Tags: Artificial Intelligence, Green Architecture, South
America,
Mexico, Africa, Scandinavia, China, USA, Spain, India, Australia,
Indonesia, QRI technology, CQ: the communication code, Cooling, Fish,
Agrivoltaics
Max
Tegmark:
“Your synapses store all your knowledge and skills as roughly 100
terabytes’ worth of information, while your DNA stores merely about
a gigabyte, barely enough to store a single movie download.”
Hardy
Schloer:
“This integration of resources is the premise for the planetary
wisdom we so deeply need in order to transform the present global crisis
into an opportunity for further human development.”
Karen
Sands:
"My experience has
been that as I have gotten older, it seems I am getting more and more
invisible to the corporate leadership, while the aging men seem to get
more power and respect. As has long been the case, a man’s wrinkles
and gray hair are signs of distinction; in a woman, they often […]"
Lead Article:
Artificial
intelligence can support architects but lacks empathy and ethics by Farzam
Sepanta, PhD Candidate, Building Engineering, Carleton University
Farzam Sepanta
Artificial intelligence is changing how different disciplines
are practiced and taught, including architecture. (Shutterstock)Farzam
Sepanta, Carleton
University
Artificial intelligence (AI)
has revolutionized many different industries in recent years. It gained
a lot of attention and popularity with the
launch of ChatGPT, a tool capable of writing poems, solving
equations and producing articles on different topics.
With the fast-paced implementation
of AI
in different fields, will it take the place of architects
and architecture schools soon? To answer this question, we need to understand
the capabilities of AI and the role of architects and architecture schools.
Architectural education
While the topics and research
surrounding AI are rapidly evolving, AI lacks certain qualities and
characteristics that architects gain by completing architecture school.
At its core, architects learn how to use different skills to combine
technical knowledge, arts, esthetics, emotions and other attributes.
Architecture schools train
their students so that they can respond to certain design problems with
solutions based on their personal experiences, design styles and other
factors.
Architecture curricula still needs to incorporate traditional design
skills.(Shutterstock)
The same process exists when it comes
to AI. AI is trained on different
datasets to come up with solutions. In some cases, like ChatGPT,
it uses this dataset to generate new and innovative solutions.
In general, AI can make many
different processes, such as schematic design and renders, more efficient.
Architects can develop customized platforms based on their guiding principles,
visions, design styles and other values.
Therefore, architecture schools
should carefully study how AI can be integrated with their syllabi to
improve the learning process for architecture students.
Architecture schools should teach students how to use
AI technologies, but ensure that they still acquire needed skills.(Shutterstock)
Absence of true empathy
Beyond architecture schools,
understanding the importance of the shared values, heritage and cultural
qualities of a community, or even a person, is essential for architects
in coming up with design solutions.
While AI is capable of analyzing
such information, it cannot truly empathize with and understand these
different considerations.
Although AI can be provided
with decision-making capabilities, it cannot replace architects' roles
in ethical
decision-making process.
In addition, architecture
involves collaborations among different stakeholders, from clients to
interior designers, civil engineers and other experts. Although AI can
engage in dialogue, it lacks the ability to engage in dynamic interactions
and truly understand the intentions and experiences of different stakeholders.
Human indispensability
AI is still in its early stages
and may certainly improve significantly in the coming years. However,
at the moment, it seems unlikely to replace the indispensable role of
architecture schools and architects because it cannot fully grasp cultural
values and heritage.
Stephen Fry describing
our future with artificial intelligence and robots
by Wondere
Wereld
In a beautiful monologue
of 6 minutes Stephen Fry takes us all the way back to ancient Greek
Mythology (Prometheus, Pandora) and then via the world wide web towards
a future in which we (the new gods) give life to a new species. Robots
will enter our world, but will we give them, or deny them their "fire"?
Stephen
John Fry is an English actor, broadcaster, comedian,
director, audiobook narrator and writer. He first came to prominence
as one half of the comic double act Fry and Laurie, alongside Hugh Laurie,
with the two starring in A Bit of Fry & Laurie and Jeeves and Wooster.
