times more water than similar plants.

a friend forwarded me this next project which is interesting for two reasons, the form it takes and the biology behind its formation. originally posted on bldgblog the project is called "dune: arenaceous anti-desertification architecture," arenaceous means 1. resembling, derived from, or containing sand and 2. growing in sandy areas. these are sandstone walls which encourage dune formation, plant growth and can even help house people. the project was proposed by magnus larsson and won the holcim foundation's award for sustainable construction in marrakech, morocco. what i find the most interesting is how the wall is formed. larsson proposes using bacillus pasteurii, a microorganism which helps sand solidify into sandstone. the forms the sandstone creates are beautiful enough, when you add the fact that these walls also reverse desertification they seem too good to be true. here are some images.

and finally a personal update. in a couple of weeks i will be traveling to greensboro, alabama to participate in project m which is an intensive design collaborative for designers engaged in social issues. i'm honored that i was chosen to attend and i can't wait to report back on my experience!

un environment programme

2009-04-25T11:56:00.000-07:00

just a quick note to congratulate janine benyus for being named a 2009 champion of the earth by the united nations environment programme. she was recognized in the category of science and innovation. here's a short video about biomimicry created for this un programme.

and congratulations to one of my other heros, yann arthus-bertrand, who won in the category of inspiration and action!

and a couple of images from this week's tilden park hike. i'm working on a book on tilden and golden gate parks so i have the pleasure of spending some time in both.

more goodness

2009-04-19T10:20:00.000-07:00

this week/end has been fruitful in terms of making thesis contacts and deepening conversations about the connection between nature and design.

i wanted to post a few points master ito-san's (toyo ito) lecture last week. one of his last slides was titled "learning from tree" and it speaks of his own design methodology which is inspired by the way trees grow. he explains that like a tree, you can generate order:
1...from the process of growing slowly over time
2...by repeating simple rules
3...through relative relationships
4...being open to the environment
5...employing fractal systems (self-similarity)

also, yesterday i attended a full-day session of the rising tides conference hosted by cca and stanford, strengthening the link between the arts and environmental ethics. i drove down to stanford yesterday to see a number of different speakers and was impressed by the variety of projects taking place.

1st session: remaking/reconceiving
featured ila berman and mon el khafif of URBANbuild, as their website explains: "URBANbuild is a deisgn/build program in which teams of [tulane] students take on the design and construction of prototypical homes for new orleans’ neighborhoods. the program is an educational collaboration of individuals, organizations, and businesses committed to revitalizing new orleans’ rich cultural and architectural heritage."

dan and karen parolek of opticos design, who are trying to revive urban vitality through form-based coding instead of zoning laws. form-based coding encourages live/work space and vibrant town centers. here's a slide they featured of various housing types in colorado.

and amy franceschini (one of my heros) who is the founder of future farmers which is both a design studio and research institution (hmmmm, gives me inspiration for my own future). the projects she has worked on are a combination of art, engineering and science. she presented several performance art projects that have inspired her, including a movement in europe to reclaim herding rights by herding sheep through the middle of urban areas.

2nd session: material/culture sustainability
featured lynda grose, who has worked in the fashion industry for years and helped launch esprit's ecollection years ago. she presented some young designers' work that pushes the boundaries of sustainable fashion and commerce (a tricky subject). one expamle is galya rosenfeld who creates modular clothes created from strips of snaps, which you can take apart and reconfigure.

stephanie syjocu who started counterfeit crochet which encourages people to knit their own versions of high-end designer bags. here's a bag in progress.

and banny bannerjee, who is the director of the stanford design program which collaborates with the stanford institute of design. i'm encouraged when education and commerce can form a connection built on mutual respect, i feel this is often missing from graduate programs, especially art programs. his talk spent a lot of time on biomimicry and how design can be inspired by nature. i got to speak with him for a minute afterwards and hopefully will be including some stanford students in my (what i'm calling) "design in nature" workshops. stay tuned!

3rd session: green capitalism
featured amy berk and andy cox who built a car they call "das vegetal", a marxist stock car racer fueled by vegetable oil.

simon sadler, an architectural and urban history professor at uc davis who championed a return to the green products and ideals found in stewart brand's whole earth catalog.

and f. noel perry, who founded next ten, an organization that seeks to both inform and empower californians by highlighting environmental issues and solutions. the website features the 2009 green innovation index and the california budget challange which encourages citizens to try their hand at balancing california's budget. good luck!

4th session: futures
featured amy balkin, an artist who has started PUBLIC SMOG which is part art project, part social comment on the ridiculousness of the emissions trading market. i will quote the website since it explains what PUBLIC SMOG is better than i can: "PUBLIC SMOG is a park in the atmosphere that fluctuates in location and scale. the park is constructed through financial, legal, or political activities that open it for public use. activities to create PUBLIC SMOG have included purchasing and retiring emission offsets in regulated emissions markets, making them inaccessible to polluting industries. other activities to create PUBLIC SMOG impact the size, location, and duration of the park. these activities include an attempt to submit earth’s atmosphere for inscription on UNESCO’s world heritage list.

PUBLIC SMOG is subject to prevailing winds, and the long-range transport of aerosols and gases."

joyce burstein, an artist who created a slate tombstone at hollywood forever cemetery which encourages people to write their own epitaphs.

and alexander rose of the long now foundation which is building a 10,000 year clock and encourages slowing down and preserving cultural knowledge.

there was one more session but i was fading, before i left however, i had a chance to check out the show "disposable truths" in the cummings art building gallery. the show featured photographs and sculptures by richard lang and judith selby lang, made from a collection of beach plastic that has washed up on kehoe beach in point reyes. here are a few shots.

weekly digest

2009-04-15T21:25:00.000-07:00

so i've come across a bunch of cool stuff this week so i'm just going to list a few things rapid fire. some things directly relate to my thesis like the turning the tide conference hosted at the institute at the golden gate who's mission is to "advance environmental preservation and global sustainability by facilitating cross-sector dialogue and collaboration, encouraging new partnerships, and promoting action." sign me up. the turning the tides conference featured larry brilliant, majora carter, amory lovins and janine benyus. i wish i had known about it!

but, not to fear the rising tide conference is coming up this weekend. it's hosted by cca and stanford and is dedicated to furthering the arts and ecological ethics. so i will report on that next week.

this past week i had the pleasure of seeing toyo ito speak about his work at cal. he showcased his design for the new berkeley art museum/pacific film archive building. he is definitely a creative and innovative spirit who is concerned with the environmental and sociological impact of his buildings. he spoke of trying to create structures that diverge from a rigid grid and free people, allowing them to drop their guard and enjoy the organic shapes his buildings foster. he said his biggest joy was seeing children running over the undulating floors of one of his buildings while watching their parents stretch out on the floor.

and speaking of things japanese, i came across the tokyo fiber senseware exhibition which will be featured at the milan triennale. senseware showcases a mix of super-futuristic fibers and includes such designers as shigeru ban, ross lovegrove and makoto azuma who has created a moss field on a bed of fabric called terramac which is made of plant-derived polylactic acid and is biodegradable (shown below).

next are ideas for bringing more nature into urban areas:

1. packaging and insulation made from fungi from ecovative design. as quoted from ecogeek: "they make materials by growing fungus in various types of discarded agricultural waste, such as husks, hulls, and other things that are largely made out of lignin – a complex polymer that gives fibrous strength to plants. the fungus digests the lignin, resulting in a (presumably gooey or wet) mixture which can be poured into a mold and dried out in shapes."

