The Futurological Congress
December 13, 2010 11:43 PM Subscribe
What Should Design Researchers Research?
The inherent conflict between promoting sustainability and flying first class, c'mon, John!
posted by The Lady is a designer at 1:12 AM on December 14, 2010
The inherent conflict between promoting sustainability and flying first class, c'mon, John!
posted by The Lady is a designer at 1:12 AM on December 14, 2010
I see one really low-hanging fruit missing...
Why don't we live underground? Not in a dark damp cave, but with modern construction techniques, a mostly underground house can have all the comforts (including natural light) of an above-ground wooden cube, with glass-and-grass roofs to give it essentially no visible footprint?
TFA even touches on something vaguely similar, with "edible air conditioning" and "vertical fruit farming"; Except, instead of adapting plants to fit our houses, why not adapt the houses themselves?
Then again, I already know the answer to that - My reaction to TFA's mention of "dry flush". Namely, "why bother, we have tons of water, we just need to stop using potable water for flushing".
posted by pla at 3:37 AM on December 14, 2010
Why don't we live underground? Not in a dark damp cave, but with modern construction techniques, a mostly underground house can have all the comforts (including natural light) of an above-ground wooden cube, with glass-and-grass roofs to give it essentially no visible footprint?
TFA even touches on something vaguely similar, with "edible air conditioning" and "vertical fruit farming"; Except, instead of adapting plants to fit our houses, why not adapt the houses themselves?
Then again, I already know the answer to that - My reaction to TFA's mention of "dry flush". Namely, "why bother, we have tons of water, we just need to stop using potable water for flushing".
posted by pla at 3:37 AM on December 14, 2010
...with glass-and-grass roofs to give it essentially no visible footprint?
I'm not sure "invisible house" is the design goal. But "easy to heat and cool house" definitely should be. A huge percentage of our global energy goes to heating and cooling. Geothermal heat pumps are a big win there and it gets even more efficient if the house itself is underground.
But you don't even have to get that crazy. Up through the beginning of the 20th century, most of the world already knew how to build a house that would stay as warm/cool as possible all year round. It was only when cheaper furnaces and ACs came around that we forgot all this stuff. A lot of it is even prevented by building codes. Insane.
posted by DU at 4:31 AM on December 14, 2010
I'm not sure "invisible house" is the design goal. But "easy to heat and cool house" definitely should be. A huge percentage of our global energy goes to heating and cooling. Geothermal heat pumps are a big win there and it gets even more efficient if the house itself is underground.
But you don't even have to get that crazy. Up through the beginning of the 20th century, most of the world already knew how to build a house that would stay as warm/cool as possible all year round. It was only when cheaper furnaces and ACs came around that we forgot all this stuff. A lot of it is even prevented by building codes. Insane.
posted by DU at 4:31 AM on December 14, 2010
we don't live underground because of the mildew, mold, flooding, fire hazards, and the really freaking huge moles
posted by rebent at 5:26 AM on December 14, 2010 [2 favorites]
posted by rebent at 5:26 AM on December 14, 2010 [2 favorites]
The author names are almost perfect replicas of Usborne Puzzle Adventures in-story bookshelves ("Tallan Thin"?), and as someone with a design research future in connecting things from the past that nobody cares about, I feel strongly obliged to note this.
posted by carbide at 7:28 AM on December 14, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by carbide at 7:28 AM on December 14, 2010 [1 favorite]
Preventative smugness venting through emergent bicycle-based role-play: Towards a metrics of "Chute, man, you presume".
posted by hawthorne at 7:34 AM on December 14, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by hawthorne at 7:34 AM on December 14, 2010 [1 favorite]
Carbide, what's interesting is that of them all, one is for real and I know the person, whoa, what a random thing!
posted by The Lady is a designer at 7:40 AM on December 14, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by The Lady is a designer at 7:40 AM on December 14, 2010 [1 favorite]
@rebent: "and the really freaking huge moles"
ROUSes? I don't believe they exist.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 8:59 AM on December 14, 2010
ROUSes? I don't believe they exist.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 8:59 AM on December 14, 2010
Carbide, what's interesting is that of them all, one is for real and I know the person, whoa, what a random thing!
Heh, I think there's a few. Maurice Merleau-Ponty showed up in my reading today, it was nice to see him in the wild online too.
posted by carbide at 12:31 PM on December 14, 2010
Heh, I think there's a few. Maurice Merleau-Ponty showed up in my reading today, it was nice to see him in the wild online too.
posted by carbide at 12:31 PM on December 14, 2010
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posted by BitterOldPunk at 12:42 AM on December 14, 2010