- Wikipedia
Hardy Schloer talks about revolutionizing data processing with QRI technology
- enabling unbiased, evidence-based decision-making. Harish Shah talks
about the need for Human evolution in tandem with the technological
evolution that AI represents. He also calls for a moderate approach
to receiving technology, where not to expect too much from it while
also making the most of its true benefits. Mario de Vries is a legal
advisor with a specialization in intellectual property. He elaborates
on the impact of AI in copyright cases. Mario developed a system to
measure someone’s communication quotient. He is a strong promoter
of the missing factor in all current AI developments; being language
technology.
Moderator
Resources
10-step
program for a sick planet by Hardy F. Schloer, Owner,
Schloer Consulting Group – SCG, Advisory Board of the Club of
Amsterdam
Quantum
Relations Applied
QRI,
Self Governance, and Consensus in the age of the Intelligent Machines The technological roadmap to a sustainable,
peaceful and collaborative future
by Hardy
F. Schloer, Mihai Spariosu, Anwar Ul Haque
ISSN soon
available
Afterword
By most reliable accounts,
we are at a significant crossroads in our development as a species.
We stand on the brink of knowledge-transfer acceleration, which allows
us to realize the economies of scale of all we have learned throughout
our evolution. We have this knowledge in our possession in various
data forms, but this knowledge is like looking into the night's
dark sky and seeing billions of unconnected stars. If only we could
connect these stars, we would be able to reveal solutions to the myriad
of problems that confront our overstressed world. At the same time,
we do not seem to be on the best of paths toward achieving this connectivity
any time soon. Our future is riddled with considerable uncertainty
and conflict. We are dangerously polarized, not just nation to nation,
but across various spectrums, including demographic, political, geographic,
ideological, social, and religious fronts.
Furthermore, the velocity and effectiveness of contemporary communication
technologies and public media allow our local and global leaders little
time to catch their breath and carefully consider their actions. Momentous
decisions must be made almost instantaneously, in real-time, and in
extreme opacity, often resulting in unforeseen and devastating consequences
for humanity. This escalation in speed and volume of flawed political,
economic, and environmental decision-making has produced an avalanche
of global instability and random change, which has led, in turn, to
more turmoil and confusion at all levels and across all geographies.
Given this situation, we can continue with what most of us have been
thinking, feeling, and doing in the past few thousand years and foolishly
expect to obtain different outcomes. At this momentous crossroads
for humanity, however, it is high time to consider other ontoepistemic
paradigms and modes of thinking, feeling, and action that would yield
much better results. Our main argument has been that we need to turn
from a power-oriented to an irenic mindset and build human relationships,
institutions, and advanced technologies to support this radical turn
or inner revolution in human mentality.
Regarding the instruments needed to support this irenic turn, we have
proposed the Quantum Relations Principle and its technological applications,
such as the Quantum Relations Machine and the Global Intelligence
Unit. These two technologies, which mutually and continuously feed
and enhance each other, are at the core of the other QR-based applications
and render obsolete the current Google and Yahoo/Microsoft search
and transaction technologies obsolete. Indeed, when fully developed,
they will revolutionize the management of intelligent, interactive,
real-time information and content. In this regard, the significant
problems in Artificial Intelligence that we have addressed and solved
are:
- Big Data, yes, but
all the solutions currently available are still limiting the scope
of the data and the connected information space: we never know what
essential data or context we miss
- Subjective Problem Definition: a very subjective and filtered
approach to the nearrandom selection of data, tools, and processes
- Biased Result Expectations: the preferred, pleasing, or expected
answer wins over the correct answer - every time. This is dangerous
and unsustainable in all fields of human activity.
The systemic architecture
of the Quantum Relations Machine, in tandem with the Global Intelligence
Unit, has made a significant step in preventing these major flaws
in how humans and machines analyze complex problems. We have implemented
a systemic approach that allows only answers once all spaces are connected,
and all data has been fully considered. Our solution is to build a
Big-Data, problem-solving ecosystem rather than individual
problem-solving applications. Thus, the correct and acceptable answer
must emerge within our problem-solving environment, even before we
ask questions. In other words, our system must know the problem space
so well that any connection of any dynamic agent within the space
is pre-identified without any bias.The system functions consistently
with the rich evaluation capabilities of the human brain. Still, it
takes additional advantage of the machine's seemingly endless parallel
processing capabilities, together with near-unlimited possibilities
in memory and storage, thus addressing the cardinal limitations of
human evaluation and analysis capabilities. We have created shared
machine thinking capabilities by strictly generalizing all data and
all process tools throughout the system.
