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Erosion Mitigation Units are semi-submerged modules
CategoriesSustainable News

Reef Design Lab crafts Erosion Mitigation Units from recycled oyster shells

By Zarkon Group,

Melbourne studio Reef Design Lab has created a series of organically shaped modules from concrete blended with oyster shells to help reduce coastal erosion in Port Phillip Bay, Australia.

The Erosion Mitigation Units (EMU), which have been longlisted in the Dezeen Awards sustainable design category, were used to build a breakwater to reduce coastal erosion and designed to create a habitat for marine life.

Erosion Mitigation Units are semi-submerged modules
Erosion Mitigation Units are semi-submerged modules

Designed for the City of Greater Geelong municipality by Port Phillip Bay, the two-metre-wide EMU modules form a permeable barrier 60 meters offshore, where the water depth ranges from 30 to 130 centimetres.

Reef Design Lab opted for an organic shape to minimise the material use and maintain structural integrity while creating refuges and colonies for ocean life.

A snorkeler is visiting the EMU breakwater
The breakwater is a snorkelling destination

The design team used digital moulding analysis alongside traditional casting techniques to produce the precast reusable moulds in its Melbourne studio.

This saved a significant amount of cement compared to using 3D concrete printing, according to the studio.

Reef Design Lab also added locally sourced oyster shells, which it says makes for an ideal surface for shellfish, as aggregates in the concrete mix to manufacture the EMU modules.

The geometry of the modules was optimised to create the habitat conditions needed for marine species to live on them.

An overhang provides resting space for stingrays and pufferfish, while tunnels and caves on the module shelter fish, octopus and crustaceans from predators and provide shaded surfaces for sponges and cold water coral to grow on.

The module shelters fish from predators
The module shelters fish from predators

The module’s surface was designed with one-centimetre-wide ridges and made rough on purpose to reveal the shell aggregate and attract reef-building species such as tube worms, mussels and oysters.

Designed to be covered in small pools, the modules retain water and shelter intertidal species at low tide.

Reef Design Lab installed 46 modules of EMU in six hours
Reef Design Lab installed 46 modules of EMU

In October 2022, Reef Design Lab installed 46 EMU modules in Port Phillip Bay. The breakwater is being monitored by the Melbourne Universities Centre for Coasts and Climate for the next five years.

Six months after the installation, species including shellfish, sponges and cold water corals were colonising the modules, the studio said.

Another breakwater project that aims to fulfil engineering and ecological requirements is the Buoyant Ecologies Float Lab in San Fransisco Bay by a team at the California College of the Arts.

Off the coast of Cannes in France, British sculptor Jason deCaires Taylor created the Underwater Museum of Cannes, a collection of six large underwater sculptures, to call for more care for ocean life.

The photography is courtesy of Reef Design Lab.

Reference

A subscribe and recycle model for kids' bicycles and toys 
CategoriesSustainable News

A subscribe and recycle model for kids’ bicycles and toys 

By Zarkon Group,

Spotted: Cycling is widely recognised as one of the most sustainable modes of transportation available and a great form of exercise for various age groups, but researchers point out that at the end-of-life stage, bicycles have “a significant (and uncalculated) carbon footprint.” And as fast as children grow, so does the volume of waste they produce as they outgrow everything from shoes and clothes to bicycles and toys. 

Determined to reduce their waste, a group of friends with children ranging from four to fifteen started a circular, direct-to-consumer subscription company called Gro Club. Offering bicycles and other children’s products such as car seats, strollers, and bunk beds, the company provides equipment maintenance, home delivery and recycling. Subscriptions are available for either 12 or 18 months, and the cost is approximately 70 per cent less than buying elsewhere. Customers can opt to extend their subscription for a nominal fee, upgrade to a larger-sized product, or buy the item outright.  

Based in Bengaluru, the Gro Club says that its average cost is Rs 6,000 (around €68) per year or Rs 500 (around €5.70) per month. Bicycles are custom-made in-house, and the company reuses each bicycle frame at least five times for maximum carbon emissions savings. Every bicycle that’s returned to the company is taken apart and then reconstructed with a fresh paint job, meaning that every bike looks new when it’s delivered. 

Gro Club also offers bicycles for adults at a slightly higher subscription price of around Rs 549 (around €6.20) per month. All subscriptions include a lifetime warranty on parts and home service maintenance support.

Having completed a pre-seed round of funding and with more than 5,000 subscribers in Bengaluru, the company is planning to use its next round of funding to expand both the number of products available on subscription and its servable locations. Subscriptions will shortly be available in Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Pune.  

