11.04.11 Dreaming New Mexico & Masterplanning

My impression of being 'Dreaming New Mexico' is that it is similar to the transition movement, although Illustrating the possibilities for change on a larger scale (state level in the US, or at a national or regional level within Europe) plans for energy and farming. It certainly is an interesting insight into the mechanisms that need to be altered or put in place – although timescales have not been mentioned much. I must admit I'm not too enthusiastic about the name 'Dreaming' and the mystical type map that they have produced to communicate the possibilities – I feel it could strengthen societies preconceptions regarding sustainability, that it's a green, hippy-dippy type idealism with lots of pretty pictures but no hard and fast solutions – which is definitely not what 'Dreaming' is about. I'm not at my best today I feel, I think mainly as yesterday gave me a taste again of what it's like to be in control of your life again, as opposed to almost 8 hours of class and discussion. Because of this I found the group projects a bit more of grind. However we were tasked with Energy and here's a bunch of principles which we came up with.

In the afternoon we were treated to some interesting case studies demonstrating sustainability practices in master planning. As an Architectural Technologist I always tend to get stuck in the detail of design rather than it's over-arcing principles of design so this was definitely enlightening to see how competitions and initial scheme designs are approached; viewing the overall area, existing building uses, community focal points and connecting new developments visually. I found our guess speaker experiences (Matt Bridgestock from 55° North) especially interesting, in particular the aspects of making co-housing and shared facilities a selling point. It has made me thing a little more about my co-housing essay topic in terms of why co-housing is not as big in the UK as Scandinavia and mainland Europe, and if the planning and building regulations here are in conflict with such developments. It was also interesting to see that the development he competed for in Denmark was actually developer led – something I would think impossible here in the UK. Perhaps it could be used as a model for social housing? I really like his description of co-housing as 'plug and play', something that could be used to shape it's image as a future looking idea rather than a reflection on the past.

Introducing the processes involved in Design Charettes was very interesting, and something that I would like to attend, and perhaps one day chair in the future – its also clear to see that lines in the sand must be drawn over some design decisions to achieve a positive outcome. Marks also dropped in some nuggets regarding building technologies (like composite compressed timber panels) and software including this solar tracking app which could definitely come in useful.