The potential implications of our QR technology for humanity are vast,
leading to considerable reductions in time and effort in almost all
conceivable research and other human activities.reducing to practically
real-time the significant lags between acquiring and implementing
evidence-based knowledge. In terms of governance, the Quantum Relations
Machine, in tandem with the Global Intelligence Unit, would enable
decisionmakers to reach effective, informed decisions within seconds/minutes/hours,
compared to what is presently weeks, months, or even years. QRM could
also instantly detect and make it possible to expose and disregard
false or misleading political statements/claims ("fake
news"), indifferent of their ideological source or bias. Its
end users would be groups across the public and private sectors whose
activities and behaviors significantly influence these sectors: economists,
financiers, policymakers, heads of state, government ministries, politicians,
decision-makers in multinational corporations, NGOs, international
security and diplomatic agencies, all of whom influence the future
of our collective livelihoods and wellbeing on this planet.
At the same time, however, its end user would be every citizen who
would be provided with the Quantum Personalized Agent/Adviser Link
or Q-PAL, which would go a long way toward offering educated choices
both in peoplefs personal and in their professional lives, as
well as toward reaching consensual collective decisions on which the
future of humanity and the entire planet depends. This is where we
see our most important contribution: By making the Quantum Relations
Machine, the Global Intelligence Unit, and other advanced tools accessible
to everyone, not just the people who shape our world at various levels,
we aim to ensure that both those people and the ones whom they serve
become better equipped to understand, negotiate, and resolve complex
issues and potential conflicts, as well as to develop and roll out
beneficial political, sociological, ecological and technological programs.
Thus, through its Q-PAL, the Quantum Relations Machine can offer everyone
the possibility of making wise and timely choices/decisions based
on the consensus that results in better outcomes for all.
In sum, the Quantum Relations Machine, the Global Intelligence Unit,
and the other QRsupported platforms constitute a premium source of
learning about the current and potential dynamics of the planet. With
it, we humans can replace emotion or sentiment with evidence, fundamentally
reshaping how we respond to the future and govern and self-govern
our lives. Finally, we should point out that the quality and nature
of the QR applications in a global learning and research framework,
no less than in all of the other frameworks of human activity, including
(self-) governance, will depend on the quality and nature of the intercultural
databases that they will draw upon and, above all, on the mentality
and principles that will inform the collection and processing of such
databases. It is here that the human sciences (meaning all science,
be it ghardh or gsoft,h but in this specific
context, especially the social sciences and the humanities) can bring
their most decisive contribution. Intercultural and cross-disciplinary
groups of researchers, such as philosophers, cultural historians,
anthropologists, ecologists, economists, sociologists, political scientists,
jurists, psychologists, medical researchers, educators, historians
of science, linguists, literary scholars, and many others, could compile
intercultural data from a comparative perspective, delving into the
systems of values and beliefs of various cultures, their philosophical,
scientific, religious, and literary traditions, their specific economic,
sociocultural, environmental, and legal practices, institutional arrangements,
etc. Such intercultural data, placed in a comparative perspective,
but generated from the local viewpoint of each culture or subculture,
whether large or small and not from the so-called gobjectiveh
and guniversally validh perspective of reductionist (and
exemptionalist) Western mainstream science, would go a long way toward
creating the local-global learning conditions that would lead to the
adoption of the values and practices of an emergent irenic ethics.
The irenic spirit of global intelligence and planetary wisdom should
infuse any QR-based learning and research technological platform programmed
to benefit all (not just some) of our world communities and all life
on Earth.
Heat
Wave: Cooling Our Cities Without Air Conditioning
by Bloomberg Originals
Humans are increasingly
reliant on air conditioning, but its use contributes to global warming.
As the world warms and demand rises, how can we make A/C sustainable?
In Spain and India, Kal Penn explores two innovative solutions. skycoolsystems.com
is a Dutch company that
develops floating technology to enable food production floating on open
water all over the world. Floating future does this as sustainably and
organically as possible.
Cities
In the future, cities will have problems providing their populations
with fresh and sustainably produced food.
