BMD D E S I G N

CHALLENGE
R O S H E L L E B O R N

0 6 . 0 8 . 2009
THE
TOPI’ve thought, defined, undefined, written, sketched, listened, read, researched, viewed, reviewed, amassed,
compiled, dissected and finally selected the most exciting and inspiring

TEN1-0 [in no particular order]

THINGS ideas, trends, innovations, projects, and institutions

CHANGING inspiring, challenging + revolutionizing the major issues facing

THE WORLD the present collective circumstances, in which we live,

work, grow interact, think, learn, build, move, give + consume, with a

RIGHT hopeful + optimistic focus, and

RIGHT NOW
NOWa sense of immediacy for what is relevant today [06.08.09], but has even greater implications for our shared future .
RIGHT N O W
R I G H T NOW
THE ISSUES THE ACTIONS

GLOBAL RECESSION FLASH FIRMS

URBANIZATION 19.20.21

EDUCATION UNIVERSITY OF THE PEOPLE

CLIMATE CHANGE SUN COME UP

RENEWABLE ENERGY THE HYWIND

SUSTAINABILITY ECOTECT

TRANSPORTATION [SPM + MoD]

DISEASE REGENERATIVE MEDICINE

HUNGER THE VERTICAL FARM PROJECT

POVERTY J-PAL
GLOBAL ISSUE: ECONOMIC RECESSION
ACTION: FLASH FIRMS
A global economic recession has affected the entire planet, resulting in widespread job losses, poverty
and hunger. In the face of the recession and collapse of big business we are confronted with a great
opportunity to restructure the organization of industry for the new globalized and digital environment. The
decentralization of big business into distributed-information networks and Flash Firms will forever change
DECENTRALIZATION
the way many of us live, work, interact and move.
As many huge conglomerates are going on life support, it is thee
expectation, as Malone predicted, that small, nimble distributedd
information networks will emerge. Virtual flash firms madee
up of small businesses, contract, and freelance labor, will comee
together for one project, and then disperse and reconnect forr
the next resulting in an efficiently employed and democratizedd
global workforce. In Stephen Bakers 2008 book The Numerati, ti,
he describes way in which IBM is making predictive models of
its employees with the goal of better utilizing and deployingg
its workforce. The mathematical models use employees profiless
and information stored on their computers to create inventoriess
of workers skills, interests, salary level, etc. to automate thee
management process. In a decentralized economy, there aree
immense possibilities for using these models on a regional, al,
national, and global scale. Imagine a world where companiess
and entrepreneurs will be able to enter the skills and budget et
MIT Professor Tom Malone predicted the internet would change
LATE 80s the structure of industries, resulting in the fall of large vertically
required for a project and receive a customized report of team m
members drawn from a worldwide detailed database. <Flashh
oriented companies and the emergence of a decentralized
Firms> will affect unemployment, poverty, hunger, as well ass
networked economy. American companies faltered,resulting in a global
influencing worker education and reducing the environmental al
economic recession. Huge top-down companies
impact of concentrated offices and transportation to and from m
proved too slow to react, too dependent on debt,
the workplace.
and unable to adequately control and cater to

FLASH FIRMS!
M
their diversified markets.
Big business keeps getting bigger, and bigger, and bigger, and bigger, and bigger and bigger.
SEPT 08
GLOBAL ISSUE: URBANIZATION
ACTION: 19.20.21
19.20.21 is 5 year, multi-media initiative collecting, organizing and better understanding the populations
effect regarding urban and business planning and its impact on consumers around the world. Subjects
of exploration include health, education, transportation, demographics, energy, water, economics, and culture, to
name a few. It is my personal hope is that 19.20.21 not only uncovers and quantifies the patterns of 2050 More than two thirds of us will be living in cities.
urban environments, but provides designers, planners and policy-makers with an action plan that enhances
both individual experiences of urban environments and the environmental impact of urbanization.

2008 Critical moment: Over half the worlds population lives in cities,
amounting to more than 3 billions people

1900 150 million people lived in the worlds cities.

“ The population...is ill-prepared for

life in the supercities of tomorrow.
” 1800 3% of the world lived in cities and most people lived
their entire liveswithout seeing one.
GLOBAL ISSUE: EDUCATION
ACTION: UNIVERSITY OF THE PEOPLE
Education empowers peoples, resulting in exponential change. The University of the People, in conjunction
with efforts to bring technology to all corners of the earth, opens the opportunity of free, equal education
to everyone on the planet.
The Open
Courseware
COMING THIS FALL This fall, classes will begin at the worlds first tuition-free,
online-only academic institution, University of the People.
Consortium
grows to
FREE Israeli entrepreneur and founder Shai Reshef, seeks to
take advantage of the worldwide presence of the Internet
David Wiley coins the
term <open content>
over 200
contributing
QUALITY and dropping technology costs, open-source content and
volunteer professors to provide collegiate level studies to

1998 MIT officially launches

in October with 500
institutions
of higher
ONLINE everyone, including the poorest and most remotest places
on earth. Reshef has a vision the UoPeople will serve
Creative Commons is
founded in Massachusetts
courses education. EDUCATION as a global model for educating the next generation.

