The Power of Imagination Knows No Boundaries

Emily Schaefer: Fluff, 2011
Acrylic on Panel, 24" x 30", Private Collection
Telephone Booth Gallery | Emily Schaefer's collection of paintings

Imagination is very important to push the boundaries and I believe the world needs more of it.

The following is an excerpt from my speech to Toastmasters.

Imagination
the faculty of imagining, or of forming mental images or concepts of what is not actually present to the senses.

Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution. It is, strictly speaking, a real factor in scientific research.
Albert Einstein

Not just in scientific research, but in very day life. Imagination is very important to push the boundaries and I believe the world needs more of it.

Our imagination is of course influenced a lot by popular culture, recently I watch the remake of Total Recall, set design was a bit Star Wars meets Bladerunner, indicating that even the movie makers are influenced in their imagination on what was before, but since imagination knows no boundaries there is the potential to dream up more original stories. Kids are a great example.

My nephews were visiting and they are at the age where they still act out their imagination and don’t care where it leads them. I get into the door and immediately the 3 year old latched onto my leg and shouts "Aunty Martina, lets play cave, come, come, come …." And off I go, because in their company I can be a silly as I want to be. Refreshing.

Playing with them in their world of monsters, dinosaurs, ghosts, Star Wars and other, it really hit home again that imagination does not know any boundaries: ghosts can shoot laser guns, they were special ones, they could be held up with ghost fields, our cave people had high tech lighters, we rode bats as big as ships to get around (lassoing them was a task).

We imagined whole alternative worlds during playing. With, I might say, very little props. And the beauty is that even though their pictures in their mind where different than mine, but we could bring together stories. And the story evolved and developed. It’s like brain-storming.

But somehow as we grow older we do this less and less. We are mired in a world of reality, having to be realistic. But I think having a great imagination is important in life, I chose after all to have architectural training. Having to go through design processes you need to look at situations from different point of views, to think outside the box, so to speak.

I can only speak from my personal experience, and I always had a vivid imagination, sometimes it got me into trouble, sometimes I push the envelope too much, sometimes I rush into things because I imagined great outcomes, but I would feel lost without my imagination.

I am not an advocate of unlimited day dreaming, or living in a make-believe world, but I believe if we as a society would put a little more emphasis on encouraging innocent play as adults, flights of fancy and being able to push the envelope with which on the surface might be "stupid" ideas I believe we could move the world forward.

Imagination is more important than knowledge. And I would like to encourage everyone just start playing to either use or rediscover your imagination. Write stories, they don’t have to be about goblins, fairies and giants or other make believe creatures, they could be about day-to-day life, solving problems or just flight of fancy.

Martina Ernst
President/CEO
Wo-Built Inc. - Innovative Design and Build

Building Resilience into Design

Collage: Palm trees in Storm v.s. House in Storm
Image Credit: MS Office ClipArt: Palm trees blowing in the wind of a hurricane + House in Storm

Time to rethink the "Essence of Sustainability"

Back in September of 2011, Cindy Gilbert, faculty and program coordinator for the Minneapolis College of Art and Design's fully online Sustainable Design Program posted a feature article on The Living Principles blog entitled “The Essence of Sustainability.”

In the article, which seemed to have been partly inspired by her Ride the Talk cycling trip, Gilbert questions conventional notions of sustainable design and offers an alternative metric: resilience.

"What is left after you’ve peeled off the eco-groovy labels and unwrapped the post-consumer recycled-content packaging? Will the product underneath stand the test of time? Will the business you run survive the next recession? In a word, are they resilient?"
~ Cindy Gilbert
The Living Principles: Feature: The Essence of Sustainability
Originally published on MCAD Sustainable Design Blog

We think Ms. Gilbert is onto something. The vast majority of what human beings design is disposable at best. What we consider "durable" still cannot compare with nature’s resilience. Be they systems, structures or products, our best designs are still hopelessly fragile when compared to nature.

Ms. Gilbert uses the examples of cattails and palm trees swaying in the wind. Here we see the genius of flexible materials able to withstand tremendous forces (even hurricane force winds) and yet prove rigid enough to serve the purposes for which they were designed (evolved).

