zeroplus

possible impossibility

2012-02-27T15:12:00.005-08:00

well, looks like we might chock it up to a loose cable for this paradigm shift...it is easy to be beguiled with these times so ripe with potential for change, undoubtedly long standing realities are changing and the fact that any watcher changes the circumstance, it seemed none too surprising.

speaking of shifting realities, what kind of change are you making in the world? (even the smallest difference can be either clysmic or toxic..) or is stasis and the hold of the past proving an even stronger resistance?

afternoon light, fans a-whirring

2012-02-22T13:44:00.001-08:00

look up and breathtaken

2012-02-06T15:53:00.000-08:00

Robot Eyes

One of our favorite futurists Bruce Sterling posted this Vimeo of robot eyes, quite intriguing when you imagine they are all taken from actual machine footage.

more about permaculture

2012-01-23T14:57:00.000-08:00

This is an image from one of two ponds that are part of a garden and residence of a friend of ours that we visited while we were in Hawaii. The pond is filled with water collected from the roof of the house just barely visible in the background. The pond grows fish and a rich layer of aquatic plants harvested and used as mulch in the surrounding gardens (the brown bits in the foreground). Specific trees were selected to surround the pond because a certain caterpillar grows and occasionally falls off the tree to feed the fish in the pond. Along with a diverse layered set of edible, medicinal and supportive plants chickens, ducks roam about providing eggs and lot of fresh fertilizer. This example starts to describe a few of the composting systems we can develop that might help us complete waste loops that are now left open, with many other possibilities. Not does the land provide amazing fresh sustenance to feed the body but being amidst the rich ecosystem in delicate balance is fantastic food for the soul.

lightness

2011-11-18T15:37:00.001-08:00

World's lightest material developed

With a density of 0.9 mg / cc – about 100 times lighter than Styrofoam.

"The trick is to fabricate a lattice of interconnected hollow tubes with a wall thickness 1,000 times thinner than a human hair," lead author Dr. Tobias Schaedler of HRL.

"Modern buildings, exemplified by the Eiffel Tower or the Golden Gate Bridge, are incredibly light and weight-efficient by virtue of their architecture. We are revolutionizing lightweight materials by bringing this concept to the nano and micro scales." William Carter, manager of the architected materials group at HRL

2011-11-16T14:38:00.001-08:00

progress on the new space they say drywall is halfway........

2011-10-24T16:31:00.000-07:00

Check out this new kitchen concept from Phillips:

http://www.design.philips.com/philips/sites/philipsdesign/about/design/designportfolio/design_futures/design_probes/projects/microbial_home/index.page

its the end of the world as we know it...

2011-09-23T20:51:00.002-07:00

in more ways than one!

This equinox finds our realities shifted as we close one chapter and open another...
Today we moved our first load of office stuff to our new space. After being on 'the hill' for over a decade we have found an fantastic new place to call home...still work to be done, but exciting none-the-less.Thanks to our wonderful friends and colleagues from Kevin of Urban Wilds and Bud and Neil of River Ranch Construction for their invaluable support and assistance with heavy lifting! We love you!

okay, now, the real mind expander that I am trying to wrap my head around...a few days ago they announced that ghost particles appear to be moving faster than the speed of light. Okay, I guess its all mathematics and who knows what it looks or feels like, or if it exists beyond intellectual equations and wild experiments, but all that strangeness and irrationality holds the makings of yet another paradigm shift that breaks down an immutable(?) law of understanding the world. While announced with caution because of its 'potentally great impact to physics', this discovery by the Cern is something to contemplate for some time to come.

...andI feel fine.

2011-09-01T14:51:00.000-07:00

this guy thinks like zeroplus

or so says our friend Dan McCloy...

this comes as the highest of compliments (for us anyway, hopefully that comparison wouldn't scare Rueben :) )
not just because of his sweet and quirky demeanor
or because his work is beautiful and intelligent,
but mostly because he so eloquently describes seeing wonder and light in the world, and within that, learning to search for the core of what lies behind these external appearances.

a man after zeroplus' heart!

shishi 011

2011-08-16T15:23:00.000-07:00

annual trip out to a wilderness beach on the Washington Coast, this year with a new addition "The KELTY" and a new word:

anastrophism

a bit of magic that must be shared...

2011-08-01T12:21:00.000-07:00

our planet inspires awe and a deep response

miscellaneous robotica

2011-07-26T11:15:00.000-07:00

We are excited to have been chosen to work with Microsoft's Stratpro division in imagining the future --- assisting the six.

