Inschijven voor de Except nieuwsbrief kan op de contactpagina.
Rotterdam, 14 Februari 2012
Beste vrienden, kennissen en collega's,
Twee weken geleden vertelden we dat we genomineerd zijn voor een hele bijzondere prijs, maar dat we nog niet mochten vertellen welke. We zijn enthusiast om te mogen onthullen dat we zijn genomineerd voor de 2012 Buckminster Fuller Prijs voor Polydome. We gaan door naar de laatste ronde van deze belangrijke internationale prijs voor duurzame innovatie, en Polydome wordt gepubliceerd in de Buckminster Fuller Idea Index 1.0.
Ons persbericht kan worden gedownload hier in het Engels, en hier in het Nederlands.
“De Buckminster Fuller Challenge is (wereldwijd) de hoogste onderscheiding in maatschappelijk verantwoord ontwerp”, aldus Metroplis Magazine. Deze jaarlijkse prijs van 100.000 dollar ondersteunt de ontwikkeling en implementatie van projecten die een aanzienlijke potentie hebben oplossingen te bieden voor de meest urgente problemen van de mensheid. De jury bestaat uit toonaangevende mensen uit de wereld van wetenschap en design.
“De Buckminster Fuller Challenge heeft ons al vanaf het begin geïnspireerd. De missie van Except is om systemische oplossingen voor een duurzame toekomst te ontwerpen. Dat sluit naadloos aan op het doel van de Challenge,” verwoordt Eva Gladek, de projectleider van Polydome, de trots over de nominatie.
Over Polydome Polydome kan bijdragen aan een zekerder en rechtvaardiger voedselsysteem voor de toenemende wereldbevolking. Het biedt een hoge opbrengst en verbindt materiaal- en voedselstromen en maatschappelijke waardestromen, zoals hoge kwaliteit werkgelegenheid. Het produceert een waaier aan klimaat- en energieneutraal voedsel en is bijzonder geschikt voor stedelijke voedselproductie. Polydome biedt een realistisch en rendabel antwoord op de wereldwijde vraag naar duurzame voedselvoorziening. Tegelijkertijd is het meer dan alleen een visie op duurzame landbouw: het beschrijft welke rol landbouw heeft in een duurzame samenleving.
Over het verloop van de wedstrijd Except verwacht een serieuze kandidaat te zijn voor het winnen van de Challenge. Ze is vereerd om onderdeel te zijn geworden van dit netwerk dat systemisch denken en ontwerpen toepast bij het vinden van oplossingen met de grootschaligheid van impact die de wereld van vandaag nodig heeft. Als Except met Polydome wint, wordt het prijzengeld gebruikt om met partners in Nederland en de Verenigde Staten de eerste testlocatie op te zetten en het concept voor te bereiden voor commerciële uitrol.
Mensen die geïnteresseerd zijn in dit project worden van harte uitgenodigd om deel te nemen aan Buckminster Fuller's online community op de website van de Ideas Index (http://challenge.bfi.org/application_summary/3227#).
We zijn trots om geassocieerd te zijn met de Challenge. Hou ons in de gaten voor de semi-finals en de finale!
We hopen dat deze nieuwsbrief u treft op een warm moment, terugkijkend op een mooi jaar. 2011 was een fantastisch jaar voor Except, mede dankzij onze nieuwe klanten en partners Eneco Wind, DNV, SEV, TNO, AgentschapNL, Vestia en de Gemeente Utrecht. Dank!
2012 krijgt een vliegende start, we lanceren binnenkort een nieuw gezicht, logo en website, en werken met een aantal geweldige nieuwe partners zoals Royal Haskoning, Miya's Sushi, Vlaams Bouwmeester, Wageningen UR en DuurzaamGroup Nederland. Het wordt een groots jaar, en we delen graag met u wat er gaande is.
Genomineerd voor vier internationale prijzen
Na het vieren van ons 13 jarige bestaan zijn we genomineerd voor niet, een, twee, drie.... maar liefst vier internationale prijzen voor ons business management, duurzaameheidsexpertise, innovatie en het Polydome agricultuur systeem. Except is momenteel:
genomineerd in een hele belangrijke prijs waar we nog niets over mogen zeggen tot 14 Februari.
Wens ons geluk!
