Wow! That was quick, according to the program, I should be now into my 6th and final week. The last week before the big 100 push-ups attempt! The reps in week 3 and 4 were getting really tough. I was having a lot of trouble getting through all the sets. [...]

Franco Marino Cagnina's Livebox router design for Saudi Telecom looks like vase and acts like a router. Says Franco, "STC was in need of a unique router design that would provoke a positive emotional response. The STC Router successfully bridges the gap between lifestyle and technology with it's flower vase functionality. Wireless internet, Voice over IP, land line telephone and wired DSL are all incorporated into this elegant device.". A quick look at Franco's portfolio revealed a few more innovative designs.

+ cagninadesign.com

There is a fantastic on-line resource for all people interested in natural building: www.naturalbuildingnetwork.org. This site was initiated in 2005 by a group of people who collectively have considerable experience in the realm of natural building, which they define as "any building system which places the highest value on social and environmental sustainability. It assumes the need to minimize the environmental impact of our housing and other supporting systems while providing healthy, beautiful, comfortable and spiritually uplifting homes for everyone."

The Natural Building Network is a non-profit membership association, where the joining members can place listings for their services and talents and network world-wide. Towards this end, there are directories of natural builders by location, by specialty, and by their willingness to teach others their skills. This helps the members find suitable employment and helps the public find experienced builders who live in their area. Additionally there are classified listings of announcements about related matters. The Network website also features listings of workshops and events around the world, along with resources for further education.

This network and website offer a much-needed central facility for collecting information about natural builders around the world.

(This post was updated and edited. The original was published on the 19 Dec, 2005!) John Maeda, formerly from MIT Media Labs, and now RISD President, spoke about how “good art makes our mind blink”. This is so true, and if we further extrapolate this, I would say “good design makes our mind blink”. [...]

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.

I think this would have done the rounds in the design blogosphere by this time. Sorry, it is a little late as I completely forgot to post it. But here it is, and all I can say is I WANT THIS! ILoveSketch from Seok-Hyung Bae on Vimeo. ILOVESketch is a 3D curve sketching system that [...]

Charlie Lazor is the founder of FlatPak, the system of prefab building components that are configured to meet the client's needs. The client works with the design team to create the best house for the site and can have as much creative input as he or she wishes. Or simply leave it up to the design team. (The excellent FlatPak website features a revealing case study about this process.) The system is based on one component: an 8' wall that is one storey high. The design comes into being eight feet at a time, so the possibilities are almost endless. Or are they, now that the housing market is a mess?



FlatPak House in the Catskills

How are things going now that the real estate business is suffering? Is this a golden opportunity or the beginning of the end?
We sell a product that is a good value. We don't sell silver bullets. So like all good values, your market might shift in a severe downturn and you would expect to do less, but frankly, it's too early to tell. I can say we have clients looking to capitalize on hungry builders; savvy homeowners, university and resort property people. Worst case scenario, we can ride this out because we have low capital inputs and overhead and we'll be ready to rock when things getting moving again.

Finley Residence

Architecture & Interiors by: Avroko
Location: New York, USA
Specialty: Restaurants, Hotels, Residential, Convept Development, Furniture
Project Highlights: Sapa, Quality Meats, European Union, Park Avenue Summer
Interior Photography: Avroko



Park Avenue Summer

the lounge and bookshop areas of bologna's new fabrica store

after seven years of being located on via rizzoli, the bologna fabrica features shop has moved to another
historical part of city's centre at strada maggiore. designed by fabrica's young designers, valentina carretta
and sam baron, the atmosphere is low-tech and uses elements which are typically associated with
the construction industry: wooden boxes, concrete quarterdecks, pallets and electrical devices, alongside
other furnishings. the walls are decorated with hand-drawn graphics by marta teixeira.


wooden palettes are used to display products, with interactive clock by tomonaga tokuyama right

designboom snapshots: fabrica at milan design week 2007
designboom snapshots: fabrica at milan design week 2008

fabrica: http://www.fabrica.it
sam baron: http://sambaron.blogspot.com

“As real as it gets” by advertising firm, Bates 141 Jakarta. A very clever representation of, I dare say, one of our design software’s most recognizable user interface. Even the tag line is great. I love it! Check out their production process and the full size (obviously photoshopped) final print image on their [...]

