Herman Miller
Herman Miller has engaged in a number of initiatives to promote sustainability, and many of them have had cost-saving implications for the company. The company has developed a technique of mixing sawdust with chicken manure to produce topsoil. The company also uses a database to track every chemical in each product used by the company, in order to eliminate harmful chemicals from their products. Management of the company has expressed concerns about global warming, and the company was using 27% renewable energy as of 2007. The company also issues a sustainability report.
Herman Miller's driving sustainability initiatives is it's "Perfect Vision" goal. This is a broad initiative that sets significant targets for the year 2020. These targets include zero landfill, zero hazardous waste generation, zero air emissions (VOC), zero process water use, 100 percent green electrical energy use, company buildings constructed to a minimum LEED Silver certification, and 100 percent of sales from DfE-approved products.
Many of Herman Miller's products are designed to be ecologically sound, and many are good examples of ecodesign techniques for achieving sustainability include saving materials, energy efficient manufacturing, recycled content, and recyclable content, including design for disassembly. The design process also utilizes life cycle assessment.
Herman Miller helped fund the start of the United States Green Building Council, and hired architect William McDonough to design a factory incorporating green design principles. The building is known as the Greenhouse and is an example of green building.
Design to Minimise Waste
Design for Recycling/Upcycling
Biomimicry
Biomimicry – or designs based on natural systems – is one of the most intriguing methods for designers and engineers to create innovative and efficient solutions to problems. Inspired by forms and functions found in nature, this approach to sustainable design allows for environmentally friendly solutions for energy, waste reduction and a bevy of other design challenges. Using biomimicry as the guiding design principle, the Australian firm BioPower Systems has developed Biowave: an ocean power system that harnesses energy by mimicking the motion of underwater plants in the ocean currents to generate electricity.
Biowave mimics the swaying motion of the sea plants found in the ocean bed. The system looks like three buoyant blades which are constantly oscillating to the motion of the sea. As they sway in the tide, electricity is generated. If at any point the system is in danger because of the strong currents, it simply lies in flat until the ocean calms down.
BioPower Systems is currently testing a prototype off the coast of Tasmania. A prototype unit of 250kw will inform the company on how to best deploy a larger scale system which in turn is expected to provide power to Flinders and King islands, and in the future, if successful, the entire state of Victoria, home of the city of Melbourne.
Bamboo Architecture by Vo Trong Nghia
Bamboo is the stuff of green dreams these days. Not only is it a winning combination of strong, lightweight and flexible; it also scores highly in the sustainable stakes, being super fast growing and easy to harvest locally in many parts of the world. What's more, it is increasingly being lauded for its aesthetic qualities. None of this is news to any architect worth their salt – but one in particular, Vietnamese virtuoso Vo Trong Nghia, stands out for his exceptional bamboo designs.
In a piece by Vietnamese American writer and broadcaster Nguyen Qui Duc, Duc laments the rushed redevelopment of the Vietnamese capital Hanoi, and calls for preserving the city’s beauty and character without tastelessly replicating the old French-style villas that have been razed to the ground. Instead of the rapidly rising glass-and steel structures being built, modernisation should mean both preservation and innovation – and that’s exactly what Vo Trong Nghia is all about.
As a young man, Nghia was selected to study architecture in Japan. However, his early life in a small village in central Vietnam proved the ideal and natural foundation for what he would learn in the land of the Rising Sun and the architectural projects that have followed in his homeland. “We used bamboo and cane and such materials for everything,” recalls the architect. From farming tools to cooking utensils, it was all woven together – just as many of his buildings are today.
Mingling international inspiration with the influence of his roots, Nghia is big on bamboo. The rounded bar he designed for his Water and Wind Cafe features a 30-foot bamboo frame covered in a local bush plant. Like a giant version of the haystacks that dot the Vietnamese countryside, it is also African-esque, with a pointed open dome that allows light to infuse the interior. Elsewhere, Nghia’s curving bamboo structures are bound together with not a nail in sight.
