Both the last studio project, where my group built a water metropolis, and Eduard Epp's lecture last week have led me to consider alternative dwellings to cope with floods. The Schwimmhaus by Confused Direction is one possibility of after-flood architecture. This modern, sustainable houseboat is constructed from reclaimed wood and it has a green roof! As Epp mentioned last class we need to consider new ways of living for the future, and a future with water seems likely. These houseboats help me envision exciting new inhabitations. Like in Amsterdam and Venice, perhaps most of the world's city streets will one day become water and people will reside along canals, sipping lattes on the patios of these cool little structures.
Last class' lecture was our second from Dr. Mallory-Hill. The topic of the first portion of this class was sound and architecture. Like Vaike's lecture on colour taught me, everything is relevant in architecture. While I have always been an avid music listener, and general sound enthusiast, and while I was aware that acoustics are an important consideration in design, I was unaware of the major impact of sound in our built environments. Dr. Mallory-Hill's initial description of how sound affects the human brain was so interesting, and I found her presentation of how architecture has been designed to achieve certain sounds to be fascinating. I have visited several of the spaces she presented, and when she described, for example, the way that sound resonates in St. Mark's, I was brought back to that place and realized that sound is part of what makes the space memorable.
During the second portion of the lecture Eduard Epp presented on the topic of flood architecture. This presentation was particularly relevant to me as my studio project focused on redesigning a city after a flood. Like Epp mentioned, our studio group also decided to design structures to work with and on the water, instead of in opposition to it. For these reasons, I appreciated his insights for designing structures on water. As our climate continues to change it is important that we address flooding, and I share Epp's belief that is in our interest to adapt our urban environments to accommodate water. Epp's demonstration of his travels as an attempt to understand flood architecture were very interesting, and he made an important point, stating that depending on our culture water may be seen as a healing and life giving, or as destructive. In the years to come I believe we as North American's should shift our beliefs to the former in order move forward and evolve from future floods.
Last weeks lecturers were both from the faculty of Landscape Architecture and all their discussion about the preservation of natural landscapes and German garden's has had me wondering how we can enjoy the benefits of landscapes in spite of our cold winters and our urban context. Amin Taha Architects have come up with a solution. Their vertical gardens bring 'outdoor' landscapes into the urban setting with their community garden towers. We have had a lot of discussion within this blog group about vertical farming so I was pleased to stumble on this article about vertical gardens. I like the idea of bringing the natural environment indoors not necessarily to farm, but merely for people to enjoy. Within these towers the benefits of a garden can be enjoyed year round. How refreshing it would be to stroll through a sky garden, to see plants growing and flowers blooming in the heart of the winter chill (as Madi would say).
McLaughlan's first portion of last week's lecture again inspired me by deepening my interest in landscape ecology. I found Nash's "Wooden Boulder" to be a beautiful study. The way that Nash placed the boulder in the river bed demonstrated the way that natural forms are shaped by water. McLaughlan also discussed the effect of climate change on landscapes, of how dry areas are become wet, and wet dry, and he, like Jae often has, seemed to encourage the class to really become sustainable. His juxtaposition of massive California sewers and bioswales made the later seem the only alternative. He also discussed more subtle features in our environments which need to be considered. He asked why an eaves trough would run off onto concrete pad when it could instead fall into a pond? These are solutions which seem obvious, but which often go overlooked. McLaughlan's presentation of case studies, and especially that of UBC's sustainable street gave me a vision of what a more sustainable future could look like. By incorporating native plants into a street-scape we can reduce storm water retention, but we will also give a new culture and identity to the community, who will be able to see themselves reflected in their native vegetation.
The second speaker was also from the Landscape Faculty, but his presentation of Garden's differed significantly from the first speaker. His presentation was equally engaging but it presented landscape architecture within the urban context, something we have not seen a lot of. I really enjoyed the narratives he and his colleagues created around gardens. Their abstraction of the context, in particular in Snow White and the Seven Gardens, created innovative gardens based on narrative themes, like Social Climbers and Jealous Neighbours. I also responded to his comment that garden's should contain things that are rare and precious, but that our notion of what are garden is can be expanded, even to include an entire landscape. The speakers projects succeeded at adapting landscapes in the urban setting by considering the cultural and social contexts of the environments.
