JOYENGINE: cause sharing is cool

With Living Climate Change, IDEO explores ideas and possible solutions to what we may face in the future with new constraints on energy usage because of climate change.

“As climate change touches every aspect of our lives, how will it change us? How will we adapt? Living Climate Change is a devoted space for the most defining design challenge of our time. It’s also a place to support fresh thinking and share provocative ideas about the future.”

Here is an example, one of many topics IDEO addresses, of what we might expect from travel in the future. A proactive and reactive couple.

Chairman Ting – Bicycle wall art from carsonting on Vimeo.

Via Format Magazine

My friend Jesse Horton of Rogue Studios is a very unique and inspirational individual. He’s what I would call a near perfectly balanced renaissance waterman.  Half renaissance man, half waterman and 100% multi-talented. Jesse is currently in American Samoa where he is preparing to journey from Southern Polynesia to Hawaii aboard a double-hulled vaka, a primitive polynesian sailboat.  The journey is multi-dimensional.  Jesse and crew will be navigating celestially, in the ancient polynesian manner (without compass or GPS) and along their journey will be striving to not only come into contact with, but to bring attention to the critical conditions and dangers our ocean’s great whales are facing.

On September 30th, just three days ago, Jesse survived a near 2 minute magnitude 8 earthquake resulting in a tsunami.  Jesse was residing near Pago Pago harbor, on the island of Tutuila where the tsunami hit the hardest.  In between volunteering at the hospital Jesse managed to take some photos.  Here’s a couple of excerpts from our  recent communication, “Today we had an earthquake that lasted well over 2 minutes long and registered at nearly an 8.  In Pago Pago harbor the island was hit the hardest, and there was a significant loss of life.” and “I spent some time in the ER at the hospital helping out and was quite overwhelmed. I think most of the staff were, as nothing like this has ever happened here.  I managed to take some pictures this afternoon, and hope that they convey the feelings I experienced today.  It was as close as I can imagine it is like to be in a war zone.”  You can see some of Jesse’s pics below, and more here.

When the AIGA approached us to design and construct the award for the (Re)designAwards 09 we were equally excited and slightly dumbfounded.  We’ve always been a bit left of the AIGA, but for no reason in particular.  Perhaps it was due to creating our own free democratic creative network via the web?  In all likelihood our disconnect from the AIGA was a function of the self-taught nature of our studio.  It seems like it’s in design or art school that most designers, particularly graphic get involved with the AIGA.  Either in school or through their more agency-like employers.  Having neither gone to art or design school, or being previously employed by any sort of “agency” or more traditional firm we just weren’t all that familiar.  Subsequently we found the opportunity intriguing, challenging, and a chance to experiment a bit.  And anytime we get the bug to build and fabricate we lean on our pal Kristian Kluver (you can see more of Kluver’s fabrication work here).

We knew right from the start that we didn’t want to make 26 trophies bound for the landfill.  We wanted to keep our footprint small.  Afterall, the (Re)designAwards are focused on honoring sustainable and socially responsible work – two ideals we value highly. We set out to craft an award that was in sync with the values established and reinforced by the (Re)design Awards.  We got off to a good start with lots of ideas.  We quickly narrowed down our options to the idea of a hand-carved forest of individual native conifers stuffed with helathy seed and the notion of an easy to replicate chair or stool.  We determined immediately that either option would be built from all reclaimed materials.  The only real constraint we had was that each award needed to fit in a 12″ x 12″ x 5.5″ standard rate USPS box.

From there we strove to create a sustainable and replicable process, once again to minimize the total  footprint of awards creation project.  We decided the hand-carved forest was just too material heavy and labor intensive.  To create our forest in the aesthetic envisioned without the use of adhesive would be tricky.  And, we didn’t want to use glue.  We ruled it out and opted for the chair.  Enter Kluver.  The “chair” quickly became a stool out of necessity.  We weren’t going to get a chair into our required USPS box.  Settling on a valuable and usable object felt much more appropriate.  We knew we weren’t just wasting time and materials.

