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November 9, 2007

A model within a model of sustainability

Sweden's Bo01 development, aka City of Tomorrow, is designed to be a model urban village of sustainability for 1000 residents.** The 27-unit Tango (pictured) was designed to set a standard for the rest of the development.

The centerpiece of Tango is a courtyard (see oval) surrounded by a series of transparent buildings. At night, the buildings resemble a collection of colorful internally lit lanterns, providing a warm, inviting atmosphere and a welcoming sense of security.

The 33,000 s.f. building ranges from more affordable 600 s.f. studios (vital to a village that's already deemed overpriced) to 1950 s.f. 3-bedroom units, and features a long list of green components:

- Photovoltaic roof panels provide heating and cooling.
- Green roofs restore oxygen to the atmosphere.
- Rainwater is recycled and irrigates water gardens.
- All exterior windows are triple-glazed to provide insulation with an energy-conserving layer of Aragon gas.

**Unfortunately the housing prices were too high to attract the types of people that truly embrace ecologically-minded living, as you can read about here.

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November 8, 2007

Self expression at its residential best

In the industrial age people had a choice of either a mass-produced suburban home or a mass-produced apartment. In the knowledge age where individual expression as a community is the norm, these lucky residents in Amsterdam were able to fulfill that notion.

...and lucky is right, for people had to win a lottery for the right to buy one of 60 'free parcels', as in 'free to design their own building'. As you can see in the image above, it shows, and compared to the rest of the 2500-unit Borneo Sporenburg housing development on the docks, it's by far the most humane, creative and attractive section in the neighborhood.

At least 30-50% of each dwelling is open space, such as a patio or courtyard at high or low level. Parking is only on the property, none on the street, providing a much more appealing walk or bike ride to and from the city center 15 minutes (by bike) away.

Thank you to Matthew Hardy at INTBAU for the reference.

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November 7, 2007

The stackable city car - revisited

Almost two years ago we profiled the wildly innovative, stackable, electric City Car, designed via the MIT Smart Cities program.

Think of it as a cross between car sharing and bike sharing, where you have the access to a dual-passenger car, but parked in a space not much larger than a bicycle.

It was pretty difficult for people to understand the concept based on images, so the folks at MIT finally produced a video to show how it works.

Considering most people rarely drive with more than two passengers, MIT is looking to introduce a prototype next year. If a pedestrian-only neighborhood is unrealistic, then imagine a City Car-only neighborhood - that's a whole lot less wasted space for parking that can go toward piazzas and attainably-priced lofts.

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November 6, 2007

Don't have a coworking site? Adopt a cafe

CooperBricolage (CooBric) is a coworking site company without a coworking site. They're working on finding one, they say, but in the meantime they're in the same dilemma as a lot of other entrepreneurs, free agents and home-workers who want a shared workplace to share ideas and conversation, but don't have a common place to meet.

So CooBric found a cafe to serve as their interim coworking site, at Gramstand in Manhattan. Of course, it has to meet the coworking criteria: Progressive management, free wi-fi and a lounge-like-stay-as-long-as-you-desire setting. The difference between CooBric/Gramstand and simply showing up at a random coffeehouse is that there's a regular community of collaborating business interests that show up, facilitated via online community as well.

From Richard, Gramstand's founder, "The CooBric people have been great so far. They respect the cafe environment, understand the need to support it, and have an entrepreneurial spirit that I appreciate as a business owner. I have a long-term goal of elevating the concept of cafes and baristas to re-encompass the idea of community that is lacking at most urban Starbucks-style cafes. I want Gramstand to be a physical, trustworthy storefront that facilitates the craigslisted lives we increasingly lead."

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November 5, 2007

Ani DiFranco and her church-turned-concert hall

Recording artist Ani DiFranco wanted to energize the downtown of her hometown of Buffalo with some creative spirit. So she did what any other person would have done - transforming a doomed 19th century church into a 21st century destination that houses a concert hall (pictured), a record studio, an art gallery and bar/lounge.

The city slated the 1871-built church for demolition in 1995, and within a year DiFranco and her record company president launched a community-wide effort to save it, ultimately purchasing the building three years later. The renovated church reopened in spring 2006.

Known as The Church (aka Babeville), the building features:
- The concert venue, Asbury Hall, which hosts banquets of 300 to live performances with crowds of 1000.
- The gallery and screening room, which belong to Hallwalls Contemporary Art Center, whose mission is to bring the newest and most challenging work in the contemporary arts to the interested public.
- Righteous Babe Records, Ani's own indie rock label.

"I think it will be a really dynamic place that will have a momentum of its own once all the creative people are in there, and there is music happening at night, and art hanging on the walls and crazy cinema in the basement. I think that the collective energy of all those people coming together will emanate out through the neighborhood. The space itself has a soul - it's vibe-y, it's cool and it's beautiful." Ani DiFranco

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