EcoBuild: One week until LDN

Well, I have had my confirmation email, assuring me my pass for EcoBuild 2011 is on it's way!

To those who are reading this and are not in the sustainable industry, I am not surprised if you are moving your cursor to exit this post now - but don't.

Everybody is in the sustainable industry. Do you eat? Do you heat your home? Do you travel by any means other than walking or cycling? I'm going to put all my money on your answer being yes.

Without sounding like a Green Peace volunteer that chases you down the street asking for phone numbers and email addresses - protecting and reviving the environment is something we should all concern ourselves with. People seem to think (or tell themselves to ease the guilt) that it won't affect them in their life time, so why bother. It's too much of an irritation to their daily life to consider recycling that sandwich carton, or not take the plastic carrier bag for their meal deal at lunch.

Well, without harping on - it will. I try never to use plastic bags, either just using that age old technique of carrying the one item you have purchased by hand, or using reusable jute bags. It's so easy to incorporate into your lives, and, if everyone was to do this also - would make a difference. I posted a video a few weeks ago about turning off computers - something that seems to trivial and tiny, but, on mass makes an astounding difference.

EcoBuild 2010

Well, why am I going on about saving the rain forests and being green? Aside from it being a personal interest - next week is EcoBuild in London - an annual conference in which thousands of people from various industries gather to educate and promote sustainable products. It's a fantastic opportunity for us young student designers to gain knowledge about products covering a vast array of topics, including contraction materials, surface finishes, techniques, and services that are all from a sustainable background - and the best part is, it's free to attend!

There are also various speeches given throughout the 3 day event (Tues 1st March - 3rd March 2011) including several familiar names - one household name this year being Kevin McCloud - although I personally am not a fan.

This will be the second time I myself will be attending, although hopefully this year without the mix up of passes there was during 2010's event - to which we waiting in a line longer than the average street.

I will post my findings after my visit - along with any other worth while things I encounter during my visit to London.

EcoOffice: Not A Home Afterall!

On Tuesday we presented our findings in our designated groups on our topic we were issued; we were given "green design".

After that, we were issued our briefs commencing from then until 1st April. Instead of what we assumed would be renovating a pre-existing site into an sustainable home, we have been given the similar task of designing a sustainable autonomous office in an existing industrial style building on Tannadice Street, Dundee.

Within this we must create: an entrance and reception, a waiting area, offices housing space for 24 employees, CEO office, 4 manager's offices, a cafeteria, toilets, 2 meeting rooms, a research lab for 4 employees, a library and "quiet space", storage facility and cleaning stores. 

We must concern ourselves with trying to maintain sustainability throughout. I intend to aim for LEED standards, and as autonomous as possible. Thankfully there is no budget to concern ourselves with!

I also intend to try to aim to increase employee eco awareness, and thus not only reduce the emissions of the building on it's own, but also the personal emissions of the employees. The office is hypothetically to be housed by SEPA, so aiming for 100% zero emissions of the building and employees is essential. I have created a few mind maps which I will add once I scan them.

Here is my preliminary research (A1):

On 1st of March EcoBuild will be held in London for three days, to which me and a few classmates will be attending, gaining invaluable knowledge in the eco building materials world. Unfortunately this means a lot of flyer collecting - which is not too environmentally friendly. Whoops!

EcoHouse: Go Green!

By not driving, and turning electrical items off properly rather than leaving them on standby, I have reduced my footprint below the UK average. It feels good! 

Currently we are researching in small groups, as a small mini project before beginning "EcoHouse". I took a short test to see my Carbon Footprint, which you can take on The Guardian's website.

We are in the middle of creating a presentation, trying to condense the term "green design" into a concise definition - something that sounds simple but is quite complex once you start digging into the terms sustainability, eco-friendly, zero emissions, and carbon neutral etc. 

I used my new app "MindNode" to clean up our mind maps, which if anything, show how exponential it can get. I hope to post our final definition on Monday, as presentations will be held on Tuesday. 

There is more to be added - we broke it down into the following: architecture, energy, interiors, product design, furniture, health and materials - which have been delegated amongst us to research further over the weekend. I will be looking at architecture and energy.

Reduce|Reuse|Recycle: New Year, New Project, Re[new]able Energy!

First of all, let me just wish everybody a Happy New Year and all that! 

The festivities are over once again, that is of course, until the inevitable giant magical revolving calendar door does a full circle bringing us into 2012 - along with the Olympic Games and the end of the world (if Nostradamus is anything to go by). But enough of the apocalyptic chat.

On a lighter note: I got a morph in my stocking! YAS!

After a much needed rest after first semester - I'm more than recharged for jumping back into the deep end with my forthcoming project: sustainability. There are a few aspects to this project, but from what I have gathered from last years briefs which are still available online, we are required to consider (but not solely limited to) the following: 

1. Investigate and question what the journey is surrounding books, including their content and presentation. What makes a book? Concern ourselves with the art of book binding, and the creation of precious texts and so forth. 
2. Sustainability within design. How does the environment influence design? What products have been designed specifically with the environment in mind? What must we be taking into consideration when designing for the future?
3. Locating possible job positions that we would like to consider as a graduate - what would we consider as a derivative position from the course content?

From the above background research, we are asked to then create a book with green content in small groups. As a result, we will have an upcycled handmade book - that is, to recycle and reuse existing products and waste materials into something of equal or better quality and therefore reduce the need to manufacture brand new products (to downcycle is to create new products that are inferior to the original)(McDonough & Braungart, 2002). 

Further to the aforementioned pre-project tasks, we are then to carry on our findings, progressing onto redesigning and upcycling an existing 2‐storey dwelling with attic extension incorporating living/working accommodation for a client, Emma Fraser, who is a book conservator in the University of Dundee. 

We must accommodate for our client’s requirements, including: a space to cook and eat, a space to bathe, a space to entertain and/or relax, 2 spaces to sleep one for Emma and one for visitors, a space to work (40m2)(24m2 studio – clean space, 10m2 dirty area and 6m2 storage), and a space for outdoor living/working.

art is what you can get away with, after all

I've already downloaded the plans and printed them, and even got on with some preliminary SketchUp ideas - I was after all feeling like I needed to stuck in with something new. I've also just ordered my Design Studies books, as the snow's melted, and deliveries are now possible again! Whoopie! 

I got several things this Christmas that will be joining me in the studio when we return; including a Morph in my stocking which will join me at my desk, as well as origami post-it notes! My favourite silly gift is still an Andy Warhol "inspiration box" that houses a miniature Andy Warhol to help inspire me when it's rainy and windy and not very pleasant - so that's daily really. 

It will soon be time to visit EcoBuild in London again (I've ordered my pass already), but this time I think it will be much more valuable - as our project is more concerned with these aspects of building. Sustainability is something we should always concern ourselves with, as it is our future. I'm gathering a library of ecological materials that I will research into further in time, but for now as it is still the holidays - they can continue to gather dust in my Eco bookmarks folder, while I continue to add more as and when I come across them.

See you all soon, folks!