TheBuckminsterFuller
Challenge 2009
CONFERRING CEREMONY MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART, CHICAGO JUNE 6, 2009
About The Buckminster Fuller Challenge R. Buckminster Fuller challenged himself and the world “to make the world work for 100% of humanity, in the shortest possible time, through spontaneous cooperation without ecological offence or disadvantage to anyone.” Fuller coupled this intention with a pioneering approach aimed at solving complex problems. This approach, which he called comprehensive, anticipatory design science, combines an emphasis on individual initiative and integrity with whole systems thinking, scientific rigor and faithful reliance on nature’s underlying principles. Fuller’s challenge inspired BFI to launch The Buckminster Fuller Challenge in 2007 to to support the development and implementation of a solution that has significant potential to solve humanity’s most pressing problems. Entries must present a bold, visionary, tangible initiative that is focused on a well-defined need of critical importance. They should be regionally specific yet globally applicable, and backed up by a solid plan and the capability to move the solution forward.
OmniOculi, a limited edition sculpture created by Tom Shannon for the Buckminster Fuller Challenge winner
THE BUCKMINSTER FULLER CHALLENGE We seek integrated solutions within a broad range of human endeavor that exemplify the trimtab principle. Trimtabs demonstrate how small amounts of energy and resources precisely applied at the right time and place can produce maximum advantageous change.
ENTRIES MUST BE...
ANTICIPATORY ECOLOGICALLY RESPONSIBLE
VERIFIABLE REPLICABLE
S C I E N C E
FEASIBLE
D E S I G N
COMPREHENSIVE
09 jury Adam Bly is Founder and CEO of Seed Media Group and the Editor-in-Chief of Seed. At the age of 16, Adam became the youngest researcher at the National Research Council of Canada. While at NRC, Adam set out to launch a new type of magazine that captured the ideas, issues and icons shaping the global science culture. SEED received the 2006 Independent Press Award for Best Science and Technology Coverage.
ADAM BLY
Adam is the recipient of numerous international prizes and has spoken around the world on the relationship between science and society in the 21st century.
Jamais Cascio writes about the intersection of emerging technologies, environmental dilemmas, and cultural transformation, specializing in the design and creation of plausible scenarios of the future. His work focuses on the importance of long-term, systemic thinking, emphasizing the power of openness, transparency and flexibility as catalysts for building a more resilient society.
JAMAIS CASCIO
Helena Norberg-Hodge
Cascio’s work appears in publications as diverse as Metropolis, Technology Review, and ForeignPolicy. com. Cascio has spoken about future possibilities around the world.
Dr. John Todd, winnerisofthe thefounder 2008 BuckHelena Norberg-Hodge and minster ofFuller Challenge, Society is one for of director the International the pioneers in thea emerging field of Ecology and Culture, non-profit organiecological designwith andthe engineering. He sation concerned protection of and nanchy Jackand Todd are thediversity, Founders both biological cultural of education Ocean Arks a nonand for International, action: moving beyond profit issues research and ateducation single to look the more organifundazation established in 1981, John also mental influences that shape ourislives. the Founder and a Principal in Todd Ecological She is also Design, involved an withinternational the Global ecological Network design and and directs engineering Ecovillage the firm based in Woods Hole on Cape Ladakh Project, renowned for Cod. its groundbreaking work in sustainable Nancy Jack Todd is Vice President of development on the Tibetan plateau. Ocean International andRight editor of its She is Arks a recipient of the Livelijournal Annals Earth; co-founder with hood Award or of Alternative Nobel Prize. John Todd of the New Alchemy Institute
09 jury Dr. John Todd, winner of the 2008 Buckminster Fuller Challenge, is one of the pioneers in the emerging field of ecological design and engineering. John is also the Founder and a Principal in Todd Ecological Design, an international ecological design and engineering firm based in Woods Hole on Cape Cod.
JOHN TODD AND NANCY JACK TODD
He and Nancy Jack Todd are the co-founders of Ocean Arks International, a non-profit research and education organization established in 1981. Nancy Jack Todd is Vice President of Ocean Arks International and editor of its journal Annals of Earth; co-founder with John Todd of the New Alchemy Institute, which has been at the forefront of work in appropriate-scale technology; author and co-author of many works, including Bioshelters, Ocean Arks and City Farming.
