New Design Coming Soon!
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Monday, 22 June 09 - 04:03 PM (GMT -06:00) By Joshua Foss in Other |
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Hey folksies,
Bear with the site maintenance for a couple days as I am having the site redesigned... The new look will be funky fresh and have a much more user friendly archive section where old articles can be easily accessed. Here's a little teaser!
oooh, yeah... that's the hotness!
We're looking to go live within the next several days, then it's game on for more of the good, green stuff!
Thanks!
-j
See You Toemorrow
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Tuesday, 16 June 09 - 09:46 AM (GMT -06:00) By Joshua Foss in Fashion |
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I just scored me a sweet pair of vegan kicks by Simple from Fast and Furless in Minneapolis... these puppies, called the Toemorrow, are the bees knees as they feature all the good stuff you'd want wrapped around your footsies... check out this lineup of all-natural, animal free materials:
A pretty stylin' pair of kicks to boot! I dig the industrial, rawish sort of vibe the Toemorrow puts off... there's not a straight line or a clean stitch on the thing which actually highlights the innovative materials.
Let's take a peak at some of these said materials:
- Pesticide-free hemp sneaker... natural, durable fabric
- Water resistant Rubbahyde made from organic cotton and all natural latex
- Water-based adhesives hold the shoe together, no petroleum
- Bamboo linings, moisture wicking and rapidly renewable
- Foot form inserts are made from post consumer recycled paper
- Sole is natural latex and crepe rubber
Simple has been steering the ship of sustainable footwear for a while now... their stereotypical anti-stereotype brand offers 'good shoes and big does of reality.' They enforce strong guidelines of ethics for their supply chain, ensuring that every aspect of their shoes' production is healthy, fair and environmentally friendly. Do yourself a fave and check out their site for their entire product line.
To wind things down, here's a snapshot of yours truly wearing the Toemorrow with pride in my apt... my foot looks happy, doesn't it?
-j
Dazzling Dublin Development
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Friday, 12 June 09 - 06:06 PM (GMT -06:00) By Joshua Foss in Building |
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Situated amongst the sprawling suburbs of Dublin, Ireland lies a new development that is capturing its fair share of international attention. The 15-acre Elm Park mixed-use project designed by Bucholz McEvoy Architects is helping to redefine how density can be successfully brought into areas that are predominantly spread out. Featuring 3 office buildings, health care and fitness centers, a restaurant, hotel and 400 apartment units, the Elm Park development packs a lot of punch... in all, its density is six times that of its surrounding area.
photo via bmcea.com
A huge benefit of high density is low energy consumption. Tenants share walls, minimizing their exposure to the elements. Active systems were utilized to cut Elm Park's utility bills, but before those were implemented passive means were considered. Each building was oriented on a north-south axis to catch westward winds, passively cooling the interiors with natural ventilation. Residential units, as pictured above and below, received their own balcony for personal ventilation control and shading.
Elm Park's architecture is progressive and diverse, engaging its multi-use needs with modern sensibilities. Prefabricated steel assemblies and laminated timbers provide the majority of the aesthetic weight while offering structural support. Glazed windows help bring ample natural light into the heart of each building while neutrilizing glare.
The design team also placed a strong emphasis on maintaining open space for residents and workers. 900 parking spaces were built below ground, opening up the street level for lawns and pavilions that absorb rainwater.
There's a magnitude of attention being focused on the suburbs right now with many people feeling that they're a lost cause. The carbon footprint of a suburban lifestyle is astronomical compared to urban alternatives, relying heavily upon polluting fossil fuels for survival. Homes are oversized, spread out and far from accessible resources. Projects like Elm Park are important experiments in revitalizing areas that are stretched thin and carbon intensive. Organizing mass transit to city centers becomes significantly easier and more effective with a suburban hub. Bordering neighborhoods gain a destination that they can walk to for food, entertainment, or work. Pretty much everyone wins, and such is the power of good design.
