Clipmarks | urbanlife's 'architecture' clips

2030 Face It: Reverberate “No Coal” Body Paint Design Winners

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 14:27:23 GMT

clipped by: urbanlife
clipper's remarks: Students were told to spread the word about the negative impacts of coal on our natural ecosystems and its role on greenhouse gas emissions. Face Color Winner: Emily Bibler, Iowa State University. Face B+W Winner and Metropolis Ad Winner: Jackie Fabella, Cal Poly Pomona. Body Winner: Miles Courtney, Pratt Institute.

The Reverberate competition brought together students from a range disciplines to take direct action on the topic of climate change. 4,500 attendees participated in a variety of activities relating to global climate change - ranging from architecture to agriculture; from politics to poetics; from green jobs to green food.

Through their involvement, they put their ideals into action. As future environmental stewards, these students have every right to ask: why are we all not doing the same?

Clip Source: www.metropolismag.com

Clip Source: www.architecture2030.org

Clip Source: www.metropolismag.com

the Cal Poly San Luis Obispo campus

the “Reverberate” competition

part of Architecture 2030’s Face It events

The competition, aimed at universities around the country

charged students to broadcast the message about the negative impacts of coal on our natural ecosystems and its role on greenhouse gas emissions

students produced face and body paint designs that conveyed the “no coal” message as directed by the competition

At Cal Poly, students and faculty wandered around campus, into classes and faculty gatherings with painted faces that ranged from stark “NO COAL” scrawls to artfully illustrated American flags urging students to cast their votes with the environment in mind

“The entries varied in meaning: some depicting strong political messages about health and environmental impacts, while others took a positive approach by displaying a set of alternatives to coal.”

Through their participation

students have come to recognize that their work can affect the awareness of those around them

Clip Source: www.architecture2030.org

Tags: body paint, no coal, ecosystem, future, environment, steward, college

Island Wood: City Kids First Visit with Nature & Environmentalism

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 18:16:39 GMT

clipped by: urbanlife
clipper's remarks: An environmental learning center—nestled into a rustic 250-acre nature preserve—plays a dual role as symbol and teaching tool. "We envision a future in which all people view themselves as lifelong learners, and share an extraordinary bond of stewardship for the environment, for their communities and for each other." Raising of environmental consciousness, one child at a time.

“The center is primarily for inner-city kids who don’t have an opportunity to connect with the natural world. And when kids are uncomfortable, they’re not open to learning. So we wanted them to be as comfortable here as possible.”

The mission of IslandWood is to provide exceptional learning experiences and to inspire lifelong environmental and community stewardship.

Clip Source: www.metropolismag.com

Clip Source: www.islandwood.org

Clip Source: www.metropolismag.com

Island Wood, a six-acre environmental learning-center campus built carefully, almost apologetically, into a 255-acre nature preserve on Bainbridge Island, Washington

to demonstrate architectural environmentalism and to elicit kids’ questions and interest

to address two apparently unrelated problems: environmental degradation and shortfalls in inner-city education

now covered with second-growth forest, and features—among other natural wonders—a pond, a bog, a marsh, an estuary, a deep ravine, and a harbor

brings in children and teachers from inner-city schools and hosts them for the better part of a week, giving them intense, hands-on outdoor science education and indoor exposure to “green” architecture

Washington State’s first LEED Gold project

everything from photovoltaic roof panels to a rainwater-capture apparatus and a greenhouse, called the Living Machine, packed with plants that filter Island Wood’s gray water for reuse

We don’t preach

we just make it obvious so they’ll ask questions

Tags: environment education, green design, sustainable, forest friendly, children hold our future

Winning Design: Urban Farm Above & Music Festival Below

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 13:42:53 GMT

clipped by: urbanlife
clipper's remarks: Winning Green Design: The movement from industrialization to post-industrialization, from global to local, from the free market to the farmer’s market, and from sand to hay. To be built for Summer 2008 PS1 Festival Series.

Work Architecture’s winning proposal calls for a series of cardboard tubes, each no more than a yard tall, being assembled next to each other to form a large platform. Some of those columns will be filled with a series of fruit-growing plants, everything from mint to peas, while some will remain completely open, from top to bottom, to allow some light to shine through.

PS1 was founded in 1971 as The Institute for Art and Urban Resources Inc., to the transformation of abandoned and underutilized buildings in New York City into exhibition, performance, and studio spaces for artists.

Clip Source: www.inhabitat.com

For the past seven years, the PS1 gallery has invited a number of young emerging architects to participate in this competition to design a temporary structure for their summer music festival.

