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Hello John,<br><br>
Thanks for the comments and sorry for the slow response. I'm afraid I'm
among the brainwashed favoring modern design, though in my defense, I
recall telling a college application interviewer (when I was 17) that I
didn't understand the point of ornamentation. (And I'd hadn't yet heard
of Loos!)<br><br>
David<br><br>
At 04:59 AM 3/6/2012, you wrote:<br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">Bonjour David,<br><br>
some comments below<br><br>
Cordialement<br><br>
-- <br>
John DAGLISH, B.Arch,1984<br>
Paris, France<br><br>
<br><br>
Friday, March 2, 2012, 7:24:37 PM, you wrote / vous ecrirez:<br><br>
DB> When researching for my book, I found <br>
DB> surprisingly little in print or online. Tedd <br>
DB> Benson seems to be the primary advocate, at least <br>
DB> in the US. See
<a href="http://bensonwood.com/innovation/whitepaper2003.pdf" eudora="autourl">
http://bensonwood.com/innovation/whitepaper2003.pdf</a>.<br><br>
DB> It's more conceptual than what I think you're <br>
DB> looking for, but here's a link to the <br>
DB> illustration we created for my book, based on a <br>
DB> combination of Benson, Stewart Brand and Philip <br>
DB> Proefrock's writing on the idea. <br>
DB>
<a href="http://cyberg.com/building%20layersnew.jpg" eudora="autourl">
http://cyberg.com/building%20layersnew.jpg</a> . Here's my accompanying
text:<br><br>
DB> Durability or Planned Obsolescence?<br><br>
DB> In light of the amount of material and embodied energy<br>
DB> invested in every building, a clear element of sustainability<br>
DB> is ensuring that it has a long life. With few exceptions<br>
DB> (such as temporary structures), building for durability is<br>
DB> one of the basic tenets of ecodesign. But creating a
structure<br>
DB> that will endure over the years is not just a matter<br>
DB> of designing it with long-lasting materials. One perhaps<br>
DB> obvious point: the building must be valued by those who<br>
DB> use it. If the design does not result in a building that
functions<br>
DB> well and is pleasing, then it is likely to be renovated<br>
DB> or demolished sooner.<br><br>
It is interesting to note that public opinion surveys indicate that<br>
the grand public prefers traditional looking architecture.
Architest's<br>
who undergo 5 or more years of brainwashing prefer modern<br>
architecture.<br><br>
The grand public prefers pleasing buildings...<br><br>
<br>
A problem is that most architects coming out of<br>
university do not kow how to compose well a traditional / vernacular
/<br>
classical building and that builders have mostly have lost the
tradition.<br><br>
But not all... the tradition is still alive and making a bit of a<br>
comeback in the US.<br><br>
Simarly urban structure, the foundation for our towns and
cities,<br>
which probably wont change much over 400 years, has deviated in the
20C<br>
from the "traditional" to low density urban sprawl with<br>
seperated, car necessary, functional zoning.<br><br>
<br>
DB> If a building is to last, then it needs to be able to adapt<br>
DB> to changes in usage, technology, and cultural patterns. In<br>
DB> other words, it needs to be durable and flexible. “Design for<br>
DB> deconstruction” is one way to achieve flexibility and provide<br>
DB> for the eventual need to replace the building. The industrial<br>
DB> design world has for a while been at work on design for<br>
DB> disassembly (DfD, which can also stand for design for
deconstruction).<br>
DB> One high-profile example involves the office chair;<br>
DB> several manufacturers have engaged in a kind of competition<br>
DB> to design the chair that can be disassembled the fastest<br>
DB> and with the fewest tools. The objective is to make recycling<br>
DB> more economically viable by designing so that materials are<br>
DB> readily separable at the end of the product’s life.<br><br>
There is a difference between adaptability and flexability. A 17c<br>
traditional building with well sized rooms has adapted over
centuries<br>
to various uses. Much of the flexible buildings arising from
archigram<br>
et al (the British high tech contingent) in the 20c have not been a great
sucess.<br><br>
DB> Buildings, of course, are more complicated than<br>
DB> office chairs. And they should last longer—or at least parts<br>
DB> of them should. Stewart Brand, in How Buildings Learn,<br>
DB> describes how buildings should be thought of as having<br>
DB> six layers, ranging from the site, which is timeless, to the<br>
DB> skin and structure, which may last generations, to
