Thursday October 15, 2009
I think it is very crucial for a designer to understand the different kind of materials and natural resources available in the surrounding environment in order to design and create something out of the ordinary and by making it stand out from the rest. I feel that as a designer or an artist, it is better to have produced something that shows your character, a building or a drawing that shows the artist’s style and creativity. Now if we put that in an architect’s perspective, when creating a building, it would be much more appreciative if the Architect included all the other important elements that makes a building better. For example, using energy efficient things around the house, or incorporating natural materials that are found locally.
The Mountain Equipment Co-op in Winnipeg, Manitoba is a great example of reusing old materials and reducing construction waste. Green highlights of this building were the location, choosing a spot where transportation is accessible, either by bicycle, vehicle and/or transit. They have a green roof, composting toilets, and natural lighting by using more of sunlight. Therefore instead of spending more on the materials and construction, they didn’t lose any money but gained. Some of the old bricks that were there were cleaned and sold to other buyers.
Google Image
In Dana Buntrock’s Essay called, “Terunobu Fujimori: Working with Japan’s small production facilities,” it mentions how Fujimori initially wanted to use handmade objects in his designing project, and at the end he succeeded in the process. It was stated that there are 2 levels of production systems in Japan. Different segments of the market.
1.) Center – This consists of large scale sophisticated productions supported by governmental activities and major corporations.
2.) Periphery – Are small, localized production
The more I look at designs and buildings the more I feel that it is much better to get materials and goods locally rather than “somewhere” else. If we purchase things that are locally made then we are cutting out all the other processes that the materials go through. I really support the idea of making clothing that is biodegradable. This will become the future and the way we look at clothing will be different. People nowadays are concerned about having the latest fashion, but fashion only lasts for so long and then what happens to the “unwanted” piece of clothing? Donated or thrown away, it becomes another piece of garbage on the landfill. Think about all the materials and waste each item goes through before actually ending up where you buy it.
As an example, for the Natural and Human System cycle homework, I chose to do the life cycle of a household sponge and the end result is on a landfill. A small material that we take for granted to clean up spills and dirt off of our counters turns out to be something really bad for the environment. Majority of the materials used comes from places all over the world and production is usually done over seas in China. Now think about all the time, man power and resources like fossil fuels that are being used just to produce and transport this small foamed sponge to the stores just for us to use it and then throw away. It’s sad, people don’t think about what is actually good for businesses instead they focus on what is cheap and how the product would make their lives easier.
