Floating Islands too!

Seriously people, floating is the best. Personally, I love it because it feels like the closest we'll ever get to flying, naturally at least (our bodies are not yet built to sustain flight, though successful gravity modification could be in our future!)

Anyways, animals like this little guy like to float too, even if it is on a manmade floating island. Looks pretty cozy to me.

"What do you do with a “severely impaired” body of water and an unsightly shoreline park that is riddled with invasive species? Launch a series of luscious floating islands! In an effort to improve water conditions and restore natural habitats, the American Society of Landscape Architects has designed a series of seven floating islands (aka floating treatment wetlands). The islands, which mimic native wetlands, are constructed from non-toxic, post-consumer recycled plastics and then injected with inert polyurethane foam (the kind of stuff found in Memory Foam mattresses) for buoyancy."

The launch of these clever cleansing islands is set for August 17th in Spring Lake, Missouri. I love that these people got creative and were willing to take a risk. I wish them lots of luck on their upcoming launch!

via inHabitat

The Plus Pool

I don't want to taint this post with grumbles about how one of my favorite ideas was somehow realized by another party, but here goes. My hopes of inventing the world's first floating pool are dashed...(and not just because the clever people at Family and PlayLab have beaten me to the punch...it seems this idea has been around in some form since the early 19th century!) I am happy, though slightly dispirited, to be posting about this outstanding new campaign for a floating pool in the rivers of New York City.

Plans are still in the beginning stages, so there are a lot of important unanswered questions at this point. For example: What affect will this have on the local flora & fauna? How will it be maintained? Is it secured to the riverbed...stable and safe for members of the community? The pool water is filtered river water, is the water that re-enters the river then contaminated by cleaning chemicals or the users of the pool? How could this object be used to better the environment it occupies, can exiting water be filtered in a way that helps to purify the river and reverse the effects of earlier pollution?

You can visit their website to find out more or get involved. It is an ambitious and innovative project. I'm excited to see how it develops and how it inspires the design community.

Heirloom Design

I finally received my first issue of GOOD Magazine this month after a mix-up with my subscription back in September. (sweet!) It's the Slow Issue, containing inside a number of great articles focused around the issue of our quickening lifestyles.

There is a small interview with an inventor named Saul Griffith (He's the founder of Instructables!-and developed designs for energy-producing kites!) The topic of the interview was "Heirloom Design." I was unfamiliar with the term until today, but it's a pretty interesting concept and goes along with the ideas expressed by William McDonough in my previous post.

"An object with "heirloom design" is something that will not only last through your lifetime and into the next generation, but that you also desire to keep that long because it's beautiful, functional, and timeless." -Griffith

The newest issue hasn't been posted to their webpage, so I'm not sure if the interview will be available online. I will share a few quotes that I particularly enjoyed, but if you get the chance, check out the newest issue; it's informative AND it's pretty!

Griffith says...
"We have to do things in new ways and think differently. That's an opportunity for people with their eyes open. Planned obsolescence and fashion seasons are new and constructed problems."

"You can't make a solution for climate change add up unless you address the issue. If you are a young designer today, it might be hard; it might go against the grain. But, the only way you will win in the long run, the only way you will design for the world we all want, is if you design heirloom products. Thumb your nose at the establishment."

(NOTE: This second quote is kind of a definitive statement and I don't necessarily agree that it's the ONLY way to design for a better world, but it seems like a step in the right direction. )