Cast a vote for Emergent Structures
Posted on | May 24, 2010 | No Comments
Nau, the sustainable urban + outdoor apparel company, will be awarding $10,000 to a sustainable venture, and we’ve thrown our hat into the ring! Five finalists will be chosen by a jury, and another 5 finalists will be chosen by popular demand.
So if you’re cheering on our efforts, go cast a vote for us!
Seeing is Believing
Posted on | April 29, 2010 | No Comments
Logos :: n :: In classical rhetoric, the means of persuasion by demonstration of logical proof, real or apparent.
By Scott Boylston
Ideas can either be validated or delegitimized in the court of public opinion by the ways in which they are presented. That sounds simple, perhaps even obvious, until you consider that the way in which something is presented can be very different than the function that that something performs within the culture. The prince can dress like a pauper, and the perception of his ‘value’ to society shifts instantly. Our prince (reclaimed materials) has been dressed in pauper’s clothing for too long.
New ideas are diffused through a culture in various ways, but the acceptance of those ideas really picks up steam when they are visually expressed. And nothing quite congeals a way of thinking, not to mention a commercial brand, as much as a symbol. Where might we be in our attitudes toward recycling without a symbol to rally around? Even images as symbols can give rise to shifts in an entire culture’s attitudes; ‘Earthrise,’ taken in 1968, has been credited to giving rise to the modern environmentalism movement and the first Earth Day.
A few points in the evolution of the Emergent Structures' Reclaimed Material logo
In our shift toward re-examining the value of our waste streams, we not only need theories, demonstrations and business models, we need an array of visual reminders, and logos can be a powerful means of highlighting, and in deed, legitimizing the value of optimizing waste streams. With this in mind, we’ve developed a mark that can be applied to reclaimed building materials once they have been re-purposed.
While not officially a ‘third-party certification’process (like LEED or Forest Stewardship Council) the application of this mark on materials (through stamping, stenciling or etching) can advertise the manufacturer’s or contractor’s dedication to reducing the need for new materials to be produced on one end, and reducing the volume of the waste stream on the other. Coupled with information panels about the details of the reclamation process, the recurring presence (in subtle fashion) of this logo can lead to effective educational opportunities for those seeking certain LEED credits.
While the examples here are Photoshopped to give you an idea of what we are talking about there are already plans over the next 6 months to use the mark on actual reclaimed materials. We’ll post them when that happens.
Trash That’s Fun for the Whole Family
Posted on | April 23, 2010 | No Comments
By Kathleen Fritz
Happy 40th Anniversary Earth Day! And what better way to celebrate than the party atmosphere created this past Saturday, April 17, 2010, in Savannah’s Forsyth Park. While many past Earth Days had felt more like sober occasions, trying to wake people up to the impact our actions have our mother earth, this year’s festivities had all the makings of Carnival: a real celebration of all of the good that comes out of taking care of our planet. There were people dressed up in plastic bag suits, lush organic and locally grown produce, fashion shows, recycling collection, group bicycle rides, grocery bag and water bottle give-aways, music, making art and playing games! At the fashion show the MC was alluding to how a recycled paper dress would be a great outfit for Valentine’s Day. I think you get the picture.
While hanging out at the shared Emergent Structures/SCAD Design for Sustainability tent I was witness to the many fun and creative ways the SCAD students had turned trash into fun. An entire class of graduate students in a Role of Design in Social Awareness course devised ways to make Emergent Structures’ idea of reclaiming materials more accessible and more visible.
Graduate students Renee Malloy and Veda Nagpurkar developed a teaching tool for elementary school children, where the kids were presented with paper cut out forms that mimic the proportions of the materials that can be found in the homes at Savannah Gardens. They then encouraged children to create any whimsical object they could imagine with several of these pieces and crayons. These lessons were given at schools before Earth Day. On Earth Day, samples of what these children created were posted, and children of all ages were encouraged to make their own creations on site. They could color them or simpy write them down and place them into a suggestion box.
