Imagine what cart corals at the supermarket would look like if shopping carts didn’t nest together. Imagine what the entryway of the supermarket would look like if shopping baskets didn’t stack. This would be poor spatial planning on the designers part. Next, image what a parking lot could look like if our cars stacked? We all of the sudden will have a plethora of open space, hmmm why didn’t we think of this earlier?

The first innovative step towards stacking cars was the parking structure, where layers of cars could be stacked upon each other. The next innovative step is to actually stack cars up against each other to reduce the absurd amount of space we require for vehicular parking. The concept is a hybrid of car sharing systems, spatial planning, alternative fueling systems, and personal convenience.

Developed by MIT Media Lab students from the Concept Car Design Workshop sponsored by GM, the key behind this concept is the redesign of the wheel and axel. Rather than having a rigid axel, it will actually fold in a way that will allow the car to rotate upwards 90 degrees. In this, the long dimension of the vehicle is perpendicular to the ground while parked. Since each car has the same form and design, they perfectly nest together to reduce surface space consumption. The stackable car will be able to reduce required curbside parking space by about a third to a half. This allows for more sidewalk space, biking lanes, and comfortable city conditions.

Due to the small dimensions, the stacks of cars will be conveniently placed in locations all over the city- where you would normally come out of a building and hail a cab; you can jump in an electric city car and advance to your next desired location. The concept City Car system includes solar paneling on the rooftops of buildings adjacent to the stackable parking depositories. These panels will be the power supply to charge the electric cars while parked.

This car-sharing concept is a solution to the missing link between public transportation and the front door. Often people don’t use public transit due to the time necessary to switch from the subway to the bus to the next bus. Now people can commute into the city, get off the train, jump in a city car, and drive that extra three to ten miles to the office. This is a reasonable solution to a very prevalent problem. Instead of unnecessarily consuming a parking space while in the office all day long, you can use a city car in the morning and evening, while others use it all afternoon; and the convenience of hopping in a city car is what will make this work. In addition, since these cars aren’t personal vehicles and people will be in them on an average of five to thirty minutes, hopefully the new system will encourage people to share rides across town thus influencing our sense of community, status, and ownership.

For those of you who travel to foreign cities for conferences, get all fired up throughout the day listening to inspiring talks, and seeing innovative ideas in action, yet then dread the retreat to the seclusion of your double-bed hotel room, don’t fear: an alternative is here. Not only is renting a hotel a pain in the rear, but I frequently experience buyers remorse due to how excessive a whole room to myself feels, not to mention how unsustainable hotels really are. To top it off, hotels are lonely. When I travel alone for an event to meet people, I want to continue meeting them and enjoying their company all day long.

So, for those of us alike who prefer socializing, enjoying the company of others, and connecting with like-minded professionals nationwide, there is a creative and more sustainable hotel alternative for you called Airbed & Breakfast. Two independent designers in San Francisco recently had the idea to rent out extra space in their SOMA loft to provide an opportunity for conference attendees to connect with others off the premise. This October 17-20, a rather large conference is taking place in the bay area called the IDSA World Design Congress. The last time this conference was in the US was 20-something years ago. As a result, designers of all ages from all over the country will be traveling to the city to be a part of this important design weekend. With the theme of the conference being "Connecting," this opportunity is perfectly appropriate.

What these two gentleman realized was that they have a wealth of extra space, extra desks, plenty of kitchen space to cook everyone breakfast, and somehow a stockpile of airbeds. When you put these extra resources together, it makes for a great environment that many travelers could advantage of. This is "something new and different: classier than couchsurfing, and more personable than craigslist — it is an AirBed & Breakfast."

In addition to building a website to advertise the brilliance of this new way to connect people at the conference, the two founders, Joe Gebbia and Brian Chesky, both in their mid to late twenties, wanted to provide an opportunity for others to list their place in order to create a new network of socialization and entrepreneurship at conferences nationwide. On the site is a link tovacancies where prospective residents can browse through and choose their weekend home and office based on location, attributes, ambiance, and other details. The moment that Joe and Brian launched the site (just this past week), the word spread quickly. There are now four different spaces offered on the vacancies link, and one is already sold out.

The brilliance in this idea is not only attractive because it builds relationships and creates a more comfortable living alternative to hotels, but it is far more sustainable. Even the acclaimed "green hotels" are required to use far more resources to maintain a whole room for one individual than an existing home with an added bed. If you think about it, if one is already making coffee in the morning, why not make it for 10?

