Week 9 : It's like it never end

This is a journal blog entry that is about water pollution. I came across of this article published by The New York Times, on 19th April 2017. The world's ocean are covered by millions pieces of litters such as plastic bottles, bags, styrofoam, fishing nets, etc. Let's check out how long of these litters take to decompose in to the environment:

a) Food : 3-4 weeks

b) Paper bag : 1 month

c) Aluminium can : 200-500 years

d) Plastic bag : 20-1000 years

e) Styroforam : 1 million years

Due to climate change that caused shrinking the Arctic sea ice cover, and more human activity increases in this still-isolated part of the world. It creates water pollution which is getting more serious around the world since 1980. “We don’t fully understand the consequences the plastic is having or will have in our oceans”  and  “What we do know is that this consequences will be felt at greater scale in an ecosystem like this”, said by Andrés Cózar Cabañas, the study’s lead author and a professor of biology at the University of Cádiz.

Differences in temperature and salinity around the world are verbalized the deep water global, this particular part is very important in the thermohaline circulation. As the heat brings up to the surface water and the Arctic, those pieces of litters in the ocean seems to be bringing to more densely populated coastlines. 

Our responsibility on this earth is very important, things that we do on land will affect the quality of our water quality, environment and even our health. Litters in the ocean are very dirty and toxic which will pollute the water quality. Such tiny, microscopic toxins can't see by our bare eyes. The polluted water that magnitude the waterways become unlivable for native animals, plants and humans. Therefore, create awareness and make sure everyone understand the importance of the water quality and the ways of keeping the water clean. Such as do not litters and promote recycle, reduce and reuse may help to reduce water pollution. 

Just make sure you care as much about the environment as your own health. Without a healthy and prospering earth, there is no way to keep ourselves in healthy condition too, as well as our future generation's health. 


References:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/19/climate/arctic-plastics-pollution.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FWater%20Pollution&action=click&contentCollection=timestopics&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=collection&_r=0
http://www.carmel.in.gov/modules/showdocument.aspx?documentid=182
http://www.china.org.cn/environment/2013-02/26/content_28060218.htm
http://behealthyandrelax.com/2007/11/how-long-does-it-take-to-decompose/
https://soapboxie.com/social-issues/What-is-Water-Pollution

Weeks 9 : Conservative of historical heritage

“The physical conservation of a building is only the first step. Its usage will either continue its cultural value or destroy it entirely”

Penang George Town is located on the northwest coast in Malaysia. It is at the intersection of Asia's great kingdoms and Europe's powerful colonial empires. Penang is in between Asia's two halves and acts as an important route to the markets of Europe and Middle East. It consist the most diverse, multinational and beautiful cultures. The world heritage site of George Town is one of the food paradise in Malaysia, a fusion of Chinese, Malay, Indian and other races, which has the evidence of diversity from cuisine to architecture. 

I came across with an article which published on 15th April 2017 by Looi Sue-Chern, from The Malaysian Insight. According to the article, George Town's living heritage is under threat due to the demolition of cultural heritage for future development for tourists. However, the authorities should focus on the people who lived and worked in the city over tourists. The authentic values of the city is not replaceable and it is more than a street art destination. There are people who don't know and understand the importance of the intangible heritage.

George Town is a beautiful place where the authorities should appreciate and preserve their cultural heritage for the desire to reinforce a sense of identity. Whereby, the architecture, monuments and symbols of culture tell a story line in times of war and shared roots acquired in the history. Government should preserve and promote living the intangible heritage while they still have the chance before it is too late.

Government and non government organisations should work together to create fund raising or charity events to promote preserving the cultural heritage. The money can be use on those decaying buildings with major cracks in the wall and damaged wooden floors, in order to preserve and conserve the buildings.

The people who lived in George Town should be proud and maintain its special universal values, by preserving and using the heritage structures appropriately. Protecting the architecture of traditional buildings and culture able to provide a more valuable and connotation to the city itself. Where the people should be proud of what they can preserve and pass to the future generation.


