Another excellent program on This American Life today all about the financial crisis. If you remember back in May I recommended their program called The Giant Pool of Money which explained in easy to understand terms how the sub-prime lending debacle happened. Similarly today's program titled Another Frightening Show About the Economy explains in easy to understand terms how this all happened.

The financial players on Wall Street had essentially placed "bets" in the form of complex financial constructs called Credit Default Swaps. These were placed by the banks against one another making them all interdependent and likely to topple if one fell. These were first conceived as a form of insurance, later used as more or less a bet. There is no regulation of these financial devices, and hence no overall picture of how over leveraged the industry was. Incredibly irresponsible.

I highly recommend getting the podcast from their site if you have any interest at all in understanding what just happened to you and me - it is a free download for the first week following the show. Here is a link to their site:

http://www.thislife.org/

Or if you are an iTunes user you can subscribe and get the show from there.

Florian Weiss (no linking possible due to 100% flash on their end :-( over from our friends at PARK just dropped me a note sharing some closer information about the upcoming Design Management forum to be held (again) in Cologne in November this year. Chances are that you might meet me there physically as well ;-)

Interestingly the topic of Service Design (no link to the Wikipedia entry here as it seems to be reasonably promoting KISD and their stakeholders in the topic) seems to follow some sort of pig cycle as from my perspective it makes its way to the top 3 topics every now and then. Funnily enough my very own doctoral thesis that I’ve started back in 1998 dealt with Service Design and I’ve been investigating the mechanisms (usability) as well as benefits (usefulness) from investing into proper Web Based Service Design.

Needless to say that after the collapse of the Internet Bubble in early 200 nobody (in my specific case one insurance and a bank that funded my research at that time) was interested any longer in the topic so I’ve dropped it later on … In any case a quick Google search suggests that the topic is still up-to-date ;-)

After all a good (academic) resource to surf after is ‘Designing for Services‘ a project led by Lucy Kimbell in late 2006/2007. In contrast to other similar initiatives that are poorly documented this one shared insights and stuff via a blog and I greatly appreciate this!

—– snip —–

5th Design Management Forum at 07th & 08th November 2008 in Cologne

For businesses the customer satisfaction is a permanent challenge, because the wishes and demands of people grow continuously with the technical progress. Companies that pro-actively identify the interests of their customers open up new and profitable opportunities if they develop performance and service offerings that create good and pleasant experiences for the customer. Systematic and strategic management of service design helps the business to gain competitive advantages and to conquer new markets. Experts from the economy, who have gone new and innovative ways in the conception and design of experience worlds and services, present their knowledge and experience at the 5th Design Management Forum for further discussion.

This year lecturers from Germanwings (DE), Molecular (US), Aliagroup (UK & IN), Isobar (UK), Deutsche Bank (DE) and McDonald’s (DE) will provide corporate insights and present innovative approaches to Service Design Management.

Further information and application: http://www.design-management-forum.org

—– snip —–

Just a couple of quick things:

The wonderful blog DO Research has closed shop - it is already missed. The upside is they've bought land and are building a Flatpak. I am wildly jealous!

Read the story behind the sea container Holyoke Cabin on the Hive Modular blog. So cool.

Skinny Japanese Houses on eye candy (via Things Magazine). Only in Japan [sigh].

The amazingly hip Alan Family Happy New House is complete. Check it out in The New York Times. It turned out just like the renderings - very, very cool. It shows you just how much you can do with a remodel.

I just picked up a good book, Small Eco-houses. Loaded with interesting, green, modern homes from all over the world. Two thumbs up!

This is one of the designs that originated from the design phase of the suburban house project.



I have to confess that I find the space really interesting, but no doubt it won't be for everybody.

Technorati Tags: house plans, modern design, modern house

There's an interesting new study that suggests male commuters who suffer road rage brought on by tough commutes, take that stress and frustration into the workplace. Corporations will be impacted by lost productivity and damage to working relationships.

What could companies do that are located in cities with tough commutes?

1. Encourage use of public transportation- if it works and is reliable
2. Build decompression chambers in the office
3. Create employee transportation systems- like Google's bus
4. Stress management advice- teach employees how to be less angry about their commutes
5. Yoga classes for commuters

It's not entirely surprising that road rage makes its way into the workplace, but I am sure very few companies pause for a moment to think about it and what it could be doing to their employees.