Designer Scott Amron has created a catalogue of conceptual products designed to persuade people to use less energy, or at least think about how many things are plugged into sockets in their homes. The experiment is called "Die Electric," named after the insulating properties of a dielectric material. A dielectric is a substance that is highly resistant to the flow of an electric current. The experiment is about powering down, and rethinking the function of electrical components for purposes other than jacking up the monthly electric bill.

The first set of experiments transforms messy power cords into functional household items: "Shelf" (image above) and "ToothHold." Depending on where the outlets are in your home (usually at a functional reaching level), you now can use this cord to have reachable necessities throughout the home. Whether you are reaching for a toothbrush or a book, your outlets are put to greater use. Thinking beyond common functionality, maybe you can even use this shelf as a seat…

The second set of experiments are nothing but aesthetic wall dressings. Their titles insinuate the additional meaning: "Grow Plug" and "Single Vase AC." These houseplant retrofits cover up tacky wall outlets while adding an element of fresh-cut or freshly-growing nature to the room.

The third, and my personal favorite, is simply titled "Off." This is a light switch hook designed so that the it only functions as a hanger when switched to the "off" position. The switch is still fully functional, but the added bonus encourages you to think about your actual lighting needs.

Designer and experimenter Scott Amron has performed and exhibited a large portfolio of functionality experiments incorporating basic principles of engineering and physics while challenging their common conceptions. One outstanding project among these is called "Brush and Rinse," which won a Best of Category award in this year’s I.D. Annual Design Review, a highly acclaimed annual design competition. Scott has a B.E. in Electrical Engineering, and is a declared freelance electrical engineer, designer, conceptual artist, inventor, and founding principal of Amron Exptl.

Check it out. His products don’t cost you your shiniest penny, and they will provide your houseguests with a challenging surprise.

More than 70% of outdoor space in the city of San Francisco is dedicated to vehicle parking. That leaves little space for public activity, public play, and public human parking. This very idea sparked an inspiration in a few young men in San Francisco who decided to intervene by paying the meter to create temporary public parks. Rebar group is what they call themselves and the event is called PARK(ing).

The first event took place on November 16, 2005, when these guys and their buddies rolled into town with a truck bed full of sod. They identified a parking spot in a part of downtown San Francisco that was lacking any sort of public outdoor human space, put some quarters in the meter (thus renting the downtown real estate), rolled out their sod, parked a bench, and enjoyed their afternoon in the park (until the 2 hour meter ran out). They invited all passing pedestrians to enjoy a little time in the sun with them, and take a rest. “By our calculations, we provided an additional 24,000 square-foot-minutes of public open space that Wednesday afternoon,” says Rebar member.

The critical issue the members of Rebar intend to approach goes beyond the excessive amount of city surface area dedicated to private vehicles. They desire to display the paucity of public outdoor urban human habitat by way of temporarily renting this private vehicular space.

It is nice to have trees in the city to clean our air and increase our exposure to nature amongst the manmade construct, but oftentimes these small plots of earth are fenced off. Why not include a place to enter and rest your feet right next to these trees?

In its third year, Rebar’s spactacular PARK(ing) event will take place in cities all over the world. Friday Sept. 21st will be a day that no one could miss while tromping around a participating city. The Trust for Public Land is heading up National PARK(ing) day in more than a dozen U.S. cities: NYC, LA, DC, Seattle, Portland, Chicago, St. Paul, Boston, Austin, Salt Lake City, Tampa, and Miami (for more info to get involved or add you city… click). Additionally, a slew of international cities are lined up to participate on this monumental day including: London, Paris, Barcelona, Valencia, Munich, Toronto, Melbourne, and others.

So in response to this information, ReBar, myself, and our community are calling on you — artists, activists, and citizens — to temporarily take over private city parking space and turn them into ephemeral public parks. Get in touch with your local coordinator, invent your perfect mini park, and build it on September 21 along with other enthusiast worldwide…and don’t forget to invite you friends!

It is that time of year to get on the bus and head back to school. Preparing for class and back-to-school activities is not our most sustainability-focused time or year. We want to buy new clothes, new supplies- a new look. This Fall, some students will be living in style out of an old container.

As some college students in Amsterdam move into their brand new housing, accommodations will be a hip combination of new and old. Rethinking the way we use things, Keetowonen, a student housing project in Amsterdam, is transforming shipping containers into 1000 units for college students. Each container block has one building services container that supplies the block with electricity and Internet. Atop the roof is a different container system that collects rainwater, while providing equal heat dispersal and insulation for the units below.

Our perception of a shipping container might not be of something very spacious since they’re usually packed full of non-perishable products from across the globe. Yet, when emptied and tidied up, they can be made into a quite accommodating space. Each 40 square-foot unit is equipped with all the amenities a college student might need- sink, shower, toilet, kitchen, a boiler for hot waster, electricity, heat, and even balconies. Some end units have windows on the side to allow more sunlight to penetrate their space. The box-in-box construction means that the floors, walls and ceilings don’t come in contact with the external structure of the container. Therefore, the interior space in insulated from thermal change and sound disruption.

Also on the campus, Tempohousing installed a café-restaurant, a supermarket, office building, laundry-mat, and a sporting area- all made out of shipping containers. So, for those of you who simply can’t resist now, here is the skinny on the cost and availability of the containers. The units are rented out by the De Key housing corporation. Additionally, in 2005 the Dutch ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment (VROM) presented Keetwonen with a formal notice that the units are eligible for housing subsidies. "The amount of subsidy tenants can claim depends on their personal (financial) circumstances." Belastingdienst is the provider of this subsidy contract

The first block of 60 units was completed by September 2005 and was rented out. The last was finished in April 2006. This past April 25th, the project received the Funda Award for "best executed innovation in construction."

"At the award ceremony the jury acknowledged Keetwonen to be ‘bright stars in an otherwise dimly lit market which is acting slow on innovation.’ In the report produced by the jurors fast construction and the fact that the Keetwonen habitats are ready for habitation on arrival were the main focus. The low construction cost was also mentioned as a big plus."

Also on GO:

Urban Options: Group 41 Offers Free Custom Container Architecture

A Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement under the Clean Water Act was written in 1972 to set a cap on the amount of crud that could be dumped into Lake Michigan annually. The law set a limit on how much pollution companies could legally dump into the lake. The law also prevented any company that was dumping under the limit from increasing their dumped pollution.

Well, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently made an exception to this law for the $3.8 billion expansion of British Petroleum’s (BP’s) Whiting, Indiana plant. In exchange, the expansion is said to provide 80 more permanent jobs and 2,000 temporary construction jobs. The trade-off for this socio-economical exchange is 35% more sludge (a total of 4,925 pounds), and 54% more ammonia (a total of 1,584 pounds) pumped into Lake Michigan daily. Even though this increase in pollution is still below the federal and state limits, it is the first decision in years that allows a company to dump more toxic waste into Lake Michigan.
For a company that considers themselves "Beyond Petroleum" by supporting alternative energy development and environmental protection, they certainly are not displaying much attention beyond their own petroleum processing?

This Whiting, Indiana plant (currently the nation’s 4th largest refinery) was originally built in 1889 by John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Co. We are happy that they are using the same facility, but due to the extra crude oil coming from Canada, BP can’t process the expanded volume in the same "small" plant. Therefore, the expansion became the obvious solution. The state excused this severe hike in pollution by saying the project will provide more jobs and security of oil suppliers to the Midwestern United States.

This is what the trade-off actually is: this "toxic sludge" is a cocktail of concentrated heavy metals and suspended solids that does not-so-nicely mix with our fresh-water swimming lakes. The ammonia becomes a problem when it provides a habitat for healthy algae bloom, thus killing the native fish, and altering the aquaculture of the fresh water.

Since the public announcement of the EPA permit grant in mid-June, people are also unhappy with the way these events rolled out. An environmental group, the Alliance for the Great Lakes, filed a petition asking Indiana’s Office of Environmental Adjudication to suspend the permit and reopen the appeal process due to inadequate public scrutiny. When the permit draft was made available for review, many organizations submitted comments on it. Yet, when the final permit was made available, these organizations were not informed on the proper date, nor were they informed of the appeal process. Now the Indiana Department of Environmental Management claims that the appeal process is closed because it is 15 days past the post date of the final permit. Over 70,000 people across the Great Lakes and the nation have signed this petition.

Additionally, Great Lakes supporters spread out over BP stations all over the Midwest region handing out flyers explaining the situation and requesting that customers fill up elsewhere. As this momentum builds, awareness speads, and hopefully BP will either change their ways or admit that they are beyond caring about the Great Lakes. We prefer the former to the later.

To sign the petition yourself go to:
Environment Michigan

Last week I wrote an article about the new private “green” labels that electronics companies are tacking on their more energy-efficient products. Some companies are using their own labeling systems; others are employing third-party certifications. After discussing the effect of said third party vs. internal labeling systems, we can begin to ask how deep the environmental awareness of the businesses goes, and how much information do they want us to know about their practices?

Since the green market has become so competitive, companies are beginning to consider additional steps towards total embodied sustainability in order to differentiate themselves and back up their claims. These services are rooted in the marketing and design of the businesses product or service. As a result, the services they employ (graphic designers and marketing firms) can make their product/service more sustainable. The hierarchy of sustainable practices involved in the process of taking a concept to product/service is important, and every consumer should be aware of this.

When a product is designed with sensitivity to its ecological impact, the way it is a marketed will certainly be affected. Hopefully this translates into the physical marketing propaganda as well. The Royal Mail UK, for example, is a certified carbon neutral direct mailing program helping companies to minimize the impact of door-to-door mailing. First, they evaluate the company’s current mailing practice based on certain material criteria such as recycled paper content, origin, inks, paper treatments, packing material, etc. Once the company has met the material standards, they help it select a target audience to reduce overmailing. The company is awarded a green mailing label, to make the consumer aware of the company’s choices and to help the consumer make their own choices. This service requires us to look at the impact of not only our marketing industry, but the practice of graphic design as well.

As a result, many graphic designers are beginning to market their service as sustainable graphic design to businesses that need to convey their personalized message to the public. This graphic design community generally defines these motivations as design for positive change. Since so much of graphic design is the sociology of an ad, they have the opportunity to instill social responsibility towards sustainability. For these designers, there are a slew of services that educate them on sustainable design in order to add depth and breadth to their service. This also promotes a more common understanding of current activity and responsibility within the design community.

The Canadian graphic design firm smashLab started out by seeking simple ways to make their practice more responsible. They ended up with a designer’s resource site to promote positive change through design. Designcanchange.org hosts a list of designer members, a blog spot, and a growing log of research. Through simplifying information yet constantly receiving more, they hope help designers define and communicate our environmental problems in as simple terms as possible.

The AIGA Center for Sustainable Design is a site loaded with case studies and reports that seek to educate the designer about different sustainable business practices, and to equip them with the information to make responsible design decisions. Another resource forum for graphic designers is Design By Nature- an Australian-based source that seeks to educate designers on how they can create change.

With all of these educational resources for designers, we hope that companies will respond by hiring those designers who are actively encouraged by these resources. The next topic is how to educate companies that these graphic designers are working hard to promote positive change and that they exist in the first place. In order to do this we might anticipate a sustainable graphics license such as that achieved by architects through the USGBC for a LEED practice license. Just something to think about…

For you business owners, here are a few links to sustainable graphic design firms and individuals:

Design Archy
Metropolitan Group
CS Design

Ever since the French monk Dom Perignon searched for the perfect closure for his new sparking wine in the early 16oos, the cork stopper has been a cultural staple that is synonymous with the celebration of opening a new bottle of wine. Since the new millennium, worldwide wine production has become a larger and more popular industry. New wine producing regions are moving towards alternative wine closures, therefore putting the entire cork industry at great risk. Can anyone remember why we started putting plastic, rubber, and foam “corks” into our wine bottles? I was always told one of two things: a more controlled (more synthetic) material allows for more stringent product, and that cork was scarce so we don’t want to destroy the cork forests. The former is a problem that has since been solved, and the later is hardly the case. Cork is a naturally sustainable material and therefore commercialization of it is easy on nature- not a single tree has to be cut down.

Cork, as we know it, comes from the outer cell layer of the bark on cork oak trees (Quercus Suber). The stopper layer is easily separated from the mother cells when the connecting layer (phelogen) becomes brittle. Once the bark (cork) is stripped off the tree in the late string and early summer, it renews itself naturally. An added bonus: each time cork is harvested, the tree stores more CO2 as a result of regenerating. It is reported that the tree stores 3-5 times more CO2 when harvested regularly.
The cork industry has found its home for centuries in the Mediterranean. Portugal has the world’s largest cork industry, yet it is an important forest crop to Italy, Spain, Algeria, France, Tunisia, and Morocco. The forests cover nearly 2.7 million hectares in total, and produce over 15 billion cork stoppers.

What’s the news? Due to “cork” alternatives, the cork industry is losing its intrigue as a cultural staple for wine bottle closures. The World Wide Fund reports that cork sales in the wine industry fell 20% between 2000 and 2005. Portugal has reported a severe drop in cork stoppers exported to Australia and the U.S. “New consumer trends and winemaking techniques, as well as more competitive markets, have led producers to look for more technical or cheaper closures – plastic ‘corks’ and metal screw tops”. Despite the optimal performance of cork as a stopper material- high elasticity, natural insulatinsulating qualities, light weight, and durability - the plastic and metal screw tops are becoming more accepted as standard wine closures to us consumers.

This increase in market share is leading to a decline in the global cork market, and thus degradation of cork oak forests that have (and could for years to come) provided one of the most diverse ecosystems and community-based industries of the region. They report that this could potentially lead to a loss of 60,000 jobs, and thus could severely harm the biodiversity of the forests.

Although the market demand for cork is slowly shifting to flooring and wall coverings, wine stoppers still account for about 70% of the industry profits. Whatever the reason might be, there is a reason that we still call a cork a cork, synthetic or woody. "We’re fighting back,” says Antonio Amorim, third generation owner of one of Portugals largest wine stopper producers. "We may have lost market share in some places but we are gaining in others.” "The shares, which shot up 79 percent in the past two years, are set to rise more as he wins back customers by virtually eliminating cork taint," said analyst Sonia Baldeira.

To help: do your best to find wine bottles that sustain the true cork community’s integrity and unscrew the cork.

To see more intensive case studies and future scenarios, view this pdf file.

For more information:

Amorim Corkfacts

WWF: Changing Markets

Amorim Cork

Images source: Amorim Corkfacts

Prefabrication and Modularity are new eco buzzwords on the menu this year. From homes to furniture, designers are beginning to employ new methods of construction and transportation to cut waste and energy consumption, ensure safety, and achieve greater overall methods of sustainability. When we hear the term “modular prefabricated homes,” we probably think of a little trailer down by the river. This is hardly the case with the modern rise of Steve Glenn’s LivingHomes. When you think of modular furniture, it doesn’t seem very sturdy, huh? But in fact, many of us have all used it- you buy a put-it-together-yourself desk, bring it home in a flat box, and construct it in the intended room. Just think about how many more desks can be shipped in one truckload in their deconstructed, flat form. Lots more! This cuts shipping costs, emissions, total embodied energy…

Prefab homes are constructed in a similar way, just on a larger scale. LivingHomes is a new cutting edge modern ecolicious house in Santa Monica, CA. The first model is Platinum LEED certified by the USGBC. Exquisitely designed by two renowned architects (Ray Kappe and David Hertz), LivingHomes has a portfolio of designs that their customers can choose from. The premise of the prefab/modular home is quite similar to that of a Rubik’s cube. In other words, as long it maintains a similar shape and structure, the rooms within a design can be shuffled around. The home is first constructed in a factory, then carted off to the construction site and put together in modules. The modules were completed in less than 6 months. On site construction of the first LivingHomes took under 12 hours.

Why choose prefab? Here is the skinny on the prefab eco accomplishments. Since the modules are constructed in a factory, a higher quality construction can be ensured than on site stick-built homes. The fasteners are accurately applied, materials are cut with more exactness, and since they have to withstand transport, everything is tighter and more secure. This extends the lifespan and cuts the upkeep. Modular prefabrication also saves significant amounts on their waste. While 30-40% of the material from a standard home construction site is carted off to the dump, modular homes generate only about 2% waste. That is a pretty large gap. Additionally, since the duration of construction is shorter, the cost is lower!

In terms of furniture, the complete cycle of Ecosystems Furniture resembles a quite responsible cradle to cradle method. The deconstructed components are intended to be flat and standard; therefore, the design can be sent to a computer and cut in masses at regional locations, packed flat, and shipped to more local distribution areas. The pieces are then purchased and assembled on site.

New trends on the horizon: Constructing a home in a warm climate is different from home construction in the variant climate of Michigan. Some are figuring out how to prefabricate well-insulated, secure, efficient, sustainable, and beautiful homes, even in the northern states. Challenging conventional construction techniques, a young architecture group called HueProjects in the greater Detroit area just completed a beautiful prefab home for five in the a Detroit Suburb. As the trend grows, progressive universities and community colleges are developing programs in prefabrication. Up north, prefab allows builders to construct homes year round, even in the blustery months of January and February. This concept improves efficiency and ability, meanwhile achieving all of the modular prefabrication benefits.