Lloyd Alter

For Sale: The miniHome, a Green Modern Sustainable Design Icon

The miniHome on tour in Philadelphia, from Dwell Magazine

Instant cottage!

It is a design classic, and the only one ever built. The miniHome Solo is solar and wind powered, a complete off-grid, self-sustaining year round machine for living. Designed by Andy Thomson of Altius Architecture, it was built to the highest standards without compromise. The miniHome is summering in Dorset, Ontario, and is available for immediate delivery and occupancy.

Interview for Ryerson News Re Empress/Edison Hotel Fire

Design For A World Without Oil

 

A series of articles I wrote for TreeHugger that I think are perhaps the best I have done:

Do We Really All Have To Live Like New Yorkers? Does Density Matter?

Writer David Owen argues in his book The Green Metropolis that to solve some of the energy issues, urban planners need to make suburbs more like New York City. But is that really more energy efficient? Looking at it more closely, it turns out that we don't all have to live in Manhattan or Mumbai to make genuine improvements in energy efficiency and reduce our oil usage. It turns out plenty of smaller, medium density cities, such as those found in Europe and Australia, do much better. Read the full article.

The Urban Farm in Azure

A new model for food production suggests we’ll be growing more of what we eat, right where most of us live: in the city

By Lloyd Alter

Michael Pollan famously distilled his recommen­dations for a modern diet down to seven words: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” Con­trary to his prescription, delivered succinctly in his latest book, Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual, our current food system excels at delivering manufactured products in supersized portions, mostly corn, fat and meat. Our industrialized global food system is totally reliant on fossil fuels for transportation and for the production of fertilizers. What we eat here is mostly grown way over there, and sometimes the underlying logic defies justification.

Read more in Azure

Did Don Watt design the Canadian Flag?

While writing an obituary of Don Watt, the great Canadian designer, I noticed in the family's obit in the Globe and Mail the following:

One of Don's proudest achievements occurred in 1965 when his design was personally chosen by Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson for the new Canadian Flag. Don's design, featured a realistic representation of a red maple leaf, flanked by two solid blue bands representing 'from sea to sea'. Pearson changed the blue bands to red, saying to Don, 'this is a Liberal flag'. Don's design, until recently, was credited to a design committee. However, it is now recognized as his work, by leading International and Canadian news and design publications.

But my memory recalled a different story.

Happy New Year!

I resolve to post more regularly, about those things that catch my eye but don't relate to TreeHugger or the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario.

National Post's Vanessa Farquharson: Air Canada's Policy [on folding bikes] should be re-examined

Vanessa Farquharson during interview

As airlines scramble to make themselves greener -- usually with low-emission fleets, airport retrofits and suggestions that customers bring their own headphones -- some of the easiest, most significant changes are getting left by the wayside.

One of these is the surcharge on folding bicycles, which many people bring to avoid taking cabs on either end of their journey. Whether it's a Strida or a Brompton, the bikes collapse to standard luggage size and weight. When transported in a carrying case, it's no different than any other bag and demands no special handling.

Air Canada Wins, Folding Bike Cyclists Lose

The Canada Transport Commission has rendered its decision:

[1] Lloyd Alter filed a complaint with the Canadian Transportation
Agency (Agency) with respect to the handling fee of CAD$50 charged by Air Canada for the transportation of bicycles on board its flights between Canada and the United States of America.

[2] Mr. Alter alleges that Air Canada’s:

1) terms and conditions of carriage governing the transportation of bicycles in the transborder tariff are unjust and/or unreasonable under section 111 of the Air  transportation Regulations, SOR/88-58, as amended (ATR); and

2) handling fee and terms and conditions of carriage are unjustly discriminatory.

[3] For the reasons below, the Agency dismisses both aspects of the complaint.

Summary of the Strida Wars

For those who are new to this story of my war against Air Canada, it all started when I was going to Greenbuild in Boston last November. I travel to New York with my folding strida bike in a padded case, which meets all requirements for luggage in terms of weight and dimensions. But I flew Air Canada to Boston, and the checkin attendant asked what was in the bag. When I said it was a bike they hit me up for fifty bucks, even though it was the size of a bag, and golf clubs and sks travel free. Here is a summary of my posts:

Treehugger, written from Terminal 1 in Toronto while waiting for the plane:

How Air Canada Lost a Customer Who Was Trying to be Green

Air Canada's response:

Air Canada to Intermodal Cyclists: Drop Dead

So I filed an official complaint with the Canada Transport Commission. Air Canada responded with a 28 page legal document! Of course, I responded:

More on my bike war with Air Canada

Then the Canada Transport Commission gave Air Canada 10 days to give them some answers to questions that were impossible to answer and I thought I had them on the run.

My War Against Air Canada's Bike Rules Turns Into War of Attrition

They did respond (lamely) within ten days, and I responded to them.

Last Shots Fired in Strida War Against Air Canada

Now we wait.

