Thursday, August 30, 2012

assignment summary - week 5

A future – should we take a step back? – is it a step back?

Our groups vision was to reinvent ‘trends’ which have similar values derived from past contexts, as our current status as an evolving organism is leading into a world of uncertainties. 

b.o.b (billions of people), which is also a critical trend which we face in todays times and future predictions – in which the expediential rate of population is increasing, was a key element which drove our concept.  We now live in a world where the nature of change has changed.

“ a problem cannot be solved with the same level of thinking as created it”
                                                                                          - Einstein.

This problem seems to be left in the hands of the same organizations/bodies who created it – governments, professional, monetary system and architects (to name a few) – because most of what we now see as exceptionally stupid design concepts - such as the glass box - were initiated by architects and once hailed as exemplifying modernists ideas.  Therefore, do we leave it up to the same bodies to lead us on a journey in ratifying our current status or do we as a body of individuals create our own opportunities, create a momentum, an energy to plant within our current times , to direct our own destiny and inturn create a direction which disperses across the globe.

Our mindset is to evolve and become bigger and better (in simple terms) seems to be a continuous way of thinking in today’s evolution path.  Therefore if we continue this level of thinking we can predict we are only headed towards a consumed and depleted world.  So is taking a step back and basing our ethos on past doctrines, is it going backwards or rediscovering what it is to be human.  What do we need to survive? 

We can not wipe the plate clean and start again – that would incur a lot a landfill for a start.  No, we harness what is present, but redefine what is necessary – or at least start to.  Technology has allowed the nature of change to change.  We need to harness this evolution, but not exploit it. 

b.o.b and his community does this by implementing a think farm.  An organism integrated between the physical and non-physical realms to re-establish and re-invent systems, technologies, thoughts, and new technologies –really anything that is relevant and possible for the users of the think farm to solve.  What is the think farm?  It doesn’t need to be defined, it only needs to create a platform in which this process can occur.  It doesn’t need to be defined, as it would continuously need to be evolving to adapt to a future environments. 

THINK FARM – a collaborative, integrated platform form to harness the energy of you and me.

tutorial response - week 5

Communication






lecture response - week 5




Moving
Dwelling
Eating
Making
Breathing

technology |tekˈnäləjē|
noun ( pl. -gies)
the application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes, esp. in industry : advances in computer technology | recycling technologies.
machinery and equipment developed from such scientific knowledge.
the branch of knowledge dealing with engineering or applied sciences.

What is a technological advance?  Projecting forward beyond our means in pursuit of accomplishment?  



image: Integral Theory. (Peter Buchanan)

Technology is only concerned with one quadrant of the Integral Theory approach which limits us to the superfluous tangible environments.

‘Integral theory is concerned with integrating, or bringing into relationship, knowledge fragmented between specialisms’ (Peter Buchanan)

To achieve a ‘sustainable’ future, we cannot merely rely on technological advancements.  To take a step away from physical technological is also an advancement moving forward.  Enlightening our conscious and sub-conscious to the realization that we need to change a train of thought on how we perceive the world and our environments is crucial to our evolution.

Summarizing our essential needs into; moving, dwelling, eating, making and breathing draws us back to the fundamental elements of being.  For we have evolved into a race of doing, not BEING.  The majority of beings have evolved in a world that admires mostly technological advancements.  And in doing so, we have created a world of machines.  Our focus, our energy is absorbed into a superficial world.  Wipe the slate clean – impossible.  Create a notion, a movement, a energy towards an integral way of life, which I believe is the only solution evolution.  A BALANCE




Wednesday, August 22, 2012

...... a place where ideas can be harnessed and interwoven to and from organisms.



http://blog.shiftboston.org/2010/06/tape-installation-by-for-usenumen-at-dmy-berlin

Sunday, August 19, 2012

site visit - week 4

An amphitheater - has worked effectively throughout history.

A natural amphitheater environment - feels magic, words can't describe its beauty.




http://www.themusicnetwork.com/music-news/industry/2011/03/15/queensland-council-buys-flood-ravaged-woodfordia-site/

tutorial response - week 4

TRENDS WE ARE BUILDING UPON

http://www.crudeoilpeak.com/?p=1300




http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/?p=1160




https://www.belldirect.com.au/shareschool/articles/1143/profit.html

lecture response - week 4

Provide the means, so they can create their meaning.  
Don't determine the activity, encourage experiences.
We are the prop designers, not the script writers.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/vainpilot/5999130371/sizes/l/in/photostream/

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

thoughts - week 3


A pattern language is a structured method of describing good design practices within a field of expertise. It is characterized by
  1. Noticing and naming the common problems in a field of interest,
  2. Describing the key characteristics of effective solutions for meeting some stated goal,
  3. Helping the designer move from problem to problem in a logical way, and
  4. Allowing for many different paths through the design process.
When a designer is designing something (whether it is a house or a computer program or a stapler), they must make many decisions about how to solve problems. A single problem, documented with its best solution, is a single design pattern. Each pattern has a name, a descriptive entry, and some cross-references, much like a dictionary entry. A documented pattern must also explain why that solution is considered the best one for that problem, in the given situation. When design is done by a team, pattern names will form a vocabulary they can share. This makes it necessary for pattern names to be easy to remember and highly descriptive.