As proof of his green credentials, Nghia has built a factory in Vietnam where bamboo is treated and given its warm brown colour. It is said his structures will last twenty years. “At the end of the day, if you have to remove or take apart buildings,” says Nghia, “You won’t end up with piles of concrete that’s destructive to the environment.” He is also trying to get more bamboo growing ventures off the ground, an architect weaving homegrown tradition with aesthetic innovation.
Eggcubism
1962, The Hague, The Netherlands.
As a painter I consider eggtrays as two-and-a-half dimensional objects which offer me remarkable possibilities for imagery. The waves of the eggcartons limit the viewer's perception; they also make him aware of his positioning towards the image. The intentional limitation in subjective perception gives room for imagination and recall: the process of occlusion. By a fusion of direct and indirect perception conventional imagery is overtaken. At first sight this leads to a physical and mental incompleteness, that forces an integration which can only take place within the inner experience, apart from time and space. (compare the 'head of Janus', that looks at the present and the future congruently.)
The shape of my new canvases - the eggbox structures- increases the amount of possible visual images in an almost exponential way. This forces the viewer towards an active perception, constantly changing the view-point and focus. Furthermore the true and represented space in these paintings interact during perception. One could say that the complete image just emerges sublimated in the viewers mind. Gestalt psychology states that human perception aims for completeness. Perceptions are being added subconsciously. My eggcubist works evoke conscious and dynamic adding.
The objects not only refer to themselves, they also refer to each other as a series. The grid could continue between them. Furthermore the actual space in which the viewer finds himself could be part of that space and could be seen alike. In spite of the relatively small actual size of the objects, they seem to exert a surprizingly large influence on the way that the space that surrounds them is experienced. The strange shapes and unexpected deformations recall flexible tentacles. They resharpen our visual tactility.
The Rememberme chairs
Clothes ----> Furniture
About 13 pounds of used clothing goes into each durable chair. Juretzek soaks each item in resin, before compressing them in a mold to dry. The resulting pieces are (mostly) smooth, and can fully support the weight of an adult.
The Rememberme chairs are going to be produced this fall by Casamania, an Italian furniture company. Each unique chair will retail for $950.
Cub Children’s Chair
Cub Children’s Chair
Design: Daniel Michalik, 2004 Manufacture: Handmade by Daniel Michalik, Brooklyn, NY Materials: Pure granulated cork (reclaimed waste material from the bottle-stopper industry), non-toxic (and ecologically-sound) binding agent Dimensions: 17″ tall x 13″ wide x 13″ deep About: These childrens’ chairs are made completely from cast cork, which produces a dense, unusual texture that’s highly attractive and intriguing to the eyes and hands of young children.
Dentist Rinse Cup Lamp
The Liliputian is a fine example of recycling and reusing waste material, that is abundant in quantity, and transforming it into a work of art. This project for metamorphosing the used plastic cups from the Dentist's clinic is about cutting them into various forms and then putting them together to create a lamp. This is a great idea because its exquisite design does not give away the kind of materials that went into the making of this cup-lamp!
Rinsing cups are used in huge quantities in this art. And to actually collect these and give these new life makes the Liliputian lamp a perfect way of using the transparent quality. The making of this eco-friendly and 'green' lamp is quite simple and requires the material that can easily be recycled. On an average, it is estimated that a dentist uses 12 rinse cups a day which adds up to 60 cups a week per dentist. There are approximately 337,886 dentists currently practicing in the United States that makes the number of rinse cups used in a week to number up to a whopping 20,273,260 cups!
If these cups are collected and recycled, then 63,353 Liliputians can be made in one week! It is important for the dentists to use bins to store disposed rinsing cups only.