Graduate students Sherry Saunders and Christine Batta walked around with “Let’s Start a Conversation About…” dry erase boards and engaged the crowd into asking their feedback about what is on their minds this Earth Day, and stressing how important open conversation is to nurturing a healthy, sustainable community. Their pictures were taken and posted on the sandwich board hung around the student’s necks allowing other people to engage in an ongoing conversation, while small second-use tags were given to individuals to walk around with, an stimulate conversations on their own.
Yilin Bai and Sin-Hwa Lee, meanwhile, demonstrated how junk mail could be turned into pinwheels for use on bikes, hair accessories, bracelets and garden ornamentation. Along with having a DIY opportunity for kids and adults alike, they adorned their bicycle and a tricycle with junkmail pinwheels and other folded art pieces. Rather than provide stick for the pinwheels, Yilin and Sin-Hwa encouraged individuals to tie them directly onto fingers, to play with the idea of tying a string around your finger to remember things; in this case to re-use materials whenever possible.
Ken Bruzenak and Steve Zimmerman developed two recycling challenge games, where participants had to venture heir best guess about the kinds of plastics that can be recycled, and guess what resin code numbers went with which acronym (more info here). People who guessed wrong had to pick a ‘penalty’ from either a Now canister or a Later canister. Now penalties required the person to make a very public declaration or act (yell “I don’t know how to recycle” three times, for instance, or do 10 jumping jacks), while participants who chose from the Later canister had penalties like turning the TV off for 3 hours, or eating dinner with the lights off. While more detailed finding will be presented here later, Ken and Steve found that young children were more knowledgeable about recycling details than adults!
People were having fun being environmentally responsible. Yes! I will say it again. People were having fun! Living the La vita recycling! La vita repurpose! La vita responsibility! La vita earth!
And isn’t that what the message should be? After all of the doom and gloom, let’s give the public a way to feel good about what they are doing. Whether it is through having an intimate conversation with a farmer about their secret for tomatoes, riding bikes with a friend to work or designing a new art object from left over cell phone and blender parts helping the environment is a creative and happy act.
Thanks to all of those who put so much work into organizing and operating the Emergent Structures booth, especially Hannah Gilmore!
Objects of Significance?
Posted on | April 14, 2010 | 1 Comment
By Scott Boylston
This is a photograph of one of countless small objects we’ve found during our visits to the soon to vanish homes in Savannah Gardens. It does not take much to imagine a hand on this object; a level of human commitment to its presence; a memory—tragic, mundane or jubilant—that clings to its surface in a veil seen only by its owner. These objects have been abandoned, we might assume willfully, but only with the degree of certainty that would usually accompany wild guesses. This is not the first time we’ve explored the objects that are scattered all over Savannah Gardens and it certainly won’t be the last.
Rob Walker and Joshua Glenn are writers who have been exploring our relationship with objects through their own work, and have together created an intriguing project that taps into some of the mysteries that surround our day-to-day experiences with the material realm. The idea is to explore our relationship with perceived value. The project has been designed with very particular criteria.
Objects are purchased at garage sales, given to writers who write a story about the object, and then the object and story are placed onto eBay (with a notice that the story is, in deed, fiction), and sold to the highest bidder. All proceeds from sales go to a non-profit organization, and divides the objects into 4 categories: talisman, totems, evidence or fossils.
The object above was given to me to write about, and you can see my story here. Aside from being an intriguing form of anthropological exploration, Significant Objects provides a compelling vehicle for charitable giving.
What’s Out There
Posted on | April 9, 2010 | No Comments
By Scott Boylston
So, by now we all understand that heartpine is both the most common and the most coveted material in the old buildings in Savannah Gardens, and we’re happy to say that detailed plans are being made for the harvesting and re-purposing of this material as we speak, and that there has been enthusiastic engagement with the endeavor by conscientious and forward looking companies (details of this progress will be presented here in a timely fashion).