Work Architecture, this year’s winner

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

proposal by Dan Wood and Amale Andraos, the husband-and-wife duo

the urban farm concept — including an abundance of fresh produce and a genuine harvesting plan

To organize the space they chose the heavy cardboard tubes

Each tube will play its own role. Some will contain plantings on dirt shelves equipped with liner bags to prevent leakage

There is a phone-charging column, a children’s grotto of columns with swings, an herb-growing column with circulating fans dispersing scents like basil or lavender,

one that plays farm sounds when you sit down, another in which you can look upward, see stars and hear crickets

Clip Source: www.inhabitat.com

reinvent the idea of a temporary space

how that leisure space could work for us, reinventing it for the city

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

combining it with a real farmer’s market

Tags: ps1 music festival, queens, art meets green design, architecture, farm

Holland: Build an Amphibious House for a Floating Future

Fri, 01 Feb 2008 14:52:20 GMT

clipped by: urbanlife
clipper's remarks: Who says you have to live on dry land? Try a floating house...

Building floating foundations is a snap. Just fill a concrete box with some kind of plastic foam, flip it over, and you've got a stable platform that's ready to float. And the more of these platforms you join together, the more stable they are.

Zevenbergen's company has already built floating greenhouses and has plans for houses that not only float, but also move.

His idea is that you can move them along the river, and go to a city which is close to the river, and park your home there in a special harbor which is constructed for this type of boat. A nomadic way of living, that you can change the area where you live depending on the season or whatever.

Clip Source: www.inhabitat.com

Clip Source: www.npr.org

Who says you have to live on dry land?

The inevitable rise in sea level

is going to make it increasingly difficult to control flooding in low-lying Holland

architects are designing a new Holland that will float on water, and the Dutch government seems willing to try out the scheme

a house that can float because it has a unique foundation.

foundation actually sits on the river bottom

If the river level rises to flood stage, the house and the foundation float up with the water level

Flexible pipes keep the house connected to electrical and sewer lines.

Poles help steady the houses as the structures rise with the river

The concept that in fact you build in an area where a flood may occur is completely new

Go ahead and build houses in areas that might flood — just build them on floating foundations

The next step: we not only make the house floating, but we make the complete garden floating

you can fix those floating gardens to each other, and make a floating village of it

a new way of living

Clip Source: www.inhabitat.com

Clip Source: www.npr.org

Tags: floating house, holland, rising sea level, climate change, flooding, architecture

No Smoging in Paris: Building That Eats Smog & Cleans Air

Tue, 29 Jan 2008 16:56:17 GMT

clipped by: urbanlife
clipper's remarks: To absorb and recycle smog from the intense traffic near Paris in an "Innovation Center for Sustainable Development."

Clip Source: vincent.callebaut.org

Clip Source: www.inhabitat.com

Callebaut’s ‘Anti Smog: An Innovation Centre in Sustainable Development’ is a catalyst for cleaner air.

project balances public galleries, meeting rooms and gathering spaces over canals and abandoned railroad tracks in the 19th Parisian district

the process as an intention to “absorb and recycle by photo-catalytic effect the cloud of harmful gases (Smog) from the intense traffic near Paris.”

Under the smog eating exterior, the building houses public spaces with a central courtyard and natural lagoon, a place Callebaut envisions for teaching opportunities about urban ecology and renewable energy

also harvests rainwater from green space on the roof for use inside the building.

The “Wind Tower”

Vertical Axis Wind Turbines (VAWT) to capture the prevailing urban winds

Ramps lead visitors through museum space and out to a rooftop garden with views across Paris.

an innovative urban space that is engaging, powered by renewable energy and has a positive impact on the surrounding urban environment.

Clip Source: vincent.callebaut.org

Tags: smog, sustainable, clean air, architecture, paris, no smoging

To Beat the Heat in Madrid: Build an Air Tree

Fri, 25 Jan 2008 21:13:39 GMT

clipped by: urbanlife
clipper's remarks: A new structure that will “climatically transform” its urban architecture. These trees will cool the surrounding environments and as a bonus generate clean electricity.

Designed by Urban Ecosystems

Clip Source: www.inhabitat.com

The city of Madrid soon plans to add a striking new structure that will “climatically transform” its urban architecture.

the Air Tree pavilion is to be built from recycled materials and will be 100% energy self-sufficient.

Using photovoltaic cells, the Air Tree produces a substantial amount of energy, which is then sold back to the local electric companies, the profits being used for maintenance of the structure.

The second byproduct is of course oxygen - hence the name ‘Air Tree’!

the trees have a very interesting benefit for the local residents who have to suffer through hot Spanish summers

The surrounding environment near the air tree will be naturally conditioned, reducing the heat island effect found in most city centers

the structure, made from lightweight recycled materials, can be easily disassembled and moved to another site when needed.