The Father of Earthbag Building, Nader Khalili, died peacefully, surrounded by his family, a couple of days ago. He was 71 years old.

Here is part of a letter sent out by his family to former students:

“The flames that ignited him in life and the quest that brought each of you to Cal-Earth to learn from him have touched all of us and led us on this path….the right path……. for arts, humanity and the environment. His work and words have inspired us and his spirit is powerfully alive in every work and word, building and echo that your enthusiastic and loving hands have helped to create for this world.

His soul imbues every grain of sand and every memory contained in Cal-Earth, which expresses so much of his personal life of the last 17 years. And your works, like seeds have been growing and flourishing in every corner of the world…”

Born as an Iranian, Nader lived most of his life in the United States, gaining an architectural degree. He worked on the design of high-rise buildings and taught architecture in Southern California. In 1991 he founded Cal-Earth (the California Institute of Earth Art and Architecture) based in the desert region of Hesperia , California. From this center, he taught classes and workshops on the use of both bricks and bags to fashion domes, arches, vaults, and irregular shapes. These forms sprang from his early exposure to Middle Eastern architecture.

The earthbag concept evolved from attending a 1984 NASA symposium for brainstorming ways to build shelters on the moon. He realized that bags filled with lunar “dirt” could be stacked into domes or vaults to provide shelter. This concept was later refined to include stretching barbed wire between the courses of bags to help stabilize the structure. Nader never referred to this building technique as earthbag building; he preferred to call it “Super Adobe,” referring to the fact that he generally filled the bags (or long tubes) with an adobe soil mix.

In 1999 Nader was issued a U.S. Patent for his Super Adobe technique and he subsequently tried to require contractual arrangements for its use. At this point, however, he had been publicizing the idea for so long it was not an enforcable patent, and few would comply with his request.

This fact points to the complex nature of Nader’s personality. He truly loved humanity and the arts, and was an eloquent and passionate speaker. He often said that his ideas were a gift to humanity and he hoped they would provide shelter for the poor and disadvantaged. At the same time, he wanted to control the economic potential of his invention, and he pursued this vigorously.

Nader was the author of several books, including Ceramic Houses and Earth Architecture: How to Build Your Own, about literally making ceramic houses, and Sidewalks on the Moon, an autobiography. He also wrote several books about the the mystic poetry of Rumi. Interestingly, he never really wrote a book about his Super Adobe invention, allowing others to take the lead in doing this.

With the passing of Nader Khalili we have come to a point where his ideas and work can truly become universal. All of us who explore the potential of the earthbag concept and expand on its possibilities can help further his vision for bettering the world. We owe a great debt to this truly inspired individual. May he rest in peace!

On October 14, 2008, in Seoul, Korea, the Open Web Asia 2008 conference will gather web industry leaders from across Asia, as well as the US and Europe. The day long event focuses on the theme of “The Social Web.” Speakers include Shusaku Maruko (General Manager, Corporate Strategy Department, FeliCa Networks,) Jean Min (Communications Director, Ohmynews,) Loic Le Meur (Founder and CEO, Seesmic.com,) Arthur Chang (VP of Sale, Alibab.com,) and Jason Calacanis (CEO Mahalo.) As well, Korean tech blogger, writer, and CScout consultant, Taewoo Danny Kim, will also speak.

The combination of executives, entrepreneurs, and venture capitalists is going to explore how social media is evolving on the international, regional, and country stage. The event is the first pan-Asian web technology industry conference of its kind.

Craig Alun Smith's WANK chair is a metaphor of the interdependent relationship between the first and third world and speaks to the war for oil in Iraq. You may have noticed the white chair is missing a leg (possibly due to a roadside bomb) and is bleeding oil....

Craig's summary of this work: "In reality WANK is a joke, a commentary on the current state of design and the trend of designers to create pointless 'one line' design objects and pass them off as art". WANK is also currently on display at the Winnipeg Art Gallery as part of the 2 Chairs exhibition.

+ othergallery.com

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!

After a few weeks of preliminary images the work is finally done and the 0860 Hus1 design is now live on the catalog site. Design Prints are done and available via the ordering buttons on the catalog page.