The subscription model is being applied to many products and services, with Springwise’s archive including options for reusable nappies and office furniture.

Written By: Keely Khoury

Reference

kengo kuma eiko kadono
CategoriesArchitecture

kengo kuma’s ‘kiki’s museum of literature’ soon to open in tokyo

By Zarkon Group,

UPDATE: Kengo Kuma has announced that its Edogawa City Eiko Kadono Museum of Children’s Literature, also known as the ‘Kiki’s Museum of Literature,’ will open to the public on November 3rd, 2023. New images have been captured of the village-like structure and its playful interiors as it nears completion.

kengo kuma unveils ‘kiki’s museum of literature’

In honor of author Eiko Kadono, Kengo Kuma and Associates designs a hilltop museum for children‘s literature. Defined by its playful geometries finished in pink and white, the museum overlooks Nagisa Park in Edogawa City, Tokyo. The design team expects the building to open by the summer of 2023, at which point visitors in Japan across all ages will be invited to experience the world of Eiko Kadono, who famously authored ‘Kiki’s Delivery Service,’ a story which, in 1989, inspired Studio Ghibli’s film adaptation directed by Hayao Miyazaki.

kengo kuma eiko kadono
images courtesy Kengo Kuma and Associates © Kiki’s Museum of Literature

inspired by the worlds of eiko kadono

Kengo Kuma and Associates draws influence from the fictional works of Eiko Kadono in the design of the children’s literature museum in Edogawa City. The architecture of the new cultural space will echo the atmosphere of the fictional town illustrated in the author’s best-selling novel. The design team explains: ‘We thought the architecture would be designed starting with small units, like the little houses that often appear in the stories of Kadono.’ These small boxes will follow the gentle slope of the hill, and will be enclosed with wide, projecting roofs that lightly reach outward ‘like blooming flowers.’ Follow the development of the project on the museum’s official Instagram.

kengo kuma eiko kadono
clustered boxes will echo the fictional town illustrated in Eiko Kadono’s Kiki’s Delivery Service kengo kuma eiko kadono
the museum is designed in honor of author Eiko Kadono kengo kuma's 'kiki's museum of literature' soon to open in tokyo
a third floor café overlooks the Old Edogawa River

Reference

A hotel with a long stone facade
CategoriesInterior Design

Productora and Esrawe Studio outfit Mexico hotel with planes of green tile

By Zarkon Group,

Local architecture studios Productora and Esrawe Studio have outfitted a Mexico hotel with planes of green tile suspended from the lobby ceiling.

Located on a hilly site in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, the Albor Hotel is part of Hilton’s Tapestry Collection.

A hotel with a long stone facade
Productora and Esrawe Studio have wrapped a hotel in Mexico with local red stone

Completed in 2022, the 6,038 square metre project contains a lobby, restaurant, bar, gym, multipurpose room, and a pool area with a grill.

Productora and Esrawe Studio pulled from the mountainous surroundings for the design.

Green tiles with a leaf-like pattern of pink and white
The stone is carried into the building’s lobby and lower levels

“The hotel emerges naturally from the terrain, framing a beautiful view of the valley,” said the team.

“The hotel’s stone base is inspired by the mountain’s interior, featuring a textured and colourful appearance.”

A hotel lobby with wooden chairs and a canopy tiled in green
Planes of green tile are suspended from the ceiling

A natural red, textured stone was wrapped around the building’s first two levels, which steps up the hill on the site.

The top three levels contain the hotel’s private rooms and have an exterior clad in a simple white material, which contrasts the base.

A stone outdoor patio with brick facade
The tile features a graphic pattern by artist Omar Barquet

The lower levels, which contain the lobby, restaurant, bar and garden, run perpendicular to the site’s cobble-stone street, while the upper-floor volume runs parallel.

Guests enter into the hotel’s spacious lobby, where the same red stone was carried onto the floors, walls and bar elements.

Red door frames open to the outdoors
The hotel contains a multi-leveled terrace and restaurant

The lobby’s double-height space is divided by planes of sea-foam green ceramic tile, which feature a leaf-like pattern by Mexican artist Omar Barquet.

Crafted by tile manufacturer Latitude, they cover dividing walls, ceiling planes and panels that are suspended from the ceiling.

The space is outfitted with wide, blocky wooden tables and chairs by Roberto González. Wood was also used for a large bookshelf that spans the length of the interior lobby.

A mixture of gray, green and red cushions were used to cover the seating, with the same red tone used to frame a series of sliding glass doors that lead onto the hotel’s sprawling patio.

