Green architecture.

For any readers out there who have noticed that I haven't been devoting much time lately to my bookbinding, my Etsy shop, and other crafting, I thought I'd give a little update on what I have been doing.

Ever since I graduated with my undergrad degree in architecture last year, I have been working with a small group of friends and fellow architecture graduates on a couple different design projects. We call ourselves the Urbain Collaborative, and we will soon have a website up and running with some more info on our projects. For now, though, it's still under construction. One small project that we have worked on recently was for an international design competition run by Architecture for Humanity, and it was for a new library and community center in the slums of Kenya. So far, our design has made it into the top 20, and we're still waiting to hear about the final results.

The main project that we are continuously working on is for a sustainable mixed-use (commercial + residential) building in Minneapolis located on the Greenway. We have been fortunate enough to be able to work on a project of this size that may actually get built in the next few years, so we are devoting as much of our free time as possible to the design. As recent graduates, we have realized that we will be the future architects of our cities, and that the sustainable design movement is an essential part of our careers and education in the coming years. We are paying especially close attention to this aspect of design in our project, and hope that our building will prove to be an example of affordable and innovative green design.

"Humans are innovators. If we just have the will to say we're going to change what we do fundamentally and we give people the opportunity and the tools to do it, they will step up. We've got to get alignment of the political process and the financial markets to begin to underwrite it, but as soon as it becomes clear that people expect it and want it, I think it's going to change. This is not just a trend of the decade. We're talking about a decades-long effort here ..."

Architect R.K. Stewart, in an interview with Grist.