“Design for development is one of those trendy ideas that has captured the imagination of development professionals in recent years, particularly those looking for good news stories to share. Sometimes called ‘design for the other 90%’ or, more progressively, ‘design with the other 90%’, this movement fizzes with bright ideas, drawing clever people and their energy into the development space. Michelle Matthews looks at whether it’s appropriate for CSI.”
Category Archives: Features
Something Old, Something New: Retrofitting Heritage (Earthworks)
“There’s an ecological business case for extending the life of buildings: according to US-based National Trust for Historic Preservation, research shows that it takes 35 to 50 years for a new green building to save the amount of embodied energy lost in demolishing an existing building. But sustainability is about more than that – the preservation of culture, memory and human creativity also contributes to maintaining a sense of place, essential for rooting us to this earth.”
Retrofitting: The Real Green Frontier (Earthworks)
“Fresh green builds get a lot of press, yet new buildings comprise only about 2% of the world’s total at any one time. What we do with existing stock is now moving higher up the agenda.
Buildings use 40% of materials and create 40% of the world’s carbon emissions annually, according to the US Green Building Council. In addition, 70% of electricity, 65% of municipal waste and 12% of piped water is channelled through buildings. “Existing buildings are not wasteful, it’s how we use them and work in them that is,” says Jutta Berns-Mumbi of green building consultancy Ecocentric. It is clear that to make the impact green building professionals are hoping for we should be focusing on existing buildings. Retrofitting may be the “janitor work” of ecodesign, but it is also probably the most important thing we can do to clean up our act.”
Should your company be soaking up the sun? (Sustainability Review)
“Globally, business is coming under increasing pressure to adopt renewable technologies. Business leaders remain circumspect, perhaps rightfully so, but no one is denying that energy, and how we use it, is on the agenda. Here’s why companies need to be looking at smart energy decisions that increase their competitiveness now.”
Bonfire of the Vanities
Feature: Horizons, January 2008
It is utterly still here. The sky is hard blue like pottery glaze. The skeletons of spring’s daisies – little papery discs on dessicated stems – stand stiffly between small, sharp, black stones. An invisible insect flies past, making a metallic whirring noise like a miniaturised helicopter. The sound stretches until it melts back into the hot silence. Nothing thrives here. Except us. Continue reading Bonfire of the Vanities
Out on a Limb
Cover feature: SL magazine, November 1999
I first realised Helen was an amputee on a summer’s day at the Rhodes Memorial reservoir. We all took off our tops. We all took off our shorts. Helen took off her left leg. We all swam. Sitting on the bank, I watched her balance heron-like on a protruding pylon far out into the reservoir, strong and steady, before diving into the water. Continue reading Out on a Limb