This is a quick note to let you know that we’ve posted the manuals for each of the Low2No proposals. Here are the  direct links and you can find them also listed on the proposal pages:

City as Living Factory of Ecology. 102 pages. (80mb)

Cradle of Innovation. 76 pages. (28mb)

Low Carbon – High Urban. 93 pages. (25mb)

Rebuilding 2.0. 144 pages. (152mb)

ReciproCity. 72 pages. (63mb)

As you can see, there’s a ton of content in the manuals. This is evidence of the impressive response to a sustainable development design competition that asked the participants to deliver far beyond the question of architecture alone. Enjoy!

This will be there year where we transform ideas from the Low2No competition into on the ground realities.

Contract negotiations between our development team and our design teams will be complete by March.  Design will commence immediately after, with Marco and I at the helm of Sitra’s design interface, and Jukka and Jarek ensuring that everything runs smoothly.  Architecture tours have already been made to London and Berlin, and there are more to come.

Of course, in parallel to the design of a building are many other workstreams that will help make this work have impact, be replicable, and catalyze sustainable development in Finland.  For instance, David Wood and I are developing a “sustainable finance toolkit” that will help to unpack the opaque world of investors who are interested in environmental returns in addition to their financial returns.

Low2No is just getting started.  Please stay tuned!

Low2No/Now will be updated with current information about the competition and related activities.  We anticipate that Low2No will grow in scope and impact as we begin to implement ideas from the competition.  As this occurs we will rebuild this site and others to most effectively share those new developments.  Follow us via RSS or check back often!

Meanwhile, click the team links to the left to view competition boards, statements and short video presentations by the teams from the announcement earlier this month.  Check under resources to download materials such as the competition brief.  If you have questions or would like to be involved, feel free to contact me: justin dot cook at sitra dot fi.