Planning 403 Housing Case Study: Vauban

Vauban, Freiburg, Germany is my case study for planning 403, and it cant be more different from what is happening in New Zealand. the city is almost completely car free, and all dwelling within it is passively designed to maximise solar energy gain and reduce the utility cost during winter heating.

As we can see from the image that the building a wide range of form and shapes, this is due to the fact that the whole district is bought up by numerous co-housing groups and architects, and thus despite the uniform energy efficiency of the buildings, they vary greatly in form and shape.

the car-free suburb is achieved by a strict enforcement of planning rules such is forbidding the inclusion of front door parking, and to own car would mean to pay for about 18,000 euros and for the car to be stored in a car-park facility on the fringe of the community.

Is there anything that IPhone cant do?

a patent was applied by apple for a solar powered IPhone, making your beloved gadget much more sustainable and more reasons to use it!

How soon will the solar iPhone be available? We’re not sure, but Patently Apple notes that the recent switch over of the iPhone’s backside substrate to a non-metal surface could lead the way for double-sided solar panels right behind the display. One thing’s for sure – if and when this new iPhone rolls out, it will be that much harder for other phones to “kill.”

REuse Light Bulb

this is a reused light-bulb forms a refreshingly unique planter, with the base made from cork, another sustainable material. this is something that everyone can do, and should do, however finding one of these old fashioned light bulb in a environmentally conscious household might me slightly difficult...

courtesy to Inhabitat
http://inhabitat.com/2010/05/31/potus-pots-turn-old-incandescent-light-bulbs-into-lovely-planters/

Planning 305 Assignment

This is my Governance Assignment from this year, the topic focuses on the interaction between the government and the public, especially the need to facilitate exchange between the government and various social, religion and ethnic groups within the Auckland area.

in the text i discussed the relationship between government and the public, especially along the terms of creating a multicultural community on the basis of bi-cultural collaboration.

New Theme

i have decided to give my blog more focus instead of submitting things randomly, therefore, the topic that are going to be added to this blog from this point onwards will consist of three things: first, any assignment deemed good enough to be published online, second, my own hobbies which include PC games, the Magic Tradings Card game and models, and third, innovative ideas and gadgets with a environmentally and sustainable focus, as well as multitude of electronics. it is still rather broad, but i think the limitation would give this blog a little more substance than it has showed before.

thanks

Planning 204 Assignment

This is possibly one of the hardest assignment I have done so far, not only my group only consist of two people while normally there are 4-5 people in each group, but also the severe lack of information of the study site. In the end I pulled it off and got a good grade, a most rewarding and gratifying thing. (this is the entire assignment includeing part 1 and 2)

Planning 222 Group Assignment

This is the Planning 222 Assignment concerning Chelsea, compared to previous group assignments this one went very well indeed. however, maybe the going was too easy that we slacked off and the result was we almost didn't gand in the assigment ment...