Looking for something to do next week?

I've got another show coming up (which is probably why the blogging has gotten a little behind)! So, if you are in the Munich area next week, come check out some cool, new artwork by yours truly, and fellow artists Kim Santomauro and Julie Galante.

München (Un)gewohnt

 

an exhibition of paintings, photography, and mixed-media work

by Julie Galante, Nutan Jäger, and Kim Santomauro

 

werkstatt-galerie

Zentnerstr. 3

80798 Munich

 

24 - 27 October 2012

Wed - Fri 13:00 - 18:30

Sat 10:00 - 12:00

 

Vernissage:

24 October 2012 from 18.00 - 21.30

The artwork explores the adopted home city of three artists who have lived here for varying amounts of time. As these outsiders slowly get to know Munich, the parts that seem familiar or unfamiliar change over time. Munich is a city that contains millions of different realities, projected on to it by each of its residents and visitors. Visitors to the exhibition will be encouraged to share their reactions to what they see, both with each other and the artists, and to consider how their experience of this city differs from what others see.

No need to reinvent the wheel

Why is it that with every project I take on, I feel the need to reinvent the wheel? And this need for reinvention, especially when I'm not a expert in wheel construction, usually means a lot of time wasted on how to make a wheel, and not much of doing anything else.

So when the idea of food and water storage in rural areas came to mind, I spent way too much time thinking about it, and not nearly enough time researching it. Guess what? There are plenty of ideas out there, just need to find the best solution for my particular conditions. What are my conditions?
1) No money - whatever solution we use, it has to be as cheap as possible.
2) Local materials - has to be made locally, with readily available materials (especially those that won't kill the environment - sorry concrete).
3) Did I mention it has to be cheap?
4) It has to work well, be easy to use and maintain, with minimal skills and not be time intensive.

Studies have shown that 25-30% of all food produced is wasted due to inadequate storage. Storing food can also help small farmers, who can then afford to wait until the price goes up before selling their crop, making additional profit. But most of all, decent food storage is especially necessary in times of drought or family hardship, to keep the family fed. What I often saw in rural areas was a table in the middle of the hut, with a rice sack easily susceptible to insects, rodents, and moisture. So when that ran out and there was no money coming in, that meant there was nothing to eat.

Grain silos on a large scale are common. But that leaves the available food in the hands of smaller groups of people, who can control the costs of the grain, as well as availability. Also, if the grain is damaged in storage through pests or excess moisture, a larger amount of food is potentially wasted. Putting the storage in the hands of the people who need it makes more sense logistically and financially.

Googling the words "food" "storage" "silos" "small" came up with multiple answers that could potentially work for my needs. So far the cheapest I've read costs between $30-$100 for 500 kilos of grain, but I still need more information on how they are made and how difficult and expensive they are to use. They are made from thin metal sheets and need a low degree of workmanship to construct. As long as the grain is dry to 14%, it'll keep for a year.

Silos work well for grains, but what about other types of foods? Solar dryers don't impress me too much, because they are so pricey for one, but mostly because they dry out the food, turn it in to another form that may not be the form which is commonly eaten. If it's a new form of food, wouldn't most people be hesitant to eat it? Would it really serve it's purpose then?

Water storage is a whole other ballgame, and better left for future posts. There are so many answers to this question that the weeding out of the best ideas may take a while.


On a side note, I want to share a project that has inspired me to be more proactive with my ideas. Take a look at the ideas of a 17 year old who wants to use her photography skills to help empower women in Kenya. Donate if you can, and if not, please spread the word. It's projects like these that help keep young people interested in changing the world.

Buying mud at the hardware store?

     I went to a local building supplies store over here, called Hornbach. It's similar to a Home Depot or a Lowe's in the US, with everything you need for your home or garden project.
     Making my way through the aisles, I saw something I didn't expect to see: mud. Mud bricks, to be exact. And mud plaster, and mud flooring, and mud insulation, and some mud related hardware to go with it all. These particular products are made by a company called Grün Lehmprodukte, based in Reinheim, Germany. I have never bought or used their products (but I am tempted to) so I can't attest to their quality. But I thought the concept was an interesting one.
     Building with mud is not at all a prevalent building material over here. But it is becoming more popular for it's environmental qualities, energy efficiency, and health benefits. Grün Lehmprodukte claims that the product prevents mold formation, regulates temperature and humidity in the building, and absorbs smells and toxicities (VOCs) from the air.
     While I usually think of the adobe buildings of the American southwest when I think of mud architecture, this company has produced a product similar to how we commonly build. However, they've been able to produce their product without expending the energy needed to fire bricks to or to make concrete. Plus, they've gone one step farther, by modernizing this centuries old product. Not only can it be bought in block form for structural walls, and as a plaster to coat and protect the walls, but also in a rough powder for use a an insulating material within a wall structure or under a roof structure. They've developed a floor and a wall system that is pre-cut to be used with underfloor and in wall heating systems.
     Their website, although, only in German, can be found here: Grün Lehmproduckte.