Posted by Ed Cotton

The work on the interior of the New Mexico EcoSteel House is progressing. Today we share more photos taken by the owner.



Click through the link below to see a photo browser with more images of the interior and the site.

Technorati Tags: 6030 House, 6040 House, ecosteel, modern design, modern house, prefab house

In the rush to create ultra-modern bamboo chairs, entertainment centers, desks, wallets, and other generally eco “stuff,” the pure beauty of natural forms is sometimes lost in modern design for industrialization. So it is blissfully refreshing to mentally reconnect with exhibit Tickling Thicket at Oakland Gallery, Johansson Projects, where artists Katy Stone and Yvette Molina use innovative painting techniques to create spellbinding, ethereal natural forms.

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On September 8, 2008 at the Ars Electronica digital media festival in Linz, Austria, 170 people from fields spanning business, culture, arts and technology gathered at Mission Future to explore the power and potential of open innovation and collaboration. Under the theme „We’re Open“, participants spent the day immersed in presentations, panels, interviews, breakout sessions, Future Slams, a Future Hunt, music and interactive art.

Over 25 speakers lead discussion, sharing their expertise and opinions on topics including the future of intellectual property, open source, crowd-funding, social networking, the future of creation, open community, open business and open arts. Over the coming weeks and months we’ll be posting video clippings and summaries of Mission Future 2008 sessions on the Mission Future website, so visit http://missionfuture.trendpool.com/ to find out what went on.

An enormous amount of gratitude is due to all the speakers for sharing their foresights and insights with us, and equally sincere thanks go to our participants, whose contributions were key to the success of the day, to Ars Electronica Linz for their support in realizing this first major undertaking of Mission Future, and to our sponsors, the Berlin School of Creative Leadership, Weingüter Retzer Land, Art Directors Club, Red Bull, Carpe Diem, Linz 09, Indigo, Der Standard, Linz Tourism, Groupile and rebell.tv.

Building on the success of the 2008 event, the goals for Mission Future 2009 are now far loftier. We intend to receive speakers of the same high calibre as those we were privileged to hear this year, to tap into the knowledge and experience of participants to even greater effect, and to further advance Mission Future’s initiative to create tomorrow’s economy.

(Photo: Oswald Schröder, Elizabeth Stark and Joichi Ito discuss the future of intellectual property. Credit: Ars Elelctronica)

I complained the other day about not having seen anything really interesting in a while, and then my buddy Justin at Materialicio.us answers the call with this amazing find - the Stroh Haus by Swiss architect Felix Jerusalem. This home has several things going for it that really appeal to me. First, it has a simple, clean plan. Second, that green exterior is my favorite color. Third, I am fascinated with translucent panels, and the Stroh Haus uses them as exterior sheathing to groovy effect. Lastly, the house utilizes a really interesting type of construction material - straw pre-formed into structural elements. That's a slick approach that ought to have some legs.








Thanks Juzz!

Image credits - Stroh Haus site

A week ago or so the good folks at DO Research posted a nice pic of a new weeHouse they drove by. I think it must be the Oeschger house shown on the Alchemy site. Sure looks like it.

I've never been to the Twin Cities but it occurs to me that most of my favorite modernist architecture and related firms and websites are based there:

DO Research - A favorite Minneapolis-based modernist blog
rosenlof/lucas - the hippest modern landscaping duo going, with a cool blog to boot
Alchemy Architects - you cannot resist the appeal of their weeHouses
Flatpak - I drool over these Eamesish beauties
City Desk Studio - recently in Dwell, awesome Skyway Retreat
Bark Design - I'm in love with Doris
Hive Modular - The B-Line is an instant classic modern prefab

What is it about Minnesota????? So much good stuff is coming out of there right now. It makes me want to move. I think a weekend trip to finally see the Twin Cities is in order.

Dr. Owen Geiger and I have just found that a book published in 1990 in Germany, Building with Pumice, written by Klaus Grasser and Gernot Minke, describes experiments done in the 1970’s at the Research Laboratory for Experimental Building at Kassel Polytechnic College in Germany that have considerable bearing on the history of earthbag building.