Her work communicates the transition of exterior landscapes into interior environments, in order to examine the human relationship to natural systems. Interestingly, this relationship changes when the landscape is installed indoors. Lin examines the patterns and forms of natural typologies, translating and abstracting them which encourages our own responses. As we imagine future landscapes for cities and beyond, Lin's investigations may be considered as a means of incorporating the landscape indoors. They may also be referenced as a way of examining how natural and built forms engage and communicate with one another, as well as with those who interact with them. Lin describes how even lines in nature communicate a language, much like that of text, though it is non verbal. Her art examines the ways that nature and the built form may collaborate, creating narratives which communicate with the viewer.
In conclusion to a recent class, Jae shared his vision for the future of design. He stated that while previous stages of design included modernism and postmodernism, the next phase of design would be 'sustainable'. Jae warned us that as designers we would have to negotiate, and possibly even abandon our esthetic and creative desires in favor of sustainability. To really become sustainable, Jae insisted that we must relinquished some control of our designs to sustainable materials.
These insights enlightened me and made me aware that I struggle with these issues. In particular, when I designed my garment for our last studio project my greatest challenge was to let go of my desire to create a beautiful esthetic, and to instead allow ecological fabrics and the garment's function to dictate its form. Jae's comments inspired me to remove some of my own esthetic taste and become more sustainable. Since reflecting on these ideas, I have also become more aware of how my own preferences can limit my design choices.
As we move forward into a new era of sustainable design our greatest challenge will be to rethink our notions of beauty, or the artistic whims that Jae described. However, once we negotiate the use of sustainable materials and our own vision as designers, we will be free to create exciting new esthetics.
An example of this forward thinking design comes from 5468796 who in their redesign of EQ3 have:
"identified a large surplus of glass water bottles from restaurants in [Vancouver] as a material resource that typically ends up in the landfill. Instead, the bottles will be used to clad the existing facade to create a visually engaging and environmentally friendly feature - filtering daylight and protecting interior furnishings. The project’s innovation lies in its ability to combine opportunities for branding, community involvement and a new, greener direction for EQ3." (http://www.5468796.ca/)
Here the firm has merged its creative vision with sustainability. 5468796's innovation creates an interesting, fresh, and beautiful environment, exemplifying the sustainable phase design is moving towards. -Katie
Vaike's recent lecture on colour has increased my own interest in the psychological effects of colour on humans. Her descripitions of the historical significance of colour, of its ties to individual landscapes, and of our own bodies inherent relationship with colour, have made me aware of the relevance of colour in our environments. I now believe that in architecture colour can and should be as important as form, to shape the intention of a space. Bright energetic colours might increase productivity, while calming colours could be used in environments where stress is a factor, such as hospitals. Check out the Bioscleave Fun House designed to help people live longer, healthier lives. This project employs bright, lively colours to give life to a space and the people who inhabit it.
I recently read a review of SmartCity a Festival Emergencies conference held in Paris. Festival Emergencies is an 'international festival of electronic cultures and new art forms', which this year is focused on “urban activism and artistic interventions in public space”.
One of the presentations that really interested me was mOmentoMoNUMENTO put forth by one of my favorite architectural firms, Exyst and an equally interesting Brazilian collective, Coloco.
Coloco have, for the last seven years, been studying the phenomena of skeleton dwellings. These dwellings have emerged because industry and housing, as a result of urban sprawl, are being pushed further and further from the cities core and have left large buildings that once defined the cities central area vacant. Groups of individuals have begun to inhabit these dwellings and organize the space to suit their needs. Government sometimes will intervene and other times allow the individuals to occupy the space in an effort to re-establish the cities center.
Exyst utilizes temporary interventions mixing experimental architecture, graphic art instillations, film, music and even food-related programs together to impact and diversify the urban environment. They are also hip to the skeleton dwelling phenomena and have recently began to focus on alternative cheap housing and as an experiment sent 450 architecture students to inhabit one of these skeleton dwellings the project: Republique Ephemere is definitely worth a gander. Together Exyst and Coloco are combining their experience-based knowledge and teaming up with Cultures France, a French arts initiative to engage with other nations (for those of you who don’t speak French), to offer a traditional French monument (eg. The statue of liberty) to Brazil. The Sao Paulo government has offered up an abandoned building built in 1965 to the two architectural forces to be reckoned with to do what they please. The architects have a year to make it work.
