The Structural Potential of Blobs

(All images courtesy of arcspace.com)

With a father who worked in the early days of plastic packaging materials for Container Corp. of America, architect Greg Lynn grew up as he says, “surrounded by plastics”, and often exclaims about how plastic-centric modern culture has become.  He is credited with coining the term ‘blob architecture‘, and is well known for his implementation of high end CAD software in the development of biomorphic architectural structures, as well as the notion that Calculus is an effective means by which to achieve complex abstraction and expression in the form of architecture.  All of these principles are evident in his Blobwall Pavilion, an organic modular structure consisting of colorful recyclable plastic blow-molded modules (or “bricks”, as Lynn calls them), on view at the SCI-Arc Gallery in Los Angeles, through July 13, 2008.  In collaboration with well-known architectural material innovator, Panelite, and CNC fabricator, Machineous, Lynn developed the modular bricks to be used in quickly constructed freestanding indoor/outdoor structures, which could be adapted depending on need.

Aside from its dramatic visual impact the Blobwall presents a new way to think about modular construction, taking a step away from the standard masonry-based brick, and offering an organic alternative to allow for practically endless structural form. By using lightweight recyclable plastic modules, Lynn has shown that the standards of geometric shape and form no longer need to be adhered to by the practitioners of modular architecture.  It wouldn’t be surprising if he is currently considering numerous variations to the current brick, as well as the myriad applications for which they could be used, such as bus stops, temporary shelter and housing, etc.  But no matter what Lynn’s Blobwall may evolve into, it will surely maintain its dual nature of playful yet practical, as he emphasizes that “It is both product, like a child’s toy, and building.”

Some helpful links:

Greg Lynn FORM Blobwall

Blobwall Pavilion Blog

Panelite

Machineous

Studio Greg Lynn on YouTube

Southern California Institute of Architecture

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As Goes Oil, So Goes Plastic

With daily headlines proclaiming the dramatic rise in oil prices and the inevitability of “Peak Oil”, consumers are being forced to dramatically alter their driving (and flying) habits, and if a recessionary economy takes hold, manufacturers may have to scale back oil-dependent production lines.  Although such trends may actually lead to a decrease in oil prices down the road, there is no consensus among economists and oil industry experts that that would happen.  In the meantime, apart from a more costly commute, the effects of oil’s rise are visible in gradually rising prices for goods, as manufacturers seek alternatives to petroleum-based sources for plastic, and alternative fuels for their operations.  For example, Goodyear has made a move to natural rubber as an alternative to oil-based synthetics for their tires, but because of the rise in commodities such as natural rubber, have had to raise prices by 15%.  This is just one example of many, which spell out the financial pressures that many manufacturers are facing, and how an across-the board rise in product prices (inflation) may be in the offing.

(Courtesy National Geographic Magazine)

An article in the April 2006 issue of National Geographic Magazine approaches this issue quite effectively, and includes some striking images, such as a two-page spread of a family’s lawn strewn with an array of everyday products made from petroleum-based plastics.  The actual print article is worth a look because the image above does not quite do the dramatic justice of spelling out how oil-dependent design and manufacturing have become.  With this dire discussion however, comes the potential that PLA and other natural (bio-based) raw materials may someday supersede petrol-based plastics, thus aiding the transition to the low-impact industrial economy we must create in order to make the world more sustainable in the long run.  Although this transition may not be altogether smooth, as companies frantically compete for natural and/or recycled material sources, the result will be a stronger and potentially more equitable economy based on less oil dependency, waste, and toxicity, and greater life-sustaining innovation.

Please visit the following links for more information:

New York Times article Oil Prices Raise Cost of Making Range of Goods
Excerpt from National Geographic Magazine’s The End of Cheap Oil
Association for the Study of Peak Oil & Gas
U.S. DOE Energy Information Administration
U.S. DOE Energy Information Administration’s Oil Market Basics
U.S. DOE Office of Petroleum Reserves

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Getting Closer to Downloadable Furniture

Design might not get any more practical or accessible than this.  The Swiss-based online furniture initiative known as Foldschool, allows one to download free plans of a foldable stool, chair, or rocker for the small set, and then construct the pieces at home, with self-sourced (i.e., recycled!) cardboard.  Led by architect/designer/bike messenger Nicola Enrico Stäubli, with some support from an IKEA foundation, the group clearly has sustainability as its primary tenet, as they proclaim “Mass culture is run by superficiality and ecological absurdity”,  and “The mindset of foldschool is to restore design to one of its original missions: to provide a product at an affordable price through a smart manufacturing process.” With this strong mission behind them, it’s no surprise that Foldschool has been getting so much attention within the green design and DIY world.

