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100 Push ups : Week 1 Redux and Week 2

00/00/0000, 00:00 | Design Sojourn
Finally an update! Well I’m glad that I revisited Week 1 again before going into Week 2. It got my system moving and I was starting to feel comfortable going through the routine 3 times a week. I must admit, getting comfortable with any fitness routine is an important plus to maintaining [...]

California's Green Building Code

00/00/0000, 00:00 | Green Home Building and Sustainable Architecture
California has adopted the nation's first statewide green-building standards, which will become mandatory in 2010. The new California Green Buildings Standards Code requires builders to reduce energy use by 15 to 30 percent beyond current standards and use more recycled materials. Some of the code will be mandatory, while other parts are just suggested. This is a significant recognition that energy and resource conservation is essential for the welfare of state residents, and hopefully this officially sanctioned consciousness will spread to other states.

These new codes include basic passive solar mandates: "When site and location permit, orient the building with the long sides facing north and south. Provide exterior shade for south-facing windows during the peak cooling season. Provide vertical shading against direct solar gain and glare due to low altitude sun angles for east- and west-facing windows."

For renewable energy, the codes says, "Use on-site renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, geothermal, low-impact hydro, biomass and bio-gas for at least 1% of the electric power."

For water conservation, the code says, "A schedule of plumbing fixtures and fixture fittings will reduce the overall use of potable water within the building by 20%, and provide water efficient landscape irrigation design that reduces by 50% the use of potable water beyond the initial requirements for plant installation and establishment."

"Each building shall further reduce the generation of wastewater by one of the following methods: The installation of water-conserving fixtures (water closets, urinals) or utilizing non-potable water systems (captured rainwater, graywater, and municipally treated wastewater
(recycled water)."

For materials to be specified for construction, the following is mandated:
  • Select building materials or products for permanent installation on the project that have been harvested or manufactured in California or within 500 miles of the project site.
  • Select bio-based building materials and products made from solid wood, engineered wood, bamboo, wool, cotton, cork, straw, natural fibers, products made from crops (soy-based, corn-based) and other bio-based materials with at least 50% bio-based content.
  • Employ wood-based materials and products comprising at least 50% of a major building component, such as framing, flooring, or millwork, which are certified by one of five listed sustainably harvested certification programs.
  • Use materials made from plants harvested within a ten-year cycle for at least 2.5% of total materials value, based on estimated cost.
  • Use salvaged, refurbished, refinished, or reused materials for a minimum of 5% of the total value, based on estimated cost of materials on the project.
  • Use materials, equivalent in performance to virgin materials, with post-consumer or preconsumer recycled content value (RCV) for a minimum of 10% of the total value, based on estimated cost of materials on the project.
  • Use cement and concrete made with recycled products, fly ash, raw or calcined natural pozzolan, blast furnace slag (as a lightweight aggregate) .
  • Select materials for longevity and minimal deterioration under conditions of use.
  • Select materials that require little, if any, finishing.
  • Select materials that can be re-used or recycled at the end of their service life in the project.
  • Select materials assemblies based on life cycle assessment of their embodied energy and/or green house gas emission potentials.
"Provide readily accessible areas that serve the entire building and are identified for the depositing, storage, and collection of non-hazardous materials for recycling, including (at a minimum) paper, corrugated cardboard, glass, plastics and metals."

Environmental and health-related items establish specific limits on VOC emission of materials used within the structure, as well as regulate ventilation, CO2 emissions, tobacco smoke, lighting, outside views, and noise transmission.

Additional recommended measures include:
  • If feasible, disassemble existing buildings instead of demolishing to allow reuse or recycling of building materials.
  • Utilize a Frost-Protected Shallow Foundation.
  • Use pre-manufactured floor and roof systems to eliminate solid sawn lumber whenever possible.
The code also identifies site improvements including bicycle storage and designated parking spots for low-emissions vehicles.

