Tuesday, May 29. 2012Bio Computer Germinates PlantsVia MAKE
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de John Baichtal
[via Hacked Gadgets, more pictures] Personal comment: Alexander Trevi (Pruned) presented a couple of month ago the idea of "gardens as crypto computers". What about, in addition, burrying full datacenters (therefore "clouds" infrastructure) underground, use their generated heat to grow entire fields of crops or else in the country side (or in the city side)? Even so I've no idea how far ground heat as a positive or negative effect on crops...
Posted by Patrick Keller
in Science & technology, Sustainability, Territory
at
08:34
Defined tags for this entry: artificial reality, computing, ecology, energy, science & technology, speculation, sustainability, territory
Wednesday, May 09. 2012Water vs. WorldVia BLDGBLOG ----- [Image: Illustration by Jack Cook, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution; courtesy of the USGS].
Friday, March 30. 2012NASA Perpetual Ocean: The Ocean Surface Currents around the World-----
Interestingly, the visualization does not include any narration or annotations. Instead, the goal was to use ocean flow data to create a simple, visceral experience. The data was based on a high resolution model of the global ocean and sea-ice, that is able to capture ocean eddies and other narrow-current systems which transport heat and carbon in the oceans. You can either hit your bandwidth allowance by downloading the 2GB versions at the NASA website, or watch the somewhat smaller, yet still HD version, below. Via @aaronkoblin. ----- And something similar with the wind:
Personal comment: Beautiful climate's fluxes patterns. Change their scale (to the scale of a town? a house?) and just think about inhabiting them.
Posted by Patrick Keller
in Design, Territory
at
08:44
Defined tags for this entry: air, climate, data, design, ecology, information, territory, visualization
Wednesday, January 25. 2012Gardens as Crypto-Water-ComputersVia Pruned
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de Alexander Trevi
In the front right corner, in a structure that resembles a large cupboard with a transparent front, stands a Rube Goldberg collection of tubes, tanks, valves, pumps and sluices. You could think of it as a hydraulic computer. Water flows through a series of clear pipes, mimicking the way that money flows through the economy. It lets you see (literally) what would happen if you lower tax rates or increase the money supply or whatever; just open a valve here or pull a lever there and the machine sloshes away, showing in real time how the water levels rise and fall in various tanks representing the growth in personal savings, tax revenue, and so on. “It’s a network of dynamic feedback loops,” Strogatz further writes. “In this sense the Phillips machine foreshadowed one of the most central challenges in science today: the quest to decipher and control the complex, interconnected systems that pervade our lives.”
Filling up not just a corner but the entire room, inside not one but several structures that resemble large cupboards with a transparent front, is a Rube Goldberg collection of tubes, tanks, valves, pumps and sluices. You could think of it as a hydraulic computer. Water flows through a series of clear pipes, mimicking the production line of concrete blocks. It lets you see (literally) what would happen if you change the type of cement used or increase the load capacity of the concrete or whatever; just open a valve here or pull a lever there and the machine sloshes away, showing in real time how the water levels rise and fall in various tanks representing material properties, curing time, temperature, and so on. Changes to the water level in the “measuring tube” would be marked on a graph paper — “a kind of curve,” and “these marks build schedule, which was the solution of the problem.”
Embedded in the earth is a Rube Goldberg collection of tubes, tanks, valves, pumps and sluices. You could think of it as a hydraulic computer. Water flows through a series of clear pipes, mimicking the way that money flows through the empire. It lets you see (literally) what would happen if you lower the price of bread or increase the construction of palaces or whatever; just open a valve here or pull a lever there and the machine in the garden sloshes away, showing in real time how the water levels rise and fall in various tanks representing colonial trade supplies, food riots, and so on. Attached to the measuring tube is a series of fountains that gurgles the solution to the equation.
Posted by Patrick Keller
in Architecture, Science & technology, Territory
at
10:16
Defined tags for this entry: architecture, design (interactions), ecology, landscape, science & technology, territory
Friday, December 16. 2011High-tech greenhouse planned for downtown Vancouver parkade rooftopVia Archinect ----- The inside of the greenhouse will be anything but ordinary. Four-metre-high stacks of growing trays on motorized conveyors will ferry plants up, down and around for watering, to capture the sun’s rays and then move them into position for an easy harvest. The array will produce about the same amount of produce as 6.4 hectares (16 acres) of California fields, according to Christopher Ng, chief operating officer of Valcent.
