People + Lifestyles - Egg Carton Design

Egg Carton Made From 1 Piece of Cardboard?
Hungarian designer and graduate student Otília Andrea Erdélyi, redesigned the egg container into something even more minimal, materially efficient but still visually appealing. Using a single piece of recyclable cardboard, Erdélyi's Egg Box folds back to both displays and protect the eggs. Genius!

People + Lifestyles

Following last week’s initial proposal of having a Thinning O-Zone layer within the Southern Hemisphere, we have brainstormed a few more ideas HOWEVER I am a little disappointed as we have decided to “tone down” the intensity of our idea as the previously discussed events would be more likely to occur within a 100 year time frame, and after speaking with our Unit Co-ordinator, Yasu it was mentioned that we would keep to a 50 year time frame. Perhaps our group has taken this direction from Yasu was taken too literally, as I personally believe we should continue with a DRAMATIC idea as I feel that by ”toning” the scenario down, we would create a scenario that is too realistic. But nevertheless the criterion is not necessarily measuring whether it is too realistic. There will still be many elements regardless that will need to be discussed, and there is still a domino-layering effect. We have decided to generate ideas within four major elements within our scenario as individuals, and report our findings back for discussion in the next tutorial. Each group member is covering one element each out of: 1. Resources and Economy, 2. Environmental, 3. People/Social and 4. Political. I will be focusing on People/Social, which will discuss the different “layers” of impact our scenario will have on this aspect.


Image from: http://www.whitegadget.com/pc-wallpapers/141008-habbo.html&imgurl=http://www.whitegadget.com/attachments/pc-wallpapers/73551d1314772776-habbo-habbo-picture.jpg&w=500&h=353&ei=mGJDUOWZH4e4iAezyoCwDA&zoom=


I am interested in documenting a little charrette within our poster with a heading something similar to (if not) “A Day in the Life of...”. This could be a day in the life of a young family, a working professional, a child, a group of youths, and what it will show is either in diagrams or text, the start to end process of this social group within our future scenario. I think this will be an interesting way to put the viewer in perspective to how our scenario ”works”. I am also fascinated with pixel art and perhaps I could diagram a little section of a suburb or city HABBO style. (Refer to pic below). With info-graphic style captions or speech bubble text indicating each future product or process.



'Architecture is the final point in the achievement of any artistic endeavour because the creation of architecture implies the construction of an environment and the establishment of a way of life'. - Timothy James Clark

People + Lifestyles - Recycling

No More Disposable Packaging.

Laura Weiss created Go Box in Portland, Oregon. A program that teams with some of Portland's copious local food carts to offer reusable plastic packaging to local patrons. For a one-year subscription fee of $12, a consumer purchases a token that they give to participating food carts, and their takeaway food is served in reusable (BPA-free) plastic containers. After a year, Go Box has managed to divert 8,000 disposable 'clam shell' containers from the Portland waste stream, and Weiss has plans to expand. She's moving beyond just the food cart realm to include downtown Portland restaurants that do take away.

Sustainable Future - Interesting Infographic

Sustainable Future

After recently receiving confirmation of joining the URBAN theme group, this week we have finalised our project group of four to commence Project 1 – Creating a “Future Scenario” for our proposed architectural design within Brisbane City.

Our project group started to look at various issues which would have a large impact on Brisbane City and its inhabitants within a 50-100 year time frame. The issues we discussed were broad and dramatic and included topics such as WAR and SUDDEN CLIMATE CHANGE. We wanted to work on a topic that would be some-what feasible, and then turn the notch up on the intensity. The element of heat, and taking a spin on the current Australian issue of Sun damage allowed us to start to question the effect on the growing population, subsequent increase in pollution which results in a dramatic thinning on the O-Zone layer – particularly in the Southern Hemisphere and conveniently above Australia. Our group quickly fumbled out each of our individual views, and it was clear that our ideas needed to narrowed into an agreeable scenario. After discussing our initial idea with one of our tutors we received the “nod” and gained alot of interesting ideas such as the various layers that would be affected due to this change in the climate – we would need to expand and document the “Domino Effect” of this nationwide disaster. With such a dramatic change in the O-Zone layer would create various weather changes within and around Australia. “This would cause, this and that would cause this to happen and.. etc”. The cycle continued. I like the idea of such a dramatic event as our architectural solution will be very interesting. One of our tutors mentioned that perhaps, people would need to seek refuge underground due to the high level of UV radiation. Perhaps no-one uses cars anymore due to the heat and solar damage outside. Perhaps the existing streets within Brisbane City have been flooded as due to the increase of solar activity, the polar ice-caps have melted and the sea levels have risen dramatically. All interesting concepts which I’m looking forward to discussing in our next group tutorial.