I have been advocating most of these measures at www.greenhomebuilding.com for many years now, and it is heartening to see them being officially sanctioned. This is a far-reaching and well-considered attempt by California legislators to establish requisites for living sustainably. If there are going to be building codes, they might as well be green! Yeah California!

Herzog & de Meuron Tenerife Arts Space officially opens [Clipping]

11/05/2008, 16:25 | Land+Living: Modern Lifestyle + Design
"Herzog & de Meuron's Tenerife Arts Space (TEA) has been inaugurated in Santa Cruz de Tenerife in the Canary Islands." (via BD)

‘down’ by kehinde wiley

00/00/0000, 00:00 | designboom weblog, design related news, reviews and previews

‘sleep’, 2008 (source imagery: jean-bernard restout)

‘down’ by kehinde wiley
deitch projects, new york
november 1 - december 20, 2008

‘down’ is an exhibit of new paintings by kehinde wiley which opened earlier this month at new york’s
deith projects. a wide selection of wiley’s large-scale works will be on show including four new works
each referencing images of fallen warriors, saints, and classical mythology. using source imagery
from classical paintings, wiley contemporizes them with elements of other painting styles including
graffiti. wiley also examines the notion of ‘the master painter’, while also casting young black males
in the role of the subject.

http://www.deitch.com
http://www.kehindewiley.com

all photography by max yawney


‘morpheus’, 2008 (source imagery: jean-antoine houdon)


‘christian martyr tarcisius’, 2008 (source imagery: auguste falguiere)


‘the virgin martyr st. cecilia’, 2008(source imagery: stefano maderno)


‘femme piquee par un serpent’, 2008 (source imagery: auguste clesinger)


‘lamentation over the dead christ’, 2008 (source imagery: mantegna)


‘a dead soldier’, 2008 (source imagery: velasquez)


‘down’ by kehinde wiley, installation view at deitch projects

Fort Knox by Sietze Kalkwijk

11/17/2008, 11:29 | MoCo Loco

fort_knox_sietze_kalkwijk.jpg
Fort Knox is a single bottle wine rack in gold by Sietze Kalkwijk. The five-kilo rack is simple and stately rather than relying on ornamentation to signal its decadence. Each one is numbered by hand.

+ kalkwijk.com

Cru by Sebastian Bergne

11/18/2008, 07:03 | MoCo Loco

sebastian_bergne_cru.jpg
New work by Sebastian Bergne that centres around wine will be featured in an exhibition called CRU, opening at the Aram Gallery in London on November 28 and running through January 10. Wine brings people together and the concepts presented in this show further enhance the social experience. Corked is a series of decanting and serving vessels that combine the traditional glass and cork in new formats like the Trousers glass after the jump. Geo Cork is a multi-pronged pin that serves as a connector for corks and works both as a plaything and a measure of consumption. Among the pieces on display, there is a Vintage Dip line of t-shirts, a case that can be used as a rack, a wine diary for samples and the conical Marcel wine rack above.

+ thearamgallery.org
+ sebastianbergne.com

Weekly Summary: CW 25

00/00/0000, 00:00 | :: Vol. 2: the design management weblog | by ralf beuker :

Flickr CollagePart of the characteristics of blogs is their sequential format. This implies that postings usually appear in a chronological order. While this is in general nothing to worry about from time to time however you’d wish to point people to ‘older’ blog posts as well.

However old is relative and if you’ve done several postings per week your ‘Monday Musing’ is low down in the list and already far away from visitor’s attention. Therefore here’s my weekly (visual) Summary:

- My Take On Design Leadership

- Dear Blog: Happy 5th Anniversary

- DMI Remix Conference Ning

Design Research Conference 2008, IIT Institute of Design; Chicago [del.icio.us]

00/00/0000, 00:00 | :: Vol. 2: the design management weblog | by ralf beuker :
One of a few conferences I've never been to so far is the IIT Design Research Conference held each year in Chicago the home of IIT (Illinois Institute of Technology). Unlike many other conference organizers they are releasing the conference videos quite shortly after the conference has ended and that's what I've appreciated over the last years. While very often the selection of speakers tends to be the outcome of buddy networking there are from time to time some good talks available to be found in the archives. Pretty much the same counts for their other conference they are hosting each year the 'IIT Insitute of Design Strategy Conference' to be found here: http://snipurl.com/iitstrategy [trex_id_iit_edu]

