Spotted: Through photosynthesis, plants convert water, carbon dioxide, and energy from sunlight into sugars that they use to grow biomass. This process has been the basis of the food chain for millions of years, yet it is surprisingly inefficient. In fact, only about one per cent of the energy found in sunlight actually ends up in the plant. Now, scientists at the University of California Riverside have found a way to improve on mother nature by bypassing biological photosynthesis entirely.
The research team used a special type of electrolyser—a device that uses electricity to obtain useful molecules from raw materials—to convert carbon dioxide into a substance called acetate. Plants can directly consume this substance to grow, without the need for photosynthesis. The team used solar panels to generate power for the electrocatalysis.
The artificial system converts sunlight into food far more efficiently than biological photosynthesis. And experiments have found that mushrooms, yeast, and green algae could all be grown in complete darkness using the electrolyser-derived acetate. Producing algae with acetate was four times more energy efficient than producing it through photosynthesis. Yeast does not photosynthesise and is normally cultivated using sugars from corn. Cultivating it with acetate, however, was 18 times more efficient.
The technology could be used to create ‘food factories’ that are entirely independent of sunlight. This would enable crops to be grown in locations where sunlight is scarce, such as underground or in space. The research is still in its early stages, but the potential applications of the technology are numerous.
Springwise has spotted other innovations featuring photosynthesis including an algae-powered microprocessor, technology that supports growth through CO2 captured from the air, and a wastewater system that uses a process similar to photosynthesis.
If you are interested in learning about the future of sustainable timber construction, we have some exciting news: Michael Green, Founder and Principal of MGA | Michael Green Architecture, will speak at Architizer Future Fest this September! Celebrating his firm’s latest A+Award for Best Architecture Firm in North America, Michael will take to the Future Fest stage to present his ideas on “Buildings for a Changing World”. The virtual live talk is scheduled to take place on Monday, September 19th, and is 100% free for attendees. Register to attend Michael’s presentation during our biggest ever celebration of architectural innovation:
Michael Green is an award-winning architect, speaker, and author known for using design to create meaningful, sustainable built environments that benefit both people and planet. A leader in wood construction and innovation, Michael is a Fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada and the recipient of an honorary doctorate degree from the University of Northern British Columbia, lecturing internationally on the subject of mass timber and new building technology, including his TED talk, “Why We Should Build Wooden Skyscrapers.”
Michael serves as a government policy advisor on mass timber design and is the co-author of the first and second editions of ‘The Case for Tall Wood Buildings’ and ‘Tall Wood Buildings: Design, Construction and Performance.’
Top right: Wood Innovation and Design Centre, Prince George, Canada; bottom left: North Vancouver Passive House Plus, North Vancouver, Canada; photos by Ema Peter Photography
MGA | Michael Green Architecture is one of the most internationally recognized architecture firms in Canada. Beyond winning multiple A+Awards over the past few years, the firm has also received four Governor General’s Medals for Architecture and two Royal Architectural Institute of Canada Awards for Architectural Innovation. MGA is particularly well-known for its innovation in sustainable architecture and developing carbon-neutral buildings with advanced wood construction.
During his presentation entitled ‘Buildings for a Changing World’, Michael will explore some of the most pressing issues facing the architecture industry today. The world is evolving at a rapid pace, and architecture and construction must evolve with it in order to create a sustainable future for communities around the globe. What should the architecture of tomorrow look like? What should it be made of? And how should it be built? Michael and other Future Fest presenters will explore answers to these questions and more through the lens of some of the best, A+Award-winning architectural projects from recent seasons.
For a running list of speakers and more information on upcoming events, check out the Future Fest website, and register to receive invitations to each live talk in September:
Top image: T3 Minneapolis by MGA | Michael Green Architecture, Minneapolis, MN, A+Award Finalist in the Commercial Mixed Use category; photo by Ema Peter Photography
Environmental ethics has been increasingly the concern of the built environment industry. When constructing buildings and styling interiors, more and more attention is paid to sustainably sourcing and recycling materials. Eco-friendly design does not limit products to just a few looks, nor does it compromise their functionality. These four beautiful A+Awards winning products will add tasteful texture to your designs while lessening the environmental impact of your project.