2000 2001 2002 2002 2003 2008

MIT proposes the open UNESCO
courseware Project sponsors a forum
The Open Courseware
and chooses <Open
Consortium forms to
Educational Resources>
advance education
to describe their efforts
through open
to create a universal
courseware
educational resource for
all of humanity
GLOBAL ISSUE: CLIMATE CHANGE
ACTION: SUN COME UP
Sun Come Up startles, informs, and inspires people to act now.

The Carteret Islanders are a community in the Pacific Islands that is losing their homeland due to the
effects of climate change, becoming the worlds first climate change refugees. Rising sea levels resulting
from global warming largely the fault of the modern world have flooded their islands, contaminating crops
and freshwater wells, despite the fact that the islanders live without electricity, cars or running water.
Sun Come Up is a portrayal of the people faced with the loss of their land, and by extension their identity
and way of life. The film raises awareness of this critical moment in history, shedding light on new
issues of protecting human rights and culture of people displaced by the negligence and injudiciousness
of other populations. The film inspires people to take action against climate change to prevent future
transgressions. Last weekend [06.03.2009], the producers screened a short of the film [still a work in
progress] at the Media that Matters film festival.

today sea levels has risen 400 feet since the ice age as a result of global warming
the Carteret Islanders have become the worlds first climate change refugees

2050 climate change could displace up to 250 million people

GLOBAL ISSUE: RENEWABLE ENERGY
ACTION: THE HYWIND Hywind 06.06.09
Wind power available in the atmosphere is much greater than current world energy consumption. The becames the
most comprehensive study to date found the potential of wind power on land and near-shore to be 72 first floating
TW, equivalent to 54,000 MToE (million tons of oil equivalent) per year, or over five times the worlds wind turbine.
current energy use in all forms. This weekend [06.06-07.2009] the Hywind became worlds first floating
wind turbine.

The turbine has a 100

meter draft that is anchored
to the seabed with cables,
The Hywind, a collaboration between Siemens and Statoil, is 2.3 MW that can be up to 700
wind turbine that will be tested off the coast of Norway for two years, in meters long.
search of harvesting the stronger and more consistent winds at sea over
larger areas, all while out of site. The wind turbine draws on knowledge
of offshore oil and gas technologies, and combines this with current wind
power technologies used on land or near shore. In addition to testing
the current design of the pilot, Statoils goal is to reduce costs so that
floating wind power can compete in the power market.

Official testing
begins. FALL O9
GLOBAL ISSUE: SUSTAINABILITY
ACTION: ECOTECT
Building consume 48% of all energy, 76% of all electricity, and make-up 50% of greenhouse gas emissions.
Ecotect is a building design and environmental analysis tool that covers the full range of simulation
and analysis functions required to understand how a building design will operate and perform. It finally MAR 09 Autodesk rolled out Ecotect Analysis 2010 to its 9 million customers, including
allows designers to work easily in 3D and apply all the tools necessary for an energy efficient and architects, engineers, and designers worldwide.
sustainable future. Ecotects allows designers to calculate sustainability data early and often in the design
process, allowing designers to make changes in the crucial early stages of the project. Ecotect takes
time, uncertainty, and cost out of the building, changing the way that arcihtects, engineers, and designers
worldwide approach the design process. Ecotect will directly and positively impact the physical built
environment on a worldwide scale.
Digital fabrication,and Building Information Modeling [BIM] have revolutionized
the way in which design, engineer, communicate, construct, maintain, and ultimately
demolish structures. BIM is the process of generating and managing building
data during its life cycle, using three-dimensional, real-time, dynamic building
modeling software to increase productivity in building design and construction.
BIM has allowed for fewer coordination errors, more efficient scheduling and
reduced construction time, better cost-estimates and by extension savings, and
better quality products.

