tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25085125146055308572024-03-13T07:20:03.541+00:00afrchafrch = african architecture. architecture = intentioned making. +open sourceAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03947929027800186912noreply@blogger.comBlogger92125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2508512514605530857.post-46719962682942707512013-10-28T23:02:00.000+00:002013-10-28T23:02:57.921+00:00The Afronauts<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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In flight magazine on Arik last week reminded me that I missed this year's <a href="http://www.lagosphotofestival.com/edition-2013.php" target="_blank">LagosPhoto</a> festival, on the theme of "The Megacity and the Non-City" (which appears to have overtones of / overlaps with the Joburg Art Fair's "<a href="http://www.fnbjoburgartfair.co.za/gallery/phantasms-non-city" target="_blank">Phantasms of the Non-City</a>").</div>
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It also reminded me how much I love <a href="http://www.lademiddel.com/eng/ldmeng.html" target="_blank">Cristina de Middel's</a> project <a href="http://collectordaily.com/cristina-de-middel-the-afronauts-dillon/" target="_blank">The Afronauts</a>. Originally a self-published photobook, which now runs about US$2000 <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Afronauts-Cristina-De-Middel/dp/8461585968" target="_blank">on Amazon</a>, she recently released an <a href="http://www.ubicuostudio.com/app/afronauts-photobook-ipad-iphone/" target="_blank">iPad edition</a>. The story is she got inspired by a <a href="http://www.lusakatimes.com/2011/01/28/space-program/" target="_blank">newspaper article</a> on "Zambia's forgotten Space Program" (or perhaps more accurately the story itself) and went on to create a magical pseudo-documentary that blends fact and fiction, reality and fantasy. A super compelling example of an imaginary African retro-future. I think we will continue to see more work like this as younger generations re-appropriate selective aspects of Africa's postcolonial past and remix them as idealized (and sanitized) models of the genius future we wish to see.</div>
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In her words: "The images are beautiful and the story is pleasant at a first level, but it is built on the fact that nobody believes that Africa will ever reach the moon. It hides a very subtle critique to our position towards the whole continent and our prejudices." [<a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Afronauts-Cristina-De-Middel/dp/8461585968" target="_blank">Amazon</a>]</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03947929027800186912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2508512514605530857.post-42037002323793344482013-10-28T18:02:00.000+00:002013-10-28T23:12:18.805+00:00Former American Embasssy<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Have you ever noticed there is an entire sequence of "former American embassies" in Accra? (I won't even broach the geopolitical significance.) People still use all of them as landmarks, even though half the time there's a mix-up: "No...the *other* former American embassy!" The first of these, now the Ministry of Women and Children, is — along with the Scott House and half of KNUST — one of my favorite buildings of Ghana's <a href="http://www.petertolkin.com/stories/listening-there/" target="_blank">original run of "Tropical Modernism"</a>. (There's another former American embassy site behind <a href="http://www.designconsultantsgh.com/" target="_blank">Design House</a>, near Dankwa Circle.)<br />
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Image source: <a href="http://www.state.gov/obo/diplomaticproperties/accra/" target="_blank">US State Department</a><br />
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Image source: <a href="http://www.petertolkin.com/stories/listening-there/" target="_blank">Peter Tolkin Architecture</a> with <a href="http://www.arch.columbia.edu/about/people/mow6columbiaedu" target="_blank">Mabel E. Wilson</a> - "<a href="http://places.designobserver.com/feature/listening-there-scenes-from-ghana/15438/" target="_blank">Listening There</a>" / <a href="http://events.gsapp.org/event/listening-there-scenes-from-ghana-1" target="_blank">Studio X</a><br />
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It was designed by Harry Weese, an architect whom otherwise I've never heard of but has done some fascinating work. In <a href="http://places.designobserver.com/feature/the-architecture-of-harry-weese/27018/" target="_blank">Place Journal</a>, Ian Baldwin suggests that Weese's relative obscurity, compared to his contemporaries like Rudolph and Kahn, may derive from his having never taught at Yale (I find this especially interesting because the design cabal of the Ivy League continues to define who gets deified and who doesn't, often independently from the quality of the work), or the fact that his production was more diverse — in style, form, program and geography — which made it harder to encapsulate or describe in an easily marketable brand, and therefore harder for critics and scholars to explain and theorize:<br />
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"Weese avoided specializing in a single building type, and his work covers an astonishing range of scales and programs, from transit systems to townhomes and hotels to corporate headquarters. The commission that first put Weese on the map, in 1958, was the U.S. Embassy in Accra, Ghana, a handsome rectangle of offices with projecting bays of louvered mahogany. It is elevated on white tapered columns around a central courtyard, leaving the entire ground floor accessible — too much so for the security concerns of later decades, which forced the embassy to relocate. It is now, in something of a rebuttal to Weese's postcolonial critics, a Ghanaian government ministry." [<a href="http://places.designobserver.com/feature/the-architecture-of-harry-weese/27018/" target="_blank">Places</a>]</blockquote>
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The building looks like a disaster today, a half-forgotten icon of a different era: when Maxwell Fry, the father of Tropical Modernism, said "“I have practiced architecture at a time when architects were full of hope and optimism — at a time when we felt that the changes in planning and in architecture would change living conditions and improve the world. A time when there was great hope for the future.”<span style="background-color: white; color: #777777; font-family: verdana; font-size: 9px; line-height: 17px;">1</span> A half-century later, the battery of air conditioners of different ages and makes, together with the long-drained pool, underscore the tension between a modern architecture that references aspects of vernacular tradition (wood, natural ventilation, courtyards and open access, etc.) that ultimately finds itself in juxtaposition with users that aspire to a different form of modernity (glass, air conditioning, enclosure and artificiality).<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #777777; font-family: verdana; font-size: 9px; line-height: 17px;">1. Jane Drew, "Recent Work by Fry Drew Partners and Fry, Drew, Drake and Lasdun," </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #777777; font-family: verdana; font-size: 9px; line-height: 17px;">Architectural Design</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #777777; font-family: verdana; font-size: 9px; line-height: 17px;">, May 1955, 139. via: Mabel Wilson and Peter Tolkin, <a href="http://places.designobserver.com/feature/listening-there-scenes-from-ghana/15438/" target="_blank">Place Journal</a>.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03947929027800186912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2508512514605530857.post-13055032124976087652013-10-21T01:12:00.002+00:002013-10-21T16:52:42.527+00:008+1 Rules for creating value through enterprise<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">photo courtesy of Sarah Osei / AIMS</td></tr>
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A week ago I gave a guest lecture at the <a href="http://www.aims.edu.gh/" target="_blank">Ghana campus</a> of the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences. <a href="http://www.aims.ac.za/" target="_blank">AIMS</a> launched in Capetown, South Africa and was founded by theoretical physicist <a href="http://www.perimeterinstitute.ca/people/neil-turok" target="_blank">Neil Turok</a>, director of Canada's Perimeter Institute and winner of the 2008 TED Prize (Watch his powerful <a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/neil_turok_makes_his_ted_prize_wish.html" target="_blank">talk</a> and vision to find the “<a href="http://www.nexteinstein.org/" target="_blank">next Einstein</a>” in Africa.)<br />
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It was amazing to spend an afternoon overlooking the Atlantic, discussing the world of ideas with AIMS Ghana's pan-African group of young mathematical minds.<br />