References:
https://media.timeout.com/images/101785645/image.jpg
https://nestingonahill.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/173.jpg
http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2015/02/07/finally-penang-moves-to-keep-alive-its-living-heritage/
http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/penang-turns-its-focus-on-keeping-its-living-heritage-alive
http://sea-globe.com/penang-georgetown-heritage/

Week 8 : Japanese architect - Shigeru Ban

Shigeru Ban is a famous Japanese architect who won a lot of awards, known for his creative and innovative work with recycled cardboard paper. It is used for efficiently and able to build houses or shelters quickly for disaster victims in Japan. Cardboard paper is one of the cheapest and sustainable material, it is a recycled material which able to save space in landfill, save energy and water, reduce greenhouse gases and preserving resources. People would think that cardboard paper is a very weak material for construct a building. However, Shigeru Ban got the most prominent prize in modern architecture, with his innovative and creativity in use of material who is not only a role model for our generation, but also an inspiration.

In 2004, a strong earthquake shaked the central in Japan with a magnitude 6.8. This earthquake has injured dozens of people and destroyed dozens of home. There are more than 300 rescue workers were rescuing and searching for people who trapped in collapsed homes. No electric facilities due to the damaged of nuclear power plants.

Due to the limited material availability during any disaster, reconstruction of the buildings, houses or infrastructures are the major concern to the people and involves increased market price. Shigeru Ban came out with this idea of using paper tubing as a building material, not only reduce the cost and very accessible. It is also beneficial  for a building emergency shelters, as the paper tubing frames can prevent theft and helped save money.

The paper tubing shelter is made by white cloth as the partitions, joints were made of plywood and ropes were used for braces. This simply yet useful cardboard sheets provide good insulation and create privacy and border between each family with their neighbor. Shigeru Ban is a smart architect who able to adapt the situation by changing the strut beam structure using paper tubes. Indeed, it is hard to estimate the forecast partition demand, low cost and high speed construction were the priorities during disaster period. Shigeru Ban is wise to use paper tubes as a building material, which is sustainable to the environmental.



References:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-11-23/magnitude-6.8-quake-hits-central-japan/5911732
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/11/22/world/asia/japan-earthquake/
http://www.shigerubanarchitects.com/works/2016_kumamoto-PPS4/index.html
https://makinguse.artmuseum.pl/en/shigeru-ban/
http://www.designboom.com/architecture/shigeru-ban-emergency-paper-partition-system/

Week 8 : Timber as Building Material

I'm taking a subject called Design and Technology - Timber. This subject is to improve our knowledge and understanding of materials, structure and construction is essential to the design and procurement of successful architecture. These are the requirement according to the brief:

•  Development of a comprehensively detailed timber structure to fit within a narrow coastal strip in a heavily built-up region of Sydney’s eastern suburbs.
•  The project focuses on the conception and structural resolution of a series of clear-span timber platforms and associated timber buildings.
• The programmed requires the detailed design and documentation (in drawn and model form) of the significant primary and secondary structural systems employed in your architectural concept. 
• Timber is a very challenging material and this exercise requires a level of resolution much greater than that seen in most architectural studios, both the accommodation and material briefs are prescriptive.
• 
  

This is the final design of my timber deck, the structure design was inspired by the shape of tree called dendriform concept. The fractal skeleton of a tree diverges the heavy wind to lower the impact on its tree-body. The replication and adoption of the treelike patterns create a sense of connectivity between the architectural structure and the nature. 

The interests of responsible and sustainable resource use are applied in this project. The volumes of timber material used in this project should kept to a minimum while satisfying the structure's significant strength and serviceability requirements. The selection of timber species and their supply chains are important as well, because these able to affect the sustainability. 

The timber species used for this project are Tasmania Oak, Red Ironbark and Radiata Pine, which can easily found in Australia. Hence, transportation between the site and timber source would significantly reduce the environmental effect and cost of the project.

As an architecture student, I think that we able to make a difference to the environmental, by selecting specific sustainable materials or the design that we propose, able to reduce the usage of material.   

Weeks 6 : Sustainable energy

THE USE OF ALTERNATIVE ENERGY IS INEVITABLE AS FOSSIL FUELS ARE FINITE - Gawdat Bahgat

This evening I read an article which is about "Capitalism Renewable Energy Roadblock". Sustainable energy is a form of energy that can be used over and over again for our daily's demand of energy needs without putting the environmental in danger. The cost of solar energy had decreased until the point of it is cheaper than fossil or gas. However, there are many other types of renewable energies such as, wind, hydraulic, biomass and biogas, geothermal and wave. 