From 1995 to 1999 Greg Watson served as Executive Director of the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative. He has been with: Second Nature as its Director of Educational Programs; The Nature Conservancy’s Eastern Regional Office as its Director; and Massachusetts Department of Food and Agriculture as Commissioner.
GREG WATSON
As Vice President for Sustainable Development & Renewable Energy at the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, he is taking the lead role on the Offshore Wind Collaborative working with the U.S. Department of Energy and GE.
09 jury + panelist Jury Member + Guest Panelist Edie Farwell is the Program Director of the Donella Meadows Leadership Fellows Program of the Sustainability Institute.
EDIE FARWELL
The Donella Meadows Leadership Fellows Program was launched in 2002 to honor and build on the life example of Dr. Donella Meadows. Donella’s life and work expressed a dedication to scientific rigor, a deeply grounded optimism, and the ability to communicate clearly and compassionately. Her systems approach enabled her to see the root causes of seemingly intractable problems - poverty, war, environmental degradation.
Jury Member + Guest Panelist Early in his career, Bill helped build Buckminster Fuller’s last experimental structure, based on advanced geometry systems. In 1991, he founded Green Development Services at Rocky Mountain Institute, an entrepreneurial, non-profit “think and do tank” whose work advances energy-efficient and environmentallyresponsive design.
BILL BROWNING
In 2005 he joined Jeffrey Bannon in co-founding Browning+Bannon LLC, an independent real estate and consulting firm focused on environmentally responsive development. Bill was a founding member of the U.S. Green Building Council’s Board of Directors, and still serves on the USGBC’s Governance Board.
Panel Moderator Susan S. Szenasy is Editor-in-Chief of Metropolis, the award-winning New York City-based magazine of architecture, culture, and design. Since 1986 she has lead the magazine through years of landmark design journalism, achieving domestic and international recognition. She is internationally recognized as an authority on sustainability and design.
SASAN SZENASY
She has been honored with two IIDA Presidential Commendations, is an honorary member of the ASLA, and the 2008 recipient of the ASID Patron’s Prize and Presidential Commendation as well as the SARA/NY medallion of honor.
Criteria and Process “If success or failure of the planet and of human beings depended on how I am and what I do ... How would I be? What would I do?” — Buckminster Fuller
CRITERIA DEFINITIONS • COMPREHENSIVE - Addresses the interaction of key issues responsible for present conditions; solving multiple problems without creating new ones. • ANTICIPATORY - Factoring in critical future trends and needs as well as potential long term impacts of implementation. • ECOLOGICALLY RESPONSIBLE - Reflecting nature’s underlying principles while enhancing the Earth’s life-support systems. • FEASIBLE- Relying primarily on current technology and existing resources. • VERIFIABLE - Able to withstand rigorous empirical testing. • REPLICABLE- Able to scale and adapt to a broad range of conditions.
We want the winning solution to be what Fuller called a trimtab- a catalyst inserted into a failing system at the right time and place, that accelerates the transition to an equitable and sustainable future.
2009 SELECTION PROCESS Entries were subjected to a rigorous screening and review for compliance with eligibility, criteria and entry requirements by a team comprised of members of the Award Program Committee of the Board of Directors, staff and advisors. A pool of 33 finalists were invited to submit additional information and participate in an in-depth interview with the above mentioned team. The jury reviewed the finalists over a period of eight weeks before gathering for a final deliberation. The jury’s selection of the winner, runner-up and two honorable mentions was unanimous. All entries to the 2009 Buckminster Fuller Challenge have been published in the IDEA INDEX.