2. a minigarden which is integrated into a table lamp from studio shulab.

3. a drying rack that uses excess water to water an herb-garden. hmmm, reminds me of an invention book i did last year about a "living sink" that used excess water to support a garden growing below it!

4. swimming pools that use plants to filter the water instead of chemicals, from clear water revival and similar companies.

and i found a video of paola antonelli speaking about her experience curating the design and the elastic mind show i've talked about in previous posts. a website called cool hunting has a series of videos on youtube, check 'em out.

additionally i saw a post on fast company about the vegetal chair from vitra. here's a video:

the post was written by michael cannell of dwell and he states that he thinks the chair is a good example of biomimicry. this brings me back to debate i've been having about what biomimicry really means. i don't think it's enough to mimic natural shapes (although it's a start) without considering a product's technical lifecycle or ensuring it can become another object or biodegrade into the landscape. well, that's the lofty goal anyway. either that or it has to increase efficiency and cut materials dramatically.

finally, i'll finish with some images from a hike on mt tam in the north bay which started at alpine lake and a trip to the don edwards wildlife refuge down in the south bay where they are working restore salt ponds back to tidal marsh flats. enjoy!

design + nature collaboration

2009-04-04T10:56:00.000-07:00

to supplement my research into the realms of ecology and biodiversity i've been doing quite a bit of design reading as well. i haven't gotten much design theory in grad school (despite the program being 4 years in length) which is a big problem in my eyes. how a graduate school can produce designers that function more like robots than conscientious design professionals is sort of beyond me, isn't that what graduate school is for? a deepening of understanding in craft and application? in any case, i have come across some great design writing in a book called discovering design: explorations in design studies which is a book of essays edited by richard buchanan and victor margolin.

i'm particularly in accordance with australian lecturer tony fry's sacred design I essay and i will quote it here because he speaks to exactly what i mean by the importance of bringing nature to the design table.

"the fundamental contingent value of design to be adopted here is predicted upon the ability of it to help secure the survival of that biodiversity of life in which we are implicated and upon which we depend... the [metaphysical] tradition, of course, has at its core a productivist and anthropocentric drive to dominate, to command and exploit that named and designated as 'nature.' nature denaturalized and transformed into an antagonistic artificial environment is a product of the mediations of humanity, if we are to terminate the destruction of that upon which we depend, our only chance is to modify the industrial, the artificial that sustains life. at worst, in terms of environmental impact, the artificial has to be made benign, while at best it has to be made proactive in the conservation of life... if we are going to start to advance a practical philosophy of re-creation as both a pragmatic and sacred mission of taking the ecological into care, then we have to invert the drive to dominate biodiversity. the organic, as the natural base which we need to care for, has to become the regulatory norm of design, this is not to say the artificial has to be a mirror of nature, but rather that it has to be configured and judged by contingent values of natural account."

i especially appreciate his reclamation of the word consumption.

"consumption that produces waste that restores life is clearly not the problem; in fact it is essential. it is consumption from which there is no return which must be displaced. the measure of consumption then should be based on a scale of entropic consequence rather than raw volume."

and a quote from italian environmental design professor ezio manzini's essay prometheus of the everyday.

"the designer's ecological attitude can take place on diverse levels: from selection of materials that are nonpoisonous and recyclable, to the proposal of new products endowed with the best environmental qualities, to the proposal of new schemes for quality. If it is true that there is a lot to do at each of these levels, it seems to me, however, that especially in relation to the proposal of new schemes the designer's task may be as fundamental as it is somewhat impractical. at the level of activity, the designer is not so much a professional capable of solving given problems, as a cultural figure in the process of creatively linking the possible with the hoped-for in visible form."

thankfully i've met lots of people lately interested in helping me achieve my vision of increased collaboration between design + nature + science and there are a few upcoming events which should yield even more connections. below are a few places i'm looking to to help support my vision.

greener design website
rising tide design conference hosted by cca and stanford
autodesk sustainable design webcasts

and finally here are some images from last week's trip to the tilden park botanical garden, if you've never been there put it on your list, it's a very restorative place (speaking of topophilia!).

a context for design

2009-03-28T10:04:00.000-07:00

create: l. creatus, pp. of creare "to make, produce," related to crescere "arise, grow"

i've been doing some reading and thinking lately about what design is at its essence and how we think about it as a society and within the field. and related to that what creativity is since the 2 terms are linked very closely. in my mind i (superficially) broke down the word creativity into create and activity. creativity as the activity of creation. and what does that mean in the larger context of my thesis and what i'm trying to say and accomplish? since my thesis deals with the physical evidence and intention of design, the idea of "creating" is extremely important. it's interesting to me how many words come back to the idea of growth as well. it's so important for us to slow down and take stock of our lives and the world we've created around us. hopefully this recession (decession - thanks dad) and our thoughtful president will provide the forum and impetus for this change and a return to the creation of positive and healthful endeavors for all species.

here are some thought-provoking design links for further reading:
design thinking a blog by tim brown at ideo
design observer
design ignites change

on another note, snow is one way nature slows busy humans down! here are 2 shots from a trip to tahoe.

design + nature mind map

2009-03-25T20:30:00.000-07:00

new explorations, trying to get my head on straight before i proceed. comments appreciated, i know i'm just scratching the surface. colored items are more interesting to me and avenues i'll be continuing down.

creative statement

2008-12-12T20:52:00.000-08:00

before i leave for the break i thought i'd upload a few materials regarding my thesis as i complete them. below is my latest creative statement, basically explaining what i'm hoping to do with my thesis and defining my audiences. i realize many things still need to be organized and clarified but that's all part of the process. please feel free to download and disseminate (dis⋅sem⋅i⋅nate –verb used with object, -nat⋅ed, -nat⋅ing, to scatter or spread widely, as though sowing seed. very fitting) this statement. more to come.

newness

2008-12-07T15:05:00.000-08:00

by the end of next week i hope to upload a pdf of what i've been working on this semester in thesis development including my creative summary for my thesis work and some ideas of where i'm going. obviously this blog is going to be an integral part of my exploration and i'll probably even use some of what i've written here in my final thesis book. there's something comforting about the end of the semester, even though it means many nights of little or no sleep, it's nice to wrap things up into little packages of design and feel like you have something to present to the world.

and since my aesthetic has changed a lot over the course of the semester (i love it when things fall together with minimal effort), i thought i'd update the look of my blog a little. updating my website will be next, i'll probably tackle that over winter break (after i return from hawai'i of course) and try to find some funding for my thesis as well. it's hard to be creative when you're wondering how you're going to pay rent. visually i find myself now veering away from the strictly organic and taking a more scientific view of design in nature. which is not to say i'm finished with the messy, beautiful side of life and i thought i'd upload some images of organic, fiber-optic wallpaper by camille diedrich. it's not biomimicry but obviously celebrates forms in nature elegantly and is energy-efficient as well.

and another plug for asknature.org for wanyone who has not checked it out. it's a little hard to tell how much information the database contains but it's fun to explore.