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The topic was entrepreneurship, which at first I found strange — because I have never thought of myself as an entrepreneur. Then I realized I have co-founded two businesses: <a href="http://lowdo.net/" target="_blank">Low Design Office</a>, with Ryan Bollom and <a href="http://dsgnagnc.com/" target="_blank">DSGN AGNC</a>, with Quilian Riano (now run by <a href="https://twitter.com/quilian" target="_blank">@quilian</a>). <br />
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But I have always thought of them as organizations first: entrepreneurship is a subset of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enterprise_architecture" target="_blank">enterprise</a>. Whereas an entrepreneur is someone who sets up a business and assumes the associated risk, the term enterprise refers to any organization (business, non-profit, government agency) that integrates people and technology to accomplish a task, typically one which is challenging and requires nontrivial effort over time.<br />
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We can assume that the motivating factor behind any such organization is that it generates (or has the potential to generate) significant value. That value can be either economic OR social. I tend to prioritize the social value aspect, while others better understand the nature of the class of non-physical units everyone likes to talk about called “money”.<br />
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Copied below are notes from what I shared: some ideas, based on my own experiences, about setting up a “social enterprise” (not necessarily how to make a fortune through capitalist exploitation).<br />
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There is a hip word "ideate” in design thinking circles (it feels new, but dates to the 17th century, <a href="http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ideate" target="_blank">meaning</a> "to form an idea"). <a href="http://www.ideo.com/about/" target="_blank">According to IDEO</a>, the corporate mother ship of design thinking, “Ideation is the process of generating, developing, and testing ideas”. Kind of like “brainstorming” — but with less focus on producing tons of ideas rapidfire, and more emphasis on a specialized approach to actualizing good, great or transformative (innovative) ideas.<br />
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If you want to be an entrepreneur or create a social enterprise, then the starting point is to (decide to) convert your idea(s) to action. Anyone can have an idea; the difference is to act on that idea. The simplest way to activate your idea is to just start doing (or making).<br />
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Never psych yourself out. Listen to, but refuse to be either overwhelmed or intimidated by the little voices in your head discouraging you (or the not-so-little voices surrounding you). If you have faith that you can do something, chances are you can. (Maybe not on your own.)<br />
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You have to make plans. But remember, a plan is near-meaningless if it does not include goals! They can be simple, complex, conditional, short-term, long-term, ideal, whatever. You just have to set them, in order to make your planning concrete.<br />
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Same goes for discipline — the foundation of getting stuff done. The most rewarding goals are often the most difficult. You will likely have to put in inordinate amounts of time and energy in order to achieve your goals. Perseverance is paramount. Keeping records keeps you on task, helps you track your progress and serves as tangible evidence to you that you are indeed doing what you set out to do.<br />
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The importance of self-reflection cannot be overstated. It is easy to fall in the trap of external validation: looking to what others say about you, your ideas, your goals, your work, your appearance, your organization, etc. in order to assess your own self-worth, relative success or probability of success. It is great to get input (and it is almost safe to say you can never get too much). But at the end of the day, take it all for a grain of salt. Look inward to assess your performance metrics. And based on your independent but comprehensive self-evaluation — originating from your own perspective — be prepared to make changes to yourself, your tactics or even your strategy, as required, in order to achieve your goals. This should be on-going and iterative.<br />
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Dream big and be empowered to make your dreams your goals. Never fear failure — that is a self-defeating mental trap! If failure finds you, embrace it! Look to your failures for insight. You can learn more than you can ever imagine by ending up where you did not intend to go.<br />
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No wo/man is an island. You may think you can do anything by yourself, but it is highly probable that you will need help, support, guidance or a yin to your yang somewhere along the way. (Business studies and experts often say that the most successful businesses rarely have a single founder, regardless of the “founding story” narratives fabricated for marketing and posterity).<br />
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Build your teams properly. That means share work/loads, include all team members (at all levels!) in as much of the process as possible, and make sure everyone has real and legitimate reasons to not just show up everyday, but to show up and do their utmost best to advance the overall project (not just their tiny piece of the puzzle).<br />
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Multiple plans vs. planning in multiple ways: The last point (the +1 of 8+1) took a bit of explaining, but I think it is super critical and often gets overlooked. At the same time that the cliché business advice "focus on your core business" is valid, it is equally important to not just have a plan A, B, C, etc. but also to have a “side hustle”. To plan <i>multiply </i>translates to not only having multiple strategies to achieve the same goal(s), but additionally to also have plans in place to accomplish entirely different agendas — and to act on them all. We all know what hustle means (keep at it always, no matter what, any way you can imagine), and while usually this implies the idea of making money (and often by perhaps dubious methods) take it simply to mean never put all your eggs in one basket. Many times an unrelated initiative (side hustle) can teach you important skills, give you innovative ideas, bridge funding or seed capital, or lead to an unexpected breakthrough in your main — completely unrelated — business.<br />
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<b>Iterative nature of design (D=):</b></div>
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Made this graphic a <a href="http://afrch.blogspot.com/2012/10/design.html" target="_blank">while back</a> to explain how I understand design and how we use it in the office. Remarkably, they were able to decipher the pseudo-math! (Can you?)<br />
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<b>Design Innovation:</b><br />
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IDEO is awesome, but I believe their model fails to reach true fundamentals, mathematically speaking. Their approach (in their own words) is human-centered, as per this <a href="http://www.ideo.com/images/uploads/home/English_dt_600px.png" target="_blank">Venn diagram</a>, whereas the universe is NOT anthropocentric. Only our individual and conceptual perception and conceptualization of it is — at least in most cases, if not all.<br />
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Since last year, Dr. <a href="http://neo-nomad.net/" target="_blank">Yasmine Abbas</a> and I have been working on a design theorem called “<a href="http://afrch.blogspot.com/2013/04/stellate-innovation.html" target="_blank">Stellate Innovation</a>” which postulates a methodology for inducing urban innovation. It was fun to present the introduction to this text to the AIMS Ghana group — especially because they seemed both to understand it and to immediately recognize its potential applicability to their own work, lives, thinking and, ideally...the enterprises they will in all probability launch in industry, academia or government once they graduate from AIMS and radiate outward across Africa and planet Earth.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03947929027800186912noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2508512514605530857.post-33259375507910885712013-06-08T16:15:00.000+00:002013-06-08T16:15:00.055+00:00Silk Pavilion<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="http://matter.media.mit.edu/" target="_blank">MIT Media Lab’s Mediated Matter Group</a> via <a href="http://www.archdaily.com/384271/silk-pavilion-mit-media-lab/" target="_blank">ArchDaily</a><div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03947929027800186912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2508512514605530857.post-90814396871334464802013-04-14T16:56:00.000+00:002013-04-14T17:29:45.921+00:00Stellate Innovation (intro)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="text-align: left;">Introduction to research project *Stellate Innovation* toward an open methodology for inducing urban innovation. Started in 2012 by </span><a href="http://neo-nomad.net/consulting/" style="text-align: left;" target="_blank">Yasmine Abbas</a><span style="text-align: left;"> and DK Osseo-Asare.</span><br />