Utrecht Sustainability Incubator
We zijn aan het werk met de Gemeente Utrecht om een nieuwe Innovation Community in het hartje van de stad te realiseren. Het concept bouwt voort op het succes van Ro-Co, onze eerste Innovation Community, en we hopen een groentenkas op het dak te maken. Patrick, Floor, Michiel, Marten, Eva en Tom werken samen aan het project.
Innovation Communities dienst
Begin 2011 lanceerden we de Innovation Communities dienst om gemeentes en bedrijven te voorzien van slimme business modellen voor incubators, innovatie versnellers en collaboratieve netwerken. Except organiseert het gehele proces van de start af, via financiële planning, gebouw renovatie, programma ontwikkeling tot en met het startfeest. Lees meer hier.
Eneco Wind system maps
We werken nauw samen met Eneco, die de meest duurzame energieproducent van Europa wil worden, om systeemkaarten te maken voor nieuwe windparken. Deze systeemkaarten laten de complexe relaties in de samenleving zien en daarmee de vele voordelen van windenergie. Ze bestaan uit data en ketenonderzoek, duurzaamheidsevaluatie, communicatiestrategie en grafisch ontwerp, onder de directie van Matt Fraser en met hulp van Gerard, Eva en Tom.
De meeste van deze kaarten zijn nog vertrouwelijk, maar klik hier om een voorbeeldkaart te zien die gebruikt is bij de opening van het FujiFilm windpark. De systeemkaart is gebruikt als een gigantische puzzel op het openingsevenement waar alle bezoekers zo een stukje bij konden dragen aan het compleet maken van het systeem.
Greenprint: Voorbeelden van Duurzaamheid in de Gebouwde Omgeving
Recentelijk publiceerden we een nieuw boek met meer dan 150 pagina's aan innovaties voor thuis, steden en dagelijks leven. Greenprint is een inspiratieboek voor iedereen geïnteresseerd in duurzame steden en architectuur. Het is gemaakt onder directie van Stephi Bartscht en bevat contributies van meer dan een dozijn Except mensen.
Download Greenprint voor een vrijwillige donatie of koop een papieren versie hier. (Greenprint is een Engels boek)
AVR Energieplein
Kevin en Tom ontwierpen een interactief publiek plein voor de AVR Energie-Uit-Afval centrale in Rotterdam van de van Ganzewinkel Groep. Het is gemaakt uit afval van de centrale zelf, met een zelfondersteunend ecosysteem en een ontwerp dat het proces in de centrale tentoon stelt. Het plein is bijna gereed, en binnenkort staan er foto's van op onze site.
Schiebroek-Zuid School en Symposium
Voor het ontwikkelingsplan van Schiebroek-Zuid in Rotterdam ontwierpen Tom, Jacob, Piero en Giancarlo een groene brede scholencomplex voor woningbouwvereniging Vestia. Het complex bevat een basisschool, twee scholen voor speciaal onderwijs, appartementen, horeca, retail en een sportcentrum. Het 20 pagina boek van het project is erop gericht scholen en gemeentes te inspireren met de mogelijkheden van innovatieve duurzame scholen.
Schiebroek-Zuid symposium In oktober organiseerde Except voor InnovatieNetwerk en Vestia een uitgebreid symposium over duurzame gebiedsplanning met vele inspirerende sprekers en discussies. Het was helemaal vol! Dank aan alle participanten.
Miya’s Sushi
Ariana en Eva werken met ons favoriete restuarant in de wereld, en een van de meest duurzame plekken om spectaculair te eten: Miya's Sushi in New Haven, USA. Voor Miya's maken we een uitgebreide scan van alle vissoorten en de complexe verbanden die aan voedsel uit de zee (of kwekerij) hangen, en maken het onderdeel van het menu. Inclusief een speciaal menu voor niet-inheemse diersoorten. Binnenkort te zien op Miya's website.
SEV Huis Vol Energie boek
Dit inspiratie en referentieboek laat zien hoe je energie-neutraal je huis kan renoveren. Het is gemaakt samen met onderzoekcentrum TNO en bevat alle noodzakelijke informatie om energieneutraal wonen een realiteit te maken. Het boek staat vol voorbeelden, inspiratie, tips, financiële en technische details. Het is gemaakt onder Marten's management samen met Jacob, Gerard, Piero, Tom, Jasper, Stephi, Giancarlo en het TNo team. Download het boek voor veel energie (gratis!).
