When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Design It Themselves

By Stacy Straczynski, Associate Editor

We’ve all heard of do-it-yourself projects, but this self-designed rail station project takes the cake. For years, residents in the small village of Tajnagar, India, located just outside Delhi, were in need of a local rail station.  Although the tracks passed right by their homes, the townspeople had to travel seven miles to catch a ride at other stations. After many denied requests to the transit authorities, they teamed up to save money ($45,000) and build their own. Overall, the construction took a little under a year, and the station opened this past January.

See the Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_HDMG06iUg

While the station is by no means aesthetically inclined—the whole station consists of a small ticket counter and two basic platforms, lacking an actual building—the minimalist design gets the job done. What a great example of teamwork and ingenuity!

What other stories have you heard about where local communities banded together to create their own design solutions?

Salvaged Sustainability

By Stacy Straczynski, Associate Editor

Everyone’s eyes seem to be green these days—and it’s not from envy. Sustainability is the word, and I’m sure the media has already covered almost every possible angle to greenwash us by now. (Quite frankly, I’m a bit jaded by it all myself.) But this one story that came across my desk about a start-up retail design studio in East London really caught my eye due to its innovation and feel-good vibes.

When it formed during the middle of the credit crunch last January, Campaign didn’t have extra dollars to spend on fancy high-end worktables for is small staff of five—four employees and a “designated mascot” pug named Effie. Rather than shell out cash it didn’t have, the company used its creative juices to rethink the traditional worktable (pictured right). The employees went to the streets of its surrounding metro area and reclaimed any type of abandoned furniture they could find, searching street corners, dumpsters, etc. Tables, chairs, cabinets, and even lamps were fair game. Once collected, the team gave the pieces a white finish to revitalize its appearance, compiled an interesting arrangement, and then bolted them together to create one single, albeit unique, piece of office furniture.

The Alchemy Table, as it’s now called by Campaign, has grown with the company over the last year. As more staff members joined the team, each have made some sort of contribution to the “work of art.” The homespun project is now not only a success in recycling, but can be interpreted as a symbol of successful teamwork and group collaboration.

AFH Responds to Haiti Disaster

Architecture for Humanity, the not-for-profit organization that responds to catastrophic humanitarian disaster with long-term design solutions, is responding to Tuesday’s devastating earthquake in Haiti, which has left widespread destruction and thousands dead according to official estimates. In an email blast, AFH executive director Cameron Sinclair said, “We have launched an appeal for supplying construction and design professionals and supporting earthquake resistant housing and community structures.” AFH does not provide emergency services to disaster-ridden areas, but focuses instead on housing displaced persons in the long-term, and rebuilding safer and stronger buildings.

For more information on Architecture for Humanitiy’s activities in Haiti, or to donate money or volunteer to participate in future rebuilding efforts, visit http://www.architectureforhumanity.org/

 

Ken's First Blog from Greenbuild (and ever!)

Posted by Ken Wilson, Principal, Envision Design

I depart on a plane from National Airport at 10:30 am on Tuesday, November 10th. It was not surprising to see a number of familiar faces on the plane such as Raheem Cash, Director of GSA’s Environmental Division. I have been going to GreenBuild before it was GreenBuild (it used to be called the “USGBC Annual Meeting”) and it is something of an old home week for me. More so even than NeoCon. It is one of those places where I can’t walk 20 feet without running into someone I know. These are my people.

I am traveling with my wife Sally, who is Global Director of Environmental Strategies for CB Richard Ellis (and a tenant broker) along with my partner at our new environmental consulting firm, Eco-Impact, Penny Bonda. The cab ride from the airport to the center of downtown Phoenix is surprisingly cheap: $20 for four people (we pick up a friend of Penny’s). I am staying at the Sheraton, a brand new hotel a block from the Phoenix Convention Center. I am lucky to have this hotel because I hear the town is booked up with some people staying in hotels 10 miles away.  I am staying at this hotel only because of family connections.  Sally is the current Chairman of the Green Building Certification Institute who books her a room well in advance.  I am cool with that.  Connections are great when you have them.

