Beautiful Minds to Foster Green Thinking (Saving a Trillion a Year on Resources Alone if Implemented)

Today 7-29-2011 – NY Times: The news comes as Congress is debating how to put the nation on a more sustainable fiscal path, with measures that some economists worry could further slow the recovery and even throw the economy back into recession.

Since our Government, House and Senate are not able to pull away from their sources of re-election (established industries rather than new smart ones), and allow us to do what we can do – what about…

Google, Facebook and LinkedIn?

The use of online tools and social networks could help show our nation some real spirit by supporting little extra cost in the creation of a couple of sample projects. We need to have building departments, builders, architects, engineers, and clients all aboard without them feeling like they are constantly pioneers in a Green Movement that has actually been with us for FOUR DECADES.

Look at the ‘green’ houses in the South — the houses in the North. Look at the small office buildings (or buildings similar in scope like small educational buildings or health centers) in both climates.

We need this innovation to be shown to our entire nation and since companies like Google, Facebook and LinkedIn have the databases, we would be able to access and share this sort of material and samples from anywhere in the world.

Engineers like Ove Arup showed us in the Sidney Opera House in Australia first what an excellent humanitarian curious mind can do, and now they are the largest engineering firm in the world; not just in structures but in all kinds of well-meaning aspects, including Green.

I met Ove Arup in the 1980’s when he was an elderly man. He gave me his own version of a Chess Game he had designed. The mind never stops! He was very proud of a bridge that had noise and rain reduced for pedestrians crossing the river. His staff has been a similar delight to work with throughout my career on issues that almost no one else is willing to tackle.

Fritz Gartner, an engineer near Munich, has produced in his factory the most beautiful curtain wall solutions that, lately, are competitively priced if one (owner) thinks beyond ten years of operation. I had proposed one of his economical solutions for UN HQ, but the architects following Arup and my own firm NY Super Studio Architects had to tackle the ever so cumbersome UN bidding and building process, and could not apply any sensible solutions.

Standing in Gartner’s factory, it makes one wonder why more curtain wall producers cannot expand their vocabulary in the same way. Sheer beauty and elegance is so breathtaking.

So, hopefully we will get some beautiful minds together this year and steer our economy to a brighter, happier future. Our goal should be no imported oil – PERIOD.

Regards,
Tapani Talo, AIA

The buildings in the following pictures have zero energy considerations, and could not be recommended to anyone these days. Stone and concrete conduct heat and cold like electricity in copper. No shading provided where it counts, outside.

Princeton

Princeton- Main Area

Princeton Gwathmey

Princeton Architecture School