musing and giving thanks

2008-11-28T13:29:00.000-08:00

interesting developments seem to be coming towards me in slow waves as i wade further into the world of biomimicry. i've started researching more companies and products that use biomimetic technology. it's disheartening how many companies rely on dod funding to enable their creativity. i know that there is a long history of innovation as a result of military investment, including solar cells and electric vehicles but it saddens me to think that this innovation comes at such a high cost and that the united states does not prioritize its civilian infrastructure. but there are a few exceptions and i have found myself inspired by companies such as pax scientific which is a local northern california company started by jay harman. pax designed the elegant lily impeller that was featured at the moma.

i also recently discovered asknature.org which is very much in line with the nature-inspired database i was thinking of designing. so i guess i can now scratch that off my list and focus more on the book and workshops i'm hoping to develop. it's great that both the biomimicry guild and institute are creating these partnerships with large companies and raising awareness of the importance of nature-inspired design.

and to keep this post from being all text here are a few images from yesterday's train trip north to sacramento for thanksgiving. there's nothing like appreciating live turkeys on the same day we are also enjoying their flavor.

essential thinking

2008-11-04T16:00:00.000-08:00

today seems to be a day of circling back and trying to get at the essence of issues, politics aside (yes, i voted... for the hawaiian) i've been doing a lot of thinking about nature and design and how the two can and do relate. partly this is due to some questioning of what biomimicry truly is. it's not enough to create forms that celebrate and mimic nature, although this might be seen as the first step, biomimetic design needs to exist in nature. this is a challenge i'm trying to wrap my head around. i think we (speaking as a privileged, educated westerner) have become so used to petroleum derivatives, plastic being the main one, that we hit a mental block when we try to consider how nature designs structures. i have encountered many iterations of what i call superficial biomimicry, objects that mimic natural organisms but are made of the same old materials as the objects we are already familiar with. this is why ross lovegrove went on about biopolymers in his ted talk. nature creates and disposes simultaneously.

this shift in materials is what is going to take the longest time for humans to figure out (beyond making tree branches into lamps). as benyus explains in her book, photosynthesis is an extremely complex procedure that we are still trying to get to the bottom of let alone replicate, people are beginning to figure it out though. maybe the first step is just to sit back and really learn from organisms before they are wiped out. of course, capitalism and progress do not afford us this luxury. i think there needs to be a designer's equivalent of the hippocratic oath taken by doctor's to do no harm. this idea has been addressed by valerie casey and her designer's accord. but what if this was taught in the beginning stages of design education, or education in general? what if children instead of pledging allegiance to the flag, pledged to the planet and their classmates to do no harm (or at least act mindfully)? this idea reminds me that i still want to travel to bhutan and study a culture who has vowed to place the happiness of it's inhabitants before the gnp. humans seem to be moving in this direction but who knows what new hells we will invent and subject ourselves and the planet to in the future.

but before i start sounding too much like my father i thought i'd highlight a nova science show i've been watching on fractals and their use in nature. the show is called hunting the hidden dimension. the most interesting segment was chapter 5: nature's fractal nature which highlighted how a single tree can help predict the size distribution of an entire forest and how much carbon an entire forest can sequester. i don't think i'm spoiling the ending by saying that the answer lies in fractal geometry.

so after all that theorizing i'm still struggling with how we can begin to truly design with nature, obviously cradle to cradle and biodegradable materials are a huge step forward. but is there room for integrating nature; as with this vertical garden (air purification, food production) växtväggen, swedish for plantwall at the stockholm design fair

as well as using it for mere decoration (bonsai trees on a new speaker design from jvc showcased at tokyo designer's week)?

the short answer would have to be yes, but let's hope we evolve away from purely decoration and towards integration and collaboration. i'll end with this image and the thought that as useful as plants may be, they still don't need to watch tv.

harvesting energy

2008-10-25T12:40:00.000-07:00

i'm exploring a few things today, first are a couple of design inventions from Loop.pH. as their website states, Loop.pH is: "a london-based design and research studio that aims to bridge the gap between design and the natural sciences. they specialise in the conception, construction and fabrication of environmentally responsive textiles for the built environment." a few of their designs were featured in the design and the elastic mind exhibition.

sonumbra is a 3-d textile embedded with solar cells that offers shade during the day and light at night. some versions have been designed to interact with human movement as well. here's a video of sonumbra in action.

metabolic media was created for nobel media, a partnership between nobel-prize winning scientists and artists. this project was an exploration of the theories of sir john e. walker, who won the prize in 1997, into biological energy conversion in living cells. Loop.pH says of the project: "the urban ecosystem, metabolic media, comprises of geotextile structures and solar cells designed to charge the batteries of a fueling pump system that feeds and monitors the network of plants by misting the roots with nutrient rich solution. one of the exciting developments of this project has been the outcome of a collaboration with Risø DTU, the national laboratory for sustainable energy in denmark. we have been working with printed, organic solar cells based on the work by dr. frederik krebs, senior researcher and torben damgaard nielsen, innovation pilot. large tensile surfaces and building facades could be used to harness the suns energy and turn it into electrical energy using ﬂexible printed photovoltaics (solar cells)."

another elegant, if far out, project for energy production is yusuke obuchi's wave garden, designed to replace the diablo canyon nuclear energy plant in san luis obispo. the garden would produce electricity by using piezo-electronic sensors on the underside, transforming wave pressure into energy. parts of the garden would be accessible by boat on the weekends to create more public recreation space. the idea was obuchi's thesis project at princeton school of architecture.

energizing ideas

2008-10-18T12:17:00.001-07:00

ok, first off to help clarify what i mean when i say biomimicry and design here is the ted video talk by welsh designer ross lovegrove. he, joris laarman and olafur eliasson (and many others) are out there creating a world i want to be a part of.

recently a dear friend sent me tokujin yoshioka's website and i wanted to share some images of his work that are particularly striking. i'm becoming more interested in this idea of growing design, of growing the world around us from food (urban permaculture and vertical gardening), to packaging (lovegrove mentions soluble packaging in his talk) to furniture (yoshioka's crystal chair) to urban planning (jamie lerner's plan for curitiba, brazil which probably has the best public transportation system of any city in the world). it's a new way of thinking about life and the interconnectedness and biodiversity of species. i find myself often looking to japan for inspiration, there's something amazing about a culture that elevates the role of nature to a spiritual level. i personally feel a nostalgia and yearning for a similar cultural experience. here are some images of yoshioka's work.

the venus natural crystal chair. yoshioka states on his site that: "a form born from nature has a beauty that exceeds our imagination." i'm not sure exactly how this chair is created but somehow it crystalizes onto a mesh substrate.

the waterfall bar.

a chair that disappears in the rain.

and a storefront based on geologic mineral structures.

to continue celebrating nature, i had the pleasure of accompanying some friends to the new california academy of sciences building designed by renzo piano. for me, the building outshone all the wonderful exhibits (my apologies to the albino alligator), the roof being my favorite part by far. it was also great to see labs on display and a wonderful collection of books and specimens in their open library. if you live near the beach keep your eyes open for an older man with white hair named ray, he collects bones and skulls for the academy and has a wealth of natural knowledge. here are my shots.

next, if you haven't yet seen the pbs series e2 check it out. yes, it's another series narrated by brad pitt, but it's so well done. be sure to view the episodes titles "super use" and "the art and science of renzo piano". also see superuse.org

one more thing! if you haven't read massive change, compiled by bruce mau and the institute without boundaries, please do. it just might be my favorite book of all time. it features janine benyus, jaime lerner and many other luminaries.

