Open source architecture

Design like you give a damn

A simple mission: “to generate design opportunities that will improve living standards for all” by providing an open-source platform through which ANYone can view, post, share, and adapt sustainable, humanitarian-based, scalable solutions. The idea that designs and all associated documents can and should be shared within the decidedly proprietary architectural industry is truly innovative, and could very well aid in the reshaping of the entire architectural profession into a more socially-focused and responsible vocation. Architecture for humanity; Cameron Sinclair on TED talks//aito

www.openarchitecturenetwork.org

www.cameronsinclair.com

Kinetic walking sculptures

Theo Jansen´s kinetic sculptures are alive!

“Theo Jansen has been creating wind-walking examples of artificial life since 1990. What was at first a rudimentary breed has slowly evolved into a generation of machines that are able to react to their environment: “over time, these skeletons have become increasingly better at surviving the elements such as storms and water and eventually I want to put these animals out in herds on the beaches, so they will live their own lives.” From >Inhabitat

These sculptural ‘animals’ are amazing; like a combination of DaVinci and David Cronenberg. Jansen has hit upon a form that resonates with a sense of the future/past as present; fairy tales, dinosaurs and mythical beasts.

from> (incli)NATION via east coast Architecture review

More on youtube: Theo Jansen

Electricity through my window

MIT opens new ‘window’ on solar energy

Cost effective devices expected on market soon

glass facades

Imagine windows that not only provide a clear view and illuminate rooms, but also use sunlight to efficiently help power the building they are part of. MIT engineers report a new approach to harnessing the sun’s energy that could allow just that.

The work, to be reported in the July 11 issue of Science, involves the creation of a novel “solar concentrator.” “Light is collected over a large area [like a window] and gathered, or concentrated, at the edges,” explains Marc A. Baldo, leader of the work and the Esther and Harold E. Edgerton Career Development Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering.

As a result, rather than covering a roof with expensive solar cells (the semiconductor devices that transform sunlight into electricity), the cells only need to be around the edges of a flat glass panel. In addition, the focused light increases the electrical power obtained from each solar cell “by a factor of over 40,” Baldo says.

Because the system is simple to manufacture, the team believes that it could be implemented within three years–even added onto existing solar-panel systems to increase their efficiency by 50 percent for minimal additional cost. That, in turn, would substantially reduce the cost of solar electricity.

…

LINK

> http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2008/solarcells-0710.html

WIRED SCIENCE: See-Through Solar Hack Could Double Panel Efficiency:

LINK> blog.wired.com

The Walkability map

City Walkability map

WalkScore is developing colour coded walkability maps for cities. This is a great tool when buying an apartment, for tourists choosing hotels and for city and traffic planning. The basic score for Helsinki centre walkability is 74 out of maximum score 100 (Helsinki walkability). Hopefully we will soon have a full colour coded walkability map of Helsinki, too! //aito

http://www.walkscore.com (Seattle)

What makes a neighborhood walkable?

Walkable communities tend to have the following characteristics:

• A center: Walkable neighborhoods have a discernable center, whether it’s a shopping district, a main street, or a public space.
• Density: The neighborhood is dense enough for local businesses to flourish and for public transportation to be cost effective.
• Mixed income, mixed use: Housing is provided for everyone who works in the neighborhood: young and old, singles and families, rich and poor. Businesses and residences are located near each other.
• Parks and public space: There are plenty of public places to gather and play.
• Accessibility: The neighborhood is accessible to everyone and has wheelchair access, plenty of benches with shade, sidewalks on all streets, etc.
• Well connected, speed controlled streets: Streets form a connected grid that improves traffic by providing many routes to any destination. Streets are narrow to control speed, and shaded by trees to protect pedestrians.
• Pedestrian-centric design: Buildings are placed close to the street to cater to foot traffic, with parking lots relegated to the back.
• Close schools and workplaces: Schools and workplaces are close enough that most residents can walk from their homes.