Worldwide
Most growing cities in the world are located on water or have a connection
with water. With floating technology, food production is made possible
on unused water surfaces.
Scaleable floating technology
Floating Future develops and builds floating food islands of 6m x 26m
each that can be linked infinitely. MARIN will conduct extensive research
for this in 2022.
is a leading manufacturer
of solar panels and energy storage solutions committed to delivering
top-quality products to global customers and has supplied the world
with more than 140GW of solar modules and has a presence in more than
150 countries and regions as of March 2023. As a reliable and valuable
partner for net-zero solutions in industries worldwide, Trina Solar
attaches great importance to controlling carbon emissions and has been
awarded a Carbon Footprint Certificate and LCA for its industry-leading
low-carbon emissions.
How will
Artificial Intelligence affect crime, war, justice, jobs, society
and our very sense of being human? The rise of AI has the potential
to transform our future more than any other technology - and there's
nobody better qualified or situated to explore that future than Max
Tegmark, an MIT professor who's helped mainstream research on how
to keep AI beneficial.
How can
we grow our prosperity through automation without leaving people lacking
income or purpose? What career advice should we give today's kids?
How can we make future AI systems more robust, so that they do what
we want without crashing, malfunctioning or getting hacked? Should
we fear an arms race in lethal autonomous weapons? Will machines eventually
outsmart us at all tasks, replacing humans on the job market and perhaps
altogether? Will AI help life flourish like never before or give us
more power than we can handle?
What sort
of future do you want? This book empowers you to join what may be
the most important conversation of our time. It doesn't shy away from
the full range of viewpoints or from the most controversial issues
- from superintelligence to meaning, consciousness and the ultimate
physical limits on life in the cosmos.
Max Erik
Tegmark
is a Swedish-American physicist, cosmologist and machine learning
researcher. He is a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
and the scientific director of the Foundational
Questions Institute.
Professor Tegmark’s research is focused on precision cosmology,
e.g., combining theoretical work with new measurements to place sharp
constraints on cosmological models and their free parameters. During
his first quarter-century as a physics researcher, this criterion
has lead him to work mainly on cosmology and quantum information.
Although he’s continuing his cosmology work with the HERA collaboration,
the main focus of his current research is on the physics of intelligence:
using physics-based techniques to better understand biological and
artificial intelligence (AI).
Rob Shapiro
got his professional start as an entertainer doing stand-up in Minneapolis
while still in high school (the Children's Theatre Company & School
of Minneapolis). As a voice-over artist, he can be heard narrating
such audiobooks as the bestselling The Information: A History, a Theory,
a Flood by James Gleick, Frank: The Voice by James Kaplan, and the
fantasy noir Low Town by Daniel Polansky. He performed several seasons
of radio comedy on Minneapolis Public Radio and voiced the titular
lion in Leo the Lion. Rob is also a musician and composer; with his
critically acclaimed band, Populuxe, he has released two CDs - A Foggy
Day in Brooklyn and Deep in an American Evening . . . - and the EP,
Daphne. He is one half of the Velvet Collar, who released their first
record, Double Standard, an unlikely collection of cover songs by
the Stooges, Hoagy Carmichael, and the Gershwin Brothers, among others,
in 2011. Finally, Rob is a business consultant and software system
designer, specializing in desktop publishing and workflow efficiency,
with clients and implemented systems spanning the globe.
Agrivoltaics by Fraunhofer Institute for Solar
Energy Systems ISE
Agrivoltaics denotes the approach of using
agricultural land to simultaneously produce agricultural crops and generate
PV electricity. Agrivoltaics covers a wide spectrum of intensity and
type of agricultural use and the corresponding additional costs for
the construction of the PV system. This spectrum ranges from the cultivation
of special crops and intensive arable crops with special PV mounting
systems to using land for extensive grazing with marginal adjustments
on the PV side. Thereby, Agrivoltaics increases land-use efficiency
and enables the expansion of PV capacity while retaining fertile arable
areas for agriculture.
Agrivoltaics technology has developed very
dynamically in recent years and can be found in almost all regions of
the world. The installed Agrivoltaics power increased exponentially
from app. 5 MWp in 2012 to app. 2.9 GWp in 2018 to more than 14 GWp
in 2021 with national funding programmes in Japan (since 2013), China
(ca. 2014), France (since 2017), the USA (since 2018) and most recently
Korea.