progress

2008-10-11T11:19:00.000-07:00

it's a few weeks into the fall semester and i'm starting to actually feel excited about my thesis. it hasn't been an easy road to get where i am and i'm sure it won't be going forward either but for now some things are starting to come together; mostly my research, resources and contacts. i learned earlier this week that the biomimicry guild and the architecture firm hok have just created a partnership to promote green architecture. this is great, biomimicry is starting to get a serious and positive response from the professional world which will hopefully open some doors for me and create more projects to get involved with and more people to interview.

i've started to research educational institutions that have biomimicry-related programs and have come across two of note, although i'm sure there are more. one is at berkeley and is called the center for interdisciplinary bio-inspiration and research (CiBER). from what i can tell, the center is not so much about design as mechanics and hard science. this is good and bad for me, while it may not offer any contacts for me it also means there is room for more design/creative input in the application of biomimicry. this is the feeling i've gotten so far in my research in general; that biomimicry has now captured the attention of scientists and even architects, but is still kind of glossed over in the larger field of design (industrial, graphic, packaging).

the other program i've come across is more interesting to me. georgia tech has a center for biologically inspired design (cbid). although also very scientific and robot-heavy, this center seems a little more open to the idea of nature as inspiration in more ways than just mechanical. they even have their own lecture and symposium series (in 2006 they hosted the international symposium for biologically inspired design in science and engineering). some of the talks sound pretty interesting and i'd like to sit in on the one titled "biomimicry: are humans smarter than sea sponges?" you can probably guess my answer. georgia tech also created a house for the 2007 solar decathlon called icarus after the greek myth about a boy who flew too close to the sun. anyway, this is all very inspiring to me and i hope to actually be talking to people in the field soon reporting on what they have to say. apparently janine benyus will be in san rafael for the bioneers conference on october 20 but i'll be in class.

to wrap up, here are some pretty pictures to look at; this is a loft in nyc and as the nytimes article states: "when matthew blesso, bought his 3,100-square-foot apartment in lower manhattan two years ago, he turned it over to two yale professors, the architect joel sanders and the landscape designer diana balmori. together, they teach a course called interface, about integrating architecture and landscape design. and so, with mr. blesso’s blessing, they turned his $4 million apartment into an extended classroom." it's not biomimicry but bio-inspiration definitely.

design and the elastic mind

2008-10-07T11:11:00.000-07:00

i've spent some time in the last week exploring the website for the moma show design and the elastic mind. so many of the things exhibited pertain to my interests and biomimicry so i thought i'd post a few ideas. i've thought about creating some sort of exhibition for my thesis of new ideas in design and biomimicry but i'm not sure i have the resources to pull off a truly inspirational show. it would be so fun to have a solar decathalon type event for biomimicry/design inspired by nature being invented all across the world. as part of my thesis research i hope to be able to travel to other design schools and spend some time talking with my counterparts and people who are coming to the peak of their creativity and hoping to use their skills to improve their world. but i thought i could at least highlight some ideas that actually exist right now out in the world. so here's a start.

lightweeds by simon heijdens (netherlands), these weeds are digital projections which grow on walls but are dependent on physical sun, rain and wind measured by sensors in the outside world. they spread and germinate as people walk by the exterior sensors and interact with the world as real plants would.

the lily impeller is a water mixer based on the interior structure of a shell (one of the most utilized shapes in design and based on the fibonacci spiral). designed for use in reservoirs, it keeps water from stagnating with minimal energy input. it was designed by jayden harman of australia and has been prototyped by pax scientific.

bee's project, a bee sensor, designed by susana soares of portugal, which could be used to diagnose diseases. apparently bees can be trained to detect certain odors some of which have been connected to cancer. it may not quite be biomimicry but does use nature's intelligence to help solve a problem.

another bee-centric design is the honeycomb vase whose exterior scaffold was created by toma gabzdil libertiny of slovakia who calls this way of working "slow prototyping" and highlights the cyclical nature of the design from flower ---> bee ---> flower.

the biowall is a similar idea, creating a scaffolding and letting nature fill in the details, it was designed by rachel wingfield of england and mathias gmachi of austria. the shape is made up of interlocking dodecahedrons made of millimeter thick fiberglass rods. the designers note that they used the shapes of bubbles, cells and water molecules as their inspiration.

the bone chair by joris laarman of the netherlands is something i actually referenced in my thesis proposal and is interesting in both its shape and use of materials. the chair was built using bone growth as a inspiration and not only looks natural but uses the least amount of material possible for the strongest structure.

this project appealed to my visual sense as a designer so i thought i'd add it to the list. it's a protein homology (genetic similarities of different organisms) graph designed by edward marcotte and alex adai for the center for systems and synthetic biology in austin, tx. each point is a single gene which is connected to other genes in the same family by lines. larger gene families create larger groupings and can help researchers better understand diseases. please click on the image to enlarge it.

lastly i'll note that i'm trying to stay away from ideas that do not take materials into account in some way. i'm trying to avoid promoting robots such as flybot and airacuda (pictured below just because they are so visually interesting) because while they certainly mimic nature, they are still constructed of materials that are mined from the earth in the same damaging way and do not promote natural processes. i'll also stay away from anything that could warrant DOD funding.

changing gears

2008-09-30T11:41:00.000-07:00

now that i have officially jumped off the cliff and into the ocean of my thesis topic i'm thinking this blog will change forms and morph into a record of my research and design explorations into the topic of biomimicry in design and architecture. i guess i'm lucky to be able to devote the next year of my life surrounding myself with the things that matter most to me and actually designing materials that will find their way out into the world and influence and inspire people. that has really always been my dream so here goes...

here are a couple of projects that have already inspired me to do further research into the complex field of biomimicry. first is a thesis project which became an actual business in new york city. smit, or sustainably minded interactive technology, is a company started by brother and sister team samuel and teresita cochran in brooklyn. the original idea was called grow and was actually samuel's thesis project at pratt. it was also featured at icff (international contemporary furniture fair) in 2005 and the design and the elastic mind exhibition at the moma in new york. the grow system is a series of interlocking synthetic leaves which harvest energy from the sun and the wind and as the website states: "grow.1 employs thin film photovoltaics with piezoelectric generators and screen-printed conductive ink encapsulated in ETFE fluoropolymer lamination." got that?

next is material ecology which is a series of projects by neri oxman who is currently getting her phd in design and computation at mit and takes a very scientific and mathematical approach to material experimentation. her work was also featured in the design and the elastic mind exhibition and the seville bienniale. here are some images from her monocoque exploration. as her website states "monocoque (french for "single shell") stands for a construction technique that supports structural load using an object's external skin. this stands in contrast with using an internal framework (or truss) that is then covered with a non-load-bearing skin. the project demonstrates the notion of a structural skin using a voronoi pattern, the density of which corresponds to multi-scalar loading conditions. the distribution of shear-stress lines and surface pressure is embodied in the allocation and relative thickness of the vein-like elements built into the skin. the composite prototype models represent three strategies for the design and fabrication of single shell structures. the component prototype model was 3-D printed using the polyjet matrix technology which allows for the assignment of structural properties to multiple 3-D printed substances. this is the first design to utilize the technology."