“Boredom + Money + Fashion 

= New Wallpaper Every 7 Years.” (Brand, 1994)

I found this weeks reading very interesting; Brand (1994) discussed Frank Duffy’s “Shearing Layers” concept which what I gather, discusses Duffy’s view that buildings are a set of components that evolve in different timescales; Frank Duffy summarized this view in his phrase: “Our basic argument is that there isn't any such thing as a building. A building properly conceived is several layers of longevity of built components”.The concept of Shearing Layers leads to an architectural design principle, known as Pace-Layering, which arranges the layers to allow for maximum adaptability. The layers are (quoted from Brand, 1994):

Site: This is the geographical setting, the urban location, and the legally defined lot, whose boundaries and context outlast generations of ephemeral buildings. "Site is eternal." Duffy agrees.

Structure: The foundation and load-bearing elements are perilous and expensive to change, so people don't. These are the building. Structural life ranges from thirty to three hundred years (but few buildings make it past sixty for other reasons).

Skin: Exterior surfaces now change every twenty years or so, to keep up with fashion or technology, or for wholesale repair. Recent focus on energy costs has led to re-engineered skins that are air-tight and better-insulated.

Services: These are the working guts of a building: communications wiring, electrical wiring, plumbing, fire sprinkler systems, HVAC (heating, ventilating, and air conditioning), and moving parts like elevators and escalators. They wear out or obsolesce every seven to fifteen years. Many buildings are demolished early if their outdated systems are too deeply embedded to replace easily.

Space Plan: The Interior layout—where walls, ceilings, floors, and doors go. Turbulent commercial space can change every three years or so; exceptionally quiet homes might wait thirty years.

Stuff: Chairs, desks, phones, pictures; kitchen appliances, lamps, hairbrushes; all the things that twitch around daily to monthly. Furniture is called mobilia in Italian for good reason.

Reference to quotations: Brand, S., 1997. Shearing Layers, in How buildings learn : what happens after they’re built, London: Phoenix Illustrated. pp12-23

Sustainable Future - International Designs

EFFICIEN-CITY?

I was interested in finding out what a sustainable city could look like and found an funky website outlining the EfficienCity! EfficienCity is a city built and governed by Greenpeace. The city shows, with text, images and video how a sustainable city it’s made, the flash application way. The site is packed with interesting information that explains and give examples on how a smart and “eco-friendly” city should look like. You can easily zoom in on the different buildings in the city and learn more about, for example, how bio-gas, wave, wind and solar is being used throughout the city.




Gwanggyo Power Center with Plantations Around Terraces by MVRDV
Information/quote below from:  http://www.igreenspot.com/search/gwanggyo+power+center+mvrdv

A self-sufficient power center will be built soon in Gwanggyo, a new town in the south part of Seoul Korea, and the Dutch architects MVRDV won the project. The power center will house residential units, office, culture, retail, leisure, and education spaces. The center will have plantations around terraces with a floor-to-floor circulation system that stores water and irrigates the plants. In addition, the terraces are planted with box hedges with the ability to create a strong, recognizable, cohesive park that will in turn improves the climate and ventilation and at the same time will reduce energy and water usage.





Since the beginning of the millennium local nodes with a high density concentration of mixed program are used in Korean town planning. These nodes consist of a mix of public, retail, culture, housing, offices and leisure generating life in new metropolitan areas and encouraging further developments around them: the Power Centre strategy. The Gwanggyo Power Centre will consist of 200,000m2 housing, 48,000m2 offices, 200,000m2 mix of culture, retail, leisure and education and 200,000m2 parking.