“Flatshare” wins Electrolux Design Lab 2008

00/00/0000, 00:00 | Design Sojourn
I don’t really do this sort of thing often, but check out this worthy forehead slapping idea that really makes one say “why did I not think of that”? Stefan Buchberger, from the University of Applied Arts, Vienna, Austria, has been chosen winner of the Electrolux Design Lab 2008 competition for inventing Flatshare. Flatshare is a [...]

Rammed Earth is for Everyone!

00/00/0000, 00:00 | FUTURE HOUSE NOW
If you're into rammed earth building, don't miss this blog: Rammed Earth is for Everyone. You can't beat the enthusiasm of that name! The site highlights rammed earth projects all around the world, offers nice Youtube and Flickr finds, and has a great selection of links in its sidebar. It's proprietor is a rammed earth consultant who shares both interesting technical information as well as an intriguing and thought provoking world view. Definitely worth a look if you're an earth building enthusiast and/or you find yourself pondering the nature of man's impact on the Earth on a regular basis.

Via Earth Architecture (of course!).

Green Home 101: Talking Trash

00/00/0000, 00:00 | Inhabitat

green home 101, trash talk, waste management, recycling, reuse, plastic recycling, environment, efficiency, waste reduction, trash, landfill

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.

(more…)

3030 House - waiting for the steel erector

00/00/0000, 00:00 | LamiDesign Modern House Plan Blog
The next step for the 3030 EcoSteel House is to assemble the steel framework, but the owner is waiting in line right now. Plenty of other tasks to do in the meantime however. And us, we've had a request to see what the front of the house looks like, so a new image of the model is posted as well.



This illustration shows a different color scheme than the previous images.

On site they applied a void filling top coating to the foundation wall and ground it smooth. This creates a mottled patina on the concrete surface which looks pretty cool.



The rest of the crew is sanding reclaimed oak barn boards which will become the ceiling of the ground floor.



Tune into the 3030 House flickr group to see all of the photos forwarded by the owner.

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Clinton Murray - Gunyah Residence

00/00/0000, 00:00 | Modern Residential Design

Clinton Murray

Gunyah Residence


Solid as a rock - A challenging section on Gunyah beach in Bundeena, forced Clinton Murray to rethink the vernacular (perhaps simple) Australian beach side house and create a resilient coastal retreat. Built to last forever.


Overview
Huge boulders throughout the cliff side, would have made slapping a wooden prefab house on the top of the plot the easiest option. Choosing instead to hide the house well down the plot near the breaking shoreline, posed challenges, yet rewarded both the architect and owners with stunning results. It also appeased the planning officials and nearby residents.

"The linear site is divided midway by a massive rock face, defining two distinct levels. The natural, sheltered enclave at the base of the rock face is where we believed the building belonged."

Tucked into the hillside, the copper clad roof has set out to weather itself in the ocean green shade of the bay beyond, further minimising the impact of the building for neighbours above.

Combined with the weathered copper is the solid base of the house. The ground floor living structure, of textured off-form concrete made with horizontal board forms, gives the impression of weathered timber, which contrasts with the fresh browns of the Oregon sleeping quarters and gallery above.



Building on a series of staggered rock platforms, the logistics of site management for labour, plant & equipment was challenging. All materials had to be craned in or manhandled from the top of the site, or from the beach front below. The entry stairs and concrete bridges required innovative reinforcement and form work solutions to achieve both continuous spans and the appearance of thin concrete blades hovering above the site. These thin blades continue inside with kitchen bench tops and bathroom surfaces formed on site of ultra thin jet black concrete.

