At this year’s Eco-Design Arts Conference, “Ecology of Home,” which started Thursday, students, faculty and community members had the opportunity to have direct input into a Eugene development project’s final stage. This intensive final stage is called a charrette, and proposed suggestions to this particular project will be reviewed this afternoon from 4 to 6 p.m. in room 206 of Lawrence Hall.
This project focuses on the 160 acres slated for development in the west Eugene area, which the federal government has designated wetlands.
The charrette was only one aspect of the conference, which continues today through Sunday and is hosted in Lawrence Hall. Anyone who wants to learn more about sustainability and how it can be incorporated into all types of design projects is welcome to attend the annual conference put on by the group Holistic Options for Planet Earth Sustainability (HOPES).
“The conference will provide a forum to discuss what sustainability means and what works and what doesn’t. … The whole conference is mostly a service,” said Mat Taylor, one of the event’s three co-chairmen.
During the weekend, participants will use Eugene as a model for design projects and ideas. Taylor said Eugene city planners have long fought to implement rules and city codes that consider ideas of sustainability.
City planners “have made new rules so now they can do it right,” Taylor said of the development project, which is the culmination of their efforts.
HOPES organizers said anyone, not only artists and architects, can benefit from the information that the keynote speakers, panels and workshops will provide.
“Universities have a unique opportunity and responsibility to become leaders in environmental sustainability,” said Christine Thompson, who will lead a panel called “Greening the Campus,” Saturday at 3:30 p.m.
The four keynote speakers have come from all over the country and Canada to speak at the conference.
Patrick Condon, who is also leading the charrette, is a professor at the University of British Columbia. He specializes in landscape design theory and sustainable urban design.
Samuel Mockbee, who teaches at Auburn University, focuses his work on ways of developing affordable housing. He came up with the idea of a rural studio, which takes student architects to areas where people need housing.
Clare Cooper Marcus is a professor emerita in architecture and landscape architecture at the University of California at Berkeley.
“She is one of the most powerful women I have ever encountered,” Taylor said of Marcus.
The final keynote speaker, Steve Loken, is a nationally recognized building technology expert.
In addition to workshops, panels and keynotes, there are activities for children.
Jess Ellingson, who is the kid’s workshop coordinator for the conference, said there will be a variety of demonstrations and hands-on workshops children can participate in, including how to compost with worms, how to recycle and a workshop on solar energy.
“The younger you start, the better,” Ellingson said.
There are also $500 and $250 cash prizes for winners of the “design challenge.” Some of the designs include using license plates for house siding, recycling bathroom porcelain to create luxury bathroom sinks and using tires filled with dirt as housing foundations.