diversions

2008-09-04T16:00:00.000-07:00

here are a few items that have been aging in the sun on my desktop and i figured i'd get them up before the fall semester threatens to swallow me up again. the month of september features the architecture in the city festival all over san francisco and i urge anyone who's interested to check out some events. it's sponsored in part by dwell and features architecture for humanity, both fine organizations. last friday we participated in a kick-off event at room and board where i was able to do a little book promotion. but that's not why i'm writing this, so here goes...

first is method homes a company that builds pre-fab cabins and is based in seattle. if i say so myself their cabins are pretty dreamy, i can imagine myself living in one overlooking the pacific one day. maybe i should start playing the lottery.

next is a home in south yarra (which is in melbourne, australia i just discovered) called the eyelid house by fiona winzar. i've always had a thing for australian architecture, they just seem to know how to use metal and wood in interesting ways.

and i came across this item in make magazine which has many time-wasting, i mean, useful ideas for fun things to create. the website notes that the creator of this project nicknamed it "how to blow 5 months of your life". i guess if i missed the city that much (which i don't) i would consider undertaking a project of this magnitude.

and finally, i don't know why it's taken me so long to discover the genius of japanese architect toyo ito but thankfully i have and here's why:

matsumoto performing arts centre

serpentine pavilion

tod's tokyo

mikimoto ginza

f-building in minamiaoyama

tama art library

and maybe my favorite, the sendai mediateque which is inspired by the movement of seaweed. lovely and futuristic.

the new new wave (fake fireworks and all)

2008-08-11T14:43:00.000-07:00

i've been coming across amazing images of the bird's nest and water cube in china and thought i'd share. china is on the cutting edge of all things architectural these days with the olympic "green" and the cctv building. keep your eye on china, saudi arabia and abu dhabi.

sampling and the sea

2008-08-02T10:57:00.000-07:00

i thought i may have more time this summer to collect my thoughts but that hasn't turned out to be the case. lately i've been hard at work designing a book about the biloxi model home program which architecture for humanity is currently wrapping up in mississippi. it's been a fun and inspiring experience and i've really enjoyed getting to know the homes intimately. if you have a minute please take a look at the seven houses that were built.

in the spirit of sampling the latest items that have caught my eye i'll start with the resurgence in popularity of an idea called vertical gardening. it's an interesting approach to food supply issues, although i have to admit a little unnerving since i think of gardening as being very connected to the horizontal earth. but here are some designs for innovative vertical gardening structures from an article in the ny times.

from SOA architects in paris

and mithun in seattle

this idea has definitely reached the mainstream consciousness with colbert report even featuring dickson despommier as one of their guests.

and just to compare, here's the latest from my backyard plot. the sunflowers at the back are now taller than i am and i've recently started to harvest the first tomatoes of the summer which are far superior to anything you can buy at the store.

next is a design/architecture project conceived for building in china that's very much in the vein of biomimicry. it's called habitat 2020 and is a highrise which is alive and as the website states: "this [building explores] the integration of electronics and bio-chemical functionalities into the inert material of the built environment. the design of the concept fundamentally changes the current approach to buildings and habitat. this future habitat shifts from the current state where the building surfaces are benign inert ‘dumb’ materials only used for construction and shielding purposes to sensitive functional skins that are ‘alive’ and act as membranes to harness energy." i'll be sure to keep an eye on the project for my thesis. here are some concept shots of the exterior plant-like skin of the project which functions like a tropical plant.

and here is another installation in a series of posts on furniture and design straight from the beach. julia lohmann brought her seaweed lamps to isaloni in milan this year and i found them quite striking. she also creates sculptures out of sheep's stomach and photographs flies but i found these to be her most delicate and playful pieces.

finally some restful shots from my last trip down to pescadaro and the santa cruz coast, i don't think i'll ever tire of california (although sometimes i think my heart remains in hawaii).

necessary distractions

2008-07-06T21:04:00.000-07:00

the combination of a new job with architecture for humanity, writing my thesis proposal on biomimicry, volunteering with the urban alliance for sustainability, an online class, and some freelance work has been keeping me pretty busy. that and hanging out with friends and trying to find fireworks in the fog of san francisco's summer nights. i feel lucky that i have been able to land a job that actually has something to do with my interests. it's nice to feel appreciated as a designer, especially one who has an interest in architecture and social causes. it helps take the sting out of the wounds that grad school can inflict on our collective and personal confidence. but given that i've been so busy i haven't had much time to add to this page. here are a few things that have caught my eye lately.

first is a house in the netherlands featured in today's ny times magazine. it was built in rotterdam (also the home of the roof-top p.a.r.a.s.i.t.e. house, which sits atop a warehouse and taps into its existing infrastructure). this home addition was built for a family by winy maas and is fashioned like a village with separate structures for the parents and the children linked by a main open space.

and here is an image of the p.a.r.a.s.i.t.e. house which i featured in my architecture book two semesters ago, i never tire of promoting it.

the next is also from the ny times, but from the home and garden section, of a duplex in los angeles. it was designed with the help of fritz haeg, who is currently garnering recognition for his work with edible estates, which as the ny times puts it is: "an ongoing landscaping project in which, over the last few years, he has persuaded suburban homeowners to replace their front lawns with vegetable gardens. the project is intended not just to call suburban aesthetics into question but to change people’s minds about them; its initial results are documented in 'edible estates: attack on the front lawn.'"

then there is an art project which is currently taking place in new york city initiated by olafur eliasson. he has created stationary waterfalls in prominent places around the city, the water is of course taken straight from the source, pumped through the scaffolding and returned to the river.

the last is a solar collector/sculpture in cambridge, canada, proving that technology, innovation and grace can go hand in hand. people can even create performances with the solar collector through its website and participate where they can interact with the piece.

p.s. go see wall-e, it's quite adorable and sustainability-minded!

the good, the bad and the ugly

2008-06-07T12:49:00.000-07:00

summer is by far my favorite season, and not just because it means a break from school. the warm weather and abundance of sunshine kind of return me to myself in a way. this summer, however, may turn out to have a razor sharp edge. california is already in an official drought and if the temperatures venture towards the 90s for extended periods of time we may be in trouble. but i'll start with something more inspirational. i happened upon images of driftwood lamps by frank lefebvre of bleu nature and i thought i would share his vision. as the beach is my favorite "ecosystem" (in quotes because there are so many different types of beaches) i felt a strong connection to lefebvre's work. here are some images.

and the bad: an image of camanche reservoir, east of lodi, ca in april already showing signs of severe shortages. from the new york times.

and the ugly: since this past semester ended i have been doing lots of reading about sustainability, design, economics and how they all relate. i just finished paul hawken's ecology of commerce, sim van der ryn's ecological design and am starting jared diamond's collapse. not your light summer reading list but i'm passionate about being educated so that i can make better decisions about how i live my life. as hawken writes at the end of his book "...life is always a moral question that lies before us sweetly, dependent on our gratitude and constant struggle to cause as little suffering as possible to all and everything around us." in all this reading lies the question of how the human race is going to move forward without annhiliating the planet and itself in the process. we are seeing so many of the signs already, polar ice caps cracking, famine in east africa, a global food shortage and rapidly increasing gas prices.

the food issue is an interesting one. it is not a coincidence that janine benyus' book biomimicry starts with a section titled "how will we feed ourselves?" we've crowned petroleum king to the detriment of biodiversity in our fields. we create monocultures that are leaching nutriments out of the soil which we in turn replace with petroleum-derived fertilizers and chemical-laden pesticides. it's kind of like a drug addict needing a bigger and bigger hit to feel the same high. and it's not working anymore. here is an article from the bbc that explains how we've gotten to the stage we're at today. and the latest images from my little garden plot, which of course is pesticide-free (the plants in the front are sunflowers).