The Hus1 is also the first design of our new collection, called the Blueprints Collection which will focus on mid-century inspired home designs. You can read a little bit more about the new collection on the Plans page of our site, and on the new Blueprints Collection page.

Technorati Tags: Hus1, modern design, modern house

John Hodgman was in San Francisco yesterday evening at a fund raising event for 826 Valencia.

He was on superb form, so much so, that interviewer Dave Eggers could barely get a word in, let alone a question. Hodgman talked about the pleasures of his new found fame that included sharing first class aircraft cabins with the likes of Peter Berg and Rachel Hunter. He also told the crowd that George Plimpton (former editor of The Paris Review) had been his inspiration from an early age. In fact, it was Plimpton's ad campaign for Intellivision video games that persuaded Hodgman that being the "PC" was the right thing to do.

Here's Plimpton selling video game systems.




Hodgman also played a couple of his political attack ads aimed at friends, people who had let him down and hotels. Here's the one attacking is friend, Johnathan Coulton for his cat sitting skills.
via videosift.com

Posted by Ed Cotton

Having just finished reading “A Declaration of Energy Independence: How Freedom from Foreign Oil Can Improve National Security, Our Economy and the Environment,” by Jay Hakes, my mind is spinning with all of the issues that this brings up. Hakes was the head of the Energy Information Administration at the U.S. Department of Energy during the Clinton administration, so he knows a fair amount about the topic.

He makes a pretty good case that not only will shaking the U.S. reliance on foreign oil help in all of these ways, but that it is possible. He points out that after measures put into action after the oil shortages in the 1970’s, the U. S. actually did cut its reliance on foreign oil by half…for a short while. This was accomplished through a combination of government resolve to solve the crisis and the public’s willingness to adopt some simple conservation measures. People actually did drive less and at slower speeds; they turned down their thermostats in the winter and up in the summer; they began to install solar water heaters.

Of course times have changed, and now we are painfully aware of the costs that we face from not having continued to boldly deal with these issues. The true cost and burden of our reliance on oil (not just foreign oil) will be paid by future generations. There is little doubt that the Iraq War is a battle for control of oil resources, for which we are paying dearly in dollars, blood, and tarnished reputation. There is little doubt that global climate change, fanned by our burning of fossil fuels is wreaking havoc with rising sea levels, loss of crops, loss of biodiversity, and increasing severity of storms.

Hakes points out that because of the time lag that often occurs between when tough mitigating measures are adopted and when their effects are noticed, there is frequently little resolve among politicians to act because unpopular measures usually don’t bring votes, especially if voters don’t see positive results.

It has taken a few centuries for us to get into this mess. For over 99% of the time that Homo sapiens has been roaming earth, we have done just fine without burning fossil fuel. Even during the great leap into agriculture from hunting and gathering, we relied solely on our labor, with the help of a few beasts of burden. Then, as ecologist William Catton writes, “Homo sapiens attained a kind of superhumanity by learning to convert the heat energy from fire into mechanical energy by means of various engines.” This discovery has jettisoned humanity into the industrial age, and we have comfortably settled into this new way of life, congratulating ourselves on our modern ways.

Now, with the peaking of fossil fuel supplies and increasing world-wide demand, there is only one direction for the price of oil to go: up. With spiraling prices, all aspects of our economy will be affected. The cost of living in this modern world will continue to increase.

But this simple fact may ultimately be our salvation, because economics will force us to find alternative ways of living, and these will inevitably lead us to cleaner, renewable forms of energy. The inexorable laws of economics will eventually force us to address these thorny issues, even when politicians and an unwilling public dig in their heels to avoid change. It will cost too much to do otherwise!

Of course we can choose to cushion the blow of economic and climatic upheaval by making wise decisions now. We can invest in renewable energy now. We can drive cleaner, more fuel efficient cars now. We can walk. We can grow more of our own food. We can make our homes more energy efficient. We can buy only what we really need. We can do all of these things…and we will be much healthier for it!

Another Japanese wonder, HOUSE kn by Kochi Architect's Studio. Beautiful [sigh]. The floor plan is very nice and the outdoor space is wonderful.