How do we actually design for resilience?

The question is, then, how do we actually design for resilience? And is resilience really designed in nature? Or, does it evolve? If the latter, do we have any hope in mimicking the "genius" of nature’s designs, considering human time-frames, resource limitations and productivity requirements outstrip evolutions "slow and steady wins the race" modus operandi?

Intelligent design v.s. evolution in nature?

Intelligent design v.s. evolution in nature? It makes little difference to Peapod Life. Practically speaking, things are BUILT. So building resilience into both inception and evolution of design is paramount.

The bottom-up approach

This bottom-up approach is the key to Wo-Built’s success and the hallmark of its new Peapod Life initiative. Like nature, it has to work. To work, it must be built from the ground up. To last, it must withstand elements A, B, C, etc. To withstand the elements, the design must endure.

Wo-Built / Peapod is about design and build—two activities intimately interwoven—just like nature.

Attila Lendvai
VP of Strategic Development
Wo-Built Inc. - Innovative Design and Build

Get Answers to Your Home Renovation and Design Dilemmas: September 8

Poster: Community Day, Open House & BBQ
Home Reno & Design Help Workshop by Wo-Built Inc
Saturday, September 8, 2012 at 1 - 2 pm
St. Clair Avenue Baptist Church
152 Wychwood Avenue, Toronto ON M6C 2T2
Credit: Facebook: St. Clair Avenue Baptist Church Community Day

We are going to give a talk about "Renovations and what you need to know" ...
@wobuilt

We are glad to announce our participation in the Community Day held by the St Clair Avenue Baptist Church this Saturday, September 8 at 1 pm.

Home Reno & Design Help by Wo-Built Inc

When: Saturday, September 8, 2012
Time: 1 pm - 2 pm
Where: St. Clair Avenue Baptist Church
152 Wychwood Avenue, Toronto ON M6C 2T2
Get a map & TTC directions

We are going to give a talk about "Renovations and what you need to know - how good planning and thorough design will make the renovation process easier".

Bring your photos and questions.

Come join us and get the answers to your home renovation and design dilemmas in a friendly and informal session!

For details please check out the facebook page: St. Clair Avenue Baptist Church Community
Day

Large renovations and what you need to know 2010 from Wo Built

links:
Five Things to Remember when Making Your Old Bungalow New Again
Fall Home Design Workshop Series: Get the Answers to Your Home Renovation and Design Dilemmas

No place for an all-glass addition? Time for “Peapod Light!”

Image: Plants inside Conventional House
Image Credit: MS Office ClipArt: House silhouette and tree design

Peapod Life: Beyond traditional hydroponics, Peapod Life is a living and breathing addition to your home. The custom designed items are multipurpose: it's a usable living space, a living wall and window garden, a source for solar power and a method for collecting rainwater. Essentially, you create your very own mini-ecosystem yielding edible, medicinal, fragrant and ornamental plants tailored to your lifestyle.
Green Benefit: locally-sourced organic food, a reduction in electricity and water consumption
Cost: Peapod Life costs about the same as a comparably-sized standard edition.
Corporate Knights: Guest Post: Best of Green Living Show 2012 by Erin Poeta

Recently we were asked if the Peapod Life concept could be integrated with a more conventional building method rather than a complete glass enclosure.

It’s a good question, since an all-glass aesthetic may not always work; whether due to the application required, lot layout, and many other factors.

Still, the short answer is yes. With some adjustments, we can build a kind of “Peapod Light” into just about any conventional building.

To quickly recap, Peapod Life integrates energy generation and conservation with efficient use of natural resources in closed-loop systems to enable food production.

The Peapod Life is easily achieved with an all-glass design. A non-glass design simply limits the size of the ecosystem, the amount of plant material which can be grown inside, and ultimately the quantity of food the system can produce.

So the fundamentals of Peapod Life are still intact; just downsized.