and an image from a recent hike in the marin headlands. well, just because we need to enjoy it while it's there.

creativity and crisis

2008-05-31T11:13:00.000-07:00

i'm not really one for superstition or placing faith in external forces. i feel that life itself holds enough complexity and wonder to keep me occupied for the duration of mine. and occasionally i see things that give me a little jolt to remind me of the beauty of life itself. i get frustrated when people feel the need to look beyond the earth for their spirituality. it's all right here in front of us, just take a second out of your day and look harder.

this thought process has led me to me to the thesis topic i hope to study for the next year or so which is: biomimicry and ecological design. it's time to stop and really consider what we are doing/have done to this planet. i fear that we've treated our home as a resource to be abused and not as a vital living system. here's a link to the biomimicry institute started by janine benyus. as benyus says "learning about the natural world is one thing, learning from the natural world, that's the profound switch." sometimes i think we've left the tipping point of catastrophic change far behind us but occasionally i find reason to hope. so this post is about keeping myself moving forward and focused on what keeps me sane. i'm lucky that i can study the people who genuinely feel hopeful despite all the doom and gloom surrounding the science of climate change.

i found this quote from benyus' book biomimicry: innovation inspired by nature inspiring: "in reality, we haven't escaped the gravity of life at all. we are still beholden to ecological laws, the same as any other life-form. the most irrevocable of these laws says that a species cannot occupy a niche that appropriates all resoures, there has to be some sharing. any species that ignores this law winds up destroying its community to support its own expansion. tragically, this has been our path. we began as a small population in a very large world and have expanded in number and territory until we are bursting the seams of that world. there are too many of us, and our habits are unsustainable.

but i believe, as many have before me, that this is just the storm before the calm. the new sciences of chaos and complexity tell us that a system that is far from stable is a system ripe for change. evolution itself is believed to have occured in fits and starts, plateauing for millions of years and then leaping to a whole new level of creativity after crisis."

here's a link to benyus' ted talk on biomimicry for those of you who might be interested. and a link to william mcdonough's ted talk on cradle to cradle design which is probably my favorite so far.

on a personal level i keep myself motivated by photographing my world. i enjoy photography because it's fundamentally honest and shows the simple beauty of the world around us. here are some photos i've taken in the last couple months that shift my brain into a more positive state.

the garden

a spring trip to hawaii

and a recent trip to la

i also look to yann-arthus bertrand who takes stunning aerial photographs of our earth. he is also an inspired humanitarian with a strong environmental bent.

emerging for air

2008-05-21T11:29:00.000-07:00

i'm posting a few things that have found their way onto my desktop in the last month. since the semester once again swallowed me whole i'm now emerging to share the things that inspire me again. first is a electrical plant now converted into gallery and exhibition space in madrid. the complex is called the caixaforum madrid, and is located in the las letras neighborhood. it features one wall of intricate rusted filagree and another with an amazing vertical garden. it is designed by herzog & de meuron who also designed the de young museum in sf and many other fascinating buildings. the complex gets bonus points in my book for the current mucha exhibit.

next is an architecture studio/home in atlanta. the studio is run by david yocum and brian bell. although the living area is now being converted into a conference room, yocum and his wife did actually used to live there. here are images of the courtyard as well as a bathroom.

next are home designs from the 2005 solar decathalon team from cornell university. the team has an already established company called zerodenergydesign. the company's stated goal is to offer healthy, green, zero-energy houses. two members of the cornell team have also started freegreen offering free plans to anyone interested in building a green home. the first image is a digital rendering of one of the designs offered through freegreen, the second two are cornell's 2005 solar decathalon entry. it's nice to know that students are able to launch their ideas directly from their educational experience and not feel a huge disconnect between school and real life, not that i know anything about that...

and finally here are some fun images of doghouses with green roofs designed by sustainable pet design, a company located in la, naturally.

for something completely different

2008-04-17T11:32:00.000-07:00

sometimes i turn to the tv to veg out and forget the stress of grad school. mostly it's just for laughs but occasionally i see something that really touches me (usually on kqed) and i thought i'd take a step back and acknowledge the bigger picture of what keeps me passionate. last week i happened to catch jean-michel cousteau's ocean adventures "voyage to kure." kure is part of the northwestern hawaiian island chain way out in the middle of the pacific. jean-michel is jacques-yves cousteau's son and is keeping the family legacy alive along with his own children céline and fabien. what struck me were two scenes from the show, one was divers hauling up tons of discarded fishing net from the reefs surrounding midway island and the other was jean-michel walking down the beach on laysan island (photo below) and picking up plastic lighters and toothbrushes that have either floated to the island or were deposited in the stomaches of birds (who subsequently died because of the plastic).

kure atoll

usgs map of the greater hawaiian island chain

i've heard a story of a designer who altered his career after discovering a toothbrush that he designed washed up on a beach. i think this would be a nightmare for any designer who really cares about this planet. designers are in a unique position to actually make a difference and i hope we do, beacuse it often seems like it's too late. by the latest accounts global warming is now happening much faster than predicted and it's a scary realization given that it only takes a couple of degrees of temperature change to tip the scales disastrously.

on a slightly more hopeful note, i started a garden last week and i hope to watch it thrive this summer. so far i have tomatoes, basil, strawberries, marigolds, sunflowers and a pepper. it's not much but it's something.

bits and pieces

2008-04-04T11:56:00.000-07:00

i've found a few things lately that i wanted to post to take a break from the other design work i've been doing (mira nair film booklets and dvd packaging). first is the trend for new museums to be reaching for higher levels of leed certification. the grand rapids art museum has recently been awarded a gold certificate for it's building designed by why architecture. here are some images.

the museum of contemporary art in denver is seeking similar gold certification with their new building by david adjaye. adjaye is a very interesting tanzanian/english architect working in london and quickly becoming a strong global presence. here is a shot of the mca denver.

and i always like to post the latest houses that have caught my eye from the new york times home & garden section. first is a house in the hamptons by architect couple arakawa and madeline gins. their structure, called the bioscleave house, is supposed to help defy death by forcing people to "cradle tentativeness" which renews their spirit and immune system - i think. while i don't sympathize with their idea that dying is immoral, it has certainly inspired some highly creative results on their part. here are some shots of the house.

they have also built a "reversible destiny" loft building in mitaka, japan which is similarly striking.

and finally here is a more traditional home, a rowhouse in chicago owned by frances whitehead and james elniski's that proves that there is no longer a distinction between green and stylish. the last shot is of their roof which is the next best thing to totally green, khaki maybe?

friendly promotion

2008-03-09T16:43:00.000-07:00

i never tire of promoting worthwhile projects, especially when my friends are involved. in this post i'm turning my attention to a project a friend in la is working on, namely the woodworking bus in conjunction with side street projects. the bus is a great way to expose children to art forms of all kinds and expanding the very notion of what art is. art, simply stated, is visual play and who could be more skilled at this than children? recently side street's new off-the-grid mobile office trailers (by j. paul getty's spartan aircraft corporation) were promoted in good magazine in their blog section. side street projects also does a great service to the artist community by offering "get your sh*t together" (or gyst, get it?) grant-writing, web development and other organizational workshops. and here are some of my shots of the woodworking buses from a trip to la last winter. as you can see, they function in the highest sense of the word creativity!