Here are two interesting related items that have turned up in the last week. I decided to post them, because of course, the future (and in this case, the past as well) includes robots. These videos are interesting to watch to see how kinds of different challenges are solved and how criteria shapes the end result.

TREEBOT
This video of the treebot has been posted at various points around the web, you may have run across it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmqDePXM89Y

"The design of Treebot is fairly unique: it uses a set of flexible linear actuators connecting two gripping claws to allow it to move around like an inchworm. While the back gripper holds on, the front gripper releases and the body extends forward, allowing the robot to literally feel around for a good place to grip.

Keeping to the inchworm theme, the robot doesn't use much in the way of fancy sensors. Instead, it's all tactile. You can tell the robot which direction you'd like it to go and how far, and the robot will grope its way to its destination, adaptively navigating from trunk to branches."

Although the treebot is "blind", researchers are working on the treebot optimizing its climbing path to enable faster and higher movement.

AUTOMATA
These examples called Karakuri have no actuators but are amongst the first lowtech 'robotic' prototypes, a fine craft developed 200- 300 years ago during the Edo period.

http://vimeo.com/24412432

I am reminded of Theo Jansen's brilliant ingenuity in creating family of strandbeests that roam the beaches, completely analog sensing, actuating, and responsive which carries the quality of both - the fine craft and completely lowtech 'programming' of the Kamakuri and the real time reactiveness of the treebot.

some old ideas on sustainable pooping

2011-07-13T15:11:00.000-07:00

We have been conditioned to believe that the water closet and the sewer system are the only alternatives to stench and disease

http://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2010/09/recycling-animal-and-human-dung-is-the-key-to-sustainable-farming.html

lets find new ways to close the loop

scene at 14th and Pine

2011-07-08T15:34:00.000-07:00

late summer night at artusi bar

(more images here )

bunkhouse

2011-06-15T15:00:00.000-07:00

parts

construction

cut sheet

The bunkhouse is a container that was designed for a barge that provides support for remote construction workers at sea. Five bunk rooms with three bunks each in the shipping container. The project was designed to be prefabricated in plywood.

The project was conceived and constructed by Snow and Company.

team "GU" seattle

2011-05-02T10:19:00.000-07:00

[GU]growing urbanism
our envisioning of a Seattle in 2035, has won the "provocative images award" in the living city design competition!

congrats to the whole team:

zeroplus

Gundula Proksch, Assistant Professor University of Washington

Mac Lamphere,

Lauren McCunney
Cameron Hall

2011-02-03T17:44:00.001-08:00

[gu] a strategy for ecological urbanism using natural intelligence as a means to achieve greater symbiosis.

Divided into three distinct concepts, biological re-emergence, smart biology and exponential data this natural intelligence is based on the principles of self-organization and soft engineering and is the foundation for an adaptive and robust urban condition that ultimately reverses our current state of environmental degradation.

Biological re-emergence is an expression of nature’s own rules. Rising tides, new stream erosion created by new ground water infiltration and weeds growing through newly perforated hardscape.

Smart biology will allow us to create our own ecological material greatly increasing our ability to integrate our built work with the ecology that surrounds us.

Exponential data’s ability to predict, inform and ultimately expand the ways our collective intelligence is shared and used. (see projects for more info and images)

DEWelectric

2010-10-30T17:35:00.000-07:00

In the Arabic language, there are at least ten names for water based upon salinity and potability. Beginning with ujaj, which is the bitterest and most saline water, and ending withzulal, clear, sweet, cool water. DEWelectric encompasses the principle of the bitterest of water to the sweetest.

Water has always been regarded as a precious resource in the Arab world and water conservation is well-documented in Islamic teaching.

Fresh water, a scarce resource in the UAE, is precious. It sustains all life, is nourishing, cleansing, regenerative, purifying, and rich in symbolic meaning.

Water scarcity is one of the most pressing problems confronting humankind in the new century. The natural water resources of the UAE will decrease by 16 per cent in the next decade, requiring the second-largest build-up of desalination plants in the world. Demand is soaring, with the country expected to increase desalination capacity by 76 per cent by 2016, to 14.1 million cubic liters a day.

Desalination plants, while solving some problems, create others. Desalination is expensive, energy intensive and emits greenhouse gases. Waste from the process is highly concentrated brine that can contain biocides, high concentrations of metal, and chlorine. Adequate and safe disposal of the concentrated brine presents a significant environmental challenge. In addition, large marine organisms, such as adult fish, invertebrates, birds, and even mammals, are killed on the intake screen. Decomposition of these organisms can reduce the oxygen content of the water near the discharge point, creating additional stress on the marine environment.