Last Shots Fired in Strida War Against Air Canada

My war with Air Canada over charging extra to carry my Strida bike may be coming to an end; the Canada Transportation Agency has asked for an extension to August 31, their second and I hope last. I thought I had it in the bag in May, when they sent a letter demanding a response from Air Canada in ten days:

Interview in We Heart Sheds

I was asked to be a judge in a British garden shed competition, of all things; an interview follows. Where they found that picture is beyond me.

The last guest post for today, Lloyd Alter has been an architect, developer, inventor, and builder of prefab housing. He now writes for TreeHugger, is an Associate Professor at Ryerson University teaching sustainable design, and now he’s judging a shed competition via email, anyway over to Lloyd.

For Sale: Sustain Minihome Prototype

Instant cottage!

It is a design classic, and the only one ever built. The miniHome Solo is solar and wind powered, a complete off-grid, self-sustaining year round machine for living. Designed by Andy Thomson of Altius Architecture, it was built to the highest standards without compromise.

The Hut Parade: Garden Offices in the Guardian

I am quoted by Alex Johnson of Shedworking in the Guardian:

"It is a lot greener to move words, numbers and ideas than it is to move people," says Lloyd Alter, architecture expert at leading eco-friendly site Treehugger.com. "In America almost everyone drives to work, so the greenest thing about shedworking is the huge reduction in fuel consumption; Sun Microsystems found that commuting comprises about 98% of each employee's carbon footprint. They also found that shedworkers use half the electricity and a small fraction of the paper."

More in the Guardian

JetBlue Folds on Folding Bikes

I have been following the rules in my battle with Air Canada over charging extra to carry my Strida bike; clearly I should have just complained on the right websites. Well in fact I did, posting on TreeHugger, but Air Canada doesn't read it. Carl Larson ran into the same problem with JetBlue, but got onto Consumer Report's site Consumerist. That got action, fast.

A Visit To A Very Different Michigan Central Station

By total coincidence, the day I wrote the post below on Michigan Central Station, I visited St. Thomas Ontario for the first meeting of the local chapter of the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario, which was held in another station on the same line.

Yesterday I wrote about the possible loss of Michigan Central Station in Detroit, which I considered a tragedy. Citizens of Detroit disagreed, saying that there was no money, there were other greater needs, and that it was too far gone to be saved. Coincidentally, last night I found myself 110 miles down the track in another abandoned and deteriorated Michigan Central Railroad Station, in another economically depressed town, St. Thomas, Ontario, that is following a very different trajectory. More in TreeHugger

Michigan Central Station To Be Demolished With Stimulus Money

Anyone who cares about architecture should be just sick about what is going on in Detroit: The mayor wants an "emergency demolition" of one of the city's greatest buildings, the Michigan Central Station, designed by the same firms that built Grand Central Station in New York. To add insult to this extreme injury, they want to use $3.6 million in Stimulus funds to do it. More in TreeHugger

Fair and Balanced: I'm on Fox News

The TreeHugger Lawnmower department was otherwise engaged, so was interviewed for Fox News about a subject I know absolutely nothing about. Of course they cherrypicked:

"The absolute worst thing you can do is use a gas mower on a typical American lawn," says Lloyd Alter, design and architecture writer for Discovery Communications' PlanetGreen and TreeHugger blogs. "It still has carbon dioxide and other gases that are harmful. You can't call anything with gas safe for the environment."

Commenters complained "In case you didn't get it, this includes your cars, your motorcycles, your pick-up trucks, etc. These people want everyone (except them, of course) to be living in the days of the horse and buggy."

Which is not quite what I meant.... More embarrassment on Fox News

How Will Historic Buildings Fare During the Recession?

Interesting article by David Hill in Architectural Record:

Like most market sectors that require architectural services, historic preservation has been hit hard by the economic downturn. Newspapers around the country are peppered with reports of preservation or renovation projects that are up in the air due to funding challenges. But preservationists do see a possible silver lining: some historic buildings that might otherwise have been torn down because of rampant development may escape the wrecking ball.

“There’s probably no better friend to historic preservation than a good recession,” says Robert Musgraves, executive director of the nonprofit Historic Denver, Inc. “It may not be a good thing for society, but it does tend to bring development projects to a standstill, or at least cause them to slow down a little bit. When things are going fast and furiously, it can be difficult for historic preservation organizations to keep up with the challenges and opportunities out there. A recession gives them a little breathing room.” More in the Architectural Record

Why Old Windows are Green Windows

Steve Thomas recently wrote a post entitled Convince Your Local Historic Commission to Go Green, and noted that "I'm very much in favor of historic houses. I think that historic commissions have to expand their thinking a little bit and let homeowners make green upgrades." He also noted that the Historical Commission in Salem, where he lives, won't let him change his windows. Finally he writes "historic commissions will need to upgrade their technological thinking on it and allow homeowners to green their historic houses."