Design to Reduce Chemical Impacts Design to Reduce Energy & Water use
Bugplug
Ecogadget for Greener Gadget Competition 2009
Taking bravely care of stand-by devices, this lovely bug helps saving electricity. All you have to do is to connect selected devices to it. Built-in motion sensors detect your presence in a room. If you're in, BugPlug keeps all devices on. If you're out, individually programmed timer cuts off all electrical appliances. We wanted our BugPlug to have a figurative, kid-friendly shape inspired by urban vinyl toy culture. A series of early sketches show the variety of creatures we considered before settling on the final one. The household friend:)
Design that explores Cleaner/Better Technologies Design that Looks at Models from Nature & History
Carbon Negative Hemp Walls
Buildings account for thirty-eight percent of the CO2 emissions in the U.S., according to the U.S. Green Building Council, and demand for carbon neutral and/or zero footprint buildings is at an all-time high. Now there is a new building material that is not just carbon neutral, but is actually carbon negative. Developed by U.K.-based Lhoist Group, Tradical® Hemcrete® is a bio-composite, thermal walling material made from hemp, lime and water. What makes it carbon negative? There is more CO2 locked-up in the process of growing and harvesting of the hemp than is released in the production of the lime binder. Of course the equation is more complicated than that, but Hemcrete® is still an amazing new technology that could change the building industry.
Good looking, environmentally friendly and 100% recyclable, Hemcrete® is as versatile as it is sustainable. It can be used in a mind-boggling array of applications from roof insulation to wall construction to flooring. Hemcrete® is waterproof, fireproof, insulates well, does not rot [when used above ground] and is completely recyclable. In fact, the manufacturers say that demolished Hemcrete® walls can actually be used as fertilizer!
GREEN CLEANING EQUIPMENT
There are many factors to take into account when ‘greening up’ your cleaning regime. B&G’s cleaning equipment range has several new environmentally friendly machines; such as the Tennant range of floor cleaning machines which employ the FaST and ECH20 technologies. These "green" cleaning machines used electrically charged water for excellent cleaning results without chemicals, so there is no chemical residue and no chemical waste to dispose of.By using cleaning machines like these, it is possible to reduce water usage by 70%, making a single tank of water last 3 times as long, whilst also eliminating the potential health issues associated with the use of harsh chemicals.
Mercedes-Benz's bionic concept car
"The boxfish's surprisingly streamlined form inspired Mercedes-Benz's bionic concept car. Flowing vapors during wind-tunnel tests in a Stuttgart facility show off the car's aerodynamics, which helps boost its gas mileage to as high as 70 miles per gallon
Design to Replace the Need to Consume
Upcycling chairs are a great way of giving your home a facelift and saving the planet because of a little less production needed. Swedish designer Fredrik Farg took this idea and completely transformed his chair into beautifully designed (art)pieces. I love his insight and creativity and the way he moulds the 100% recyclable felt is inspirational. He takes old chairs from fleamarkets, removes the backrests and then tailors the felt to form a brand new back/chair. He calls it 'slow design', and I think it captures the time spent handling each chair as a unique canvas.
Old Speedo LZR Racer Briefs
Where do old Speedo LZR Racer briefs go after their wearers are done swimming in them? Well, some of them are recycled and turned into awesome piece-of-art like structures. Now who’d guess recycle briefs could be used so creatively? This stunning metal beam structure at the recent London Festival of Architecture was recently unveiled, designed and constructed by Chelsea College of Art & Design undergraduate students.
This swimsuit has its share of fame too, in the water and out of it. According to Speedo, the LZR Racer’s wearers have broken over 90 world records since the suit’s launch in 2008, due to its advanced technology, making it the best performance swimsuit ever produced. Indeed a great way to give these stars of the water a new life with recycling!
A closer look at the structure reveals the swimming briefs stretched out between the crossbeams.
Design for Ethical Production
Kaila rug by Francesc Rife for NOW Carpet. NOW Carpets is a relatively young design company, who, like Nani Marquina, ensure an ethical production with natural materials such as banana fibres, hemp, silk, and wool. This year they launched local designers Francesc Rifé and Jose Albors' 100 Lines carpets, made with natural fibres such as linen, banana and bamboo, which results in surprisingly different textures that are very pleasant to the eye and the touch.
