Hidden in Plain Sight

In the mountains of West Virginia, there was a well kept secret hidden in plain sight of the visitors and staff for 30 years.  It was a fall-out shelter built during the cold war, to provide a place of safety for the U.S. Legislative Branch in the event of a national emergency.   But it didn’t look like a bunker, despite the 3 to 5 feet walls and ceilings. It just looked like a conference center, which had been built into the hill, for that was the role it served on a daily basis.   Only the massive 25 ton doors were hidden from view, left in an open state, and concealed by a false corridor wall. 

While the Berlin wall has been torn down, we still face potential disasters, some political and many others of natural causes.   What are the disasters facing us? There is no “one” answer, as it is based on geographic location, political and religious interpretations of world events.   But there is probably some element of building durability, power and then food/ water. 

First ICF "Fortified" House

In preparing the built environment for a future disaster, I think back to many construction drawings which incorporated a tornado shelter directly into a school.  Houses may be designing around the possibility of a 100 yr flood plain occurrence,  with deep pylons and elevated occupancy space.   The Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety has a great website to provide guidance for Fortified Homes for Safer Living.

 But given the human propensity to believing in the lottery, and our personal exemption  from disasters, it would seem the most viable market approach to “selling” disaster resistance is to expose it in full view.   Incorporate the functioning of the material or space into the design.  Sell another aspect of the material, such as energy efficiency, termite or rot resistance, or something more exotic - such as the climate and moisture control needed for a wine cellar! 

Green Revolution Energy Cycle

This type of construction is part of the greater scope of passive survival concept,  well known to the pioneers who settled North America, but camouflaged by the modern, technology driven world.   Yet, our centralized power grid system has been known to fail, leaving entire swaths of the country without power for days on end. Does this mean we should all go out and buy a back-up generator?   We might instead assess just how much power it would take to maintain a level of survivability, for example to power the thermostat and a low fan for our gas heating system.   It then might be sufficient to have a bicycle which can generate that power.    These types of energy generating devices are now being developed as part of the “green energy” revolution.   While you’d currently have to bike the Tour de France to power up any significant portion of your household utilities, the very market for this type of product is sure to spark new innovation.   In the meantime, you get some exercise, and some level of back-up power.

Apparently, the sale of survival kits is on the rise, indicating the concern for future disasters.   Can this concern be expressed in the way we build and the way we live, to strengthen our own level of survivability?   And is it just our own hide we are saving – or are we making decisions as a community, as a people,  which looks out for all humanity?

Learning from others who ask the right questions

Last week, we explored the opportunity to ask questions and shake things up.  Inevitably in this process, people also get shook up, but as long as the intent is to find the best solution for the right question, usually this flushes out in the end.   Take, for example, our friends in Roanoke, who decided to share the redevelopment money pie rather than compete for it.  This paradigm shift yielded a smaller piece of the work, but with more likelihood of a steady stream of this work as future projects are also shared.

This approach to digging for the right question, the true underlying constraints has been emerging in the realm of industrial design.  Long accustomed to working under the limitation of product briefs which contained extensive market research, full product specs, and often even branding requirements, “designers” were often so handcuffed as to only be able to add a pretty packaging.

Aquaduct - YouTube

But times are changing, with an increased opportunity to really tackle problems at their root cause.  Take for example, the challenge posed to the firm IDEO.   The two main challenges with water in the developing world: sanitation and transportation. Water-related diseases kill thousands of people each day. Water sources can be miles away from the home, and women must walk these distances daily carrying heavy water vessels.  The question:  “How might we solve this problem in a way which is cost effective, works within the existing infrastructure, and is appealing  - ie will be used by the people with the problem?”    The solution:  The Aquaduct, a bicycle designed to enable a person to sanitize and transport water simultaneously.

Similarly, the village of Gaviotas was constrained by a remote location in the barren savannas of Eastern Columbia jungle, with connection to the “outside” world of commerce hampered by drug wars. Yet, it has managed to create an “oasis of imagination and sustainability,” including a positive environmental contribution through the replanting of the indigenous rainforest. Founder Paolo Lugari has been called the "inventor of the world."

Constructed Wetlands

One such innovative approach was tested out closer to home,  at the Sol y Sombra historical estate of Georgia O’Keefe.   The constructed wastewater wetland approach allows the water to be reused for enhanced landscaping and greenhouses.    It avoids the costly equipment and maintenance of a traditional graywater processing system.  In fact, the lessons learned were applied to a water treatment plant which had been built and funded by a US aid group, but which became defunct due to insufficient funds for the high electricity consumption and the specialized replacement parts.  Examples of wetland wastewater treatment plants can be found throughout Mexico, India and other developing countries.  Yet efforts in North America are often hampered by legislative spaghetti:  piled high, twisty, and slippery. 

There is a beauty in the simplicity of solutions created under tight constraints.  Our biggest handicap in North America is the abundance of materials and funds, which allows us to address the surface issues through technology.  But I ask,  who is really on the cutting edge?

Asking the “Right” Questions

One of my most endearing traits which annoys the greatest number of people is a delight in paradigm shifts, deep thinking, and root cause analysis.   No doubt that this “strategic” and “ideation” approach is the stuff of research and change.  But there is something to be said for stability, normalized situations, and managing expectations.   This is the advantage of human minds.   When faced with a new situation, we can figure it out and store this knowledge in our “comfort zone” for the next time the situation occurs.  The only time we re-analyze the situation is when we observe sufficient change in the normal indicators.   But there is the story of the gradually increasing hot water, which can kill us because we didn’t notice the shift in the norm.