furnishings<br>
DB> that are frequently changed.6<br><br>
DB> The application of this concept has become known as<br>
DB> open building, and it can lead to a fundamentally different<br>
DB> way of understanding buildings in which these layers are<br>
DB> independent.7 To a degree, modern offices do this already<br>
DB> with nonload bearing, demountable partitions and<br>
DB> mechanical cores. But more often than not, an office
renovation<br>
DB> or a home remodel involves brute force removal<br>
DB> (destruction, really) of building materials. Imagine if the<br>
DB> walls of our homes were built so that wiring and plumbing<br>
DB> could be easily accessed for repairs and modifications—<br>
DB> without cutting holes in walls, perhaps without encountering<br>
DB> obstacles, and then without patching and painting<br>
DB> (or, for instance, if windows could be replaced without<br>
DB> entailing interior and exterior damage). The key lies in<br>
DB> separating the layers so that the less durable layers can be<br>
DB> altered without interfering with the others.<br><br>
You have to be carefull balancing all the factors. Flexible electrical
skirting<br>
trunking around a room gives great flexability, but creates EMF<br>
(electromagnetic field) problems.<br><br>
DB> Open building also relates to the concept of futureproofing:<br>
DB> designing and constructing buildings to anticipate<br>
DB> the future. If, for instance, PV panels are not in the<br>
DB> budget but may be added eventually, run conduits to the<br>
DB> roof and provide support structure so that the panels and<br>
DB> wiring can be accommodated later with minimal disruption<br>
DB> and cost. Similarly, a gray-water system may not be<br>
DB> allowed by current code, but if you provide the necessary<br>
DB> plumbing at the outset, it can be implemented by simply<br>
DB> opening a valve when the code catches up.<br><br>
Its all so necessary to look at the life cycle analysis of self<br>
sufficient solutions. Household rain water harvesting often has a greater
impact<br>
than taking your water from the network. But local quarter
harvesting<br>
could be interesting.<br><br>
DB> David Bergman RA LEED AP<br>
DB> DAVID BERGMAN ARCHITECT / FIRE & WATER LIGHTING +
FURNITURE<br>
DB> architecture . interiors . ecodesign . lighting . furniture<br>
DB> bergman@cyberg.com
<a href="http://www.cyberg.com/" eudora="autourl">www.cyberg.com</a><br>
DB> 241 Eldridge Street #3R, New York, NY 10002<br>
DB> t 212 475 3106 f 212 677 7291<br><br>
DB> author - Sustainable Design: A Critical Guide<br>
DB> adjunct faculty - Parsons The New School for Design<br><br>
DB> At 12:26 PM 3/2/2012, Jason Holstine wrote:<br>
>>Can anyone point to a nice succinct resource on <br>
>>Open Building techniques? The idea that the <br>
>>walls are built without the conduits inside, so <br>
>>they can be more easily maintained, changed, <br>
>>moved, deconstructed, etc? Thanks.<br>
>>_______________________________________________<br>
>>Greenbuilding mailing list<br>
>>to Send a Message to the list, use the email address<br>
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>><br>
>>to UNSUBSCRIBE or Change your List Settings use the web page<br>
>><a href="http://lists.bioenergylists.org/mailman/listinfo/greenbuilding_lists.bioenergylists.org" eudora="autourl">
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<br><br>
<br>
_______________________________________________<br>
Greenbuilding mailing list<br>
to Send a Message to the list, use the email address<br>
Greenbuilding@bioenergylists.org<br><br>
to UNSUBSCRIBE or Change your List Settings use the web page<br>
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</blockquote>
<x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
<br>
David Bergman RA LEED AP<br>
<font size=2 color="#808080"><b>DAVID BERGMAN</b> ARCHITECT / <b>FIRE
& WATER</b> LIGHTING + FURNITURE<br>
</font><font color="#808080">architecture . interiors .
</font><font color="#008080">ecodesign</font><font color="#808080"> .
lighting . furniture<br>
</font><font size=2 color="#808080">bergman@cyberg.com
<a href="http://www.cyberg.com/" eudora="autourl"><u>www.cyberg.com</a>
</u></font><font color="#808080"> <br>
</font><font size=2 color="#808080">241 Eldridge Street #3R, New York, NY
10002<br>
</font><font color="#808080">t </font><font size=2 color="#808080">212
475 3106 f 212 677 7291</font><font color="#808080">
<br><br>
author - Sustainable Design: A Critical Guide<br>
adjunct faculty - Parsons The New School for Design</font> </body>
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