Design to Dematerialise & Develop Systems/Services
Children’s Playground In Australia
Being in a unique building design children’s playground. Container is what we often see on ships that are recycled in such a way by the architect into building children’s playground in Australia.
With the concept of stacking and cutting container, this building offers a variety of functions for use by children. Not just a place to play, but the kind of house / office / school for a flat in front of him. Offers users a safe place to sit, study or play in and around.
Construction waste generated by cutting the container transformed into design features. Unused material is returned into the development process. Waste materials are reused and adapted to the structural function as fences, awnings and decorative cladding.
BCH commenced operations in July 2010 with 5,000 bicycles and 315 docking stations distributed across the City of London and parts of eight London boroughs. The coverage zone spans approximately 17 square miles (44 km2), roughly matching the Zone 1 Travelcard area. Currently there are some 6,000 'Boris Bikes' and 400 docking stations in the BCH scheme, which has been used for more than 4 million journeys to date.Initially, BCH required initial payment of registration and membership fees to be paid in exchange for an electronic access key, but on 3 December 2010 this was changed to allow casual cycle hires by non-members who have a valid credit or debit card.Design Activism
Material wealth in green buildings
It seems that every other day, some innovative, new sustainable building material for green buildings is introduced. Some are recycled, recyclable, or brought back into use from architectural salvage companies. Others are local materials -- including those, like adobe, rock and gravel, that can be harvested from the building site itself. Most of these contain few or no toxic substances or finishes, and many, such as bamboo, straw bales, cork, and recycled denim insulation, come from sustainable or low-impact sources.
The Liliputian is a fine example of recycling and reusing waste material, that is abundant in quantity, and transforming it into a work of art. This project for metamorphosing the used plastic cups from the Dentist's clinic is about cutting them into various forms and then putting them together to create a lamp. This is a great idea because its exquisite design does not give away the kind of materials that went into the making of this cup-lamp!
Rinsing cups are used in huge quantities in this art. And to actually collect these and give these new life makes the Liliputian lamp a perfect way of using the transparent quality. The making of this eco-friendly and 'green' lamp is quite simple and requires the material that can easily be recycled. On an average, it is estimated that a dentist uses 12 rinse cups a day which adds up to 60 cups a week per dentist. There are approximately 337,886 dentists currently practicing in the United States that makes the number of rinse cups used in a week to number up to a whopping 20,273,260 cups!
If these cups are collected and recycled, then 63,353 Liliputians can be made in one week! It is important for the dentists to use bins to store disposed rinsing cups only.
Design to Reduce Chemical Impacts
Design to Reduce Energy & Water use
Bugplug
Ecogadget for Greener Gadget Competition 2009
Taking bravely care of stand-by devices, this lovely bug helps saving electricity. All you have to do is to connect selected devices to it. Built-in motion sensors detect your presence in a room. If you're in, BugPlug keeps all devices on. If you're out, individually programmed timer cuts off all electrical appliances.
We wanted our BugPlug to have a figurative, kid-friendly shape inspired by urban vinyl toy culture. A series of early sketches show the variety of creatures we considered before settling on the final one. The household friend:)
Design that explores Cleaner/Better Technologies
Design that Looks at Models from Nature & History
Carbon Negative Hemp Walls
Buildings account for thirty-eight percent of the CO2 emissions in the U.S., according to the U.S. Green Building Council, and demand for carbon neutral and/or zero footprint buildings is at an all-time high. Now there is a new building material that is not just carbon neutral, but is actually carbon negative. Developed by U.K.-based Lhoist Group, Tradical® Hemcrete® is a bio-composite, thermal walling material made from hemp, lime and water. What makes it carbon negative? There is more CO2 locked-up in the process of growing and harvesting of the hemp than is released in the production of the lime binder. Of course the equation is more complicated than that, but Hemcrete® is still an amazing new technology that could change the building industry.
Good looking, environmentally friendly and 100% recyclable, Hemcrete® is as versatile as it is sustainable. It can be used in a mind-boggling array of applications from roof insulation to wall construction to flooring. Hemcrete® is waterproof, fireproof, insulates well, does not rot [when used above ground] and is completely recyclable. In fact, the manufacturers say that demolished Hemcrete® walls can actually be used as fertilizer!