Pictures via Michael Moran
-j
Say, That's a Fine Woolly Pocket!
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Sunday, 07 June 09 - 06:45 PM (GMT -06:00) By Joshua Foss in Design |
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I have yet to meet a person who doesn't like plants... and if you come across someone who says they aren't fans of our foliage friends, tell them that they should hold their breath for the rest of their lives, because that's what life would be like w/o them!
Bringing vegetation into our built environment is great for several reasons... 1. Plants are beautiful and create dynamic design elements. 2. They are great air filters. 3. I can't think of a 3 right now, but 1 and 2 are reason enough to get green in the literal sense! To help us beatify and purify our homes is the Woolly Pocket Garden Company... they have an incredible line of planters that can be applied traditionally on a floor or defy gravity with wall clinging capabilities.
Pictured above is the Woolly Wally Five, over nine feet of lateral planting opportunity. It features five 22" wide pouches that can be lined for indoor use. The Woolly Five sells for $143, which is a pretty incredible ratio of value vs. visual awesomeness.
If you're not cool enough to put plants on your wall, you can pick up one of many traditional floor planters, like this Woolly Patch pictured above. It costs $45 and like all other Whoollys is handmade here in the US of A from 100% recycled plastic bottles that have been industrially felted. For interior uses, an optional liner made of 60% recycled plastics can be purchased with each product to protect furniture, record players, your Beanie Baby collection, etc.
Here's a before and after application that might inspire you to get creative in your own home:
Pretty fresh, eh? I certainly am enthused to snag a couple Pockets for my own abode. Vertical gardens, or living walls, have been on my mind for a couple years and can now fit within my budget.
If the B & A shown above aren't quite dramatic enough for you, check out this courtyard full of Woolly Pocket products!
What's stopping you from creating your own little Garden of Eden, complete with a gaggle of naked 20 somethings? Nothing now, my friends! If you do create a courtyard as rockin' as this... A. Please invite me over for an afternoon mimosa and B. Watch out for talking snakes!
photos via Woolly Pocket Garden Company.
-j
Green Design Summit, oh Yeah!
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Sunday, 31 May 09 - 09:50 AM (GMT -06:00) By Joshua Foss in Other |
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I put together a seminar called 'Building Your Practice Around Sustainability,' and laid out a bunch of insider tips, including:
- How to land clients that are thinking green
- How to control a budget with green materials
- How to add sustainable ideals into existing practices
- Existing caveats of green design
- Some of my fave green products
- Eco-strategies I've incorporated in my own business
Green is steadily growing and it's here to stay... sitting on the sidelines and waiting for it to come to you is not gonna get 'er done. This summit offers some great tools for designers looking to separate themselves from the pack.
More info HERE.
-j
Smart Hypermiling
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Tuesday, 26 May 09 - 03:29 PM (GMT -06:00) By Joshua Foss in Transit |
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Have you ever been in a hurry to get somewhere and you're stuck behind a car that drives at a snails pace? You know, the car that seem to taunt you with their slower-than-molasses acceleration... incredibly infuriating, right? I mean, get the hell off the road! This is 2009... people have stuff to do, places to be!... I hate to break it to you folkies, but I'm the guy pissing you off!!! I've been experimenting with this thing called 'Hypermiling' and I'm pretty much hooked!
Hypermiling is a method of maximizing a car's gas mileage by making skillful changes in the way we drive. Basics like fully inflated tires, clean air filters, slow acceleration, not running the AC, and minimized braking can go a long ways in increasing a car's fuel efficiency... more hardcore things like drafting behind trucks, driving 50 in a 75, over inflating tires to twice their recommended specifications, and screaming around corners to avoid losing momentum have been utilized to drastically improve mpg's, but are not always the safest or most 'legal' things to do.
So I recently put hypermiling to the test! I used my last tank of gas as an experiment to see how much extra mileage I could tack on with basic (and legal) driving alterations. Below is the story...
This is my chariot, parked in front of my ma's place in MN.
