Green ArchiTEXT

Design Thinking Made Visible Project: Reinventing Design

For those interested in the subjects of Integrative Thinking, Organizational Transformation, Reinvention of Design, Design 3.0, 4.0, Visual SenseMaking, Design Thinking....

Humantific has published the Design Thinking Made Visible Project as part of their virtual HTML book series. It provides a glimpse into Humantific’s ongoing Integrative Thinking Research Initiative underway for ten years and models how design thinking has already been reinvented to better serve as enabler of organizational and societal transformation. READ MORE >>

via thinkdesignchange.com

A New Shade of Green: Looking Back on 40 Years of Earth Day

By William Ruckelshaus

Fast forward to 2010. In so many ways, the problems of the 1970s seem almost quaint now—simpler problems of a simpler time. Our biggest challenge now is to make sure we don't succumb to our inevitable tendency to fight the last war. Or to put it more bluntly: Yesterday's solutions worked well on yesterday's problems, but the solutions we devised back in the 1970s aren't likely to make much of a dent in the environmental problems we face today.

Don't get me wrong: Considerable progress has been made thanks to those early laws. Air pollution, particularly of the kinds listed in the Clean Air Act of 1970, has been driven to much lower concentrations, and public health and the environment have benefited greatly. READ MORE >>

via online.wsj.com

Transformational Design: Portland's Twelve West

My latest article, on the new Twelve|West high-rise in Portland, for Cascadia's Trim Tab magazine:
Elegant, functional and sustainable, this new green high-rise is a catalyst for change in Portland’s West End.

“At 22 stories high and wrapped in its bright façade, the building literally gleams even under cloudy skies.

Portland’s plentiful rainfall feeds a green roof, supporting four wind turbines, interior spaces filled with light and fresh air. It is a place, too, that invites interaction, modern, alive, while respecting the history of surrounding streets and structures. And most important, this half-block development offers a clear statement about sustainability and place and people – the promise, a catalyst even, of urban transformation.”

Read all of "Twelve|West: New Beginnings For An Old Neighborhood".

Resurrecting - and Recycling - Austin's Performing Arts Center

SubTropolis, U.S.A.: The Climate Benefits of Going Underground

A large chunk of Kansas City’s real estate lies 100 feet below ground, and offers a creative solution to global warming.

By Steve Nadis

Each year, about a million people visit the Worlds of Fun and Oceans of Fun theme parks in Kansas City, Missouri, most of them unaware of an even stranger attraction lying about 100 feet below. Down there, in a place called SubTropolis, is a bustling enterprise zone where some 55 businesses have set up shop. You can find everything from 100-pound sacks of coffee beans to original reels of Gone With the Wind and the U.S. Postal Service’s stash of hundreds of millions of commemorative stamps.

With 5 million square feet of leased warehouse, light-industry, and office space, and a network of more than two miles of rail lines and six miles of roads, SubTropolis is the world’s largest underground business complex—and one of eight or so in the area. To people along this stretch of the Missouri River, however, subterranean development also represents an innovative local way to save energy and reduce greenhouse-gas emissions.

via www.theatlantic.com

TED: Catherine Mohr builds green

Minds in the Gutter: Transforming NYC's Stormwater System

By Kate Zidar

Stormwater in New York City is everybody’s and nobody’s problem. Rain falls everywhere: on public property, on private property, everywhere. But even with PlaNYC in the works and ambitious stormwater management initiatives inching closer to home via Chicago, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, New York has yet to make a dent in the approximately 27 billion gallons of stormwater-induced sewer overflow that contaminate our waterways every year.

In the summer of 2009, members of the North Brooklyn Compost Project, a volunteer-run compost pile in McCarren Park, Brooklyn sought permission to retrofit a section of vegetation on N. 12th Street to manage the stormwater from the road. Compost, in addition to literally bringing dead city soil back to life, can help absorb and detox polluted urban runoff. We had noticed a long grassy strip between the sidewalk and gutter where the old slate curb had already sunken to the level of the roadway. Here, water pooled into the vegetated area during rainstorms whereas an intact curb would have hurried the rain down to the storm drain on the corner.

This eureka moment led to a game of “What If?” What if we took out a section of the curb and brought the water into the vegetated area on purpose? What If we planted a rain garden there? What If all gutters around the city had similar depressions in them where soil and plants could thrive and drink up some of the extra rain? What if the air was cooler and cleaner? What if the sewers no longer overflowed when it rained?

via urbanomnibus.net

Creating A Living Building: Wash U's New Living Learning Center

What is the future of sustainable architecture? Washington University's Tyson Living Learning Center in Eureka, MO, achieves the Living Building Challenge--a set of green guidelines that measure a building based on its performance. The building's architect Dan Hellmuth, of Hellmuth & Bicknese Architects in St. Louis, and Kevin Smith, associate director of Tyson Research Center, point out some of the Center's greenest features.

via www.sciencefriday.com

Mithun: Sustainable Responses to Disaster Recovery Efforts

By Mark Shapiro, AIA

As we have seen with the recent earthquakes in Haiti and Chile, the initial disaster recovery response must address immediate needs for access to medical services, food, water, transportation and shelter. Once these have been met the question of long-term recovery and development needs to be considered. Regions and communities that are economically weakened or in decline are always harder hit, making the need to rebuild in a whole new way imperative. In such cases, merely reconstructing the status quo would not be sufficient to assure the long term viability and vitality of the community. What can be imagined is a response that not only rebuilds structures but provides a platform for future stability and economic growth for the citizens, and which fosters a sense of community.

via mithun.com

Old Homes in a Sustainable World: Taking the Long View on Renewable Energy

By Patrice Frey

A Short Series Exploring Tough Questions about Old Houses and Energy Efficiency

...as alluring as renewable energy may be, the fact remains it makes very little sense to slap solar panels or a wind turbine on a home or building that has not been first retrofitted for improved energy performance. That’s basically like cranking up your super-efficient heating system and keeping all the windows open in the dead of winter – you’re missing out on the real emissions reductions. But assuming reasonable steps have been taken to improve efficiencies, renewables can – and will increasingly– make a lot of sense.

Financially, renewable energy sources may not pencil out often now, but as energy prices go up and manufacturing efficiencies improve, they are likely to be more attractive to homeowners. I suspect we’re in for more conflicts between home and building owners who want to install renewables in visible locations and preservation commissions who believe this is inconsistent with preservation standards. As I see it, the integration of renewables into historic homes and neighborhoods is one of the most crucial issues within the sustainability and preservation arena. It is a test of our abilities to embrace the need for buildings and communities to evolve over time to meet current needs and align with modern-day values.

The reality is, renewables will be an essential part of our future. And we need to get used to it. Outside this country, the European Union has set the target of getting 20% of their energy from renewable resources by 2020. Even China, no bastion of environmental responsibility, has set their sights on 15% renewables by 2020. In the U.S., the Waxman-Markey Climate Bill, which passed the House early last summer, set U.S. targets of 20% renewable energy production by 2020 (though the Senate never passed their version of a climate bill and the fate of future climate legislation is uncertain in this Congress.) It’s worth noting, however, that some states have already set their own targets in the absence of federal action. California is among the most aggressive with the goal of getting 33% of its energy from renewable sources by 2020.

via blogs.nationaltrust.org