How Cities Can be "Pop up Spaces"

The near-by forecast of the world’s population is expected to reach 8 billion people. Using the energy producing technology that is available today, we will be in the same mess ecologically and without enough clean energy as our Federal government has allowed our economy to become in recent days. (Just today, the Dow Jones dropped further than in recent history as the S & P's rating of the US economy dropped to a double AA status and after our President Obama finished his new "Obama Blaming" sequel to all the other blaming speeches that he has given to cover up on why US is in the mess its in while under his presidential command.)

Designing cities for the future growth of our population is not really a new subject, but with the magnified focus upon energy sources and consumption, there are some interesting proposals that could help us prepare for such a surge of energy need.

You will find this video interesting in several ways. Here are two things that intrigued me the most from this video:

1. The word crafting use of catch phrases such as:

• Tent pole density and people-focused places.
• From the dream home to the dream neighborhood.
• Crowd source navigation.
• Pop up Spaces.
• Furnace dumping makes homes cheaper to build… and…
• Pollinator pathways.

2. How similar these “new” city design ideas are to those from Frank Lloyd Wright’s “Broadacre City” (designed in 1932) see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadacre_City , and Paolo Soleri “Arcosanti” (started in 1956) see http://www.arcosanti.org/project/background/soleri/main.html .

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Bamboo Living Homes

This short video shows how efficient bamboo is as a building product.

Would you like to live in any of the homes in this video?

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Office Furniture Ideas

In case you were not able to attend the NeoCon convention this year, let me share with you some of the things that I saw there.

"Haworth" had an outstanding showroom filled with awesome furniture that can be used in offices and classrooms.

Knoll’s and Herman Miller’s showrooms were a good place to visit too. Some of the things that I saw in their showroom and in some of their “me too” competitors included:

• Ergonomically designed chairs. They had lines that were designed with various uses in mind. There were conference room chairs and desk chairs that looked enough alike but different enough to serve unique spacial needs.

• White boards were common too. Some showrooms showed entire walls finished with glossy white laminate surfaces that allowed the officer user to mark upon them with erasable color markers. Another variation of this was a special glossy white paint that can be applied to gypsum board walls that allow for erasable color markers to be used on them.

• Haworth has a good raised floor system that allows for almost any finished panel to be placed in tile like fashion. The finish of these panels could be terrazzo, VCT, stone, wood, or anything else you might want to step on. Raised floor systems allow the office to be wired and ducted below the walking surface. This allows the users to have easier access to the electrical, data, and HVAC systems in case these systems need to be altered during a future renovation of the office.

• There were several wall systems out there too. Every showroom had a slight variation of their design at the corners, base boards, and the way they butt the glass at joints. Some looked better than others. Haworth had one of the better designs.

• Of course, there were some gratuitous “green” designs. One showroom had polished river rocks in some kind of resin flooring system with log type benches and lime green upholstery. It was so “in your face” green that it just looked just manipulative towards anyone they hoped were overzealous about being environmentally conscience. I looked for photos of a particularly annoying showroom that had so much fake green stuff in it, it should have been in a Disney set, but I guess even that vendor was too embarrassed to broadcast photos to everyone.

There were a lot of other things that were there to see and I would be happy to talk with you further to even compare notes about what you might have seen there. Feel free to leave a comment below, email me at info@LaneArchitecture.net or call me at 212-594-2007 to catch up.



-Larry

P.S. Haworth flew me up there to join them at NeoCon and to see their factory in Michigan. Thank you, Haworth for giving me such the red carpet treatment.

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Ten Money Making Advantages of Sustainable Design

At the request of the Environment and Public Works Committee of the U.S. Senate, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) came up with 10 Advantages of Sustainable Design. Their publication was titled, “Making the Business Case for High Performance Buildings.” Here are the 10 things that they listed:

1. Higher up-front costs (if any) for high performance green buildings can be recovered.
2. Integrated design lowers ongoing operating costs.
3. Better buildings equate to higher employee productivity.
4. New technologies enhance occupant health and well-being.
5. Healthier buildings can reduce liability.
6. Tenants’ costs can be significantly reduced.
7. Property value will increase.
8. Many financial incentive programs are available.
9. Communities will notice a developer’s efforts.
10. Using best practices yields more predictable results.

There have been studies that indicate and measured an increased worker productivity of up to 26 percent in buildings with high indoor environmental quality. In fact, retail sales have been shown to increase by up to 40 percent when natural daylight is brought into the sales areas.

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Soaring with the NJ Nets

This is Brook Lopez of the NJ Nets next to me. He is at least a foot taller than I. Brook was the first round draft pick in 2008 and is the Center for the team. He soars at 7'-0" in height.