A bedroom outfitted with beige textiles and walls with accents of earthen tones
A natural red tone was carried throughout the hotel’s lower and upper levels

Rectangular volumes cantilever over the back patio, reflecting the same rectangular panels used to divide the lobby.

The patio sprawls across several levels, with large square planting beds installed with cacti and other local plants by PLANTA Botanical Design.

The hotel’s private rooms were kept minimalist, with the same wooden furniture echoed in seating areas, cabinetry and a bed frame.

“The rooms feature a natural colour palette and materials such as mineral clay, local crafts, wooden furniture and natural fabrics, providing a cosy and inviting atmosphere for guests,” said the team. 

An earthen red tone was also carried into the private bathrooms.

Productora recently completed a bright blue co-housing complex in Denver, Colorado, while Esrawe Studio renovated an apartment in Mexico City with an oak “skin”.

The photography is by César Béjar.



Reference

Enlightened leaders: Beverley Gower-Jones OBE
CategoriesSustainable News

Enlightened leaders: Beverley Gower-Jones OBE

By Zarkon Group,

Beverley Gower-Jones is Managing Partner of the Clean Growth Fund, CEO of business incubation consultancy Carbon Limiting Technologies and an independent member of the UK cross-government Net Zero Innovation Board. We talk to her about accelerating the rate of net-zero innovation.

Interview

“We have a broken investment ladder. Entrepreneurs and CEOs spend all their time trying to raise funding instead of focusing on their business plans.”  

I’m sitting down with Beverley Gower-Jones at the London Climate Technology Show, and we are surrounded by the hum of founders and attendees busy networking at the various stands in the exhibition space, looking to make connections and secure business. The Clean Growth Fund stand – where Beverley is Managing Partner – has been busy all day. Unsurprising as its focus is to empower early-stage entrepreneurs with ‘expert capital to tackle the climate crisis’.  

“What we need,” she says, “is a joined-up ‘escalator’ that connects early-stage funding and money all the way to Series E and beyond. All that time that’s wasted fundraising adds three to four years to maturation, which is time we don’t have.”  

Beverley is uniquely placed to comment on the urgency of the need to get to net zero. She received an OBE this year for services to Net Zero Innovation. A geologist by training, she started her career at Shell in the mid-80s, rising to become a founder and Vice President at Shell Technology Ventures where she was instrumental in defining Shell’s technology-venturing strategic approach. 

“I remember having a heated debate with colleagues at Shell about whether we would be known as living in the ‘age of communication’ or the ‘age of pollution’. I was so strongly on the age of pollution side, and voicing it helped me to decide that I wanted to do something about it. I’m really grateful to Shell because the things I learned in the 20-odd years I was there was all about the energy industry and that knowledge really influences the way I think about the energy transition, and it is a transition. 

“It also taught me about commercialisation.” She stresses: “An idea has to be commercial and economic for a business to be able to invest in it and for it to be successful.”  

Both the IPCC AR6 Synthesis Report, published earlier this year and the recent United Nations stocktaking report highlight the fact that we already have innovative solutions with potential, but there is a lack of financing to scale them. Earlier in the day, during her talk Beverley stated that “Return on capital and return on carbon are the same thing – we only reduce greenhouse gas emissions if these technologies scale beyond our wildest dreams.”

The struggle to scale

So where are the blockers? “One of them is in the institutional investors in the pension funds not investing in specialist fund managers like the Clean Growth Fund. They tend to do what worked the year before, so a lot of that money goes internationally to listed funds where they know there is more certainty because there is a proven track record. It’s about talking and explaining the business case for investing in specialist fund managers that are looking to do sustainability investments. 

“Other barriers are the timelines of some of these investments – they’re quite long. Nuclear fusion, wave or tidal…They need consistent funding over a long period of time. It’s not a government solution – government has a role to play but the private sector has a serious role to play as well in making that change.  

“It’s about having multiple funds, and multiple types of funding at different stages. Some companies need a hybrid fund where they need equity into the core company, but they need debt to build the factory or process line or whatever it is. If you try and build a huge plant with equity it doesn’t work, it dilutes your founders and you can’t make the returns that you need to make. But building the first of anything is a risk.”  

Beverley also has universities in her sights. “We our universities need to do more – they’ve always had teaching and research at the core of their charters, and now they need to have commercialisation at the core of their charters too, with a process in place to spin that research out.”