I try and explain why they do what they do. Why Old Windows are Green Windows

When Times are tough, reach for a Gun

Writing in Acorn, the journal of the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario:

Times are tough all over right now, and unemployment is rising. North and south of the border, people are talking about stimulus, about the need to inject money into the economy. Roads. Bridges. “Shovel ready” projects that put people to work.

But people don’t build roads with shovels any more, they use big machines, made in Japan or Peoria. Dr. Jim McNiven, professor emeritus and former dean of management at Dalhousie University notes in the Globe and Mail that the way we build things has changed in seventy years:

More on my bike war with Air Canada

I have been at war with Air Canada since charged me to carry my folding bike. (see Air Canada Hates Cyclists)

I got a copy of Air Canada's response to my complaint, download pdf here . and have provided my own response to the Canadian Transport Agency, copy below the fold.

On saving old windows

I have become a bit crazed about saving old windows, it is quite a battle. The National Trust for Historic Preservation covers the issue well, and has a forum on historic windows going on right now. See the Forum on Historic Windows: Part 1

Dumb and Dumber: NAIOP Calls HSBC HQ Green Project of the Year

NAIOP (the Commercial Real Estate Development Association), which previously graced these pages with its dumb study on energy efficiency, proves once again that they really don't get it. We have called the HSBC headquarters Greenwash and accused it of the LEEDwashing sin of being laughingly inappropriate; NAIOP calls it the Green Development of the Year. As with the energy study, they demonstrate that the industry is completely stuck in a time warp of shiny new suburban buildings on greenfield sites. And, their press release gave us more information about the building that makes it appear even more ludicrous. More in TreeHugger.

"Is LEED a Fraud?" is the provocative title of an article on the Fine Homebuilding website by Kevin Ireton. It appears that mechanical designer Henry Gifford thinks it is, and makes a few good points in his paper A Better Way To Rate Green Buildings.  More in TreeHugger

Recession-Ready Apartment Plans Could Help Avoid Foreclosure

In hard times like the current recession, many people rent out basements or rooms in their houses, but apartment dwellers cannot do it easily. Designing flexible, affordable housing is a challenge that architects have not often risen to successfully- Apartment designs are usually fixed and do not adapt to changes in income, lifestyle or size of family. And as mortgages get harder to find, the extra income from renting out part of an apartment could make a critical difference. More in TreeHugger

Why Is So Much Green Architecture So Ugly?

Child Development Centre, Calgary, Kasian Architects. Ugly? One author thinks so.

There is an interesting debate going on in the journals about the quality of green buildings. More in TreeHugger.

Building a Better Bike Lane

 

Bike lane maintenance in Toronto, 2008

For Azure, September 2008:

H.G. Wells once wrote, “When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race.” Many today are equally optimistic that getting people out of cars and onto bikes may well become a major factor in the fight against greenhouse gas emissions and urban vehicular gridlock. But cyclists are often wary of riding in traffic, knowing all too well how vulnerable they are beside a tonne of fast-moving metal. In the Netherlands and parts of Scandinavia, cyclists need not worry. There, bike lanes fully separated from traffic form an integral part of the transportation infrastructure, and have been a reality for almost a century. The Netherlands alone counts more than 15,000 kilometres of dedicated bike paths.

Discovering Miami Beach

I take Mom to Miami for a break from the snow. I mean, What do you say about a city where the parking garages are so high that the new buildings don't start until the old buildings end? That perhaps they have their priorities a bit screwed up? I wrote about it in Treehugger: 

Miami Beach Roundup: They Haven't Discovered TreeHugger Yet

Adhocism: The Case For Improvisation

In 1973 Architects and theorists Charles Jencks and Nathan Silver wrote Adhocism: The Case for Improvisation. Jencks coined the term in 1968.

"It can be applied to many human endeavours, denoting a principle of action having speed or economy and purpose or utility. Basically it involves using an available system or dealing with an existing situation in a new way to solve a problem quickly and effectively. It is a method of creation relying particularly on resources which are already at hand."

Forty years later, we have a lot of materials at hand; as we have noted before, recycling is over- it is time for reusing, repurposing, upcycling and making something new out of the detritus of the boom.

See more in a Slideshow on TreeHugger.

Air Canada Hates Cyclists

I am on a tear about Air Canada, which charged me fifty bucks to carry my Strida bike, which folds up into a pack that is smaller than their maximum weights and dimensions for luggage. I wrote on TreeHugger:

I go to check in and the attendant asks "what's that?" I say a folding bike. She says "I have to charge you 50 bucks, we have a charge for bikes." I say that I understand, bikes are usually big and awkward but this folds up and is in a case and is under weight and maximum bag dimensions. And it is a folding bike, not a regular bike, designed for travelling. She says "nope, it's a bike and you have to pay." I ask if they charge for snowboards, which are longer than the bike. "Nope." I ask if they charge for skis, which are much longer than the bike and awkward. She says "nope" I ask her why she is charging me. "Because it's a bike."