Update: Polydome
Als onderdeel van ons traject om eem Polydome pilot te bouwen hebben Eva, Tom en George een korte video gemaakt van het project. Bekijk m hier.
PICNIC, NAi, en andere praatjes
Recentelijk hebben we lezingen en presentaties gegeven aan de TU Delft, het Nederlands Architectuur instituut (NAi), PICNIC festival en Mediamatic. Ook representeerde Tom Except in China gedurende de Beijing Design Week.
Except verwelkomt een set bijzondere nieuwe mensen om haar duurzame ontwikkelingsteam te versterken, en, zoals gewoonlijk, representeren ze diverse disciplines en inzichten.
We heten van harte welkom: econoom en business developer Patrick Kaashoek; business developer en bioloog Floor van Bovene; software architect en kunstmatige intelligentie genie Tijn Schmits; woordsmit extraordinaire Jules Marshall; en social pollinator Jeroen Boon. Lees meer over hen op onze mensenpagina.
Except: Mexico Onze associate en business developer Carlos Camara Ortiz neemt stappen om een nieuw Except kantoor op te richten in Guadalajara, Mexico.
Volg ons
Dat is m voor deze niewusbrief. Volg onze activiteiten van dag tot dag op twitter op @Except_NL (Nederlands) en @Except_USA (Engels), en natuurlijk op www.except.nl.
Een heel fijn 2012 gewenst,
Het Except Integrated Sustainability team
Rotterdam, 1 December 2011
Beste vrienden, collega's en partners,
Het einde van de herst is nabij, daarom brengen we graag wat warmte voor de komende maanden in de vorm van twee inspirerende boeken voor duurzaam wonen: één te koop en één gratis.
Greenprint Voorbeelden van duurzame innovatie in de gebouwde omgeving
Greenprint is 150 bladzijden vol met duurzame innovaties in onze huizen, steden en dagelijks leven. Van eco-huizen en -buurten tot lantarenpalen die reageren op maanlicht, innovatief transport, sociale programma's, stedelijke agricultuur en nieuwe materialen om energie te besparen.
Greenprint is een inspiratiebron voor iedereen die werkt aan de gebouwde omgeving en duurzame ontwikkeling. Alle projecten zijn gerefereerd naar bronnen met meer informatie. Greenprint is Open Source door middel van Creative Commons, en in het Engels geschreven.
Greenprint is te koop in hardcopy en downloadbaar voor een donatie. Bestel en lees meer over Greenprint hier.
Huis Vol Energie Inspiratie voor Energieneutraal wonen
Hoe werkt dat, een energieneutrale woning? Wat levert het op? Wat kost het? Wat zijn de keuzes? Hoe ziet het eruit en wat voor soort mensen wonen daar?
In opdracht van SEV Energiesprong hebben Except en TNO een inspiratieboek gemaakt om geïnteresseerde huiseigenaren en bouwprofessionals in te weiden in energieneutraal bouwen en renoveren. Een boek vol voorbeelden, interviews, inspiratie, tips en handreikingen; een boek vol energie!
Het Huis Vol Energie is gratis te downloaden van onze site. We hebben een beperkt aantal hardcopies beschikbaar.
Meer nieuws...
Verwacht een volledige nieuwsupdate van ons in de komende paar weken met nieuws over windmolenparken, tapijt, duurzame scholen en meer...
Summer is around the corner and we have a host of new developments to share. Between rethinking greenhouse agriculture, mapping the Dutch meat sector, going viral with social media, and welcoming a host of new members - this may have been Except’s most eventful season yet. We’re are excited to share it with you:
Polydome
Polydome is published! - a revolutionary approach to greenhouse agriculture that offers the possibility of commercial scale, net-zero-impact food production.
The Polydome system strategically interweaves a wide variety of crops and animals, taking advantage of every inch of the greenhouse while eliminating the need for synthetic fertilizers and pesticides.
With its high yields (60 – 90 kg per square meter), and diverse outputs (over 50 crops, two mushroom varieties, chickens, eggs, fish, and honey), even a small Polydome system can provide a richly varied food supply for a large population. Using Polydome, even a city as dense as New York could provide the majority of its own food supply using available roof space.
Polydome was developed for InnovationNetwork, an amazing organization working on agriculture innovation. See details of the project and download the Polydome book for free here.
BK City Slim
Except was one of five international teams invited by the Technical University of Delft to design a sustainable vision for their newly relocated architecture faculty after a 2008 fire left the original building in ruins.
