Emergent Design-Air Flow Analysis 1

I fully expected something with a title of 'Emergent design' to be at the very least Digital. It is after all spawned by studies of the digital and lead to "a theoretical framework... for investigating how choice of design methodology contributes to the success or failure of education reforms."

Instead it appears to be the use of a very large model and a cooling fan to study the potential for natural ventilation / wind driven air flow.

A headline I couldn't resist: The Hippies Were Right! /

The Hippies Were Right! / Green homes? Organic food? Nature is good? Time to give the ol' tie-dyers some respect
The whole of the Bay Area is full of people who write and think like this. They still sell tie-dyed T-shirts and other clothing in the Saturday markets in Berkeley around Telegraph / Bancroft.

Scratch the surface of most of those comfortable homes in the quiet streets surrounding the University of California - Berkeley - and you will find people who have done quite well for themselves as hippies who grew up. They are still passionate about the whales / spiritual values / improving the planet neighbourhood by neighbourhood.

But, they have had the resources to do this. I keep wondering where the wealth has come from to make this happen. After all the Prius is (in my terms) a rich person's car. These quiet suburban homes cost a bomb in international terms. Of course, there are squillionaires who I am ignoring, and even more dangerous to the environment those people building 1200 sq m mansions by the thousand. But I am left wondering how we can learn from these lessons if they continue to cost as much to implement that only those hippies who live in the readership area of the San Francisco Chronicle can afford to do them well...

Still: love the ironic tone and writing style. This is what large populations do deliver: quality writing that is good to read.

'Hero' architect builds green - but is it different?

TOWERING EXPECTATIONS / S.F.'s new federal building challenges ideas of what a government high-rise should look like -- its humane design is green, dazzling One of the interesting architectural design questions people have tackled over the last 30 years has been the idea that green buildings might define a new aesthetic.

Back in the late 70's, the question was would a passive solar non-residential building define a new aesthetic. There was even some speculation about the inclusion of some of our other senses in the definition of aesthetics. Could a definition of the spiritual values of a welcoming warmth in winter and 'coolth' in summer; a calm quietness; become a new aesthetic?

Now, however we have a corporate architecture that is allegedly more comfortable because it is naturally lit and naturally ventilated. However, looking at the illustrations, I wonder whether the future of this brave new idea is to be similar to the critical acclaim / popular opprobrium of that wonder of mid last century the new brutalism...?