She’s impatient for the impact of clean technology innovation to be felt. “Being a geologist by background and a scuba diver, I can really see the deterioration of the planet and it really bothers me. I was never patient, it’s always ‘faster please!’”  

But she is optimistic. “I am optimistic, I think we have to be. We do some amazing things when everyone gets together. There’s nothing more powerful than a set of individuals who decide to march together. If you look at the Mori polls, climate is one of the top three things that people are concerned about. Consistently. So it’s risen up the agenda. 

“The fantastic innovation that I see from entrepreneurs gives me huge cause for hope. There are so many solutions and opportunities.”

And here at Springwise, we get to see these new, amazing solutions every day – take a look at them here and stay tuned to hear from more inspiring individuals like Beverley.

Words: Angela Everitt

Learn more about the Clean Growth Fund: cleangrowthfund.com

Reference

Building with historical brick facade wrapping new glass building
CategoriesArchitecture

PAU places glass structure in shell of Brooklyn’s Domino Sugar refinery

By Zarkon Group,

Local architecture studio Practice for Architecture and Urbanism has installed a glass office building with a vaulted roof inside the shell of the 19th-century Domino Sugar Refinery on the waterfront in Brooklyn.

Called the Refinery, the 12-storey building is the conversion of an industrial factory into a contemporary office, reflecting how the borough’s architectural needs have shifted.

Building with historical brick facade wrapping new glass building
PAU has placed a glass office building with the shell of a historic sugar refinery

The structure is the centrepiece of the redevelopment of the Domino Sugar Refinery site, developed by Two Trees Management with a master plan by SHoP Architects and Field Operations.

For the Refinery, Practice for Architecture and Urbanism (PAU) wanted to create a functioning office space that kept the facade of the Romanesque Revival structure.

Park with restored Domino Refinery in background
The structure is part of the larger Domino Sugar redevelopment in Brooklyn

“We’re not shortchanging today for some nostalgia,” PAU principal Ruchika Modi told Dezeen.

“What was really important was this idea of palimpsest and embracing what was on the site without becoming slavish to history.”

Vaulted glass ceiling on Domino Sugar Refinery
The office structure is topped with a large glass vault

Because of the floor configuration, the original building could not simply be adapted.

The floorplan was industrial with large cavernous spaces inside, so the studio opted for keeping the historic building’s facade intact while putting a whole new building inside of it.

View from gap between the brick and glass walls
Beams attach the old facade to the new curtain walls

“It’s not a conventional adaptive reuse project in the sense of going into a warehouse building and adapting it,” Modi continued.

“There was no building to adapt. And if we were to just go in and fill in the missing floors, it would lead to a really weird, idiosyncratic, completely bizarre, you know, interior configuration.”

Trees in gap between brick and glass
Planters in the gap hold trees

Instead, the new glass building sits back from the preexisting masonry and is anchored to it with metal beams that connect to the new building’s curtain walls.

This gap allows for light to filter in through the windows and creates space for a “vertical garden” between the brick wall and the curtain walls.

Architectural details such as a large smokestack from the original structure were preserved on the facade.

Office within Domino Sugar refinery building
The gap allows for the offices to have more natural light

The studio also used some of the original structural detailing to guide the new structure, such as a cantilevered glass overlook that juts out from the gap in the facade where an industrial chute once sat and has views of the Field Operations-designed parks on the site.

The new structure consists of 460,000 square feet (42,735 square metres) of offices with floor plans that differ depending on needs and a vast penthouse that sits directly underneath the glazed vaulted roof.

From the offices, inhabitants can catch views of the Manhattan skyline across the East River or of the urban environment of the Williamsburg neighbourhood in Brooklyn.

According to the studio, the building also runs on all-electric power.

View from vaulted glass ceiling
The building sits on the East River across from Manhattan

On the ground floor is a triple-height atrium lobby with amenities spaces and retail. A replica LED sign displaying the Domino Sugar logo brand was hung from the river-facing facade.

The structure sits between two larger structures, a pair of linked skyscrapers by CookFox Architects and two in-progress skyscrapers clad in porcelain by Selldorf Architects.

Domino Sugar sign
A replica sign was installed on the exterior

The Refinery had been in operation for 120 years when it closed in 2004. The site was bought by Two Trees Management in 2012.

A six-acre park by Field Operations holds the space between the developments and the East River and has become a popular park for the local public.

Since being commissioned for the Refinery, PAU has landed a commission, along with HOK, to redevelop the beleaguered Penn Station in Manhattan.

The photography is by Max Touhey.