While focusing on increasing energy efficiency and decreasing operating costs, we also embraced the refurbishment of BK City as an opportunity to increase students' hands-on experience and understanding of sustainability.
We designed the interventions to be participatory, didactic, and engaging, providing students with a 21st century knowledge base they could leverage within and beyond BKCity. See it all here.
Roosendaal Urban Green Scan
We hear a lot about it: the integration of green spaces could change our cities from dead concrete caverns to lush green paradises, with reduced pollution, local food production, and many social and health benefits. But how to achieve this in specific cities is less clear: where exactly do these opportunities lie, what is possible, how do we communicate it, and where do we start?
This project answers exactly those questions and helps provide a guideline for cities all around the world. We also offer the scan as a service. With a multidisciplinary team of ecologists, architects, urbanists, and local policy makers, Except made a map of opportunities for beneficial green interventions for the Dutch city of Roosendaal.
The Urban Green Scan service is now available from Except for municipalities and city governments to allow more cities to embrace green development. Details here.
Yale University Carbon Tool
Yale University has started a Community Carbon Fund which enables students, staff, and faculty to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through community offsets. The program helps finance energy efficient retrofits in low-income New Haven homes and supports urban forestry initiatives.
We developed an online carbon calculator tool for the program so that students and staff can calculate their CO2 footprints for travel, commuting, and events. The tool allows them to donate directly to projects in the New Haven community to offset their footprints.
The tool uses Google maps to calculate your travels live, and is a lot of fun to use. Give it a go right here.
Meat/Carpet Sector Maps
Ever wondered how your hotdog was made, or where carpets come from? Except is in the midst of completing two exciting new projects that map the meat and carpet sectors of the Netherlands, helping create sustainability road maps for both.
SiD Sustainability Definition
Because of dissatisfaction with the existing definitions of sustainability, we formulated a definition using our Symbiosis in Development method. It helps safeguard the word from deterioration and provides new avenues for fundamental sustainable development.
Important differences between our and existing definitions are:
The SiD definition doesn't just describe what sustainability leads to (such as the Brundtland definition), but also what it is and how it can be achieved.
That sustainability is the property of a dynamic system, not of objects.
That sustainability is a fixed state of a dynamic entity.
That there always needs to be a system boundary when speaking of sustainability (sustainable over what period of time? and where?).
Read about the new definition on the SiD page here.
New Website Additions & Twitter
Except has several new additions to its virtual face this year, including an amplified social media presence and new bi-weekly Global News Digest. If you have not registered yet for the 'wormfood digest', you can do it here.
Except now officially has a Twitter account. Two in fact: Except_USA and Except_NL. If you have a twitter account, we'd love to hear from you.
Except_USA:
Except_NL:
We also have some extra free goodies on the website for you, including an extensive free Artificial Light Guide, a collection of System Maps, a gallery of some of our special panoramic photographs from around the world, and soon-to-be-released Precedent book with more than 150 inspiring examples of sustainable projects. The book will soon be available on Amazon. We’ll let you know when.
In other news....
Except's building search continues. Except is quickly outgrowing our plant-filled Rotterdam headquarters, and looking to expand to a new building. We have looked at some promising candidates in Rotterdam, Utrecht, and Amsterdam. If know of a building you think can use an innovative sustainable renovation and interesting new multi-use program, let us know.
New Members and staff!
Except has a great set of new people strengthening its sustainable development team, representing a diverse array of countries and disciplines.
Except newest associates – Nels Nelson (Urban Ecologist), Marten Witkamp (Sustainability Manager), Pam de Sterke (Process Manager),Stephen Friday (Urban Economist), Bob Geldermans (Industrial Ecologist and Architect), Tim Horsten (CSR Consultant & Engineer), Gerard Vink (Graphic Designer) and Matthew Fraser (Industrial Ecologist and Designer) – bring their energy and ex pertise to a wide variety of Except projects.
This summer, we're also joined by Alberto Zamora, a graduate of the Yale School of Architecture, and Yan He, a graduate student at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. Meanwhile, Ryan FitzGerald and Melinda Stylos-Allan, also both Yale graduates, are working with the US team.