http://challenge.bfi.org/ideaindex REVIEW TEAM Joshua Arnow Michael Ben-Eli Mark Beam David McConville Matt Barron Bonnie DeVarco Elizabeth Thompson Jay Baldwin Lucilla Marvel
RUNNER-UP DREAMING NEW MEXICO Submitted by: Bioneers Kenny Ausubel, Co-Founder Peter Warshall http://challenge.bfi.org/runnerup_2009
HONORABLE MENTION CYCLES FOR HEALTH Submitted by: Joseph Agoada, Two Wheeled Foundation; Dr. John Baptist Niwagaba, Kigezi Community Project; Patrick Kayemba, First African Bicycle Information Organization http://challenge.bfi.org/C4H_2009
HONORABLE MENTION MAKURU BIOCENTRES Submitted by: Umande Trust, GOAL Ireland Partnership http://challenge.bfi.org/makuru_2009
STATEMENT FROM The Jury about the 2009 Challenge runner up and honorable mentions Runner-Up
Honorable Mentions
Dreaming New Mexico (DNM) has been selected as the Runner Up of the 2009 Buckminster Fuller Challenge. In the opinion of this jury, Dreaming New Mexico brings together the tools of grassroots organizing and community leadership with scientific know-how and political savvy to both create a vision for the future and lay the groundwork for getting there. This is a fundamental leverage point for creating systemic change.
We have named two Honorable Mentions that are well-deserving of attention and support and have the potential to effect real change in less developed parts of the world.
The core concept of this work is the power of transformative visioning, of imagining the world we want to see and then putting the steps in place to get us there, a process which Bucky often called designing the ‘preferred state.’ The solution tackles an issue often overlooked by problem-solvers – the political dynamic and the political barriers that often slow or stop large-scale change. The ‘dreaming’ phase of DNM brings key political decision makers to the table with the community from the beginning to work collaboratively to envision a sustainable future, in turn creating social connections and a partnership of trust that can carry the project forward. In many ways, DNM is a process for creating a new political landscape that ties together earth stewardship values with core community needs – from fresh water, to clean energy, to abundant and locally-grown food. Imagining a better future is the first step towards creating that future and DNM provides a rich community process that can be replicated across the globe to give voice to the grassroots and help us build strong local economies and sustainable, resilient communities.
Cycle for Health ties together existing resources into an elegant solution for African villages underserved by transportation infrastructure. The team works with Canadian and U.S. NGOs to obtain used bicycles, ships the bikes to East Africa in shipping containers, converts the shipping containers into bike repair shops, and distributes the bikes to local community groups and hospitals that repurpose them for use as ambulances and delivery vehicles for medical supplies, food, and water. The solution not only provides much-needed transportation alternatives, it brings economic opportunity and jobs in bicycle repair and courier service. Mukuru BioCentres offers a comprehensive solution to some of the most egregious problems of urban slums, from poor sanitation to lack of clean water to unpredictable or nonexistent energy infrastructure. The BioCentres, of which there are already 12 in operation in Kenya, are public toilets housed above a biogas digester that produces affordable fuel from human waste, which is then made available to the local community. The facilities also provide clean water, public space, and workspace which serves as an incubator for local businesses. Both of these projects prove that systemic change doesn’t require the development of new technology or radical social disruption, sometimes rearranging the pieces of existing systems and finding a new way to insert them where they are most needed makes all the difference. We applaud the outstanding work being done by these teams and wish them great success in the future.
STATEMENT FROM The BFI about the 2009 Challenge runner up Runner-Up:“Dreaming the Future Can Create the Future” The transition to a sustainable world economy depends in large part on shared visions of futures we hope to see. When it comes to a future we hope not to see we better pay close attention to the Center for Global Change Science at MIT. On May 19th the Center published results of their most comprehensive climate model yet and it shows that without rapid and massive action, by 2100 median surface temperatures could rise 5.2 Celsius (9.36 F), about twice as severe as the previous projection of 2.4 Celsius (4.32 F), performed six years ago. The Dreaming New Mexico (DNM) initiative is grappling with a fundamental question: how do citizens of New Mexico move swiftly with care and intelligence from the present unsustainable condition to a preferred state? The concept of “preferred states” is central to Buckminster Fuller’s design-science approach. It takes problem solving beyond the business as usual calculation of risks into the creative realm where new possibilities can be imagined and designed. This year’s runner up understands this is a process that begins with daring to dream the future. And by daring to dream future themselves, the Dreaming New Mexico (DNM) team has embarked on a cross cultural, multi-stakeholder process to collaboratively map a green infrastructure and resource strategy for an entire state. Resilient solutions to intractable largescale problems are best realized through collaborative democratic processes grounded in principles of sustainability and rigorous science. DNM provides a cohesive combination of these attributes which Kenny Ausubel and Peter Warshall, with support from the Bioneers network, are diligently applying to an array of resource challenges and opportunities in New Mexico. The arid climate of New Mexico, its abundant sunshine and great cultural diversity (the population is 43% Hispanic and 9% Native Ameri-
can), makes DNM an ideal laboratory for such a globally relevant experiment. Focusing initially on energy assets, participants in the DNM process are using GIS mapping technology to render with clarity and precision a collective vision of New Mexico’s renewable energy future. To form a comprehensive view of the preferred state DNM will develop additional “Future Maps” including water and land use, food production, governance and social justice. Ultimately DNM intends to show that there are effective stakeholder processes and tools that can drive significant change and stand the test of time, regardless of shortterm vagaries in the political arena. Dreaming New Mexico presumes Fuller’s steadfast position that “we have option to make it” -- that the necessary resources, tools and “do more with less” know-how are now at hand. With this firmly in mind, they are on their way towards demonstrating that New Mexico has the option to realize sustainability as an enduring condition within a generation, and by extension, so do similar arid regions the world over.