This diverse program has different needs for phasing, positioning and size. To facilitate this all elements are designed as rings. By pushing these rings outwards, every part of the program receives a terrace for outdoor life. Plantations around the terraces with a floor to floor circulation system store water and irrigate the plants. The roofs of these hills and the terraces are planted with box hedges creating a strong, recognizable, cohesive park. This vertical park will improve the climate and ventilation, reduce energy and water usage. As a result a series of overgrown green ‘hills’ appear in the landscape.

The shifting of the floors causes as a counter effect hollow cores that form large atriums. They serve as lobbies for the housing and offices, plazas for the shopping center and halls for the museum and leisure functions. In each tower a number of voids connect to the atrium providing for light and ventilation and creating semi-public spaces. On the lower floors the atriums are connected through a series of public spaces on various levels linking the towers and serving the outdoor facilities of the culture, retail and leisure program. The Power Centre creates a dense urban program with a green regard.

The concept plan is currently at the Gyeonggi provincial authority’s Urban Innovation Corporation for further development and feasibility study, the entire new town will be a self sufficient city of 77,000 inhabitants. The estimated budget and timeframe are still in the process of being established, completion is envisioned for 2011. A consortium lead by Daewoo develops the project with local firm DA Group, which commissioned MVRDV to design the scheme. British firm Arup is involved as engineer.

Oil-Rich Azerbaijan Builds on a More Sustainable Future
Information/quote below from: designbuildsource.com.au/oil-rich-azerbaijan-build-sustainable-future




In the past, oil rich countries such as Dubai and Saudi Arabia have celebrated their economic fortune through industry developments that suggest opulence and excess.
In developing modern infrastructure and urban planning developments nearly from scratch, designers in these economically-strong areas have the ability to create without limitations, which has more often than not led to some emissions-heavy buildings built using equally ‘brown’ construction processes.

While Azerbaijan’s economic foundation has been based on oil, one of the least environmentally-friendly resources, the nation is not planning on developing upcoming major projects in the same carbon-heavy manner. The country is undertaking a number of high profile, billion-dollar urban planning projects and, surprisingly, has chosen to focus on sustainability as much as luxury.





The overall aesthetic suggests the sustainable and organic functionality of the entire island, with the grouping and overall structural design for the main islands taking on a biomorphic look in their resemblance to a mountain range. In a country that is highly reliant on oil, Azerbaijan is taking environmental responsibility and urban landscape longevity seriously. Instead of planning in the hedonistic footprints of their economic success, planners in the country are ensuring that a functional, stylish and sustainable Azerbaijan is a reality long after the depletion non-renewable energy means.

Future Visions + Scenarios

Today in what started off as a fairly loose tutorial session we started to explore and deconstruct the four project themes of Regional, Virtual, Urban and Suburban in small groups (starting with groups of four). At first we struggled with our small group of four, and as a result decided to merge with another group (who also seemed to be struggling) to form a large group of 8. With this large group of potential idea resources we were quickly able to start the brainstorming process. We eventually started to collaborate at an effective and consistent rate and brainstormed the various topics and issues within each theme while documenting our ideas using a large sheet of butcher paper. We sought to delve into a deeper realm of each topic and tried to sway from conventional, and somewhat obvious ideas, essentially proposing systems for out future by asking a lot of "What If?" questions.

These questions tended to explore the various social implications including security issues in an exclusively virtually run world, potential of a virtual afterlife or "virtual cemetery" (preserving one's legacy through inmortalising existing blogs, social networking sites, etc), prioritising non-mechanical transportation (pedestrians) over cars with all vehicles to be underground only (or less roads, more walkways, taxing the use of vehicles, providing government incisors for those who do not own a car, etc). Surprisingly, in hindsight I have had the opportunity to gain exposure of different non-stereotypical sustainable future ideas which can aid greatly to our upcoming group project which is due in Week 6.