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Next up: how to innovate urban systems using a <a href="http://afrch.blogspot.com/2013/03/stellate-innovation.html" target="_blank">5-fold method</a> for design stellation. More process <a href="http://afrch.blogspot.com/search/label/stellate" target="_blank">here</a>.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03947929027800186912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2508512514605530857.post-90439511013478392782013-03-22T04:28:00.000+00:002013-03-22T04:44:06.389+00:00Onitsha Market urbanism<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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This is the kind of urban space and architectures that we should be <a href="http://afrch.blogspot.com/2013/03/motorizing-architectural-paradigms.html" target="_blank">motorizing via digital technologies</a> in Africa:</div>
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We need to get out in front not only in mapping these environments and networks, but also in re-engineering them for alternative futures. That is the best countermeasure to an array of narratives derived piecemeal via other geographies. It's not as mysterious as the The Economist (London) makes it out to be in their intro to December 2011 issue <a href="http://www.economist.com/node/21541015" target="_blank">"The Hopeful Continent: Africa Rising"</a> (not their March 2013 issue <a href="http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21572773-pride-africas-achievements-should-be-coupled-determination-make-even-faster" target="_blank">"The World's Fastest Growing Continent: Aspiring Africa"</a>):<br />
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<span style="color: #4a4a4a; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px;">"THE shops are stacked six feet high with goods, the streets outside are jammed with customers and salespeople are sweating profusely under the onslaught. But this is not a high street during the Christmas-shopping season in the rich world. It is the Onitsha market in southern Nigeria, every day of the year. Many call it the world's biggest. Up to 3m people go there daily to buy rice and soap, computers and construction equipment. It is a hub for traders from the Gulf of Guinea, a region blighted by corruption, piracy, poverty and disease but also home to millions of highly motivated entrepreneurs and increasingly prosperous consumers."</span></blockquote>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03947929027800186912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2508512514605530857.post-15041597522446214402013-03-22T01:32:00.000+00:002013-03-22T03:54:49.843+00:00Motorizing Architectural Paradigms<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 17px; text-align: start;">500 liters of waterbased environmentally-friendly paint on asphalt spread by 2000 cars.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 17px; text-align: start;">25/04/2010 · Rosenthaler Platz, Berlin</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">S</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">tudents at</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 18px;"> <a href="http://www.esa-paris.fr/spip.php?page=sommaire&lang=fr" target="_blank">l’</a></span><span style="background-color: white; border-bottom-color: rgb(229, 229, 229); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; font-family: inherit; line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://www.esa-paris.fr/spip.php?page=sommaire&lang=fr" target="_blank">Ecole Spéciale d’Architecture</a></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> j</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">ust started a <a href="http://motorizingarchitecturalparadigms.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">research seminar exploring the concept of "Motorizing Architectural Paradigms" </a></span><a href="http://motorizingarchitecturalparadigms.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">—</a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://motorizingarchitecturalparadigms.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">MAP</a>). </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The idea is that new digital tools can extend the (5) physical senses of our bodies and if architects are "smart" enough, we can harness these new forms of augmented capability to design cities in new more "super-sensitive" ways. They just started, but should get interesting. Last week their professor, <a href="http://neo-nomad.net/" target="_blank">Yasmine Abbas</a>, connected students with </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://www.link-rp.fr/" target="_blank">Alain Renk</a>, an architect and urban planner pushing these kind of boundaries across a number of intriguing </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 18px;">projects and organizations: <a href="http://www.urbanfab.org/" target="_blank">Urban Fab Organization - UFO</a>; <a href="http://www.unlimitedcities.org/uc/unlimited.html" target="_blank">Unlimited Cities</a>; <a href="http://www.collaborative-urbanism.org/" target="_blank">Collaborative Urbanism</a>; <a href="http://www.evolvingcities.org/ec/evolving.html" target="_blank">Evolving Cities</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Google translation of the <a href="http://motorizingarchitecturalparadigms.wordpress.com/about/" target="_blank">course description</a> (French):</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">"Digital culture has transformed the architectural and urban processes. This seminar explores the representation and use of sensitive parameters to the digital age. Students prospecteront and translate the potential of ordinary tools and innovative strategies to create spaces.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">This exploration is first prepared by a sensitive reflection on the card - what a sensitive map?Then, in front of the collection of parameters, the discovery of various methods of investigation, artistic (Sophie Calle, 1999), urban (Kevin Lynch, 1960), or inspired by literature (Georges Perec, 1975), Science Humanities and Social (Richard Ocejo, 2013), the industrial design process (Patricia Moore, 1985). To consider the representation tool and "engine of reality" (Spuybroek, 1999), students will experiment with digital tools then eg consultation platforms developed urban </span><a href="http://www.urbanfab.org/" style="font-family: inherit;" target="_blank">UFO</a><span style="font-family: inherit;"> . They have five cards to develop sensitive / tools / MAP - Motorizing Architectural Paradigms, each engaging one of our five senses, the same song chosen the city of Paris.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The pedagogical intention is: 1 - to experiment with creative ways of architectural and urban research, 2 - Develop mapping sensitive / visible based on sensory data and are tools for creating architectural paradigms."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Also at l'ESA, Edouard Cabay of <a href="http://www.appareil.es/" target="_blank">Appareil</a> runs an atelier <a href="http://edouardcabayatelier.blogspot.fr/" target="_blank">RE—</a> that is exploring similar methods for exploiting cartographic techniques to identify emergent patterns for design (<a href="http://edouardcabayatelier.blogspot.fr/2012/09/incompiuto-siciliano-general_10.html" target="_blank">course description</a>). The maps below depict <a href="http://edouardcabayatelier.blogspot.fr/2012/09/anthony-boguszewski.html" target="_blank">migration of chairs</a>, interaction of <a href="http://edouardcabayatelier.blogspot.fr/2012/09/alexis-chappey_18.html" target="_blank">people and rubbish bins</a>, and</span> intersecting <a href="http://edouardcabayatelier.blogspot.fr/2012/09/mapping-of-movement-of-ducks-within-in.html" target="_blank">trajectories of ducks and toy boats</a> in the <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=D&oi=plus&q=https://maps.google.com.gh/maps?ie%3DUTF8%26cid%3D545460441531939211%26q%3DJardin%2Bdu%2BLuxembourg%26iwloc%3DA%26gl%3DGH%26hl%3Den" target="_blank">Jardins du Luxembourg</a> park in Paris.<br />
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As more Africans acquire smart phones, how can designers leverage this <a href="http://macjordangh.com/africas-mobile-technology-revolution-in-numbers/" target="_blank">emerging mobile network</a> to aggregate data digitally in order to expand our sense(s) of how we can motorize architecture and re-engineer the city?</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03947929027800186912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2508512514605530857.post-48787249078834695692013-03-19T22:53:00.002+00:002013-03-20T21:01:39.981+00:00Innovation star<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAU0TKSbXN0pxI08iwK2eFhnSaY47Pywe49POyZiFvqSWxZH5WMKOOdQngw9zYnovzoBg0zktsNBW-kwVOG9DyDpZzImS2s5NVeEYam1ED_86xL0OcBymu-ImKIDIVP7-DiQC80PyuktI/s1600/inno-star-loop.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAU0TKSbXN0pxI08iwK2eFhnSaY47Pywe49POyZiFvqSWxZH5WMKOOdQngw9zYnovzoBg0zktsNBW-kwVOG9DyDpZzImS2s5NVeEYam1ED_86xL0OcBymu-ImKIDIVP7-DiQC80PyuktI/s640/inno-star-loop.gif" width="638" /></a></div>