Layout
To reach the timber front door, you negotiate the rock face via timber steps that weave through the boulders. Crossing a bridge that leads to a discreet front door you push open an oversized panel to reveal the high stud gallery. Strategically orientated, the full height end window of the gallery frames a nearby palm. Everything is overscale, stretched vertically, to relate to the magnitude of the cliff face behind the building site. Here, the reused Oregon timber stands vertical, allowing the seams to disguise two door panels, behind which hide two of the three master bedrooms. Each with, en-suite, balconies and outstanding views across the bay.




Heading down the hillside, you arrive at the main living quarters, housed in that heavy masonry base of textured off-form concrete. As with the rest of the house, glass front windows bathe the room with light, yet here, in contrast, the kitchen area to the rear and cubbyhole rooms, are lined with dark black concrete floors and bench tops. The darkness providing refuge from the summer heat, and mimic the caves often found tucked into cliffs around the Australian coast.

Also taking notes from nature the orientation of each level shifts as you rise up the cliff face. Thus forming fronds like the nearby palms, and allowing the building to sit back, minimising it's visual impact from the shoreline.

Results
"The house sits with its toes touching the sea and with an exposed worn rock face at its back, both constant reminders of the power of wild storms blowing in from the north-east. And should the big seas come, this house is a safe haven, no question about it."

Slideshow


Architect Clinton Murray
Project team Polly Harbison (Project Architect), Tanja Klocker, Jeff Umansky
Project Gunyah Beach House
Location Bundeena, New South Wales
Google Location
Builder Bellavarde Constructions
Structural Engineer O’Hearn Consulting
Landscape Architect 360 degrees
Photographer Simon Kenny

Plans


via: Many thanks to Clinton Murray




Egonomics and the 'Recognition Economy' | Conference Documentation [del.icio.us]

00/00/0000, 00:00 | :: Vol. 2: the design management weblog | by ralf beuker :
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."

tokyo design week 08: 'cellular automation' by ross lovegrove

00/00/0000, 00:00 | designboom weblog, design related news, reviews and previews

'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

It is Design Sojourn’s 3rd Birthday!

00/00/0000, 00:00 | Design Sojourn
Image: Happy 3rd Birthday by Laura-Beth Wow I almost missed it yet again! Yesterday, November 09, was Design Sojourn’s 3rd birthday. It has been 3 great years of blogging and to mark this event it I have been thinking about what I should do to celebrate it with you dear reader. Oh before I [...]

Wallpaper that Looks like a Stone Wall

00/00/0000, 00:00 | Freshome

Personally I know that I would like to have in my apartment a wall that looks like a stone wall, but how this is not possible you can still have this idea by using a wallpaper that looks like a stone wall. For those of you who like this idea, and are already thinking on how their apartment will look with this stone wallpaper you can buy the stone wall from Target.

a

Wallpaper that Looks like a Stone Wall

360 Winnett: It Looks Flat, But It's Not

11/17/2008, 09:24 | MoCo Loco

winnett3_nov17.jpg
We've obviously shied away from a traditionally pitched roof, however one common misconception about the house is that the roof is flat. While it definitely appears that way from the ground, it actually slopes away from the structure at around 2 degrees. We've had quite a lot of rain over the last few days, but other than a little frost (and the snow that was falling from the sky) it was essentially bone dry up there.

+ 360winnett.com

a chair for the times

11/07/2008, 11:05 | Influxinsights
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.

Emobdy Chair from Herman Miller

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




Posted by Ed Cotton

A coherent account of the Financial Crisis

00/00/0000, 00:00 | LamiDesign Modern House Plan Blog
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.

Tom Kundig's Sublime House - "The Brain"

00/00/0000, 00:00 | FUTURE HOUSE NOW
On Saturday I was hanging around the architecture section of my local Barnes & Noble, looking for something new. I found a nice book on houses by Tom Kundig of Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen Architects. I also just caught this post on Shedworking covering several of the firm's brilliant cabin-like houses.


I resisted buying the book, though I'd really like to have it. It's very nice and Kundig's work is amazing. The house on the cover, Chicken Point Cabin, has been shown everywhere, and for good reason. It's pretty spectacular, and that giant, tilting window and the unusual mechanical folly for opening it are sublime.