Wind Resource Map
Runner Up: Dreaming New Mexico Mapping the Environmental Challengess
Pamphlet providing educational tools informed by all
Solar Resource Map geo-narratives
S T A T E M E N T F R O M T he B F I about the 2 0 0 9 C hallenge honorable mentions Honorable Mentions: Powerful Trimtabs for the Developing World Two projects received Honorable Mention from the 2009 Challenge Jury. Each have identified key elements of failing systems in impoverished areas of East Africa and have crafted well integrated strategies to address them. They are both intervening with solutions to the most basic life support services which are missing in much of the developing world; timely access to medical care, fresh water, and sanitation. But their approach, being holistic and entrepreneurial, breaks them out of the usual narrow, compartmentalized approach which aims to fix just one dimension of a problem. These projects are producing multiple benefits in the communities they touch -- from education and training to employment and improved health. This is why each
Honorable Mention: Cycles for Health The team behind Cycle for Health has made the bicycle, an accepted and valued form of carbon free rural transport in Uganda, the center of an integrated strategy to greatly improve mobility of medicine, medical personnel and patients. Here, ample drugs and skilled professionals cannot reach patients in need of medical attention, due in large part, to poor roads and limited use of motorized vehicles. Timely diagnosis, treatment and drug delivery is critical, especially for pregnant women and HIV/AIDS, Malaria and TB patients. Delays in initial care turn small, treatable problems into serious ailments, resulting in long, costly journeys to expensive city hospitals. Cycle for Health recycles and repurposes thousands of used bicycles from North America into capital assets used to build and expand a coordinated network of small scale rural medical mobility enterprises, saving lives, creating jobs and raising living standards.
project will be an important catalyst, inspiring the development of more comprehensive solutions, and starting a virtuous cycle of synergy and innovation that could eventually bring about system level change. Fuller likened such interventions to the function of a trimtab, a small mechanism affixed to the rudder of a large ship designed to create a low pressure area that makes it much easier for the rudder to steer the vessel. The tiny trimtab facilitates the turning of a huge ship using the least amount of energy and resources.
Honorable Mention: Mukuru Biocentres The Mukuru BioCentres team is tackling the appalling lack of sanitary facilities, access to fresh water and the need for clean, inexpensive cooking fuel in the Mukuru squatter slum of Nairobi. Here there are only around 200 toilets serving 200,000 people and no legal access to nearby municipal water mains. People steal water from the mains exposing the ‘public’ water supply to contamination, human waste lies on paths and in open trenches. The most prevalent childhood sicknesses and 40% of infant mortality are caused by inadequate sanitation. The solution brings together under one roof clean public toilets and washrooms with bio-digesters that convert human waste into clean bio-gas cooking fuel, and produce treated grey water for reuse in toilets. It is built with local labor and materials and requires minimal maintenance, no mechanized parts and no sewerage infrastructure. The solution is so effective that the government has agreed to allow direct hook up to the water main enabling BioCentres to sell affordable clean water. Upper floors provide rooms for community activities, cottage industries and restaurants. Income generated through rental space and sales of bio-gas and water subsidize the operation of the toilets. Twelve BioCentres have already been built and serve over 7000 people every day. All are breaking even and each is projected to turn a profit which will be reinvested in expanding the program. Cycle for Health and Mukuru Biocentres present a new generation of developing world solutions that exemplify the trimtab approach. The results are tangible, immediately visible, and directly improve quality of life for thousands of people. Moreover, the replicable nature of these solutions will spread essential life supporting benefits far beyond their initial points of contact. These visionary initiatives deserve much continued support.
