Fall 2004

Ecosa Artifacts Catalog

Two students' combined interests in business and graphic design opened the opportunity for Ecosa to explore the beginnings of an eco-products catalog as a sustainable business venture for the school. Carefully selected items from designs by Ecosa friends, faculty, and students would be sold through an online and paper catalog to a niche market for high-quality, ecologically-responsible goods. The project team conducted market research, drafted a business plan, developed a Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA) system for evaluating and communicating a product's ecological footprint, and designed a family of Ecosa logos to include the Institute, the Artifacts Catalog, and the newly formed Ecosa Design Studio.

Ecosa Artifacts Catalog
Two students' combined interests in business and graphic design opened the opportunity for Ecosa to explore the beginnings of an eco-products catalog as a sustainable business venture for the school. Carefully selected items from designs by Ecosa friends, faculty, and students would be sold through an online and paper catalog to a niche market for high-quality, ecologically-responsible goods. The project team conducted market research, drafted a business plan, developed a Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA) system for evaluating and communicating a product's ecological footprint, and designed a family of Ecosa logos to include the Institute, the Artifacts Catalog, and the newly formed Ecosa Design Studio.

Ecosa Artifacts Catalog Two students' combined interests in business and graphic design opened the opportunity for Ecosa to explore the beginnings of an eco-products catalog as a sustainable business venture for the school. Carefully selected items from designs by Ecosa friends, faculty, and students would be sold through an online and paper catalog to a niche market for high-quality, ecologically-responsible goods. The project team conducted market research, drafted a business plan, developed a Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA) system for evaluating and communicating a product's ecological footprint, and designed a family of Ecosa logos to include the Institute, the Artifacts Catalog, and the newly formed Ecosa Design Studio.

Branching from the original Ecosa Institute logo, the student created a "family" of Ecosa logos including Ecosa Artifacts (center) and the newly-formed Ecosa Design Studio (right). Click on the logo images to see a .pdf image of sample product information.

The Wisdom Tree & Living Desert Institute

Acclaimed musician and guitar-maker William Eaton came to Ecosa with the vision to turn his Roberto-Venn School of Luthiery into something more than just a world-renowned guitar-making school. On a 9-acre site at the fringes of urban Phoenix he seeks to incorporate the school into a proposed Living Desert Institute where galleries, demonstration spaces, a research library, archeo-astronomical features, and gardens would engage students, faculty and the public in an experiential forum for sustainable concepts. From ethnobotany to renewable forestry, water conservation to responsible building practices the curriculum should not only be taught but sensed in the design of the site.
Two teams of Ecosa students collaborated in the development of a site master plan as well as schematic designs for the school as the focal point of the Institute.

Students analyzed the existing and potential sights and sounds to be addressed in the site design.

Building the school on this site will require a change in zoning. This site plan prepared for the Maricopa County Zoning Board illustrates changes in topography and basic footprints of the parking, landscape features, and buildings.

A schematic plan submitted for zoning approval shows the new buildings focused about the sunken commons. This "well" becomes the physical and metaphorical genesis for the mission of the Institute offering a public forum for experiences and storytelling of the "Living Desert." The north retaining wall features a solar and water clock. Orchards and gardens narrate the seasons, offer edible fruits and shaded spaces for outdoor gatherings.

A new Roberto-Venn School of Luthiery, "the Wisdom Tree" serves as the anchor for the Living Desert Institute. Students met with current faculty and students to determine the program for the new facility.

C2C HOME COMPETITION

C2C

HOME COMPETITION

While an international design competition seemed a problematic means to address extremely localized concerns of social and environmental sustainability, Cradle-to-Cradle's daunting design guidelines provided Ecosa students grounds for challenging conceptual explorations. The design brief inspired by William McDonough and Michael Braungart's revolutionary ecological design manifesto, Cradle-to-Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things , called for entries to address housing on specific sites among the urban neighborhoods of Roanoke, VA, with the potential for more global adaptability. This tension and few programmatic requirements led the Ecosa teams to two remarkably different approaches for the same site. While one suggests a minimal single-family dwelling only delicately attached to either site or context, the other proposes multi-family, urban agriculture developments as a means to anchor neighborhoods ecologically and socially.

Vegetative walls and a raised foundation allow the natural site to flow around and through the dwelling in the "a means to no end" entry. (Click on the thumbnail to see the full poster in .pdf format.)

A combination of shared spaces including gardens, greenhouses, and exposed infrastructure engage the public with the life within mutli-family living spaces in the entry.

Hauer Residence

A retired Utah couple asked Ecosa students to develop design concepts for a small second home to be built on a hilltop site in rural Wickenburg, Arizona. As a winter and vacation home intended only for occasional stays and relaxation, they requested the building be as self-sustaining and low-maintenance as possible. After site visits and client interviews eight students split efforts to create three proposals exploring approaches to water catchment and reuse, low-energy heating and cooling systems, sustainable material choices, minimal site disturbance, and an appropriate fit within the building traditions of the region. The most successful design solutions integrated building systems and environmental flows as much as possible.

Students analyses' of solar access throughout the year were critical to situating the home for ideal passive heating and cooling solutions.

This plan incorporates materials from the site and surrounding area in cast earth walls and mesquite woodworking.

This plan shows the open-air central living space conceived as a collector for water, breezes, and guests.

This design places only a viewing deck at the cut site on top of the hill, nestling the new home into the hillside beyond to protect it from winter winds and the harshest angles of the summer sun.

Another team used the existing cut into the hill to define two sides of a courtyard. Click on the image to see a slideshow tour. (22mg)