John Hardy Presentation to the Association of Siamese Architects from John Hardy on Vimeo.
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Slideshow presentation given by John Hardy to the Association of Siamese Architects in Bangkok, Thailand on May 1st, 2009.
This is an informative and passionate talk on building sustainably with bamboo and the development of the revolutionary Green School in Bali, Indonesia. Not to be missed!
http://discovermagazine.com/2004/aug/bamboo-cures-earthquakes
Bamboo Cures Earthquakes
by Matthew Power
From the August 2004 issue of Discover Magazine
Last December’s earthquake in the Iranian city of Bam took a huge death toll—roughly 40,000 people—largely because of the collapse of thousands of mud-brick buildings. If a group of researchers in India are successful, the next earthquake might not be as devastating. British and Indian engineers are developing earthquake-proof housing using a cheap, ubiquitous material: bamboo.
They designed a prototype house built around waterproofed bamboo sheet roofing and bamboo-reinforced concrete walls. To test the structure, the engineers, sponsored by the U.K. Department of International Development, took it to the Earthquake Engineering and Vibration Research Centre in Bangalore (below), which has a state-of-the-art earthquake simulator. The researchers shook the house with five consecutive 30-second pulses, equivalent to 7.8 on the Richter scale. The simulation was more than 10 times as violent as the Bam earthquake, yet the house emerged unscathed. “We didn’t even crack the paint,” says engineer Paul Follett, of Britain’s Timber Research and Development Association.
By some estimates, more than a billion people already live in bamboo structures. The innovation lies in developing ways to exploit bamboo’s resilience. Easily prefabricated, fire resistant, and far lighter than steel, bamboo-based structures could be assembled in three weeks and last 50 years. At five dollars a square foot, they would cost roughly half as much as brick-and-block construction. Follett says the project will follow an “open source” model: “Whatever is developed is freely available for the common good.”
Dear John,
It was a real treat to listen to your talk and see what you have done in the past few years. It is impressive and inspiring. You really have demonstrate that living green and learning to be green is a lot of fun. The structures are so beautiful that they really uplift the spirit.
all the best,
Jonny
(Suchart Ketunuti)
Bjarke Ingels’s presentation at the Royal Association of Siamese Architects just blew me away, seldom have I seen an architect with this kind of hand and this kind of authentic intention.
A Hi-Res version containing the ABC news and Heart of School time lapse videos can be viewed here:
http://www.greencampbali.com/john/JH_Thailand_Presentation%20hiRES.mov
WASHINGTON (CNN) – Want to know where the presidential produce comes from?
Washington's Bancroft Elementary School students help first lady Michelle Obama break ground on the garden.
Take a walk past the White House. The answer may be planted right in front of you.
First lady Michelle Obama helped break ground on a new White House organic “kitchen garden” Friday. It will be the first working garden at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. since Eleanor Roosevelt planted a so-called “victory garden” at the height of World War II.
This time, however, the enemy is obesity. The first family is hoping to send a clear message to a fast food-driven nation that often seems to be losing the battle of the bulge.
“We’re just hoping that a lot of families look at us and say this is something that they can do and talk to their own kids about and think a little bit critically about the food choices that they make,” said Marian Robinson, the president’s mother-in-law. Video Watch Michelle Obama tell students about the garden »
The first lady told a group of Washington schoolchildren on hand for the occasion that first daughters Sasha and Malia Obama were usually more willing to try fresh fruits and vegetables because fresh produce generally tastes better.
“What I found with my kids [is that] if they were involved in planting it and picking it, they were much more curious about giving it a try,” she added.
“I’ve been able to have my kids eat so many different things that they would have never touched if we had bought it at a store because they either met the farmers that grew it, or they saw how it was grown,” she said.
“They were curious about it and … usually they liked it.”
The idea of a presidential kitchen garden, used year-round with different seasonal crops, has been strongly promoted by advocates for organic and locally grown food. They argue that the White House garden may help set a positive example for families short on time and money, who are often tempted by cheaper, highly processed food.
The presidential garden will be used, among other things, for growing such staples as butterhead and red leaf lettuce, spinach, broccoli, onions, carrots and peas.
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It will also include a range of herbs, including sage, oregano and rosemary.
The garden is one of several additions to the White House South Lawn. A swing set for the first daughters was recently installed near the Oval Office.
Link to source:
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/03/20/white.house.garden/?iref=mpstoryview
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