The Low2No project, like most design projects, is set up with a phased approach.  Unlike most projects, we were able to include a “Scoping Phase” or Phase Zero at the beginning of the project.  This phase was primarily intended to test the original competition proposal given a better, more complete understanding of the client team, local partners and conditions on the ground.  It also allowed us to revisit the principals set out in the competition such as why carbon is a useful metric and driver for the project, and how we resolve the offsite ambitions of the project with our onsite limitations and obligations.

Workshops with the global design team were held in London at Arup’s new Fitzroy offices.  Despite ambitious agendas and many cooks in a fairly small kitchen, the workshops were amazingly productive.

The Low2No Team

What has emerged from the now completed Scoping Phase is a tested, and thus more calibrated approach to the Low2No challenge.  Headline proposal from the competition such as honest accounting and carbon assessment protocols have been explored and defined for our project.  The sustainability framework, which will guide our decision making and auditing process is beginning to take shape both in terms of content and usability.  The Low2No block’s programming went from ideal (competition) to crisis (purely economic) to realistic and balanced (the result of some soul searching on the part of the client team).

Early Sustainability Framework study.

In other areas, building integrated renewables seems like a strong approach to reducing operational carbon emissions.  Timber construction and low carbon building materials are being pursued vigorously.  And we are making some headway in the difficult area of behavior, consumption and choices by providing attractive options and services to those that will live and work in the Low2No block.

Programming & Community Services study

As we work through the summer holidays, we will move into the Concept Phase where our investigations and findings from the scoping phase will begin to have direct impact on the Low2No block.

I am very excited to announce the beginning of the next phase of Low2No.  With a much anticipated round of signatures last week, Low2No has moved from competition to implementation.

Over the coming months, Marco and I will be working with the design team to further develop a vision for the Low2No block.  This will include some very real, on the ground design solutions such as the site planning, but the great strength of our newly signed contract is the inclusion of activities that will have systemic impact, such as regulatory reform (e.g. creating a legal framework for mixed-use planning in Finland, investigating ways to integrate multi-story wood construction into national building codes, etc).  I have seen many architecture competition entries flush with ideas selected for construction, only to be stripped of their non-architectural content once the design fee and construction budget arrived on the desk of those in charge of the purse.  I can proudly say that thanks to an extraordinary effort of our design and development teams, we have a contract that makes possible the pursuit of nearly all of the richest content that emerged from the Low2No competition.

With this contractual backbone for the project in place, we are now obliged and empowered to deliver a new, integrative form of sustainable urban development for cities.  Where Masdar pioneered a ground-up solution to carbon neutral development, we hope to develop an analog method appropriate for building in existing cities.

With the public issue of the Low2No Jatkasaari Press Release, I look forward to regular posts to this site as the design process unfolds.

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!