b l a s t u l a reblog++

Been slacking a bit with my reports on the work in progress show I saw wow! months ago at the Royal College of Art in London. As you might guess I’ll keep on focusing on the works from the students of the Design Interactions department.

Meet Cesar Harada!

Together with , Hiromi Ozaki, Martin Gautron, Nasser Moustakim, Adrien Lecuru, Valérie Pirson and the help of a whole range of collaborators and experts, Cesar is currently busy developing the Open Sailing project, a floating architecture that evolves like a living organism, a laboratory for techno-social experiments.

The aim of Open Sailing is not to fashion new kinds of entertainment for your holidays but to propose a way to cope with impending natural and man-made disaster, while stimulating people’s ingenuity, fostering hyper-connectivity and sense of solidarity. To make the project all the more relevant, a map has been compiled that visualizes areas of looming crisis: overpopulation, tsunami risk, violent conflict, nuclear fallout, pandemics, global warming, etc. No place on Earth appears to be safe. Except maybe a few large spots above the ocean. And that’s the area where Open_Sailing villagers would drift and live. Each village unit is made of comfortable shelters surrounded by ocean farming modules : reconfigurable, sustainable, pluggable, organic and instinctive. The Open_Sailing_01 is about 50 m in diameter, for 6 persons.

Open_Sailing aims to ask questions about the way we currently inhabit our planet. Can we reach a harmonious dynamic state of interdependence with each other and the earth? Is this the next step for civilization? Will we disassociate our concept of progress with rigid infrastructure and metropolis?

The prototype Open_Sailing_01, currently under construction, will set sail in May 2009, attempting to drift from London to the Netherlands. If the first journey goes well, Open_Sailing_02 will embark on a trip around the Mediterranean with enhanced fleet operating and hardware system, then Open_Sailing_03 will head to the Azores Islands (Portugal). Finally Open_Sailing_04 will set sail from The Azores and drift to Brazil.

OpenSailing.net & 2012hopes.com concept and world map

I was fascinated by the mix of Archigram-esque vision, the gutsy ambition behind the idea, the sheer beauty of the installation at the London show, and that hint of micronation ambition I thought I could smell (but how wrong I was!) around the project. So, as usual, I had to ask a few questions…

Why 2012? Does it have to come so soon? Do you want to spoil the London Olympics euphoria?

Ollie: We’re not particularly in the market for disrupting athletics events!

The project started with research into fear being used as a driving force of mind control. Unfortunately fear is often used as a way of controlling peoples’ actions and justifying things that would otherwise seem irrational. Through this research, Cesar found that a lot of people are predicting bad things for 2012, ranging from the semi-logical to the outright wacky. It’s the end of the Mayan Long Count Calendar, for example, which some New Age figures have heralded as a sort of spiritual renewal, people talk about the galactic alignment and the apocalypse…

Instead of seeing this doom and gloom as something negative, we have taken the fears and used them as design constraints, designing for the apocalypse. By compiling a list of the fears surrounding 2012, and overlaying these onto a series of maps, we have created a series of safe_zones where you can be assured to be free of pandemics, earthquakes, tsunamis, pole shifts, nuclear disasters, violent conflicts, etc. The recurrent safest places are in the middle of oceans : open_sailing aims to make the ability to live there comfortably a reality.

Cesar: I hope the open_sailing is going to continue long after 2012, and actually by 2012 we may have a series of serious prototypes ready for a real sport challenge, steading an ocean for good for example!

Detail of solar oven

Is it a project you plan to pursue as your final project at RCA? Can we expect to see a more advanced version of it come June?

Cesar: This in just the beginning of the project. The bigger picture is to develop technologies and everyday life solutions for a future International Ocean Station. We have an International Space Station, we need an International Ocean Station, there is so much to discover about the blue planet! At the 25th of June 2009 at the Royal College of Art SHOW in London, we want to show prototypes of the tested shelter, energetic modules, aquaculture facilities etc. We are working on the design of the prototype at the center for the study and practice of survival technics in Lorient France. In April we are building it, in May we will depart from London river Thames and attempt to drift across the north sea escorted by a regular boat for safety. Follow us on the blog. We are still looking for scientists, partners, sponsors, funders : please contact anyone you think could be interested by this project.

I suspect that your project might have given way to feedbacks, questions and reflections during the work in progress show/ How did people react to your project so far?

