A Short History of America

Perhaps an homage to a weekend of bbq's and fireworks - this panel progression from the fantastic R.Crumb highlights the long (or really, actually quite short) road from nature to excess that we like to call development in America... anyone care to refute this vision? The interesting part, to see where this leads in future iterations, and can it turn around...? (via People and Place)


:: (click to enlarge) - image via R. Crumb

Urban Chickens Build - 5

Sort of a conceptual jump cut in the process, as two weekends of rain hampered plans to make progress on the Chicken Cube... but a big push this weekend (and a loaner of the wonderful compound miter saw that I am now officially) has yielded a vision close to complete. Not too many pics of the steps, as it was a race to finish. Here's the result, sans a few final touch-ups and details. And alas, it is chicken ready.





The cedar siding is beautiful - and it's now official that I am not allowed near a can of stain ever again. We're going to finish the bottom screening and plant the ecoroof this weekend, as well as installing the gutter and final hardware... Then we look for some (hopefully affulent and homeless) fowl to occupy this unit, because unless anyone knows of a certain breed that lays golden eggs, the payback time for this return-on-investment with current egg prices - 42 years. :)

Local Flavor: OSC Revealed

Last week I posted about this local project, and the process in general. The end of the Phase I feasibility study for the Oregon Sustainability Center revealed a very integrated and transparent process culminating in a potential example of cutting edge Veg.itecture in Portland - albeit in need of some visual refinement. I usually turn to my favorite local, Brian Libby, and his great blog Portland Architecture, for the latest insight.


:: image via Portland Architecture

His initial thoughts: "Pictured above is a rendering of the Sustainability Center as it might look once constructed. It would be unfair to judge a building so innovative and so green on its exterior aesthetics. At the same time, it is written in the summary, "The Living Building Challenge is unique, among programs that encourage and evaluate accomplishments in sustainable design, in that it mandates beauty as well as aggressive goals for energy, water and waste systems." It certainly seems like the team has met the aggressive goals. Have they met the beauty mandate? That's a harder goal because it's of course in the eye of the beholder. Personally, I am not crazy about the look of the roof. But of course the design could continue to evolve."

The executive summary has been published, and Libby mentions some highlights here. Now to see if Portland can actually make this thing a reality.