Reference

Boucle seats and Apparatus lights in front of an arched niche
CategoriesInterior Design

Alp Bozkurt creates “calming” interior for Brooklyn tattoo parlour

By Zarkon Group,

Arched niches provide stations for tattoo artists at Atelier Eva, located in a former Brooklyn hardware store transformed by designer Alp Bozkurt.

The Atelier Eva Grand Street parlour is the second in Brooklyn run by tattoo artist Eva Karabudak, who is renowned for her detailed, micro-realism tattoos.

Boucle seats and Apparatus lights in front of an arched niche
Polycarbonate panels punctured by arched niches line the interior of Atelier Eva’s Grand Street studio

“Created with an ambitious vision to reimagine tattoo culture following Eva’s own experiences feeling uncomfortable and unsafe as a woman in her early work environments, Atelier Eva offers a new kind of tattooing experience with the goal of providing an inclusive and welcoming environment for all people,” said the studio.

While her first location on Havemeyer Street was designed in house, Karabudak turned to Alp Bozkurt for the Grand Street space – which at 3,000 square feet (280 square metres) is almost twice the size.

Arched niche with a mirrored back and totem-like sculptures
The arches reveal details of the original building, which was formerly a hardware store

The building dates back to 1895 and was originally constructed as a hardware store, occupying a single story space that extends 115 feet back from the street facade.

Original features such as large roof trusses, skylights and brick walls were all restored and highlighted during the renovation work.

A pink-concrete table shrouded by a sheer curtain
A pink-concrete table used for tattoo consultations is shrouded by a sheer curtain

The trusses are painted black, drawing the eye up to the ceiling, while the remaining structural elements are whitewashed for a clean look.

“A distilled material palette is deployed to create a warm and calming environment from otherwise industrial materials retaining the building’s original ethos,” said Bozkurt.

Row of arched niches with tables and cabinets tucked inside
In the main space, the arched niches provide areas for the tattoo artists to store their equipment

Wrapping the perimeter of the interior are translucent polycarbonate panels that sit a few inches in front of the brickwork, unifying the sequence of spaces.

All the way around, arches puncture the panels to frame original corbeling, and reveal other historic elements.

A planter with a small tree and water feature
A planter is positioned in the centre of the otherwise sparsely populated space

In the front of the studio, beside the floor-to-ceiling glass facade, one arch provides a backdrop for a seating area with boucle-covered chairs, and pendant lights by Apparatus above.

Behind a pink-concrete reception counter is a consultation area, shrouded by a sheer curtain suspended from a curved metal track.

“Visitors are offered glimpses of activity in the studio flooded by natural light while the artists and their clients maintain privacy,” Bozkurt said.

The group of artists offering a range of tattoo styles and piercings work in the large space beyond, where each is allocated a station aligned with an arch.

Pink concrete furniture either side of a seating area
Pink concrete is also used for the reception counter and other furniture

Foldable padded tables for clients to lay on, stools for the artists and cabinets for storing equipment all tuck neatly into these niches when not in use.

The open space – which also hosts creative gatherings and events – is sparsely populated, other than a central pink-concrete planter that matches the consultation table and the counter.

Exterior view of Atelier Eva studio on Grand Street, Brooklyn
The location on Grand Street is Atelier Eva’s second in Brooklyn

Together, Bozkurt’s interventions create “a carefully choreographed sequence of experiences through varying degrees of transparency offered by various design elements”.

Other tattoo parlours with unconventional interiors include a minimalist space in Kyiv with holes slashed through its walls, a stark monochromatic space in New York and a studio in Paris featuring curtains printed with Hieronymus Bosch paintings.

The photography is by Atticus Radley.



Reference

Nokia and iFixit G22 repair kit
CategoriesSustainable News

The design industry needs to let go of its obsession with the new

By Zarkon Group,

If design is about solving problems we need to start questioning whether new products and furniture are always the answer, writes Katie Treggiden.

“What’s new?” is often the first question a journalist asks of a design brand when stepping onto their stand at a trade show or beginning an interview.

Annual stylistic tweaks have driven unnecessary upgrades to cars since the concept was introduced by General Motors in 1923. The emergence of pre-packaged food and disposable drinks bottles in the mid-20th century enabled people to buy instead of make, replace instead of repair, and reclassify objects and materials as waste, rather than holding on to them as resources. This made ordinary people feel rich, fuelling an insatiable desire for the new.

There has already been a real shift towards designers using waste or “second-life” materials

In her 1999 book Waste and Want: A Social History of Trash, Susan Strasser coined the term “the veneration of newness”. It is a phenomenon that emerged in 1950s America, ushering in the throwaway culture that came to define the second half of the 20th century and continues today with fast fashion, fast furniture and even fast tech.

