Designed for the Rest of Us » Sustainable design

NZi3 opens

Richard Mander — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 14:06:35 +0000

The University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand has officially opened NZi3. NZi3 is the New Zealand ICT Innovation Institute, a national ‘hothouse’ for transforming ideas from New Zealand’s university labs, across the innovation gap, into industry. I got the opportunity to work with the UC team behind the Institute and they have done a stellar job of developing the concept and bringing it to reality.

The building is also an interesting story in green design – more on that in another post.

A rendering of the New Zealand ICT Innovation Institute building at the University of Canterbury

The Institute has a really interesting value proposition combining Ideas, Interaction, and Investment focused on industry-relevant themes:

Congratulations to the Director Darin Graham and his team for getting things to this point. I’m very excited to see the building open and look forward to hearing about the projects evolving within its walls. It’s particularly gratifying to see the Assistive Technology theme moving forward.

Happy Earth Day

Richard Mander — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 13:07:57 +0000

Today is Earth Day. Let’s remember to think about sustainability in our work on design. I have included the famous ‘earth rise’ image taken from Apollo 8 in 1968. The BBC provides a great story about how the image came to be.

The earth seen rising above the Moon

Prefab green – A house as product

Richard Mander — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 16:02:06 +0000

Just read a very interesting book by Michelle Kaufmann. Prefab Green describes the philosophy of her architectural design firm who specialize in design and manufacture of prefabricated modular homes which are green. Michelle got started on this path when she and her husband were struggling to find a well designed, affordable home in the San Francisco Bay Area and ultimately decided to design and build their own home.

Michelle follows five eco principles which guide her design approach:

Smart Design: Making the most use of space – collaborating with landscape and designing for use.
Eco Materials: High quality, eco-friendly products and practices in construction. Renewable and recyclable materials, reduced waste in construction, long-lasting and low-maintenance materials.
Energy Efficiency: High efficiency insulation, solar panels, LED lighting, smart heating.
Water Conservation: Reducing water intake, rain-water catchment, gray water systems, green roof, bioswales, permeable materials for driveways and walkways.
Healthy Environment: Non-off-gassing materials, air filtration, foam insulation, hard floors.

The book is a great introduction to these principles. Several of her designs are featured in the book, but the homes section of her website provides a far richer experience with floor plans and many more pictures.

Some beautiful ’smart’ design here, and great integration of technology. I would love to live in one of these homes.

It would be very interesting to see what it would take to have the Glidehouse design ‘accessible’, I would bet not much.

Prefab Green by Michelle Kaufmann