Future Wall Provides Me With Insight

sketch of the Future Wall

For my Interactive Objects and Spaces final, I will be designing a 12-foot long wall called the Future Wall. Future Wall is a blank wall containing soundbites of people’s opinions and forecasts of the future – both the general future and personal futures.

Why the future?
The Future Wall serves to capture ideas of what the future will be like. It is a space that contains recordings of people’s goals, people’s outlook on life and people’s messages for the future. Before starting this project, I did some research on notable walls (i.e. The Great Wall of China, Berlin Wall, etc…). Historically, walls have served as barriers, but they have also served as iconic points of discussion and adventure. Walls, in general, are meant to create separation, but how can I take the metaphor of a wall and use it as a space for collaboration, a space for conversation and memories?

The Interview Process
I have been interviewing a lot of people for this wall project in order to capture a variety of soundbites and opinions. The interview process has been a really valuable experience in that it has taught me about interview etiquette, about how to feed off people’s answers, about how to ask the right questions…

Interviewing people has also helped open me up, because it has given me the courage to talk to others in detail. It has also allowed me to become closer to people and learn about unfamiliar details about friends and strangers alike.

The interviews have all been very interesting and there are a variety of takes on the idea of “future.” Politics, the environment, personal aspirations, education, happiness, technology…these have been some of the topics raised in the interviews. What’s also interesting is how a lot of people have been eager to contribute their voice to the Future Wall.

I even feel that this project will be important as I explore my upcoming thesis idea (which is basically about sustainable communities, self customization, social networks and collective and self empowerment. – yes, it’s broad right now) because it will help me gain insight about what the public understands and what people’s desires are for their communities and for themselves.

Next week, on Super Thursday, the Future Wall will be on display in the alcove by the Media Design Program studio. I’m crossing my fingers that it will work!!! The wall will be embedded with light sensors that will trigger soundbites that will come out of several speakers in the wall. Wave your hand over a sensor (which is hidden – you have to find it by waving your hand over the wall), and you will be able to start hearing people’s soundbites. Crossing my fingers it all works out!!!

Symposium held on materials and research

This past Tuesday, Art Center held a symposium on materials, research and meaning. For many, materials is often an afterthought for products, but the presenters gave examples of how an initial study of materials often lead to better and more meaningful products.

One of the things I learned at this symposium was how perhaps we’re moving into an era that will start focusing more on self–assembly and perhaps less about the purchasing of whole mass produced products. Perhaps more towards an IKEA-esque world, but where customization becomes the emphasis.

MASS SELF-ASSEMBLY = MASS CUSTOMIZATION

With this understanding, how will designers change their understanding of product development?

In my opinion, the idea of self-assembly and customization are two key words that will be important for the sustainabilty movement. In our efforts to preserve our environment, how do these two words play into maintaining a quality of life that is conscious of our environment but also tolerant to change and our human desire to be unique as well as cultural? I know that sounds a little broad, but I think raising a question such as this will help guide designers who are part of the sustainability movement.

A Green Facade?

photo: A green skyscraper: The Antilla Building, Mumbai

The Antilla Building is being criticized for being nothing more than a green facade. It brags green and plush on the outside, but is still full of not-so sustainable parts. I don’t personally have a say in this debate, but looking and reading about this particular building sparked another issue for me: in the ever-growing hype around sustainability, what about the little people?

My concern isn’t so much about creating this extravagant building of flowing vines and falling flowers. Where my focus lies is in the more practical side of the world, and that world is the one I live in – the world where people seek to improve their quality of life without burning a hole in their pockets, the world where access to a better life isn’t about solar powered shoe shiners, but about community building and social empowerment.

In my personal quest to understand the beneficial relationships between nature and humans, how can we bring “sustainability” down from the rafters and into our backyards in a practical, realistic and affordable way? Sustainability (and I apologize for its overuse), isn’t meant just for the Hollywood stars to show off their eco-superpowers. It’s meant to be practiced by everyone. And if everyone doesn’t have access to it, things aren’t going to change. I realize that this is not an individualistic endeavor. Sustainability, I’ve observed, requires two things right now: 1) long–term investment and 2) community. These are two qualities I want to continue to explore this term.

Day 2: Y13 Seeds of Change Conference

Solar voltaic parking lots anyone? Check out LifePort for more information. Not only do they generate energy, but they also provide shade for your cars, and power for those of you who own electric vehicles.

Today was a well-rounded day of talks ranging from tips on how to make design businesses more sustainable to thinking about how we can adopt good design practices through observing and adopting techniques of the natural ecosystems around us (biomimicry).

Speakers included smashLAB’s Eric Karjaluoto, Janet Kubler, PhD Biologist representing the Biomimicry Institute, Robert Noble of Envision Solar and NOBLE/GROUP, Free Range Studios, and our very own Nik Hafermas.