It’s time for change. The design industry needs to let go of its obsession with the new and instead start venerating the patina of age, and lead the transition to a circular economy.

The second tenet of the circular economy, as defined by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, is to “keep materials and objects in use”. There has already been a real shift towards designers using waste or “second-life” materials and talk of “design for disassembly”. We’ve started to get our heads around the idea of keeping materials in use, but what about the objects themselves?

Fashion might have led the design industry towards “fast furniture”, but it’s also leading the way back towards repair. British brand Toast now employs as many repair specialists as it does designers, and not only offers clothes-swapping events and repair services, but also Toast Renewed – a collection of repaired clothes and home accessories.

The pieces cost more than their original RRP, adding value to stock that would have once been destined for outlet stores and demonstrating a business model for repair. “As a matter of integrity, brands have a responsibility to incorporate repair, rental or resale into their business models,” said Toast’s Madeleine Michell. “These steps come with challenges, but they are essential for a transition towards a more circular system.”

We need to start questioning whether new products and furniture are always the answer

Raeburn is another fashion brand built on circular principles. It was launched in 2009 with a collection of eight garments made from a single pilot’s parachute and has continued the themes of reuse and repair to this day. “It’s apparent that repair and mending is becoming part of the mainstream again,” founder Christopher Raeburn told me. “I’d like to think that the future will see repair celebrated as it used to be, but it’s also important that this comes in tandem with better product design.”

A handful of product and furniture brands are starting to take note. TAKT launched Spoke (pictured), a sofa that is designed for repair, during Copenhagen’s 3 Days of Design in June. “The change we need is to design products that have exposed, visible fixings that can be operated with simple, accessible tools – if tools are required at all,” said its designer Tørbjorn Anderssen. “We need to ensure that recyclable mono-materials are used wherever possible and we need to provide customers with spare parts that extend the life of products.”

If design is about solving problems, perhaps we need to start questioning whether new products and furniture are always the answer. “We don’t make lights, we find them” is the strapline of Skinflint – a certified B Corp that has saved more than 50,000 vintage lights from landfill.

The brand salvages lamps from the 1920s to the 1970s, restores them to modern safety standards and then offers a lifetime guarantee, repair service and buy-back scheme. “We’ve demonstrated that a fully circular approach to lighting is absolutely possible,” said founder Chris Miller. “And we hope that other leaders in the industry will follow suit, bringing change to the sector as a whole.”

If we can stop asking “what’s new?” and instead celebrate what isn’t, perhaps we can let go of a 20th-century model that is no longer serving us, and lead the way in the transition to a circular economy.

Katie Treggiden is the founder and director of Making Design Circular, a membership community and online-learning platform for sustainable designers and makers, and the author of Broken: Mending and Repair in a Throwaway World (Ludion, 2023).

The photography is by Claudia Vega.

Dezeen In Depth
If you enjoy reading Dezeen’s interviews, opinions and features, subscribe to Dezeen In Depth. Sent on the last Friday of each month, this newsletter provides a single place to read about the design and architecture stories behind the headlines.

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Mesh-grids for electrifying remote communities
CategoriesSustainable News

Mesh-grids for electrifying remote communities

By Zarkon Group,

Spotted: Following an increase in the number of people worldwide without access to electricity in 2022, 2023 is seeing a decline, with the International Energy Agency (IEA) highlighting local home solar systems as one of the main reasons for the improvement. That growth, however, is still deemed too slow to meet the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7 of affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all by 2030. 

Determined to assist the 700 million people without electricity, Okra Solar uses mesh-grids to bring hyperlocal solar energy systems to the world’s most remote communities. Mesh grids use low-voltage connections to distribute power between homes that are in very close proximity to each other.  

Any other type of network requires far more infrastructure such as cables, poles, and materials capable of containing higher voltage currents, all of which are key reasons why most of the world’s isolated communities remain without electricity. Okra Solar’s solution allows last-mile energy delivery by providing either standalone home solar (SHS) systems or a small number of connections between neighbours.  

An Okra pod is installed in every home, and the Internet of Things (IoT) capability makes sure that energy flows where it is needed in the network, which allows residents to consume more than they would otherwise generate on their own. The IoT also provides remote monitoring of the system via cellular data or Wi-Fi, and the pods are powerful enough to support appliances like freezers, power tools, and a variety of lights. 