Jacob Verhaart and Elias de Valk, both industrial ecologists, joined Except's Rotterdam office earlier this year. Angelo Sandron has brought his Italian design skills, and some delicious family-made olive oil, to both Except and the Rotterdam Collective for the Spring to work on his thesis, while Huub
Dekkers has been at the office writing his thesis about Except – an ethnographic study of just what makes Except tick. Except's new office controller, Natasja Jonckheere, also joined us last month. She brings both management and design skills to the core staff of Except.
Get in touch!
That’s all for now, but please feel free to send us a note if you have any thoughts or feedback on what we’re doing. We’d love to hear from you.
warm regards,
the Except Integrated Sustainability team
Rotterdam, 4th of May 2011
Dear Colleagues, Friends, and Partners,
Today is an important day, as our Polydome project becomes publicly available. This revolutionary agricultural greenhouse system may provide an important step towards making the world's food supply sustainable. We've worked on it for almost a year and are very proud to present it to you, and as usual, we've made our report available to the public, 80 pages filled with innovative agricultural innovation. Below you find the press release, or download it in pdf.
Polydome: Towards Net Zero Impact Food Production
Rotterdam, The Netherlands - May 4th, 2011 - Except Integrated Sustainability has released Polydome, a revolutionary approach to greenhouse agriculture that offers the possibility of commercial scale, net-zero-impact food production. The Polydome system strategically interweaves a wide variety of crops and animals, taking advantage of every inch of the greenhouse while eliminating the need for synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. With its high yields (60 – 90 kg per square meter), and diverse outputs (over 50 crops, two mushroom varieties, chickens, eggs, fish, and honey), even a small Polydome system can provide a richly varied food supply for a large population. Using Polydome, even a city as dense as New York could provide the majority of its own food supply using available roof space.
Productive ecosystems
Complementing advanced technologies with an innovative design, Polydome maximizes food production and variety by operating more like a self-maintaining ecosystem than an industrial farm. Plants, mushrooms, livestock, and insects interweave to connect waste, water, and energy flows between species and capture the benefits of varied space and light conditions. Shade-loving plants are sheltered by taller crops that soak up sun, chicken and fish provide ready-made fertilizer, while beneficial insects act as natural substitutes for pesticides. Animals within the system range freely and live naturally, while the design of the crop layout limits the need for repetitive human labor.
Feeding our cities
Since cities have existed, they have been dependent on outlying agricultural land to feed themselves. The Polydome system's increased variety, efficient spatial arrangements, and reduced environmental footprint mean that a compact Polydome system could sustainably and locally feed a large population. With its flexible cropping schedules, a Polydome system can respond quickly to local food demands and offer more economic resilience than standard single crop systems. For the first time in history, cities could become producers rather than just consumers, capable of providing for many of their needs from within, and reducing the disconnect between urban life and agricultural production.
Sustainable agriculture
Polydome offers a range of environmental savings, highly efficient and localized production, attention to both human and animal welfare, and cutting edge energy and water management strategies. As a result, Polydome systems could represent a step towards truly sustainable agriculture and serve as a vital building block of a resilient, sustainable society.
Funding for this project was provided by InnovationNetwork, an agency supported by the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, and SIGN, the organization for Innovation in the greenhouse sector in the Netherlands. The complete project report has been made available on the website of Except, under a Creative Commons license.
For more information, please contact:
Eva Gladek, eva@except.nl, +31 (0)10 - 7370215.
Except is a research, consulting, and design office for sustainable development. With its multidisciplinary team, Except creates strategies and concepts for the future of cities, industries, policy, business, design, and more.
Rotterdam, 24th of January 2011
Dear Colleagues, Friends, and Partners,
It's been a while since we've last sent out a news -apologies for that. We didn't want to withhold you the promised news about Schiebroek-Zuid, the exciting project we started before the summer.
Sustainable Schiebroek-Zuid
We are excited to share the results of one of our most intensive projects of last year - a sustainable vision for a low-income neighborhood, completed for the largest social housing corporation in the Netherlands. You can view the project online here, and read more about it in the press releases listed below.
The final project is made up of a Vision Document and Ingredient Book, which lay out the theory and components, or ingredients, of Except's multi-faceted sustainable roadmap for the area.
Throughout the summer and fall, we worked with a multidisciplinary team of experts from within and beyond Except -including the amazing environmental engineers of Atelier Ten of London - in consultation with stakeholders and residents, and in partnership with housing corporation Vestia and agricultural research network InnovationNetwork to produce the dynamic final vision.