By streamlining their approach to the point that users can download and print design plans, and then construct usable furniture out of everyday cardboard, Stäubli and his team suggest what the future may have in store for contemporary design if viewed through a simpler lens.  To literally have all the tools at ones’ fingertips, means that we may someday have a more democratized manufacturing  process with less dependency on resource-sapping large-scale infrasctructure.  Some note that  widely available and affordable home-based CNC’s run by your PC, are not too far from reality, although if adopted, they too may raise their own set of questions.  Meanwhile, if you think you want to try your hand at one (or all) of their designs, go on over to Foldschool to download your plans today.  It will be interesting to see how this group evolves, and what products they may have in store for us in the future!

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Macel and Fiocel – Materials from corn leaves

Queretaro-based design studio VGM has developed an interesting set of biodegradable materials made from fibers of corn leaves: Macel and Fiocel.

Led by Principal Victor Martinez, this Mexican studio has a strong focus on experimentation and this project is a successful fruit of their process, which also strongly values sustainability.  

To find out more about their materials, products and work: http://www.vgmdesign.com/mater00.htm

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Why is it so Hard to Build a Small a House?

(Image courtesy of Tumbleweed Tiny House Company)

With the economy on the verge of a recession and the urgency to lessen environmental impact at an all-time high, it’s no wonder many people are turning to smaller homes. Marty Pieroni, a developer from Kuna, Idaho, has dealt with consumers that are seeking smaller spaces due to financial restrictions or just a need to simplify their lives. Although he signed a contract for 1,400 square foot houses with the City of Kuna, he recently requested to build 20 houses that were 1,250 square feet, 150 square feet less than his minimum. The City Council turned down the request, saying that they want to increase the value of housing in the area and attract buyers. Their fear is that Kuna would soon be known as a city with inexpensive starter homes that would deflate values of surrounding, established properties. However, Pieroni told them this wasn’t the case. He emphasized that with the help of sound material choices, a smaller house can appear aesthetically similar to a more traditional larger house, but with 695 square feet less space than the average house last year. And in using better quality and long-lasting materials, less maintenance would be required on the part of the owner, and ultimately environmental impact would decrease – even more so, with the integration of on-site solar, wind, and/or geothermal power.

What are the actual benefits of a smaller house, anyway? Quite simply, it is better for the environment and more economical at the same time, counter to the reflexive notion that all things green building-oriented are more expensive. Furthermore, a small house encourages simplified living, which results in less waste, less clutter, less use of electricity, and less water consumption. The less space that’s available for habitation, the less power is consumed for heating and cooling, therefore removing fewer overall resources from our ever depleting supply.

City of Kuna 
Small House Society
Tumbleweed Tiny House Company

Nicole Maccarone is an Ecolect Super Intern based in the East Coast office in Providence, RI.

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BMW Shows the Many Ways to Skin a Car

Must car bodies really consist of solid, heavy, and costly materials?  With the GINA (”Geometry in N Adaptations”) Light Visionary Model, BMW Group’s Chief of Design, Chris Bangle, clearly suggests that they don’t.  Essentially, the car body is comprised of a malleable high tech fabric stretched over a skeletal carbon fiber and metal frame, which adjusts itself according to driving speed, road conditions, performance requirements, etc.  For example, the headlights operate like eyelids, to close when not in use, the hood splits open down the middle like a purse, to reveal the engine, and the handle-less doors bend upward to seemingly open themselves.  Not to give too much away, but these operations must be seen to be believed! (YouTube video below)