Abigail: One big difficulty we’ve had so far is creating an explanation of what the project’s about, simply because there are so many different parts to it. There are a lot of people working on this project, a lot of new ideas. Some people seem to have misinterpreted Open_Sailing as being some kind of crazy ‘Apocalypse Boat,’ but it’s not like that at all. This is a very real, very exciting project where we’re developing a lot of innovative technology. Non-sustainable living; overpopulation; global warming… The way we’ve been doing life so far could do with a rethink, don’t you agree?

Sea shell harvesting pods

Cesar: Most people are very excited by the idea to live on the sea, most of them think it is impossible. The people who started to dig and understand a little bit more about our project were fascinated, there are so many different perspectives! The Open_Sailing is a floating laboratory in the first place, we are attempting to address many issues in “labs”:

- open_farming : a new way of doing aquaculture and fishing, creating nomadic open ecosystem toward a full nutritive autonomy at sea and more
- swarm_search_engine : an artificial swarm algorythm that runs on geoRSS mashup maps, suggesting safe_zones and structural organization
- energy_animal : an ideal energy module that combines solar, wind and wave power to provide renewable energy in any kind of weather
- life_cable : a connection norm, and API that enable living modules to exchange electricity, water, air, data in one single cable.
- instinctive_architecture : which is a new family of ship design that adapts to the most extreme weather conditions by changing shape and texture.

Shelter Buoys

Abigail: Instinctive_architecture behaves a bit like a sunflower. It opens out when there’s lots of light and nutrients, and closes in on itself when weather is bad, stretches to move quickly.

Cesar: There is a lot to do, we address many real problems and people are interested because we are developing all these hardware and software technologies open-source.

Can you describe and explain the vessel prototype you were showing at the RCA work in progress exhibition a few weeks ago?

Cesar: What we showed was a 1/20 model, one open_sailing “family” facility, for 4 to 6 people. From afar, it looks like a “floating bunker” surrounded by a large ocean farm (~50m diameter), lines of algae, inflatable fish nets, plankton basins, floating gardens, underwater sea-shells pods, energy_animals…

Imagine the open_sailing in the ocean, it will be covered with fouling, algae and all sorts of parasites everywhere, shrimps, hundreds of fishes swimming around it, birds in the sky attracted by the fertile drifting structure. Maybe I should describe the instinctive_architecture : when the weather is nice, the open_sailing is spread over maximizing the farming surface, that’s what we showed as a model. When the weather is bad or a danger approaches, all the modules amalgamate and compact to resist. When the open_sailing is moving pulled by a traction point, it becomes long and thin. In many many ways the open_sailing behaves like a living organism, or an adhoc mesh network. The labs I presented before are the first, we will host many more researches on site if it works well.

View of Open Sailing from 1st floor at RCA

I know you’d rather shun the reference to art but have you heard about the floating cities of Tomas Saraceno?

Cesar: I don’t shun the work of Tomas Saraceno at all, I think it is beautiful and visionary. We are sharing a very similar perspective about the transformation of the society with technology.

We are trying to make the open_sailing exist as soon as possible, so we’d rather show shorter term objectives and use a simpler vocabulary to appeal both general public and partners. Please find more details in the pdf on our website.

Have you thought about the status of Open Sailing villages, would they have some sort of sovereign independence similar to one of the micronations?

Abigail: That’s a really interesting question. In short, we’re not interested in establishing any sort of sovereignty. We don’t have a political agenda.

Cesar: We are trying to avoid problems. Sovereignty is a problem, as it implies that you’re being recognised by other states, we are people, we are not a competitive group, our perspective is more practical. Maybe our status is closer to the one of the International Space Station…

Ollie: We’re a floating socio-technological experiment. We’re part of many disciplines (art, architecture, science, etc) but not really bound by any. We’re an international team, and we don’t feel allegiance to any country or political stance - at least within the framework of this project.

Cesar: When you develop a technology, you can’t predict how people will use and modify it. We don’t want to determine how Open_Sailing is used by other people, that’s the openness of it, or a form of respect, an invitation. There must be something more advanced than “nation”. Nation is constitution, hierarchy, pride, it is slow, inefficient - we don’t have the time to be a nation!

