Sensitive, Sustainable Design

It is fantastic to witness how our Studio, Ecology and Design, and Natural and Human Systems projects are informing and building off of one another. Our group's ideas are expanding, and they reflect all that we are learning about sustainability and design. This blog, our projects, and our group meetings strongly reflect this. During our last meeting for the Ecology and Design project to redesign a Winnipeg environment, I was so inspired to see our excitement and engagement. Our decision to redesign Central Park, transforming it into a sustainable and interactive community center, reveals that all we are learning is culminating to influence and better our designs.

On that note, here is an article which outlines the redesign of low income housing units in Cape Town, South Africa. The firm MMA architects has won the Curry Stone Design Prize for its prototype. The architects have used indigenous mud and water building methods which have increased energy efficiency and they have created an "elegant solution for a low-cost, single-family dwelling [that] shows what can be done with simple materials and a sensitive eye to what local people need -- as well as what they bring to the table" (http://www.interiordesign.net/article/CA6601313.html?industryid=48741). In order to further reduce the cost of the dwellings the firm plans to employ volunteer labour from the local people. I think a very significant aspect of this project is the consideration of that which local people need and have to offer. As we move forward into our final projects, I believe it is important to continue to consider everything we are learning about sustainability and design, but also that we are sensitive to our users, and that we allow their input to better our designs.