Your Walk Score is a number between 0 and 100. Here are general guidelines for interpreting your score:

• 90 - 100 = Walkers’ Paradise: Most errands can be accomplished on foot and many people get by without owning a car.
• 70 - 90 = Very Walkable: It’s possible to get by without owning a car.
• 50 - 70 = Some Walkable Locations: Some stores and amenities are within walking distance, but many everyday trips still require a bike, public transportation, or car.
• 25 - 50 = Not Walkable: Only a few destinations are within easy walking range. For most errands, driving or public transportation is a must.
• 0 - 25 = Driving Only: Virtually no neighborhood destinations within walking range. You can walk from your house to your car!

Energy from waste and the bottom of the sea

Vaasa Housing Exhibition runs on waste

The houses at the Housing Exhibition 2008 in Vaasa will be heated by energy from the old abandoned waste dump and by energy from the bottom of the sea.

-”We realized that the temperature of the sea bottom a few metres deep will remain at +8-9 degrees celsius even in the coldest winter. Up on land at the same depth the temperature is only +3-4 degrees. “, one of the two innovators of the idea tells. “Even the experts were surprised”.

The housing exhibition area has its own energy station that transforms and moves out the energy into the city´s energy network. The methane gas taken to use from the old waste dump in Suvilahti will last for twenty years, but the sea is a huge energy reservoir. “There is potential for the future”, Mauri Lieskoski says.//aito

Från den nedlagda sopstationen i Sunnanvik transporteras metangas till en nybyggd energianläggning. Enheten, utrustad med bränslecell och mikroturbiner, producerar el och värme som sedan körs ut i Vasa Elektriskas nät. Totalt får över 40 småhus och tre höghus sin el- och värmeenergi via mässans kraftverk.
Juvelen i kronan är det lågtemperaturnät som suger upp jordvärme från ett 40 meter tjockt sedimentlager på havsbottnen. Nästan åtta kilometer rör är begravda under vattenytan i Stadsfjärden.
– Nätet ska vara i bruk året runt. På somrarna används det till att kyla ner husen, säger Mauri Lieskoski på företaget Mateve.
Det var Vasaborna Lieskoski och Pertti Reinikainen som gjorde den sensationella upptäckten. Deras mätningar visade att medeltemperaturen i jordlagret är 8–9 grader på 3–4 meters djup – vintertid. Uppe på landbacken, i torr mark, är motsvarande temperatur 3–4 grader.
– Haven och insjöarna är stora solpaneler. Det handlar om enorma energikällor och värmeförråd, säger Lieskoski.
– Den största utmaningen består i att fördela värmen på ett jämnt sätt. Det fungerar bra på ett avgränsat område men vi vet inte hur långt man kan transportera havsvärmen. Det krävs mera forskning.
Fyndet överraskade energispecialisten Jarmo Kallio på Geologiska forskningscentralen.
– Bottensedimentet lagrar solvärme effektivt under sommaren. Tack vare vattenmassorna avkyls det inte ens under kalla perioder. Här finns stor potential.
Framtidens teknik
Bränslecellen har utvecklats av Wärtsilä. Kraftverket är det första i sitt slag som drivs med gas från en avstjälpningsplats. Mikroturbinerna och bränslecellen producerar en energimängd som motsvarar den årliga förbrukningen för 150 egnahem.
– Enheten tillverkar miljövänlig el- och värmeenergi med mycket hög verkningsgrad. Utsläppen ligger på en ultralåg nivå. Om några år kan man börja använda tekniken kommersiellt i hotell och butiker. Vi kommer till exempel att testa bränsleceller i fartygsmotorer, säger Juha Kytölä, vd på Wärtsilä Finland.
Sopstationen är ingen evig gasleverantör. Enligt Kytönen räcker metangasen i minst tjugo år, kanske längre.
– Fördelarna med decentraliserad energiproduktion är att kraftverken kan utnyttja lokala energikällor effektivare. Dessutom blir bränsletransporterna kortare.
Stort intresse
Enligt Henrik Vehkaoja är lågtemperaturnätet en relativt billig affär för husbyggarna.
– Investeringskostnaderna är höga, men driften är billig. Intresset har varit stort. Merparten av husen kommer att vara anslutna till nätet.
Anslutningsavgiften för ett egnahem är 1 500 euro plus moms. Energiförbrukningen mäts inte men hushållen betalar en bruksrättsavgift på 2,50 euro plus moms per uppvärmd kvadratmeter och år.
Satsningen i Vasa har väckt uppmärksamhet också utomlands. I den senaste upplagan av State of the World, som ges ut av Worldwatch-institutet, används Vasaprojektet som exempel på att det går att producera energi ur biogas från avstjälpningsplatsen.

