MAKE Collaboration works with a philosophy of bringing to fruition the moments of insight that cause the mind to begin to tick. One of their operating priorities is to always function as a whole; “We are not a firm, we are a collaboration.”  This sets up an opportunity to break the conventional hierarchy commonly associated with design agendas.  Their approach to this Stored Potential submission is an example of how utilizing diverse data sets leads to a new understanding of the situation at hand. There is always another way to look at the problem. MAKE has made a splash on Kickstarter these past few weeks nearing their goal with only 14 days to go.  Check out their PROP product design (and banner submission on the wall in the background) here.

Team:  Erin Brouillette [architect-in-training, Encompass Architects, P.C.], Justin Brouillette [UNL M.Arch thesis student], Nicholas Pajerski [Princeton University M.Arch student]

‘A Friendly Reminder’ by architectural designers Ashley Byars and Bill DeRoin seeks to graphically illustrate the gasoline consumption of an average daily Omaha commute. The purpose of the banner is not to incite or inflame, but to make visible something not typical seen. As suggested by the common phase “A picture is worth 1000 words”, seeing a statistic graphically can be more profound then reading it. Bill and Ashley hope the illustration encourages discussion about fuel consumption, commuting, and transportation in Omaha.

The idea for the banner began with the site itself. Rather than treating the grain elevator as merely a gallery wall, Bill and Ashley wanted the physical characteristics to inform their idea. The iconic structures have long served the important role of storage, and given the topic Transport(ation), Bill and Ashley began to wonder how the structure might once again embody energy storage, and even perhaps connect the contemporary use of corn as the fuel powering much of our transportation. These observations led Bill and Ashley to ask the question: “How much of a silo would be filled with all the gas used in Omaha’s typical daily commute?”

The quickest place to start was determining the volume capacity of a single grain elevator. For the sake of simplicity, the silos were perceived as perfectly hollow cylinders with thin exterior walls and an average dimension of 12.5’ radius and 101’ height. With these dimensions the volume (V=[pi]R^2 x H) was calculated to be 49,553 cubic feet.

The next (and more difficult) calculation to find was a quantifiable value for how much gasoline Omaha commuters use on a daily basis.  Employing various methods including online resources and actually driving typical commute routes, the following criteria was determined:

No. of Omaha Passenger Vehicle Commuters             =            273,936 (1)

Average Passenger Vehicle Fuel Efficiency              =             21 mpg (2)

Average Omaha Commuting Time                        =            17.3 Minutes (3)

Average Omaha Commuting Distance                        =            13.3 miles

273,936 commuters x 13.3miles / 21 mpg and reached the value of 172,188 gallons, or 23,018 cubic feet.  This volume was placed into the elevator volume capacity, and resulted in a final value of the daily gasoline consumption equaling roughly 46.5% capacity of a typical silo.

To graphically represent these findings as a 20’ x 80’ banner, tick marks were established on the vertical edge of graphic, much like the respective markings on a car’s fuel gauge. Since the banners only cover the top 80’ of the 100’ structure, the bottom tick mark actually represents 1/5 full. Likewise, the fill level of the liquid being shown on the image, though it is in the bottom third of the 80’ banner, will actually represent much more closely to 46.5% full level on the actual site. Other elements include a silhouetted Omaha skyline, providing a visual reference to the subject city. The gas pump nozzle clearly illustrates gasoline but hopefully leaves some mystery,  inspiring further investigation by the 76,000/day passerby-by viewers. Since the statistics used include neither commercial vehicles, nor out-of-town daily commuters, the amount represented is likely underestimated, but nonetheless offers commuters a new perspective of resource consumption.

Ashley Byars is an architectural designer at Min|Day Architects and 2010 graduate from the University of Nebraska – Lincoln with a Masters of Architecture degree.  Co-designer, and husband, Bill DeRoin, works for HDR Architecture in Omaha, and also earned a Masters of Architecture degree from the University of Nebraska – Lincoln in 2007.

References:

(1)  – http://www.city-data.com/city/Omaha-Nebraska.html

(2)  – 19th Ed. “Transportation Energy Data Book,” by the U.S. Department of Energy

(3)  – 2005 US Census Bureau’s American Community Survey

After last years truly gorgeous crayon drawing of tomatoes, by then 10-year old grain elevator neighbor Tinca Joyner, we received a greater number of submissions from younger entrants this year.  And like Tinca’s ‘Tomatoes’, one of these submissions blew the jury away both in visual and conceptual content, truly expressing imagination on the topic Transport(ation).  ‘This Blows’ by 12-year old Omaha native Hank Novak is a simple pen drawing of a dandelion on a vibrant yellow background. Cropped perfectly to interact with the gap in the silos, thus sending the seeds blowing into the Omaha horizon, the image was furthermore a strong jury selection because of Hanks explanatory poem about the innovative movement of dandelion seeds:

THIS BLOWS

Dandelion seeds
Flying everywhere,
Helicopters and airplanes
Racing in the air.

I see car commercials
Almost all the time,
Their MPG’s are a revolution
But sometimes I wonder what
Transportation would be like
If we did not have evolution.

