Fireplace For Children

By Grant | Published: February 8, 2010
Photo by Grethe Fredriksen & Jason Havneraas

Photo by Grethe Fredriksen & Jason Havneraas

I am noticing a trend in masonry inspired stacking of wood scraps to construct small, organic shaped huts, first with the Meditation Hut, and now with the Outdoor Fireplace (Fireplace For Children) by Haugen/Zohar.

Grethe Fredriksen & Jason Havneraas

Photo by Grethe Fredriksen & Jason Havneraas

This latest uses leftovers from a construction site to build an outdoor space centered around a firepit, and was recently featured as one of the top 25 entries in Architectural Review emerging architecture awards 2009.

Together with the standard playground facilities we wished to combine an enclosed space for fire, storytelling and playing.
Given a very limited budget, reusing leftover materials (from a nearby construction site) was a starting point that led the design to be based on short wooden pieces. Inspired by the Norwegian turf huts and old log construction, a 5,2×4,5 meters wooden construction was built and mounted on a lighted and brushed concrete base. The structure is made of 80-layered circles. The circles have varied radiuses and relative centre point in relation to each other. Every circle is made out of 28 pieces of naturally impregnated core of pine that are placed with varied spaces to assure chimney effect and natural light. Oak separators differentiate vertically between the pine pieces to assure airflow allowing easy drying of the pine pieces. A double curved sliding door was designed for locking the structure.

Personally, I am liking this trend, both from its aesthetic point, and the fast, creative reuse of an often discarded scrap of construction.

Photo by Grethe Fredriksen & Jason Havneraas

Photo by Grethe Fredriksen & Jason Havneraas

Photo by Grethe Fredriksen & Jason Havneraas

Photo by Grethe Fredriksen & Jason Havneraas

Photo of a by Brian McMorrow

Photo of a Norwegian Turf Hut by Brian McMorrow

Via If It’s Hip, It’s Here

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R.E.X. Project: Reuse Everything Experiment

By Grant | Published: February 6, 2010

It is great to see  projects like this popping up all over the country!  Shannon Quimby is the latest TV designer to help bring attention to deconstruction, and presents it as a not only  environmentally positive, but economically as well.  She has recently completed the R.E.X. Project, Reuse Everything Experiment, where she purchased a dilapidated, demolition slated house in Portland, Oregon, and completely deconstructed it and used the materials to build a new home on the same spot.

Shannon Quimby, published author, HGTV Designer and one of the nation’s top Renew-it experts, takes on the biggest reuse project of her career -- infusing 100% of an old dilapidated home into new home construction. Her goal: share with everyone, the way to recycle and keep our landfills from overflowing with usable construction materials. “I’m determined to show that with ingenuity, reclaiming an old home is practical, fun and a potential money saver.”

Not only is the old house going to be infused into the new, but the landscaping too. All old growth trees and plants are going to be transplanted. The neighborhood history will be saved too!

She estimates that she saved around $50,000 by reusing these old materials, a number that should make most developers think twice before hauling materials to the landfill.  She made sure that the whole process was heavily documented, which is essential for demonstrating the project’s viability, and you can check out the archives of her blog to see the day to day progress.  It is also wonderful how this project and others, such as the Extreme Makeover episode we recently covered, seem to immediately acknowledge the power of preserved history and storytelling inherent to deconstruction and building with reclaimed materials.  The R.E.X Project is an amazing example of the potential and power of deconstruction directly integrating into green construction.

Via Treehugger

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VURB

By Grant | Published: February 4, 2010

vurbCities are growing, living entities, a network of people, infrastructure, and technology.  As urban landscapes become smarter and more self aware, we need to start thinking about how we want this growth to happen, and how we will let it effect out lives.  VURB, an organization out of Amsterdam, has set out to start the dialogue about the future of the interactive metropolis.

VURB is a European framework for policy and design research concerning urban computational systems. The VURB foundation, based in Amsterdam, provides direction and resources to a portfolio of projects investigating how our cultures might come to use networked digital resources to change the way we understand, build, and inhabit cities.

So far they have broken it down to Civic Information Systems, Collaborative Redevelopment, Urban Systems Literacy, Responsive Environments, and Urban Interface Policy, and they have an overall manifesto “The Medium is the Metropolis”.

The age of ubiquitous computation is condensing around us even as you read this.  The various systems throughout a modern city that you probably interact with everyday are beginning to maintain persistent memories of their own use, communicate with each other about their status, and even reconfigure themselves based on your dynamic needs.
In the same way that social networks and digital representation have had profound consequences on the cultures of print, music, and video, so too will the urban fabric of the city itself be transformed into an information layered, collaboratively shapable medium.