Sustainable energy produces clean, inexhaustible and increasingly competitive energy. The disadvantages of using fossil fuels with diversity, profusion and prospective for use in the world will effect the greenhouse gases which cause climate change and create a lot of disasters in the world. Sustainable energy is vital for preventing climate change and reduce its demoralizing effects to the people and also environmental. 

The renewable technologies will give a beneficial to the economic consequences through the transition of an energy system. This includes human and natural resources, human labour is required as the productive infrastructure is transformed into energy supplied, which able to increase job opportunities and increase the sale on global markets.   

Indeed, unlike the natural energy sources such as coal, gas, oil and nuclear, they are non renewable and it is limit sources. Sustainable energy is inexhaustible as the sun, water or wind is originate and adapt to natural cycles. This will reduce the mitigating risk to our future generations through the essential element in a sustainable energy system for development today. 

The future of our global is depends on our hand today. We need to disrupt the continuing power of the fossil fuel industry for a better energy system that balance on human need, instead of private profit. 

The international community should understand the obligation to sustain the transition towards a low-carbon economy in order to create a sustainable future. 

References:

https://redflag.org.au/node/5762

http://www.indepthnews.net/index.php/global-governance/un-insider/1064-sustainable-energy-for-all-by-2030-needs-greater-effort

http://www.conserve-energy-future.com/sustainableenergy.php

https://www.acciona.com/renewable-energy/?gclid=Cj0KEQjw5sHHBRDg5IK6k938j_IBEiQARZBJWkiXhPWDU9tXwY_LkrPDmfSJd45bHv0oOroU9NaTbFUaArSr8P8HAQ

Week6 : 'Heart' of the Earth Faces Deforestation Threat

A view in November 2016 of land cleared for palm oil plantations inside the Leuser ecosystem, habitat of the Sumatran orangutan. (Photo by Ulet Ifansasti/Getty Images)

I came across with an article on the newspaper today, it is about the importance of Leuser ecosystem. Indonesia is a country which vital to the survival of wildlife and it is important to people's livelihoods. Leuser ecosytem is a world unto itself which has a rich lowland jungle, cloud draped mountains and steamy peat lands. Leuser's forests are the most ancient on earth where volcanic eruptions, fluctuating sea levels and species migrations occurred throughout the years. 

The Leuser contains plenty of plants and animals abundance, and the clear water able to provide millions of local people with clean drinking water, cooking water and most importantly for agriculture such as rice. cocoa, palm oil and other cultivation vital to local economies.  

Location of Leuser ecosystem in Indonesia

Leuser acts as an important role to control our global climate, it is providing the largest integral forest in Southeast Asia. The forests absorbing the carbon dioxide produced by the people and release more oxygen to the environment, which mitigating the problem of global climate change by reducing the pollution out of the atmosphere in the world.

Unfortunately, the Leuser's forest face a growing threat, due to massive deforestation in Indonesia. It caused unintended change in the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, by cutting down massive area of forest without replacing the trees we had removed. Deforestation affect the environmental and increased disasters such as major floods in rural area, landslides and drought in urban city.

As local communities should keep he Leuser ecosystem undamaged and vigorous as a matter of economic survival. The environmental services such as wildlife species, water supplies and various plantations are the dominant needs to the people living around it. To achieve that, everyone in the world should understand and know more about Leuser ecosystem to appreciate its importance to the environmental and global climate change.

We must put on our afford and will be pride in the future for what we can prevent the current crisis facing Leuser, instead of being apologies to our future generations for what has been lost.



References:
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/articles/2017-04-05/sumatras-leuser-ecosystem-faces-threat-from-deforestation
https://www.ran.org/lastplaceonearth
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2016/01/28/18782330.php
https://www.nature.com/articles/srep18490

Weeks 5 : Smart city plans firm up

"THE PLANNING MANUAL FOR BUILDING TOMORROW'S CITIES TODAY"

I came across an unusual topic in the lecture few weeks ago, it gave me the idea of the importance of planning before develop a city. As an architecture student and a future architect, the planning manual for building tomorrow's cities can affect the impact of environmental and our future generation. 

What is smart city? Smart city is an urban development vision to integrate information and communication technology (ICT) and internet of things (loT) technology in a secure fashion to manage a city's assets. It is promoted to use urban informatics and technology ti improve the efficiency of services. 

