Building Positive Futures The 2006 HOPES conference BY MICHAEL COCKRAM In one of the last events of the 2006 HOPES conference (see earlier story April 6), keynote speaker Scott Self seemed an unlikely activist for the environment. The picture of a corporate architect, ensconced in the high dollar world of hefty clients, Self works for the renowned four-letter firm EEHD. He represented one of the most significant facts emerging in the field — that sustainable design has taken a significant place in the mainstream. Architecture student Missa Aloisi shows Eugene Mayor Kitty Piercy design concepts for the North Eugene High School Garden Project. Self showed the daunting numbers most of us have seen. The graph of C02 levels suddenly swooping skyward, the disaster of the 2 or 3 degree global temperature change that's almost surely coming. When experts predicted that we would have to reduce the impact buildings have on the environment by a factor of 10, he recalled his skepticism that such reductions would be possible. Then he went to work. Grinding away at every opportunity he showed how it could be done — cutting waste, finding efficient renewable materials and creative thoughtful design. Shigeru Ban, the headliner for the conference, delivered to a sold-out room. After being lauded in the introduction for his contributions to sustainable design he eschewed the label, saying he simply "wanted to save materials." In understated and accessible language — and without the obscurities of many star architects — he wowed the crowd with his innovative designs, from the magnificent paper tube undulating vault for Expo 2000 to disaster relief housing in Kobe and Rwanda. He demonstrated equal skill whether working with the richest or the poorest, most distressed people on the planet. Of his volunteer efforts he pointed to their importance to his "mental balance" — the need to contribute his skills at all levels of society. The HOPES community design charrette produced a range of design concepts for a new educational garden complex slated for North Eugene High School. Bringing together teachers, UO and high school students, Eugene's mayor and community members, the student group DesignBridge linked the critical players to begin the process of inclusive community design — where designers work along side users instead of segregated from them. Christine Macy, an architect and professor visiting from Canada, summed up the value of inclusive community design by citing a study. In research surveying a group ranging from geniuses to average Joes, all were asked to guess at the number of coins in a jar. Each group missed the mark with the same range of error — but when the guesses were averaged across the range the number was right on. It takes a village to design a village; it's a matter of figuring out who's good at what. Another keynote speaker, Sergio Palleroni, highlighted his work in impoverished countries. Palleroni got his start working for the U.N. not long after he graduated from the UO. Finding that the generic buildings being produced for relief housing were completely alien to the people who were forced to use them, Palleroni began working on what he calls a "culturally embedded process." Beginning with students building schools in Mexico, his Studio-at-Large uses local materials and traditional building techniques to produce buildings that efficiently provide community anchors and are beautifully sensitive to the building culture. He demonstrated to local people that materials manufactured in distant places often aren't the best choice. In the case of one project substituting adobe made from local clay instead of concrete block one local man reacted, "My grandfather used adobe to build his house — and it was always cool inside on hot days.'' Paleroni's work will be featured in an upcoming PBS documentary on sustainable design (narrated by architecture aficionado Brad Pitt!). The students of the Ecological Design Center who organized the conference deserve a great deal of credit for staging such a varied and rich experience. The range of panels and workshops provided an impressive range of educational experience for students, professional and community members. We can only hope that the "incredible sense of urgency" Scott Self professed in looking down the barrel of a pending environmental disaster spreads to the young audience he was addressing. And now 85 percent of the American public sees climate change as a critical issue. But the man at the top, holding the reins, continues to steer the country while fixated on the wrong end of the horse. But a roll-up-your-sleeves optimism was the dominant mood at the conference — focusing on workable solutions and the aesthetic potential of green design. Michael Cockram is a free-lance writer on architecture and director of The Italy Field School at the UO Department of Architecture.
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