Visiting the OSKA site, I found that the house I liked most wasn't one of the groovy cabins I'd spotted in a lot of the blogs and architecture mags. I was taken by the "The Brain," a fascinating concrete monolith built for a filmmaker.



"The form is essentially a cast-in-place concrete box, intended to be a strong yet neutral background that provides complete flexibility to adapt the space at will." - OSKA site

That's wonderful. I love the way the house rests on its site, half hidden, with creeping vines growing all over it. I hate big ugly garages hanging off the side of a house, parasitic, distorting proportions, so I was delighted to see this house with the garages tucked neatly underneath, buried into the slope of the landscape. No yard either - excellent!



The austere concrete exterior belies a more playful space inside: wonderful bookshelves (just look at 'em!), interesting lighting, a fireman's pole, and an amusing custom staircase.




Yes, this is a house I can see myself living in. The only exception I take with it, and with most Kundig houses frankly, is that they all look like bachelor pads. I'm married with children. But I think the wife and kids could adapt. Who wouldn't want to live in a house with a fireman's pole?

_____________________________________________________
Addendum:

I should have pointed out this very good Seattle Times article about "The Brain." I've realized since writing this post that "The Brain" is a garage/studio, not intended to be a residence. Thanks to those who left comments pointing that out. It is also worth noting that Kundig received an AIA award for "The Brain" in 2004.

Oh well, even though it's not technically a house I'm still very inspired by it!

Image credits - Amazon listing (book), OSKA Architects site

Mass. EcoSteel Plat House - steel rising

00/00/0000, 00:00 | LamiDesign Modern House Plan Blog
The assembly of the frame has begun in earnest at the Massachusetts EcoSteel Plat House.



More photos of the frame going up after the fold.



With good access all around the house the work can be done with the all terrain fork lift, saving the expense of a crane.


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Tulou Chinese Architecture

00/00/0000, 00:00 | Green Home Building and Sustainable Architecture
I received an email from Professor Sunny Cai, who teaches architectural design at a college in Beijing , China. He mentioned his interest in ancient Chinese architecture, especially the earthen buildings called “tulou,” and he sent me some pictures of these rammed earth buildings.

I had never seen anything quite like them, so I queried him further about how they were made and used. He replied, “The foundation was built with rocks, 2 feet high all around. The juice of glutinous rice and some lime is mixed into the earth for strength, and then sliced bamboo, reeds, and sometimes pieces of wood are also used.”

This picture was taken in front of a rammed earth building with Sunny Cai and his students.

I did some further internet research and found out more about these interesting structures. Tulou are traditional communal residences in the Fujian province of Southern China, often of a circular configuration surrounding a central shrine. Some of these vernacular structures were constructed of cut granite or had substantial walls of fired brick. The end result is a well lit, well-ventilated, windproof, earthquake resistant building that is warm in winter and cool in summer.

There are more than 20,000 tulou in southern Fujian, and these were designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2008 as “exceptional examples of a building tradition and function exemplifying a particular type of communal living and defensive organization, and, in terms of their harmonious relationship with their environment".

Actually the Tulou were built by a minority called the Hakka, who were originally Han who fled south to escape war and famine during the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC). As they gradually moved they changed the local architecture by incorporating Han styles and that produced the tulou. Not only were the high walls built for defense but they were also the result of traditional Han architecture. Tulou were mostly built between the 12th to the 20th centuries. The oldest one was constructed over 1,200 years ago and is regarded as a “living fossil” of the construction style of central China.

There are three types of Tulou. The Wufeng has three halls and two side rooms and are said to be the result of a redesign of the Han courtyard. The oldest tulou are the rectangle ones, and the most emblematic ones are round. They are typically designed for defensive purposes and consist of one entrance and no windows at ground level. The biggest round one can have up to five stories with three interior rings. The largest houses cover over 40,000 m² and it is not unusual to find surviving houses of over 10,000 m². Most round tulous are three or four stories, with family kitchens and livestock on the ground floor. The next floor becomes a storage room for food and furniture (with no windows), and above that are the bedrooms.