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As <a href="http://twitter.com/panurban" target="_blank">@panurban</a> suggested - animation of the <a href="http://neo-nomad.net/2012/12/17/design-innovation-star/" target="_blank">design innovation star</a> as iterative process loop.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03947929027800186912noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2508512514605530857.post-80865035140683510462013-03-19T21:46:00.004+00:002013-03-19T21:46:49.088+00:00Geometric stellation<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/79/Academ_Stellated_dodecagon.svg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/79/Academ_Stellated_dodecagon.svg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">stellation locates an ordered array of intersections</td></tr>
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The geometric transformation of <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stellation" target="_blank">stellation</a></i> (Wikipedia): "<b style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">Stellation</b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;"> is a process of constructing new </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polygon" style="background-color: white; background-image: none; color: #0b0080; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="Polygon">polygons</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;"> (in two </span><a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dimension" style="background-color: white; background-image: none; color: #0b0080; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="Dimension">dimensions</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">), new </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyhedron" style="background-color: white; background-image: none; color: #0b0080; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="Polyhedron">polyhedra</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;"> in three dimensions, or, in general, new </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polytope" style="background-color: white; background-image: none; color: #0b0080; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="Polytope">polytopes</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;"> in </span><i style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">n</i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;"> dimensions. The process consists of extending elements such as edges or face planes, usually in a symmetrical way, until they meet each other again. The new figure is a stellation of the original."</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">Net (relational diagram) of such a process can be projected or translated between dimensions, e.g. <a href="http://afrch.blogspot.com/2013/02/stellation.html" target="_blank">from 3D to 2D</a>.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03947929027800186912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2508512514605530857.post-67013948468559179552013-03-18T10:51:00.000+00:002013-03-18T10:54:59.098+00:00Voltascapes<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">VRA & 'Garden City' concept</td></tr>
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Block quote from introduction to <a href="http://voltascapes.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Voltascapes: Rural Interventions</a> architecture design thesis:<br />
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"<strong style="border: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">Volta River Project – New Towns</strong></blockquote>
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<em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“It is important to reflect upon the heritage that the ex-colonial countries have left in developing countries all over the world: India, Africa, South-America and the Orient. This heritage that comprises both the good and the bad has been the point of departure for urban development after independence. . . . Today all these countries are autonomous. And even if the heritage of the past has not always made things easier, they have the possibility of decision in their hands. But this possibility of decision is extremely limited because the means for study and realization does not exist”. Michel Ecochard</em></div>
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One such gargantuan project was the Volta River Project (VRA) – also once called the Golden Triangle Project – which was intended to industrialize the country through the exploitation of its natural resources, minerals and water power. The Volta River Project consisted of the Ajena Power Development, new railways, the Bui Gorge Hydro-Electrical Project, the Aya Bauxite mines, Tema Harbour, Tema New Town, the Kpong Smelter and the resettlement of over 80,000 people in 52 New Towns along the newly created Volta Lake.</div>
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The project had been on the drawing board before independence, but was put into effect by then Prime Minister Dr. Kwame Nkrumah as a part of his post-independence agenda of Pan–Africanism: an agenda designed to yield a prosperous and stable African country able to take care of its own affairs.</div>
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But today, however, most of the New Towns are ruined or deserted and the following three focal points of the VRA – intended to resettle the flood victims in the New Towns in what could be termed a process of ‘imposed modernity’ – have been failures.</div>
<ul style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 21px; list-style: circle; margin: 0px 0px 1.75em 2.8em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 2.1em; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">To use the resettlement as an opportunity to enhance the social, economic and physical condition of the people.</em></li>
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This has not resulted in improved conditions, but rather in deprivation, something possibly due to the cash and food handouts at the beginning of the programme.</div>
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Insufficient social and economic infrastructure was provided to sustain the growth. Not even basic amenities were provided with the housing.</div>
<ul style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 21px; list-style: circle; margin: 0px 0px 1.75em 2.8em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 2.1em; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">To improve their system of agriculture and so enable residents to effect a transition from subsistence agriculture to commercial farming.</em></li>
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Not enough farm land was provided. In addition, most traditional inhabitants lived on or near their farm lands, not in distant houses.</div>
<ul style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 21px; list-style: circle; margin: 0px 0px 1.75em 2.8em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 2.1em; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">To plan and locate the New Town in a rational manner so that those resettled, as well as others (the host community) in the Volta Basin would benefit from the creation of the lake.</em></li>
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Since not enough infrastructure was provided, no one benefitted from the programmes. The plan also resulted in problems with sanitation and overcrowding"</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwDOtMd4KJd9IqZbjD-XnWAneXmLSr28iXNxIgogYX3gayq9Ovwllf3yf2_87X6qTY97gVD2D6Wb0ERwbVmpf_exrYleSW_KdPgCMFfyq-nA77ujj-2trxrfKU9BOgdjsRe2ZqEiOop6k/s1600/887282_620203194663065_1789923127_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="326" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwDOtMd4KJd9IqZbjD-XnWAneXmLSr28iXNxIgogYX3gayq9Ovwllf3yf2_87X6qTY97gVD2D6Wb0ERwbVmpf_exrYleSW_KdPgCMFfyq-nA77ujj-2trxrfKU9BOgdjsRe2ZqEiOop6k/s640/887282_620203194663065_1789923127_o.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
Thesis presentation next month <a href="http://sirron-kakpor.com/" target="_blank">Immanuel Kwaku Sirron-Kakpor</a> via <a href="http://www.facebook.com/groups/144987378875799/" target="_blank">Adventurers in the Diaspora</a>.<span id="goog_304754217"></span><br />
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Takes me <a href="http://afrch.blogspot.com/2009/05/thesis-final-review.html" target="_blank">back</a>.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03947929027800186912noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2508512514605530857.post-80080459201270163542013-03-17T07:17:00.002+00:002013-03-22T05:00:45.810+00:005 notes on the maker future<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