The project is published under a Creative Commons license, making much of the research - almost 300 pages of data, analysis and innovative strategy- publicly available for free. We hope you enjoy it; please let us know if you have questions or comments.
Download the full press release in English here, and in Dutch here.
To throw some excitement into the slowness and relaxation of the summer months, we bring you some news about a few remarkable new projects, new members of staff, and some interesting shifts in organization at Except.
Project: Sustainable Schiebroek-Zuid
One of our most inspiring recent projects has been to develop a strategic vision for how to convert a 1950s neighborhood of social housing flats into a self-sustaining, beautiful, and equitable neighborhood.
With a team of around 25 people, including members from all parts of the world, we generated a variety of technological and programmatic options for achieving this plan within the next 20 - 30 years.
The Schiebroek-Zuid research has resulted in a truly integrated, realistic plan that addresses not only renewable local energy and water, but also basic food production, employment, social programs, education, community facilities, and more. The project report, comprising over 250 pages of information on phasing, energy and material flows, management structures, agricultural methods, building design, and much more, will hopefully serve as a guide towards a brighter future for Schiebroek-Zuid as well as an example for social housing everywhere.
Our primary client is Vestia, a social housing corporation (and proprietor of the neighborhood), with additional funding from InnovationNetwork, innovator in agriculture and sustainable development.
The project book will soon be released to the public.
Project: the Dandelion Project
In response to a request from the Dutch Ministry of Housing, Spatial Ordinance, and the Environment (VROM), Except worked with Storrm Consultants on developing new strategies for moving towards an "economy of abundance."
The resulting multimedia platform, Dandelion, is a tool for knowledge sharing, active international and interdisciplinary collaboration, as well as information navigation and organization. It aims to resolve the information management bottlenecks that are, in many cases, the main roadblocks to sustainable development. We are now working with Storrm CS to further develop the Dandelion concept.
Project: Sustainable Conversion of Existing Buildings
One of our greatest challenges for achieving long term sustainability is to convert existing building stock to a sustainable state. Physical upgrades are often complicated by managerial, economic, and other intangible limitations that need to be resolved concurrently.
The Dutch Government Building Agency (Rijksgebouwendienst) commissioned Oneplanetarchitecture institute (OPAi) in cooperation with Except to conduct a study on this topic. We initially investigated 30 buildings in order to develop a functional tool for effectively communicating about and managing building conversion projects. The tool was subsequently applied to five example buildings.
We are conducting research for InnovationNetwork and SIGN on developing a new agricultural method for greenhouse food production.
We aim to design a greenhouse production system that has a radically reduced resource footprint, and even environmental benefits, while remaining financially attractive. The method focuses on combining permaculture design principles with a range of high-tech greenhouse developments. We're excited to be working with a great number of partners on this project, which is slated for completion later this year.
Other Projects...
Meanwhile, we are continuing our work with de Zwarte Hond Architects on describing and establishing the architecture company of the future (sounds good, doesn't it?), and we are co-operating with the Conscious Company on teaching a new set of Corporate Social Responsibility workshops, most recently for Smurfit Kappa Group. We're also working on a long term trajectory with a large chemical manufacturer in Germany regarding sustainable chemicals guidelines, and working on light& smart sustainable transport methods and infrastructures.
Except goes Creative Commons
We believe that working towards a sustainable society requires a high degree of cooperation and information transparency. To give our fundamental support to this idea, Except has switched from a closed, traditional Intellectual Property (IP) system (with copyrights and patents) to Creative Commons rights management.
This means that our work and projects can now be copied and used by anyone with only minor restrictions. We hope that this will lead to our work being used wherever it is most valuable. All of our new projects have already been released under Creative Commons, and older projects are being retroactively converted. We hope you'll join and enjoy the open-source information community with us.
The Except Principles
We've always worked according to strong principles. The Except Principles have now been formally written out and become part of our contracts. These are performance-based and qualitative principles that capture some of our core ideas about what it means to work sustainably. They are available for viewing on our website.
In other news...
... Michiel van der Vight has joined Except, and was a key member of the Sustainable Schiebroek-Zuid core team. Michiel's remarkable qualities and communication skills have proven to be a great asset in project management and development.
Rebecca Blum, Kerry Harwin, and Stephanie Carlisle have also joined us this summer from, respectively, Barcelona, India, and the USA, to work on a variety of autonomous projects. But those are still secret, so you'll have to come by in person if you'd like to find out more about those...