But there is a lot more than just heartpine. Graduate Design Management student Elysia Wells worked with Graduate Design for Sustainability student Adrian Perez in collecting the data that made Adrian’s 3-D model possible. But Eylsia also collected a lot of data about some of the other materials available on site. The visuals in this post represent a very good foundation for an organized reclamation process.
The above image is a zoom of the page dedicated to PVC and, as can be seen along the top tabs, other materials that have been studied and quanitfied include brick, porcelain, asphalt, gypsum and metal.
Along with this 9-page document, Adrian and Elysia, provided this overview:
Deconstructing the Unit
Posted on | March 27, 2010 | No Comments
By Scott Boylston
What do we value? As individuals? As a culture? We value those things whose worth is apparent to us; we value what we perceive as valuable. And when the true value of something has been obscured by misperceptions or assumptions, we need new ways of seeing those things.
From the beginning of this project, we’ve understood that the building materials in Savannah Gardens are considered worthless to most. It’s hard not to come to a similar conclusion after any cursory visit to the site. And while taking some pictures of trusses and studs and posting them online can provide a glimpse of where the opportunities lie, Design for Sustainability student Adrian Perez, along with fellow graduate student Elysia Wells, understood the need for a much more exact picture of the potentials. Adrain and Elysia spent over five weeks taking meticulous measurements of a Savannah Gardens duplex, and then Adrian poured that data into a 3-D modeling program.
Some of the results can be seen in this post. In “Deconstructing the Unit,” Adrian explains: “The main expectation of this project is to increase participation and involvement of interested parties to the Emergent Structure Project. In addition, a digital model and imagery of a deconstructed conventional housing unit as well as information about the materials will facilitate creative thinking with regard to the re‐use of reclaimed material.”
The goal is to use these measurements, and this visualization, as a tool to facilitate awareness and interest in preventing these materials from being landfilled, and to provide us with a tool that can allow us to determine deconstruction schedules, collaborations, and techniques in a systematic fashion.
We believe it may be possible to develop more targeted ‘shopping’ opportunities for anyone interested in bringing a plan to the table; to devise strategies for creative collaborations between businesses and non-profits. Such a concise catalog of materials will remove some of the unknowns from the process. For instance, if Mr. Powers can determine that a sustainable production line for his modular chairs would include 200 units per year, then we can take the measurements of his chair plan, and match them up to the 3-D model of the duplex, and we can then determine the best deconstruction strategy for these particular materials.
We understand there is a big difference between cataloging materials, and effectively recovering them. But as we continue to devise recovery strategies, we think sharing here what has transpired by way of cataloging will inspire people to think differently of the materials at Savannah Gardens, and perhaps even alter their perceptions of what is possible.
There will be more posted on this subject. Elysia, for example, has complied an impressive array of material information, and Adrian is continues to develop the interactive component of the 3-D models seen here.
The Patience of Good Ideas
Posted on | March 22, 2010 | No Comments
By Scott Boylston
Emergent Structure’s second post declared, “…Pastor Johnnie Powers is what the Emergent Structures Project is about.” Discussions on social innovation center around uncorking the tacit knowledge of communities, and tapping into the creative power that exists within the basic building blocks of informal human interaction. Mr. Powers is surely unique, but he is not alone. We are confident that there are many others within the Savannah community that share at least a degree of his creative energy. So, the question is, how do designer’s enable the organic growth of local, small scale entrepreneurial models that successfully address the triple bottom line?
The Savannah Morning News has run a story on Mr. Powers’ dedication to craft, creativity and recycling. And, while no concrete movement on developing an innovative business model around Mr. Powers has developed since our earlier post, the opportunity is real, and any good idea is usually patient enough to allow the rest of us to catch up with it.