Personal comment: Robotized salads! Wednesday, November 23. 2011Growing Objects – Programming Biological Systems
Whilst we are pretty much all aware of the implications of 3-D printing as a process of making any arbitrary object at the push of a button, it is exactly what living organisms have been up to since the invention of multicellular life. Designers at IDEO have teamed up with scientists at the Lim Lab at the University of California, San Francisco to envision a “provocation” (that’s designer-ese for thought experiment) in which they explore the possibilities of exploiting known properties of microorganisms to literally “grow” the products we use every day. What is particularly interesting about these future scenarios is where we once thought about computer systems that evolve through immense network of both physical and conceptual parameters, where one influence the other as in the case of Nervous System’s process of “growing objects”, the process of printing may eventually evolve into processes of actual physical growing. These two systems, of digital creation and of the biological one may eventually merge, creating an ecology of both digital and physical networks that communicate and feed of one another.
Time to move away from mimicry? Read more on Fast Company >Training Bacteria To Grow Consumer Goods More on this topic at syntheticaesthetics.org
Posted by Patrick Keller
in Design, Interaction design
at
09:47
Defined tags for this entry: biotech, design, design (products), digital fabrication, ecology, interaction design, print
Thursday, August 04. 2011Algaegarden
Personal comment: They look like window curtains, that would possibly become darker through the summer season and lighter in winter, when there's less sun. Monday, July 25. 2011Do trees communicate? Networks, networks…Via Smart Mobs
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by Judy Breck
For a mob to be smart it needs to be able to network. The fascinating work of Dr. Suzanne Simard says that trees do just that: use networks to communicate. Brian Lamb introduces what is being learned from mycorrhizal networks in a post on his blog Abject.
Monday, June 20. 2011+ Pool / Family and PlayLab in collaboration with ArupVia ArchDaily ----- by Kelly Minner © Family, PlayLab A 30-day Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for the continued development of + Pool is underway. From the creative minds at Family and PlayLab, + Pool is a collaboration to design a floating riverwater pool for everyone in the rivers of New York City. Beginning the next phase of the project, material testing and design, the online fundraising campaign hopefully will raise the initial $25,000 needed to begin physically testing the filtration membranes providing results to determine the best filtration membranes and methods to provide clean and safe riverwater for the public to swim in. A preliminary engineering feasibility report was initially conducted by Arup New York, which assessed the water quality, filtration, structural, mechanical and energy systems of + Pool. Family and PlayLab launched a Kickstarter online fundraising campaign this month with the ultimate goal of generating enough support to prototype the filtration system by building a full-scale working mockup of the one section of + Pool. Research, design, testing and development will continue through the year in conjunction with permitting, approvals and building partnerships with community, municipal, commercial and environmental organizations. Donation levels for the Kickstarter campaign range from $1 to $10,000 with the hope that everyone interested in cleaner public waterways can get involved. Donors can choose from a variety of incentives and gear up for a day at the pool. For more information about the project and the campaign or to donate click here. Or write to info@pluspool.org. Follow the break for more details about this project and the history of floating pools in New York City, which date back to the early 19th century.
© Family, PlayLab EVERYTHING IS BETTER WITH A POOL + Pool is the collaborative initiative of design studios Family and PlayLab to build a floating pool for everyone in the rivers of New York City. The project was launched with the ambition to improve the use of the city’s natural resources by providing a clean and safe way for the public to swim in New York’s waters. As both a public amenity and an ecological prototype, + Pool is a small but exciting precedent for environmental urbanism in the 21st Century. NYC + POOL + Pool is for you, for your friend, for your mom, for your dad, for your girlfriend, for your kids, for your boss, for your bartender, for your tamale guy, for your other girlfriend, for New York City, for everyone. An offshore reflection of the city intersection, + Pool both exemplifies the dense, busy character of New York City and offers an island retreat from it. © Family, PlayLab HISTORY + POOL Floating pools have paralleled the development of New York City dating back to the early 19th Century. When the city’s elite used lower Manhattan as a resort in the 1800s floating spas were located just off the Battery. After the Civil War the huge influx of immigrants required bathhouses in the Hudson and East Rivers as many were without proper bathing facilities in their homes. In the early 1900s improved plumbing infrastructure and increasing water quality concerns closed the last of the river-borne pools, relocating aquatic leisure activities to more sanitized and inland sites. In 1972, the Clean Water Act set forth the goal of making every body of water in the country safe for recreation, and in 2007 the Floating Pool Lady – a reclaimed barge now located in the Bronx – brought back the first semblance of New York’s floating pool culture in almost a Century. Today, as the appreciation for our city’s natural resources becomes increasingly crucial, a permanent floating pool in the river will help restore the water culture so integral to New York City. © Family, PlayLab EVERYONE + POOL + Pool should be enjoyed by everyone, at all times, which is why it’s designed as four pools in one: Children’s Pool, Sports Pool, Lap Pool and Lounge Pool. Each pool can be used independently to cater to all types of swimmers, combined to form an Olympic-length lap pool, or opened