The Embossed Acoustic Panel Series from Woven Image, distributed in the USA by Kirei Winner, 2021 A+Product Awards, Acoustics
Acoustic panels are useful not only for workplaces and auditoriums but in domestic scenarios as well. Whether in a home office or a family theater, acoustic panels make sounds and voices sharper by reducing undesirable reflections on hard surfaces. They also insulate your room from external noises.
The Embossed Acoustic Panel Series by Woven Image offers high-quality acoustics together with a range of choices for styling. There are three types of patterns to choose from: the linear, simplistic ZEN, the rhythmic GEM, and the origami-inspired ION, each comes in 12 colors.
The panels are made from over 60% recycled PET and fiber while manufactured in a carbon-neutral production facility that utilized solar energy. The product has a low VOC emission rate of 0.023mg/m²/hr and a good Noise Reduction Coefficient of 0.75. It is also easy to trim that a utility knife can cut it through. The subtle light and shadow created by the 3D patterns make the panels an addition to interior styling.
Silestone® Sunlit Days by Cosentino Group Winner, 2021 A+Product Awards, Hard Surfacing, Tiles and Stone
Quartz surfaces are popular in home designs for their stone-like appearance, high versatility, durability and accessibility, especially when compared to natural stones like granite and marble. They are cast from a mixture including small pieces of quartz, resins, pigments, etc. Bonded by resins, the finished surface comes sealed and flat, making them easy to clean. The mixture is made in a way that allows it to be colored as needed, ensuring that owners will not have to make compromises on home styling. AT present, Quartz surfaces from the Silestone® Sunlit Days series are available in white, light grey and red, blue, and green in low saturation. The soothing colors and clean shapes give interiors a modern looking.
Quartz surfaces have the appearance of stones but are more eco-friendly than natural stones. The Sunlit Days series provide carbon-neutral quartz surfaces that incorporate extra strategies to cut the material’s carbon footprint. The production uses 99% reused water, 100% renewable electric energy and a minimum of 20% recycled raw materials in its composition. Furthermore, the brand has committed to offsetting GHG emissions through the Voluntary Carbon Market. Being environmentally aware does not limit our choice of furnishing and surface texturing to synthetic materials that comprise recycled resources. Instead, natural materials can also be consumed sustainably.
Brace by Davis Furniture Winner, 2021 A+Product Awards, Contract Furniture
Brace from Davis Furniture is one of this kind. Each Brace table is made from a tree at the end of its lifecycle, leaving plenty of time for the material to store carbon during its growth. Furthermore, the brand has committed to planting two saplings for each tree they harvest. In this way, the sourcing is sustainable and the European forest is never overly exploited by the product’s production.
The solid wood table comes in various sizes and shapes to accommodate a range of events. For example, a long, rectangular table can be perfect as a home office desk while a small, round one can serve an intimate meal for two people, etc. The sleek table top is supported by the iconic legs. Each leg splits into two as it goes up, creating a slim triangular space within itself. More than 50 types of selectable coatings on each Brace table allow the table different colors and textures that best suit the home design. The design celebrates the uniqueness of the natural material with the technological precision of modern design.
Koroi Side Table by MAJA Winner, 2021 A+Product Awards, Residential Furniture
The Koroi Side Table also embraces the characteristics of natural materials. Each Koroi Side Table is handcrafted from solid wood by artisans in Bangladesh with a resource-efficient approach. Burls, deep cracks and other features of the tree remain visible from the smoothened surfaces. Comprising two geometric forms, the design of Koroi sets a subtle balance between fragile and sturdy. Althought the connection between the two parts looks delicate — precarious, perhaps — the piece’s solidity is guaranteed by the thick wood. The two parts are cut at opposing grains, giving them contrasting textures and different reflectiveness.
Universal Design, the practice of creating environments equally usable by anyone regardless of physical circumstance, is increasingly gaining traction among design professionals. As this practice requires designing beyond minimum standards set by codes that seasoned practitioners have spent decades learning to master, a change in approach must come from the bottom up. That’s why the University of Arizona’s College of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture hosts an annual Universal Design awards program for architecture students with Ascension Wheelchair Lifts.
Now in its second year, the program aims to instill in future architects an inclination to envision how the spaces they design will be used. “The ability to imagine spatial experience is essential in architecture,” Teresa Rosano, one of the program’s studio professors, said. “Doing so can hone our awareness of all our senses and also serve as a practice in empathy – a skill that transcends any discipline.”
