DESIGN STUDIOS
ECO CITIES DESIGN STUDIO: In spite of the constraints that reduced resources exert on cities, a careful reflection on a post-carbon landscape is a very real opportunity to reexamine the city as a site of invention. If methods for reduced energy consumption as outlined in the Kyoto Protocol are adhered to, visible changes in infrastructure and mobility strategies will likely result. Many independent start-ups and university research departments are developing clean energy strategies, such as solar-, wind- and hydrogen-powered cars and zero emission power stations. In Urbana Champaign, Berkeley, Palo Alto, and Cambridge, as well as many other lesser-known areas, new models of public/private partnerships and community engagement are already taking shape.
This is where EcoCities Studio 2.0 [ECD 2.0] stands to make a significant contribution. As a detailed consideration of alternative urban models, ECD 2.0 explores innovative design research by adapting essential components of next-generation infrastructure. Through small-scale implementation, EcoDistricts can reduce environmental impacts while creating a stronger sense of place and community. [2014]
The Internet Archive: Tectonics of the immaterial
KEYWORDS: Data Centers, Mediatheque, Material Footprint, Immaterial Tectonics, Data Infrastructure
Presently, The Internet Archive is a San Francisco–based nonprofit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge.” Since our culture now produces more and more artifacts in digital form, the Archive’s mission is to help preserve those artifacts and create an Internet library for researchers, historians, and scholars. Bringing the library into the 21st century means leading its digital transformation in ways that do not merely copy or reproduce books, films, music, and more onto storage drives (although even this much hasn't been completed yet) -- more importantly, digital technology changes social practices in that it provides an opportunity to share knowledge, which is critical for new scholarship, arts, and the overall information needs of a socially equitable society.
This studio is based on an actual proposal. In November 2016, Brewster Kahle announced that the Internet Archive was building a back-up library, a digital doppelganger, the Internet Archive of Canada, a copy to be constructed in Toronto. In the announcement, Kahle was quoted as saying:
“Throughout history, libraries have fought against terrible violations of privacy—where people have been rounded up simply for what they read. At the Internet Archive, we are fighting to protect our readers' right to information in the digital world.”
This design research studio includes a parametric workshop led by SOM Blackbox in Chicago.