For me, this conference has made me feel like a kid in a thesis candy store. Good ideas, great aphorisms, enlightening tips, great resources, internship possibilities and critical questions about where we’re going with this all. I’m exhausted because my brain just about soaked up all it could for one day’s worth of green goodies.

Again, the big emphasis was about how we need to think about moving away from “green” as a marketing pitch and moving towards making it a way of living. This is why I really liked smashLAB’s presentation because they don’t pitch their company as being sustainable – they just do it. What as great about them was their new campaign called Design Can Change. It’s a resource site that encourages sustainable practices for our design communities. Check it out.

We’re building a movement people! And it’s nice to see how the design community is part of a forefront that also includes communities in the fields of science, academia and city planning.

If you’re interested in checking out more about the people and resources gathered from the conference, check out the links on this page or go to my growing list of links.

One more day to go. See ya.

Day 1: Y13 Seeds of Change Conference

Rooftop Farms. I come from a farming family. I want one!

Today was the first day at the AIGA Y13: Seeds of Change conference down in sunny San Diego. At registration, I received a tote bag made of recycled materials. The lanyard I placed around my neck dangled all our information on recycled paper. I really appreciated how the conference organizers took the time to think about the delivery of their goods. Before the conference began, I took a little time to check out the New Leaf Paper table. I was chatting away about their recycled paper products and you know that they said?: “The medium is the message.” Marshall McLuhan is everywhere! The literal medium is the message…nice.

The conference opened with a great, well-executed motion piece, introducing the speakers and the schedule. It was great to see how the thoughtfulness and craftsmanship of design was permeating in every aspect of the day. Susan Szenasy, Metropolis Magazine’s Editor-in-Chief was our keynote speaker for the evening. Originally, Paul Hawken was supposed to speak, but he had the flu. I was bummed out for a few minutes, but the modest and honest Susan Szenasy was both enlightening and down to earth (no pun intended). I really enjoyed her energy but I especially enjoyed her honesty, particularly when she said that designers and business people (which is pretty much everyone in some way) need to incorporate issues of sustainability into their work, not just as an additional thought or extra frill, but as an embedded non-separate aspect of the business.

Sustainability isn’t just an extra thing you can do to make the world a better place. It’s time for it to be a part of our social culture. This is exactly what I’ve been thinking about for the last few months! It was nice to hear other people felt the same way.

Susan touched on a ton of ideas that are currently out there regarding sustainability. There were so many ideas where I was saying to myself, “Hey! I was just thinking about that!” Some things Susan touched on were: green rooftops/ rooftop farms, sustainable schools, sustainable sidewalks, lunar sensitive street lamps, edible lawns, water harvesting walls and the list goes on.

She also touched upon issues such as: holistic systems thinking, natural vs. technological affordances, open sourcing, locally made products, repurposing things, and social consciousness in relation to living sustainably. These are all complex issues that each need to be expanded upon, but they are all issues I’ve been considering as I formulate next year’s thesis.

Anyways, I could go on and on. It was a good start to the conference and I’m excited to get to the meat of things tomorrow.

I’m Going to San Diego!

So I applied for an MDP grant to attend the AIGA Y13: Seeds of Change Conference and was happily informed that my grant application was accepted!The conference will take place from March 27-29th, 2008 at the University of San Diego (USD). This year’s conference will be geared towards ideas around sustainability (the big S word). Attendees will be able to explore new and developing paradigms around sustainable culture by attending lectures and through participating in “Thinkshops,” which are sort of a hybrid between dialogue and making workshops.As part of my grant requirement, I will have to give a presentation in our Colloquium upon my return. I’m really interested in attending this conference because my interests right now are leaning towards issues around sustainable urban communities and emerging behaviors around this topic. Perhaps I smell a thesis idea in the air?

Sustainability Summit

This past week, Art Center hosted the “Systems, Cities & Sustainable Mobility” Summit (Feb. 5-7, 2008). I was fortunate enough to attend the pre-summit where I was able to hear a little forecast of what some companies are doing in order to integrate green into their businesses, as well as how planners are working on developing eco-friendly cities that will be able to contribute to combating various issues around global warming.

I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about my thesis direction and have been seriously considering focusing on issues pertaining to sustainable communities. I think this summit happened at a serendipitous moment for me because the subject matter really helped provide detail as to what people are doing with the idea of sustainability. No longer is it just about recycling or at-home conservation. Thinkers are really taking huge steps to make connections on both a micro and macro level, and what’s really great is that designers are an essential element to creating sustainable environments and technologies.

To read more about what happened at the summit, visit their site.  (http://artcenter.edu/summit/index.php). Recorded presentations and notes should be posted within the next few days.