I asked Brook an experience architecture related question. He related to his own perceptions and past experiences. This is exactly what I discuss in my book, "The Designed Office." Check out the today's radio show (9-14-09) to hear his answer.

Also, during today's radio show, I will be sharing 10 fast money saving tips that you can implement right away to keep the green stuff in your pockets.

Oh, by the way, get dozen free stuff at www.MyDesignedOffice.com.

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Ten Energy Saving Tips for New York City Residents

1. Live in NYC. Dense, urban living is the most sustainable, resource and energy efficient, and environmentally responsible way to organize modern society. Hard to believe? Consider this: ever drive to work? live in a space with more than 1000 ft2 per person? It’s true that NYC buildings can be horribly energy inefficient (and there are a lot of low cost, easy things to do about it), but density by far makes up for it, so that on a per-capita basis, NYC is the most energy and resource efficient places in the country.

2. Understand your energy usage. Dig out those old utility bills and familiarize yourself with how much energy you use each month. Develop an understanding of which appliances use the most energy, which can easily be replaced with Energy Star-labeled models (www.energystar.gov), and which you can turn off when you’re not at home or not using it. (Our energy guinea pig spent a month unplugging his “Ghost Loads” — all the stuff that’s plugged in and use energy when turned “off” like your VCR, TV, stereo, etc. — and cut his monthly energy bill by 30%! His comment was: How many flashing clocks do I really need anyway?”)

3. Use non-toxic materials and products. Here’s a simple rule of thumb: If it’s poisonous, carcinogenic, triggers asthma, or wreaks havoc on your nervous system, you probably don’t want it in your building. And yet most of the products we use to build and maintain our buildings - including paints, cleaners, insulation, cabinetry, and carpets - are portable Superfund sites, making their way Trojan Horse-like, into our common and living spaces. Fortunately, keeping the toxins out is a relatively easy thing to do.

4. Use high quality, energy efficiency compact fluorescent lighting and Energy Star appliances. Just because it saves energy doesn’t mean fluoresecent lighting looks good. Know what to look for when shopping for fluorescent lighting. Check out chapter 9 of The Designed Office for more information about this. The same points brought up in this book applies to your home too.

5. Use materials and products with post-consumer recycled content. Search for products that state the percentage of post-consumer recycled content. Paper is a biggie. So are plastic and paper packaging (essentially, anything you can recycle should be made from recycled materials to keep the cycle going). And if you’re buying wood, tiles, countertops, carpet, or insulation there are options recycled and resource minimizing options for these as well.

6. Increase your comfort and reduce your energy consumption by controlling the the indoor temperature. If you have a radiator, and control the heat in your apartment by getting up and adjusting the valves all winter long, or even worse, opening the windows, then having just the right temperature is probably a rare event. The same goes for cooling with AC — turning it off and on is a pretty crude way to control temperature. Erratic temperature is not only uncomfortable, but it wastes lots of energy, especially if the radiator’s kicking out heat or the AC’s keeping things nice and cool when nobody’s home. You can control the temperature in your living space by installing low cost, easy to use, thermostats and automatic radiator controls, simultaneously saving energy and increasing comfort.

7. Switch to Green Power. Two utility companies now offer “green power,” — electricity made from in-state wind and small, low impact hydro (no dams) — for utility customers in New York City. That means that city residents now have a low-cost, no-hassle renewable energy option. It costs a few bucks more a month, but that money helps grow the local renewable energy industry. The two companies are 1st Rochdale Cooperative (http://www.1strochdalenyc.net/cleanerElectricity.html), and Consolodated Edison Solutions (a subsidiary of the namesake parent: http://www.conedsolutions.com/Residential/GreenPowerMain.htm.

Or, see the testimonial of a recent Green Power at http://greenhomenyc.org/post/102.

8. Reuse and Recycle. The City has restored full recycling and your building is required to provide the appropriate bins. If you don’t have bins, ask your super or call your building management company. And check every now and again that the separated recyclables aren’t being tossed in with the trash when it’s all taken out to the curb.

9. Support Community Gardens. New York needs more greenspace and vegetation. It filters the air and the noise, reduces the summer heat, and cleans the water.

10. Get your copy of the book, The Designed Office. Read chapters 4, 6, 7, 8, and 9 to learn some energy saving tips (many of them are LEED friendly) that you are probably overlooking. Click on the book icon to the right of this article to preview the contents.

All tips except number 10 is directly from an article that you can find at http://greenhomenyc.org/tips.

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March 2008 Newsletter is Available

The new March 2009 newsletter is out. Download your copy of the LAD Sketch Pad for March 2009 at the link that is along the right column of links.