Thursday 19 November 2009

Satish Kunar

Heard of Satish Kunar before? - have a listen to this - http://www.gleeds.tv/index.cfm?video=268 Search the site for the rest of the presentation.

this seems very timely right now... and then interestingly there is a very strong link with Satish Kunar's thinking and that of the click-raft. The link is via Mahatma Gandhi, and what Kunar calls Gandhian philosophy. Gandhi's philosophy was deeply influenced by Henry David Thoreau's writing which i have in my hand as i write this.... 'Walden and Civil Disobedience'. The idea of non-violence via the indian principle of 'Satrik' or 'truth' that a building should do no violence to others in terms of equality, ie not taking more resources than necessary, and to inspire joy... hmmmm.
Kunar suggests that because we are not able to solve the big problems of the world like global warming, or how to live in harmony with each other and the earth, or how to solve poverty.. that it is not cleverness that we need or simply technical solutions but rather wisdom, we need a compass - he suggests that compass is to do things with 'Satrik', so that everything you do, the food you eat, the clothes you wear, the architecture you design, the business you run, is done honestly with integrity, with fairness, and with joy.... to tread the earth lightly.

Tuesday 17 November 2009

Home Ideas Centre - talk

I was asked to give a presentation to the Lower Hutt Branch of the New Zealand Institute of Architects at the Home Ideas Centre
Below is their CPD review of the click-raft project -
... Truly an 'Elegant Shed'... the sophisticated, complex, elaborate and yet simple idea of carefully thought out components to be ‘assembled’ together with minimal fuss and fixings, to create sophisticated building forms that a layperson could understand and assemble… So simple it’s brilliant and it completely makes the bureaucracies overwhelming codes, rules and regulations obsolete... It’s quite possibly the future…
 
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