Winning Project – Innovative Minds 2017: Cybernetic Framework
Etherium
Joshua Leeder
University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, School of Architecture and Urban Planning
Shorewood, WI
One of the greatest challenges of an architectural project today is ensuring all stakeholders are considering the triple bottom line from design to construction, through occupation of a building project. As coined by John Elkington in 1994 the “triple bottom line” refers to three criteria that all manufacturers should consider with equal importance when designing a product.
- Is it economically feasible?
- Does it produce social equity?
- Is it environmentally responsible?
The building industry has been a major contributor to the harmful industrial processes that Elkington considered when conceiving of the TBL, and is currently in a uniquely leveraged position to facilitate a change in these processes by creating demand for building materials developed considering more than the amount of financial profit.
Creating this demand begins with the stakeholders of a building project, the client, the community, the contractor, the architects. All parties must be aware of the implications of bad design and be able to see the overall benefits of good design.
Etherium is a cybernetic, performative and interactive design tool that facilitates a constant exchange of project information between stakeholders by way of holographic performances. These performances aim to establish a literacy among the clients and communities about the true impact of a building project on themselves and on a larger context. By doing this, we create a responsibility among design and building professionals to present products and ideas that lead to more economically, socially and environmentally equitable architecture.