"Thinking Inside the Box" at Civic By Design

The Parkwood Green project will be highlighted at the upcoming Civic By Design Forum. The forum, organized by DPZ's Tom Low, is dedicated this year to explore ideas to "retrofit, retool, and re-root Charlotte towards a relevant region of the future" (i.e. "to get back to the basic Rs") and has invited Rich Deming to speak this coming Tuesday about his vision for the Roofless Building (another R!).

Description and details:


Thinking INSIDE the box

What happens when you combine a boyhood dream of having a space of one's own, inside a shipping container, with a grown up vision for creating radically affordable, radically sustainable housing? Come hear Rich Deming, biofuels entrepreneur, evangelist for self-sufficiency and certified beekeeper, and DI Von Briesen, creative force behind the Center for Sustainability's Ecobox project, share their ideas for making Charlotte more civic by design.

CIVIC BY DESIGN FORUM
Tuesday, August 11, 2009 5:30pm – 6:30pm
Levine Museum of the New South
200 East Seventh Street
Charlotte NC
Free and open to the public
Free parking at 7th street parking garage
RSVP info@civicbydesign.com
http://www.civicbydesign.com/

Thought we were done, huh? :)

...But Parkwood Green is not over! Thankfully some incredible new members have been plugged into the effort. Our indomitable Rich Deming continues to make sure this project advances to realization. He writes...

The Parkwood-Green project has evolved and grown in amazing directions. The current plan is to use shipping containers to affordably create space on top of the Roofless building. Geoffrey Goss, the head of Community Anchors and the Entreprenauiral program at CPCC, has joined the team. The plan is to use the downstairs of Roofless for a coffee shop and community center---it's a great space for art shows, parties and meetings. The boxes will be used as work spaces for neighbors who complete the Community Anchors program and need a place to start their businesses.

These pictures are tentative drawings by Bryan and Jen Shields. The Shields teach "architecture as activism", among other classes at UNCC and plan to involve their students in the Parkwood-Green project. Jen is a registered architect and Bryan will be soon.


The Shields attend Watershed Church and learned about the project from a talk Rich Deming gave before Shane Claiborne's visit to Area15. They are currently traveling throughout Scandinavia to inspect urban-reuse projects, and afterwards they will apply what they learn to roofless.

Way to keep it alive Rich and Carlos! Most excited to see what comes out of the work of the Shields and their students...Let's make this architecture activism thing happen. Cheers!

Growing Power

Image: Darren Hauck for The New York Times

Growing Power is a two-acre urban farm in Milwauke. It was conceived by Will Allen, who recently won a MacArthur Foundation “Genius” Grant for his efforts. The farm produces over $500,000 worth of affordable produce, meat and fish. Says Allen: “I’d like to see Growing Power transform itself into a five-story vertical building being totally off the grid with renewable energy.”

See the NYT article on the effort!...

Julie Fishes @ Growing Power, originally uploaded by readysubjects.

Under the Stars

Under the Stars, originally uploaded by Mark (LP).

Urban Gardening for High Yield

DSCN4049, originally uploaded by greenroofgrower.

Here's the master plan

We are shooting for 80%+ covered parking spaces and are attempting to see if we can substitute 2 motorbike + 3 bike parking spaces for each required parking space. Included are areas for water reclamation, gardening (greenhouses), solar collection, alternative fuel stations, and so on. Input for further ideas would be welcome!

ERIC! awsum bicycle vid! also, i hope you are gettin some rest after passing your LEED exam! congrats! THANKS for all you do!