A Pattern Language for Sustainability – Toward a Conservation Economy
In A Conservation Economy, Economic arrangements of all kinds are gradually redesigned so that they restore, rather than deplete, Natural Capital and Social Capital. While A Conservation Economy functions on a global scale, it can be imagined as a healthy mosaic of Bioregional Economies forged within coherent biological and cultural units. Even in a globalizing economy, diverse Bioregional Economies that are more self-sufficient in meeting their own needs will be more competitive and less vulnerable.
Pattern Index
A Conservation Economy
Social Capital
  • Fundamental Needs: Subsistence Rights, Shelter For All, Health, Access To Knowledge
  • Community: Social Equity, Security, Cultural Diversity, Cultural Preservation, Sense Of Place, Beauty And Play, Just Transitions, Civic Society
Natural Capital
  • Ecological Land-Use: Connected Wildlands (Core Reserves, Wildlife Corridors, Buffer Zones), Productive Rural Areas (Sustainable Agriculture, Sustainable Forestry, Sustainable Fisheries, Ecotourism), Compact Towns And Cities (Human-Scale Neighborhoods, Green Building, Transit Access, Ecological Infrastructure, Urban Growth Boundaries)
  • Ecosystem Services: Watershed Services, Soil Services, Climate Services, Biodiversity
Economic Capital
  • Household Economies
  • Green Business: Long-Term Profitability, Community Benefit, Green Procurement, Renewable Energy, Sustainable Materials Cycles, Resource Efficiency, Waste As Resource, Product As Service
  • Local Economies: Value-Added Production, Rural-Urban Linkages, Local Assets
  • Bioregional Economies: Fair Trade, True Cost Pricing, Product Labeling

tutorial response - week 3


Empower the people, not power to the people is a key fundamental pattern which we want to create for our future scenario.  Through empowering the people we will be able to educate one another on the importance of shifting our life styles to prepare us for the future. 

lecture response - week 3

http://www.reliableprosperity.net/explore.html

Mapping the foundations of patterns it is obvious that everything is inter-connected and related to one another on one level or another.  We live in a world where economy plays a bigger hand in the overall picture.  The power is controlled through a capital system that doesn't treat all facets equal and balanced to one another.  My future scenario will endeavor to re-establish an economical system to guide and direct a path to more balanced overall system.

Thursday, August 9, 2012

reading response - week 2




"With the widespread lack of clarity about what is an architectural approach relevant to the future, it is little wonder that many architects decide to engage in the frivolities of form and theory and pursue momentary fame and fortune"

- THE BIG RETHINK - Towards a Complete Architecture


Wednesday, August 8, 2012

tutorial response - week 2

A car free london - a city centre designed to discourage car users.  The power of policies can alter the cities structure, which was seen as the congestion charge was introduced in 2003.  A future where the negative space of traffic lanes for pedestrians, becomes a positive space for pedestrians.  A city centre built for road traffic is now free of its burden.  How will it embrace this change?  Will the space become left over, or will it be designed and created into productive positive space? What are the possibilities?



"Urban Flotsam: Stirring the City"

lecture response - week 2

THEY WANT TO FEEL ORGANIC
Did we program robots to go to war or are they mimicking human conditions?


http://factoryfifteen.com/7936/152394/home/robots-of-brixton


WE SEEM TO WANT TO BE MECHANIC

http://gizmodo.com/5917782/humans-love-apple-events-because-humans-love-spaceships

http://www.guardian.co.uk//human-engineering-climate-change-philosophy

WE MARVEL AT OUR CREATIONS WHILE WE DESTROY THE CREATION WHICH SUSTAINS OUR VERY EXISTENCE.  WE DIDN'T CREATE IT, THEREFORE WE DON'T UNDERSTAND IT.

Thursday, August 2, 2012

reading response - week 1


OPEN IDEO has harnessed the power of  the current technology to create a world wide community on a digital platform.  Using the power of who ever, where ever to solve big challenges we face as community throughout the world. 

The example that springs to my mind straight away, which reinforces my beliefs that these types of community platforms are extremely powerful – was when gamers unlocked the protein mystery that baffled AIDS researches for years.  The power of the people, who aren’t your typical category to be associated with scientific breakthroughs, were the ones to solve it.

Harnessing the tools of the past, today and the future are crucial to solving issues we face in our ever evolving/adapting world.

Below is the first e-waste video I was introduced to about 3yrs ago.  It has a pretty groovy tune backing it, but more importantly it is presented really well and communicates the pressing concerns and issues concerning e-waste.






Below: a very worth while video (in a nut shell) to understand history and where we are and where we might be headed…………