For this year’s program, students were asked to design an arts center on a steeply sloped site in Bisbee, Arizona, a town defined by elevation changes. Public staircases, emblematic of the challenges facing the implementation of Universal Design, are famously utilized by the town to connect vertically separated streets, including on the site chosen for the competition. Here’s a look at the winning designs.
“Bisbee Mercado” by Alexis Campion
First place honors went to Alexis Campion’s Bisbee Mercado, an open-air space for local artisans to make and sell their work. Neatly organized around a three-story atrium, each floor opens to the exterior directly at grade, connecting to an adjacent commercial district, city park and residential neighborhood without level changes.
Campion also considered sensory concerns caused by the site’s slope. “Digging into the earth can create an environment similar to a basement,” she said. “To resist this, I split the space down the center to create an atrium bringing light into all the spaces.”
“Bisbee Art Center” by Andy Demetriou
Inspired by an existing graffiti-covered wall on the site, Andy Demetriou’s Bisbee Art Center was awarded the second place prize. Demetriou’s design kept the existing wall in place, expanding it into an ever-evolving outdoor gallery. “Over time, the graffiti changes into new designs and layers on top of each other,” he said.
The outdoor gallery is distributed onto several levels connected by a simple, intuitive system of ramps. These levels are all aligned with the levels of an adjacent, indoor multi-purpose space, leading one juror to describe the solution as “masterfully integrated Universal Design.”
“Apiledo Theatre Company” by Brandon Willmon
Coming in third, Brandon Willmon’s Apiledo Theatre Company reconciled Universal Design principles with the enjoyment of kinetic performance styles. Centered around the exhibition of Capoeira, a Brazilian martial art that combines acrobatics with music and dance, mid-air stages hang dramatically in a triple-height performance venue ringed by fully accessible viewing areas on multiple levels.
“My inspiration for a ‘free floating’ performance, in lieu of a better phrase, was derived mostly from the fluid nature of Capoeira coupled with getting physically challenged members of the community involved in such a physically demanding art form,” he said.
“Bisbee Sculpture Park & Museum” by Ralph Mersiowsky
Ralph Mersiowsky’s Bisbee Sculpture Park & Museum earned the program’s “Innovation in Universal Design” award by co-locating multiple modes of vertical circulation, ensuring a common experience of traveling from floor to floor. Distributed across three levels with minimal overlap, the challenge of artfully placing a staircase, elevator and ramp adjacent to each other was overcome by making each one a unique architectural feature.
“Light + Life + Performance” by Tyler Newman
Garnering the “Innovation in Graphics” award, Tyler Newman’s design for a group living community explores the effect that light and materiality have on perception. Focused on tactile experience for the benefit of people with differing levels of sensory ability, walls and floors featuring wood, concrete and other materials offer feelings of warmth, coolness or other sensations depending on the time of day.
“Culinary Arts Center” by Eva Serbin
Eva Serbin’s methodology for creating a culinary arts center bisected by an open-air thoroughfare likened to a canyon won the program’s “Innovation in Design Narrative + Process” award. All the various uses in the multi-level “canyon” are connected with an ingenious system of ramps one juror described as “an exciting spatial experience all can participate in.”
“The Living Mural” by Alyssa Fink
Alyssa Fink’s The Living Mural distributes its program across separate buildings but makes the paths between them the star of the show, “highlighting the spatial quality and experience of the in-between spaces,” as one juror put it. Switch-backing ramps between buildings are surrounded by artful graffiti displayed on dramatic architectural forms, earning the project one of two “Innovation in Design Concept” awards.
“To Intersect & Carve” by Freddy Arvizu
Awarded the second “Innovation in Design Concept” honor, Freddy Arvizu organized spaces dedicated to painting and artist housing within overlapping, angular forms one juror called “a strong generative move that is carried throughout the spatial experiences.” Eschewing ramps, a centrally located elevator offers easy access to all parts of the building.
To learn more about how you can make your upcoming projects accessible with the help of the experts at Ascension Lifts, click here.
Dezeen promotion: working from home during the pandemic has changed people’s expectations of their workplaces, according to research from office design leader Steelcase.