Here we developed a significant series of closed loop power generators by taking advantage of the coastal conditions provided on site. DEWelectric combines beauty, simplicity, and function into responsible energy production through biomimicry while demonstrating the potential for generating fresh water and clean, efficient electrical power.

The artwork consists of three components: an array of pneumatic condensers, a channeled walkway, and a shaded community gathering space that celebrates the vitality of water.

Pneumatic Condenser

The Namib Desert beetle (genus Stenocara) survives in the harsh environment of the Namib Desert where only a half-inch of rain falls annually. In response to the arid environment, the beetle has developed a unique water collection mechanism. A series of small bumps on the surface of its shell enable the beetle to collect water from fog that forms in the early morning and blows across the desert floor. When the beetle positions its body at 45 degrees dew collects on its back and runs down the wings to its mouth, supplying the animal with water necessary for its survival.

Mimicking the Namib Beetle, each ‘water stalk’ condenser in DEWelectric is designed to draw water out of the air while simultaneously generating electricity and providing both fresh water and power to the region. Each condenser is constructed from a pneumatic tube that circulates fluid cooled by seawater. When the warm moist air reaches the surface of the tubes, water vapor condenses on the colder surface of the tower that is textured much like the beetle's hydrophilic shell. The coolant is then returned to the sea in a closed loop system to be re-chilled by the sea. The delta in temperature around the chilled water stock towers creates a negative pressure that draws air down the column spinning a 7.5 kilowatt wind turbine that generates electricity to feed the grid as well as the pumps that draw the water from the sea to the condensers.

A total of 475 proposed towers are distributed in a semi-random array that extends throughout the site in a pattern that resembles the natural flow of water to or from a single source. Each tower, approximately 4.5 meters in diameter and 16 meters high will generate 180 kilowatt hours per day of electricity and 485 liters of water per day. This passive method of water collection also reduces consumption from the grid by a total of 3,217,600 kilowatts of power per year, a conservative estimate for even the most efficient and state of the art desalinization plant. This is output scalable depending on desired performance criteria. Supported on tripod legs that interlock together to add an organic quality to the repetitive tower elements and supports, they tread lightly on the land in order to reduce its impact to the site. These support legs become a tensegrity structural system enhanced by a protective shade covering device that collects and funnels water over the bowl shaped ‘rain space’ gathering area. The cooling effects of the tower clusters and shading devices creates comfortable places and subtle climatic shifts for people to gather and explore the passive systems of Yaz Island's DEWelectric that benefits the entire region.

The RainSpace

RainSpace is an all-encompassing experience of water. As one enters the shaded water chamber, the effect of the overhead condensers and the canopy of collectors provides a significantly cooler environment than the surrounding desert setting. RainSpace provides a communal gathering place where viewers experience a continuously live event of ‘raining’ water. Water falls from above into a ‘carpet’ of inlaid channels that create an overall pattern inspired by the natural world. Referencing the inherent beauty of Islamic patterns, the continuous flow of water both above and below expresses infinity, unity, harmony and balance. Similarly, at first glance the process may appear extremely complex, yet the simple elegance of the system is revealed and immediately understandable to the viewer. The ordered repetition of the overall system, both above and below symbolizes a well-balanced whole. RainSpace creates a visceral and sensory experience that celebrates and honors the value of water in our lives.

Total DEWelectric Power and Water output generation

· Electricity: 180 kWh per day per tower or 85,500 kWh per day total (before seawater pump correction)

· Water: 1,354 liters per day per tower or 643,520 Liters per day total

· Water production is equivalent to 3,217,600 kWh reduced energy consumption from the grid (based on a conservative estimate for state of the art desalinization water generation)

Team: zeroplus and Jennifer Dixon, public artist

zeroplus, Joshua Brevoort, Lisa Chun and Ian Campbell

backcounty access prototype

2010-09-06T12:55:00.000-07:00

Like a giant sleeping bag, the building functions in the way that our other outdoor equipment does: absolutely functional, flexible and with minimal impact. We go to the wilderness to appreciate the power, awe, simplicity and complexity that a pristine natural world offers. Our equipment including where we eat sleep and bathe should not inhibit of our connection and experience of place. We have designed a structure that is exploring the limits of materials technologies in reducing the necessities of shelter to minimum to increase our connection and interconnection with the outside world. (see more images in projects)

Phillip Beasley "Venice Biennale"

2010-08-23T11:28:00.000-07:00

http://bldgblog.blogspot.com/2010/08/hives-and-valves-filters-and-membranes.html

our very first post

2010-08-18T19:08:00.001-07:00

architecture of the future is waiting to be discovered join us in the search!