This article reflects on a phenomenon I stumble across more and more. While for most companies the question of having a Chief Blogger is not 1st priority the fact to think about the impact of social media is very often neglected not only in the DM domain.

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.

• Explaining Innovation through Illustration: Google Chrome
  For more than a year the use of illustrations in order to ideate and visualize innovation both in products and services has been part of my Design Management seminars.

  While preparing for the international version of this seminar in Lucerne/CH in November this year together with my colleague Erik over from http://www.zilverinnovation.com I've been happily stumbling across Google's announcement to release a new G-branded browser built from scratch. However it wouldn't be Google if they would have chosen the ordinary road of explaining innovation with plain fact sheets. Instead they've chosen the format of a 'Comic' in order to illustrate the new approach and rich features of the web browser.

  Thanks to Scott McCloud I do now have a new (and better) example of great use of illustrations for business purposes.

  (tags: web design software scottmccloud google browser illustration innovation)

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.

Finally, someone is building Greg La Vardera's intriguing Porch House plan. I always pictured this house in my home state, Michigan, as a summer camp on a lake up north, but this one is being built in Texas! It sounds like a neat project, one with some nice green touches, and the possible addition of a Plat House down the road. Nice.



Via Materialicio.us (here and here).

Image credit - LamiDesign Modern House Plan Blog

We often see new home designs at Inhabitat that incorporate advanced technologies, reduce energy use and provide a healthy and safe living environment, but we really enjoy seeing home designs that have been vetted in competitions such as the Lifecycle Building Challenge. This annual competition, in its 2nd year and sponsored by well-known organizations such as the EPA, AIA, Building Reuse Association, Southface, and West Coast Green, is a challenge to design buildings with several points in mind: incorporate local building materials, consider the whole lifecycle of building materials, reduce the overall embodied energy and greenhouse gas emissions from materials, use innovative and creative strategies, and reduce environmental and economic costs. The 2008 winner of this contest for Best Residential Design was the Spoorhouse, by Benno van Noort of Van Noort Designs, LLC.

(more…)

marieke staps is dutch product designer who is the creator of the ‘soil lamp’. unlike most lights, staps’
uses free and environmentally friendly energy sourced from mud. the metabolism of biological life
produces enough electricity to burn the led light on the top. by adding a touch of water to the base of
the lamp, the natural life force in the dirt conducts electricity through copper and zinc, powering the
small bulb.

http://www.mariekestaps.nl

Custom Concrete fireplace installation by Solus Decor, photography provided by Solus

"Block" Concrete surround display at Solus Decor Studio on 3rd

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!

One of 13 entries to date... write wry & win a Ballistic Rose for your permanent collection here.

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.

• B_E_E | New Zealand | Branding Cleaning Products
  More and more I find that simple, clear & intenlligently designed concepts are the most convincing ones in our world of increasingly plurivalent and confusing messages: I'll make it all white!
  (tags: brands branding brandchannel typography design)

As the summer vacation period is starting soon I’d thought I celebrate and share the 5th anniversary of this blog a little bit earlier than scheduled with you. If you have a closer look at the ‘Full Archive’ section of this blog you will notice that e very first posting is dated 29. July 2003! Wow ;-)

After all in the very first posting (still written in small caption only; huhu fancy ;-) I’ll give credit to Lawrence Lee (back in 1997) who inspired me to do a regular publishing service on the web for the Design Management community as well.

However if I carefully remember how it all started I must admit that it has been more or less a technical coincidence that ‘Vol. 2: design-management.de‘ emerged: I’ve simply played around the other day with a piece of software called ‘Movable Type‘ and after a long night’s playing I succeeded to have this software installed on my hosted webserver. And most important: It worked ‘Hello World‘ :-)

From there the whole thing slowly developed into a tool for making my life as a teacher & lecturer for Design Management far easier. And still today many people ask me what to read or surf and ever since it simply takes a URL to point them to this blog and hopefully address their question in one or the other posting.

For sure the blog also emerged into a means to brand myself and raise my voice in the mist. What I’ve also learned however was that the often advertised ‘conversation‘ for most of us bloggers is a sort of ‘myth’ ;-( the blogosphere is not too different from the rest of the web and people on the web (as in real life) rather like to ‘lurk‘ than to ‘invest’ in a conversation. However please do not misunderstand this as a negative criticism, on the contrary: It’s not! It is simply helpful to keep this fact in mind in times of demotivation when you wish someone would clap on your shoulder and tell you how brilliant your postings are ;-) So yes, blogging also taught me to remain humble and appreciate & respect the fact that people are visiting this blog and spend their precious time on reading my musings.

So some of you might be interested in who else and how many are visiting this blog. Well that’s hard to measure for several reasons. While the web provider statistics report visitor numbers between 35.000 - 40.000 per month (personally I love that number ;-) Google Analytics reports some 100+ quality visitors per day on average (which is still fine for a niche topic I think). Visitors tend to come from across the globe and I think Tibet or Nepal belong to the very few countries that haven’t been logged yet ;-) The majority comes from the US as well as Western Europe, but this varies also depending on the country/institution where I’ve lectured last ;-) After all an interesting side note is the fact that more visitors come from Asia (China, India, and South Korea at the lead) as well as the Far East like Saudi Arabia for example!

So the fact that visitor numbers increased from 10/month in July 2003 to more than 10×10 per day is a good motivation to continue. However one of the key moments that made me think was at a DMI conference back in 2006. While sitting at lunch with a bunch of Design Management professionals both from academia and practice one commonly acknowledged ‘authority’ (at least by the grey hair community mostly in the academic domain) asked me: “Why do you waste your time writing for free on this blog?”. My spontaneous reply has been: “Do I also ask you: ‘Why do you waste your time writing Books?’” Needless to say that the quality of our relation ever since has decreased slightly ;-) After all I’ve learned to live with that.

Let me close this posting with a short anecdote that is linked to the picture above: For the recent inauguration in The Hague the panel members have been kindly offered the opportunity to display any book or paper they have written on a table in the reception hall. Since most of my writing on Design Management has taken place on the web (blog postings as well as guest comments on other blogs) and not on paper I’ve had a hard time to raise attention in the concert of publications on the table. Therefore my (graphic design) wife has been so kind to make a display for me that triggers visitor’s attention and points to this blog (have you noticed the ‘laurel wreath’ she has made ;-). While I can’t prove a correlation I can confirm that visitor numbers have increased slightly for the last couple of weeks ;-)

So, thanks for accompanying me over the last 5 years and I hope you hang out with me virtually or physically from time to time! Feel free to spread the information that there is a blog out there on Design Management and drop me a note whenever you like to: blog (at) design-management.de. Thanks!

October 15, is Blog Action Day 2008! This is where bloggers from around the world get together to talk about a common theme or topic. This year’s topic is about Poverty, and as Design Sojourn is a design blog, it will be about Poverty and Design. I’ve decided to do something different, rather than [...]