Hiromi: We have a sort of operating system, the “swarm search engine”, it is an object oriented politic computer program, managing in real-time weather, available resources (food, water, energy etc.), people’s desires and fears (threats, attractors), moving the fleet into its optimum geographical positions and proposes a general arrangement of the structure.

Ollie: A country by definition has an intrinsic value - in the form of minerals, farming space, infrastructure, buildings, etc. Open_Sailing doesn’t. Open_Sailing is more like an organism. The whole thing is alive - it moves, it reacts to its environment, it evolves, it grows. The people onboard are its source of energy - if you take the people away, it would be like starving an animal of food. In this way we’re different to a country, we are neutral and don’t want to become involved with unnecessary legal issues… for now.

Thanks a lot for your time Cesar, Ollie, Hiromi and Abigail!

Thank you very much for yours.

All images Cesar Harada.

This piece originally appeared in Regine Debatty’s blog, We Make Money Not Art.

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(Posted by Regine Debatty in Stuff at 2:51 PM)

Originally
from Worldchanging: Bright Green

by Regine Debatty


reBlogged

on Jan 1, 1970, 8:00AM

Originally by Regine Debatty from Worldchanging: Bright Green on January 1, 1970, 9:00am

Posted under reblog art

Can we live sustainably while still enjoying our stuff? Buying better stuff (and less of it), and keeping it for longer is one realistic strategy for making that possible. But we know that won’t work with most of the stuff we have now. Whether it’s clothes, computers, appliances or even homes, throwaway culture in the developed world — accompanied by throwaway design — makes for stuff we not only don’t want to keep, but that we often can’t continue to use even if we try.

Enter a new meme: Heirloom Design. At Compostmodern, Saul Griffith proposed the concept, which he describes as design that is intended to last for generations. Griffith said he’s planning to give his soon-to-be-born son a Rolex and Mont Blanc pen … and then tell him that these would be the only watch and pen he could use for the next 100 years.

“It sounds like I’m a pretentious wanker when I say ‘green’ is a Rolex and a Mont Blanc pen, but what I really mean is, you have to design things and experiences that will last a very long time, that have been thoughtfully designed and are very beautiful,” Griffith explained.

Durability is not a new concept for sustainability. In theory, if a product stays around longer, it means that a replacement product doesn’t need to be manufactured and transported to the consumer, and the original product stays out of the landfill. But durability alone doesn’t ensure that something won’t be thrown away. Heirloom design introduces something more: our desire as consumers to keep an object because it has some meaning for us. What makes something worthy of passing down through generations?

Griffith’s examples involve heavy initial investments, which can certainly motivate someone to care for and keep a product longer. But the power of price is relative to the consumer’s disposable income, and it still isn’t everything. The point is to not limit heirloom-quality goods to certain people, but to recover an ideal of making things for everyone that will last for generations. When I spoke with Griffith about this, he suggested that designers really need to figure out how to make something beautiful and well made that isn’t expensive.

That goal may not be as pie-in-the-sky as it sounds. In a book called Antiques of the Future, product designer Lisa Roberts put forth a collection of mass-produced objects that she believes will be valuable in the future, once they are no longer in production. Many of the items are relatively inexpensive, but are well made and attractive: one of her primary criteria in selection was just that the objects have “a strong and immediate visual appeal.” Among her selections were Michael Graves’ tea kettle and Karim Rashid’s Garbino trash can (now, she notes, the trash can is available in biodegradable corn-based plastic).

What other products being designed now have the best chance of becoming future heirlooms? Usefulness wasn’t mentioned among Roberts’ criteria, but could also be a reason something is kept. A classic multifunctional tool like the Swiss Army knife may be likely to be handed from one generation to the next. Sentimental appeal is another reason something may become an heirloom, and designers can aim to create products that inspire emotional responses.

Though Roberts’ book demonstrates that heirloom design doesn’t necessarily have to be expensive, her work doesn’t focus on design that promotes sustainability specifically. Griffith’s strategy of choosing investment pieces isn’t necessarily foolproof in this regard, either: a report by the World Wildlife Fund gave the world’s largest luxury companies abysmal sustainability ratings. Even if an item is durable and provides heirloom appeal, limited raw resources and a growing awareness of the impacts of waste mean manufacturers will need to consider lifecycle sustainability from the beginning. A few designers, however, are already using the concept of heirloom design as a way to consciously improve their sustainability, like the clothing company Howie’s, in the UK, and Entermodal in Portland, Oregon.