The Rotterdam Collective is still going strong. We're now nearly full, and many Ro-Co projects are underway. We are in the process of designing the first rooftop food garden in Rotterdam (to be located on our spacious roof). Every Thursday we continue to host our weekly dicussion and movie nights, (19:00, at Roodkapje) and there are many exciting projects to come. You're always welcome to visit us in the Collective in our haven of plants in the center of Rotterdam.
Hello everyone, and our best wishes for a great new year from Except.
It's been over six months since our last update, and we thought we'd share some of the exciting things happening here lately. There's so much news worth sharing, we broke it down into three parts for you...
New Offices & People:
One of the exciting new developments is our new office right in the center of Rotterdam - we are re-using a building that has been sitting empty for more than a decade. We're moving there in the next few weeks, and we're in the process of designing and building most of our own furniture from waste materials, our own LED lighting solutions, and more. The Except offices are co-sited with the Rotterdam Collective, our next big news item.
After several years of work we finally launched our collaborative office, the Rotterdam Collective, in cooperation with with Richard Boeser of Sparpweed. The Rotterdam Collective (Ro-Co) establishes a large inter-disciplinary workplace focused on environmental and social projects. The Ro-Co features shared workspaces and facilities and hosts consultants, graphic designers, event managers, programmers, architects and many more in a truly collaborative setting. The official Ro-Co opening is scheduled for March 1st at 18:30. Join the mailinglist at www.ro-co.nl to be updated about upcoming events such as the film series, opening party, and more.
We have some new people joining us at Except. Ariana Bain, MESc, a recent graduate from the Yale School of Forestry, has joined us in the role of Industrial and Urban Ecologist. Also, Matthew Eckelman, PhD. has joined us as Environmental Engineer and Life Cycle Assessment Professional. Both are representing Except in New Haven, CT, USA.
Projects:
We've been completing our planning work on an advanced greenhouse area in the eastern Netherlands, featuring symbiotic energy, water, and waste systems. The development is in a beautiful setting where people can come and experience the greenhouses, visit a central pavilion, or just explore the expansive natural setting via its integrated bicycle routes. The details are still confidential, but we hope to soon be presenting it on our website.
We recently designed a two-day integrated sustainability workshop for the Zwarte Hond Architects, a sizable architecture firm in the Netherlands. The workshop focused on fundamental sustainability issues and new ways of thinking about this complex topic. It offered new strategies for both management and design teams, and led to new, long-term strategic directions for the office. The workshop is now available both to businesses and government offices. Find more info about the workshop here.
We continue to work with OnePlanetArchitectureInstitute, RAU Architects and Octalix on finding integrated sustainability solutions for old government buildings, including a prison, several 60's office blocks, and a monument from the 17th century.
We have also been working on the development of a new system for evaluating the sustainability of food products for a large US-based food distributor. Among some of our numerous communication projects, we've helped make some materials for Evelop's Railwind project, which provides a strategy for building windmills on top of railroads. See the short promotional video here.
Another exciting project has been our work on a new form of area development and planning called Growth Planning. It's a second generation planning strategy that optimizes economic, cultural and environmental performance in a performative system. Read up about some of the details of Growth Planning here.
Publications, research & events: Eva Gladek spoke at the IUCN Leaders for Nature Forum as an expert on Life Cycle Assesement and its integration with business strategies, and Tom Bosschaert won 1st prize at the Urban Land Institute's on-site competition.
We are continuing to do research for the Green Electronics Council. Except also became a partner of the Dutch Green Building Council, and joined the VVM, the main organization of environmental professionals in the Netherlands.
Except is also in the final stage of training a BREAAM-NL Expert and Assesor, the new Dutch environmental evaluation system for buildings in the Netherlands. Once finalized, we'll be able to consult and assess BREAAM-NL projects in addition to consulting on the place of such assessment systems within the sustainable development trajectory.
Finally, we published a first peek of our in-house developed integrated methodology Symbiosis in Design (SiD). SiD has been developed to make more integrated sustainable projects possible. It's a set of accessible and powerful tools that organize any development process, be it policy, design, development, or management. The power of SiD lies in its simplicity and ability to be applied to virtually any subject or area, making it perfect for strategic long-term analysis and development. Read more about SiD here.