I've had my lil red rig for almost a year now, and I love it! The Smart is unbeatable in the city, and has actually impressed me on the open road as well. I've found that I average between 36 and 38 real world mpgs, and most of that is city driving.
I instantly found that hypermiling is far from mainstream... the majority of people's driving habits are incredibly inefficient and erratic, and this experiment made this much more evident. I can't count the number of times people would scream past my slowly accelerating car waving the fist of fury with a look of pure evil in their eyes... only to slam on their brakes and wait at the next signal! I would slowly keep my pace and do everything in my power to not touch the brakes and lose my momentum, and more times than not I would catch up to the people driving like Mario Andretti!.... If I saw a red light up ahead, I would attempt to coast (sometimes switching my gear into neutral) to the signal and time a smooth transition into reacceleration... Another thing I did that was unconventional was, get this.... drove the speed limit! Dear god, it felt like I was driving backwards at times! Incredible how the flow of traffic can be 15 miles per hour over the posted limit!
I paid close attention to my fuel gauge and would respond with a defiant yelp each time I saw the fuel bar go down... I did however realize pretty quickly that I was getting significantly further on this tank than what I'd grown accustomed to seeing. Below are my results:
I could have pushed it a bit further, but I delightfully hit the 400 mile mark on the tank for the first time... the Smart holds about 10 gallons of petrol and I ended up needing a little over 8.6 gallons to top it off (the thing screams bloody murder if you're within 2 gallons of empty)... Simple math shows that I got about 46.5 mpg, almost 10 miles per gallon more than what I usually get, giving me almost 90 bonus miles for free!... not too shabby!
Now clearly I'm a hypermiling amateur... I'm just dipping my toes in the water and am doing some super basic stuff. It was interesting to discover that there are heated competitions out there that test the world's most efficient drivers against each other. The Fuel Economy World Championships was held last year in Elkhart, Indiana and some ridiculous results were achieved... One dude got 213 miles per gallon out of his Honda Insight!!! Another competition called the Insight Marathon had a driver get an astonishing 2254 miles from a 13.7 gallon tank of gas... that's an AVERAGE of 164.5 mpg! Why don't they televise this stuff?... It could be the Nascar for non-hicks!
-j
Method + Skylab Sure to Delight
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Sunday, 24 May 09 - 12:17 PM (GMT -06:00) By Joshua Foss in Building |
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Method Homes is a prefab home manufacturer out of Seattle... in years past, they've partnered with Balance Associates to produce two lines of dwellings, the Cabin Series and the S-M-L Series. Pictured below is their production Cabin near Mount Baker, Washington State, which can be rented for $250/night.... man, not much more than a decent hotel room.. bangin' deal!
The Cabin Series is packed with eco-features and the first worth highlighting is its prefab construction. I've done posts on various other prefab companies in the past, and the benefits of Method's abodes are basically the same... more control, less waste, faster production, and increased quality. Method builds each home to LEED Gold standards or higher and has partnered with several green product manufacturers to reach this goal. My buddy Joel Klippert, creator of EcoTop, hooks them up with his FSC-Certified bamboo and recycled paper counter tops. Floors by Bamboo Hardwoods, zero-VOC paints by Yolo Colorhouse, and radiant in floor heating by Warmboard contribute to Method's eco cred.
As you can see, Method is already pumpin' out some fab work. When I recently discovered that they are partnering with Skylab Architecture out of Portland on a new urban infill series, I was jazzed beyond words! Skylab is undeniably my favorite design firm... they produce ridiculously hip, award-winning work, from custom residences to commercial build outs. Their modern style is anything but cold... they pack their projects full of personality, character and life and utilize materials and textures better than anyone I've ever seen.... Let's take a peak at some of their highlights:
This is a 10,000 sq ft build out of Portland-based NORTH Advertising, which won Interior Design magazine's 2008 Best of the Year, Small Office award.
Skylab also was the mastermind behind eco-fashion label Nau's store designs.