completely into a 9,000 square foot pool for play. WATER + POOL The most important aspect of + Pool’s design is that it filters river water through the pool’s walls – like a giant strainer dropped into the river. The concentric layers of filtration materials that make up the sides of the pool are designed to remove bacteria, contaminants and odors, leaving only safe and swimmable water that meets city, state and federal standards of quality. PARK + POOL Its universally recognizable shape and unusual offshore siting immediately position + Pool as a iconic piece of public infrastructure. Whether as a compliment to a thriving park or catalyst for a growing one, the pool can serve as a destination for weekend visitors, an island haven for busy locals, and a symbol for the surrounding neighborhood. © Family, PlayLab TEAM + POOL After the launch of + Pool in the summer of 2010, Family and PlayLab began meeting with waterfront organizations, engineers, urban planners, environmental experts, public and private developers and community organizations to build a team to push the project forward. Likeminded institutions like The Metropolitan Waterfront Association, NYC Swim and the Department of Parks and Recreation have all been integral in shaping both the design and process of the pool itself. The + Pool team has been working with renowned engineering firm Arup New York to study the filtration, structural, mechanical and energy systems of the pool as well as the water quality conditions and regulations necessary for the project. The team recently completed a preliminary engineering feasibility report in preparation for the material and methods testing phase. © Family, PlayLab NEXT + POOL Following the completion of the preliminary engineering report done in collaboration with Arup, the + Pool team is now moving into the phase of material testing to assess and determine the best filtration membranes and methods to provide clean and safe riverwater for the public to swim in. Family and PlayLab launched a Kickstarter online fundrasing campaign in June of 2011 with the ultimate goal of generating enough support to prototype the filtration system by building a full-scale working mockup of the one section of + Pool. Research, design, testing and development will continue through the year in conjunction with permitting, approvals and building partnerships with community, municipal, commercial and environmental organizations. Related Links:
Posted by Patrick Keller
in Architecture, Sustainability, Territory
at
13:57
Defined tags for this entry: architecture, conditioning, ecology, infrastructure, sustainability, territory
Thursday, May 19. 2011Museum of Ocean and Surf / Steven Holl Architects in collaboration with Solange FabiaoVia ArchDaily ----- by Kelly Minner The Museum of Ocean and Surf (Cité de l’Océan et du Surf) explores both surf and sea and their role upon our leisure, science and ecology. The design by Steven Holl Architects in collaboration with Solange Fabiao is the winning scheme from an international competition that included the offices of Enric Miralles/Benedetta Tagliabue, Brochet Lajus Pueyo, Bernard Tschumi and Jean-Michel Willmotte. The Museum of Ocean and Surf will open to the public this coming June 25th. Architects: Steven Holl Architects in collaboration with Solange Fabiao
The building form derives from the spatial concept “under the sky”/“under the sea”. A concave “under the sky” shape forms the character of the main exterior space, the “Place de l’Océan.” The convex structural ceiling forms the “under the sea” exhibition spaces. The building’s spatial qualities are experienced already at the entrance where the lobby and ramps give a broad aerial view of the exhibition areas, as they pass along the dynamic curved surface that is animated by moving image and light. sections The precise integration of concept and topography gives the building a unique profile. Towards the ocean, the concave form of the building plaza is extended through the landscape. With slightly cupped edges, the landscape, a mix of field and local vegetation, is a continuation of the building and will host festivals and daily events that are integrated with the museum facilities. Two “glass boulders”, which contain the restaurant and the surfer’s kiosk, activate the central outdoor plaza and connect analogically to the two great boulders on the beach in the distance. The glass boulders can be reached through the main entry lobby, which connects the street level to the cafeteria and surfer’s kiosk, and but are also accessible independently through the plaza, which serves as a main gathering space open to the public. © Steven Holl At the building’s southwest corner, there is a skate pool dedicated to the surfers’ hangout on the plaza level and an open porch underneath, which connects to the auditorium and exhibition spaces inside the museum. This covered area provides a sheltered space for outdoor interaction, meetings and events. elevations The exterior of the building is a textured white concrete made of aggregates from the south of France. Materials of the plaza are a progressive variation of Portuguese cobblestones paving with grass and natural vegetation. A combination of insulated glass units with clear and acid-etched layers animates the visual dynamics enhancing interior comfort. The interior of the main space is white plaster and a wooden floor provides under-floor wiring flexibilities. Related Links:
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fabric | rblgThis blog is the survey website of fabric | ch - studio for architecture, interaction and research. We curate and reblog articles, researches, writings, exhibitions and projects that we notice and find interesting during our everyday practice and readings. Most articles concern the intertwined fields of architecture, territory, art, interaction design, thinking and science. From time to time, we also publish documentation about our own work and research, immersed among these related resources and inspirations. This website is used by fabric | ch as archive, references and resources. It is shared with all those interested in the same topics as we are, in the hope that they will also find valuable references and content in it.
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