It is noteworthy that someone as influential within the world of auto design as Chris Bangle, would suggest such a completely new approach to car manufacturing, especially considering its potential to reduce manufacturing, recycling and materials costs in the process.  Along with such promise, GINA presents a number of questions which must be addressed before it may become the industry standard: How the car frame will withstand compressive failure in a crash, if the fabric will stretch or tear at high speeds to create drag on the car, how the fabric will allow for temperature control in hot or cold weather, or reduce engine noise during driving, and if the fabric itself can be derived from non-petroleum sources.  Surely such questions must be under current consideration by BMW’s design team, and although it may not be in production anytime soon, the GINA still offers a new and dramatic approach to material utilization within car manufacturing.  If achieved sometime in the future, the result will be cars that are lighter, dramatically more fuel efficient, with greater economy of materials, and potentially shorter manufacturing times – among the factors mentioned by prominent environmental and clean tech leaders who insist that auto manufacturers must transform their methods in order to produce the low impact vehicles of the future.  And it’s easy to imagine how the approach that GINA illustrates could lead to unique applications within other realms of design, such as consumer products, furniture, and perhaps even architecture.

For further details please watch the YouTube video describing the innovative and dramatic nature of the concept (Transformers, anyone?!!?)

BMW

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How Bugs (Yes, Bugs) May Make High Priced Oil a Thing of the Past

Did you ever think that microscopic bugs could present an alternative to drilling for oil, and what that might mean for all sectors of the world economy, especially transportation, design and manufacturing?  To create that alternative, with the help of funding from venture capitalist Vinod Khosla, LS9, an industrial biotech firm in South San Francisco, CA, has been developing a line of patent-pending biofuels through the process of synthetic biology.  The process involves using genetically modified (and non pathogenic) strains of e. coli, which are essentially “fed” various kinds of “feedstock” (wheat straw, wood chips, etc), resulting in a fermentation process that yields a fuel virtually ready for a gas pump.  In that it doesn’t require a fuel-intensive distillation process, it is much more efficient than the process used to produce ethanol.  LS9 believes that they are about one month away from being able to use the fuel as traditional gasoline would be, such as in a car’s gasoline tank, or to power a manufacturing plant, and they plan to have a demonstration-scale plant open by 2010 and a commercial-scale plant open by 2011, which may incorporate Brazilian sugar cane for feedstock.

There is no doubt that the efforts of LS9 and other firms like it, represent a positive step in ending our dependence on traditionally sourced foreign (and domestic, think ANWR) oil, especially as oil prices remain so high.   However, like corn-based biomaterials, bio fuels also have their challenges, such as the emissions they create when burned, and that the scale of production required to meet even domestic fuel demand is so great – some say a plant the size of the City of Chicago!  But perhaps considering the way Silicon Valley works, and how many firms have become strongly devoted to alt fuel and clean tech initiatives, it may not be too long before an entrepreneur develops some sort of  emissions-free biofuel that can be produced at facilities tethered to municipal waste treatment plants.  Although that may be just a concept today, when achieved, it would help create a truly “sustainable” alternative to traditional petroleum, and thus decrease the overall environmental impact of the global economy.

Some great resources for further information:

LS9’s Renewable Petroleum™ Technology
Khosla Ventures
Clean Edge 

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OLPC’s Second Act Coming in 2009

Picture this: an elegant portable electronic device with dual touchscreens that can be transformed into virtual keyboards, a hinge to allow it to be used horizontally or vertically (like an electronic book), that is extremely energy efficient (running on just one Watt!).  Sounds cool, right?  Well, you’re looking at it.  It’s the XO-2, representing the next generation of Cambridge, MA-based One Laptop Per Child’s (OLPC) XO laptop for children in the developing world, with a proposed launch date of 2010.  Why did the organization decide to announce it so early?  According to founder Nicholas Negroponte, formerly of MIT’s Media Lab, it was to essentially stimulate the market, in the hope that it might actually be copied by other companies, so as to bring costs down, as well as widen the effort in general, to introduce the latest technologies to educational programs in developing countries throughout the world .

Following the introduction begun last year, of the XO into countries including Peru, Uruguay, Mongolia, Haiti, Rwanda, Mexico, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Ghana, Iraq, Afghanistan, and even the US and Canada, OLPC determined that it had to redesign the device and lower its price (to $75, if possible), in order to make it even more accessible for young children.  If the proposed enhancements indeed come to fruition, the XO-2 will certainly have a lot going for it, with the added benefit that it may aid the design and development of super efficient electronics for the developed world as well, especially in light of our ever strained electrical grid.  While you wait for this impressive device to hit the market, OLPC will reintroduce their laptop donation program later this Fall, in case you are interested in supporting their efforts.

For further information, please visit OLPC Wiki for updates and information on how the project is proceeding.

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