The Cob houses and the freedom in the design to shape the structure however the owner feels best suits them was a great concept. Along with the natural insulation that the material provides was something eco friendly. Not only does it become the structure, the design, and the texture, but it takes another property of cooling and keeping warm the house.

The Green Roof idea was also interesting. To me it looks as if we were just pulling the grass that would normally be there up a few hundered feet as if the building was drawn out from the ground. Why not do this? Why does the top of the building need to look "pretty."

The presentation was very informative, but as I understand it. The class presentation was supose to be about why, we researched this, and what was interesting about this, and the slides were mainly for the TA to read and give the presentation structure.

As far as why they reasearched the topic they didn't give much infromation about the signifigence of the reseach to them. The group had good information but once again the presentation was supose to be WHY not WHAT (as far as I know). The layout of the slide should also have been talked about, why we chose this design border, and what the impact of our arangement had on the delivery of out concepts. The group seemed to discuss more about what was in the slide rather then what the impact of the slide is intended to have or the reason a layout was chosen.

I liked the layout. It was simple very easy to follow and had consistency threw the project. The purple border was repeated on each slide, and the text and image seemed to be balanced for what I remember. There was nothing that stuck out in my mind as why did they do that or it doesn't look right. So I personally feel it was appeasing to the eye. Although the map was a bit harder to read, but that was from a distance, anyone downloading the file on their computer I'm sure would do alright reading it. But aren't most maps are hard to read anyway.

During some of the presentations the said a lot of, "I think" or "If I recal." Suggesting maybe they didn't have all their sources together or they didn't have time to insert the sitations into the research. But once again I'm not sure on the rules for this project. Are we to site the source on the slide, create a foot note of the location of the source, or include a sitation page itself? So I can't falt them on something I'm unsure of myself.

Overall I think they had an exellent presentation, everyone was on key. Each student had his choice of topic, and all the topics related to one another. I believe the idea was building with a sustainable inviroment in mind, weather that be using natural products that would utilize every aspect of the resource instead of waisting the stalks that are used in the Cob homes. Or that be adding a touch of nature to the desinged enviroment by minimizing runnoff thue suplimenting green roofs.

The image was resized when converting it to a pdf so the white space surrounding the water drop images should not exist. Was unable to strech the image to the edge or get the size and scale of cover I desired. But all in all if you can visualize picking up the book and how it would look with an A+ report filling the inside, I think it turned out very well, and feel this is my favorite of the four.

Think it's kind of neat and out of my comfort zone. While really interesting, it's not my favorite.

I don’t know what I would do to be quite honest. Sometimes we get so cought up in a system or schedule that it seems to consume us. Before I got to doing anything important I would look up the soonest plain to Colorado or Montana grab my board and hit the slopes. Take a week off after the rigorous exams, paper deadlines and the many tasks that seem to compound our daily lives. Ya boarding is defiantly first on my mind!

But after a relaxing vacation I think it would be interesting to hit up the coast and do some marine biology activities. Educating the public about the ocean and the creatures that inhabit it. A cool project to get involved in would be creating artificial reefs to help replace those that are damaged or even destroyed. Somewhere like Australia’s Great Beerier Reef would be a neat place to get involved.

The process is really quite simple to do. Take damaged coral, attach it to a concrete structure raise it in a “farm� and transplant the whole thing in the ocean. All that’s left is to sit back and watch it grow, that and deal with the financing and government regulations that seem to get in the way of every architects project. The designing of the reef is an art form because of the many types of coral and the shapes that can influence the type of creatures that will inhabit the formation. (Source: www.bizjournals.com a Florida company that is involved in the reconstruction of the segments damaged in the Florida Keys.)

One way of creating the foundation is demonstrated in Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe.; getting in a preformed enclosure and mixing a series of concrete, sand, cinder blocks, shells and repeating several times. The sand washes away leaving a concrete layer cake that the animals can shelter in a giving the coral space to thrive.

Another way that while aiding the environment is also environmentally clean. They start by construction a steel structure and submerge it. Then next step is to attach a cable that will provide an electrical current. A current is provided by the raft that floats above equipped with solar panels to harness the suns rays. The current coats the steel structure with bio-rock, type of limestone, that as they say at www.globalcoral.org the coral can’t resist latching on to.

I think getting involved with the ocean would be fun since I’ve always loved the water. Being able to design something and chose how you want to leave your mark on the world would be an exciting experience, and a positive one too. Combining different features to influence the type of coral and using that as an instrument to paint your canvas, then sitting back and watch it grow would give a tremendous feeling of accomplishment.

Picture can be found by going to http://images.google.com/images?q=homeless+pictures.

Wondering how to help? There are many organizations established to help meet the most basic needs. But the plates don’t serve themselves and donations won’t get up and walk to the nearest shelter. That’s right it takes you! There are food shelters that provide some nutrition to those that would otherwise starve, and shelters that provide a nighttime bed to sleep in. Almost all places will accept donations, for they provide vital funding to continue their services. Whether that be non-perishable foods like canned vegetables (corn, beans, peas, etc.), canned fruits (peaches, pears, pineapple, etc.), or boxed goods like macaroni, crackers, and much more. Also commonly overlooked is deodorant and razors for men to shave with, or deodorant and other feminine products for women to use. Along with this short list, things such as toilet paper, toothpaste, and brushes are also very helpful. If it’s more convenient for you to make a cash donation, remember no amount is too small and every bit helps.
Most programs aim to aid the homeless from night to night, and provide a meal to give them some nutrition. I decide to take a look at a pilot project that actually gives these people their own apartment and assists them with the rent until they are able to find a job and get off on their own feet. The program calls for 45 million that will be invested over the next 3 years (that’s about 15 million a year). The investments to proceed will come from the city, state, federal, and private donations. The money is used to build a new community center that is able to determine what kind of help the individual needs (socially or mentally) and help those find a job to create a stable source of income. The money will also be used to find homeless people apartments to live in.
While most programs have a step program starting out in shelters every night, if there is room, and then working their way up through 3 to 4 levels before having independent living. The problem here is no real progress being made and the people resort back to their old ways and becoming repeat cases, not only are they homeless again but take up old tendencies like drug use. This new pilot program offers hope to these people and a chance to start over again. While this may seem drastic and radical, consider recent polls state that it would me more cost effective to eradicate homelessness then to simply maintain the status quo. This program not only helps the individual but the community as well. The idea is to provide workers to fill required jobs, while generating additional income used in our local economy. Having a home is a big boost of confidence in the individual and integrating them back into society is something this program offers that others do not. For all the skeptics out there, I want you to know a similar project in Boston NY has had great success and a single team in under a year so far was able to find homes for 90 singles adults that had been homeless for an average of 11 years prior. That’s 1 less homeless person every 4 days.
I feel as a citizen of this community we are all obligated to do our part. No matter how big or small there’s something for everyone to do. For those of us that are financially stable think of the satisfaction and joy it would bring knowing you helped someone less fortunate then yourself. Put yourself in their shoes many of them did not have a choice to become homeless. One doesn’t choose to get laid off or develop a Social and or Mental illness.