D206: Design for Resilience - with Drama & Style, con’t.

I can also count on Grist and Treehugger for Design solutions I’d never find in mainstream sources. Grist led me to this Cargo Cycling site for some really impressive innovations. This one deals with both water filtration and with transportation and hauling. The design is intended for the developing world. I believe we who think in terms of sustainability and resiliency can appreciate the applicability right now.



Anyone who has visited make-a-(green) plan knows, I am a huge fan of well designed small spaces. This one in Hong Kong is a home on a bike, 3’ x 4’!

D204: Design for Resilience - with Drama & Style

I can count on Inhabitat to bring me design concepts that apply to sustainable living. This one by designer Mattieu Lehanner was an art exhibition and hasn’t been priced for production. Mr. Lehanneur also created home air purification designs using plants. But, I derive my pleasure from exploring my own imagination, my own notions of how it would fit or not in my own life and thinking about this as a design solution for some population. I hack, if only in my imagination.

For me the real appeal is that I relate it to my own daydreams of retrofitting the acres and acres of grocery stores into local hydroponic food growing centers.

Yes, it is a big stretch if you are a literal thinker. I suspect I have lost most literal minded blog readers with my many design offerings. See, it never occurs to me to think of most of these products as something to buy. Sorry, designers . . . I don’t have income or inclination to get more stuff, unless it can really transform my life. But, I am always interested in problem solving.

And the heart and soul of design for me is problem solving. There is no reason that a good idea in sustainable living has to be executed without consideration to scale, connections, proportion, maintenance, balance, relationship to surroundings, cohesion, texture, finish, color, etc.

Look at these gorgeous pieces and forget about the eels. Sheesh.

Watch a video here at Gear Crave.

But imagine the future. Here is the simple concept of living in a small urban space without any yard, balcony or place to grow food. With a room where there is only space for the couch and coffee table, voilà! A garden and a fish supply. Okay, grow lights may be required if this poor person also has no sunlight. With a bit more design and development the concepts can all lead to at-home water purification, food growing, oxygen producing, carbon dioxide reduction and fish for supper. And, it needn’t look like a set for Blade Runner.

M87: My Garden Plans

If I hadn't titled this post as I did, I don't believe readers would ever be able to figure out the graphic above. I am the first to admit that my methods are unorthodox. My garden is a true urban garden. My containers are made up of all free materials and are in keeping with the design aesthetic I like to call, "Yes, it is a a rusty ole' thing and it is beautiful." or somesuch . . . Admittedly, there are many people (family and friends included) who don't see beauty where I see beauty. Part of the problem is that my vision holds all of the lush edible vegetation covering every rusty object in my domain. Until I get the green growing the place does just look like a junk heap. The goal will be year round food, blooms and living green air cleaning machines.
Today I am preparing the initial plans for my garden. These plans will then become the template to add all of my ideas for what I want to plant and when I want to plant. I could do elevations too if I really wanted to create layouts in the oil drums that allows for great height at the center, bushy plants surrounding and trailing plants at the edges.

Last year I had good luck with the tomato plant and the pea pods climbing the wire mesh and rebar I'd secured to the side of my house.

I have lots of room on this drive I painted like a dance floor to plant this raised bed (made from a demo'ed pergola) and oil barrels and any other handy container I might find.

K67: Kitchen Daydreams, dish drying edition

The kitchen daydreams continue with another wonderful design called Flow. Here is an incredible prototype invented by John Arndt that completely captures the reuse, reduce, recycle concept and more. It is called Flow and it incorporates whole systems in drying dishes, watering plants and composting kitchen scraps. I don’t even know if it is for sale. I know that I am going to create my own knock-off of this inspired design. I think you will enjoy this.

This whole system includes the terra cotta clay pots with specific functions including evaporative cooling fridge box and planters.
The hole in the counter and rolling compost bin with worms is pretty cool. I am not interested in that because my composting is handled.

The table yesterday is still appealing to me for the bits of trash from meals and mail. And, frankly I don’t have a spot in my set up for a kitchen counter composter. The real stars though are the hanging units for the plates. I think I can figure out how to rip off the glass and cup concept, but the plate rack is a balance issue that has me puzzled. I will have to daydream about this for a very long time.

The dishrack takes advantage of the smallest amounts of wasted water and puts it to use to water the herbs and edible plants growing in the planter boxes. The rack also eliminates the need for a cupboard allowing the dishes to be easily accessible. The plants also help attract dust which helps to keep the dishes clean and the dripping water helps to wash off the dust.

My own kitchen has some problems. It is temporary as I ran out of money when I moved in and renovated. I re-used the old white (stained) laminate counter I’d pulled from the trailer and tossed. The old counter is resting on two IKEA cabinets without doors. My kitchen sink is a big plastic laundry sink I bought for about $20 with a faucet costing 3 times that amount. I made curtains for the fronts from a paint cloth. I made a top channel in each and threaded them onto an electrical conduit or pipe I installed with electrical clips. This is the setup until I have enough money or courage to buy or make a concrete counter with a stainless steel sink. To make this would not cost much, but the work demands some real strength and competence. It intimidates me something fierce.