– Projektet kan tjäna som föredöme för hela energisektorn. Det här är hållbar utveckling och ekologiskt boende, säger projektchef Keijo Ullakko.

(link) HBL continue>

(link) Pohjalainen

(link) Asuntomessut

The living housing block

La tour vivante - the vertical farm

Grow your own food!

Would you have ever thought it conceivable to grow vast amounts of produce in the heart of densely populated cities ?

The concept of eco-tower “Tour Vivante” aim is to associate agricultural hydroponic production, dwelling and activities in a single and vertical system.

A continuous agriculture, emancipated from seasons and climatic hazards (drought, flood, weather), which provides a production 5 to 6 time better than open fields cultures.

Tour Vivante allows a local production and to wipe out transportation needed for food supply and thus, the process of the very energy-consuming preservation.

The hydroponic agricultural production purifies the districts air by the provision of plants oxygen.
An efficient use of salvaged rainwater is transformed into drinking water by the evaporation/respiration of plants.
Tour Vivante generates a large amount of methane or electricity by the fermentation of food waste and vegetals.

Located at the top of the tower, two large windmill directed towards the dominant winds produce electricity facilitated by the height of the tower. The produced electric power is about 200 to 600 kWh per annum.

4 500 m of photovoltaic panels included into the facades generate electricity from solar energy.

This tower will have as well : Rainwater and Black water systems, Ecological or recycled materials and Thermal and hygrometrical regulation.

Vertical farming could revolutionize the way we produce food. This new model could replace, traditional farming methods. This is one idea where the sky is truly the limit.

www.livingtower.new.fr

atelier soA architectes

Generator.x 2.0

Generator.x 2.0: Beyond the Screen

Digital fabrication represents the next step in the digital revolution. After years of virtualization, with machines and atoms being replaced by bits and software, we are coming full circle. Digital technologies like rapid prototyping, laser cutting and CNC milling now produce atoms from bits, eliminating many of the limitations of industrial production processes.

Generator.x in collaboration with Club Transmediale and [DAM] presents Generator.x 2.0: Beyond the screen, a workshop and exhibition about digital fabrication and generative systems.

“Beyond the screen” investigates the creation of new physical forms and spaces through the combination of generative strategies and digital fabrication technologies.

Beyond the screen, an update from Berlin on the progress of Aperiodic Vertebrae workshop:

.

www.gereratorx.no

G.x 2.0 workblog

Generator.x on Flickr

Green roof cityscape

Cityscape of flowers

The answer to lost urban wildlife habitats could be found right above our heads thanks to Lindum Wildflower, a ready-made wildflower meadow perfect for ‘green roofs’, which is being developed and tested by Lindum in association with the Landscape Department at the University of Sheffield.

Lindum Wildflower contains a range of wildflower species growing in a biodegradable felt. Using patented Grassfelt technology, it is easy to install, as it can simply be rolled out onto a rooftop like a carpet. >continue

MAKSARUOHOMATON EDUT

- Lisätty vedenvarastointikyky 70-90 % sademäärästä varastoituu Tämä tarkoittaa minimaalista päivittäisveden kuormitusta, samoin vedenkulutusta, jotta maksaruohomaton kasvu saadaan parhaiten onnistumaan. - sitoo pölyä ja haitallisia aineita - äänieristyskyky, niin sisällä kuin ulkona - voidaan käyttää pienillä ja suurilla kattopinnoilla - parantaa ilmastoa kasvipeitekerroksensa avulla * ei lämmitä kattopintaa ja täten ei aiheuta heijastavaa sätelyä * hidas haihtumaan, johtuen vesikylläisyydestä, joka puolestaan vaikuttaa sisätilojen viilenemisenä kesäkautena - pidentää kattopeitteiden elinikää * vähentää lämpötilan muutoksia 80:stä jopa 25 asteeseen saakka * antaa UV-suojan kattopeittelille - varastoi lämpöä, vähentää sisätilojen viilenemistä talvikautena ja täten vähentää lämmityskustannuksia - luo elinolosuhteita eläimille ja kasveille - parantaa ekologista tasapainoa - vähentää kustannuksia * pienemmät lämmityskustannukset * alla olevan eristyksen elinikä pitenee - parantaa ekologista tasapainoa

www.turf.co.uk

Housing project

Low-Tech Green

Two young architects bring a down-to-earth brand of tropical Modernism to the balmy Mexican coast

By Paul Makovsky

Posted January 16, 2008

I don’t know about you, but I’ve been a bit frustrated with a lot of “green” architecture lately—you know, the kinds of buildings that focus on the checklist approach, substituting technical wizardry for simpler, time-honored principles. Enter a breath of fresh architectural air: 32-year-old architect Eduardo Cadaval, who shows up at our offices, portfolio in hand, to show us a recently completed house. His “opera prima” is a beautiful beach house on the Pacific Coast of ­southern Mexico that he and his partner and wife, Clara Solà-Morales, designed—a place where they can go when they aren’t practicing in Barcelona, where she’s from.
Growing up, Mexican-born Cadaval spent his summers in that same sleepy fishing village, Puerto Escondido, now a surfer’s paradise. When he returned as a grad student to work on his thesis about five years ago, he learned that the town was transforming a former trailer park into a residential area. “It’s on the best beach in town, so we bought the site for nothing,” he explains. “My brother, sister, and I paid $9,000—that’s 500 bucks a month for six months for each of us.”
Cadaval says the idea for the project was dictated largely by zoning rules and the need for a low-cost, low-maintenance house: min­imum resources meets maximum impact. Mosquito nets, for example, replace glass windows. The front facade is closed off (“You cannot open it to the south,” he says, “or you will be totally fried”), so visitors enter from the side. “Why have a front door in a summer­house?” The form of the building is two cantilevered blocks—a 16-foot cantilever is balanced on an 8-foot one—that sit atop a small base, forming a kind of Tetris T. Unlike neighboring homes, which are sited in the middle of their lots, the structure’s cantilevered spaces shift off-center to create unblocked views of the sea.
When choosing materials, Cadaval says, the de-signers discovered that good local stone was not available and the small circular ceramic tiles they wanted to use were too expensive, so they settled for a traditional local material: concrete. They brought in a carpenter from Mexico City who could build the wood-frame structure and pour the concrete. After the concrete work was finished, they recycled the formwork for different parts of the house: square tiles—cut like “pizza slices”—for outdoor walkways and longer pieces for fences. Even the excess rebar was used by local crafts­people for custom handrails and chairs. When new wood was specified, they used ayacahuite, an inexpensive, untreated, water-resistant tropical species perfect for the local climate. “I use this wood because the local contractor, who is now my friend, told me to use it,” he says. “All the local workers use it, not the rich guys.”
Cadaval is proud of the cross-ventilation, which eliminates the need for air-conditioning. Even the garden terraces are indigenous: the designers planted dry gardens of river stones with local perennials. “Some of the guys wanted to have a green garden, but we decided we wanted something totally natural with no water expenditure,” he says. “People tend to associate green with sustainable, but real sustainability may mean going the other way around.”

www.metropolismag.com

Living Labs in Helsinki

PRESS RELEASE 12 DECEMBER 2007 

Living Lab marketing brand

The Living Lab Innovations – Successful User Cases seminar
provided an understanding of living lab in the Helsinki
Metropolitan Area in the form of presentations and visits. The
seminar also announced the establishment of a European Network
of Living Labs office (ENoLL) in Helsinki.
The Living Lab Innovations – Successful User Cases seminar
attracted almost two hundred participants interested in living
labs to Helsinki on 28 November, 2007. Among them were players
from companies, public organizations and the European Network
of Living Labs (ENoLL) as well as representatives of Chinese
news agencies and the press.
The event also saw the launching of “Helsinki Living Lab”, an
alliance of the living labs in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area
(Helsinki, Espoo and Vantaa), which in the initial stages will
consist of six living labs in various areas of activity,
several science universities and polytechnics, companies and
firms of consultants.
Helsinki Living Lab is a network in which the players,
together with genuine users, develop products, services and
innovations in genuine urban environments and genuine usage
situations.