There are many factors to take into account when ‘greening up’ your cleaning regime. B&G’s cleaning equipment range has several new environmentally friendly machines; such as the Tennant range of floor cleaning machines which employ the FaST and ECH20 technologies. These "green" cleaning machines used electrically charged water for excellent cleaning results without chemicals, so there is no chemical residue and no chemical waste to dispose of.
By using cleaning machines like these, it is possible to reduce water usage by 70%, making a single tank of water last 3 times as long, whilst also eliminating the potential health issues associated with the use of harsh chemicals.
"The boxfish's surprisingly streamlined form inspired Mercedes-Benz's bionic concept car. Flowing vapors during wind-tunnel tests in a Stuttgart facility show off the car's aerodynamics, which helps boost its gas mileage to as high as 70 miles per gallon
Design to Replace the Need to Consume
Upcycling chairs are a great way of giving your home a facelift and saving the planet because of a little less production needed. Swedish designer Fredrik Farg took this idea and completely transformed his chair into beautifully designed (art)pieces. I love his insight and creativity and the way he moulds the 100% recyclable felt is inspirational. He takes old chairs from fleamarkets, removes the backrests and then tailors the felt to form a brand new back/chair. He calls it 'slow design', and I think it captures the time spent handling each chair as a unique canvas.
Old Speedo LZR Racer Briefs
Where do old Speedo LZR Racer briefs go after their wearers are done swimming in them? Well, some of them are recycled and turned into awesome piece-of-art like structures. Now who’d guess recycle briefs could be used so creatively? This stunning metal beam structure at the recent London Festival of Architecture was recently unveiled, designed and constructed by Chelsea College of Art & Design undergraduate students.
This swimsuit has its share of fame too, in the water and out of it. According to Speedo, the LZR Racer’s wearers have broken over 90 world records since the suit’s launch in 2008, due to its advanced technology, making it the best performance swimsuit ever produced. Indeed a great way to give these stars of the water a new life with recycling!
A closer look at the structure reveals the swimming briefs stretched out between the crossbeams.
Design for Ethical Production
Design to Dematerialise & Develop Systems/Services
Children’s Playground In Australia
Being in a unique building design children’s playground. Container is what we often see on ships that are recycled in such a way by the architect into building children’s playground in Australia.
With the concept of stacking and cutting container, this building offers a variety of functions for use by children. Not just a place to play, but the kind of house / office / school for a flat in front of him. Offers users a safe place to sit, study or play in and around.
Construction waste generated by cutting the container transformed into design features. Unused material is returned into the development process. Waste materials are reused and adapted to the structural function as fences, awnings and decorative cladding.
BCH commenced operations in July 2010 with 5,000 bicycles and 315 docking stations distributed across the City of London and parts of eight London boroughs. The coverage zone spans approximately 17 square miles (44 km2), roughly matching the Zone 1 Travelcard area. Currently there are some 6,000 'Boris Bikes' and 400 docking stations in the BCH scheme, which has been used for more than 4 million journeys to date.
Initially, BCH required initial payment of registration and membership fees to be paid in exchange for an electronic access key, but on 3 December 2010 this was changed to allow casual cycle hires by non-members who have a valid credit or debit card.
Design Activism
Design Activism encompasses a wide range of real-life, socially and environmentally engaged actions. It includes processes that innovate forms of creative practice, providing models by which designers might work, or challenge existing conventions of design knowledge.
Material wealth in green buildingsIt seems that every other day, some innovative, new sustainable building material for green buildings is introduced. Some are recycled, recyclable, or brought back into use from architectural salvage companies. Others are local materials -- including those, like adobe, rock and gravel, that can be harvested from the building site itself. Most of these contain few or no toxic substances or finishes, and many, such as bamboo, straw bales, cork, and recycled denim insulation, come from sustainable or low-impact sources.