Most of the book is about the physical properties of pumice, how to obtain and process it, and how to make blocks or walls with pumice/cement, but the fifth and final chapter, titled “Building with Unbonded Pumice,” describes how they began to investigate the question of how natural building materials like sand and gravel could be used for building houses without the necessity of using binders. The use of fabric-packed bulk material was found to be a cost-efficient approach. They used pumice to pack in the bags, because it weighs less and has better thermal insulating properties than ordinary sand and gravel. Their first successful experiments were with corbeled dome shapes (an inverted catenary) which was obtained with the aid of a rotating vertical template mounted at the center of the structure.

1978, a prototype house using an earthquake-proof stacked-bag type of construction was built in Guatemala. They used cotton bags soaked in lime-wash to protect the material from rot and insects. When flattened, the bags measured roughly 8 X 10 cm. Vertical bamboo poles placed on both sides of the bags and interconnected with wire loops gave the stacked bags stability. The bamboo rods were fixed to the foundation and to the horizontal tie beam at the top.

Obviously the concept of constructing homes with fabric bags of mineral material predates Nader Khalili’s earliest experiments by many years, and I was certainly not the first to experiment with filling earthbags with pumice! The entire chapter is reproduced as an article at www.greenhomebuilding.com.

We are pleased to announce a new promotion for November and December of 2008 - Order Design Prints in Nov or Dec 08 and receive double your Design Prints back on your qualifying Construction Print Order in 2009. Its our Kick the Crisis promotion and this is how it works:

Anybody who buys Design Prints in November or December 2008 will be eligible for a rebate equal to twice the value of the Design Prints if they order the corresponding Construction Prints before the end of 2009. So if you purchase a set of Small Design Prints in November for $100, and purchase Construction Prints in 2009 your prints will come with a rebate of $200. If you buy regular Design Prints for $200 and follow up with a Construction Print purchase in 09 they will come with a rebate for $400. Its double your design prints back! I hope that's not too confusing, its really quite simple. If you are kicking around the idea of building in 2009 or even 2010 or 11 then make sure you order Design Prints for the house you want in November or December 08 and purchase your Construction Prints by the end of 2009 to earn the rebate.

Jump over to our site to read the details. Well, actually we just copied all the details from our site and posted them here, but you should go and read the fine print on the offer.

Kick the Crisis Promotion

Technorati Tags: modern house

"Herzog & de Meuron's Tenerife Arts Space (TEA) has been inaugurated in Santa Cruz de Tenerife in the Canary Islands." (via BD)

It’s about time, the (M)Ad Men figured that out. Well they sort of did before and there always been Industrial Designers in advertising and branding. But much of the focus then was on packaging design, and Industrial Design was often seen as nothing more than skinning. Core77 has a pretty good article called “Stepmothers [...]

Considering the fact that the average person produces 4.5 pounds of waste per day according to the EPA, we would be remiss not to address the question of household waste in our exploration of what it takes to make a green home. Thanks to more widespread public and private recycling programs and increased consumer awareness, Americans are definitely learning to tighten their ‘waste-line,’ but we still produce a phenomenal amount of garbage on a daily basis. Before we can talk about reducing, re-using and re-cycling, Green Home 101 needs to talk trash.

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"I happen to think anthropology is a brilliant background for looking at finance, firstly, you're trained to look at how societies or cultures operate holistically, so you look at how all the bits move together. And most people in the City don't do that. They are so specialised, so busy, that they just look at their own little silos. And one of the reasons we got into the mess we are in is because they were all so busy looking at their own little bit that they totally failed to understand how it interacted with the rest of society.

Gillian Tett- Assistant Editor- Financial Times


Posted by Ed Cotton

I am very pleased to announce that there is now an extensive slide show of earthbag building projects up at www.earthbagbuilding.com. I spent several days selecting the best photos that I could find and formatting them to fluidly present a marvelous array of architectural styles and approaches to building with earthbags. There are already over sixty images assembled, and I expect to continue to enlarge the library over time.

The pictures are labeled so that if any of them attract further attention, the more detailed description of the project can be found on the projects page.

The pace of the slide show is controlled by the viewer by clicking on arrow buttons below the images, so one can browse as casually as one likes. This is a great way to become familiar with some of what is being created with earthbags. The photos depict both works in progress and completed projects.

So sit back and enjoy the show!

The handrails on the stair and all around the second floor of the New Mexico EcoSteel House are installed and they look great.