Our cities can be livable, workable and most importantly more sustainable with the right planning and investment - for both economically and environmentally. A successful smart city create a better quality of life for the city residents, which provide a comfortable, clean, healthy and safe lifestyle. When our city is livability, it will enhance the economic development as well, by accelerating the job opportunity and the fundamental infrastructure services that compete in the world economy. 

Back in my country - Malaysia is not a successful smart city yet, the government should creating awareness activities which enable a better understanding of the city dynamics in an effort to move forward on smart city initiatives. Many designers started to design with a vision but always conquered by the physical design, resulting unclear vision and in a mess between engineering and architectural ideas which is impossible to implement. 

So many city systems, services and infrastructures are connected with one another, therefore the connection between smart city responsibilities cannot be overlook. Dependent on progress is being made in one another to become a smart city in an area. It is important to consider how improvements to the performance of a single responsibility may affect a city becoming smart, as the city develop in a long term goals and plans. 

In conclusion, life is better in a smart city, it provide high quality of lifestyle to the people and better for businesses. Thinking as a whole in advance in the smart city planning process will help avoid unexpected deprivation to the future generation.   

References:

https://moodle.telt.unsw.edu.au/pluginfile.php/2420385/mod_resource/content/1/SmartCitiesCouncil-ReadinessGuide.pdf

https://moodle.telt.unsw.edu.au/pluginfile.php/2420230/mod_resource/content/1/Smart-City-Framework.pdf

http://www.asiagreenbuildings.com/12516/singapore-india-future-smart-city-collaboration/

http://www.asiagreenbuildings.com/12594/india-smart-city-plans-firmed-up/

Week 5 : Is sustainable management of food important?

“Food waste is not only costly to business and households, but two million children go hungry and it’s our nation’s hidden crisis,’’ said Mr Pratt

In 28th March 2017, The Australian newspaper revealed that food waste in Australia as the federal government prepares to convene a ­national summit to deal with the problem that costs the Australian economy $20 billion each year.

Food waste is a major problem in our modern society, more than 38 millions tons of food waste was generated in a year, only 5.1 percent diverted from landfills and incinerators for composting. Therefore, waste management play a leadership role in modeling the overall ideology of sustainable management. It can reduce the amount of food waste by taking simple steps in our everyday life. It gives us a triple win; it's good for environment, for our health and for the economy of the world. 

So, I started to question myself, how could our presence contribute further in reducing food waste save the environment. Sustainable management plays an important roll to reduce food waste. It is a systematic method starting from extraction of natural resources and manufacturing, sales and consumption and ending with decisions on recycling or final disposal to associate environmental impacts over the entire life cycle. Building on the concept of "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" can protects the environment and conserves resources for the future generations. 

90% of the food wastage comes from our kitchen due to inadequate planning while buying food. What we can do from buying too much?

1. Take a shopping list 
Planning meals in advance is the best way to avoid buying items you do not need. Write a shopping list and take a look in the fridge before going for grocery, this may save up more time and cost as well. 

2. Cook what you want to eat
An effective way to reduce food waste is to reduce the size by planning what you want to eat before you start cooking. So cook only what is required rather than cook too much and end up in the rubbish bin instead of your stomach. 

3. Store food in a smart way
Different foods have different storage methods. Correct way of storage able to last for days, weeks or even months to the food. Air-tight containers can reduce moisture and oxygen which prevent the food from rotting. 

4. Compost food scraps
You can turn food scraps into compost not only can reduce food waste, it also can bring the nutrients back to the soil.  

5. Check the expiration dates
It is important to know the expiration date of the food, which means you have to finish it best before the date instead of throwing away a fridge of perfectly edible food. Purchase foods or fruits that are fresh. 
Simply disposing of waste in landfill affects economy, country as well as our health. It required time, energy, space and poses environmental risks. Therefore, we should work together to reduce food waste and when it is re-purposed for energy and fetiliser, it can give businesses a foster sustainable growth and competitive edge, to improve the economy of the country. 



References:
https://greenpammalchennai.wordpress.com/page/2/
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/in-depth/global-food-forum/global-food-forum-anthony-pratt-vows-to-tackle-20bn-in-food-waste/news-story/fd5e0c55877afa2ad830e863f4b8e8ab
https://www.epa.gov/sustainable-management-food/sustainable-management-food-basics
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652614003680
http://www.sbs.com.au/food/article/2016/06/03/10-ways-reduce-food-waste-and-save-money