Sally and I have lunch at the hotel and then check in for the conference.  Along the way we run into a number of old friends.  We then check out the reception CB is having at the Morton’s Steakhouse which is right below their office.  How appropriate that is.  They probably don’t even have to grill the steaks for the brokers….

Next we return to the convention center for the opening of the exhibition hall.  We run into Chris Smith, COO of USGBC.  You could not find a nicer guy.  We make plans to have dinner on Friday night.  The expo is vast.  Due to its size, the expo is located on two levels.  It is hard to identify the unique new products because there is so much stuff here.  It is mind boggling.  I am talking to Al Kabus at the Mohawk booth when the lights dim down as a signal to everyone that it the expo is closing down for the night.  Its like last call at a bar.  I head back to the hotel and catch up on some email before going to bed.  I have a bad case of what I call hors d'oeuvres stomach. Kind of full but kind of not.

One of my emails reminds me I have a proposal due the next day for a project in Kuala Lumpur. Darn.  I fill out the card for room service breakfast with the idea I will be spending the morning in my hotel room finishing this damn proposal.  Why does this always happen to me.

I am awake a 6:00 am and instead of going to the gym I am working on the proposal and eating a nice bacon and egg breakfast.  It sucks to have to write a proposal at the conference but I bet I am not the only one in this position.  It seems that writing proposals is all I do anymore.  I miss the first morning session but break away for the Executive Roundtable.  The panel is expertly moderated by Roger Platt, a newcomer to USGBC.  We hear from Ray Anderson, Bob Peck of GSA, Michael Crow - President of Arizona State University, Mark Nicholls of Bank of America, Arne Sorenson of Marriott, Mike Lafitte of CBRE and Tony Arnel - chair of the Green Building Council of Australia.

Bob Peck says the GSA will become a “proving ground” for green design and I believe him.  I know Bob and he is a no-nonsense guy.  He also says that in five years he won’t hire an architect that has to use a “green consultant”.  He believes green design must be integral to the practice of the firms he will hire.  Right on Bob!

Arne Sorenson says he wants to build his company to a point where people will say, “I will stay at a Marriott because they are a company that deserves my business.”  That is cool.

People ask, what is the shock that will get people to change their bad habits.  Tony Arnel says that in Australia, it is the 15-year drought.  He says that water use targets in Phoenix are 800 liters per person and in Australia it is 150 liters per person.  Wow….just think about that.

From the Executive Roundtable I go to the Leadership Luncheon, and special, invitation-only function that I am lucky to be invited to.  Ray Anderson gives an inspirational speech from the heart.  His is damn good at this.  He says everyone has one story to tell and that is their own story. He goes on to say that every story also begins with a question.  He says that the question every leader should ask: “is what we do worth doing?”  Ray is brilliant for putting life into perspective.  I get him to sign a copy of his new book “Confessions of a Radical Industrialist” after the luncheon.  Now I have to go back to the room to finish that damn proposal.  I miss the next to seminars, but the proposal gets done.  As I send it off I think there are probably a ton of firms that would do this project for a lot less.  It is a tough time to be in this business.

Next I go to a reception sponsored by the Forest Stewardship Council.  I received an Honorable Mention (second place) in an FSC award program for our design for the Generation Investment Management Office at One Bryant Park in New York City (Al Gore is CEO).  I receive our award and bolt to the opening plenary session where Rick Fedrizzi and Al Gore will speak at Chase Field (home of the Arizona Diamondbacks) followed by a Cheryl Crow Concert.  Rick is awesome.  Such enthusiasm!  I am totally sucked in.  I love this guy.  He makes me very proud to be part of this movement.  Then Al Gore comes on stage.  The crowd goes nuts (how the hell did this guy lose the election?).  He is brilliant.  I think how fortunate I am to have both of these guys as clients.  They are both incredible human beings and are so inspirational to others.  After the speech I have the opportunity to visit the USGBC VIP skybox where Al Gore is signing his latest book, “Our Choice”.  In addition to his book, I also get him to sign my FSC award for the design of his office (I am still lugging it around).  He seems genuinely happy to see me and I am honored.  I later have some drinks and chat with Vivian Loftness of Carnegie Mellon.  I’ve known Vivian for some time and she is amazing.  Again, I am feeling very lucky to be a part of all this and my bad attitude about the state of the profession starts to wane.  It’s not so bad after all and I feel our firm’s work is on the right side of things.  I run into Ray Anderson again and he tells me “you can look the world over and not find and x-environmentalist”.  How true.  I can go to bed happy tonight.