• A living wall is key for better air quality and the indoor/outdoor lifestyle experience living with your plants. The living wall can support food plants as well as ornamentals.
• With this approach we still recommend at least 50% windows and skylights to maximize sunlight exposure. Thus, natural ventilation and natural lighting are maintained.
• Humidity control, which was easier in the full glass construction, dictates that the walls be treated more like bathroom walls. Some materials, such as hardwood flooring, will not be used due to moisture movements.
• Other green elements, such as rainwater collection and solar collectors should still be considered to maintain the essence of Peapod Life.

Your property may not be able to support an all-glass Peapod Life addition; but as design and build contractors specializing in additions and major renovations, we are confident we can give you the best Peapod Light experience possible, no matter what the constraints of the building project.

Martina Ernst
President/CEO
Wo-Built Inc. - Innovative Design and Build

Check other articles about livable and sustainable design for future:
A New Construction Paradigm for Buildings
Indoor Landscapes: Companies See the Light of a whole New Level of "wow, cool!"
Combining Old and New Technology - The New Paradigm for Building?

Plants, People and Music Part 2: Plants Make Music?

Collage: Beautiful Musical Notes Falling from Tree
Image Credit: MS Office ClipArt: Tree + Dancing notes
"There is always music amongst the trees in the garden,
but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it." ~ Minnie Aumonier
Quote Source: All Nature, My Garden: The Music of Trees

Plants, People and Music Part 1: Listen for Life - The Connection between Biological Wellness and Music

Weeds be Jamming - The Ability of Plants to Make Music

Last time we looked at how plants seem to respond to music.

Well, what about the reverse: can plants make music?

We know the human response to music is often to join in, add to the beat, sing along, etc. Could it be possible that plants might exhibit a similar type of stimulus-response? And if so, might it be possible to "capture" that response as "music?"

The surprising answer is ... yes, quite possibly!

youtube.com: Can plants make music?
Plant orchestra and Biofeedback
Video by http://www.timewavezero.tv
Uploaded by TimeWaveZero on Mar 23, 2011

By connecting sensors to the plant and a simple synthesizer, researchers are able to capture the subtle shifts in electrical currents in the plants. These shifts are translated into notes and played by the synthesizer.

The plant seems to respond to the notes it hears that itself has played. One might be tempted to jump to the conclusion that the effect is pure stimulus-response. However, that would produce a very mechanistic result.

The following video from Damanhur, Italy, really sparks the imagination:

youtube.com: Singing Plants at DamanhurExperience what is was like to be in the Sacret Forests in Damanhur
and listen to the singing plants. It will change your perception on life.
Uploaded by RoatanBruce on Oct 24, 2011

What’s really going on here? On the surface it seems plants may have more in common with people than modern science would like to admit.

Peapod Life will pursue the phenomenon, and who knows? If our research and development produces similar results as those seen in Damanhur, we will dedicate ourselves to introducing and promoting a new experience of what it means to share living spaces with plants.


Attila Lendvai
VP of Strategic Development
Wo-Built Inc. - Innovative Design and Build

@peapodlife Tonight! Damanhur #Music of the #Plants presentation at The Rising Sun Centre http://t.co/A9J5zh5xuA pic.twitter.com/9FLOG7nLR6
— Wo-Built Inc (@wobuilt) February 6, 2014

links:
Music Thing: The Musical Life of Plants Part 1: Hendrix Killed My Petunia
Music Thing: The Musical Life of Plants Part 2: Can Plants Make Music?
Posted by Tom Whitwell

Data Garden Quartet – Live at The Philadelphia Museum Of Art
Data Garden presents a live exhibition recording of Quartet, the first plant-generated audio composition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
4 Tracks, 116 Minutes of Plant Generated Music: The musical compositions on Quartet were generated by four living tropical plants.

Scenocosme: Akousmaflore
Sensitive and interactive musical plants
by Grégory Lasserre & Anaïs met den Ancxt

Plants, People and Music Part 1: Listen for Life

Collage: Plants, People and Music
Image Credit: MS Office ClipArt:
Dancing music notes +
People dancing around a tree
Quote Source: Shakespeare On-Line:
Shakespeare Quotations on Music
from Henry VIII, 3.1.4-9 by William Shakespeare

The Connection between Biological Wellness and Music

It goes without saying that humans love music. Why not plants?