The temporary nature of my kitchen set-up also includes the old jalousie windows that leak. These windows were originally lower, but I asked the handyman to raise them. It turns out that the new location is perfect for catching all the rainwater that flows off the curved trailer roof. When it rains I line up cans with bowls and pans on top of them to catch the row of droplets coming in the back windows. So, wouldn’t a window conservatory affair with planter inset at the sill height and these dish draining racks above be perfect? I think so.

I will continue to daydream and to draw up plans on the computer. It is just a matter of time because it always works out somehow with found objects, barter or bargains. It just does.

Check out Flow.

K66: Kitchen Daydreams, table edition

I daydream . . . a lot. I believe it is a critically important part of living. I am thrilled when I solve problems through daydreams. During my years in university study I once jokingly wrote a syllabus for a class I imagined in Daydreams 101.

A critical component was the importance of balancing practical restraints with blue sky thinking. Clearly I am not the only person who does this. One of my favorite pastimes is checking the web for innovative design. Designers are constantly turning flights of fancy into functional products, tools and processes. And it doesn’t have to look like Popular Mechanics.

In this way I feel my daydreams are grounded. Here is the earth aspect of imagination. My post on my worms yesterday reminded me of one of my favorite pieces of furniture, the ‘Digestive Table.' I find this captivating. The designer, Amy Youngs has considered every detail for the process of our eating, viewing, composting as well as the comfort of the worms. She even specifies that the Oak used is Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) cerified with a stain made from beets and worm tea. The website even features a video of the table in use by this Mr. Regular Guy (her spouse?) as the model.
I would like to clarify that I am interested in stealing these ideas and using them in my own DIY way. I haven't the income to even consider buying. That is a sad admission because I believe these designers (like authors, musicians, artists, etc.) should be compensated for what they do. But, that is a post for another time if not another blogger.

I will dedicate this post to my BFF who emailed me that the last post on worms grossed her out so much she had to quickly scroll past the images. I suspect she wouldn't be interested in the Digestion Table's screen to watch the worms and bugs eating the garbage. That camera feature is something I will definatly eliminate if I were ever to make my own model. I have a vivid enough imagination, so I don't need the surveillance camera thankyouverymuch.

I am chuckling as I type this. The miserably gross task is over for now, I have cleaned up my blog today.

H53: Hippy Hobbit House

I am smitten. I am so in love with this Welsh Home and the plans to form a community of these in Whales, I could just wet myself. She who is a non-consumer, who doesn’t feel she lacks for much of anything . . . Well she wants big time. If I could have a bit of a hillside and materials I would dedicate my life to building this humble home. What a hippie.

All credit goes to Misty at Shakesville for pointing me to this website.

F40: Flatpack and other miracles

I find this Treehugger design item so incredibly appealing. Go to Treehugger for links to the Designers.

Casulo, a new concept for mobile living originated in June 2007 as a part of the dissertation of Marcel Krings and Sebastian Mühlhäuser at the Köln International School of Design in Cologne.


The concept is the best part. I believe this could be a template for handmade versions, a solution to homeless populations, mobile populations, refugees, disaster situations or college dorms.



If you can’t get enough, check out this kitchen. I would eliminate all of the excess of appliances which might be replaced with composting systems or solor cooking with a skylight above.
I like the symbolism of a food preparation area being the pivotal center of the living space. I have not shown the image with curved doors to close off the whole unit. For temporary housing or a transient population, it could be wheeled into place with only the basic hook-ups.



And how about the hidden bathroom? I would say this is beautiful, efficient design to maximize space. Back to back installations make storage, plumbing, graywater and/or composting systems centralized.

Not necessarily only for the homeless, this concept could be used for a mobile population to transport essentials. I guess I am thinking to a time in the future wherein populations in crisis might have some minimal dignity and control over each one's fundamental items, one's critical 'stuff' while in transit or transition.


My point in sharing these is primarily to share what I think is real innovation, re-thinking of how we use space and our built environment. The minimalism appeals to me and is in keeping with living lightly. And to go for the cliché - out of the box thinking.

B9: Bigger Is Not Better

Welcome Shakers . . .
I have this re-occurring thought about all the McMansions and what might be done with them post oil and post mortgage bust. When people start realizing the excessive acquisition of constructed square footage is indefensible, how will these buildings be repurposed?

Okay, I admit I don’t have an answer. Maybe I will try to get my hands on an AutoCAD file of one of these homes and start studying this.

In the meantime, I found these graphics when I followed a link to a Margot Adler piece for NPR.

The average American house size has more than doubled since the 1950s; it now stands at 2,349 square feet. Whether it's a McMansion in a wealthy neighborhood, or a bigger, cheaper house in the exurbs, the move toward ever large homes has been accelerating for years.

I am critical of much of the rationalization within this NPR piece, with sources justifying large homes. There is even a guy (ex-media journalist, ahem) defending his 11,000 square foot home as fantasy fulfillment. And this,

“You know, we are very tenuous," says local architect Ann Surchin. "No one knows when the next 9/11 will happen. And these houses represent safety -- and the bigger the house, the bigger the fortress.”