Below is a diagram that represents our concept of nurturing Mr. Power’s vision, and parlaying his success into a vibrant subculture here in Savannah. The idea is to not only reclaim material from Savannah Gardens, but to warehouse it so that people like Mr. Powers can access/purchase it (at cost of reclamation) when necessary, hire and train at-risk or under-employed individuals as a small-scale production team, and then sell product to our healthy (even in these times of economic turmoil) tourist and hospitality sector.
People come from all around the world to experience ‘authentic’ Savannah, so why is it they stay in places and eat in places that have furniture from everywhere in the world but Savannah? Why is it that Savannah doesn’t have a marketable craft industry? Why is it that visitors aren’t intent on purchasing authentic Savannah craft in the same way they are with, say, sweetgrass baskets in other regional markets? Isn’t it likely, if not probable, that such a distinctive, local market of goods would thrive in a city so coveted for its rich heritage and sense of place? We think so.
This small-scale business incubator idea isn’t new, of course. Like so many, we celebrate Union Mission’s amazing collaboration with Savannah Tech in their Starfish Cafe culinary training program. And AWOL’s Information Technology “Goon Squad” is exquisite in its holistic framework, as sustainable as any program could ever hope to be. There’s also the Design Seed Enterprise Creation Lab which, while a little farther away, is quite similar to what we envision. In the coming year, we will strive to develop a demonstration model centered around Mr. Powers that shows the viability of this idea, and we welcome input and participation. It may take a little while…but the idea is strong enough to wait for our efforts to catch up with its wisdom.
How Little our Eyes Permit Us to See
Posted on | March 19, 2010 | No Comments
“While there is perhaps a province in which the photograph can tell us nothing more than what we see with our own eyes, there is another in which it proves to us how little our eyes permit us to see.” ~Dorothea Lange
Pimprae Hiranprueck, a photography student at SCAD, recently accompanied a team that has been collecting detailed measurements of the old buildings at Savannah Gardens. Included here are some of the photographs she took.
The tools created with the aid of the measurements that were taken during those visits will be shared here in several days. They tell a story of how we might increase the productive reclamation of building materials in an organized fashion.
These photographs tell a different kind of story. And these are a very small sample of the work that she’s shot. In the coming months we hope to help Pimprae mount a gallery show of her work. In the meantime, anyone interested in contacting her can email: gonnoy@gmail.com
Faith Without Works is Dead: Hunting for Solutions
Posted on | March 16, 2010 | No Comments
By Summer Constantino
Truss reinforcement at First Baptist Church on Chippewa Square by JT Turner
Armed with a growing knowledge of reclaimed materials, and with fierce determination, my partner in a winter quarter Sustainable Practices in Design class at SCAD, Katie Coulburn, and I decided to design a meaningful method of including heartpine from the old buildings at Savannah Gardens into the redevelopment of new homes on the same site.
In our search for allies, it was suggested that we meet with Mark Fitzpatrick (Director of the Downtown Division for J.T. Turner Construction Co., Inc, and a member of the branch leadership of USGBC-Savannah) because of his extensive experience with construction, remodeling, and reclaimed materials. We had the privilege of meeting Mr. Fitzpatrick at one of J. T. Turner’s current projects: the restoration of the First Baptist Church on Chippewa Square in Savannah’s Historic District.
Mark Fitzpatrick holding a piece of reclaimed heartpine.
Long-time members of the church had noticed that cracks in the heartpine roof tresses were growing. Upon further investigation, it was discovered that the trusses had, in fact, begun to fail. The trusses are over 150 years old, and were originally joined with wooden pegs. The pegs were beginning to bend, and termites had been attacking the trusses from the inside out. We were able to observe as J. T. Turner’s crew worked on installing steel reinforcements for each of the trusses, and removing or replacing any wood compromised by termites. It was amazing to watch this process and realize that it was over a century before the wooden trusses needed attention. This is a true testament to the value of using quality building materials – they last.
