[lifesaviors] Re: FTAL issue 16, 101303 -- re: Palaces For The People
- From: "Juergen Paulussen" <juergen.paulussen@xxxxxx>
- To: lifesaviors@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 14 Oct 2003 09:59:36 +0200
Dear all,
I see, Lion Kuntz' palaces/ pyramids concept (its more than a number of single
ideas and proposals) starts to move and attract wider circles. That's
wonderful. The concept includes so much potential and offers a wide range of
opportunities in realisation, that nobody will be able to determine, what
finally will happen. Might be, the people who will built the first pyramids,
will lay their main emphasis on aspects different from that, we mainly discuss.
Due to that, keeping discussion open for new ideas and variations, is as
important as keeping in mind the core ideas and progressing them.
But one sentence in Paul Collier's summary of the PALACE concept made me think:
Paul wrote:
> > To that end, I see
> > the Palace for the People as a positive development.
> > But the Palace
> > for the People is not for everyone.
> >
> > For those of us who wish to be more independent, the
> > Palace for the
> > People may not be the best place to live. But for
> > billions of people
> > on the planet already living in constricted,
> > unhealthy space, these
> > Palaces offer a great alternative.
Does this mean: "high density palace are good for the poor and underprivileged,
but for other (us), it's not appropriate"? This could turn out as a question of
credibility. As long as the eco-forerunners claim for them selves other
conditions and more "request" of flexibility, space, personal freedom, etc.
than for "billions of people on the planet already living in constricted,
unhealthy space", I see no chance to convince them, that our proposals will be
appropriate solutions to them. Because these people might be will seak for
other opportunities to improve their live (e.g. more to subrbs). The core is,
to convince the, that in the moment, they will be able to improve their housing
situation, they choose "palaces", and not other alternative structures, which
will improve their live for the same initial costs, but not reach our high
goals regarding ecological impact, energy, space consumption etc.
Therefore, the people who promote an new concept for living and building,
should be the first to move in, giving an example for others. Otherwise, we
(the people who want to change our cities, improve the conditions for urban
life, and "save the world") would be as incredulous as the architects and
politicians who promoted and buit the high density "social quarters" in the
fringe of big cities like Paris, London, Berlin, which quickly turned into
"problem quarters" and "no-go-areas".
Experience from ecocity-development of the last decades teaches us, that best
results are gained, where all stakeholders, designers, users, builders are
involved and integrated in the process of eco-building - at least for some key
periods of time. Too big social distance between "user" and "creator" often
creates unsufficient, single-goal oriented "mass quarters". Exclusion of
general demand of people from design gains solitaire solutions, which can
hardly be used as an example for wider application.
So besides the aspects of design layout and technology, we have even to
consider HOW adress the different groups of our' worlds population - which
could be potential inhabitants and users of PALACES/ Ziggurats.
All the best for this time,
Juergen Paulussen
juergen.paulussen@xxxxxx
lifesaviors@xxxxxxxxxxxxx schrieb am 14.10.03 05:58:12:
>
> I want to thank you for posting your thoughts about
> Palaces For The People.
>
> I want to point out that a hectare is 107,639 square
> feet, or 328 feet per side on a square conformation.
> So your example at 400 feet per side is about one and
> a half times larger than the hectare size I proposed.
>
> For those whom find it inconvenient to look it up in
> the archives, I want to provide below some webpage
> addresses of illustrations and text. This is a
> continually evolving development and ten webpages of
> about 15 megabytes of data were added in September,
> 2003.
>
> If NovusNow wants to dispense CD-ROMS of the material,
> I have about 170 megabytes online on the website which
> can be made available in the faster access format of
> CD format. CDs are usually much faster than even the
> fastest broadband internet connections, and it takes
> literally hours to transfer the whole website over
> phone lines. I don't know what NovusNow subscribers
> might pay for a conceptual 'work of art' like this
> project, but it has many hundreds of hours of 3D
> renderings giving high magnification views of many of
> the concepts. Something to think about...
>
> PALACES FOR THE PEOPLE:
> http://www.ecosyn.us/Sep2003/New_Pages_2003-sept.html
> http://www.ecosyn.us/Interesting/
> http://www.ecosyn.us/Ecovillage/
>
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Palaces4People/
> Subscribe: Palaces4People-subscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
> Unsubscribe:
> Palaces4People-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
> Sincerely, Lion Kuntz
>
>
>
> --- goobiehead1968 <paulc@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > Freedom Through Autonomous Technologies
> > Issue 16, Oct. 13,2003
> >
> > Editor's Introduction
> >
> > This week we turn our attention to an interesting
> > post made by one of
> > our members about `palaces for the people'. We've
> > done a little
> > Internet research and we'll give you our take on the
> > concept.
> >
> > We have posted our newspapers to the website, but
> > unfortunately there
> > is a problem with the server that won't allow the
> > newspapers to be
> > seen. We are trying to work out what's wrong, and
> > will update you as
> > soon as the problem is fixed.
> >
> > Additional developments in the newspaper front: We
> > look to be adding
> > three more papers by the start of December. We hope
> > to have the
> > first two newspapers up to weeklies by that point.
> > We are also
> > looking for writers at this point. We can offer 25
> > dollars for any
> > article we accept for publishing. If you have any
> > articles about
> > current events, autonomous technologies, etc., let
> > us know and we'll
> > give you more information about how to submit.
> >
> > The next few issues of FTAL will focus on the topics
> > brought up by
> > the members of our yahoo group, so if you have a
> > topic you'd like to
> > see covered, be sure to either write us at
> > PaulC@xxxxxxxxxxxx, or
> > post your information in the yahoo group.