Quick-Facts: Agrivoltaics
- Global installed power
of app. 14 GWp
- Technical potential in Germany of app. 1700 GWp
Advantages:
- enormous land area potential
- less expensive than small rooftop PV systems
- additional benefits for agriculture including protection against losses
due to hail, frost and drought
Challenges:
- reliable prognoses of agricultural yields
- optimization of the plant design with regard to the type of farming
- securing agriculture as the main use for agrivolatics when combined
with livestock farming.
Our R&D services
Our services for Agrivoltaic plants cover all project phases: From feasibility
studies, through the selection of suitable technology for the intended
site, system design and PV yield prediction, to monitoring and optimization
of the plant in operation. Fraunhofer
Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE / Agrivoltaics
Green architecture
is a method of minimizing the negative effects built structures have
on their surrounding environment. It's a philosophy that draws on the
environment as inspiration to deliver low-impact, adaptable, and healthy
spaces. Green buildings are made in accordance with this thinking. -
Google
Sustainability in architecture
and design with Bjarke Ingels
by WIRED Live
Bjarke Ingels, Founder and Creative Director, BIG - Bjarke Ingels Group,
defines architecture as the art and science of making cities and buildings
fit with the way we want to live our lives.
"Sustainable buildings are not only better for the environment,
but for the lives of the people living in them."
What If We Could
Design Our Buildings In A Way That Was Healthy For Both People And The
Planet?
by ArchDaily
The ‘Living Places’ concept rethinks our understanding of
buildings in a new way through sustainable solutions and practical action.
VELUX, together with EFFEKT architects and Artelia engineers, have explored
how the building industry can advance the health of people and the planet
through a scalable building concept that aims to achieve a 3-times lower
CO2 footprint and a 3-times better indoor climate by Danish standards,
all while enhancing the health and well-being of residents - and at
a competitive price!
South America
The warm
atmosphere of a horizontal house inserted into the Chilean nature
by Architecture Hunter
Located in the middle of nature, a horizontal house is designed by GA
Estudio. The residence features cutouts and openings that favor the
architectural relationship with the landscape it is inserted. Inside,
the use of wood brings warmth and is part of the interior design, emphasizing
the architectural lines with the natural wood design itself and the
cutting of the boards placed in different directions. Enjoy the atmosphere
of the house by exploring the Panorama of casaDèsvu.
House
in the mountains by MK27: Architectural Tour
by Architecture Hunter
Emerging over the mountains
of Minas Gerais, Nova Lima, Brazil; Minas House was designed
by Studio MK27, reassembling the typical surroundings. The 1100 sqm
residence is accessible through a bridge, creating a gap between public
and private areas without constructing stashing elements. Light spreads
the interior through a glazed façade, which can be fully retracted.
On one side enchanting views are portrayed while the other is covered
by a long shelf, storytelling family memories. Dive into the Panorama
of Minas House!
Mexico
Inventor
uses seaweed to build low-income homes in Mexico by CGTN America
Africa
House
of a Thousand Knots - the Bentwood Architecture of the Orma Women Builders. by Nomad Architecture
This is
a previously undiscovered African house, from east Kenya,. It is almost
on the edge of extinction, with the tradition being preserved by one
remarkable young woman, Ramadan. The tiny home, a beautiful example
of organic architecture, is constructed by around twenty women builders
over three days, usually just before a marriage. The house is unusually
high, with a raised up bed, and this is to protect the occupants from
the occasional flooding of the river Tana. All the natural materials
are gathered from within a few kilometers of the village. Essentially
it is a bentwood frame lashed together into a gridshell. The whole structure
is strong as it is a natural parabolic dome. The area is undergoing
rapid change as modern materials and electricity are being brought in,
so we were very fortunate to be able to record this building before
it disappears completely.
The Architects
Designing Future Cities With Mud by Bloomberg Originals
West African
architects are reviving ancient building methods that make it easier
to stay cool as temperatures climb.