Homeowners can make payments via mobile, and the cloud connection means that the system’s always-on monitoring ensures that homes have the required minimum amount of energy. The Okra Solar team creates a least-cost-of-electrification plan for every location and includes detailed cost breakdowns along with a comparison to alternatives such as microgrids.  

Okra Solar’s mesh-grids are being used by more than 14,000 people across four different countries, and the company recently raised $12 million (around €11.4 million) to scale further the deployment of its panels and system.  

Other recent solar power innovations in Springwise’s archive include the repurposing of old EV batteries for off-grid solar energy and a rent-to-own solar panel programme that makes renewable energy far more accessible.

Written By: Keely Khoury 

Reference

Warming Up: Florida’s New Wave of Breezy and Resilient Architecture
CategoriesArchitecture

Warming Up: Florida’s New Wave of Breezy and Resilient Architecture

By Zarkon Group,

Architects: Want to have your project featured? Showcase your work through Architizer and sign up for our inspirational newsletters.

Migration has long transformed Florida’s landscapes and architecture. In the last two years alone, more than 600,000 new residents came from other parts of the United States, and 175,000 people from other countries. Without this influx, Florida would not be growing. This mix of new people, cultures and ideas has continuously shaped design in cities across the state.

As an evolution of Florida’s vernacular structures, this new architecture is also a response to the state’s humid, subtropical climate. From early chickee (homes) by Seminole tribes to St. Augustine’s Gilded Age buildings to the present, architects have continued designing in respond to local conditions and aesthetic traditions. Increasingly, new civic and cultural buildings pay careful attention to the building envelope, materials and ventilation. Designed to make an impact, the following projects represent this wave of iconic architecture found across the Sunshine State.

L. Gale Lemerand Student Center | Daytona State College

By ikon.5 architects, Daytona Beach, FL, United States

ikon.5 designed the 74,000-square-foot L. Gale Lemerand Student Center at Daytona State College as a landmark on the Floridian shoreline. In their own words, the project “establishes an iconic presence to the campus” along the main arterial road connecting Daytona beach with the rest of Florida. The team’s approach takes the form of a curving stone and bronze wall with two outreached arms forming a welcome lawn at the campus entry.

As the team notes, rising from the center of the wall is a bronze portal framing the opening to the student center and giving passage to the main quadrangle and campus beyond. Internally, a three-story commons overlooks the quadrangle and serves as the campus living room. Custom bronze perforated solar screens help limit glare, while a ventilated bronze rain screen reduces heat gain in the harsh Florida sun.

Florida Polytechnic University

By Santiago Calatrava, Lakeland, FL, United States

Designed at the intersection of engineering and architecture, this project creates a continuous canopy around the structure. Calatrava’s first building at Florida Polytechnic University, it was also named best in steel construction by AISC. The 160,000-square-foot (14,865-square-meter) IST Building opened as part of an institution hoping to give “physical representation to man’s highest aspirations.” The campus was being developed with the IST as its starting point.

Calatrava stated that the “building will be an iconic symbol of the university; visible from Interstate 4 and Polk Parkway, as well as from the campus entry, which is located south of the central lake.” For the masterplan, an elliptical vehicular ring road, lined by tall palms, segregates vehicular traffic from the core of the campus. Administrative, academic, residential and other support facilities are placed within a grid around the central lake and complete the campus core.

Florida International University School of International and Public Affairs

By Arquitectonica, Miami, FL, United States

Arquitectonica’s approach at Florida International University was to create a mixed-use building that brings people together. The 57,085-square-foot (5,300-square-meter) structure includes classroom, office and auditorium programming on the edge of a lake on the university campus. Formally, the exterior walls of the five-story post tension concrete building are of sand-blasted precast concrete, and the structure also includes an extensive green roof.

The auditorium acts as a focal point of the building. Its presence and function are evident from the exterior, as the large angular cantilevered form projects upward and outward from the lobby. The angles of the auditorium’s exterior follow the lines of the seating inside. The five-story tower opposite the auditorium has two large classrooms at the ground floor, with terrace access. Above are classrooms of various sizes, graduate study suites and language labs.

Perez Art Museum Miami

By ArquitectonicaGEO and Herzog & de Meuron, Miami, FL, United States

The PAMM building was designed by Herzog & de Meuron to express the raw material of concrete in its many forms. Due to its proximity to the water, the museum was lifted off the ground for the art to be placed above storm surge level. The team then used the space underneath the building for open-air parking, exposed to light and fresh air that can also handle storm-water runoff.