We went through a number of stool designs but none felt quite right.  It wasn’t until the idea of producing a truly flatpack design arose that things fell into place.  Kluver honed in the flatpack concept, we made some tweaks, dialed in the dimensions, collected our materials, set the type and AIGA (Re)design logomark in preparation for laser-engraving by our pals over at laser tag cartel and got busy.  Kristian created an uber-efficient production process, replicating individual panels in sequence, the 26 laser ready panels were dropped off, lasered, returned, and each stool was boxed for AIGA pickup.  We hope all the winners enjoy their new flatpack stools!!!

Drove up to Vail over the weekend…It was inspiring to see so much snow on Loveland Pass, and it’s only September. Its like we’re being forewarned for what is to come! They’re calling it an El Niño year, and the last one we had was good too.

Get ready by watching some great and film cinematography, ‘Forever‘ is being touted as one of the better snowboard film’s of this season.

Firstly, the pen in questions is a ‘Kaweco AL Sport’ (top). Kaweco was founded in the 1890s in Heidelberg, Germany. The AL Sport is based on their classic ‘Pushbutton’ design (bottom) but is now made out of an aluminum unibody anodized black.  The pen is available at hard graft® for 35 EUR (and will ship from Australia – another 6 EUR).

The pen first caught my eye as a beautiful design object, but $60 for a pen – seems pretty steep. Later that night I was reading through Nat Hunter’s ‘How to Be Green’ editorial in the latest Grafik. The piece is wonderful, and I would recommend it to anyone. At one point the subject of ballpoint pens comes up. “Fourteen million are sold ever day. They’re made from petrochemicals, probably in China… A plastic pen in a landfill will still be there in 50,000 years.” Nothing none of us didn’t know or couldn’t put together already, it just that the majority of us don’t think about the small things. Well the small things add up, and how lucky for us, we can all replace our crappy throw away pens with this German (refillable) beauty.

You could just be sensible and buy the $11 classic (plastic – but still refillable) here.

photo via hard graft®

photo via Swisher Pens

Don’t know what to make of this guy’s predicament. It’s like an X-Files case, never heard of ‘hyper electro-sensitivity’ before. Leaves you wondering what’s in store as nanotechnology evolves…

“Basically the condition fries his body from the inside out when he comes in contact with objects emitting electro-magnetic radiation (everything from cell phones to plasma TVs). Mendoza’s electro-sensitivity is an anomalous curse, forcing him to spend his life as far from power lines and generators as he can get. The medical community may not recognize his ailment, but it’s hard to brush off claims from a guy whose torso looks lightly cooked. The story will feed into the paranoid delusions of technophobes everywhere.”