2009 winning solution
sustainable personal mobility and mobility on demand
Mobility-on-Demand systems utilize fleets of shared-use lightweight electric vehicles placed at automatic charging racks throughout city. The CityCar and RoboScooter, both folding vehicles, minimize parking space and can be picked-up and dropped-off at any rack. Mobility-on-Demand systems maximize mobility and dramatically reduce congestion and pollution through energy and land-use efficiency. http://challenge.bfi.org/winner_2009
Submitted by: Smart Cities Group at MIT Ryan ChinCharles GuanWilliam LarkMichael Chia-Liang LinDimitris PapanikolaouArthur PetronRaul-David “Retro” PoblanoAndres SevtsukProfessor William J. Mitchell-
AN EXCERPT FROM THE WINNING PROPOSAL
ANTICIPATORY ECOLOGICALLY RESPONSIBLE
VERIFIABLE REPLICABLE
S C I E N C E
FEASIBLE
D E S I G N
COMPREHENSIVE
The negative externalities of automobile use – urban congestion, inefficient energy use, petroleum addiction, air and noise pollution, and carbon emissions leading to climate change – requires a complete redesign of mobility at the system level. The introduction of SPM/MOD systems goes beyond incremental improvements that only focus on fuel efficiency like hybrid-electric, fuel cell, and clean diesel technology. It is a comprehenisve redesign of the mobility system. This solution anticipates global trends in 1) one-way vehicle sharing systems, 2) improvements in battery, inductive charging technologies, and in-wheel electric motors that allow economically viable electric vehicles, 3) need to solve the “Last-Mile” problem within public transit systems, 4) development of a smart electric grid, 5) upcoming legislation promoting a new green economy. Our team at MIT is uniquely positioned to bridge industry and government (cities) because of our past experience in tackling complex problems like climate change, education, energy, transportation, and city planning.
TRIBTAB FOR TRANSPORTATION 2009 Winning Solution Sustainable Personal Mobility and Mobility on Demand Smart Cities Group-MIT
5
> Mobility on demand users can employ multiple vehicle types
Stacks and throughout thatracks are specifically suitedthe to city their needs and a complement to public transport.
7
0 100
500 250
Large vehicle storage areas can lie outside of the dense historic center
Major mobility nodes exist at the traditional city gates
Minor mobility nodes are aligned with piazzas and existing transportation hubs
Minor ‘snap-on’ stacks and racks can be placed in streets and adjusted over time
1000m
NTS
STATEMENT FROM The Jury about the 2009 Challenge Winner In the opinion of this jury, Sustainable Personal Mobility & Mobility on Demand, best represents the comprehensive, anticipatory approach to design pioneered by R. Buckminster Fuller – it is a, bold, visionary idea and beautifully reflects the spirit of the Buckminster Fuller Challenge. Given the nature of the crises we are facing, from climate change to economic collapse, what is important is to demonstrate that this approach to design and problem solving – while always thinking big – has the potential to bring about changes in the near-term. This project is a perfect example of the kind of radical, transformative change that is possible when we reconceive the old ways of doing things and take a systems-based approach to design.
CityCar rival that of an upscale vehicle and it may be tempting to assume that this project is targeted to the privileged few, the strategy is multifaceted and has been designed to adapt and scale, making it applicable from New York City to Taipei to Lagos. The RoboScooter and the GreenWheel Bicycle offer pollution-free, affordable mobility alternatives just as well-suited to the world’s largest most cosmopolitan cities as they are to less developed areas that currently rely on dirty and dangerous means of transportation – even as millions of drivers are being added to the roads every day.