on a side note: "side street projects' mobile headquarters & solar energy array are open for public tours monday through saturday, 12pm - 4pm. walk-ins are welcome, but it's best to phone ahead. for more information, please contact us at (626) 798-7774 or info@sidestreet.org"

living walls

2008-02-21T11:40:00.000-08:00

today's new york times home & garden section featured an interesting question about installing green walls which caught my eye. the wall they featured in answering the question was part of anthropologie's new store in huntsville, alabama. this store was designed by the firm elmslie osler architect which states on its website: "eoa’s vision for the store has turned into what is now the largest green wall installation in north america. the soil-based walls are constructed of 2’x2’x3” panels of a variety of sedum genus. the living walls will bloom in the spring and stay green in the colder months when they will provide extra insulation to reduce energy use. in the summer, the south and south-east facing walls will absorb uv rays, cooling the interior of the building." the wall is 2,000 square feet and was created by green living technologies who also designed a similar wall for club oulu in new york which i mentioned in a previous post.

here are some shots of the huntsville anthropologie store.

musings

2008-01-30T20:02:00.000-08:00

i thought i'd write a quick post about a few things that have come to my attention in the last couple weeks. it's interesting to study the different scales that are touched by the sustainability/green movement. i learned that plans for masdar, abu dhabi are moving forward. masdar will strive to be a zero-carbon and zero-waste green city in the middle of the desert. plans have been drawn up by sir norman foster. this is one of his many large projects, i would call them utopian in vision, i'm not convinced that they will be so perfect in execution. here is a photo, it could look very much like human inhabitation on mars should we go down that road.

on the other end of the biospheric spectrum (not sure if i just made that phrase up) here's a commercial building with a living roof in singapore. the building is part of the school of art, design and media at nanyang technological university. we should all be so lucky to study design in a building like this!

and finally, i thought i'd post an update on the maison topicale by jean prouvé, one of my favorite buildings and an inspiration to me personally. winning bidder andré balazs is lending this version of the maison to the tate modern in london where it can be viewed. balazs, who is a hotelier, paid $4.97 million for it which is amazing considering the structure is an aluminium-panelled, flat-pack, one-room house. here are some glamour shots.

it's true, i heart new york

2008-01-21T11:57:00.000-08:00

i always thought that was a silly slogan, only somewhat preferable to virginia is for lovers (whatever that means), but i found myself falling for the city over the week we were there. one of its best features is transportation. it's so comforting to be in a place where everyone walks,the subways run past midnight and you can use your passes on the subway or the bus and no matter where you go it's always $2. amazing. here are some fun architectural shots from our trip, i hope to be back someday soon!

i think if i were to ever leave the discipline of graphic design, which i doubt, i'd be an architectural photographer. one week until classes start, stay tuned...

giving birth to books

2007-12-22T13:38:00.000-08:00

i haven't posted in a long time so i thought i'd give everyone a peak into what i've been spending my time on. primarily i've been working on 2 books for school. the first was a 60+ pager about the subject of this blog, i've called it alternative architecture. it was sort of amazing to create and produce (and bind) a book in about 3 weeks. it's good practice for the future to be able to turn a book around in such a short amount of time. here are some shots of the cover and interior.

the second book was a 30+ pager for typography about an invention. i chose to deconstruct a sink and try to return it to nature. well, in theory anyway. the challenge was to create all of our own imagery from photography to illustration and informational graphics.

so now you know why my blog postings have dropped off, i've been focusing all my energy on perfecting and crafting these 2 important books (while also working on a website). and now that i can reflect a little on the semester i feel very proud of what i've accomplished and am one step closer to being an inspired designer who has something to say to the world and the means with which to say it.

thinking outside of the mcmansion

2007-11-29T15:20:00.000-08:00

a new green prefab caught my attention recently which was designed in france by eric wuilmot for construtions demain. it shares similarities with the mklotus but was built around a central courtyard instead of the more traditional long, narrow layout. its roof is partly green with solar panels built into pitched area. inside, accents are comprised of no-voc textile tiles made from recycled polyamide fiber and painted areas are treated with no-voc paints. here are a few images of the home which premiered in paris.

and some more ideas for far-out housing:

a floating island built on empty plastic bottles perhaps? this is a real structure, now being rebuilt as a result of hurrican damage, by rishi sowa in puerto aventuras, mexico. why not?

or maybe a desert hexayurt is more your style. this structure is designed for quick installation and temporary housing, especially intended for disaster relief purposes. it can be constructed in 2 hours with no training.

traditional styles

2007-11-24T13:48:00.000-08:00

while i was down in santa cruz for thanksgiving i got a chance to do a little research about more traditional methods of home construction. i was inspired by ancient japanese dwellings, some of which were both home and small silk production factories. the top few floors were used for silk worm housing while families lived below.

the shrines at ise are built in a similar manner, here's a little history from an edited wikipedia entry: "The architectural style of the Ise shrine is known as Shinmeizukuri. The old shrines are dismantled and new ones built on an adjacent site to exacting specifications every 20 years, so that the buildings will be forever new and forever ancient and original. The present buildings, dating from 1993, are the 61st iteration to date and are scheduled for rebuilding in 2013. The shrine at Naikū is constructed of Japanese cypress. Built on pillars set directly in the ground, it includes a raised floor, verandahs all the way around the building and a staircase leading to a single central doorway. The roof is made of thatched reed with ten billets (katsuogi) located on the ridge of the roof, the bargeboards of which project beyond the roof to form the distinctive forked finials (chigi) at the ends of the ridge. The roof ridge is supported by two free-standing columns called the munamochi-bashira. The katsuogi, chigi and munamochi-bashira are stylised forms of older storehouse building techniques that pre-date the introduction of Buddhist architecture in Japan."

this style is much more in keeping with living close to the land than many of today's high tech green homes. here are a few photos of traditional structures (which would be perfect locations for my living sink, but that's an entirely different story):

mishine-no-mikura at ise

traditional torii gates

shirakawa-go unesco world heritage site

it's possible to combine some of these traditional elements into modern houses and people do it all the time. here are a few shots from thanksgiving in santa cruz and the lovely foreman home. the swans were graceful and unexpected, as were the dolphins at the long marine lab, but i didn't get any shots of them... next time!

a little party about houses

2007-11-17T21:29:00.000-08:00

i thought i'd write a short wrap up of my alternative architecture dinner party hosted a couple weeks ago. the party went extremely well, with insightful comments being contributed by all involved. we started with a little show and tell of childhood photos and a discussion of what home is, and how we were shaped by the homes we grew up in. i was one of the ones who had never really experienced that true feeling of a stable homebase, perhaps that's why i'm so interested in architecture and how i can create home for myself wherever i am. next we discussed the recent strides in green technology and what people are or are not doing in their own spaces. there was a general sense of optimism about what can be done tempered by a sobering feeling that not much is actually occurring in the wider world. below are photos of the aforementioned fabulous solar home birthday cake as well as the aftermath of the party (because someone asked for more photos of cats).

i also handed out a questionnare asking for people's opinions on the following 3 houses:

jean prouvé's maison tropicale built in the 1940s for french colonialists. it was a flatpack house built to be shipped anywhere in the world and installed onsite. it has no indoor plumbing but comes already wired for electricity.