In contrast, the native plants been chosen by ArquitectonicaGEO display the raw materials of the landscape as complement and contrast to the geometric architecture of the building. The original project concept of formal hanging gardens was expanded to include the use of native plant material, in conjunction with systems to capture rain water. Rather than being an isolated “jewel box” for art lovers and specialists, the museum provides comfortable public space.

Mori Hosseini Student Union | Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

By ikon.5 architects, Daytona Beach, FL, United States

The student union building at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University is an expression of its mission to teach the science, practice and business of aviation and aerospace. Located at the front door to the campus, the building’s gently soaring form expressing flight was designed to form an iconic identity for the University and embody the student values of fearlessness, adventure and discovery.

Internally, the 177,000-square-foot (16,445-square-meter) student union building is an aeronautical athenaeum combining social learning spaces, events, dining and the university library. A soaring, triple height commons anchors and integrates the collaborative social and learning interiors. Wrapping this space and open to it are lounges, dining venues, group study rooms, clubs and organizations, career services and the university library as well as an event center, creating a “city within a city.”

The Center for Asian Art at the Ringling Museum of Art

By Machado Silvetti, Sarasota, FL, United States

This iconic structure is a renovation and addition to a historic museum at Florida State University Sarasota. The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art features both a permanent collection and temporary exhibition galleries. Now governed by Florida State University, the Museum establishes the Ringling Estate as one of the largest museum-university complexes in the United States. The Asian Art Study Center is an addition and ‘gut renovation’ and to the West Wing galleries on the southwest corner of the Museum complex.

Connecting and making its own statement, the renovation converts approximately 18,000 square-feet (1,675-square-meter) of existing gallery space from temporary exhibition space to permanent galleries for the museum’s growing Asian collection. A 7,500 square-foot (695-square-foot) addition houses new gallery space and a multi-purpose lecture hall. The addition’s façade is composed of deep-green, glazed terra cotta tiles that address the client’s requirement of a new monumental entrance.

Brillhart House

By Brillhart Architecture, Miami, FL, United States

Designed for the architects themselves, this elevated, 1,500-square-foot (140-square-meter) house provides a tropical refuge in the heart of Downtown Miami. The house includes 100 feet of uninterrupted glass spanning the full length of both the front and rear façades, with four sets of sliding glass doors that allow the house to be entirely open when desired. Also included is 800 square feet (75 square meters) of outdoor living space, with front and back porches and exterior shuttered doors for added privacy and protection against the elements.

As Brillhart outlines, each design decision was organized around four questions: what’s necessary; how can they minimize impact on the earth; how do they respect the neighborhood; and what can they really build? Some answers came from the Dog Trot style house, which has been a dominant image representing Florida Cracker architecture for over a century. The glass pavilion typology and principles of Tropical Modernism also offered direction.

Phillip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science

By Grimshaw Architects, Miami, FL, United States

Grimshaw’s 250,000-square-foot (23,225-square-meter) facility brings together an aquarium, planetarium and science museum onto one campus in downtown Miami’s Museum Park. Taking advantage of the city’s sunshine, ocean breezes from nearby Biscayne Bay and views to a growing downtown skyline, the architecture of the museum furthers Miami-Dade County’s cultural offerings in a contemporary building. For the enclosure, the bar-shaped buildings of the North and West Wings are clad in a faceted, pixelated geometrical texture.

Grimshaw’s response to the project brief resulted in a complex of four buildings situated in an open-armed stance, inviting visitors to walk amongst them and opening up the building to the outdoors. An open-air atrium threads between the buildings connecting them to one another and creating a dynamic environment that directly connects the community to the experience of the outdoors and the city around them. The shapes of each individual building are dynamic and varied, sculpted to take advantage of filtered light and breezes.

The Dalí Museum

By HOK, Saint Petersburg, FL, United States

The Dalí Museum was designed to house the world’s most comprehensive collection of Salvador Dalí’s art outside of Spain. The design challenge was to create an affordable, iconic building symbolic of the Spanish painter’s work. The three-story museum is on a bayside site along St. Petersburg’s downtown waterfront. The dramatic envelope balances the exhibition and protection of the priceless masterpieces within a simple, powerful aesthetic.

A “treasure box” shelters the 2,000-piece collection from potential Category 5 hurricane winds and storm surges. The design opens up the 18-inch-thick concrete walls with a free-form glass geodesic structure that intrigues visitors while bringing daylight and bay views into public spaces. The 75-foot-tall geodesic glass “Enigma” and 45-foot-tall “Igloo” are formed by 1,062 undulating faceted glass panes, with no two exactly alike.

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