Using BIM for Energy Modeling

This is where inquisitive minds come in.  At best, a mind which comes from outside the industry and asks “Why?”  And so.. when we start a project, might we reconsider the traditional document flow from design, to structural, to HVAC?    If we are using virtual design software such as Revit ( BIM),  we might choose to lead with the structural model -  for example, if our specifications call for fireproof, earthquake and tsunami resistance.   And,  if the project that it is being built on an island in the middle of the Pacific, this might greatly affect what materials are reasonably available.  Structure can thus initiate the dialog which then is joined by space planning, exterior shell materials, and the HVAC.    

Or,  you are building in Iceland, and a geothermal system with radiant concrete slab is the key constraint in the specifications,  so HVAC goes first.    You get the idea – but do we ever even ask this question?

Construction tends to view the world based on the activity of the worker, but there are other perspectives.  For example, water is the domain of not only the plumber, but the roofer, the gutter guy, the landscaper, perhaps a wetlands wastewater specialist.  Oh, and let’s not forget the Tyvek guy, the below grade waterproofer, window installer…..    At what point in the plan design is there a “water “ review?  Who asks those questions?

And less we get distracted, who asks the real big questions?  Why are we building?   If we need a school to house the kids, is there any really good reason to not either re-use the existing building or take over another empty shell, other than to create conformity in the schools?    Does the building really address the needs of the occupants, or the neighbors, or the globe?   

Mumbai Green

Construction has been luxuriating in its own comfort zone for the past few decades.  But we’ve been slowly boiling in every increasing hot water, as the productivity of the industry went down, quality went down, and cost went up.  But the economic times are forcing us to change, and those bold enough to ask the right questions are pushing through the cost, design, and schedule barriers.  They can reconfirm the items in the comfort zone, and push others areas to create a totally new paradigm in the built environment.    Go ahead, ask the questions.

A Paradigm Shift in Construction

The logical arguments for a major paradigm shift in construction are well explored:   buildings consume 50% of the energy used in the US;  productivity in construction has been steadily decreasing relative to manufacturing;  construction waste is estimated between 42% - 57% (yes, really);  less than 10% of construction achieves any “sustainable” goals.   Yet the nature of our “flatter” world economy and global environmental concerns calls on our industry to make some radical changes.    Are we changing?

The news from the Associated Schools of Construction conference is yes, there are pioneers.   Not surprisingly, many of the innovations come from California.   The constraints of the stronger environmental regulations are supercharging their “can-do” attitude to catalyze innovation in technology and to create a leaner, more resilient infrastructure and industry that will drive the rest of the nation.   It must be all that sunshine that fuels the lightbulbs in the brain…

CalPoly has truly stepped up to the plate on Integrated Project Delivery, which has been introduced as both a radical shift towards a studio learning environment for construction majors, as well as an outreach effort to help transform the marketplace. The training focuses on the three most critical skills needed for developing high-performing, value-oriented integrated teams: communication, integration, and collaboration.    California State University in Fresno took the opportunity as a new program to create a construction management curriculum which integrates architectural designs and engineering principles.

On the other side of the country,   Chris Monson from the College of Architecture, Art + Design at Mississippi State is at the forefront of inquiry-based learning and design thinking.   Design thinking can best be summarized by this quote from George Bernard Shaw:  “You see things and you say “why?”, but I dream things that never were; and I say “why not?” (from website of Lime Design Associates).

The world is changing quickly,  and the built environment along with it.   As I have watched and hoped for the age of enlightenment to dawn for decades, it is with great relief and excitement that I see these centers of innovation, both in education and within industry.    This is the future face of construction.

Designing for the “Long Now”

The “Power of Now,” first introduced in Eckhardt Tolle’s book of the same title, has emerged as the leitmotiv of stress management, organizational change, and global consciousness. But from a nuts and bolts perspective, how do we build for the ever present Now? That is to say, how to we build for durability and yet meet the current market trends?

I draw inspiration from another of my favorite authors, Stewart Brand, who has been dubbed “Environmentalism’s pithiest polemicist” and the originator of the discussions about the Long Now. How can we design for the ever-changing now? Brand offers us one approach of identifying the pace layering of the building, and facilitating the changes when updates are needed. For example, on the shortest end of the trendy cycle is stuff. Furniture, curtains, rugs are all subject to the whim of the owner and the latest Architectural Interiors magazine. That is easy, remove and replace.

At the other end of the slow to change spectrum is the structure, which may never need to change if built in a durable manner. However, as the use of the space may change, this structure would ideally be easy to adjust. For example, building two adjoining rooms with a continuous floor , separated by a demountable partition wall. This can be configured as a large master bedroom and a study, as two equal size kids rooms, or as one large yoga studio. This type of partition is common in commercial fit-outs, no reason to not adapt it to residential use.

Another scenario is that buildings often grow – sometimes in phases which are pre-determined by the development plan. In this case, the bearing structure can prepare for, and accommodate, this future addition. The key is to pull the bearing structure to a separate layer from the spatial planning wall components.

In between the two outer edges of change are the many layers, for which change can be expected somewhere between its predicted service life, and the whim of the owner: paint, lightbulbs, heating equipment, kitchen and bath. This is where design thinking for adaptability comes in. Recognizing that the life of the building begins when the construction is complete will help make provisions for remodels or upgrades. Even something as simple as applying colored caulk over a painted surface, instead of the other way around, takes into consideration that caulk will generally fail before paint. Or that vinyl flooring will fail before cabinets get replaced, but true linoleum will generally outlast all will influence the decision to place cabinets on top of the flooring, or flooring up to the cabinet.

Finally, buildings with good design seem to hold a timeless appeal without ever falling prey to trendiness. When a building is empty, devoid of all the “stuff,” does it make you happy? Good lighting, spatial flow, interesting but not overwhelming architecture, and visible craftsmanship are the tools of the long now of the built environment.