We are not the first to pose this question. Since the 1950’s everyone from scientists to botanists to curious students (think: science fair projects) have explored the effects of music on plants.

An online search of common databases will return contrary results, such as "no scientific research has been done" to "many controlled experiments by scientists have been performed."

So, with that in mind, after a fair bit of researching, it does seem that:

1. Music does have a profound influence on the growth of plants; and,
2. Classical music seems to have a much better influence on plants than heavy metal, rap, rock, or even country music.

Why might this be so?

Generally speaking, people know the difference between music people like and beautiful music. That is, while most contemporary genres of music (from rock to RAP, heavy metal, jazz, pop, etc.) might be fun to listen to (or even dance to), they just don’t have the same melodic / harmonic / rhythmic qualities as most classical, choral, sacred, traditional, acoustic music from around the world.

Consider also the kind of music that’s played in spas and during massage, reiki, meditation, and/or yoga sessions. We know intuitively what tones, harmonies, melodies, etc. are relaxing, rejuvenating, etc.

It turns out many professional greenhouses already play classical music for their plants. We doubt they would be doing it if it had no positive effect.

Wo-Built wholeheartedly believes in the healing power of music both for people and plants. That’s why Peapod Life will incorporate sound in new and exciting ways. Stay tuned!


Attila Lendvai
VP of Strategic Development
Wo-Built Inc. - Innovative Design and Build

Plants, People and Music Part 2: Plants Make Music?
Weeds be Jamming - The Ability of Plants to Make Music


Also please read other interesting articles about healing power of music and plants:

Genesis Eco Fund for Advanced Human Habitat: Do Trees Communicate? Ecosystems and the Communication of Plants
Peapod Life: Applications for Better Living
Peapod Life: Health and Wellness through Indoor Garden Living Spaces
Affordable Home Additions that Rejuvenate Your Quality of Life: Herbs!
Living with Plants inside an enclosed Ecosystem: Doctor Tested and Approved

You’ve got all the toys for your home; but do you have the fun; the fantasy?

Collage: Beauty & Magic of Natural World
Image Credit: MS Office ClipArt: Fairy with Flowers
Quote Source: Shakespeare Navigators: Puck’s Epilogue to
"A Midsummer Night’s Dream" by William Shakespeare

Bring the Beauty and the Magic of the Natural World into Your Home

So you’ve got the iPhone, the iPod, the iPad (or the ‘Droids); the sheik brownstone or the shiny new condo with the latest in contemporary designs, colours and textures, complete with a matching set of stainless steel appliances in "the ultimate kitchen." But, do you have the fun? The fantasy?

The summer is nearly over and so is Canadian Stage Company’s production of Shakespeare’s "A Midsummer Night’s Dream" in High Park.

We cannot imagine a better way to stage the Bard’s famous romantic comedy of errors than outside at dusk. What better backdrop than nature to evoke and the fantasy, mischief and love as lived in the realms of pixies, Puck and the Fairy Queen!

Now, what if you could bring that level of exotic, fun-filled fantasy into your home; your life? You can, with Peapod Life.

Wo-Built’s Peapod Life brings the beauty and the magic of the natural world into your space with magical installations that delight the senses, inspire the mind and rejuvenate the soul.

With the best of contemporary designs and technologies blended harmoniously with the timeless beauty and wisdom of Mother Nature, that feels right and just works, Peapod Life’s indoor ecosystems are beyond stylish …they are downright magical.

If today’s modern world of must-get stuff, cold technologies, hectic efficiency-minded pace, and industrialized urban lifestyle "offends" ... Peapod Life "shall make amends."


Attila Lendvai
VP of Strategic Development
Wo-Built Inc. - Innovative Design and Build

Please see other articles below for more details about Peapod Life:
Peapod Life: Applications for Better Living
Urban Farming and Peapod Life: Grow Kids’ Connection to Community, Culture and Curriculum
Indoor Landscapes: Companies See the Light of a whole New Level of "wow, cool!"
Fresh Air Indoors: Peapod Life Ecosystem Better Air Quality