Scandinavia
Inside
A Sustainable Power Plant With A Ski Slope On Its Roof | Unique Spaces
by Architectural Digest
Today Architectural
Digest visits Copenhagen, Denmark to tour CopenHill —
an innovative, climate-positive waste-to-energy plant towering above
the city’s downtown that doubles as an urban ski slope. Produced
by Architectural Digest in association with BBC Studios Natural History
Unit & Moondance Foundation. #OurFrozenPlanet brings you urgent
stories about the effects of climate change around the globe, and accounts
of the people dedicated to championing positive change to protect the
future of our planet.
Greenhouse
in Sweden with its own Ecosystem designed by TailorMade Arkitekter by Real Estate & Interior Design
Rosenlund
Naturhus is a private greenhouse home positioned in the magnificent
agrarian landscape just south of Vadstena, Sweden. The house
and the green house are placed with the fantastic views in mind. The
generous greenhouse (400 sqm) encloses the whole core house except for
the gable towards the east. It will be filled with plant beds for cultivation
and as a part of the full eco-cycle system that will take care of the
treatment of the wastewater, transforming it into fruits and vegetables.
Oslo
Architecture, Norway | Architecture by Allthegoodies.com
by Visit Norway
A philosophical
look at designing a home out of wood. This gives the meaning of bringing
the outdoors indoors to a whole new level! Norwegian wood architecture
will make you feel better,...ENJOY IT!
Italy
Forest condominium
is ecosystem of 150 trees, 60+ apartments
by Kirsten Dirksen
With 150 trees sprouting
across 5 floors of terraces, balconies, and roof gardens, apartment
complex "25 Verde" rises like a giant treehouse, a forest-building
ecosystem combining geothermal energy, water reuse, and natural cooling.
The 63-unit building’s
design continues the arboreal theme, with wooden shingles and steel
supports that look like tree trunks. In addition to cleaning the air
around the building, the trees dampen noise pollution, provide shade,
and help regulate the building’s temperature.
The 200 trees (150 on
the building + 50 in the courtyard) produce upwards of 150,000 liters
of oxygen per hour during daylight hours and absorb almost 200,000
liters of carbon dioxide during nighttime hours.
Water is captured on
the roof gardens and run down to the ground level forming a large
pond that adds ambiance and a cooling factor in summer. The building's
heating and cooling systems make use of geothermal energy, using heat
pumps and an old well used by a 1950s Fiat factory at the same location.
Corten steel trees support
much of the structure and serve as conduits for rainwater and greywater.
Architect Luciano Pia modeled these on the majestic old Platanus trees
in Turin. His mixed structure of architecture and plants is a unique
work of biotecture that reimagines how we can live in cities. 25 Verde
resident Paolo Botto gives us a tour of the building.
China
Green
skyscrapers of Shanghai
by FT World
Shanghai
has had a cult of tall buildings for decades. But now, the city also
has a cult of green buildings. Patti Waldmeir, the FT's Shanghai correspondent,
takes a tour of one of the tallest and supposedly greenest buildings
in the world.
USA
New Earthships
capture more energy, water & food at lower cost
by Kirsten Dirksen
With walls made from old tires packed with earth, as well as upcycled
glass bottles and cans, Earthships have always been built with
mainly found materials. The home provides its own energy (with photovoltaics
and passive solar and geothermal tubes), water (rainwater and even dew-water
capture) and grows food in the essential greenhouse (necessary for temperature
regulation and for filtering the water to be reused).
Costs range from $100,000
for a Simple Survival model to $1.5 million for the top-of-the-line
Global design. Earthship Biotecture h as justcompleted their first Encounter:
an affordable model that provides all the power, water and good of a
more costly home.
Deborah Binder has been
building Earthships for the past 8 years, both her own home, and community
projects in places like Malawi and Puerto Rico. She gave us a tour of
the first Encounter build, as well as the Global model she is test-living.
We stopped in at the Encounter
build #3 where foreman Phil Basehart pounded tires and explained how
the Encounter compares to other models.
These
Sustainable DESERT DOMES Will Blow Your Mind!.
by Natural Buildings
In today's
tour, we visit the Mojave Center in the Mojave Desert to explore Earthbag
Domes. Earthbags domes are affordable, sustainable, earthquake resistant,
fireproof, and beautiful! They also have a high thermal mass which is
perfect for the desert climate!