This is a long-overdue follow-up on the <a href="http://afrch.blogspot.com/2012/12/building-ghanas-maker-culture.html" target="_blank">maker breakout session</a> from <a href="http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100610404765751.2533931.16597&type=3" target="_blank">Barcamp Accra</a> in December 2012. (Now a <a href="http://www.facebook.com/groups/ghanamakers" target="_blank">Facebook group</a>) Thanks to <a href="http://twitter.com/gamelmag" target="_blank">@gamelmag</a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/annawab" target="_blank">@annawab</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/abocco" target="_blank">@Abocco</a> for reminding me to kick this back into gear.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzlwMnjl9TD999ypVpMD2XFouzLGAbil4RFX_SHQiPhxrVPO9SM7w0qB4LV2IslFYhxD82gpBfdU7c-Hs-iq1Bs7rmB2-ogc2GZgorVMir1eL3ZrnXX1FVit8sH1gFSfMhV7l7XK95z1o/s1600/ghana-makers-collage.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="382" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzlwMnjl9TD999ypVpMD2XFouzLGAbil4RFX_SHQiPhxrVPO9SM7w0qB4LV2IslFYhxD82gpBfdU7c-Hs-iq1Bs7rmB2-ogc2GZgorVMir1eL3ZrnXX1FVit8sH1gFSfMhV7l7XK95z1o/s640/ghana-makers-collage.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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First, read <a href="http://skouleye.blogspot.com/2012/12/the-maker-mentality-break-out-sessions.html" target="_blank">this post by </a><a href="http://skouleye.blogspot.com/2012/12/the-maker-mentality-break-out-sessions.html" target="_blank">Nutakor Eldad on the ‘Maker Mentality’</a>:</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“...Ghanaians are by nature makers. They improvise, use what they have at a particular moment to solve an immediate problem that needs to be solved but when it comes to taking this ability and using it to solve more intricate problems, it becomes utterly impossible. And if this ability of 'survival' can be developed upon the maker movement will definitely grow. The session focused finding answers to this problems and answering questions like who is a maker? Bottom line; a maker is synonymous to a hacker and we can say a hacker is someone who exploits the small resources available and manipulates it to produce immense results.It was also realised that makers exist in the country but the lack of network between makers in the country is why the maker community is not so vibrant. Helping makers network is one fantastic way to create a maker community in the country.”</blockquote>
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If we substitute “we” for “they,” then this post sums the vision up well. We want to do more and do bigger. Look around you and you will likely see symptoms of Ghana’s import-dependency syndrome. Too often we feel like “quality” is more likely to come from “outside,” when all around people are already making things, many of them excellent.<br />
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How can we take this “maker culture” that already exists in Ghana to the next level: nurture it, network makers, pioneer new ways of making and new things to make — in order to incubate new and more dynamic opportunities for makers in the country and on the continent? In short, how do we want to craft this movement?<br />
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The theme of last year's Barcamp Accra was: "<i>Removing fear of failure as a start of success.</i>" This is incredible advice and a great goal because it's true: far too often it is our fear of failure that prevents us from reaching our greatest potential. Not only because we "psych ourselves out" every step of the way, but because our fear blinds us from even visualizing the full extent of what is possible. Fear limits our vision; it can prevent us from thinking just as much as from trying. Another way of putting this that I keep hearing (don't know original source) is: What would you do if you knew that you could never fail?</div>
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Last December, the conversation ranged, organically, across a huge spectrum. Because of the energy and the intensity, I lost track of who said what. So what follows are less notes than they are highlights and ideas, born of that conversation.<br />
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<b>#1 We need to reinvent <a href="http://www.infed.org/biblio/b-poped.htm" target="_blank">popular education</a> for the 21st century. </b>The notion that you only "learn" in school is dead. (Ever heard of <a href="http://www.youtube.com/channels?q=education" target="_blank">Youtube</a>? What about <a href="http://aqueousol.blogspot.com/2013/03/moocs-new-opportunity-for-science-and.html" target="_blank">MOOCs</a>?) Technology today enables new tools and platforms for sharing information and creating knowledge. It's up to us to figure out how best to use these tools and to make new ones. Especially when formal educational structures fail us, we should take that as an incentive to "hack the system." Ask yourself how useful what you're learning is? Can you imagine other ways to learn? Other things you'd rather learn? Ways to help other people learn? The future is about not only life-long learning, but also massively-scaled co-production of knowledge.</div>
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<li><a href="http://www.scidev.net/en/science-communication/features/drinking-up-science-in-african-caf-s-1.html" target="_blank">Science cafés</a> as a model (via <a href="http://gamelmag.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Gameli Adzaho</a>).</li>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8197/8178974980_9c2cfd27e8_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="384" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8197/8178974980_9c2cfd27e8_o.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">DIY inverter at Maker Faire Africa</td></tr>
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<b><br /></b><b>#2 Makers hack objects.</b> One of the most amazing things about <a href="http://makerfaireafrica.com/blog/" target="_blank">Maker Faire Africa</a> last year in Lagos was how many young people got involved. It's not every day that you see middle and high school kids <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/soca/8178974980/in/set-72157631990335048" target="_blank">make their own inverter</a> or <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-20167122" target="_blank">invent a urine-powered generator</a>! Aside from identifying talent and motivating a new generation of young scientists and engineers, to see youth unafraid to try and make things that do things — and unafraid to fail — underscores how few people share that trait. Many of us think too many things are beyond our comprehension. We do not know how to make furniture or a dress, repair an engine, fix a broken fan or hard drive, or plumb a house. On one hand, that's no big deal; that's why we have specialists: carpenters, seamstresses and tailors, mechanics, electricians, computer engineers and plumbers. But on the other hand, when we fall in the trap of seeing objects as "black boxes" that do things mysteriously, in ways we <i>think</i> we cannot understand, we limit ourselves and what we can do. When that happens at the scale of a country or a continent the problem becomes colossal. Makers are revolutionaries because they regain control over their own lives — via the ability to make the things they use everyday. Plus they have tons of fun doing just that.</div>
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<li><a href="http://timbuktuchronicles.blogspot.com/2013/01/more-maker-updates.html?spref=tw" target="_blank">Overlap between makers and hacker</a>s (via <a href="http://twitter.com/emeka_okafor" target="_blank">Emeka Okafor</a>)</li>
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<b>#3 Who no know go no.</b> (To quote <a href="http://www.chimurenga.co.za/" target="_blank">Chimurenga</a>.) <a href="http://ashesi.edu.gh/academics/departments/computer-science/faculty-and-staff/1220-getrude-ayorkor-korsah.html" target="_blank">Professor Ayorkor Korsah</a> of Ashesi University made a profound comment that paraphrases roughly as: in Ghana, often people who know how to make things don't/didn't go to school, and people who go to school don't/didn't work with their hands. (She also co-founded the <a href="http://www.robotics-africa.org/" target="_blank">African Robotics Network</a>. Youtube video above shows <a href="http://lowcostrobotics.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Frugalbot</a> by Mike and Gabrielle Robinson, one of my favorites from AFRON's <a href="http://robotics-africa.org/design_challenge.html" target="_blank">"10 dollar robot challenge"</a>. We need <a href="http://afrch.blogspot.com/2011/10/make-your-own-toy-car.html" target="_blank">alternatives to imported rubber tyres</a>.) Someone else offered that this represents a fundamental schism in society (and therefore Ghana's technology culture) between "those who know book and those who don't." Whereas many of the people who actually <i>make</i> things in Ghana lack the added technical base that comes with formal or advanced education, many people privileged with education are overexposed to <i>theory</i>, and underexposed to <i>practical</i> — and even view the idea of "getting their hands dirty" as beneath them. People who are proud to proclaim "I'm a graduate!" prefer to work in air-conditioned offices than on a farm, in a workshop or at a factory. This is massively problematic because it means that collectively, through our own cultural biases, we are constraining our capacity to make more and better things by learning from and working with each other. This divide is related to what is sometimes called the difference between "formal" and "informal." Radical innovation will occur if we can bridge this gap.<br />