The Steelcase Global Report finds that issues concerning safety, productivity, comfort, control and a sense of belonging – all stemming from experiences over the past year – will lead to changes in the way that offices are designed in the future.
“After spending months at home during a crisis, workers have never been more in touch with what they want from their work and workplace,” reads the report.
“They have new and increased expectations of their employers and workplaces — desiring a dramatically different and better experience than the one they left.”
The report identifies four “macro shifts” that it believes organisations will need to address as employees return to working at the office.
These trends were already developing before the impact of Covid-19, the research suggests, but have been accelerated as a result.
Design for Safety
Safety has emerged as the primary cause of change in office design going forward.
Companies will need to reassure their employees that the office is a safe environment, by enforcing measures that minimise risk of infection.
“Pre-pandemic, when organisations addressed safety in the workplace, their focus was primarily on occupational health and safety standards,” reads the text.
“Now, they will need to take a multifaceted, systemic approach that prioritises mitigating the spread of disease.”
Steelcase’s research found that offices will likely become multi-functional environments
Social distancing measures, such as spaced-out furniture and partition screens, could form part of a long-term safety strategy, while advanced HVAC systems can monitor and maintain safe levels of humidity, filtration, air dilution and air movement in a contained space.
Companies will also need to optimise cleanability, by specifying materials that reduce the spread of infection. Sensor technology could also be introduced, to identify high-traffic areas that need to be cleaned more regularly.
Design for Productivity
During the pandemic, many suggested the office would develop into a social hub, primarily centred around group work and meetings, while focus work would primarily be carried out in the home.
However, the research indicates that the office is more likely to develop into a multi-functional environment.
In all 10 countries surveyed for the report, employees identified “collaboration” as one their top five requirements for their workplace. However, eight out of 10 also listed “focus”.
“Moving forward, organisations will benefit from creating multimodal spaces that support collaboration and focus work equally,” reads the report.
“The workplace can’t simply be a social hub that brings people together with the expectation that individual work will happen at home. Research tells us this is not an inclusive strategy since many people struggle to focus at home.”
It is recommended that workspaces provide spaces that support four types of activity: in-person collaboration, virtual collaboration, privacy and movement.
Design to Inspire Community
In every country surveyed, people identified connection to others and a shared sense of purpose among their top reasons for wanting to return to the office.
Although working from home offered some benefits, many also found it to be an isolating experience.
Workers desire comfort and flexibility from their workplaces, the report discovered
Going forward, the indication is that the most successful offices will promote community amongst their employees.
“Organisations will need to rethink the purpose of the office from simply a place to work to becoming the infrastructure for building social capital and fostering a sense of purpose and belonging,” reads the report.
Design for Flexibility
The research identified a clear need for comfort and control in the future workplace.
Those who have been comfortable working from home, in terms of their physical, cognitive and emotional needs, will demand the same from the office. Whereas those who have been uncomfortable at home will be more acutely aware of their comfort needs.
Similarly, people report being more able to reconfigure their home environment to suit their needs, whether that means moving furniture or changing the temperature.
As a result, flexibility looks likely to become more important than ever in the office.
“Organisations need to design spaces that can be easily adapted, especially as more flexible work policies are implemented,” reads the report.
“The workplace must be designed to provide individuals and teams greater control over their environment so they can change it on demand.”
Steelcase’s Design Principles
Additionally, Steelcase has compiled four design principles for workspaces that meet new employee needs. These include Me + We, Fixed to Fluid, Open + Enclosed and Braiding Digital + Physical.
Me + We involves balancing the needs of individuals and teams. It aims to create environments designed for both focused and collaborative work to ensure a professional working environment.
Fixed to Fluid encourages greater flexibility and mobility, championing spaces that can change to fit individual and organisational needs.
Open + Enclosed provides both enclosed “me” and open “we” spaces. According to Steelcase, individual workers may require shielded working environments “to control privacy and safety”. It also references how teamwork may require increasingly flexible spaces that can change based on their activities.
Braiding Digital + Physical advocates enhancing human experiences with technology. It aims to create solutions for group and individual video interactions – not constrained to phones or laptops – to support artificial intelligence-guided or data-driven experiences.
The Embossed Acoustic Panel Series from Woven Image, distributed in the USA by Kirei
Silestone® Sunlit Days by Cosentino Group
Brace by Davis Furniture
Koroi Side Table by MAJA