a home built by samuel mockbee's rural studio in alabama.

hundertwasserhaus in vienna, austria built by one of my favorite artists and visionaries. hundertwasser often showed up for lectures naked and famously quoted "the straight line is godless" and "we live in paradise but we do not know it, we live in paradise and make it hell."

this was probably the most interesting part for me to digest. people had differing opinions about each structure. some responded strongly to hundertwasserhaus as it has an overtly artistic feel. opinions were mixed on the prouvé house. i think the location of the photograph outshone the structure itself. it might have helped if i had found an image of one as it was meant to be sited - in the jungles of brazzaville, congo. what all these houses have in common is that their creators dared to take a chance and ignore the rules of how things are supposed to be done. they made their own way and enriched our lives for it.

below are some more hundertwasser buildings as well as a few of his prints. hundertwasser lived in austria where his most famous buildings are located. he was both an architect and a printmaker/painter. later in life he considered new zealand his home and converted an old ship into a houseboat of sorts, complete with live trees, which he named the regentag.

a quote from a catalog of one of his shows says it best "i worked with a farmer when i saw how brown the earth is and how green the grass. so i decided to become a painter." 1946

houses of curtains and bridges of cardboard

2007-11-15T23:56:00.000-08:00

one of people who has been on the forefront of creative material reuse for years is shigeru ban. there's no material that he can't meld into an elegant and useful structure. one of my favorite quotes of his is from his metal shutter house website: "the materials want to be something, they are waiting. each material has it's own function and potential." the metal shutter houses will be built in new york city and are set to open in 2008. here are a few of ban's other endeavors:

his lyrical curtain house, built in 1995 in tokyo.

two views of his cardboard bridge built in southern france.

a paper house in yamanashi, japan from 1995.

a temporary paper studio constructed on top of the centre pompidou.

and more recently his shipping container pavillion for the nomadic museum which opened in venice, italy in 2002, travelled to new york city in 2005, santa monica in 2006 and tokyo in 2007. the pavillion housed photographs and films from "ashes and snow" by artist gregory colbert.

a little bit of everything

2007-11-10T11:15:00.000-08:00

this post covers a few of the various things that have been inspiring me lately. these all come from various ny times articles. they published their style magazine last sunday so this first item came from there. these designers have figured out a way to use sugar without creating sticky messes and make them look like permanent snow sculptures. it shows what can be done with everyday materials and a little bit of imagination and ingenuity.

oliver kessler’s sugar cube light

from godoylab

the next is a house in la designed by neil denari for a family of five.

and a loft space in london designed by richard rogers and tonkin liu for a family of six. i especially appreciate the vines growing around the outside of the structure, bringing little bits of green into the heart of the city.

finally, an image from marrakesh, because it's fascinating to me to see how other cultures build and conceive of home. there are basically endless iterations of home, which is exactly as it should be.

salvage housing

2007-11-06T17:06:00.000-08:00

i just ran across some great photos of a scrap house that was exhibited in san francisco for earth day 2005 and thought i would share. it reminds me of some of the houses built by mockbee and the rural studio at auburn university. it's a livable recycled house.

here is a sampling from rural studio projects built in hale county, alabama. the second image is a glass structure built from re-used car windshields.

nouveau maison tropicale

2007-11-03T15:48:00.000-07:00

my alternative architecture dinner party this weekend went extremely well, thanks to everyone who came and offered their knowledge and insights. and the solar-home birthday cake was above and beyond, i will post a photo of it later.

one of the houses that started my interest in the alternative architecture topic was jean prouvé's maison tropicale. designed for french colonialists in the 1940s, only a few of these houses were actually produced. personally, i believe that colonialism is one of the worst inventions of humankind. however, it's hard to deny the utility of this little house (which has now been auctioned off for over a million dollars).

in a slightly different vein: it's funny how we often have the same ideas as our relatives even if we don't realize it. my aunt and uncle in hawaii built a partly prefab, mostly green home in waimanalo on their organic plant farm. the first time i walked in i thought "this feels just right," like goldilocks. natural fibers, wood, the dark blue accents, the large lanai with a view out to rabbit island, it's a little piece of paradise. here are some photos of the construction:

mini living

2007-10-30T11:35:00.000-07:00

before i post my inspirations for very small living solutions i wanted to highlight something i found in the solar decathlon brochure. i was browsing through the student team pages and the carnegie mellon page caught my eye. the student quote was "we want to encourage the housing industry to use our design system to create homes that families can design around their needs and change them as their needs change," ben saks. this is the true spirit of modular living and why i find it so exciting. we don't need to live in the mcmansions like those in mclean, va. modular housing can be so much more efficient. and speaking of modules here are a few tiny houses and studio spaces:

o2 student living from micro compact home was an experiment lead by the technical university in munich, students and 1 professor lived in these modules for 6 months but enjoyed it so much they extended the trial run to a year. each module is only 77 cubic feet.

studio spaces from modern cabana . these are meant to be add-ons, guest houses or indiviual studios. the company is based in sf and builds spaces ranging from 100 - 1,000 square feet.

various projects from alchemy architects wee houses. the first is an instillation shot from a house in marfa, texas. marfa is also the home of the chinati foundation which is a minimalist art museum featuring the work of donald judd, dan flavin and others. the second two are photos of a house in two harbors, minnesota. perfect. really, will someone buy me one so i can escape to the woods when i need to?

more solar decathlon

2007-10-28T16:24:00.000-07:00

these photos come from my washington corespondent (thanks dad!) it's a little behind the scenes peak at the details of the houses and the work that went into them. the first one is my favorite, the point being that houses are home for creatures other than humans too...

sunday inspiration

2007-10-28T12:11:00.001-07:00

here are some people, websites and spaces that are interesting me today: of course there's always inhabitat. subscribing to their daily updates keeps me inspired. the tehama grasshopper warehouse home in sf particularly caught my eye. industrial spaces have the power to also be warm and inviting.

also the oulu lounge being built in brooklyn, designed by evangeline dennie. it features an exterior green wall, similar to those used in the solar decathlon.

architecture firms that are redefining green living and adding a personal touch: living homes and project7ten which built a sort of green case study house in venice, ca. it's just beautiful.

west coast green conference

2007-10-27T20:51:00.000-07:00

attended the west coast green conference and saw michelle kaufmann speak about her new design the mkLotus, a prefab green house. the mkLotus features a green roof and a rainwater catchment system. it comes already designed to capture solar power. she's a very inspirational and approachable woman. also attended talks with arkin tilt architects. which featured photos of straw bale houses, houses made from shipping containers and houses with details from automobile components such as windshields. and yes, that's me.

solar decathlon

2007-10-27T20:09:00.000-07:00

the 2007 solar decathlon just wrapped up in d.c. (sponsored by the us department of energy), all the houses were displayed on the mall and open for tours. the winner was technische universität darmstadt from germany, their design featured solar panels built into the louvered shades of the house. the designs i found most interesting were:

u of maryland leaf house (2007 2nd place winner),

cu boulder (winners in 2002 and 2005) which included a shipping container,

universidad politécnica de madrid - well designed interior with stylish touches,

u of cincinnati - great use of recycled tiles for the exterior,

ut austin - photographic shell is very striking,

université de montréal - interesting weathered wood exterior.
all houses also had to supply power to run a small electric vehicle. more exterior shots to come.