December 1, 2009
Going bananas
Waste not...
This month Maclean's magazine exposed the horrific amount of food wasted every day around the world. In many cases more food is wasted than consumed.
"...58 per cent of all the carrots grown currently went in the trash. That is, Stuart says, “for every carrot you eat, you have paid for at least one more to be thrown away.” Lettuce is even worse: for every serving of fresh salad eaten [...] another two have been thrown away"
More than institutionalized, the practice of throwing out perfectly healthy, fresh food is often legislated:
"...bureaucrats [...] have cooked up laws to ensure that all EU citizens are eating fruit and veggies of the same shape and size. In 2008, one British wholesaler was forced to chuck 5,000 kiwis for being four grams lighter than the 62 gram cut-off—the equivalent of being one millimeter too thin..."
But we can't put all the blame on the bureaucrats, everyone from farmers to consumers are getting their hands dirty in this mess.
"...Torontonians generated 70 kg more waste per person last year than just 10 years ago. Indeed, from 1990 to 2005, we increased our municipal waste by 24 per cent, compared to the OECD average increase of just five per cent."
This waste is not limited to the fields, but plagues our streams as well:
"The European Commission estimates that 40 to 60 per cent of all fish caught by European fleets are thrown back to sea because they are too small, or the wrong species (Greenpeace puts the figure even higher, suggesting that 117 million of the 186 million fish caught in U.K. waters are tossed back to sea). [...] the amount of fish-based protein actually consumed amounts to just 10 per cent of the marine animals removed annually from the oceans..."
Not only are these practices painfully counter-intuitive to feeding the hundreds of millions of starving people (mostly women and children), the consequences are also looming for the rest of the world:
"Factory farms have become one of the biggest sources of pollution on the continent. So when we waste from the industrial food system, we are also wasting oil, releasing greenhouse gases, polluting waterways and hastening global warming. Even worse, many of the environmental costs of creating, then wasting, so much food—such as deforestation, water depletion and soil erosion—are being foisted on developing countries, where increasing amounts of cereals, grains and produce are being grown to sate the West’s growing appetite. When we pay Brazil to chop down the rainforest to grow soy, or have Kenya drain the Tana River delta to make sugar, we of course also hasten the never-ending extension of the agricultural frontier into the world’s last, remaining forests and wetlands."
The added linkage is my own. You can read the entire original article here, or in the reading corner of our library. Get angry, get active!
Want not...
The silver lining in this dark cloud came when I found this article today in the Hamilton Spectator. The Ontario Christian Gleaners are an inspired and motivated organization, just down the road from us. They take some of this perfectly good, but unwanted food, and divert it from the dump.
Their over 150 hardworking volunteers process 9,000kg of food each week into dried snacks and soup mixes which is then donated to relief organizations and distributed around the world. Find out how by watching this video.
The operation costs $150,000 and runs entirely on donations. If you're looking for a place to channel you energy after reading the Maclean's article, this is a great place to start. Your time, money and food can help them keep up the good work.
Want to learn more? The Gleaners are hosting open houses tomorrow (Dec 2) and Monday Dec 7th at 10:30am.
November 19, 2009
The Cat's Pyjamas
If you didn't get a chance to see it in person, you can virtually maneuver the intersections of time and space right here:
This win comes right on the heels of North House placing 4th in the U.S. DOE's Solar Decathlon, the City of Cambridge working with students to develop guidelines for core area revitalization, and the completion of the Grand House housing initiative.
One of our current students was just published in an anthology stacked with big-name Canadian writers, and a former student was chosen to design the medals for the 2010 Olympic Games.
UW Architecture is always making its mark on the world and we're so proud of our students for everything they've accomplished this year!
November 18, 2009
Not just another pretty face...
Like what you see? Check out BIG's book Yes is More: An archicomic on architectural evolution in our collection!
October 19, 2009
Fresh and crisp
How to Build an Igloo and Other Snow Shelters
In this instructive, whimsical manual, U.S. Army engineer and seasoned cold-regions explorer Norbert Yankielun takes readers through the process of constructing and inhabiting a range of useful snow structures step-by-step. Whether you want the know-how to protect yourself from adverse weather conditions while back-country skiing or want to try your hand at building a backyard igloo just for fun, this book can show you how.
Extreme Architecture: Building for Challenging Environments
Architects face some of their m
ost difficult challenges designing for extreme environments. Divided into sections titled Hot, Cold, High, Wet and Space, Extreme Architecture showcases 45 recent buildings designed for these challenging environments, giving valuable insights into the extremes of architectural thinking. Projects range from the fantastic – a lunar hotel – to those already built, including a school in Burkina Faso, a floating sauna in Sweden and an underground seed vault in Norway.
Smart Surfaces and Their Application in Architecture and Design
Luminescent wallpaper, curtains which generate electricity, self-cleaning windows: new developments in the field of surface technologies will continue to influence the
ways in which materials can be used in architecture and design. Smart surfaces expand the range of design options available to architects, leading to new concepts which can meet the changing requirements of buildings and design. Smart Surfaces provides background and technical information for the categories of surfaces, nano, energy, light climate and information, with samples of amazing and often mind-boggling projects from around the world.
For more than forty years, Albert Speer & Partner have been designing ecologically sensitive communities throughout the globe. As one of the world’s most forward-thinking architectural and urban planning practices, many of their trailblazing projects are discussed and analyzed for their success in satisfying the array of social, economic and environmental demands of the twenty-first century. Focusing on projects in cities such as Shanghai, Baku, Cairo, Changchun and Abuja, this book explores themes like the redeveloping of aging cities, resource conservation, urban density, zoning and new technology.
July 15, 2009
Out of the darkness and into the light
(Click on the images to see the incredible detail!)
June 30, 2009
The Dutch, Denmark and Deutschland, oh my!
Nordic Architects
David Sokol
NA 1208 .S65x 2008
Nordic Architects surveys some of the most dynamic architects in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden, celebrating the recent works of established as well as up-and-coming talents. In their own voices, architects discuss the opportunities and challenges of working within a renowned design heritage – and rebelling against it.
FollyDOC EXPO
NA 846 .F65x 2008
In 2005, the Dutch artist Lowieke Duran announced an international contest to design an architectural folly - a visually provocative, poetic structure without a specific function - for a once flourishing, now down-and-out industrial dockland area of Rotterdam where there has recently been some promising new development. This catalog documents the second FollyDOC held at the same venue in 2007. The structures range from the silly [Hairy Monster] to the sublime [Free Standing Dome]. Check out the catalogue from the earlier exhibition too [NA8460 .I58x 2006]. It’s on Reserve for the term.
Updating Germany: 100 Projects for a Better Future
Friedrich von Borries + Mattias Bottger (eds.).
NA 1068.6 .U64x 2008
Solutions have to be found for the great global inequalities – social, economic, and ecological. Architecture can and does make a contribution to this process. The ninety-nine realized and experimental projects depicted here were originally presented at the 11th International Architecture Exhibition held in Venice in November 2008. This book aims to provoke action, encourage new ideas, and to help nurture the conviction that all of us can make contributions to a better future.
Back to the City: Strategies for Informal Urban Interventions
Steffen Lehmann (ed.).
N 72 .A75 B33x 2009
The quality and potential of disused sites, vacant buildings, and abandoned spaces is frequently hidden in the urban fabric, but once revitalized, these spaces can be an important urban resource. Back to the City documents a series of innovative site-specific installations and temporary interventions in public spaces, in Germany and Australia, by interdisciplinary teams of architects, artists, urban planners, and landscape architects. These informal interventions add to the meaningful discourse of contemporary urban culture, challenging our architectural stereotypes in a sustainable way.
June 16, 2009
Livin' la vida local
We will be promoting local eating throughout the summer in various ways. Drop in to the library now to check out our display of student theses, library books and DVDs, and Eat Fresh Eat Local maps you can take home. We are also compiling a binder full of maps, articles, farms, CSAs, stores, restaurants and recipes. We are perfectly situated here to make the most of what's grown and raised in Ontario...and don't forget the school's own Community Garden, where you can adopt your own plot to get growing!
Try challenging yourself to eat locally this summer. It doesn't have to be 100%, start with one meal, check out the farmer's markets, sign up with a CSA. There are countless reasons to eat locally: the health of our environment, our own health, the consequences of peak oil and just getting to know your food - who makes it and where it comes from.
Keep an eye on our Eat Local blog for tips, tricks, events, ideas, sources and more!
May 25, 2009
They let us eat cake...
The assignment? Build a structure at least 8 inches high. The clients? Musagetes Library. The building material? Cake. And this was one class that really rose to the challenge.
The five groups had less than a week to design, plan, bake and build their pastry projects. All were smart enough to interview library staff to determine our preferences, which served them well when the majority served us chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate.
The hardest part was judging the decadent designs, which ranged from the literal to the symbolical in design, and from scrumptious to suspicious in flavour.
In the end, though, we all escaped with our good health and had a sweet spot for seeing what Musagetes Library means to the students...and they made it look like a piece of cake.
April 28, 2009
Take a hike!
There are well over a hundred walks planned in over 20 cities, including Toronto, Hamilton, Waterloo, Kitchener, Vancouver, Guelph and more. One of the two walks happening here in Cambridge is even being led by one of our Architecture students!
If you have your own idea for leading a walk in your community it's not too late to register.
The weather should be perfect for walking this weekend, so what better way to get in touch with your neighbourhood and your neighbours! As Jane said it herself, "No one can find what will work for our cities by looking at suburban garden cities, manipulating scale models, or inventing dream cities. You've got to get out and walk."
April 23, 2009
Room to Grow
Can't find a backyard to use? Don't discount those forgotten corners of your city...there's always room to grow!
Unfortunately, Waterloo Region has just voted against allowing chickens to be raised in residential backyards, so you'll have to stick to plants.
Don't have space, time, energy or know-how? Let someone else do the growing for you. Support one of your MANY local food growers by visiting the Farmer's Market, a local farm, or buying into a CSA co-op.
April 22, 2009
Good Eats
The School of Architecture managed to gather a whopping 631 pounds of food! That translates into over $1,400 in cleared fines for you and hundreds of meals for local families and individuals in need.
All donations have been delivered to the Cambridge Food Bank right around the corner.
It was really great to see our little community so enthusiastic about the drive and the staff got a real kick out of watching our mountain of food grow day by day. Go team!
April 2, 2009
Got Fines?
For every non-perishable food item you donate, you will receive a coupon good for $2 off your fines!
Don't have any fines? Hold on to your coupon and redeem it any time in the future.
The Food Bank is in most need of the following items: Baby food/formula, canned fruit/vegetables, beans, lentils, rice, pasta/sauce, canned meat/fish, canned soup/stew, peanut butter, nuts, cereals, juice, and canned/powdered milk.
Last year the food bank served 25,000 people in the region, and almost half of those were children. Let's fill some bellies!
The fine print:
* We can not accept the following items: instant noodles, junk food, perishable foods, damaged, open, expired or homemade items.
** We can not forgive lost book charges, ILL book fines or film rental late fees.
February 23, 2009
Hot off the presses
Portraits from Above, the latest tome from our very own Rufina Wu, is now available on the New Book shelf...check it out!
February 20, 2009
Our grass roots are far reaching
The UW School of Architecture is making its mark internationally!
The Grand House Student Co-op, brain child of our very own Chantal Cornu, is featured in this month's Architectural Record. Check it out on the magazine rack and online!
Not just a pretty facade...
More than just an anti-aging cosmetic approach, this award will challenge designers from across the wold to come up with new solutions to an old problem...old buildings. The largest greenhouse gas emissions in cities come from buildings. Rebuilding cities is not an option and retrofitting can be inadequate. Re-skinning, however, has many advantages:
· It can be used to hide a cheap retrofit
· It is potentially non-invasive
· It can make a ho-hum building into a handsome green role model
· It can be used to engineer an energy reduction of as much as 70%
· Re-skinning can be smart — solar, thermal, media, vegetation etc.
More information, and tonnes of inspiration, can be found at the new Zerofootprint resource area for a limited time in the library.
You can also find more books about designing like you give a damn now on display in the library.
February 10, 2009
Show them why we're the best...
January 26, 2009
Haiku poetry / challenge for Architecture / play to win sweet prize
For Haiku Contest
writing will be rewarding
details next stanzas...
Submit your poem
before February 10th
Email or paper
Poems on display
in the library until
the contest closes
Then from all entries
5 winners drawn randomly
sweet and yummy prize!!!
-LF
Poetry (straw-bale-y) jam
It's open to all ages, all styles, and holds the possibility of prizes and publishing!
To celebrate the event you'll find an inspiring, architecture-related poetry display on the counter in our library. Drop by and learn more about architects who are poets, poetry in architecture, architecture in literature and the construction of poetry.
You will also find poetic interventions throughout the library as you browse for books!
January 21, 2009
Good on paper
Check out the latest edition of Spacing magazine. Their fifth anniversary issue focuses on the "Next generation of city builders" (psst....that's you guys) and features the winners of their thinkTORONTO urban design ideas competition (you guys again).
Some of them wanted to shine a light on the subway, and others wanted to get people reading on the rails...but all of them are about making the city a community.
Of the 20 winning ideas, many were from current and former UW Architecture students. Check out those entries on our bulletin board, or flip through the whole issue on our magazine rack!