Ridiculously gorgeous interior of the Montgomery residence in Portland.... mmm, Bertoia chairs, sunken living room, LED lighting, city views, doesn't get much better than that!
Ah yes, Skylab's Hoke residence... this might look familiar to the teeny bopper metro hippies reading this... why? this was the 'Cullen House' from the Twilight movie! I didn't see the flick, but apparently Edward Cullen, the main vampire dude, lived in this house... apparently vampires have exceptional taste!
Back to the point... Skylab's prefab infill designs for Method will be out of this world... perhaps the new bar for what residential construction can be. Both sites claim that the designs are in development and will be coming very soon.... I for one, CANNOT WAIT!
-j
Talkin' Green with the MOTO Renew
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Wednesday, 20 May 09 - 04:17 PM (GMT -06:00) By Joshua Foss in Technology |
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For starters, the Renew is the first certified carbon neutral cell phone on the market... Motorola offsets the amount of energy required to manufacture, distribute, and operate each phone through a partnership with Carbonfund. The phone's housing is made from old water bottles and is 100% recyclable. The user manuals and packaging are printed with veggie inks on 100% post-consumer recycled paper... And speaking of recycling, a postage-paid envelope is included with each Renew so it can be a part of Motorola's Take Back program to be properly broken down... good stuff!
A pretty solid holistic green effort put forth by the folks at Motorola... the savvy little talker can be purchased directly here for $50.99 or for $9.99 here with a plan from T-Mobile... who say's going green's a premium!
-j
SUST the way it is
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Wednesday, 13 May 09 - 10:14 PM (GMT -06:00) By Joshua Foss in Fashion |
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Throwing a little fash-on love your way... San Fran based SUST produces a beautiful line of clothing for the Metro Hippettes out there who want to look good AND do good. An assortment of colorful 100% organic cotton tops and neutral bottoms compiles the new Spring/Summer line... Pictured below is the India Tunic, which is a great choice for a proper night on the town AND an adventurous romp in an Icelandic cave.
photos from getsust.com
SUST has some solid green cred... they work exclusively with U.S.-based organic cotton farmers, ensuring that their money goes to peops who farm pesticide free. They also produce their clothing in factories located in Northern California... the supply chain is regional which cuts down on the distance their garments travel, and that means one thing... small carbon footprint baby!
When you wear SUST, pants become optional.
Organic cotton is an incredibly important piece of the textile puzzle... a quarter of the world's pesticides are used for traditional cotton production, which wreaks serious havoc on water and soil. Also, not many people know that when a pesticide is used in cotton, it stays in the fiber of that cotton for the remainder of its life... so if you're wearing non-organic cotton to your Bikram Yoga class where it's 117 degrees and you're sweating like wookie being waxed, chances are your body is absorbing some of those icky chemicals. Spare yourself from this scenario and pick up some high stylin' organic threadz from SUST.
-j
European Mossenger
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Sunday, 10 May 09 - 08:28 PM (GMT -06:00) By Joshua Foss in Other |
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Alright, this might be one of the coolest things I've seen in a good while... British design duo El and Abe have made a name for themselves by creating incredible art installations with unique, renewable materials... Their strongest series to date involves words and quotations composed of moss placed in unique/industrial settings within European cities.
Nourish... installed on a wall full of graffiti.
This was taken from El and Abe's manifesto:
"Of foremost importance to us is an awareness of materials. These materials simultaneously dictate their own message, and eloquently uphold our message and principles.
We aim to
Utilize readily available, renewable materials
Reuse materials/ objects
Give life to ‘expired’ matter, introducing the opportunity for cradle to cradle design.Our inspiration arises in equal measure, from the seemingly disparate landscapes of the City and the Wilderness."
There is something magical happening here with the contrast of textures... the refined moss gives its decayed backdrop new life, as if the past 100 years of neglect were intended for this modern installation... an amazing and simple way to compliment architecture that's left for dead. More information HERE.
-j
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