D-Build hopes to add this Internet of Things style of data to buildings and materials, infusing connected history with the infrastructure of the city.  As cities grow and evolve, D-Build will be the system for catologuing and documenting the existing structures.

Via Beyond The Beyond

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Microsoft Tag

By Grant | Published: February 3, 2010

Another player in the QR and 2d barcode game is a little company called Microsoft.  Currently in its Beta infancy, Microsoft Tag is a full color 2d barcode with high levels of built in customization.  A perk of the Beta status of the project is that you can sign up and try out for free, and create your own tags that resolve at the URL of your choosing.  Below is the freshly created D-Build tag, which leads your smart phone (or other web or mobile connected device with a camera) to the D-Build website.

microtagdbuildThese are the three different variations I have made so far, including Custom, Black and White, and Color, counterclockwise starting on the left, and the software to read them can be downloaded directly on your phone by going to http://gettag.mobi/.  As you can tell by comparing the Color barcode to the Custom, the system works by checking the color at individual points in the code (the circles in the Custom barcode), as either cyan, magenta, yellow, or black (CMYK) within a certain range of hue, saturation, and brightness.  This means that beyond just underlying an image behind the code, you can make a custom graphic which contains all of the CMYK elements of the code, such as the examples below.

microcustomMicrosoft Tag is not the first, and certainly will not be the last, proprietary 2d barcode system.  Why it stands a chance of widespread adoption is the shear power of being backed by Microsoft.  As you saw in the video above, it is being used around the world already in different scenarios, and the Microsoft Tag blog has all of the current news and information about this Tag as it gains traction.  I think they are also smart to provide the generating and reading software for free during Beta, to encourage early adoption.  For more information, and to start generating codes of your own, head over to the Microsoft Tag site.

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Construction Junction

By Rob | Published: February 2, 2010

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I recently found myself in Pittsburgh searching for Construction Junction, just through the squirrel hill tunnels on the backside of Oakland, not far from the University of Pittsburgh campus, to where this seriously well run reclaimed warehouse sits. I’ve got one word. Wow! This is how to do it. Well lit, well organized, loading docks, a fleet of Construction Junction trucks coming and going, and on top of it, a great staff (all easy to identify due to their green aprons).

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As soon as I walked in Mark and Bonny greeted me, and gave me a quick download on how Construction Junction got started along with the okay to poke around. The first thing you notice when you walk in is the decorative fascia suspended from the ceiling, then how well organized the store is. The rows are numbered and there are easy to see signs identifying the different departments.

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Doors, they have doors as far as you can see, doors range in style and vintage, some with glass, some without, prices go from $25 for most interior doors up to $35 for outside doors with glass. The measurements are all written on each door and I swear I spied a 10’ tall set of pocket doors. Most everything is salvaged architectural details, tubs, pedestal sinks, trim, marble and a great collection of hot water radiators.

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One of the things that really struck me was the fact that this was a Friday afternoon, and it was kind of busy. As I walked the aisles, I asked a few of the shoppers what they were looking for, it seemed most of these folks were artists and craftspeople hunting for unique materials to make things from. Just as I was about to leave, I heard someone call out; “Hey Rob!”, at first I just ignored it, thinking there must be another really good looking guy named Rob in the store, and when I finally turn around, I see Mike Benedetti, A former student of my mine from Syracuse University. Come to find out Mike works there when he is not working on his sculptures, wow small world.

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Mike Benedetti

D-Build salutes Construction Junction and we think they are a great example of how reclaimed materials can be retailed.

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Pitch Stool

By Grant | Published: February 1, 2010
Photo by Nicolai Czumaj-Bront, at nicolai-cb.com

Photo by Nicolai Czumaj-Bront, at nicolai-cb.com

The Pitch Stool by Nicolai Czumaj-Bront is an exploration in the variation and uniqueness of reclaimed wood demonstrated through repetition of form.  Each of his stools are made of different arrangements of salvaged lumber, that are then shaped into a consistent form, creating a family of objects that are both similar and individual.

A stool exploring a balance and celebration of precision and imperfection. Combining a machining process with reclaimed wood. As the weathered and worn wood is shaped, the beauty and character from the variation in color, material arrangement, and signs of wear are exposed to produce a highly precise yet imperfect design.

While the overall form is consistent each piece is individual.

Photo by Nicolai Czumaj-Bront, at nicolai-cb.com

Photo by Nicolai Czumaj-Bront, at nicolai-cb.com

Via Yanko Design

Posted in Deconstruction, Preservation | Leave a comment

Biggest QR Code I’ve Ever Seen

By Grant | Published: January 30, 2010
Photo from DVICE.com

Photo from DVICE.com

QR and 2d barcodes are some of the systems of choice for resource locating and augmented reality for smartphones, and is most prevalent in Japan.  This though is definitely the largest I have ever seen, taking over the entire front facade of a building.

