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"Imagine a building that makes oxygen, distills water, produces energy, changes with the seasons—and is beautiful. In effect, that building is like a tree, standing in a city that is like a forest."


The above design and the ideas behind it come from William McDonough, the green architect par excellence, who built the first solar-powered house in Ireland in 1977 and was entitled “Hero of the Planet” in 1999 by the Time magazine, this latest proposal for the Tower of tomorrow was commissioned by Fortune Magazine. Read more on INHABITAT

You can watch Bill outline his simple, revolutionary, eco ideas in his presentation: The wisdom of designing Cradle to Cradle. These bold dreams are catching on and being realised, from clean fully C2C recylable materials to eco cities in China.

(This talk in its original very inspiring website TED TALKS )



His question:
"How do we love all of the children of all species for all time."

His goal:
"A delightfullyt diverse, safe, healthy and just World, with clean air, water, soil and power – economically, equitably, economically and elegantly enjoyed."

Meanwhile in ireland...



After many many years of asking and hoping, EASA is finally coming to Ireland....a long journey since the early days, nearly 6 years ago now, when Ireland recovered from being a "Lost country" and a few Paddys wandered out to participate in EASA 02 @ Samogar, Vis, Croatia...


Other interesting eco things happening in Ireland:
Convergence 13: Transition Strategies...Post Carbon Cities, Transition Towns and Eco-Villages

It seems that a lot of things have moved in the last 2 years since: that eco city idea is starting to take off in china, and even more since those special days in Banja Luka, Bosnia trying to make our first eco city.

So with all this talk and action, maybe some day Dublin city might actually get its Botanic Spine



and the aul town might become an eco city, as Torbjorn Lahti pointed out "changing the world is easy, we've done it"



Anyway, thats enough from EIG (eco intelligent growth) here in Barcelona

oiche mhaith a chairde

Dunk

PS

7 last things:

this picture:


and these questions:
1- What is an architect in today's society?
2- Define "innovative architect"
3- How should one practice architecture?
4- What are the architect's responsibilities?
5- What or where is architecture's laboratory?
6- How can architecture be taught today?

add your answers in:
Six Simple and Hard Questions About What Architects Do Today and Where Their Profession Might Go Tomorrow: And Your View Is ....
 
duncan, Thursday, 10. April 2008, 17:52
"waste is basically stupid"....says Mc Donough

Waste, environmental destruction, climate choas.... all recognized as global problems that have to be answered today, and quickly......but HOW ?

The solution= C2C
C2C..huh?


C2C = Cradle to Cradle
Heres the film WASTE = FOOD and the TIME's: Heroes of the Planet article to show you how the world is already radically changing....thanks to McDonough and Braungart's revolutionary attitude to designing and living:
C2C = a completely different way of "taking, making, using and consuming in the world."

TIME: Heroes of the Environment
an exerpt:
As you will have heard, the Industrial Revolution was hard on nature. That was the one that started with the dark, satanic mills and left the world with smoke-belching, sewage-spilling plants and dwindling precincts of greenery. So when William McDonough and Michael Braungart looked over the sheer size of its legacy, they knew what was needed. Another revolution. As McDonough once said: "Our culture has adopted a design stratagem that says: If brute force or massive amounts of energy don't work, you're not using enough of it." His answer? Find a completely different way of "taking, making, using and consuming in the world."

WASTE = FOOD, the film was the winner of the Silver Dragon at the Beijing International Science Film Festival 2006. It is an inspiring documentary on the Cradle to Cradle design concept of the chemist Michael Braungart and the architect William McDonough. Their journey, their design revolution, why it makes so much sense, what its leading to.

We watched it here at EIG last week, its simple, its great. And I had the privelage to meet Bill a few weeks back as we are collaborating with his team here in BCN.

FILM OUTLINE:
Man is the only creature that produces landfills. Natural resources are being depleted on a rapid scale while production and consumption are rising in na­tions like China and India. The waste production world wide is enormous and if we do not do anything we will soon have turned all our resources into one big messy landfill. But there is hope. The German chemist, Michael Braungart, and the American designer-architect William McDonough are fundamentally changing the way we produce and build. If waste would become food for the biosphere or the technosphere (all the technical products we make), produc­tion and consumption could become beneficial for the planet.

A design and production concept that they call Cradle to Cradle. A concept that is seen as the next industrial revolution.

• Design every product in such a way that at the end of its lifecycle the component materials become a new resource.

• Design buildings in such a way that they produce energy and become a friend to the environment.

Large companies like Ford and Nike are working with McDonough and Braun­gart to change their production facilities and their products. They realize that economically seen waste is destruction of capital. You make something with no value. Based on their ideas the Chinese government is working towards a circular economy where Waste = Food. An amazing story that will definitely change your way of thinking about production and consumption.


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