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<b>#4 Pictures are powerful.</b> Another maker at the breakout session pointed out that language is nontrivial. Sometimes the words that we use to describe things determine both who understands and how different people understand the same thing. Ghanaian education is generally pretty strong, stellar in some cases, but its important to remember that it is not perfect: it can tend to reward certain kinds of intelligence. The power of the arts is that they leverage <i>imagination</i>. Expanding the role of artists and the arts can engender new visual languages for how we talk about production, support different forms of making and ultimately generate new hybrids of maker free to unleash the power of creative problem-solving.<br />
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<b>#5 The future is now.</b> Sometimes it blows my mind how much most people don't realize that the future is already here. If not here, then just around the corner. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82w_r2D1Ooo" target="_blank">Robots already make cars</a> and pretty soon <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdgQpa1pUUE" target="_blank">will drive them</a>. People can already <a href="http://www.popsci.com/category/tags/brain-machine-interface-0" target="_blank">control machines with their mind</a> (you can <a href="http://www.emotiv.com/store/" target="_blank">buy one here for $300</a>). Citizens already own <a href="http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/06/ff_drones/all/" target="_blank">more drones than the US military</a> (but they can still <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNPJMk2fgJU" target="_blank">kill you with a machine gun</a>). <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6Tsrg_EQMw" target="_blank">Google Glass</a> is about to (start to) <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1uyQZNg2vE" target="_blank">go mainstream</a> (There is a reason Google's O/S is called <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_(robot)" target="_blank">Android</a>; in the end, we'll all be <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyborg" target="_blank">cyborgs</a>.) Humans have maintained a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Space_Station" target="_blank">continuous presence in outer space</a> for over a decade, there are hundreds of satellites orbiting our planet (you can <a href="http://www.heavens-above.com/" target="_blank">track them here</a>) including <a href="http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/about/about.html" target="_blank">one 1.5 million miles away</a> tasked with, essentially, nothing more than <a href="http://delphi.nascom.nasa.gov/" target="_blank">watching the sun continuously</a>. And that doesn't even touch the on-going revolutions in AI and computation, materials, nanotechnology, renewable energy, pharmaceuticals, genetics, neuroscience and biochemistry more broadly. So what does all this mean? It means that we're changing the future — and its better to make your own future than to spend all your foreign exchange trying to buy it from someone else.<br />
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This post is too long, so next steps to follow. Are you a maker? Join us at <a href="http://www.facebook.com/groups/ghanamakers" target="_blank">Ghana Makers</a>.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03947929027800186912noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2508512514605530857.post-8401005405425235182013-03-15T13:31:00.000+00:002015-03-12T16:02:49.474+00:00Hope City<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I need to do a real post on this project, but in the meantime: this pic says it all. If you don't know, <a href="http://www.google.com.gh/search?hl=en&gl=gh&tbm=nws&q=ghana+hope+city&oq=ghana+hope+city&gs_l=news-cc.3..43j43i53.1564.8253.0.8733.24.14.6.1.0.2.665.4268.4j3j4-5j2.14.0...0.0...1ac.1.QA0FOnUm3wQ" target="_blank">read about it</a>: <a href="http://www.rlgghana.com/" target="_blank">Rlg Communications</a>, a Ghanaian IT company, is building over the next three years a $10 billion technology park in Dunkonaa, near Kasoa in Greater Accra, in a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public%E2%80%93private_partnership" target="_blank">PPP</a> with <a href="http://www.ghana.gov.gh/" target="_blank">GoG</a> (can you say <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/09/ozabs-ghana-stx-idAFJOE80806X20120109" target="_blank">STX</a> and sovereign guarantee?) which is to include Africa's tallest building, designed by Paolo Brescia of Italian architecture firm <a href="http://www.openbuildingresearch.com/" target="_blank">Open Building Research</a>.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03947929027800186912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2508512514605530857.post-34520604574433681722013-02-05T21:15:00.000+00:002013-02-05T21:40:03.592+00:00Stellation<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Animation (click pentagon to load) and projective net of a stellate process, the logic behind the <a href="http://afrch.blogspot.com/2012/12/innovationstar.html" target="_blank">innovation star</a>. Text soon.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03947929027800186912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2508512514605530857.post-60438119874812412192013-01-21T19:57:00.001+00:002013-03-19T17:25:00.404+00:00early B.tuldoides mock-up<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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#full-scale model - en route to <a href="http://lowdo.net/lowdo-blog/bambusa-tuldoides" target="_blank">bamboo robots</a></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03947929027800186912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2508512514605530857.post-58899448303790519952013-01-11T01:24:00.001+00:002013-01-11T01:24:42.276+00:00Joint testing<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
for a multi-purpose connector, to speed up fabrication process for bamboo vaults similar to the <a href="http://afrch.blogspot.com/2012/08/bamboo-vault.html" target="_blank">bamboo workshop</a> and smaller; as well as bamboo robots like the <a href="http://www.lowdo.net/lowdo-blog/bambusa-tuldoides" target="_blank">waterbot</a> for <a href="http://www.lowdo.net/berekuso-hill-station" target="_blank">Berekuso Hill Station</a>.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03947929027800186912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2508512514605530857.post-54633494182368903172013-01-01T22:08:00.002+00:002013-01-01T22:08:35.292+00:00Accra panorama from Jamestown lighthouse<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03947929027800186912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2508512514605530857.post-73470811010529814172012-12-22T14:13:00.003+00:002012-12-22T14:13:59.356+00:00Building Ghana's maker culture<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSGv0Gwhdu2dQoMs9RfFkOF3ppT0F7vF-jERI-O6tK3IkM5xOJTNUlik86hQZrW73eMrwgMwvRxvoSFvijJjI7ayZ0zpyyTPnojPEStICpM_9cdz7kj9b9Mc409IPuQrp-Bz0uzRq-WlY/s1600/ghmakers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="454" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSGv0Gwhdu2dQoMs9RfFkOF3ppT0F7vF-jERI-O6tK3IkM5xOJTNUlik86hQZrW73eMrwgMwvRxvoSFvijJjI7ayZ0zpyyTPnojPEStICpM_9cdz7kj9b9Mc409IPuQrp-Bz0uzRq-WlY/s640/ghmakers.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">#bcaccra breakout session</td></tr>
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We're about to do a breakout session at Barcamp Accra on "Building Ghana's maker movement" <a href="http://twitter.com/annawab" target="_blank">@annawab</a> <a href="http://twitter.com/gamelmag" target="_blank">@gamelmag</a> <a href="http://twitter.com/dkoa" target="_blank">@dkoa</a><br />
<br />
More background, start here:<br />
<a href="http://makerfaireafrica.com/" target="_blank">Maker Faire Africa</a>: to be a maker is not a day job<br />
<a href="http://www.instructables.com/index" target="_blank">Instructables</a>: share what you make<br />
<a href="http://makezine.com/" target="_blank">MAKE Magazine</a>: DIY projects<br />
<a href="http://mkshft.org/" target="_blank">Makeshift Magazine</a>: a journal of hidden creativity<br />
<a href="http://fab.cba.mit.edu/" target="_blank">Fab Lab</a>: at <a href="http://www.takoraditech.org/?q=node/34" target="_blank">Takoradi Technical Institute</a><br />
<a href="http://d-lab.mit.edu/" target="_blank">D-Lab</a>: Development through dialogue, design and dissemination<br />