The N Building, located in the Tachikawa district has been layered with a giant QR code that, when viewed through an iPhone using special software, takes you to a designated website that displays the building’s store information.

Here is a video of the QR in action.

N Building from Alexander Reeder on Vimeo.

Via DVICE

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Unchopping a Tree

By Grant | Published: January 29, 2010

Maya Lin – Unchopping a Tree from What is Missing? Foundation on Vimeo.

If you still had any lingering questions of the benefits reclaiming lumber, and lessening the dependence on new harvest, watch this latest piece by Maya Lin.  Maya Lin is probably most famous for her design of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, and her latest memorial is What Is Missing?, a project focusing on deforestation and global warming.  The expansive project is planned on being permanent media sculpture installations, books, public awareness pieces, and more.  It is worth exploring the What Is Missing? site to see all the work that is happening, and to learn about the negative effects of deforestation, and what you can do to help.  Below is detailed information about the video.

Unchopping a Tree, part of Maya Lin’s last memorial entitled What is Missing?, debuted at COP15 during the Support REDD+ events sponsored by the Coalition for Rainforest Nations http://www.rainforestcoalition.org/eng/.
For more information on how you can help unchop a tree through carbon offset projects, please visit CarbonFund.org/unchopatree , NRDC.org/unchopatree and Conservation International at www.conservation.org.
For information on how you can support REDD, please visit http://www.undp.org/mdtf/un-redd/overview.shtml.
© What is Missing? Foundation
Produced by @radical.media
Music donated by Brian Eno and Brian Loucks
Support provided by The Betsy and Jesse Fink Foundation, Louis Bacon, Moore Charitable Foundation, and Rockefeller Brothers Fund

Via Treehugger

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John Beck Paper & Steel

By Grant | Published: January 28, 2010
Table by John Beck, picture from design-milk.com

Table by John Beck, picture from design-milk.com

The use of reclaimed materials does not need to be flaunted in a design.  I can be subtle, even hidden, only known by the builders and those they tell.  The above table by John Beck of John Beck Paper & Steel, which was recently the focus of the Deconstruction Series on Design Milk (deconstruction as in exploring process of manufacturing design items, not dismantling houses).  A nice revelation from the article is that Beck’s current limited edition series of 10 tables all use reclaimed lumber for the internal framing.

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Table by John Beck, picture from design-milk.com

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Table by John Beck, picture from design-milk.com

This goes along with the ideology behind his work and furniture.

There has been a who’ lotta talk about being green. Green this, green that. Well guess what? We ain’t green. That’s right, we ain’t green. We use water based patinas, environmentally friendly clear coat, recycle our beer cans, plant trees and help disadvantaged folks in the ‘hood, but we ain’t green.BUT, we are what used to be called RESPONSIBLE.
You see we do all that stuff I just mentioned because it’s the right thing to do, makes common sense, and holds us accountable for our actions. We don’t toot our green horn because we don’t need to. We know we do right by Mother Earth and now you do to. So lets put all this “green marketing” back where it belongs, on March 17, and be responsible instead.

You do not need to flaunt the fact you are using reclaimed materials, it is just the right choice for a better world.

Via Design Milk

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100 Abandoned Houses

By Grant | Published: January 27, 2010

Photo by Kevin Bauman, from 100abandonedhouses.com

Photo by Kevin Bauman, from 100abandonedhouses.com

Photographer Kevin Bauman takes images of abandoned houses in his hometown of Detroit in his project 100 Abandoned Houses.  He uses his photographs to explore the city, investigating his personal connection as well as viewing it as a microcosm of the trends affecting urban landscapes across the country.

The abandoned houses project began innocently enough roughly ten years ago. I actually began photographing abandonment in Detroit in the mid 90’s as a creative outlet, and as a way of satisfying my curiosity with the state of my home town. I had always found it to be amazing, depressing, and perplexing that a once great city could find itself in such great distress, all the while surrounded by such affluence.
Brush Park, on the outskirts of Detroit’s entertainment district was always an area of interest to me. For as long as I can remember the area, housing large houses and mansions, sat largely abandoned just a stones throw away from the Fox Theater, and not far from Wayne State University, the Masonic Theater, and even the central business district. How could an area that was obviously once a wealthy enclave in the city become an example of the downfall of American cities?

He has photos of over 100 houses online at this point, and he seems focused on capturing more.  Prints of his photographs are available from his site, each in limited editions of 10 at 5″x5″ for $35, with $10 going to charity or non-profit helping Detroit.  Check out his site to see the full gallery, and to contact him if you are interested in ordering a print.

A foggy morning in Detroit

Photo by Kevin Bauman, from 100abandonedhouses.com

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