The adoption of this system by the rapidly developing mega-cities of the would allow them to ‘leap-frog’ past the internal combustion engine SPM/MoD isn’t just about the design and the legacy technologies of the of these lightweight, highly effi- developed world and chart a new cient, electric vehicles, it is about course of economic development inserting that technological innova- and infrastructure design based tion into the social and cultural envi- on clean, efficient, sustainable ronment and designing an intuitive transportation, accessible to all. system within which they function. We can’t wait for our supplies of fossil The technological innovation fuels to be exhausted or for electric embodied in these vehicles is just cars to become more affordable, one piece of a larger system design we have to rethink the very concept which addresses issues from pollu- of personal mobility now and this tion, to congestion, to urban space, project provides a roadmap to get us to economics, to energy use, to the there. We are proud to award the 2009 very idea of personal transportation Buckminster Fuller Challenge prize and what that means in a world with to this project and the incredible nearly seven billion inhabitants. It team of students who submitted it. truly is – in the Bucky tradition – a transformative solution rather than an isolated piece of technology. Three innovative new vehicles are at the core of the concept, the CityCar, the RoboScooter, and the GreenWheel bicycle. While the aesthetics of the
“...We can’t wait for our supplies of fossil fuels to be exhausted or for electric cars to become more affordable, we have to rethink the very concept of personal mobility now and this project provides a roadmap to get us there. .” -09 Jury
“it is a, bold, visionary idea and beautifully reflects the spirit of the Buckminster Fuller Challenge.”
-09 Jury
STATEMENT FROM The BFI about the 2009 Challenge Winner Winner:“A New Paradigm for Personal Urban Mobility” TThe evolution of human settlement has reached the point where over half of the world’s 6.77 billion people now live in cities. Where is this trend headed? The UN estimates that in a little over 40 years
recognized and set out to accomplish through their winning strategy: Sustainable Personal Mobility and Mobility-on-Demand Systems. In setting out on this challenge,
“[SPM/MOD] charts a clear path toward significantly improving the climatescapes, streetscapes, and soundscapes which impact millions of urban dwellers around the world. ” the projected global population will reach 9 billion, of which 70% will be urban dwellers. How we choose to manage this epochal transition will determine the quality of life on this planet in fundamental ways. The use of personal transport vehicles is basic to urban environments. However, in many crowded metro regions around the world increasing traffic congestion and tailpipe emissions are having serious impacts on human health, safety, productivity, civic beauty and the climate. Compound the current state with the likelihood that over the next handful of decades more than 6 billion humans will reside in urban settings and it becomes painfully obvious that a new paradigm for urban personal mobility is absolutely critical.
the Smart Cities Group at the MIT Media Lab examined how existing mobility, energy, and communication systems worked in cities and discovered the lack of integration between these systems and inefficiencies within each. In particular, the privately owned and fossil fueled automobile was in need of reinvention with respect to urban use. They have designed and tested a complimentary set of electric powered vehicles (bicycle, scooter, and car) with extraordinary innovation in efficiency, safety and convenience. In addition, they have addressed what is referred to by transportation planners as the “first and last mile’ problem - the ubiquitous gap between final destination and the nearest public transit stop. The team has also developed a compelling economic model and business plan informed by in-depth case studies that will likely continue attracting public and private support.
Buckminster Fuller insisted that “you never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.” This Most of the media coverage about is precisely what the Smart Cities this initiative concentrates on the Group at the MIT Media lab has advanced design of the vehicles.
SPM/MoD deftly incorporates another primary feature of resilient natural systems: continuous feedback loops. This is achieved through location based tracking (GPS), real time information flows between users and mobility managers, as well as dynamic pricing incentives. SPM/Mod takes other important steps forward by including the use of renewable energy resources, designing Viewed as an integrated whole, one for smart grid applications and can see that the SPM/MoD strategy optimizing components for future seeks to embody the key character- “cradle to cradle” material flows. istics of stable, vibrant, complex systems found in nature. Headed by The timeliness of this new paraProfessor William J. Mitchell and PHD digm for personal urban mobility candidate Ryan Chin, the team has makes it easy to foresee, that in the employed an approach that contains not too distant future, it could be essential levels of variety and relies successfully implemented in both on mutual adaptation. They envision old and new cities and on all contia personal mobility model which is nents. It could also allow emerging sufficiently diverse and networked, to urban areas to leap frog over the be capable of producing an evolving dysfunctional approach to personal process of dynamic equilibrium. mobility currently plaguing many Variety is expressed by combining developed economies. Sustainable multiple vehicle types at abundant Personal Mobility and Mobility-onaccess nodes with a flexible mix of Demand Systems chart a clear path capacity and price options tailored toward significantly enhancing the to fit local demographics and usage climatescapes, streetscapes, and patterns. To ensure functioning as an soundscapes impacting millions of adaptive, creative, learning system, urban dwellers around the world. This is understandable given our culture’s fascination with futuristic technology. But if you probe deeper, the Media Lab’s strategy seems to transcend the circumscription of sheer engineering prowess. From our perspective, we see certain design principles operating at the core of this initiative which we believe provides the basis of its underlying integrity.
