Damian Holmes

Recently, I attended the JUCCCE Green Ideas Lab in Shanghai. The event was 3 x 8 minute presentations followed by break out sessions in small groups. I thought it would be good to share the ‘light bulb’ moments that I had during and on the way home from the event.

IDEA 1: No matter how big or small the idea or problem by integrating green ideology into the solution you can have an impact on a macro scale.

Ellen Carberry from the China Greentech Initiative spoke about how the problem is too big and too important to ignore and that companies cannot do it along and need to collaborate. Ellen presented the initiative and report that they produced. The ideas and professionals that they were incorporating into the report were looking at the issue on a macro scale – not just city or provincial but country wide.

Su Yunsheng from Etopia & Tongji University spoke of his work with pre-fabricated housing and how he wished to make the process of residential construction more efficient in use of materials and logistics. He was looking at the problem from a macro point of view – a industry wide perspective.

Philip Sohmen from YK Pao School spoke about the school and the its plan for the future and that they wanted to create a green school and by the end of the Idea Lab had realised that he could have a set of ideas that could be used for many schools not just YK Pao School. Philip started out looking at a micro level – his school; but realised from his session that the ideas generated could have macro implications – across the city, province and country.

Through these 3 presentations I realised that your idea can always have an impact at a macro scale.

IDEA 2: The green message you present must be positive to be effective

I have been to numerous green/sustainable events over the last few years some have been free and others have cost me hundreds of dollars, and at each one of these events there has been at least 1 or 2 dooms day presenters with the sky is falling and we need to do something now presentation. And as soon as these presenters start to talk, I and many others in the room, eyes glaze over or we start to read the programme and plan which event we will go to next. Green events are often preaching to the converted there is no need to present the doom and gloom. Now, think about when you are presenting to an industry group and a wider audience who have some knowledge about green/sustainability they are there to hear solutions not the same rhetoric about we are all doomed and must do something now and offer no solutions.

Through all 3 but mostly Ellen Carberry’s presentation I realised that in keeping the message positive and providing solutions is the most effective way of getting the message across.

IDEA 3: Be more effective by looking at the process rather than the application

Often when you think of green and sustainability in relation to architecture and urban design, people often think about the application not the process. What do I mean by this statement? People often get bound up in thinking about green especially when looking at architecture about the application or object. They want to know does the building have solar panels, cross flow ventilation, water recycling and Green rating (LEED, Green Star, BREEAM, etc) and many other forms of green application. This is the application of green not thinking about the process in terms of green. The process is how does the application or object get built? and in the case of Su Yensheng’s idea its the process of construction in the residential building industry.

Many at the Su Yunsheng’s workshop(which I attended) couldn’t get their heads around his project because they kept looking at the application not the process. To get around this issue I think he should introduce himself not as architect or urban designer but as a process designer or architectural logistics engineer so that the audience concentrate on the idea/process not the architecture. His idea is to change the building industry to pre-fabrication housing. Su Yunsheng had looked at all the different processes of construction around the world and hit upon the idea that pre-fabrication is the most efficient process. By using pre-fabrication process of  constructing housing he feels that there will be a large increase in efficiency of the construction process by reducing the amount of materials and construction time. He has also made the building modular, so that it can be movable as Chinese families are relocating more often. His idea is nothing new, as pre-fabrication is a process used across the world. However, in China were residential construction is the main industry for many new cities and is often one of the largest polluters through the use of concrete and brick construction methods, his idea will greatly reduce the amount of energy and CO2 because he looked at the process not just the application.

Through this presentation and workshop session I realised that it is often better to look at the process and make it as efficient as possible and then you can look at increasing efficiency through various forms of application.

IDEA 4: Share the information and collaborate with others

Philip Sohmen spoke about his school and the integration of green ideas into the curriculum. His workshop was about looking at how to make his new schools green. What I think we all gained from the summary of Philip’s session was that not only could he use these ideas for his own school but if he collaborated with other schools and professionals that they could provide a template or guidebook on how to build a green school with a green curriculum.

Through sharing ideas and collaboration with like organisations (in this case other schools) and a wide range of differing professions you can achieve more than working internally with people in your organisation.

Another idea related to sharing that came out of the sessions was using websites(established such as GIGA foundation or to newly establish a website) in relation to the Greentech and Schools could be the most efficient and easiest way of disseminating the idea and then collaborating together to find solutions.

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I hope that these ideas are useful to you and hope you use the share function below to share these ideas within your organisation, and industry & peer groups through email, facebook, twitter, google reader and numerous other information outlets.

DAMIAN HOLMES 19 NOV. 2009