It’s worth noting that durability/heirloom quality isn’t always the best solution for every product. In some cases, it might make sense to design something to adapt to a radically shorter lifespan, like packaging that instantly biodegrades. In other instances, if a particular product is currently harmful to the environment, a short lifespan would be useful so that the product can be replaced as soon as sustainable technology is available.

At the other end of the spectrum, in some types of products — like rapidly changing technology — the idea of heirloom design can be taken to creative new heights. It could take the form of long-lasting hardware that accepts software upgrades: perhaps, for example, a permanent computer or cell phone case, with replaceable insides (more on this topic in John Hockenberry’s terrific article for Metropolis magazine). Taking that idea to its furthest extension is a future of closed-loop manufacturing, where you could purchase only the service an item provides, relying on the manufacturer to offer you both regular upgrade opportunities and a place to return physical materials to the industrial nutrient stream.

Overall, the idea that products should last — and that consumers should want to keep them — is an important part of designing a sustainable future. Where do you see opportunities for heirloom items that don’t yet exist? Please answer in the comments!

Adele Peters is currently earning her Master’s in Sustainability at Blekinge Institute of Technology in Karlskrona, Sweden.

Photo credit: flickr/Lid-Licker!, Creative Commons license.

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(Posted by Adele Peters in Columns at 11:05 AM)

Originally
from Worldchanging: Bright Green

by Adele Peters


reBlogged

on Jan 1, 1970, 8:00AM

Originally by Adele Peters from Worldchanging: Bright Green on January 1, 1970, 9:00am

Posted under reblog environment, reblog innovation

If it looks like a fish and moves like a fish — there’s a chance it may be a robot.

British scientists are ready to introduce five pollution-sniffing robots into the northern Spanish port of Gijon, according to Reuters. If this trial is successful, the scientists hope the seal-sized robots will be used in lakes, rivers and seas throughout the world.

The scientists used biomimicry principles to design the carp-shaped robots to ensure energy efficiency, which will allow the robots to sustain lengthy, underwater detection missions.

The carp-shaped robots, costing 20,000 pounds ($29,000) apiece, mimic the movement of real fish and are equipped with chemical sensors to sniff out potentially hazardous pollutants, such as leaks from vessels or underwater pipelines.

They will transmit the information back to shore using Wi-Fi technology.

Unlike earlier robotic fish, which needed remote controls, they will be able to navigate independently without any human interaction.

Rory Doyle, senior research scientist at engineering company BMT Group, which developed the robot fish with researchers at Essex University, said there were good reasons for making a fish-shaped robot, rather than a conventional mini-submarine.

“In using robotic fish we are building on a design created by hundreds of millions of years’ worth of evolution which is incredibly energy efficient,” he said. “This efficiency is something we need to ensure that our pollution detection sensors can navigate in the underwater environment for hours on end.”

It will be interesting to see if these bots can really return results. Being able to pinpoint underwater pollution for focused remediation efforts would be invaluable, as cleaning up our polluted waters is essential to our health and the health of our marine and land ecosystems. Planetary management hasn’t been our strong suit lately, but maybe we are learning and getting smarter about how we relate to and can work with our planet.

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(Posted by Sarah Kuck in Emerging Technologies at 2:54 PM)

Originally
from Worldchanging: Bright Green

by Sarah Kuck


reBlogged

on Jan 1, 1970, 8:00AM

Originally by Sarah Kuck from Worldchanging: Bright Green on January 1, 1970, 9:00am

Posted under reblog environment

Nasa’s Aqua satellite captured this image of volcanic activity near Tonga in the South Pacific. The following day a submarine volcanic eruption occurred. The area around the eruption appears bright blue-green, likely resulting from ash and other volcanic debris suspended in the water. The brilliant white patch at the centre of the sediment-rich area may result from vapour released by the volcano. North-west of the eruption site, a serpentine-shaped brown ribbon probably indicates volcanic rock floating on the water.

This piece originally appeared in The Guardian.

Photo credit: Nasa.

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(Posted by WorldChanging Team in Planet at 1:50 PM)

Originally
from Worldchanging: Bright Green

by WorldChanging Team


reBlogged

on Jan 1, 1970, 8:00AM

Originally by WorldChanging Team from Worldchanging: Bright Green on January 1, 1970, 9:00am

Posted under reblog environment