Spain
Cork-clad home uses Trombe
Wall & circular vents as free A/C by Kirsten Dirksen
When Nancy
and her husband found a lot at the edge of Catalonia’s Garraf forest,
they wanted a home that would fit the environment so they wrapped their
home in cork insulation and installed a “natural” swimming
pool that uses wetlands instead of chlorine. Instead of installing an
HVAC system, architect Elisabetta Quarta Colosso strategically placed
three thermal storage walls, or “Trombe walls”, to warm and
cool the home.
“A
Trombe wall is a massive Equator-facing wall that is painted a dark
color in order to absorb thermal energy from incident sunlight and covered
with a glass on the outside with an insulating air-gap between the wall
and the glaze.” In winter, the sunlight absorbed by the mass is
converted to heat and then transferred into the living space. In summer,
the system cools like a solar chimney by drawing in cool air from the
north and pushing out warmer air in the southern vents.
Taking into
account the three Trombe walls, as well as the local climate and the
home’s passive solar orientation, Elisabetta estimates the home
should need to use the tiny wood-burning stove only two weeks per year.
Nancy confirms that it is only on the coldest winter nights or if there
are several days without sun when they need to light it.
After nearly
two years since construction, the cork cladding has begun to gain its
own patina, but cork, unlike other insulating materials (like foam)
that can lose its effectiveness after a few years, doesn’t lose
R-value with time. It also proves an effective sound insulator and Elisabetta
crafted a patio with cork walls on two sides for quiet contemplation.
Nancy loves
the aesthetic associated with the functional choices of the house systems,
but the highlight for her is the natural swimming pool. No chlorine
feels great on the skin and the only maintenance is an annual trimming
of the plants. The pool is fed by a 20-thousand liter rainwater water
tank stored under the driveway (it also waters the garden). Elisabetta
explains that the idea of the house is to have “a small complete
ecosystem that works with its own resources”.
India
How to build multi-storied
structures using stabilised mud blocks by Deccan Herald
Humans have
always built with natural materials which are locally available. Right
from some of the most ancient civilisations, earth or mud has been used
in construction for its structural integrity and durability. But over
the years, Mud has lost its appeal. Cities across India are building
rapidly with cement and other machine made materials. This creates environmental
issues and even accelerates climate change. But is there a way out?
Can mud architecture be revived? Can it become an alternative to concrete?.
Built
out of Earth and Debris, this Eco-Friendly Home is a Work of Art by Buildofy
On the outskirts
of Tamil Nadu, and a 90-minute drive away from Bengaluru, is a village
called Shoolagiri that is known for its eco-friendly community called
Sanctity Ferme. To promote their vision of a natural ecosystem, sustainable
model homes were planned for the residents. Flintstone6 is first of
many such eco-friendly prototypes, designed to blend with the scenic
untouched landscapes of the region.
Australia
Bamboo
- the Tradition of the Future
by Anthrotechture
Bamboo -
the Tradition of the Future is a survey of the uses of bamboo in contemporary
architecture . The film shows the opportunities for using bamboo in
modern design and also illustrates the challenges the material faces.
The film invites us to meet some of the most interesting ‘bamboo
whisperers’ of today: architects and designers who have developed
unique and thought-provoking solutions using bamboo as a material for
the future.
With a growth rate of
up to a meter/day - the world record of living plants - and structural
properties equal to that of steel and concrete, bamboo is a versatile
design material and an interesting alternative in the contemporary material/sustainability
discourse. Over 1,250 species are known, varying from small to giant.
Bamboo is found in varied biotopes - cold mountains, hot tropics, and
arid deserts. Furthermore, bamboo is a good alternative to facilitate
biological carbon sequestration. “Bamboo’s fast-growing attribute
makes it a very useful resource to capture and sequester atmospheric
carbon and consequently mitigate climate change, in a similar way that
tree does. The unique growing capacity makes bamboo a valuable sink
for carbon storage”. Bamboo, in spite of its many advantages, has
long-standing difficulties in gaining serious momentum and awareness
in mainstream design practices. The small-scale nature and the peripheral
cultural and geographic position of the bamboo industry has made it
hard for bamboo to make its voice heard. The knowledge of bamboo is
today mostly concentrated in Asia, Latin America and Africa. Dr. Campbell
Drake says “Architects from the developing world are leading the
industry in terms of innovation, but it would be great to see it being
exported to other parts of the world” . This is echoed by the bamboo
pioneer Dr. Kristof Crolla who notes that “Some of the knowledge,
some of the drives that they [places outside the trendsetting metropolises]
put on the table can be exported back into the west as well” .