Nice treatment of parking space too. My pet peeve is nice homes ruined by ugly attached garages and bad driveways. HOUSE kn gets it right.

Via the girl in the green dress. It's a wonderful design blog, so please do click over and take a look. You'll be delighted.

Image credit - Kochi Architect's Studio site.

'celluar automation origin of species 2'
image © designboom

as animals grow, their bone structures increase in size. they develop into the ultimate shaped forms,
being able to support the entire structure with just one fifth the mass of the whole. this is a study
of ross lovegrove's organic essentialism. in his work he analyzes the composition and structure of bones
and finds ways through modeling and structuring. for 'cellular automation' he created complex structures
experimenting with 3d software to create pieces that imitate nature. his work is on display as part of
the second nature exhibition at 21_21, tokyo, japan.


image © designboom


image © designboom


image © designboom


image © designboom


detail

more:
http://www.rosslovegrove.com

designboom article on ross lovegrove's organic essentialism

I am very pleased to announce the launch of my new website, www.earthbagbuilding.com. Actually this is a cooperative project between myself and Dr. Owen Geiger of the Geiger Research Institute of Sustainable Building (www.grisb.org). Owen and I have known each other for several years and have much respect for each other's work and for the potential of building sustainably with earthbags. To find out more About Us, see this page.

As the banner proclaims, our main attitude is that of sharing information and promoting earthbag building. We expect this to become the premeir site for learning about how to build with earthbags. While the site will be expanding over time, it already has a wealth of information.

Under the heading of Projects and Pictures we have already featured 17 earthbag projects from around the world, and we have plans to show many more. These pages are quite rich with photos and text that explain the nature of the projects, which range from residences to studios to walls to public buildings.

We have already posted 11 Articles about earthbag building, some we have written and some by other authorities on the topic. I have written a short History of earthbag building as well. So far we have 3 articles about Testing earthbag technology.

We have posted 4 pages devoted to the use of earthbags for Emergency Dwellings, and feature several other Plans that are available for more lasting structures.

There is a lengthy section with FAQs gleaned from my years of answering questions from the public at www.greenhomebuilding.com.

Our page of Resources features links to other related sites, books and DVDs that might be purchased, and where to buy supplies for building with earthbags. If you are looking for ways to get involved through Workshops, this page might help you find one.

If you are seeking specific information about this technology, we have provided a couple of Search engines to fascilitate this. One of these is set to search a selection of content-rich resources.

And finally, we are launching a Blog that is specifically about building with earthbags, where both Owen and I will be posting more information and provide a way for you to share information with us through your comments.

I hope you enjoy browsing and benefit from this new resource!

Tactile surfaces are making technology and information much more accessible to people with visual handicaps

As a range of new interfaces and surfaces for digital devices are developed, it is becoming easier for visually impaired people to use devices sighted people take for granted. Tactile displays enable digital data to be felt rather than seen, making it easier for blind and partially sighted people to access the Internet, keep their credit card details secure, and take and archive pictures.

Cases

Touch Sight Camera

This Samsung design embosses 3D images on its flexible Braille display, turning images into a surface that can be felt. It also captures a few seconds of sound to accompany each picture, making them much easier to search and archive. Images can be shared online and downloaded to other Touch Sight cameras.

ReEnvision

Smooth touch-screen technology on debit card readers hinders visually impaired people by requiring them to give their PIN to the cashier. This design provides a low-cost solution, sitting flush on a debit card reader to provide tactile buttons.

Sentio

Although blind people can’t see, it doesn’t mean they don’t want to look good. This was Matthew Wagerfield’s approach when he incorporated tactile technology into this watch. The clock’s face features two seven-segment digital displays that rise 1mm above its surface, providing a tactile function for the blind and a visual spectacle for the sighted.

Saifu

Saifu is a tablet PC that uses a conceptual magnetized liquid material called magneclay. The oil based synthetic reacts to a magnetic charge, rearranging itself infinite numbers of times to display Braille or tactile 3D images in relief.

Trend Impact
These designs demonstrate many of the ways in which technology is making up for the difference in people’s abilities, leveling the playing field and making more activities and roles accessible to more parts of the population.