1987 First implementation of BIM under the Virtual Building concept by Graphisofts
ArchiCAD.
GLOBAL ISSUE: TRANSPORTATION
ACTION: SUSTAINABLE PERSONAL MOBILITY + MOBILITY-ON- 3 2 1
DEMAND SYSTEMS (SPM/MoD)
As cities continue to grow at never seen before rates, populations become increasingly mobile, and the
environment continues to be exacerbated by fossil fuel emissions, many are looking to urban planner,
policy makers, vehicle designers, transportation infrastructures and alternative energies to provide integrated
alternatives to our current predicament. There are various programs all over the world being implemented
to reduce the worlds dependence on fossil fuels and cater to population and mobility demands, including
bike sharing, automobile innovation, and high-speed rail, to name a few. SPM/MoD is significant in that
its integrated approach has the potential for immediate application in the United States, where dependence CityCar RoboScooter Green-Wheel Bicycle
on oil and fossil fuel emissions are the greatest and most hazardous levels. [technology applied to
„06.06.2009 the Buckminster Fuller Institute awarded SPM/MoD, an interdisci plinary student team an existing bicycle]
represented 8 different countries from MIT, the $100,000 first prize for the 2009 Buckminster Fuller
Challenge. SPM/MoD plans to use the money towards furthering the research and implementation of
their proposal.
<Mobility-on-Demand systems utilize fleets of shared-use lightweight
electric vehicles placed at automatic charging racks throughout
a city. The CityCar and RoboScooter, both folding vehicles, along
4 with the Green-Wheel Bicycle, minimize parking space and can
be picked-up and dropped-off at any rack. Mobility-on-Demand
systems maximize mobility and dramatically reduce congestion
and pollution through energy and land-use efficiency.>‰ [From
the teams proposal for the Buckminster Fuller Challenge]
GLOBAL ISSUE: DISEASE
ACTION: WAKE FOREST INSTITUTE FOR REGENERATIVE
MEDICINE
Everyday 17 people in the United States die waiting to receive an organ transplant. Imagine a world
where there is no waiting, less uncertainty, and less diseases pervading the lives of families; a world where
no one is relegated to a group of permanently disabled, but instead people are made continually made
more able. Regenerative Medicine is on the cusp of eliminating the shortage of organs, and reducing the
risk of organ rejection. North Carolines Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine is the largest
bioengineering firm in the world.

The Institute announced it had grown human
bladders in a lab,had been the first to successfully
implant the lab-grown organs in people, and
those people that received them were still healthy
5 years later.
Dr. Atala and his team have been able to shock
cells back to their pluri potent state, which means
the lab can grow complex organic structures
from a few human cells, such as skin cells,
instead of using embryonic stem cells.
The lab is currently working on growing 22 different
tissues, including heart valves, muscles and fingers, having the
potential to create the most pervasive influence on public
health in the modern era.

2006 2008 2008

GLOBAL ISSUE: HUNGER
ACTION: THE VERTICAL FARM PROJECT
+
Reduces the incidence of
By 2050, two thirds of us will be living in cities [see URBANIZATION]. Conservative estimates suggest many infectious diseases
that are acquired at the
that the human population will increase by 3 billion people. An estimated 109 hectares of new land agricultural interface
[about 20% more land than is represented by the country of Brazil] will be needed to grow enough food
Converts abandoned
urban properties into food +
to feed us, if traditional farming practices continue as they are practiced today. At present, throughout the production centers

world, over 80% of the land that is suitable for raising crops is in use. Historically, some 15% of that
Returns farmland to
nature, restoring ecosystem +
+
Dramatically reduces fossil functions and services
has been laid waste by poor management practices. Vertical farms offer the promise of urban renewal,
+ +
Could reduce the incidence May prove to be useful fuel use [no tractors, plows,
sustainable production of a safe and varied food supply year-round, and may allow for the eventual repair of armed conflict over for integrating into refugee shi pping.]
of ecosystems that have been damaged by reckless practices in horizontal farming. natural resources, such
as waterand land for
camps Eliminates agricultural
runoff by recycling black +
agriculture Adds energy back to
the grid via methane + water
Creates new employment
opportunities
+ generation from composting
non-edible parts of plants
Offers the promise of
measurable economic +
and animals Organic: no herbicides,
pesticides, or fertilizers
+
improvement for tropical
+
Creates sustainable
and subtropical
LDCs.
environments
centers
for urban Converts black and gray
water into potable water
+ No weather-related crop
failures due to droughts, +
by collecting the water of floods, pests
evapotranspiration

Year-round crop production;

1 indoor acre is equivalent +
to 4-6+ outdoor acres
 GLOBAL ISSUE: POVERTY
ACTION: ABDUL LATIF JAMEEL POVERTY ACTION LAB [J-PAL]
Over three billion people, roughly half the worlds population, live on less than two dollars a day. The