Above: Mobility on Demand system integrated with a renewable power, energy storage, and smart grids.
Above: Mobility on Demand system network management strategy.
SPOTLIGHT ON FULLER Dymaxion Transport Systems “...[R]ather than attempting to improve an existing model of an automobile, [Fuller] attempted to address the question of human transportation from first principles, emulating the design principles he observed in nature.” Michael J. Gorman, Buckminster Fuller: Designing for Mobility, 2005.
Dymaxion Car
Kaiser Prototype
When first tackling issues of mobility and transportation, Buckminster. Fuller sought to bring principles of streamlining and light weight designcommonly utilized in the aviation and nautical industries to improve performance efficiency for the standard automobile of the 1930s. The result was one of Fuller’s most famous inventions: a three wheeled car that could carry 11 passengers, reach speeds of 120 mph and get 30 miles per gallon.
Using a similar streamline design as with the original Dymaxion Car, this 1943 proposal of Fuller’s for industrialist Henry Kaiser was geared towards creating a smaller passenger automobile that was even moreefficient in fuel consumption. In additional to its small single row of seating for four the plan included another radical breakthrough in automotive design, 3 separate 15 horsepower engines – one at each wheel.
Dymaxion Transport Expanding his interests of personal mobility to a much larger and imaginative scale, Fuller re-envisioned air travel with his Dymaxion Transport renderings. Seeking to consolidate ‘all the legs of journey’ into one continuous trip, Fuller explored the use of traveling cartridges that could connect to mass transit, load efficiently onto an airplane, and even travel on their own as a small car. The system was integrated within a global computerized system that would best determine routing and connections.
Source Bucky Works: Buckminster Fuller’s Ideas for Today, by Jay Baldwin. John Wiley and Sons, Inc. 1996.
PLEASE JOIN US!
IMEDIATELY FOLLOWING THE CONFERRING CEREMONY
RECEPTION + CELEBRATION June 6th 5:00 -8:00pm: Presentation by Bruce Mau and installation of Fuller’s iconic Fly’s Eye Dome Merchandise Mart, South Lobby, 222 Merchandise Mart Plaza, Chicago, IL (map on last page) “The Fly’s Eye domes are designed as components of a ‘livingry’ service. The basic hardware components will produce a beautiful, fully equipped, air-deliverable house that weighs and costs about as much as a good automobile. Not only will it be highly efficient in its use of energy and materials, it also will be capable of harvesting incoming light and wind energies.” - Buckminster Fuller, Critical Path, 1983
BRUCE MAU Bruce Mau is one of the world’s most sought-after designers. He is the creative director of Bruce Mau Design, and the founder of the Center for Massive Change. Mau’s prolific body of work cuts across many sectors and disciplines. Mau’s studio has created books, exhibitions, retail environments, building graphics, park designs, corporate identities, videos, art installations, websites, and industrial products.
