FWTF 008 - David Vargas

David Vargas is a founder of Isla Urbana, a non-profit in Mexico City started by 2 graduate engineers, putting up rainwater harvesting systems in low income neighbourhoods where families go months without water. Isla Urbana is helping thousands of kids and families get access to clean water. Have a listen.

Meet Margot Jacobs for the latest FWTF podcast. Margot is a landscape architect, an amazing human, a creative activist and a soul dancer. Have a listen to Margot’s story, ️and hear about an amazing project she worked on recently to challenge the Dakota Pipeline creatively by demonstrating how much renewable energy could be generated with that same land using maps. Margot Jacobs has a passion for designing meaningful spaces with and for people. She began her focus on sustainable systems-based solutions for resilient communities at the Swedish Research Institute (RISE). Drawing on her background in industrial design, research, and art, Margot designs and advocates for multiple-benefit landscapes including public parks, waterways, infrastructure systems and mixed-use developments in the US as well as Central and South America. She is currently leading the design for several mixed-use projects, parks, and green infrastructure along the LA River and in the Arts District. Committed to work that improves quality of life, she is active in water conservation, environmental justice, and pro-bono efforts. Her writing on the benefits of green infrastructure has appeared in the LA Times, Flaunt Magazine and the Stockholm World Water Week Proceedings. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Industrial Design from the Georgia Institute of Technology, her Master of Professional Practice in Interactive Telecommunications from NYU, and her Master of Landscape Architecture at UC Berkeley.

We spoke with David Saunders, a bioenergy expert from Ballarat, about the huge potential of anaerobic digestion in Australia, and challenges we face implementing it on a wider scale.

We spoke with Iris Alonzo, an incredible human. Big heart. Full of passion. She’s about to flip the fashion industry upside down. By showing rather than talking. After leaving American Apparel as the Creative director, Iris went off to start her own thing with her business partner Carolina Crespo. It’s called everybody.world. The duo are messing with the fashion industry by creating ethical and low impact fashion, locally produced in LA. These guys created a world first 100% recycled cotton t-shirt. They are making new towels out of waste towels from Ace hotels and making accessories from waste sheets. They helped fund the legal defense of a person they admired after a wrongful conviction that resulted in 21 years behind bars. They are paying people properly. They treat their workers like equals. And one of the most exciting parts about the brand is that they have everyday people designing the clothes. They find friends or random people that they meet in the street, like their style and ask them what is missing from their wardrobe. Then they work with them to make it look and feel great. Their philosophy is to use creativity to help pay workers properly and to ensure their products touch the earth lightly. The brand is only 2 years old and is already on it’s way to changing how things work in a big way. Watch this space. If we are to create self sufficient cities moving forwards, this brand is a living and breathing example of how industry can remain inner city and how we can make products that last not just one lifetime but hopefully many more.

CO-LAB is a full service architecture studio located in Tulum. Inspired by the natural beauty of the Yucatan, their projects strive to create a greater appreciation and connection to the natural world through design. Embracing sustainable design principles, each project carefully weaves the architectural program with the beauty of each site to create unique contextual designs. Locally sourced natural materials and handcrafted finishes render each space which are organized around views, natural breezes, light and shadows, to create new compositions and relationships. CO-LAB Design Office collaborates with a wide range of local artisans and builders. Their services include: architecture, construction, construction management, interior design, landscape design, and urban planning. CO-LAB was founded by Joana Gomes and Joshua Beck in 2010. Joshua Beck received a Masters in Architecture from UC Berkeley in 2004 and a Bachelors of Environmental Design from CU Boulder in 1996. Joshua has over 17 years of international experience in the combined fields of architecture and construction, of which 5 years of collaboration with Rem Koolhaas (OMA) in Rotterdam. Joana Gomes graduated in architecture from Oporto University (FAUP) in 2006. She has over 10 years of experience in the fields of architecture and urbanism, including 4 years of work with Winy Maas (MVRDV) in Rotterdam and 4 years as a Design Director for FR-EE (Fernando Romero), one of the leading firms in Mexico City.

FRSA RIBA Director of BBM Sustainable Design & Senior Lecturer at The School of Architecture & Design University of Brighton Duncan has practised, researched, and taught around issues of sustainable development for over 25 years. He has worked on projects as diverse as ‘The Greenwich Millennium Village’ n London with Ralph Erskine, and more recently the multi-award-winning New Country House and Estate Master Plan in Sussex UK. Author of ‘The Re-Use Atlas: a designer’s guide towards a circular economy’ published by RIBA, he is perhaps best known for a series of thought-provoking ‘house’ projects testing issues of sustainable design and resource management including ‘The House that Kevin Built’ in 2008 and ‘The Brighton Waste House’ in 2014. Duncan’s research tests the viability of a number of practices and materials, recognising the potential of discarded “waste” as a valuable resource in the future of construction, as well as live projects as valuable teaching aides. Through his projects he fosters community development and regeneration, working with apprentice builders and students, informing young people of all ages as to their role in sustainable living. Duncan creates examples of community practice that, through the use of innovative techniques such as ‘resource mapping’ can redefine what local materials are and match them with local skills and trades. Duncan is currently the Principal Investigator for a 3million Euro Interreg research programme considering the viability of local waste flows to be processed into insulation for the social housing sector. He lectures widely on issues relating to sustainable development in the design and construction industry, and has recently curated ‘The WasteZone’, a three-day symposium involving over 25 invited speakers including Prof. Walter Stahel, Prof. Michael Braungart and David Benjamin of New York’s ‘The Living’.

We interviewed Professor Maria Cecilia Loschiavo Dos Santos, a philosopher and full professor of Design at the School of Architecture and Urbanism, University of São Paulo. She was speaking at @unmakingwaste 2018 in Adelaide last week and we were fortunate enough to sneak in an hour with her to find out about Brazil before, during and after the dictatorship, furniture design, Oscar Niemeyer, Sergio Rodrigues, waste collectives, the homeless scene around the world and so much more. Cecelia has a big heart and speaks with passion. She warms the room when she speaks. At the conference she discussed: Fetish, Design and the Fury of Disposal: What are the consequences of fetishization of consumption?

We interviewed Sam Chapman, one of the owners of Sherwood Queenstown (www.sherwoodqueenstown.nz), a self-proclaimed ‘community hotel’. Sam and his business partners redeveloped a run-down, mock tudor 80s motel into what is one of the most unique hotels in New Zealand.