I had gotten very used to lookng at the stair without a rail, and I was afraid that the rail would somehow complicate or spoil the spare look of the stair. Well it did not turn out that way and I think this is why. The rail that was picked is a stainless tube rail with cables so its very light and transparent. Also the brightness of the stainless really separates it from the grey vertebrae and ribs appearance of the stair. If the rail had been painted steel work that matched the stair I believe it would have compromised the lines of the stair.

More photos below the fold.

Technorati Tags: 6030 House, 6040 House, ecosteel, modern design, modern house, prefab house

I am thankful for ...

The extremely generous support of architect Greg La Vardera, Matt Olson of rolu|dsgn, Max Mead of Building Green, and Justin Anthony of materialicio.us - cool people I have come to know through this blog, and the many other people I have met via blogging. That's the best part, for sure.

My wife (who is too good to me) and my wonderful kids, Owen and Parker. Unfortunately, Owen broke his arm a little over a week ago. He was so brave. He never cried, not when it happened, not on the way to the emergency room, not when the doctors were poking him and putting in an IV, or when they set the bones. That little five year old has more guts and composure than almost any adult I've ever met. He's doing great, even with a heavy cast on up almost to his shoulder. I am sooo thankful that he is okay.

Modernist Japanese residential architecture - for challenging and inspiring me always. So much good stuff.

The Detroit Lions, my football team who I get to watch on Thanksgiving day. A really nice tradition for us Lions fans. Let's hope they win one for a change (doubtful).

Dwell and Pugh+Scarpa's entry to the Dwell Home II Competition, both of which inspired me to start this blog. My inaugural post is still the beacon.

Thanks everyone for visiting my site.

Have a great Thanksgiving!

Architecture & Interiors by: SPLYCE
Location: Vancouver, Canada
Specialty: residential and commercial renovations to custom furniture and landscapes
Project Highlights: Renovations of West2nd and West 7th private residences
Interior Photography: Michael Boland Photography

The great thing about blogging is that I have gained such a great sense of community, meeting so many amazing talents from all corners of the world and also reconnecting with the local design scene. Earlier this year I was honoured to read a kind comment from one of Vancouver's most talented architects, Nigel Parish of SPLYCE. I came across his work last year while sourcing images for modern west coast architecture. Over the past months, I have been lucky enough to learn more about Nigel's work and approach to both architecture and interiors. You can see through his work the merging of the structure and interior volumes of space holds a strong relationship and is seamless. I admire his keen sense of attention to construction details in exploring natural materials in flush exterior cladding and the combining of economical yet quality materials.


To see more of Nigel's work, see slideshow

• Deliver a Presentation like Steve Jobs
  Well, we all need to tweak our presentations from time to time, right? ;-) Anyway even though most hints are not rocket science at all it's good to have them written down in order to be remembered; take me at my word!
  (tags: steve_jobs presentation inspiration education tips steve speech)

An idea whose time seems to have arrived is the use of stockpiled shipping containers as modular units for building homes. Because of the balance of trade in the United States, these hefty steel boxes are piling up in ports around the country and posing a storage problem. Several architects and builders are taking advantage of this surplus to recycle the containers.

According to David Cross of www.sgblocks.com, "a container has 8000 lbs of steel which takes 8000 kwh of energy to melt down and make new beams etc... Our process of modifying that entire 8000 lbs of steel into a "higher and better use" only takes 400 kwh of electrical energy (or 5%). Granted it takes a bit more "muscle" but we call this Value-Cycling which we feel is that next step up from Re-cycling."

Each container measures 8 feet wide by 40 feet long by 9 feet tall. SG Blocks sells the finished structural systems (also called SG Blocks) for $9,000 to $11,000 per unit. The finished units have one or two walls removed and include the necessary support columns and beam enhancements.

According to KPFF Consulting, a structural engineering firm in St. Louis with extensive experience working with shipping containers, the units are stronger than conventional house framing because of their resistance to "lateral loads" -- those seen in hurricanes and earthquakes -- and because steel is basically welded to steel. The roof is strong enough to support the extra weight of a green roof — which has vegetation growing on it — if the owner should want it.

As for their energy efficiency, they claim that when the appropriate coatings are installed, the envelope reflects about 95 percent of outside radiation, resists the loss of interior heat, provides an excellent air infiltration barrier and does not allow water to migrate in.

One idea that has occurred to me is that this system might benefit from the use of SIP's (Structural Insulated Panels) for the roofs, rather that standard truss framing. SIP's are very well insulated, install quickly, and use much less wood than convention roofs.

Shipping containers are self-supporting with beams and stout, marine-grade plywood flooring already in place, thereby eliminating time and labor during the home-building process. Cross said construction costs are comparable to those in conventional building. Four to seven units are used in a typical home, he said.

Instead of nailing the siding they use "Super Therm", a ceramic paint made by Superior Products of Minnesota; it can be used as a paint, an adhesive, an insulator, a fireproofing material and an acoustic barrier. With this ceramic paint, they claim the insulation capacity is equal to a conventional house.

Adam Kalkin, of www.architectureandhygiene.com , has also become enamored with shipping containers as an architectural solution. The idea to do something with shipping containers came to Kalkin, a New Jersey resident, when driving to New York City, where he saw sky-high stacks of the unused cargo containers in the shipyards he passed.

"The cargo containers, with a life span of about 20 years when used for their original purpose, have an “infinite life span” when stationary and properly maintained," Kalkin says. “To me they are like a treasured antique: they may not be inherently valuable, but the history and the storytelling add value.”

Environmentalists have embraced the design, applauding the recycling inherent to Kalkin's designs. And advocates for affordable-housing like the design, since according to Kalkin, "the total cost of a house—between $150,000 and $175,000 after the buyer settles upon the various options—works out to be between $73 and $90 per square foot, about half the cost of the conventional $200 per square foot for reasonable quality, new construction in the Northeast.”

Kalkin has recently opened a factory—“a hangar at a little airport in New Jersey”—to manufacture Quik Houses. “There are a lot of elbows flying in this process, and this is the best way to protect the quality of the house, to keep the accounting transparent, and to make sure I am not unwittingly responsible for heinous crimes to the built environment.” Once the factory is fully functional, Kalkin plans to export many of his products, commenting that “the possibilities of working on a world scale are exciting.”

Twenty-one thousand containers hit American shores every day of the year. Containers can be shipped to the interior of the country via trains and trucks. Shipping containers are like Lego toys and the modules can be assembled in thousands of ways.

In general it is a good thing to recycle materials that otherwise have no further use for their intended purpose, and this is true here. As for whether one can make a comfortable house out of these metal boxes, the biggest question is: insulation...it is essential, but there are many ways to insulate these containers, so this is not a big concern. Another concern that many people would have is whether a metal box would have adverse health effects because of EMF (electro-magnetic frequencies) generation or propagation. Some people are sensitive to these while others are not.

There is no doubt that these containers can be used to fabricate very strong shells that would withstand substantial abuse from the ravages of nature.

In general I find the conferences organized by Trendbüro Hambug quite corporate and too often the same players (aka speakers) show off. However Tim Leberecht from frog design pointed me to a slideshare summary on the key findings of the German Trend Day 2008 conference. Have a mind on your own and browse the slides: "In May this year, frog design founder Hartmut Esslinger spoke at the German Trend Day in Hamburg. The Trend Day is an influential annual forum that gathers thought leaders from business, media, and academia to discuss emerging social and cultural trends. This year's theme was "Identity Management," and other speakers besides Hartmut included Richard Florida, Danny Choo, and David Bosshart."

The office work of today demands that people sit for hours in front of computer screens, which often has a negative impact on mind and body.

Herman Miller took a long hard look at these problems and designed a chair with a positive impact on health. It's amazing to see a company take such an ambitious and rigorous approach to understanding and solving the needs of its users.

"Embody lets your body move and keeps you well supported, because your mind works best when you move freely and stress is minimized on your muscles, bones, and tissues. Blood circulates better, heart rate goes down, more oxygen flows to the brain, and there is no distracting discomfort or physical constraint. That's critical in our idea economy where innovation drives success and people get paid for their thoughts and creativity."

Better health= Better ideas- Very smart and it makes a nice pitch to CEOs and CFOs.

To get there, Herman-Miller talked and involved dozens of experts in fields of vision, biomechanics, physical therapy and ergonomics. These experts shared insights and helped develop prototypes.



Of course, the Embody is ahead of the curve environmentally, containing 45% recycled materials, no PVC and is 95% recylable.




Posted by Ed Cotton