EVENT ON SUNDAY June 7th 10:00am Rowing needle demonstration and race Organized by Carl Solway Gallery and the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs Chicago River at Lake Shore Drive
This program was made possible by the generous support of the following institutions and foundations: Anonymous The Atwater Kent Foundation The James Dyson Foundation The Highfield Foundation The Jewish Communal Fund
The members of The Buckminster Fuller Institute Metropolis Magazine Rudolf Steiner Social Finance Fund
The 2009 conferring ceremony & related programs in Chicago supported by : AIA, Chicago The Arena Stage, Washington, DC The Chicago Reader The Millenium Knickerbocker Hotel Bruce Mau Studio The Merchandise Mart The Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
The Public Art Fund of the City of Chicago Max Protech Gallery Carl Solway Gallery Claudia Skylar & James Mastro Vitra
And through the generous financial support of the following people: Brett Boye Anne Conover Carson Joe & Elberta Clinton Lydia Cochrane Dirk Denison Kevin Fattor CJ Fearnley Greg Fields Hazel Henderson Douglas Hurdelbrink & Mary Slivon Terrill Janssen Neal Katz
Patrick Horsbrugh Lucilla Marvel Peter Meisen Hans Meyer Jeannie Moberly Philip Moore Bill Perk Victor Sanchez Allegra Fuller Snyder Stephen Wenzel Blair Wolfram Thomas Zung
We would also like to extend our thanks to the following people: Joshua Arnow Joao Amorim & Postmodern Times Jay Baldwin Matt Burron Michael Ben-Eli The Board of Directors of the Buckminster Fuller Institute The 2009 Buckminster Fuller Challenge Jury Martin Brennan Rick Denny Bonnie DeVarco The Estate of Buckminster Fuller John Ferry
Matt Howard Rob Kenner Lisa Kenner Gabrielle Lyon Tim Murray Devin Reitsma Tom Shannon Carl Solway Rachel Steinberg Greg Watson Beatrice White Thomas Conover White The Whitney Museum of American Art Thomas Zung
“BFI is dedicated to accelerating the development and deployment of solutions which radically advance human well being and ecosystem health.” The Buckminster Fuller Institute is dedicated to accelerating the development and deployment of solutions which radically advance human well being and the health of our planet’s ecosystems. We aim to deeply influence the ascendance of a new generation of design-science pioneers who are leading the creation of an abundant and restorative world economy that benefits all humanity. Our programs combine unique insight into global trends and local needs with a comprehensive approach to design. We encourage participants to conceive and apply transformative strategies based on a crucial synthesis of whole systems thinking, Nature’s fundamental principles, and an ethically driven worldview.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS Allegra Fuller Snyder, Emeritus Neal Katz, President Kirk Bergstrom, Vice President Hans Meyer, Treasurer Lucilla Marvel, Secretary Mark Beam Joseph Clinton Lynette Kessler Martin Leaf Jonathan Marvel David McConville Jaime Snyder Shoji Sadao
By facilitating convergence across the disciplines of art, science, design and technology, our work extends the profoundly relevant legacy of R. Buckminster Fuller. In this way, we strive to catalyze the collective intelligence required to fully address the unprecedented challenges before us. The Buckminster Fuller Institute is a 501(c) (3) not-for-profit organization, founded in 1983.
Thomas Zung
BFI STAFF Will Elkins, Administrative Coordinator JenJoy Roybal, Program Manager David Shearer, Development Jean Tesoriero, Bookkeeping and Accounting Elizabeth Thompson, Executive Director
challenge@bfi.org challenge.bfi.org/ideaindex
NOTES
The Buckminster Fuller Institute | 181 N11th St | Suite 402 | Brooklyn, NY 11211 T: 718 290 9283 | F: 718 290 9281 | bfi.org
PROGRAM SCHEDULE 2:00
Welcome Neal Katz, President, Board of Directors of The Buckminster Fuller Institute Bucky in Chicago Allegra Fuller Snyder The Buckminster Fuller Challenge Elizabeth Thompson, Executive Director, The Buckminster Fuller Institute Statement about the Runner-Up Joshua Arnow, Award Program Committee member
2:30
Recognition of Runner-up and Remarks Kenny Ausubel and Peter Warshall Statement about Winner Joshua Arnow, Award Program Committee member
3:00
Presentation of the Buckminster Fuller Challenge Prize Remarks by MIT Team TEN MINUTE BREAK
3:30
Panel Discussion
4:30
moderated by Susan Szenazy, Editor in Chief, Metropolis Magazine Bill Browning Edie Farwell Greg Watson END Reception to immediately follow at The Merchandise Mart, South Lobby MCA
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W. Kinzie St. M MART
N. Michigan Ave.
Chicago Ave. N. State St.
Merchandise Mart 222 Merchandise Mart Plz # 470 Chicago, IL 60654
N. La Salle Dr.
5:00