HS Thesis on 11/30

+INTRO

"All of Earth's oxygen is produced by photosynthesis, the process plants use to combine water and carbon dioxide to create glucose (their own food) and oxygen."

Because of our bad habitual behaviors, including the extreme consumerism, our natural resources are decreasing, and environment pollution is increasing dramatically. It causes greenhouse effect, global warming, sea level rise, and many human illnesses due to the damage of the respiratory organs and immune system.

Out of many proposals, planting tree is one of the most cost-effective ways to capitalize on the natural services provided by healthy ecosystems. Trees do so many things; purifying air, stopping flood, controlling the temperature, absorbing bad chemicals and compost, and also providing fruits. Trees can absorb carbon and reduce greenhouse effect, global warming, and also sea level rise.

Thus, we need to save our trees and plant more trees.

+MISSION

My goal is to provide people with a better understanding of how trees interact with our urban environment; how our urban forest provides us with cleaner air, a cooler city and a thriving wildlife; and how trees can make a real difference in creating a more sustainable city.

+DESIGN OPPORTUNITY

People tend to ignore big problems that they can’t solve by themselves. We do not know how and where to plant trees. We also do not know how to take care of trees for more than 15 years, especially in Urban Area.

I want to approach this matter by providing people the enjoyable tree activity. Because I believe that it will create the synergistic acts carried out by many people to begin to have the positive outcomes on a large scale to solve the problem.

+CONCEPT

Tree house: Tree houses inspire such joy and childlike wonder. Many of us dreamed about living in a tree house or at least having a tree house in the backyard in our childhood. It is not easy to make a tree house for everyone, because the design and functions depend on the trees, which are all different shapes and sizes. I want to design a tree house that can be prefabricated, so it makes it easy to pack, ship, assemble, and remove for anyone.

Tree tent: Urban people have a craving for the nature. They are tired of being in the polluted area. I want to design a tree tent for them to experience the nature easier. It will be made out of recycled PET fabric. Homeless can also get the tent by planting certain amount of trees and collecting PET bottles.

Tree wall: There are about 200 different plant species that can grow on walls. There will be some kind of structure that can be installed on to the individual house’s windows. The structure will help plants to grow on the building walls. The goal is to make green buildings as many as possible. Plants can save a lot of energy. Just three trees planted around the average size home can lower air-conditioning bills by up to 50%, and trees that shield homes against the wind can lower heating bills by up to 30%. An average tree absorbs ten pounds of pollutants from the air each year, including four pounds of ozone and three pounds of particulates.

FEEDBACK

Tree house: It really should be for anyone. Study joints and hinges from Japanese and Korean architecture. Study materials.

Use no glue and screws.

Tree tent: Research other alternative recyclable or reusable materials. Design it to be installed only on trees. Study the regulations. Make it strong.

Tree wall: Study the plant growing system. Worried about insects. Enhance the ecological food chain.