I really like the idea of collaboration between those in need and the government on such a grassroots level. The inhabitation of abandoned buildings also seems like a good way to get things moving in a positive direction. Individuals living without a fixed address or in dismal public housing situations would be able to take control of their living situations, and abandoned city buildings could once again serve a purpose. Perhaps this notion may seem somewhat un-realistic in a city like Winnipeg I truly believe that with a little bit of guidance, collaboration between government, individual and design professionals, successes like what Coloco and Exyszt have observed may be possible.
The coolhunter usually features fairly amazing buildings and I have been subscribing to their website for quite some time now. Never have they shown such a unique building as Shuhei Endo’s Bubbletecture H. Made entirely of steel, wood and glass the structure is planned in three sections that function as a theater/lecture hall, bookshop/gallery and a workshop.
As not to reiterate the entire article please read it for yourself. If you do… you will read that the entire structure is created with the earth in mind. I think that this notion of going beyond environmental sustainability and really appreciating the earth itself is very important as designers. Endo’s structure truly becomes one with it’s surroundings allowing little distinction between it’s surrounding natural environment and the structure itself.
A recent study exposes many of us who claim to be leading ‘environmentally conscious’ lifestyles. The report reveals that, while we may sleep better at night feeling we are ‘doing our part’ for the earth, in fact, we are not zeroing out our lifestyle choices, realistically we are not even close.
How then can we begin to go beyond recycling and Tupperware?
How can we, as first year design students, tackle environmental concerns that are admittedly overwhelming in lieu of project deadlines, lectures, and cleaning our apartments?
My proposal is just that we Start. Let’s start designing solutions. Let’s think of it as a process and let’s start taking steps. As Madi suggests let’s draw inspiration from firms like HWKN. Let’s become inspired, but then let’s go beyond inspiration. Let’s use that inspiration to motivate our projects. Let’s continue our years of education with an environmental ambition that will inspire others. Let’s remain environmentally creative well into our careers. Let’s think beyond, imagine beyond, and discuss beyond, but once we’ve done that, let’s follow through, let’s do beyond.
The trouble with hyped up "fad" diets lies primarily in their incapability of producing lasting results. However, they never tell you this when you sign up. People usually succumb to these highly unfortunate fads in similar ways: they know they need to loose a few and the tanned ultra skinny lady on the infomercial is very convincing so they say what the hell and take the plunge. Before they know it they’re eating cheeseburgers without buns and chocolate cake that tastes more like flavored cardboard.
After a couple weeks of this they decide life without real chocolate cake is not a life worth living. They flush their diet pills and devour an entire cake. One week later they’re 30lbs heavier than they were when they started.
In our hip to be green society living an “environmentally conscious lifestyle” is the new fad diet.
Everyone tries it for a day or two… we flush every second time and take quick showers, we ride our bikes to work, we eat local and we only use our cell phones for “emergencies”. It usually starts off really well… we boast about our good behavior and scoff at our colleagues who have the audacity to drive to work.
Then one day we need those extra 20 minutes in the shower, our outfit doesn’t translate well when straddling a bicycle seat, our time becomes too precious to worry about where our food came from and we can’t resist the urge to text our 15 closest friends when Lindsay Lohan finally admits she’s a lesbian. One day turns into many more similarly “bad” days and all of a sudden we’ve blown through 30 tons of gas, 30 lbs of garbage and at least 30 baths. And we don’t even want to think about the amounts of time we’ve flushed the toilet.
Like all fad diet’s going without only lasts so long and ultimately fails to yield any lasting results. Yes we have outgrown our skinny jeans and depleted our fossil fuels. Shit happens. It’s what you do with it that matters.
If you have a pre-disposition to be a bit pudgy but you reallllly enjoy your cake, you bake yourself something that’s low-calorie and then you hit the gym. You work through your self-esteem issues and you find out what’s making you over eat. You find a way to balance your cravings with your waistline.
We need to start employing that same logic when developing strategies to rescue the earth from ourselves. Human beings don’t like change. Especially if that change deprives us of something we love. Some people (most people) really love their cars, their houses and their baths. So to limit the amount of time people can spend engaging with the things they love is not only kind of mean, but highly unpractical.
Instead of focusing our time and energy on taking the prescribed route we need to think outside of what we know. We need to find ways to sustain the same quality of life we currently enjoy whilst simultaneously not taking anything away from the environment. We need to think forward instead of backwards.
Two of my favorite forward thinkers go by the name of Matthias Hollwich and Marc Kushnerand run a design firm called HWKN. Here’s a ten-minute clip of their vision for the future.