And what is true for architecture is equally true for the design of
daily objects.
Indonesia
Hidden
Tropical Jungle Garden & Dream Man Cave featuring Pak Chandra
by Leafing Around
Tour the
breath-taking home & topical garden of Chandra, sitting amidst
the bustling city of Jakarta. Pick up great plantcare tips -
fertilizers, pest control and the thoughts behind the landscaping design
of his garden. Chandra is an avid plant collector and has an amazing
breath of aroids. See also his various passion and collections in birds,
fishes, art pieces and more!
Karen Sands photo by Lisa
Levart, LUSH Photography
Karen
Sands is a multiple Amazon #1 bestseller author of 10
books and journals. Visionaries
Have Wrinkles
is one of her most popular, while Gray
is the New Green
is turning the business of aging on its head, and her groundbreaking
resource, The
Ageless Way,
touted as a new model for aging, and more recently her Manifesto
for Visionaries, The Greatness Challenge. She is a serial
social entrepreneur, CCE-board certified and ICF-certified master coach
(MCC, BCC), invited vetted master coach and mentor for TED fellows,
visionary mentor, consultant, and sought-after public speaker. One of
Corporate America’s first intrapreneurs and a pioneer in the coaching
industry, she is also the leading GeroFuturistSM, midlife and Boomer
expert, and expert authority on women 40+ who believes passionately
in the unlimited potential associated with the Longevity Economy, the
Business of Aging (aka: GeroBusinessSM) and Ageless Aging.
Karen mentors visionary
executives-in-transition, established business owners, and professionals
on how to fulfill their potential at any age, and offers consulting
and training to entrepreneurs, higher education institutions, non-profits,
and businesses large and small who want to learn about and capture the
hearts and minds of women over 40 and/or those who are ready to hit
delete on ageism, and for those who seek to turn the business of aging
on its head!
Karen has contributed to
the White House Task Force on Innovative Learning, the Hudson Institute’s
landmark study, Workforce 2000, as well as its sequel: Workforce 2020.
She has served as an invited reporter for the White House Conference
on Aging and been invited to sit on Connecticut’s Permanent Commission
on the Status of Women’s Advisory Council.
Karen has also created
avant garde Whole Brain ForesightSM and experiential programming, and
trained entrepreneurs, corporate executives, advisors & coaches,
and educators how to incorporate continuous-quality improvement/development
models and principles into their non-profit organizations, corporate
enterprises and school systems.
She was formerly an Adjunct
Professor at Hunter College’s prestigious Brookdale Center, where
she was the first to teach an adult gerontology course for professionals
entitled, “Conscious Aging 101.”
One of her greatest passions
throughout her career since the ‘mid-60’s is being a transformational
teacher & trainer which led her to become a professional development
practitioner for school systems, corporate enterprises, associations,
and her invite-only private programs leading and facilitation of deep
Soulwork and resulting transformation for executives, professionals,
leaders & activists, artists & social entrepreneurs and visionary
business leaders, plus sold-out women’s groups and diverse audiences
and events.
Karen has been featured
in the global award winning Leader to Leader Journal, Forbes, Wall Street
Journal and Glamour magazine to name a few, and on CNN, NBC, HBO, and
other major media outlets and multiple podcasts as featured guest expert.
Invited contributor of chapter , “Gray is the New Green: Opportunities
of the Longevity Economy” included in the 1st U.N. Encyclopedia
on Gerontology and Population Aging (2019-perpetuity).
Recognized by Forbes as
“One of the Top Female Futurists Worldwide” (2020), and by
Bruce Rosenstein, Managing Editor of Leader to Leader as “Among
the Top 42 Leading Futurist Authors Past and Present” (2021), “One
of the Authors of Top 55 Books on Longevity and Productive Aging”
(2022) and listed on Futurist Ross Dawson’s “Top Global Female
Futurists” (2023)
Rewriting The Narrative
of Growing Up, Growing Older, and Growing Richer with Karen Sands by Retire with
Purpose
Farzam Sepanta
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