What’s Love Got to do With It?

In his new book, Confessions of a Radical Industrialist: Profits, People, Purpose—Doing Business By Respecting the Earth, published by St. Martin’s Press, Interface CEO Ray Anderson presents his argument and process for transforming Interface Inc. from a typical petroleum-intensive corporation of the 21^st century into an organization on course to achieve a zero carbon footprint by the year 2020. Many of us connected with the commercial A&D community are familiar with this goal, Mission Zero, from Anderson’s many public appearances at NeoCon^®, Greenbuild, and other industry events. But many of us may not be as familiar with its origins and implementation. 

Influenced by the brilliant book The Ecology of Commerce by environmentally-minded entrepreneur Paul Hawken, Anderson committed to transforming the carpet company he had founded in 1973 into a model of sustainability for the future. The process began in 1994, and has continued on pace ever since, sometimes slowed (but never stopped) by global economic realities and buoyed all along by a critical alignment in corporate culture from Anderson’s office right down to the factory floor. (In a humorous anecdote, Anderson tells the story of how one skeptical executive from another corporation, by the end of a visit to Interface for a lesson in sustainable industry, described that culture as nothing short of love.)

In Anderson’s view, the path to true sustainability—defined by the author as the continued healthy, balanced existence into the indefinite future of the biosphere (nature) and the technosphere (industry) on this thin shell (Earth)—lies in the rethinking of our entire industrial system, which is currently in the “iron grip” of the environmental impact equation that emerged from the first Industrial Revolution: Environmental Impact = Population x Affluence x Tehnology (I = P x  A x T). In this equation, the T represents current technologies that are fossil fuel-driven, focused on labor productivity, abusive, wasteful, and extract from the earth without giving back. “This made sense 300 years ago when people were scarce and nature was bountiful,” says Anderson.

 He goes on to say that this equation is deeply problematic, and underscores a flawed economic system where the gap between what we have and what we want defines all economic progress. It ignores the consequences of its actions. In the second Industrial Revolution—no time like the present—the environmental impact equation should look more like this: I = P x A / T₂, where T represents technologies that are renewable, cyclical, benign, solar/hydrogen-driven, emulate nature, and focus on resource productivity.

This new equation is obtainable if the corporation of the future adheres to the seven faces of “Mt. Sustainability”: eliminate waste; benign emissions; renewable energy; close the loop; use resource-efficient transportation; sensitize stakeholders (culture shift); and redefine commerce. In practicing what he preaches, Anderson’s own company, Interface, has cut greenhouse gas emissions by 82 percent; cut fossil fuel consumption by 60 percent; cut waste by 66 percent; cut water use by 75 percent; and increased sales by 66 percent, doubled earnings, and raised profit margins all since 1994—the example he uses to assert that the sustainable corporation of the future is indeed within reach. Anderson’s prediction is that the typical corporation of today “will become the proverbial fish out of water.”

It took 10 years of convincing, but Wall Street finally grasped Anderson’s unwavering intentions to build a green manufacturer—an important milestone in the aforementioned culture shift. And eventually, says Anderson, the environmental impact should resemble something more like I = P x A / T₂  x H, where H represents Happiness. The ideal sustainable world, he says, will defy today’s capitalistic principles of “more is better,” and instead be defined by “more happiness with less stuff.”

Click here for a video clip of Ray Anderson talking about his radical industrialist principles.