It's been a busy but thrilling couple of months, and we're planning more exciting things in the near future. Thanks for your continuing support and we hope you'll come check out our new office in Rotterdam soon.
Best wishes,
the Except Team.
Rotterdam, 15th of June 2009
It's summer, and as we welcome the days of warmth and the arrival of stinging insects, we can also reflect on the first two great quarters Except has had in Rotterdam this year. Despite the economic downturn, we've experienced many positive developments since our last newsletter went out at the beginning of the year, and we believe the next two quarters will be even better.
We're looking at establishing new offices in the HAKA building in Rotterdam, in conjunction with the city planning department, 2012 Architects, Vestia housing cooperation and others, using our concept of a new way of working together. We hope to co-locate and share resources with a range of individuals and small companies from designers to planners, scientists, artists, psychologists, and more. In this new type of professional work collective we aim to achieve both independence for the members of the initiative as well as increase our ability to address large problems by drawing on the various skills of the members of the collective.
We've completed the visionary CO2040 project together with one of our partners, POSAD. This project addresses a question posed to us by the Ministry of Housing, Spatial
Planning and the Environment: How can we make the Netherlands CO2 neutral by the year 2040? Of course that's not an easy task, and thus our recommendation is an integrated, strategic approach and methodology, exemplified by five projects in the built environment. A beautiful booklet summarizing this project is available and fully downloadable in PDF form on theproject page (in Dutch).
In the last month, two public lectures were given by Tom on Except's sustainable design vision. The first was at the Zwijger in Amsterdam during "Sustainable Design Day," organized by O2, BNO, and Tuttobene. The other lecture took place just yesterday at the Smart and Sustainable Built Environment conference (SASBE 09). The lectures also included a sneak preview of our new design methodology, Symbiosis in Design, which we will continue to develop this year.
Earlier this year we completed a sustainability vision for a region in the Netherlands as part of the Maasterras urban redevelopment project. The project provided the City Councils of the Drechtsteden, project developers, and planners a tool they can use to develop an integrated sustainable vision of the region as time goes on.
A preview of the booklet summarizing this project can also be downloadedon the project page, with the full digital document available via email request.
We also recently worked with RAU architects on a radical sustainable community development in Amsterdam, using a planned-growth model of development rather than relying on traditional investment structures. This plan drew on new insights and lessons learned from current economic downfall and focused on performance-based measures to stimulate autarktic development. This exciting project was completed in close cooperation with RAU, housing cooperations: Stadgenoot, de Kei, Bouwfonds, and Parteon, as well as construction firm Ballast-Nedam.
Meanwhile, we keep working on the design various private homes, communication and visualization projects, and continue to do research. We've also established a new partnership with the TU Delft and became a member of KEI, a knowledge centre for urban regeneration in the Netherlands.
As always, if you'd like to know more about any of our work, you can look through our projects on this site or give us a shout.
Press Release, Rotterdam, 27rd January 2009
Except forms strategic alliances with key partners in the industry
As a result of its unique structure as a sustainability think-tank, consultancy, and architecture & urban design office, Except has continued to form strategic alliances with international leaders in the fields of architecture, engineering, consultancy, and project development. Except's newest partnerships will allow a better interchange of knowledge across different sectors, furthering the company's core philosophy of broad collaboration and "working better together" to apply the most innovative strategies in the design of the built environment.
Key partners, chosen for excellence in their respective fields, include:
Art, Urbanism & Economic Consultancy: experienced in offering innovative insights on the functioning of society & business
Except's founder and CEO, Tom Bosschaert, explains that while many firms in the industry are facing difficult times, companies and governments are starting to realize the unique benefits a firm like Except can offer. Integrated, responsible, and socially aware planning and design represents a vast improvement over slow, traditional, linear development models, particularly in economic terms.
"It's a very exciting time for us," says Bosschaert. "We are performing sustainable, integrated projects on a wide variety of scales – from individual homes to whole city districts. Our new partners broaden our potential for beneficial industry collaboration in these ventures."
Except has recently expanded its operations beyond its established presence in the Netherlands and the USA to Istanbul, Turkey and Zurich, Switzerland Projects in 2009 include urban sustainability research and consultancy for the city of Dordrecht in the Netherlands, zero energy building designs for private homes, new typology designs for integrated-program urban buildings, investigations on BREEAM, LEED and EPC standards, the development of communication and visualization tools, and various visualization and presentation projects.
