Featuring: Terreform ONE

Beyond “sustaining” the urban landscape to endure the lifestyles of future generations, ecological design envisions long-lasting urban waste-management techniques and, as the world’s population  climbs, long-lasting urban space-management techniques.

An average of 50 million people migrate to cities around the globe each year. As they do, more and more outside (rural) resources are being transported to cities while more and more waste is being transported out of cities to keep their populations comfortable. As global environmental and social pressures build under this unsustainable system (meaning, it won’t last – we’re drawing resources at a faster rate than they grow, and the waste is building up somewhere faster than it’s decomposing), new visions for urban consumption, waste, and space management are needed. To be clear, urbanism is not the problem we’re facing- the current design of urban spaces is. Built to serve the automobile, urban areas, as they exist today, promote the existence of an artificial boundary between the “city” and “nature” that have made it easy for urbanites to ignore their impressive impact on outside communities.

One way to meet future ecological challenges is through the design and development of self-sufficient communities- spaces that acknowledge their ecosystems and manage their own resources, eliminating the need to draw those of other spaces. Setting the boundaries of these communities will be important. Portland, Oregon, for example, Has been developing all urban planning within a greenbelt , or urban growth boundary, for years, in an effort to prevent American, suburban sprawl and it’s negative effects on rural ecosystems. Similarly, UK town planning adopted Metropolitan Green Belt policy around London in 1947, and has been in effect ever since. However, despite the environmental responsibility of sprawl prevention, these cities are still importing most of their resources from other communities. There is a necessity for ecological design to address both space and waste management to decrease urban-driven resource pressures on rural landscapes.

At their exciting studio in Brooklyn, New York City, Mitchell Joachim and his Terreform ONE [Open Network Ecology] design group, envision projects for the future of cities that both eliminate urban pressures on rural environments and promote innovative design processes. Urban-based mobility has been an important theme at Terreform ONE, where proposals for stackable “soft” cars, human-powered river gyms, bus blimps (pictured above), and the long awaited human jet pack have developed. The biotechnology constructed tree and meat architecture that Terreform ONE is researching  have also attracted a lot of attention. These innovative ideas have been shared at TED conferences (Joachim is now a TED fellow), the Colbert Report, The Economist’s Ideas Economy video Series, many many interested journalists, as well as with the NYU students whom Joachim teaches when he crosses the bridge to Manhattan.

It is Terreform ONE’s  radical re-imagining of the city as a ecological, biological, self-sufficient system, rather than focusing on an incorporation of carbon-curbing solar panels and other “green” technologies, that makes their work revolutionary innovative. The Planetary ONE Urbaneering Brooklyn 2110, City of the Future model presents a re-design initiative for NYC’s Brooklyn borough. The intensified version of Brooklyn supplies all vital needs for its population. Food, water, air, energy, waste, mobility, and shelter are radically restructured to support life in every form, making Urbaneering Brooklyn 2110 an exciting example of what future, self-sufficient communities could look like.

Using the existing street grid as a foundation for new networks, the Urbaneering Brooklyn project re-eingineers obsolete streets with radically robust and ecologically active pathways.  The construction of “ecologically active structure” is proposed with the use of natural grafting processes, supported with prefabricated CHC reusable scaffolds.

Teerform ONE’s ecological design combines biological and technological potential to produce smart models for developments that reach far beyond zero-carbon targets. As Joachim puts it, the term sustainability is “not evocative enough” . The ecological challenges that architects and city planners face today require solutions that not only work to curb environmental exploitation, but also add new, creative inventions that support more positive urban lifestyles.

Radical envisioning of the future of cities is what gave us technologies like the elevator, which Joachim sites as one of the most influential technologies for architecture and urban planning. The ecological design research being advanced in his Brooklyn office provides cities with technological potential to bring together computer science, structural engineering and biology for comprehensive resource, waste and space management that also-  importantly – enhances the urban experience.

We can see examples of this practise in the last two examples of ecological design i´ve featured. The first, The Arup designed Druk white lotus school, used both traditional materials and traditional building methods. This supported the local economy, the local culture and avoided harmful environmental effects by limiting the distanace (and carbon-footprint) of material transport. With another take on responsible material usage,  Morphosis’ FLOAT house design for New Orleans, acknowledged poverty pressures in affected flood zones all over the world, by (using local labor) assembling the house on-site from pre-fabricated components with all required wall anchors, electrical, mechanical and plumbing systems pre-installed. The affordable housing was designed as easy-to-transport, easy-to assemble sections so that the design may be reapplied throughout the 9th ward, as well as be adapted to the needs of flood zones worldwide.

However, perhaps the best examples of ecological design-driven use of responsible material are the creations of the dutch 2012Architecten who have set themselves apart in the design world with their dedication to a permanent process of waste renewal by “superuse”. This concept of “superuse” not only focuses on the re-use of materials, but also includes a shift in thinking about the fundamentals of designing and Planning. “Superuse” requires architects to abandon the instinct to create with exact measures and instead design with rough estimates and crude material descriptions to best adapt to reusable materials opportunity.

2012Architecten´s design of the the Duchi shoe shop in 2004 was constructed by 90% super-used waste materials.The shoe store displays its collection on the stacked windshields of old Audi 100s, a car model that is no longer in production. A recycled conveyor belt in the center of the store serves as a sort of treadmill for costumers to test out their potential shoe purchases. Even the hard wood floor has been created from salvaged waste-wood. Not only was material use improvised, but before construction, the only design plan set in stone was the form of the hard-wood chairs.