100
Poverty Action Lab (J-Pal) will positively impact over 100 million of these people in the next three years.
Traditional policy approaches to alleviate poverty including monetary assistance and increased trade have
not solved the problem, and in some cases, worsened it. J-PAL realizes that radical change requires taking
a step back to critically understand of the underlying systems in place in order to move ahead into the
future. J-PALs goal is to reduce poverty by ensuring that policy is based on scientific evidence. Some
of the findings are surprising. Providing textbooks to students does not improve test scores or drop-out
rates. WhatÊs in a name? Emily and Greg are more employable than Lakisha and Jamal. Students less likely
to take deworming drugs if they learn about them through their social network. While others are obvious
but mayve failed to get the attention of policy makers. Women are more politically active in village councils
with a female leader. Recipients of consumer credit retain wage employment and are less impoverished. The
work being done by J-PAL not only changes the lives of millions of people, but also changes the way in
which people approach issues facing the world today.
Million
Lives Positively Impacted
2005 2008 2010 2013
29 Evaluations Completed 30 Million
Lives Positively Impacted
180 Evaluations Completed
GLOBAL RECESSIONFLASH FIRMS
Anderson, Chris. The New New Economy. Wired Magazine: June 2009. 98-99.
Baker, Stephen. The Numerati. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt: August 12, 2008.
Malone, Tom. The Future of Work: How the New Order of Business Will Shape Your Organization, Your
Management Style, and Your Life. Harvard University Press: 2004.
URBANIZATION19.20.21
192021.org
EDUCATIONUNIVERSITY OF THE PEOPLE
Open CourseWare http://www.ocwconsortium.org/
The Open Education Resource Timeline. May 6, 2009. Retrieved from http://blog.oryoki.org/.
University of the People http://www.uopeople.org/
UN News Centre. UN announces launch of worlds first tuition-free, online university. May 19, 2009. http://
www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=30848&Cr=ict&Cr1
CLIMATE CHANGE SUN COME UP
MacFarquhar, Neil. Refugees Join List of Climate-Change Issues. The New York Times-Global Edition: May 28,
2009. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/29/world/29refugees.html?ref=world
Media that Matters. http://www.mediathatmattersfest.org/
Sun Come Up. http://www.suncomeup.com/
RENEWABLE ENERGY THE HYWIND
BTM Consult (2009). International Wind Energy Development World Market Update 2009. Retrieved from
http://www.btm.dk/documents/pressrelease.pdf
StatOil Hydra. Hywind Floating Wind Turbine. Retrieved from http://www.statoilhydro.com/en/
TechnologyInnovation/NewEnergy/RenewablePowerProduction/Onshore/Pages/Karmoy.aspx
LaBarre, Suzanne. Harvesting the Wind. Metropolis Magazine: May 13, 2009.
Madslien, JoStarn. Floating wind turbine launched. BBC News: June 5, 2009.
Wiki pedia. Wind Power. Retrieved from http://en.wiki pedia.org/wiki/Wind_power
SUSTAINABILITY ECOTECT
ECOTECT (Building Performance Simulation Software) http://greenlineblog.com/ecotect-building-performance-
simulation-software/
Kamenetz, Anya. 20: Dawn Danby, Sustainable Design Program Manager, AutoDesk. 100 Most Creative People
in Business. Fast Company. June 2009. p 70.
Wiki pedia. BIM. Retrieved from http://en.wiki pedia.org/wiki/Building_Information_Modeling
Wong, Kenneth. Autodesk Ecotect Analysis 2010. May 13, 2009. Retrieved from http://www.architectureweek.
com/2009/0513/tools_1-1.html
TRANSPORTATION [SPM + MoD]
Buckminster Fuller Challange. http://challenge.bfi.org/winner_2009
Mobility on Demand. http://cities.media.mit.edu/projects/mobilityondemand.html. MIT.
DISEASEREGENERATIVE MEDICINE
Enriquez, Juan. The Next Big Thing: A New You. Foreign Policy: Global Politics, Economics, Ideas. Issue 172,
May/June 2009: 84-85.
Salter, Chuck. 100 Most Creative People in Business: Dr. Anthony Atala, Director of the Wake Forest Institute
for Regenerative Medicine. Fast Company: June 2009. 97.
Wake Forest Institute of Regenerative Medicine. http://www.wfirm.org/
HUNGER THE VERTICAL FARM PROJECT
Alter, Lloyd. Vertical Farm in Dubai Uses Seawater. March 5, 2009. Treehugger. Retrieved from http://www.
treehugger.com/files/2009/03/vertica-farm-dubai-seawater.php
Kain, Alexandra. Pyramid Farm: Vertical Agriculture for 2060. Inhabitat. June 3, 2009. Retrieved from http://
www.inhabitat.com/2009/06/03/pyramid-farm-vertical-agriculture-for-2060/
Steffen, Bridgette. Amazing Skyscraper Farm for Vancouver. Inhabitat. May 11, 2009. Retrieved from http://
www.inhabitat.com/2009/05/11/amazing-skyscraper-farm-for-vancouver/
The Vertical Farm Projecthttp://www.verticalfarm.com/
POVERTY J-PAL
http://www.povertyactionlab.org/
RIGHT NOW
RIGHT N O W
R I G H T NOW