These structures are exemplary of sustainable architecture in that they are built of local, natural materials with simple techniques. They have good thermal attributes, with the massive earthen walls to help buffer temperatures. They are obviously built to last, and house many of the necessities for life. And they embody a communal life style that conserves energy and resources; these represent a form of ancient co-housing.

Event: CScout at the PSFK Conference Asia

00/00/0000, 00:00 | CScout TrendBlog

It’s confirmed! CScout Japan will be taking part in the PSFK Conference Asia in Singapore on October 10th. We’ll be on a forum on “Asian Youth Trends” moderated by Ian Stewart of MTV along with other Asian trend professionals from around Asia, and trying our best to tie together what is indeed a highly variable geographic and cultural area.

Read an interview with CScout’s Michael Keferl in preparation for the conference: PSFK Conference Asia Speaker Michael Keferl

Also representing the Tokyo beat will be architect Mark Dytham of Klein-Dytham and PechaKucha fame, and Daryl Arnold of Profero.

If you’re in Singapore, or are able to come, contact us and we’ll meet up.

At Specialty Garage, Making Hybrids Even Greener [Clipping]

11/04/2008, 16:44 | Land+Living: Modern Lifestyle + Design
"The only woman-run, hybrid specialty garage has opened in the Bay Area, which has more Priuses ? 70,000 as of 2006 ? than most states... Ms. Coquillette, 30, an Ohio native, hopes to become a prophet of the all-electric future that some Californians dream of... But being a prophet is different from making a profit." Thanks, Lincoln. (via NY Times)

2 (or 3) Questions for Charlie Lazor

11/20/2008, 08:45 | MoCo Loco

charlie_lazor_flatpak.jpgCharlie 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_catskills1.jpg
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.

Building with Shipping Containers

00/00/0000, 00:00 | Green Home Building and Sustainable Architecture
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.

This finished house is virtually indistinguishable from conventional housing.

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.

Hus1 goes live - Design Prints available now.

00/00/0000, 00:00 | LamiDesign Modern House Plan Blog
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.

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nothing design group at experimentadesign amsterdam 2008

00/00/0000, 00:00 | designboom weblog, design related news, reviews and previews

a detail of one of the flying fish
image © designboom


just an update from experimentdesign amsterdam 2008. nothing design group, who just participated in
designboom's tokyo mart were also participants of the urban play exhibition which was part of experimentadesign.
the group of young korean designers, directed by koo jin-woog, presented 'fish in the sky' as their contribution
to the exhibition. along the IJ riverfront, transparent wind vanes in the shape of fish, were attached to flag poles
and soared above. the fish were meant to be a school of dutch herring, with the flag poles acting like
fishing rods, which have caught the fish swimming through the sky.


the fish are meant to be a representation of dutch herring
image © designboom


image © designboom


a member of nothing design group preparing one of the fish
image © droog design



fish flying high along the IJ riverfront in amsterdam
image © designboom


more
nothing design group: http://www.designnothing.com
droog design: http://www.droog.com
urban play: http://www.urbanplay.org
experimentadesign amsterdam: http://www.experimentadesign.nl

Dutch Design Week 2008 Wrap Up

11/19/2008, 09:08 | MoCo Loco

ddw_2008_bloomming.jpg
Dutch Design Week is a faint memory by now, but we had some images left to show you. Our thanks go out to Huibert van Muilwijk for his coverage. A few more designs that merit mention are the Bye-Bye Bulb by Studio Mango, Corona by Frans Schrofer and new work from by Krejci. Along with some examples of 3D rendering, there was also some Ikea hacking by Platform 21. There was furniture from Werner Neumann and Onze Studio and the handy Toss game table by Luc van Hoeckel and Teun Fleskens. Bloomming showed their rings, as well as the Clock Delay, so now we must be patient again for time to pass until next year's show.

+ dutchdesignweek.nl