Making Dirt

     A couple of things showed up in my inbox this week, completely unrelated, but it made me think about how to get the two together. One of them was from "sustainable cities" a part of the Danish Architecture Centre, and it was an article about how the city of Havana, with over 2.3 million inhabitants grows more than 50% of its fresh produce within its city limits. This is significant as more than half of the worlds population lives in urban areas at the moment, with almost 180,000 people moving to the city each day.
     The other mail that I found was from an organization working in Haiti called SOIL that is working to transform waste into resources. They collect human waste with the use of EcoSan toilets (for more info, see my previous post here) and turn it into organic compost. In a country wrought with soil depletion and topsoil erosion, this is especially important. Currently they have over 400,000 gallons of compost at their waste curing plants and there is plenty more of where that came from.
     This got me thinking about putting the two together. Whereas in Havana, most gardens are grown in abandoned lots or on top of crumbled houses, what can you do where there is no available land? Could you use the compost to supply the soil for roof gardens? And could you go one step further to use the newly created soil to be compressed into earthen blocks to build houses? Turning compost into compressed earthen blocks, now that puts a whole new meaning to the phrase "shittin' bricks!"
      The soil needed for compressed blocks needs a certain consistency for strength commonly made with a mixture of dirt, clay, and aggregate. But imagine a structure where all the exterior surfaces could be used to grow the food the inhabitants eat and then eventually excrete out again to produce more soil for their neighbors house.    

Munich Creative Group at Das Provisorium!

Come see some new work next week at Das Provisorium in downtown Munich!

I'll be showcasing some new pieces and some experimental work, as the theme this time is "Mixed + Media". The opening night will feature live music starting at 7pm and a free welcome drink, courtesy of Yelp.de


Here's a glimpse of what I'll be showing: 

Everything I Own

 

Confinement

Sunset in Bakultala

 

Cow thieves

     Everyone has their own personal obstacles to moving forward or achieving their goals in life, some more complicated than others to resolve. But when it comes to cultural issues or things you have learned since birth that everyone around you holds as a truth, how can you afford to believe otherwise?
     One of the issues I keep struggling with is how do you convince people to build differently to create a healthier environment even though it goes against what society tells them? I'm talking about cow thieves here, not structural or religious issues.
     When you walk through any village in rural northern Bangladesh, you'll find homes with tiny windows. They are dark and have little air circulation. And if you ask why they build that way, it's because of thieves. Everything they own is in that tiny space, so they need to protect it anyway they can. Kids still study by kerosene lamps in dark rooms, just like my father did 70 years ago. Even during the day, in full sunlight, the rooms are  Air circulation is poor, so if one family member has a respiratory illness, chances are everyone will develop it.
     Most protected of all is the family cow. They are expensive to get but can provide income through the milk they produce for a long time. I asked what about getting a big bell to put around it's neck like I've seen in Switzerland, so you know where your cows are. Apparently Bangladeshi cow thieves are incredibly smart, and can cut through those cow bell straps in the middle of the night and steal your cow while you sleep.
     So breathing clean air and keeping your eyesight isn't enough incentive to having larger windows for better light and ventilation. What would then be worth risking?

Getting Everyone Involved

     When dealing with community projects in rural areas, one of the toughest issues is long term job creation. There are generally plenty of day labor jobs available during the construction of a project, but not many long term, and not many that create transferable skills. Women are usually stuck with the more labor intensive and least paid positions, like carrying water or hauling bricks.

     Even when special care is take to hire more women, the issue that inevitably comes up is: well, who is doing what they normally do during the day at home? Getting water, preparing food, taking care of the children, etc. Erinn McGurn, Founder and Executive Director of SCALE Africa (scaleafrica.org) in Zambia, said she sometimes has problems finding women who want to work outside of the home on their projects because if they do, there isn't anyone left to take care of the household duties.

     

     That's a big issue. Generally, the person who earns the money tends to have the most to say about how it is being used. This usually makes the wishes of the wives and children less important than those of the breadwinning husbands. What I found in my discussions with the Women's Associations in Bangladesh is that even when they handed most of their income over to their husbands, the little bit that they were able to save made a huge impact in their and the children's lives.

     One story I learned about concerning women working on the construction of a  school in Bangladesh, was that the wives of the men working on the school got jealous. The solution? Hire the wives! What ended up happening was that the men started then flirting with their own wives instead, and not only added extra income to the entire family but strengthened their relationship as well.

     A new approach in community development has shifted the focus from dealing with only women or only men, to focusing on the entire family as a unit and trying to deal with everyone's hopes and aspirations, including those of the children. When the family starts to work as a unit and understands how important everyone's contributions are, the work tends to be more suitably delegated.

     The family development approach looks at where the family is now, what they have so far accomplished, what they have and what they want to achieve in 5 years. Then they look at how would it be possible to achieve those goals. What training would they need to have? How much money do they need to save? How much money can they realistically save given their current situation? What kinds of alternative sources of income would be they be interested in learning about?

