Greening Green

2

"Jeff Gallo of Minneapolis is trying to build a green house. The zoning bylaws were no help, but after a quick redesign by John Dwyer of Shelter Architecture he is on his way and intermittently blogs it for our viewing pleasure."1 It's great to see they are taking the time to blog about the adventure they have embarked on; it allows the public a little porthole into the trials and tribulations of building a green home and also how satisfying it can be when construction is complete. It's great documentation as well as an educational tool. I wish someone blogged about the construction of my apartment complex, tho I don't know that SOM had computers in 1956...Anyways John and Jeff posted an image of there on-site dumpster which was impressively bare, as seen here.

2

Looking at this picture, all I could think of was, those truss ends look really cool, I bet somehow they could still be used. So I designed a shelving unit out of the materials I counted in the image:

12 Truss ends
1 sheet 3/4" plywood (guessing)

Marker Sketch

3D Sketch

Elevation + Objects

Some might say it's nit picky to say even the smallest scraps should be used, but imagine if your site didn't even need a construction dumpster. No truck to bring it in, no truck to take it out, virtually no waste to the landfill. That would be pretty amazing. That aside, what makes this idea green?:

a. 1 left shelving unit that has to be made out of raw materials then shipped to the site (carbon footprint + deforestation, etc.)

b. less materials headed for landfills.

What makes this idea

No discredit to John and Jeff's efforts by any means, their building is Platinum baby! Keep up the great work guys. LEED Certified doesn't mean anything these days, but this, Platinum, is the real deal.

1 Quote from Treehugger

2 Image from 5ive

Rumina (Room-in-a) Chair

Below I have posted pictures of the finished cardboard product. Apparently there is already a cardboard furniture market. There was a recent article in the newspaper about 2 brothers who started a business making cardboard furniture. Also, I saw some cardboard shelves at the Visitor Center in Chicago's Water Tower Place. These shelves were reinforced with a thin plywood or board which was disappointing. I'll still work on some ideas but I'm going to research a little more to make sure I'm not replicating something already made. While building this chair I noticed some structural instability in the layered cardboard. If it wasn't properly glued, it would fall apart. This can be solved with a better gluing technique. Overall, I'm satisfied with the out come of this chair, it's been a great learning experience.

Concept II

This sketch shows the latest concept for the competition entry. Basically, it's a couch that can turn into a set of 4 chairs, a table, and a bed. The idea is to maximize the usability and minimize cost. Because the "chair" has so many functions, it eliminate the need to purchase other furniture resulting in less packaging, less cost, and less wasted materials. It's both environmentally and cost friendly.

Concepts

Here are some ideas I sketched up for the cardboard furniture line, I really like the dark one...but I"m still working on ideas.