The air trees will be implemented city wide in the coming years

Clip Source: www.inhabitat.com

Tags: cool trees, heat island, madrid, spain, urban ecosystem, energy, recycled materials

Turquoise Mountain: Invest in Afghan Arts To Save Kabul

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 20:28:23 GMT

clipped by: urbanlife
clipper's remarks: Battered by over two decades of war, limited access to new materials and cheaper imports from China and Pakistan, there is an urgent need to support the rural craft communities of Afghanistan.

The Foundation has developed a Sustainable and Authentic Crafts Standard, which guarantees the authenticity and ethical value of any Afghan products it promotes.

The Foundation will establish a permanent resource and research center where it plans to build a gas kiln, a workshop, a laboratory for testing glazes, and a library. This improvement in training and resources will be matched with valuable access to the visiting tourist market.

Clip Source: www.turquoisemountain.org

Turquoise Mountain is investing in the regeneration of the historic commercial centre of Kabul, providing basic services, saving historic buildings and constructing a new bazaar and galleries for traditional craft businesses

It has established Afghanistan’s first Centre for Traditional Afghan Arts and Architecture, gathering some of the greatest Masters in Afghanistan and training students to produce masterpieces in wood, calligraphy and ceramics

Clip Source: www.turquoisemountain.org

Turquoise Mountain plans to restore the ancient bazaar of Murad Khane into a unique historic centre for Kabul

It will provide infrastructure; levelling and paving the streets, installing water and sewage and delivering additional services to the community.

Clip Source: www.turquoisemountain.org

Turquoise Mountain has completed a rubbish clearance project that has seen the street level drop by two meters and uncovered building foundations submerged for over 60 years

Clip Source: www.turquoisemountain.org

Rural Livelihoods Project

There is an urgent need to support the rural craft communities of Afghanistan

Tags: afghanistan, kabul, turquoise mountain, culture, arts, preserve, rebuild, ceramics

Planning the Future of Rwanda

Fri, 07 Dec 2007 18:33:11 GMT

clipped by: urbanlife
clipper's remarks: "A bit perversely, the genocide itself has become a sort of psychic engine for development, the glimpse of darkness that inspires the light"

Capital of Rwanda: Kigali
Population in 1990: 7 million
Killed in the 1994 genocide: 800,000
Population today: 9.7 million
Estimated population in 2030: 20 million
Urban population in 1990: 5.3%
Urban population in 2003: 21.8%
Kigali annual growth rate: 7–9%
Kigali population in informal settlements: 83%
Average per-capita annual income: $280
Population with regular access to electricity: 5%
Projected population with access to electricity in 2011: 10%

Clip Source: www.metropolismag.com

Thirteen years after the genocide, the tiny African nation begins imagining its future

Kigali, the capital of Rwanda

the conceptual master plan for the future of Kigali

to turn today’s red-dirt ad-hoc city into a verdant capital with tree-lined boulevards, mixed-use neighborhoods, a new university, parks, and a network of wetlands

its president, Paul Kagame

has fostered a powerful vision of Rwanda’s future as a kind of Singapore for sub-Saharan Africa, a center of medicine, banking, and technology for the region’s 770 million people

ensuring the “triple bottom line”—environmental sustainability, economic sustainability, and social equity

the plan to be “pro-poor, not just for the elites,”

This project is an urban planner’s dream

In Rwanda, planning is seen as a tool for survival

to implement today’s best practices in infrastructure

Rwanda has

minimal corruption, empathetic political leadership, manageable geography, incredible natural beauty

if we want to evolve, change is unavoidable

Tags: rwanda, planning, urban, sustainability, africa, hub, oz architecture

The Pink Project: Make it Right for New Orleans

Wed, 05 Dec 2007 18:02:00 GMT

clipped by: urbanlife
clipper's remarks: Rebuilding affordable, safe & sustainable homes in the Lower Ninth Ward

Clip Source: makeitrightnola.org

the Lower 9th Ward was devastated in the wake of Hurricane Katrina

Pink Project represents opportunities hidden within this tragedy and focuses attention on the plight of the Lower 9th

Brad Pitt

Working together with GRAFT

the idea was born to merge film and architecture into an installation that would bring immediate global attention to a pervasive local issue

only through monetary donations that these pink placeholders will become reassembled

ultimately enabling the construction of 150 real homes

Pink, a symbol rich with the promise of homes that will be constructed

the pink monopoly house reassembled from smaller individual components intentionally focuses attention on a problem of manageable scale, allowing the individual to physically participate in the installation through donations

a transformation from an individual American Dream into a collective one

Pink does not dwell on the past but rather empowers the future

Creating a call to action filled with hope and promise

bringing people home

Tags: new orleans, pink project, katrina, brad pitt, hope, graft