Public Offering Encourages Manufacturers to Support Socially Responsible Design

Last week at Contract's Best of NeoCon® Awards Breakfast in Chicago, John Peterson and John Cary of Public Architecture announced a new initiative that will encourage commercial furnishings and finishes manufacturers to become more engaged in socially responsible design. The new concept, Public Offering, began when Addie Powell of OfficeInsight and Ros Brandt of Brandt Resources invited a group of industry leaders, including Maxine Mann and MaryEllen Magee of Teknion, Jeannie Bochette of Steelcase, and yours truly, to explore more socially conscious alternatives to the generous gifts manufacturers bestow upon their design clients each holiday season. When our New York-based "Group of Six" teamed up with Public Architecture and New York creative firm The Moderns to brainstorm possibilities, the concept of Public Offering..."Gift Design Today" was born. Through its The 1% program, Public Architecture extracts commitments from leading design firms (more than 500 to date) to devote one percent of their billable hours to pro bono design in support of local non-profit and community-based organizations, thereby applying design thinking and design solutions to addressing social problems. Public Offering, in turn, encourages manufacturers to rethink their gift-giving practices and commit instead to diverting those monies spent to support the pro bono work realized through The 1% program...essentially adding the next logical variable to the equation of giving. Over the next few months, Peterson and Cary will fine-tune the details to accommodate various levels of commitment from manufacturers. Visit the Public Offering website and watch the pages of Contract for more information on this exciting initiative.

Designing like you give a damn? Apparently so.

An interesting finding from the 2009 Annual Business and Professions Study (ABPS) by Beaton Consulting in Australia: After surveying more than 30,000 professional service firms, the study found that architectural firms are more likely to be considered socially responsible than firms in other sectors, beating out, among others, the engineering, management, legal, and IT services professions. In this instance, social responsibility was defined as firms having a strong community focus, displaying innovation within the industry, and taking the lead in environmental practice and consulting.

Launching today: Green & Design

Today marks the debut of a new digital publication from the Contract family: Green & Design. Focusing on sustainability in the built environment, the digital publication is the first of a three-prong initiative that aims to give the A&D community the latest must-read news on all things green. A sister publication for Contract, Green & Design pulls from the expertise of the design and real estate titles of our parent company, Nielsen Business Media, which include Contract (of course!), Commercial Property News, DDI, Hospitality Design, Multi-Housing News and Kitchen & Bath Business.

To debut in the coming months are an extensive web portal and virtual events. But you don't have to wait to check out the new magazine here.

Who will be the biggest loser?

Recent snippets of warmer weather has us itching for flip flop season and ready to pack away the winter boots until next year. Which may explain why we're tickled by the idea of going barefoot next week, even if it's only in theory.

You see, to celebrate Earth Day next Wednesday, HOK is once again challenging its employees, clients and communities to  "go barefoot." Last year, HOK's barefoot challenge encouraged people to reduce their carbon footprint by altering their travel habits. This year, the focus is on waste. Going barefoot means focusing on reducing your waste footprint, thus helping to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions created from the production and transportation of products and their disposal in landfills. The goal, of course, is to introduce behavioral changes not just for Earth Day, but beyond as well. 

Leading up to Earth Day, sustainable leaders in HOK's offices are conducting secret waste audits at each location to determine how much waste is produced on a typical business day. (Do you know how much your office produces on a daily basis? Humbly, we have to think that the waste at Contract HQ is surely much more than we would guess or prefer.) On the heels of these secret reviews, the entire firm will undergo a public waste audit on the 22nd, with the goal of reducing solid waste by at least 50 percent.

Also on tap at HOK: an internal blog, guest speakers, videos, and field trips to local recycling facilities. 

How would you lighten your load? Simple suggestions from HOK include making lunch at home and use washable plates and cutlery instead of opting for takeout with disposable packaging and plastic utensils. Shelve the styrofoam cups and drink beverages from a reusable container. Review documents online instead of printing them out. Recycle as much as possible. 

What will you do to lose a little waste and lighten your load? 

A good read

Want to talk to kids about the concept of giving back? Aaron Hurst, of the Taproot Foundation, and his wife, Kara Hurst, of the Business for Social Responsibility, want to help. So, they've written the book "Mommy and Daddy Do It Pro Bono". Want to snag a copy? If you're in the Bay Area, mark your calendars for April 15 (next Wednesday): FOC* Public Architecture is helping them get the word out by hosting the first of several book launch parties.

More info on the book and the accompanying shindigs is .

*That's Friends of Contract