<a href="http://www.makerbot.com/" target="_blank">Makerbot</a>: 3d printing<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03947929027800186912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2508512514605530857.post-16642908622264107042012-12-07T13:27:00.001+00:002013-03-19T22:46:33.537+00:00innovation_star<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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part process flipbook w/ <a href="https://twitter.com/panurban" target="_blank">@panurban</a></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03947929027800186912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2508512514605530857.post-1939963016487709142012-11-24T22:19:00.001+00:002012-11-24T22:20:52.355+00:00Dimensonal accuracy<p>If you remember high school science class, you remember the constraints of accuracy. Precision is much more profligate (case in point: UCBerkeley) than accuracy.</p>
<p>Sometimes, that can constitute up to 50% or more of miscommunication.</p>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03947929027800186912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2508512514605530857.post-73525735577004737242012-11-16T04:00:00.000+00:002012-11-16T04:00:01.302+00:00Lome to Cotonou<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #656565; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 24px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #656565; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 24px;">When I went to <a href="http://afrch.blogspot.com/2012/11/maker-faire-africa.html">Maker Faire Africa</a>, I wanted to better understand the Abidjan-Lagos corridor (part of the </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans%E2%80%93West_African_Coastal_Highway" target="_blank">Trans–West African Coastal Highway</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #656565; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 24px;"> which I had previously studied as part of the <a href="http://www.lowdo.net/informal-kiosk-culture" target="_blank">Tema research</a>. H</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #656565; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 24px;">ere are shots from the road via Togo and Benin. Having never before seen in-between Lome and Lagos, the scenic route was well worth it. Especially when set to Francophone radio soundtrack</span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 24px;"> (try </span><span style="font-family: Tahoma, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><a href="http://www.njoyonline.com/multixl/?sID=59" target="_blank">Africa No. 1 Lomé, Togo</a></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 24px;">).</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #656565; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 24px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #656565; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 24px;">And here is </span><a href="https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/3666/WPS5899.txt?sequence=2" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 24px;" target="_blank">World Bank perspective</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #656565; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 24px;"> on ECOWAS highway infrastructure (2011):</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: yellow; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Traffic along the key regional corridors is moderate to heavy in both cases; with the most heavily used routes typically those in poorest condition. The regional corridors almost always carry at least 300 vehicles per day along most of their length, and more than 1,000 vehicles per day on at least 20 percent of their length (table 2.2, figure 2.1b, figure 2.2b). Overall, the most heavily used corridors are the two gateways into Burkina Faso, and the Cotonou-to-Niamey route. Ironically, these are also some of the corridors in the worst physical condition. The Dakar-to-Bamako route is one of the most lightly used, perhaps reflecting the existence of a parallel rail corridor; although the Abidjan-to-Ouagadougou route is used intensively, despite the existence of the rail alternative. Otherwise, the portions of the corridors falling in the coastal countries tend to be the most heavily used, almost always attracting in excess of 1,000 vehicles per day. Nevertheless, in absolute terms, such traffic levels can be considered no more than moderate. After all, 300 vehicles per day is the minimum traffic threshold required for paving to be economically viable. And none of the corridors exceed the threshold of 10,000 vehicles per day needed for toll road concessions to be economically viable.</span> </span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: yellow; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The cost of moving goods along each of these key arteries is a key constituent of competitiveness for both international and intraregional trade. These costs break down into three components: the travel costs of moving goods, determined by road and rail freight tariffs; the administrative costs of moving goods across borders and through ports, determined by associated service charges; and the costs of time delays incurred by waiting at roadblocks, border crossings, and ports. The competitiveness of the different corridors can be gauged by aggregating transport, administrative, and waiting costs incurred along the route.</span></span></blockquote>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Abidjan-Lagos corridor</td></tr>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03947929027800186912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2508512514605530857.post-74276293823056516542012-11-15T12:30:00.000+00:002012-11-15T12:30:01.055+00:00Quirky.com<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
This is an interesting idea: an <a href="http://www.quirky.com/ideations" target="_blank">upgraded version of crowdsourced product design</a>. One part corporate design exploitation and lots of parts open-air design idea emporium. Makes sense once you factor in the retail partners:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU5ROiNIfUTytPoUkYbBt88Hyqf3GMB9KDOji5tjh82-aE6Kk7KyY1B7CsSX5FM05ojmyKAWcanVzhyNu1f9whRe9PJZr-OoMvQYMRAkj4YujKLLDkFJJb2TOCwUne3qWJPmU6IOoTBIA/s1600/quirky-retail-partners.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="303" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU5ROiNIfUTytPoUkYbBt88Hyqf3GMB9KDOji5tjh82-aE6Kk7KyY1B7CsSX5FM05ojmyKAWcanVzhyNu1f9whRe9PJZr-OoMvQYMRAkj4YujKLLDkFJJb2TOCwUne3qWJPmU6IOoTBIA/s400/quirky-retail-partners.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
Seems like designers in Ghana could easily do something similar, using social media and some of the larger distribution networks in retail.<br />
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Once plastic is involved, there are unlimited possibilities:<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03947929027800186912noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2508512514605530857.post-66299059468502665892012-11-14T12:00:00.000+00:002012-11-14T12:00:21.085+00:00SAINT VAL Laurent / proposed Haiti housing<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijueN33wiDwIbpWbKDhyphenhyphen-d5j1N0N_uNNeEghaswuyPKZyzAFXrd5-Mm7xCzR_Bn7jxssVqdAlqkZhLr0Fkbl5FWq5YmAftDJc0WlwsqKFk1joLSIcWu_w34hjH15dROAx1KZifva9UkGM/s1600/SAINT+VAL+Laurent+Haiti.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijueN33wiDwIbpWbKDhyphenhyphen-d5j1N0N_uNNeEghaswuyPKZyzAFXrd5-Mm7xCzR_Bn7jxssVqdAlqkZhLr0Fkbl5FWq5YmAftDJc0WlwsqKFk1joLSIcWu_w34hjH15dROAx1KZifva9UkGM/s640/SAINT+VAL+Laurent+Haiti.jpg" width="349" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">proposed Haiti housing</td></tr>
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Cool project by <a href="http://www.facebook.com/LaurentSaintValArchitect" target="_blank">SAINT VAL Laurent, Architetto</a><br />
<br />
Reminds me of Sejima's <a href="https://www.google.com.gh/search?hl=en&rlz=1G1ACAL_ENUS337&q=sejima+plum+house&aq=o&aqi=&aql=&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=1DqiULeGLunV0QXYnoC4BQ&biw=1920&bih=1085&sei=3jqiUJCtNeOQ0AXY6YDQAg#um=1&hl=en&rlz=1G1ACAL_ENUS337&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=sejima++small+house&oq=sejima++small+house&gs_l=img.3...26858.27374.2.27476.6.4.0.0.0.0.0.0..0.0...0.0...1c.1.cMme8SH35DM&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.r_qf.&fp=ac7ff1c9ce86a992&bpcl=38093640&biw=1920&bih=1085" target="_blank">small</a> <a href="http://stefankoteski92.blogspot.com/2012/09/kazuyo-sejima-small-house.html" target="_blank">house</a> but really should harvest/process rain water + while compression joints are interesting, way too many connections per structure. It's bamboo -- just <a href="https://www.google.com.gh/search?hl=en&rlz=1G1ACAL_ENUS337&q=bamboo+lash&aq=o&aqi=&aql=&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=sDuiUOrtOaap0QWF2oDADA&biw=1920&bih=1085&sei=szuiUI6wLOak0AWN_YCACQ#um=1&hl=en&rlz=1G1ACAL_ENUS337&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=bamboo+lashing&oq=bamboo+lashing&gs_l=img.3...4463.4760.2.4936.4.4.0.0.0.0.0.0..0.0...0.0...1c.1.rwvDqmrLWwo&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.r_qf.&fp=ac7ff1c9ce86a992&bpcl=38093640&biw=1920&bih=1085" target="_blank">lash it</a>.<br />