Of course, many of these technologies can provide benefits to sighted people. For example, a tactile surface could be applied to a bedside clock, enabling one half of a couple to find out what time it is without disturbing the other.

alissa and carly at coe and waito have launched a beautiful new series of ceramics. their existing collections have been smash hits and i have a feeling these pieces will be welcomed with the same enthusiasm. i love their coral vase (above) and the sweet scalloped bowls below. they would both be perfect for holiday gifts and they’re all between $56- $200 so there’s something for everyone. click here to check out their new collection and place and order.

I got really fired up this morning after I read a great post in architect Greg La Vardera's blog. In "Our Remodern Movement - the tipping point?" Greg suggests that now might finally be the time for modernist homes to find a place in the mainstream. I really hope so. I see the momentum. And I believe in "tipping points." I know exactly what the tipping point was for me personally, the one thing that got me really excited about modern homes. I picked up a copy of Dwell at the newsstand for the first time, the April/May 2005 issue with Charlie Lazor's Flatpak house on the cover.

I had always been interested in homes. I always dreamed of something better and more exciting than the standard fare of suburban cul-de-sacs, though I wasn't totally hooked on modern yet. But when I saw this cover, with a real family in a cool-ass house, it was like a lightning bolt. I can't tell you how badly I'd like to live in a Flatpak. It's one of the top three contenders for me. It just fits me and my family so perfectly. When the time finally comes to really build a new home I will be giving them a call to talk.

It's funny though, how "weird" most people think modernist homes are. My mother said "you want to live in a white box?" with a look on her face that was pure disbelief. Talking houses with some neighbors I could detect their nervous smiles when I mentioned concrete and steel, as in "uh, okay, sure, as long as it's not next door to my house." And look at the real estate markets. That's all you need to know. You don't see a lot of developers building modernist spec homes. Just pick up a real estate magazine and thumb through it for a minute. How many cool modernist homes will you find in the listings. Maybe one or two in a hundred page book. And they're mostly really big, expensive houses, probably built in the eighties after watching too many episodes of Miami Vice. Good, simple, modern homes for real families are hard to come by. Your best bet is a fifties ranch. Even those are a minority in the market compared to the grand total of everything else.

But I think Greg is right. This is the right time. Dwell has been so successful that some other similar publications have started to appear. Blogs like mine are popping up like daisies. Sarah Susanka's "Not So Big House" movement has a lot of followers (because it makes a lot of sense). Or consider John Brown's Slow Home Movement. And green is suddenly king. People finally realize that their choices have a real impact. Now is definitely the time of Less is More, and modernism fits that bill perfectly.

Probably the biggest helper in all of this, in my opinion, is going to be the bursting of the real estate bubble. I say that for one simple reason: it will make people change their view as to what their home really is - a home to live in and not an investment to make a fortune off of. I really believe that people won't/can't build what they really want because they are too hung up on resale value and growing massive equity. I don't know if this attitude caused the housing bubble or vice versa, but either way they combine to create an effect where the resultant high cost of housing distorts our views, closes our minds to new ideas, prices lots of people out of the market for a good home, and places too much power in the hands of developers, not in the hands of consumers where it should be. And so, here we are. With the bubble busting and home prices correcting I think we may also see home buyers making very different decisions about what they want to live in. I know this is the case for my wife and I, and I hope, at least, that this is the case for others.

It's definitely time for America to focus its attention on things like better homes, greener communities, reliable energy, even better communications technology, education and health care. These are the things that make up the infrastructure of this country. We won't have to worry about foreign threats for long if we allow ourselves to fall apart from the inside.

This whole country is at a tipping point, or near one. Modern homes are just a tiny, tiny part of that. We can choose a better way to live without giving up all the really great things we already enjoy.

Better living through design. Work smarter, not harder. Find the holistic solutions.

We can do it.

The collaboration between BIG Architects of Copenhagen, Denmark, and NOD Landscape Architects of Stockholm, Sweden, provides not only a solution to Slussen, one of Scandinavia’s busiest intersections but most importantly privileges the pedestrian and cyclist.
When the Stockholm City Council invited BIG and NOD to act as design consultants on Slussen, the direction given was to create a proposal that reconnects the historic Gamla Stan with Södermalm. Understanding the long legacy of previous attempts to solve Slussen’s traffic chaos, the team set out to create a single form within which the different modes of traffic are layered. The proposal touches the waters surrounding Gamla Stan and slowly terrace up using ascending and descending ramps to create a new, coherent area focusing on providing an attractive and functional setting for both movement and rest.

Currently considered inaccessible to pedestrians and cyclists, Slussen is a black hole in the heart of Stockholm. It is no wonder then that Danish-Swedish collaboration has made sure to offer cyclists as well as pedestrians easy access to and through the area. The proposal turns Slussen into an urban recreational area assuring easy movement for the citizens and tourists of Stockholm. Slussen will gain a whole new kind of urban space unlike any other in the world, where artwork, a summer’s midnight stroll and outdoor theatre can cohabitate with the need to move cars, buses, trains, metro, and boats. The strength of Slussen lies in its continual and varied movement which the proposed ramped landscape only underscores. The heavy traffic of cars and buses is carefully immersed under the rising hillside. Suddenly due to the submersed traffic, large areas have been freed and are made attractive to the entire city to enjoy. As a result, new opportunities for urban life are created.

The basic traffic system has already been developed by Nyrens Arkitektkontor as part of an architectural competition, with soft traffic and a public program on the top and with heavy traffic at ground floor level, storing away boats, buses, metro, cars and trains. But instead of separating the different levels, connected only by stairs and elevators in a traditional way, we propose to integrate all public, accessible areas around Slussen by interweaving the levels using descending and ascending ramps as this will allow people to move freely between the levels.

Pedestrian zones are designed to connect the already existing promenades and road crossings, and all areas of the new Slussen are as such accessible to pedestrians. The bicycle lanes follow the road as well as the promenade along the waterfront, and are pulled away only where the curvy bays of the new Slussen are created to leave space for pedestrians to enjoy the waterfront.

Today Slussen does not take advantage of its rising topography. Seeking to utilize its unique setting the proposal uses the terraced hillside to house kiosks, shops, and tourist information stands accessible through the network of ramps. In this way, a new and active urban area is created. In addition to the landscaped contours and pathways characterising BIG and NOD’s proposal, the dispersion of light has been instrumental in developing the site and the various levels. By day, natural light will pierce through circle shaped skylights into the lower levels. By night, the skylights will be illuminated from below. The expression will thus vary from dusk till dawn, from season to season and depending on the weather. This dynamic process and the continual hum of traffic will serve as the backdrop to a new urban form and regenerate life into the surrounding neighbourhoods.

There is an animation showing the complete program as well. I will put it up in a separate post as well.

Ping Intressant.se

Andra bloggar om: slussen, stockholm, kultur, arkitektur landskapsarkitektur, bjarke ingels, stadsbyggnad

Girls Walker has announced the beginning of the search for the next Miss Tokyo Girls Collection, the finale event for the now famous biannual real fashion festival. This is the ultimate opportunity for a would-be reader model, not only to grace the pages of one’s favorite magazine, but to actually join the stage with top teen fashion icons.

Unlike traditional pageants, where the winner is selected by a panel of expert judges, Miss TGC is eventually chosen from a panel of peers: the girls in the audience who can vote with their mobile phones.

For the original post and the latest reviews of other Japanese trends please visit our CScout Japanese blog.

Mainly through the efforts of Illiac Diaz, a charismatic entrepenuer/actor/model/athlete, the Philippines has been home to some very innovative public works utilizing earthbags. Illiac discovered the benefits of this technology several years ago at Nader Khaili’s CalEarth Institute in Hesperia, California, and has been promoting earthbag building in the Philippines ever since.

Diaz is the Executive Director of My Shelter Foundation which has collaborated with various other governmental and industrial organizations to build new schools and clinics throughout the Philippines. He is quick to point out the many economic and sustainable advantages of this method of building, since the main component is abundant and natural earth. In hurricane-prone areas, such as the Philippines, earthbag buildings can withstand the ravages of nature better than most other systems. And with thicker walls, they are more thermally stable.

Here are several pages where you can find out more about the humanitarian works of Illiac Diaz: earthbagbuilding.com/articles/filipino, earthbagbuilding.com/projects/school, earthbagbuilding.com/projects/clinic.