Henry Alois Novak is an artist living and working in Omaha, Nebraska. His chosen medium is a black pen and a blank piece of paper.  Hank has created and drawn many characters, most notably Chap Clapper, Cube Cat,  Octo-Pig, Cock-a-Doodle-Doofus, and The Bean Series.  Hank is a 6^th grader and is currently working on unlocking the third galaxy in the seventh world of Super Mario Galaxy Two. Hanks parents, Nancy and Paul Novak, are now regretting a dollar for dollar match they have promised Hank and his twin brother for anything they earn on their own, encouraging them to be entrepreneurial.  It seems Hank’s artist stipend will be going much farther than the other artists.

As the City of Omaha works toward completing a new Transportation Master Plan by the end of 2011, “Omaha Underground” imagines a mass transit alternative to the existing automobile dominated transportation infrastructure shaping much of the Omaha landscape, with an underground metro often found in larger metropolitan areas such as London, Beijing, or New York. The proposed layout of distinct subway lines mimics several of the existing transportation corridors servicing the Omaha area, with an emphasis on providing greater connectivity to the first and second rings of suburbs where existing mass transit opportunities are in greater need.

Oriented east-west top to bottom with the Missouri River and Council Bluffs at the top of the map, the graphics are contorted, sublimating proportional accuracy for the sake of fitting the banner format and emphasizing Omaha’s east-west direction of growth.  Although a subway system is somewhat of a fantastical transit dream for a city the size of Omaha, the notion addresses edges and peripheries and the WHOLE metro region as an interconnected system, as subways often do.

Red Line – Dodge Street Corridor Stations and Cross Streets: North Main Street (Council Bluffs), North 35th Street (Council Bluffs), 13th Street, Joslyn, Midtown Crossing, UNMC/Saddlecreek Road, 50th Street, Dundee, Memorial Park, 72nd Street, Children’s Hospital, 90th Street, Westroads, 120th Street, 168th Street

Pink Line – Cuming Street Corridor and Loop Stations and Cross Streets: North Downtown, Creighton, Dundee, Western Avenue, Creighton Prep, Blondo Street, Underwood Hills, 96th Street, Westroads, Happy Hollow, Town Park, 84th Street, St. Mary, Crossroads

Cyan Line – Leavenworth / Pacific Line Stations and Cross Streets: 13th/Leavenworth, 36th Street, 42nd Street, 50th Street, 60th Street, Elmwood Park, 84th Street, 90th Street, Happy Hollow Country Club

Blue Line – 13th Street Corridor Stations and Cross Streets: North Omaha, Eppley Airfield, Gallup Campus, North Downtown, 13th Street, Old Market, 13th/Leavenworth, Henry Doorly Zoo

Green Line – Saddle Creek Corridor Stations and Cross Streets: Adams Park, Bemis Park, Creighton Medical Center, Leavenworth, Field Club, MCC

Purple Line – 50th Street Corridor Stations and Cross Streets: NW Radial Hwy, Metcalfe Park, Underwood Avenue, Dodge Street, 50th Street, L Street

Orange Line – Midtown Loop Stations and Cross Streets: Ames Avenue, Western Avenue, Memorial Park, 60th Street, Holy Cross Field, Stinson Park, St. Mary, 84th Street, Country Side Village, West Dodge Road, Underwood Hills, Keystone Drive, North 72nd Street, Benson

Yellow Line – 72nd Street Corridor Stations and Cross Streets: Maple Street, Blondo Street, Crossroads, West Center Road

Geoff DeOld is a partner at DeOld Andersen Architecture (DAA), an architecture and design practice in Brooklyn, NY. He received his Master of Architecture from the University of Nebraska – Lincoln and located to New York City in September of 2001. Prior to forming DAA with partner Emily Andersen, he was an Associate Principal at STUDIOS architecture in New York City where he contributed to several notable and award winning projects.

Geoff formed DAA with Emily Andersen after collaborating together on several projects addressing the suburban landscape and the role architecture and design might play in an otherwise generic environment. The firm is currently engaged in several projects including showrooms and offices for a fashion company in the Fashion District, and two streetscape / urban design projects in the Bedford Stuyvesant community of Brooklyn.

Stored Potential 2 kicked off earlier this month with a whole new set of submissions spanning the gamut of ‘Transport(ation)’ – from fun and wacky to critical and informative – a likewise new jury had their work cut out for them. For 9-hours in the back gallery at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, 4 jurors narrowed down submissions in a blind process to 16 short-listed entries with the most time spent talking about Trains. Trains of 2011 are the Corn of 2010, in every possible medium and representation. There is no doubt in our minds that Omaha is a solid train town. The surprise of the day was a lack of entries dealing with bicycles – only 1 or 2 total – despite Omaha’s recent bicycle advocacy surge. Regardless, the shortlisted entries lean towards a representation of ‘networks’, both real and abstract, man-made and natural, and in general are more complex than last years, and almost all shortlisted artists and designers are local.

Now the challenging work begins of doing 1:1 mock ups of the shortlist to determine which ones will print best at this scale. This past week saw the first, and most challenging, mock-up with success and next week will see more. It has been exciting to start meeting a new group of artists – our favorite part of this process. Last years artists have turned into some of our closest friends and colleagues. Once the mock up process is further along, we will begin blogging about each final image, idea, and artist. Meanwhile, thank you Omaha for your participation in this project. We look forward to a new fall face on the grain elevator.