Mark’s work and insights are inspirational to Katie and I. As members of the Emergent Structures Project, and within the parameters of our work for our Sustainable Practices class, Katie and I have been intent on strengthening the relationships between Emergent Structures, Mercy Housing (the developer of the Phase One redevelopment at Savannah Gardens), NorSouth Construction (the General Contractor for Phase One), Savannah College of Art and Design, and the City of Savannah (among many others). As with any project that attempts to bring various groups together in hopes of accomplishing a shared goal, there are many elements that must be considered.
Katie and I aim to overcome the real and perceived barriers to implementing a large scale building material re-use project by providing a roadmap for both symbolic on-site re-use of building materials, and quantitative re-use, and we believe there can be awesome benefits. We’d also like to find a way to transmit this in meaningful ways to varied audiences. These ideas have been presented to various stakeholders as of last week, and many wonderful developments are firming up as you read this, and in a few day’s we’ll post some of the proposal materials.
Chart of 'next steps' for the creation of a symbolic material re-use project for the Phase One redevelopment of Savannah Gardens
Looking at the bigger picture, there are for-profit companies; non-profit organizations; local, state, and national government bodies; local community members; schools; and volunteers all involved in the material reclamation initiative at Savannah Gardens, the Emergent Structures Project. There are budgets, contracts, and schedules involved as well. We are developing a project that can in some way be a part of furthering the cause of Emergent Structures, something that can have a positive ripple effect for everyone involved. We are hoping to inspire more people to pause as they go with the flow of the status quo and consider a different path. This path is not the one of least resistance; however it is the path along which change for the better and for all of us can take place.
Right now is a great time to reassess the way we view the world we live in; what our impact will be on future generations, and what we treasure. Joining the Emergent Structures Project is like finding a treasure map; the major difference is that you’ll feel compelled to share it.
Revealing the Hidden Connections: Housing Projects & Historic Forests
Posted on | February 24, 2010 | 3 Comments
By Summer Constantino
A condemned housing project is the last place you’d want to go hunting for treasure, literally or figuratively. Or is it?
Entering dilapidated buildings is not for the faint of heart. Ghosts seem to be behind every corner and the visual reality is best described as “hopelessly depressing”. But if you can shoo away that haunting feeling and look beyond the surfaces, Savannah Gardens is full of building materials awaiting a second life. My imagination has not run away from me; though you may have to redefine your perception of value in order to truly see what I’m talking about…
Every day building materials are sent to landfills, taking with them years of life yet to be lived. First, let’s consider the heart pine used to create the “backbone” or frame for each Savannah Gardens home. Old growth heart pine is nearing extinction. As experts like George Goodwin tell it, there used to be about 90 million acres of old growth heart pine in this country, but today there are less than 10,000 acres left (these acres of original-growth Longleaf pine tress are now protected). 41% of the entire landmass of the “deep south” was covered with heart pine, now it’s less than 2%. These hardwood trees only grow an inch in diameter every thirty years – do the math and you’ll figure out that it takes 500 years for heart pine to mature.
In its heyday heart pine was employed as a building material all over the southeast – as flooring in Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, Washington’s Mount Vernon, and buttressing the keel of the USS Constitution. It was used as flooring, joists and paneling for homes and factories, as well as timbers for bridges, warehouses, railroad cars and wharves. The resin from this wood was used in paints, soaps, weatherproofing products, shoe polish and medicines. Unfortunately, as is the case with so many of the Earth’s natural resources, humans have abused the privilege and clear-cut these forests to the brink of decimation. The only source we have of heart pine at this point is reclaiming them from existing structures.
Tugs at your heartstrings, doesn’t it? No? Well maybe those purse strings are a little more sensitive. Typically, reclaimed heart pine is sold for $9 to $12+ per square foot. Regular pine sells for $3 to $6 per square foot. That puts the heart pine’s simple dollar value at 2 to 3 times that of regular pine. Of course the cost of labor for reclamation plays a part in that cost, but the durability and historical value of heart pine is an added value that has nothing to do with dollars and much more to do with sense.
« go back — keep looking »