1. 1. Compulsion for Creation:
   We have an innate compulsion to create.  This compulsion perpetuates our very existence.  It also potentially hinders our longevity. Our propensity to create has taken us right to the brink of sustainability. Now, as like never before, we need not only to create, but to create responsibly.
2. 2. Trust in Vision:
   The desire to create is deeply connected to our capacity to visualize the future. The ability to trust our vision is tantamount to creation. The greater our ability to visualize our ideas, the greater the likelihood we’ll bring them to fruition.
3. 3. Belief is Power:
   The clearer our vision the deeper our belief. Belief empowers us and provides a platform from which action can be taken. It contributes to our feelings of confidence. The confidence arising from belief provides power and leads to action.
4. 4. Willingness to Risk:
   With both vision and belief willingness to risk is increased. The clearer the vision, the greater the belief. The greater our belief, the more confidence we experience. Confidence leads to increased risk taking, and essentially, a heightened sense of power. The more willing we are to take risks the more powerful we become.
5. 5. Failure is Necessary:
   Failure is typically associated with a negative outcome, or the idea of underachieving ones aim. It becomes a much more valuable idea when flipped and applied to the more positive concept of suboptimal, but necessary experimentation. Regardless, of how we perceive and define failure, we must entertain the concept as our willingness to risk increases. It is from failure that ideas are honed, visions clarified, and the power of belief deepened.
6. 6. Determination Drives Progress:
   The more determined we are to improve, or offer alternatives, the more likely we are to progress. The closer our failure, or suboptimal, but necessary experimentation comes to producing desirable results, the more determined we become. Determination propagates creation and results in progress.
7. 
   7. Equality Promotes Growth:
   Progress in the context of sustainable cultural creation is anything that improves the human experience and has the potential to impact all within the realm of influence equally. As resource allocation and opportunity are brought into balance equality becomes a reality and growth begins.
8. 
   8. Strength in Community:
   As determination increases and progress is experienced, equality arises and community can be formed. Community like progress rests upon the premise of equality. As community grows, a new, reinforced platform for both ideation and creation is established.
9. 9. Value in Collaboration:
   Community rests upon and contributes to reinforced bonds between its members. The connectivity brought about by community leads to collaboration. Communal bonds are in turn renewed, and strengthened through collaboration. Collaboration increases vision, deepens belief, builds power, hedges risk, mitigates failure, heightens determination, perpetuates equality, and adds real value to work, its’ byproduct.
10. 10. Work Speaks Volumes:
    Culture comes from work. The more sustainable the production of work, the more sustainable the culture. The stronger the community, the greater its collaborative potential to do work. Work done right, be it individually, collectively, or communally – speaks volumes.
11. 11. Responsibility is Required:
    As the scope of our work grows and its impacts are felt on a larger scale, a greater degree of responsibility is required. We need not only take responsibility for the final outcome of our work, but for the entire creation process to create responsible, sustainable, culturally significant work.
12. 12. Forget About Money:
    Concern for money, while valid, has a tendency to hinder the creation and attempted execution of some of our best ideas, ideas that lead to the production of exceptional work. We occasionally need to forget about money, albeit responsibly, and follow our hearts if we’re to prompt sustainable creation.
13. 13. Honesty Breeds Integrity:
    The first step to being honest with others is being honest with ourselves. Forgetting about money in the context of creation is often a very important and necessary step to being true, or honest with ourselves. Honesty is conveyed through our actions and it’s through our actions that we convey our integrity.
14. 14. Magic is Real:
    When we’re honest, unencumbered by money, assuming responsibility, working collaboratively within our communities, promoting equality, determined to progress, ready to risk, full of belief, and looking ahead, magic happens.
15. 15. Communication is King:
    Whether or not you’re ready to believe in magic, we can all agree on the importance of communication. Communication is the interchange of thoughts, opinions, and information. To promote and create anything sustainable an ongoing exchange of information is necessary, both publicly and privately. The ability to communicate clearly and concisely is central to creating and maintaining sustainable relationships. Sustainable cultural creation can not happen in a vacuum.
16. 16. Commitment Conveys Legitimacy:
    The more committed we are to our ideas, our community, and to sharing and communicating to the best of our ability, the more open we become. Openness leads to honesty, and honesty breeds integrity. Honesty, integrity, and visible commitment collectively contribute to establishing legitimacy.
17. 17. Transparency Shows Authenticity:
    Once an individual, group of individuals, or community achieves validity, it’s the provision of transparency that shows real authenticity. The greater the access we’re provided, the more likely we are to connect, believe, promote, and be inspired.
18. 18. Trust Breeds Influence:
    Individual belief and vision are necessary to achieve communal belief and vision. The idea of individual equality is vital to communal equality. The work of the individual is as important as the work of the community. We can not have communal responsibility without first possessing individual responsibility. The community can not honestly put the concept of money aside for the greater communal good without first conveying the commitment, legitimacy and authenticity required to evoke the trust of its’ members. Be it on an individual level or a larger communal level, trust must be earned. With trust comes the potential to influence.
19. 19. Education Cultivates Sustainability:
    Possessing Influence enables an individual, group of individuals, or community the power to educate. The exchange of new information is the cornerstone of sustainability. The more informed we are, the better our decision making and the better our decision making the more likely we are to make choices that promote sustainable outcomes.
20. 20. Love is Everything:
    To properly consider the idea of sustainability and sustainable cultural creation we must address the concept of love. To love one another we must first love ourselves. To love our fellow man we must possess a greater communal love for our surroundings and all of the entities within. After all, it’s our innate ability and longing to love that initiated and continues to the sustain the creation of all those who create.

This made me chuckle…

tres birds workshop design/build uses the sun to power this home for a family.  This 1984 built home was heated by natural gas and its electricity came from a coal burning power plant 10 miles away.  Both of these energy sources are finite and pollute our air, soil, and water.  Through the use of 30 photovoltaic panels and 30 glass water tubes, this home, as of August 2009 will make all of it own energy.  The system is warrantied for 25 years by Lighthouse Solar.  With no more electric or gas bills this sun powered system will pay for itself in 7 years. The design is simple and will need very little maintenance in the future.  I would like to thank President Obama for both the rebates on the system’s materials / labor and the end of the year tax credit. These two incentives made this project go.

If you want to get off non-renewable energy, pay less for your energy into the infinite future, and create work for people like tres birds, solar providers, solar / plumbing manufacturing plants, then start making energy from the sun for your home and business.  We are out there, ready to use design and technology to solve problems and ultimately make this a better experience on earth.

There are programs such as Climate Smart, which will give homeowners loans to do such work.  This loan is tied to the property so if you need to sell your home the next owner assumes the loan.  The yearly loan amount for the home pictured above is equal to the energy payments to the old local energy company of the past.  Once this loan is paid off in 7 years this home will run itself for free.

It is time to go solar.  The sun is infinite.

reuse reclaim recycle

this is tres birds workshop hierarchical approach to Architecture / Building

3330 Larimer was an unoccupied concrete industrial storage building when we started our manipulation of it this month. Primarily, we are opening up the structure to the Sun. We started by demolishing a 50ft x 12ft opening on the Larimer St. façade to gather solar heat in the winter and provide day lighting all year. Luckily for the future occupant there are views of the Rocky Mountains through this new opening. Next, we punctured the roof with ten 2ft diameter holes to allow day lighting on both floor levels. Why all the concrete cutting, roof puncturing, and effort for day light? We are doing it for the health of the humans that will work there. 93% of Americans daily life is indoors. Sunlight is different from artificial light. It possesses the full spectrum of colors within its rays which provides us with health.

Over the next month we will be insulating the building, installing high efficiency electric powered cooling and lighting, and making the interior bright white. This once dark / energy gluten will become light and nimble. Building operations in America account for 75% of our countries electricity use. That bothers me as a participant in making buildings. We will be making our own electricity on site to run the cooling, plug loads (computers/ tools/ task lighting) , and artificial lighting for the night owls. A rooftop 20Kwh solar photovoltaic system will run this 12000 sq ft building on Larimer St.

I think this project is a good example of how we Americans should be developing this country into the future. We need to take existing buildings that are empty and not working and insert day light, heating / cooling efficiency, and energy production on site.

Revitalize what we have.

I would like to end our sprawl into agricultural lands now and minimize our use of natural resources.

reuse

Sustainability is a concept we’re very concerned with and heavily vested in at cypher13.  As designers we have an immense responsibility to create and help shape a more sustainable culture.   We take that responsibility quite seriously. Subsequently, we’re extra stoked to have been asked by the AIGA to design and produce the awards for the 2009 (Re)DesignAwards competition.  For those of you not in the know, the (Re)DesignAwards is a national design competition honoring sustainable and socially responsible work. Learn more here.  The submission deadline is July, 31.