When I recall where I just saw this, will add via</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03947929027800186912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2508512514605530857.post-38626793117857742732012-11-12T15:36:00.000+00:002012-11-13T13:50:25.657+00:00Maker Faire Africa<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Cool design projects by youth related to architecture and building tech. Things I liked at <a href="http://makerfaireafrica.com/blog/" target="_blank">Maker Faire</a> in Ikeja, Lagos - Nov. 5-6, 2012. More pics on my <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/soca/sets/72157631990335048/" target="_blank">Flickr</a>.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-TdffI4Rr6qHZxm8cKA8G1QSssMiZUMaBMJOKayosxF-ldzW0xSfHPWoaWfZBcJu-zabESCgGbjKEP62bE_l0dKq7Njn8RY3eFExP-B2EAYD5SX9IeJrYJAl1MBLlayQiQFthdCv8ve0/s1600/2012-11-05+11.18.07.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-TdffI4Rr6qHZxm8cKA8G1QSssMiZUMaBMJOKayosxF-ldzW0xSfHPWoaWfZBcJu-zabESCgGbjKEP62bE_l0dKq7Njn8RY3eFExP-B2EAYD5SX9IeJrYJAl1MBLlayQiQFthdCv8ve0/s400/2012-11-05+11.18.07.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">kids love latex gloves!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjugO6D9zjLl-oWYim1eRvfgq-gBC1XrJ05KhT43kXOWA_K02bo5Uv4FQayyd8e24-fiWcw6QP9vyaLLBXSs_SZNuJjuFogMwACidJUpG1K1glwGDmYMhVve-Ioco6w9FMsk62rSxGpQko/s1600/2012-11-05+14.20.45.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjugO6D9zjLl-oWYim1eRvfgq-gBC1XrJ05KhT43kXOWA_K02bo5Uv4FQayyd8e24-fiWcw6QP9vyaLLBXSs_SZNuJjuFogMwACidJUpG1K1glwGDmYMhVve-Ioco6w9FMsk62rSxGpQko/s400/2012-11-05+14.20.45.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">recycled plastic tile</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihMjMWjhl9prTifH8mLZTmxa89pDqX0hDfS-3n4E8h3xT4qxzc3Xe6tOTqZVhvAU7TpvsK2cqJPF0AyaCmdPnVIcUfBLEEtw0aVS-3wu9bgG48vwVIU-a7jEx_gM3UE1jN8FHF8f72YzU/s1600/2012-11-05+14.23.41.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihMjMWjhl9prTifH8mLZTmxa89pDqX0hDfS-3n4E8h3xT4qxzc3Xe6tOTqZVhvAU7TpvsK2cqJPF0AyaCmdPnVIcUfBLEEtw0aVS-3wu9bgG48vwVIU-a7jEx_gM3UE1jN8FHF8f72YzU/s400/2012-11-05+14.23.41.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">urine-powered generator</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgddV5BpSkjBvhDBXDO_IoKNDhKX05jTYEsaKloYtsqEmET82T5M8XeOPyxSg6HlM4AtopNgas4DvZo85N-n-LOb617TatFETQpGSGB6MKUpwpHJkFuzO6xhX8ZFfB9ASjFegmHpjvRfaI/s1600/2012-11-06+12.46.52.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgddV5BpSkjBvhDBXDO_IoKNDhKX05jTYEsaKloYtsqEmET82T5M8XeOPyxSg6HlM4AtopNgas4DvZo85N-n-LOb617TatFETQpGSGB6MKUpwpHJkFuzO6xhX8ZFfB9ASjFegmHpjvRfaI/s400/2012-11-06+12.46.52.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">custom steering wheel sans stereo</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSM-erNnGwnY4pJw5IGY9j1L9zzMTPHMpr-ApopyLSxMC5zsGJ1kZno-5GceuThH23zz-rK0puaCH_q9qYOrMOx2A28164SHLiOxgASCGxl3gUUSmkGJQ_UYCy4M_V4oHCPlweTdPLsC0/s1600/2012-11-06+12.51.47.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSM-erNnGwnY4pJw5IGY9j1L9zzMTPHMpr-ApopyLSxMC5zsGJ1kZno-5GceuThH23zz-rK0puaCH_q9qYOrMOx2A28164SHLiOxgASCGxl3gUUSmkGJQ_UYCy4M_V4oHCPlweTdPLsC0/s400/2012-11-06+12.51.47.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">pressure-sensor alarm</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivad7WNIBeTMeHZE_mUp8z3bdJ9huPFLP0mfhyphenhyphenUYO0omdqzsFCEXIaaO38pt0yPC6d64_NnO65JF9ROGgh8AQDDlJ7cjwipsQk8ZdKZK83O1LZ1Uqugd4PPaswt0k6v_k9rPEnhkdxTjM/s1600/2012-11-06+12.53.00.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivad7WNIBeTMeHZE_mUp8z3bdJ9huPFLP0mfhyphenhyphenUYO0omdqzsFCEXIaaO38pt0yPC6d64_NnO65JF9ROGgh8AQDDlJ7cjwipsQk8ZdKZK83O1LZ1Uqugd4PPaswt0k6v_k9rPEnhkdxTjM/s400/2012-11-06+12.53.00.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nigerian dream house</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLwVf_8ON2X8T-NhfU01nHSKPspua984XNMDfoHc1onG-WKax-GTiG8Qj2XIVO1cq97lCi9hXd1tHeI9UhUc-g_tCIT66B2mS8c28Bc31c28L00whchLiiyaSiNc5-6ZD5GRd2fr6AXWY/s1600/2012-11-06+12.53.21.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLwVf_8ON2X8T-NhfU01nHSKPspua984XNMDfoHc1onG-WKax-GTiG8Qj2XIVO1cq97lCi9hXd1tHeI9UhUc-g_tCIT66B2mS8c28Bc31c28L00whchLiiyaSiNc5-6ZD5GRd2fr6AXWY/s400/2012-11-06+12.53.21.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">sawdust gasifier</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxoeKR0p11pw2dMl7yPd1e4yi8JYm4hRPq_ZUDnqAjQLZOIw_wv50CbGK1qw3iCgBiFG8xiglrt3EkVAmktkVitJ2_RO8Zk9h3oIyPOI1pLosdA-QcvgyqdNwVw0jFfxbFZTAQPrwxP0Y/s1600/2012-11-06+12.57.11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxoeKR0p11pw2dMl7yPd1e4yi8JYm4hRPq_ZUDnqAjQLZOIw_wv50CbGK1qw3iCgBiFG8xiglrt3EkVAmktkVitJ2_RO8Zk9h3oIyPOI1pLosdA-QcvgyqdNwVw0jFfxbFZTAQPrwxP0Y/s400/2012-11-06+12.57.11.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">wiring for home-made inverter</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkj4-DXtkn-EcH98YnIcrh6S21gMU-KpHujJqdZAGU2NdBiaObSWk0145hPFKxEqfGn0PgV6cGKpW2slXKEFR9KPVpsIrGhn871bCTUA31tt8EhtATZshTSS9_5gbTekJZsXWCC518wHc/s1600/2012-11-06+13.03.29.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkj4-DXtkn-EcH98YnIcrh6S21gMU-KpHujJqdZAGU2NdBiaObSWk0145hPFKxEqfGn0PgV6cGKpW2slXKEFR9KPVpsIrGhn871bCTUA31tt8EhtATZshTSS9_5gbTekJZsXWCC518wHc/s400/2012-11-06+13.03.29.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">ground floor plan</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLlpmDFS7OqGVFEwQa54X72X8Sq_b6QfqzPOejrTpCAmnUFZZIutw73KaMoBY8mEfrFJgX9hLcHg0xuVbY0UW9qikiCptKR2Ic9VmixddDl6usCRsW2dVANtBsX8xJPYGM9Tu6aCv7FOE/s1600/2012-11-06+13.04.27.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLlpmDFS7OqGVFEwQa54X72X8Sq_b6QfqzPOejrTpCAmnUFZZIutw73KaMoBY8mEfrFJgX9hLcHg0xuVbY0UW9qikiCptKR2Ic9VmixddDl6usCRsW2dVANtBsX8xJPYGM9Tu6aCv7FOE/s400/2012-11-06+13.04.27.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">this dream house...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh97Ws-0C0UvaRh3jhyphenhyphen2pURgd8MKXEThZ5FddJt3lw7mEqtKyxp-cCBO7EhDOtm51jnAWQwtr3_RuCwjpAk4ryj35cH5ZD6ydepWgorW6lZ_vl2X1zuLa1oeQMCFqEbw0Od50Gh4ED6JL0/s1600/2012-11-06+13.07.50.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh97Ws-0C0UvaRh3jhyphenhyphen2pURgd8MKXEThZ5FddJt3lw7mEqtKyxp-cCBO7EhDOtm51jnAWQwtr3_RuCwjpAk4ryj35cH5ZD6ydepWgorW6lZ_vl2X1zuLa1oeQMCFqEbw0Od50Gh4ED6JL0/s400/2012-11-06+13.07.50.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">...is electrified!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1_ruFeGM_ICXyRNcIhTtP9zQau10Ex-q4xOIDnZSwMk7nljMt0CzWFh20Wm9mTwfCWmuGhqpla3OY8jUKvPBvIpSqXpOP660zkFqSs4inD90pqQ_4PrJD0T70hCUfraSmKqjGEomxn3U/s1600/2012-11-06+14.30.21.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1_ruFeGM_ICXyRNcIhTtP9zQau10Ex-q4xOIDnZSwMk7nljMt0CzWFh20Wm9mTwfCWmuGhqpla3OY8jUKvPBvIpSqXpOP660zkFqSs4inD90pqQ_4PrJD0T70hCUfraSmKqjGEomxn3U/s400/2012-11-06+14.30.21.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">model a 3d market</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5rMIcpSVOyUvjGVlIDzB8mHwkTYyWvLBRI1R9s0Wpw0lTpiKkqhRu-kc5kb871jxw-cuW7hNf8Bpe3-wWiD9dgJLn476gYirNUPXoEpyzdTsTzpEhXmjb_WssS1rPjmrQhk6WoqoHHgY/s1600/2012-11-06+14.37.31.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5rMIcpSVOyUvjGVlIDzB8mHwkTYyWvLBRI1R9s0Wpw0lTpiKkqhRu-kc5kb871jxw-cuW7hNf8Bpe3-wWiD9dgJLn476gYirNUPXoEpyzdTsTzpEhXmjb_WssS1rPjmrQhk6WoqoHHgY/s400/2012-11-06+14.37.31.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">students at make future lagos model</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9WY8ITBHtUIF81z3x0H7OVMlAX44cERi-s4Wr3PAUjDzQn3dRebg3sVt87gQgDDdbtEaazcaCiGu_kWtWWMN7QIYfGvCFFbwhcZaF0p1SLby1-SNujbhK2y0n5fw9RFpR8eGBoM18Ycc/s1600/2012-11-05+11.17.15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9WY8ITBHtUIF81z3x0H7OVMlAX44cERi-s4Wr3PAUjDzQn3dRebg3sVt87gQgDDdbtEaazcaCiGu_kWtWWMN7QIYfGvCFFbwhcZaF0p1SLby1-SNujbhK2y0n5fw9RFpR8eGBoM18Ycc/s400/2012-11-05+11.17.15.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">bike hack</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /></div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03947929027800186912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2508512514605530857.post-7744805773943264112012-11-02T10:28:00.002+00:002012-11-02T10:28:43.519+00:00LowDO QR<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://qrfree.kaywa.com/?s=8&d=http%3A%2F%2Flowdo.net" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://qrfree.kaywa.com/?s=8&d=http%3A%2F%2Flowdo.net" /></a></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03947929027800186912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2508512514605530857.post-54723578200405240182012-10-26T22:12:00.000+00:002013-03-19T17:26:02.906+00:00How to make a bamboo dumpster<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Here's a design for a simple bamboo dumpster that a carpenter and assistant can build in a day. Scale down by 50% to build in a half day; or if limited experience with bamboo and/or using a cutlass. Designed and built in Anam, Nigeria.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIbxih3-Gnopn03RMrXDYIwd7Q0-dkekqqUIoiv_R6AX_RfBlQQwtzTD_E9bdrVIO4WCvcOOEzuugsoPnUnu-u-4A7Df66Y6fLIeo9ZB3Xat3ssVME4r5MQOd98Pg4TbeKynlb1k5tzIQ/s1600/2011-06-30+15.59.12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIbxih3-Gnopn03RMrXDYIwd7Q0-dkekqqUIoiv_R6AX_RfBlQQwtzTD_E9bdrVIO4WCvcOOEzuugsoPnUnu-u-4A7Df66Y6fLIeo9ZB3Xat3ssVME4r5MQOd98Pg4TbeKynlb1k5tzIQ/s640/2011-06-30+15.59.12.jpg" width="385" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bamboo dumpster in Ebenebe (photo: Stacy Passmore)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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