     The charity approach just doesn't have long lasting results. It's a continuous circle of dependance on the kindness of strangers. And when the strangers luck runs out, so does your. Building on people's own dreams, and helping them achieve what they want, and not what an outsider thinks works well in that particular climate or culture, is the only way to insure participation from the focus group. You aren't giving them anything except for the hope and the ideas to make their dream a reality.

     For everyone's dreams to be realized, you can't leave out 50% of the population and expect their happiness to be taken care of with the trickle down effect. Everyone needs access to the power to be able to achieve their dreams. Everyone.

     

To hear more about the work Erinn is doing in Zambia check out her video:

SCALEAfrica from Erinn McGurn on Vimeo.

Pop - Up Gallery in Munich!

For those of you in the Munich area looking for something to do next Saturday, Feb. 11, 2012, come check out a Pop - Up Gallery I'll be exhibiting in. We're featuring a variety of fine art, including, paintings, photography, and mixed media, as well as some musical performances and readings by local artists.

I'll be showing pictures from my last trip to Bangladesh. For a sneak peek of what I'll be showing, here's a few samples:

 

 Hope to see you there!

Public Interest Design

     Last week I went to a seminar hosted by Bryan Bell and Design Corps on the topic of Public Interest Design and SEED (Social, Economic, Environmental Design). To quote Bryan, "Public Interest Design is the practice of design with the goal that every person should be able to live in a socially, economically and environmentally healthy community." Projects that fall in this category vary as largely as housing designs do. The one commonality is that designers get actively involved in the community they are working in and the outcome generally has a greater impact on the society than just the construction of a building alone.

    The idea behind Public Interest Design is to create and architectural version of what Public Health is for doctors, or what Public Interest Law is for lawyers. Currently, about 90% of people don't have access to design services, and architects want to change that. 

     Projects highlighted by the seminar ranged from providing high school students with real life skills that not only will help them get employed, but also keep them motivated to stay in school in rural North Carolina to developing a hospital in Rwanda that not only provided training and created jobs for construction workers, but aimed to find low tech solutions to health problems such as the spread of tuberculosis by increasing air flow in sick wards and removing all interior corridors.

     They hold this seminar at different universities around the country, with different speakers each time. I was especially excited about going to this one because I had followed a few of the projects and was familiar with some of the speakers. Not only that, the seminars are limited to 35 people, so you really get the chance to hear about and discuss with the other people in the audience are doing and what challenges they face. Speakers at this seminar include:

Bryan Bell of Design Corps and SEED Co-founder, editor of Good Deeds, Good Design, and all around awesome guy

David Perkes, founder of the Gulf Coast Community Design Studio which provides planning and architectural design in support of communities affected by Hurricane Katrina, and Associate Professor at Mississippi State University (wish I had a professor like him when I was in school)

Alan Plattus, founder and director of the Yale Urban Design Workshop, a community design center that undertakes design projects throughout the world, and Professor of Architecture and Urbanism at Yale University (plus he's one of those professors you just love to listen to talk about anything because they know everything and they speak so eloquently)

John Folan, founder and director of the Urban Design Build Studio and Professor of Architecture at Carnegie Mellon University. He uses his classes to develop design/build projects that actively engage members of resource poor communities in the surrounding area (the amount of work done by the students in one year was incredible, but you have to wonder if any of them got any sleep in the process)

Michael Murphy, co-founder and Executive Director of MASS Design Group, a design firm geared towards improving health outcomes in resource poor communities (designed and built the Butaro District Hospital in Rwanda while earning a Master's degree at Harvard, and now, just after graduating, has 24 employees in 3 offices in 3 different countries! Seriously, who does that? The difference between him and me: he sees only solutions or opportunities for learning new things).

Anna Heringer, designer of the METI school in Rudrapur, Bangladesh (her Master's thesis) made from mud and bamboo. Winner of the Aga Khan award, and it was featured at the MOMA in New York City in the show Small Scale, Big Change. Visiting lecturer at BASEhabitat at the University of Linz, and honorary professor of the UNESCO Chair Earthen Architecture Programme. Super nice woman who, when she talks about design as a way of providing dignity has a way of changing my impression of high-end design in poverty stricken areas.

Marie Aquilino, author of Beyond Shelter: Architecture and Human Dignity, and Professor of Architectural History at Ecole Speciale de l'Architecture, and recent founder of Future City Lab an international consortium concerning itself with the future of urban environments. She has been giving seminars on the architect's role in disaster prevention, mitigation and sustainable recovery as a means of developing a dialog about architecture and social justice. Awesome speaker, and as the last one in the seminar, tried to create more of a discussion of topics we'd been hearing about. Although that was interesting as well, would have loved to have heard more about the work she's been doing in Haiti.

Emily Pilloton, founder of Project H which uses "creative capital to improve communities and public education from the inside out," and author of the book Design Revolution: 100 projects that empower people. Very captivating speaker, who had a great outline of how she did/does what she and her partner do, and the good they are doing for the community they are in and most importantly how she's able to get paid to do what she does. Check out her TED talk here: Emily Pilloton, Teaching design for change