> >
> > As always, I thank all of you for taking the time to
> > read our
> > newsletter, and I especially thank those who have
> > taken the time to
> > write thoughtful responses to our articles.
> >
> > Paul Collier
> > Editor, FTAL
> >
> >
> >
> > Palaces for the People:
> > Ziggurats in action
> >
> >
> > People want to live in attractive settings. When
> > designing cities,
> > appearance must be taken into account. The
> > appearance of a city can
> > be a positive impact or a negative impact on the
> > city's citizens.
> >
> > Our habitation on this planet leaves what is called
> > a `human
> > footprint'. The more space we occupy, the greater
> > the human
> > footprint, the greater our negative effect on our
> > environment. If we
> > can decrease the space we take up, if we can live in
> > areas of greater
> > concentration, we can decrease this human footprint.
> >
> > If you support the suppositions of the introduction
> > to this article,
> > you just might be intrigued with Palaces for the
> > People.
> >
> > Palaces for the People are essentially villages that
> > are contained in
> > one large building, or a few large buildings. These
> > buildings are
> > shaped like the ziggurats of old, or steppe
> > pyramids, and the design
> > has logic behind it. Here's the assumption behind
> > the design.
> >
> > With today's conventional buildings, we waste
> > valuable space. We
> > waste even more valuable space in an urban setting
> > using these square
> > and rectangle-shaped constructions. In the
> > assumptions made, you
> > must first understand two types of space: enclosed
> > space and open air
> > space. By open air and enclosed space, we are
> > referring to the space
> > that can be utilized.
> >
> > In an urban setting, the amount of enclosed space an
> > open space
> > roughly translates to the total of the area actually
> > occupied, with
> > 50 percent of the space being open air, and 50
> > percent of the space
> > being closed. With the use of a ziggurat, this
> > ratio is doubled. In
> > the same amount of land utilized by a traditional
> > urban design, the
> > amount of enclosed space is equal to the land size,
> > and so is the
> > open air space (it is actually slightly less, but
> > close enough to
> > make the claim that ziggurats double the amount of
> > usable space).
> >
> > Other advantages to the ziggurat lie in the amount
> > of solar
> > exposure. In urban settings, the traditional square
> > and rectangle
> > buildings block out the sun. This has the effect of
> > raising heating
> > and cooling costs, as well as electric costs. It
> > also limits the
> > ability of the urban environment to create any
> > autonomous gardening
> > projects.
> >
> > I have seen a couple proposed examples of how a
> > palace for the people
> > could be designed, but I thought it would be fun to
> > play around with
> > the numbers given and come with an idea of my own.
> >
> > The first two levels of the ziggurat are the same.
> > In my case, I
> > have a ziggurat that is only 1 square acre (about
> > 400 by 400 feet).
> > On the first level of my ziggurat, I will place
> > shops, schools,
> > municipal offices, and emergency services (1 sq.
> > acre). On the
> > second level of my ziggurat (1 sq. acre), I will
> > place some local
> > manufacturing centers.
> >
> > The third level, which is slightly smaller (about
> > 250 by 250 feet),
> > would comprise residences. On the third level's
> > open-air space
> > (comprised of an area equivalent to about 120 by 120
> > feet), I would
> > place aquaponics compounds. The fourth level (about
> > 150 by 150 feet)
> > would also include residential centers. Its open
> > air space would be
> > dedicated to open plazas (comprised of an area
> > equivalent to about 90
> > by 90 feet).
> >
> > Finally, the fifth and sixth levels would both have
> > enclosed space
> > dedicated to offices, and open air space dedicated
> > to open plazas.
> > The population of such a center would be about 80
> > people.
> > Alternative concepts of the ziggurat design could
> > include a community
> > of a few ziggurats, with each ziggurat dedicated to
> > a specific aspect
> > of the community, such as commerce, food growth,
> > manufacturing,
> > residential, education, etc.
> >
> > The essential concept of the Palace for the People
> > is that we can get
> > more people in smaller space, and that space could
> > be both more
> > environmentally friendly and more human friendly.
> > To that end, I see
> > the Palace for the People as a positive development.
> > But the Palace
> > for the People is not for everyone.
> >
> > For those of us who wish to be more independent, the
> > Palace for the
> > People may not be the best place to live. But for
> > billions of people
> > on the planet already living in constricted,
> > unhealthy space, these
> > Palaces offer a great alternative. As such, I
> > believe that for
> > NovusNow as a group, that the ziggurat concept
> > should be considered
> > as a viable alternative, especially in urban
> > settings.
> >
> > Ziggurats would require a large initial capital
> > investment that make
> > them impractical for initial development.
> > Small-scale test ziggurats
> > could, however, be built, and I would love to see
> > what some of you
> > who have posted to our yahoo group have to say about
> > coming up with a
> > design to support, say, 5 or 6 families, or a
> > ziggurat designed
> > solely to grow and process food. I would think that
> > in the NovusNow
> > test village there should be space eventually for a
> > small-scale test
> > ziggurat through which we can integrate some of the
> > other autonomous
> > technologies into this concept.
> >
> > What are your thoughts? Post to our yahoo group or
> > write to the
> > editor at PaulC@xxxxxxxxxxxx
> >
> > Next week:
> > More on what the members are posting
>
>
>
>
> =====
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
> Sincerely, Lion Kuntz
> Santa Rosa, California, USA
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Palaces4People/
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Palaces4Japan/
> http://www.ecosyn.us/ecocity/Proposal/Palaces_For_The_People.html
> http://www.ecosyn.us/ecocity/Challenges/Asia_Floods/Wet/All_Wet.html
> http://www.ecosyn.us/Interesting/
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
>
> __________________________________
Other related posts:
