Insights //

Our thoughts about things that interest, inspire, and motivate us.

International Contemporary Furniture Fair - The Avant Garde goes Green Glaciers - Ice Sculptures of the Earth System Serving as Examples for Business Lufa Farms - Rooftop Urban Food Systems, a Key to Healthy Cities of the Future

Design //

  • IMG_0759-WEB

    May 20, 2011

    Inter­na­tional Con­tem­po­rary Fur­ni­ture Fair — The Avant Garde goes Green

    Con­tem­po­rary art and design is often thought of as removed from our daily exis­tence. Its mean­ing or func­tion can be dif­fi­cult to grasp in prac­ti­cal terms. Furniture is no excep­tion. Design­ers and artists use dif­fer­ent mate­ri­als, struc­tures and treat­ments to push the lim­its of expres­sion and innovation. The divide between nature and human­ity can be ampli­fied in this process. How­ever, at the 2011 Inter­na­tional Con­tem­po­rary Fur­ni­ture Fes­ti­val in New York City, a dif­fer­ent trend emerged.

Envi­ron­ment //

  • A view down Kootenay Lake as we headed off to the mountains

    June 1, 2011

    Glac­i­ers — Ice Sculp­tures of the Earth Sys­tem Serv­ing as Exam­ples for Business

    Glac­i­ers are the stoic icons of the Earth Sys­tem. Their vast influ­ence has shaped the land­scapes we see today through­out geo­logic his­tory. In the prac­tice of Envi­ron­men­tal Impact Assess­ment we look to nature to try and pre­dict and mit­i­gate neg­a­tive effects and in Envi­ron­men­tal Design we attempt to emu­late nature in order to min­i­mize impacts. How can glac­i­ers inform envi­ron­men­tal man­age­ment and CSR (Cor­po­rate Social Respon­si­bil­ity), and why?

Inspire //

  • Lufa Farms

    August 15, 2011

    Lufa Farms — Rooftop Urban Food Sys­tems, a Key to Healthy Cities of the Future

    While urban rooftop farm­ing is a grow­ing trend around the world, Montreal’s own Lufa Farms are push­ing the bar higher. Their flag­ship hydro­ponic farm, built on top of an old indus­trial build­ing in the north of Mon­treal, shows that urban farm­ing is pos­si­ble on a large scale, that it is both sus­tain­able and com­mer­cial, that it can use pre-existing urban struc­tures and that healthy fresh food may soon be com­ing to a rooftop near you.

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