Oh, please. How nutty is that? I tried to follow this thought to provide examples, but it is just too silly to spell out and I lost interest.

Another critic is John Halsey, president of the Peconic Land Trust, an organization that tries to protect open spaces and agricultural land. For Halsey, the "Big House" is all about the American lifestyle: how we live, what we drive, and how we fail to appreciate the finite nature of land and energy resources.

“Who needs 15,000-square-foot houses?" Halsey says. "I worry about the future of a culture and a society that has this extent of excess in it. I think there is a disconnect, and we are in a bubble. Somehow, we are just not experiencing the realities that the rest of the world is.

Ya think? I’ll own up to my snarkiness. I just find the justifications a real stretch. My first notions of home when I was a little kid were shaped by my Grandma’s
home. I found out as an adult that the familial bungalow was bought by her husband from a Sears Catalog. At the time I thought it sounded like a joke. But it’s not according to Wikipedia.

Sears Catalog Homes (sold as Sears Modern Homes) were ready-to-assemble houses sold through mail order by Sears Roebuck and Company, an American retailer. Over 70,000 of these were sold in North America between 1908 and 1940. Shipped via railroad boxcars, these kits included all the materials needed to build an exceptionally sturdy and well designed house. Many were assembled by the new homeowner and friends, relatives, and neighbors, in a fashion similar to the traditional barn-raisings of farming families. [snip]


Aladdin Homes (of Bay City) was the first to offer kit homes (in 1906), and Sears joined the fray in 1908. However, Sears mail-order catalogs were already in millions of homes, enabling large numbers of potential homeowners simply to open a catalog, select and visualize their new home, dream, save, and then purchase it. Sears offered financing, assembly instructions, and guarantees. Early mortgage loans were typically for 5–15 years at 6%- 7% interest. [snip]

Sears expanded production, shipping and sales offices to regional sites all across the United States, hitting its all-time peak in 1929, just before the Great Depression. By then, the least expensive model was still under US$1,000; the highest priced was under US$4,400 ($10,300 and $45,300 in 2003 dollars respectively).

I am just tickled to death to place Grandma’s home beside the Sears plan from which it was built, sans fireplace and arched front door. The roof looks like it has a minor profile modification too. I am writing my 84 year old mom this week with these images and many more of her childhood and mine at this home. This collage really pleases me. Part of the make-a-(green) plan is to honor our connections, our community. Cooperation and working together is the alternative to individual dreams of palatial riches.

Isn’t it ironic that Sears now funds “The Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” and the opulent over-built mansions featured on that program. The country is upside down.

I close with a great example of my favorite theme of small homes. This video is a hoot. This guy lives in the 96 square foot home he designed. That is 1/10 the size of even the standard from fifty years ago and 1/100 the size of the Sears Home Makeover buildings.

Tumbleweed

Step Two – the footprint . . .

For make-a-(green) plan I want to address my home footprint. I am proud of the little home I created within the last 3 years. I am an advocate for reducing square footage in our homes. This is a popular movement with many some great resources.

My background is interior design – with commercial facility planning being my focus for 20 years. Suffice it to say, I often think graphically. I may include space planning descriptions, floor plans and other graphic elements to discuss my environment. And, since this is my professional background I want to stress how important I believe our built environment is to our life satisfaction.

The above floor plan shows the +/- 278 square feet where I live. This is an old mobile home with one side opened up to an "add-on" built many years ago. At the most basic level, I am most interested in the following aspects of the built environment.

• Green materials
• Found objects
• Vertical Space
• Multi-function
• Anti-clutter
• Light & Air
• Heating & Cooling
• Safety & Code
  

My home needs to provide me a place to handle basic life functions. None of these basic life functions require a lot of room. (When I had little kids and pets I needed more room.) Outside my door are oil barrels I intend to convert to planters, a harlequin-painted driveway to park my truck , a raised vegetable garden bed and, a wormery in a mirror lined walkway, a mailbox and a shed.

It is a humble footprint. But what about my carbon footprint?
Quiz Results

• Food = 4 acres
• Mobility = 1 acre
• Shelter = 2.2 acres
• Goods/Services = 2.2 acres

Total Footprint - 9 acres
In comparison, the average ecological footprint in your country is 24 acres per person.
Worldwide there exists 4.5 biologically productive acres per person.
If everyone lived like you, we would need 2.1 planets.

Wow, that just sucks. The real test for me will be to stop driving and to really pay attention to food being local, unprocessed and vegetarian. These are the biggest areas for change in my opinion. Coming in a close third is my energy use, though this quick quiz didn't really touch this area. I have television and the internet on around the clock.

So my physical footprint is very small, but my carbon footprint remains way too large. I know that it is much smaller than the average American, but still too large. I suspect this kind of relative measure will come up a lot in this upcoming year's challenge. I intend to aim for a humanitarian, international measure over the American standard as often as I can remember.