The aim is to generate better services and
products and to create new business. Helsinki Living Lab will
operate as an open umbrella and as a joint brand for all
living-lab players in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area, making
it possible for them to cooperate with each other.
Besides the living labs already operating in Arabianranta,
Pasila, Oulunkylä, and Otaniemi and one near Helsinki-Vantaa
Airport, the construction of the next stage of living labs, at
Suurpelto in Espoo and Kalasatama and Jätkäsaari in Helsinki,
is on the point of starting.

Aiming for global network

The Living Labs Innovations seminar also announced information
about a new European Network of Living Labs office to be
opened in Helsinki in January 2008. Forum Virium Helsinki, a
cluster developing digital services and content, will be in
charge of running the office.
The main coordination inside ENoLL will be carried out by its
Brussels office, which is managed by a Finn, Susanna Avéssta.
The operational side will be led by a management group
selected by Living Labs, with Veli-Pekka Niitamo from the
Center for Knowledge and Innovation Research
(CKIR) at the Helsinki School of Economics and Nokia acting as
chairman.
The Helsinki ENoLL office will coordinate the living lab
cooperation network inside the EU and outside, and it will be
responsible for the network’s communications. Ties with China
have already been opened and the aim is to create a global
network of living labs.
The European Network of Living Labs was established by
nineteen members in Helsinki in November 2006 during Finland’s
Presidency of the EU. The present country holding the
Presidency, Portugal, and its successor, Slovenia, have
assumed responsibility for developing the network, which has
already grown at breakneck pace: at this moment there are 51
living labs in 18 European countries.

Further information is available from: Forum Virium Helsinki

Jarmo Eskelinen, Director
Tel. + 358 50 593 3441
Greater Helsinki Promotion
Johanna Korhonen, Director, Communications
Tel. + 358 400 995699

Helsinki Living Lab

Helsinki Living Lab is a network in which the players,
together with genuine users, develop products, services and
innovations in genuine urban environments and genuine usage
situations. The aim is to generate better services and
products and to create new business.
The living labs in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area that are
involved in the initial stages are: Arabianranta, Forum Virium
Helsinki, Kustaankartano Centre for Elderly, m-cult, RFID Lab
Finland and Well Life Center. Helsinki Living Lab cooperation
is being made possible in the first stages by:

-the Center of Knowledge and Innovation Research (CKIR), Culminatum, DIMES ry/ LiTe Open, Greater Helsinki Promotion, HIIT/HUT, Laurea, Movense, Tekes (Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and
Innovation), the University of Art and Design Helsinki, VTT (Technical Research Centre of Finland) and the Cities of Helsinki, Espoo and Vantaa.

Further information is available at: www.helsinkilivinglab.fi

Forum Virium Helsinki

Forum Virium Helsinki promotes the development of digital
services. Forum Virium Helsinki is an independent bouncer of
ideas and creators, bringing together large and growing
companies, managing development projects and opening up
connections with international markets. Forum Virium Helsinki
is closely involved in creating real-life test environments in
the Helsinki Metropolitan Area and in planning Länsi-Pasila
and the Fortum Virium Centre, which will be built in that area
of Helsinki. The aim is to generate better services and
increasing business on the basis of strong expertise. The
companies that are providing the impetus for Forum Virium
Helsinki, which was established in 2005, are Destia, Digita,
Elisa, Nokia, TeliaSonera, TietoEnator, Veikkaus, WM-Data,
which is a LogicaCMG company, YIT Group and YLE (Finnish
Broadcasting Company). Co-partners are IBM, Itella, MTV Media,
SOK, Swelcom and Vaisala, and from public management the City
of Helsinki, Sitra (the Finnish Innovation Fund), Tekes and
VTT. SMEs are represented by Idean, ConnectedDay and
Fromdistance: A large number of growth companies operating in
the Helsinki area will also be taking part in development
projects.

Further information is available at: www.forumvirium.com

Greater Helsinki Promotion Ltd Oy

Greater Helsinki Promotion is company owned by the key cities
in the capital area and the Uusimaa Regional Council, whose
role is to use marketing means to increase international
awareness of the area and awaken the interest of companies,
highly skilled experts and investors in Helsinki.

Further information is available at:

www.helsinkibusinesshub.fi