The store´s design evolved as it was built with available materials , taking an interesting circular shape due to the natural curves of the windshields.

But the project´s economic and social gains extend beyond the fact that materials and costs were saved. The decision to let reusable material availability lead design processes produced the one-of-a kind design that sets Duchi shoe shop apart from it´s competitors and attracts customers.

This example of ecological design demonstrates how responsibly focused creativity that sustainably integrates new developments into existing ones often double to increase property attraction. 2012Architecten launched a superuse website with Suite75 a few years ago. This website serves as an online meeting place for architects and designers to share their reuse of materials to create new subjects and highlights design projects like beer bottle tables, chairs made of abandoned radiators and bookshelves made from the reconfiguration of second-hand wood crates.

(images curtacy of  http://www.archined.nl/nieuws/shopping-on-the-trash-heap/)

We all know, It´s not enough to engineer a building´s electricity to run on solar panels if it´s not perpetually sunny out. For  temperate, seasonal climates, a variety of ¨green¨ design elements are usually used to lower energy consumption for ¨sustainable¨ building projects.

Beyond utilizing technologies like solar panels and wind turbines, ecological design processes embrace seasonal and environmental changes, planning and designing to meet them halfway. Projects have an evolving, informal structure, and take direction from nature herself. Rather than install bike racks to gain LEED points, ecologically designed architecture is structured, from the very core, to respond to change and challenges of the local environment in which it stands.

My last ecological design fundamentals post featured the Druk White Lotus School, set in the northern heights of ladakh, India. Arup engineers faced considerable climate challenges when designing the campus which, because of it’s 9,000-25,000 ft altitude, is very, very cold. However, because of its 9,ooo-25,000 ft altitude, it is also very, very sunny. The building´s design, which revolved around natural lighting and heating techniques for the local conditions, is another reason to consider the campus a prime example of ecological design.

Another, perhaps more high-profile, example of ecological design that holds an evolving, responsive structure, is Morphosis’ FLOAT house design for New Orleans. The building was developed in 2009 for Brad Pitt’s Lets Make it Right foundation, which hires architects to redesign and rebuild homes for Hurricane destroyed 9th ward. Thom Mayne, principle architect, stresses the importance of the building’s functionality. It has been designed to, in the case of a flood, float vertically on guide posts for up to 12 feet. The house is also equipped with rooftop solar panels, rainwater cisterns for water use, energy-efficient electrical systems and geothermal heating and cooling. 

The design is special in that, unlike other approaches to 9th ward re-designs that raise homes 10 feet in anticipation of more flooding, the FLOAT house is built at the same level as the traditional shot-gun houses of new Orleans, preserving the area’s cherished porch culture. The design is also notably affordable- with total building costs coming in at only 150,000.

We’ve seen Mayne’s architectural focus on functionality take the shape of LEED certified buildings before, however, this project goes one step further, as the structure is not only responsive to temperature changes. The FLOAT house also responds to the vernacular build and special culture of 9th ward inhabitants- and protects  thier homes from future environmental catastrophe.

What is ecological design? Human-nature Interaction.

Features  of ¨green¨and ¨sustainable¨architectural design often emerge as solar panels, green roofs and other technologies that make up the checklist for LEED certification. But to identify features of ecological design  is more complex.

Healthy ecosystems exist in a dynamic equilibrium of nutrient cycles and energy flows. To design ecologically is to consider the relationship between built structures and social structures as an evolving support system for environmentally responsible living. Ecological design does not only aim to produce low-impact architecture, but also works to support healthy relationships between culture and natural earth processes.

The word ecology is derived from the greek  word Oikos, meaning home. Although we may have drastically changed the structure of our habitats over the course of  our history, humans will always, fundamentally,  belong to a  larger, biotic family. Ecological design recognizes and reflects this truth in the form and function of built structures –  allowing, even pushing, building users to interact with external, natural elements.

Architecture that encourages  supportive, engaged interaction between building users and the natural cycles of the ¨exterior¨world exemplify the most basic of ecological design principles: acknowledgment that humans belong to and are dependent on – to put it simply – nature.

Arup’s design for the Druk White Lotus school combines sustainably managed local materials and traditional construction techniques with leading-edge environmental design.  Solar strategy has played a particularly large role in how the campus was designed. A Trombe wall system in the residence buildings keeps users warm without relying on oil, gas, or electrical heating systems, acting as a special double layered  window-wall that provides warm air exchange within the building.  Flaps on the inner window/wall  are opened  to allow warm air from the solar-heated cavity to flood into the building. At night, the flaps are closed again, to keep the cool night temperature from entering.

This Trombe wall-window heating/cooling system is operated, manually, by the students themselves, teaching a valuable lesson about how the sun -  as a natural resource -  is just as efficient as earth harming oil-burning systems used in most 21st century building designs. There is a lot of understanding required by building users – they must be able to operate the building themselves in order to get hot water and heat. In a place where old traditions have been carefully preserved, the buildings introduce new traditions for adaptation to 21st century life. These traditions, taught alongside the Ladahki-western school curriculum should, through cultural understanding,  sustain themselves.

The holistic approach to designing the Druk White Lotus school is not only an example of sustainable building practises – Its focus on preserving both the culture and nature of the surrounding area make it a prime example of Ecological design.