Saturday, January 31, 2015

Public Interest Design - Brownsville Workshop


Mata+Garcia Architects own Hector Rene Garcia attended this workshop on architectural firms taking part in community engagement, development and design. A growing sector in the field of architecture known as Public Interest Design is documented in exhibits such as MoMA’s Small Scale, Big Change and publications like Design Like You Give Damn. Unlike traditional practice, the projects in this field are an area of great potential for the future of our profession. The Public Interest Design Institute®  provided training to architecture and other design professionals in public interest design with in-depth study over two days, at Market Square in Brownsville, Texas, on methods of how design can address the critical issues faced by communities. Learning skills to become pro-actively engaged in community-based design through fee-based projects were discussed as a way to enhance existing design practices.

The workshop's curriculum was based on the Social Economic Environmental Design® (SEED) metric, a set of standards that outline the process and principles of this approach to design. (Mata+Garcia Architects is a member of SEED.) SEED goes beyond green design with a “triple bottom line” approach that includes the social and economic as well as the environmental. The SEED process takes a holistic and creative approach to design driven by community needs. (A core concept of Mata+Garcia's principles.) This process provides a step-by-step aid for those who want to undertake public interest design. Learning objectives addressed: 1. Finding new clients and public interest design projects 2. Learning about new fee sources and structures. 3. Using a step-by-step process of working with a community as a design partner. 4. Leveraging other partners and assets to address project challenged. 5. Maximizing a project’s positive impact on a community. 6. Moving beyond LEED to measure the social, economic, and environmental impact on communities. 7. Understanding public interest design and how is it re-shaping the design professions.

The sessions were led by Bryan Bell, Founder of Design Corps, Founder of the Public Interest Design Institute, and a Co-founder of SEED along with the staff of BC Workshop, Brownsville. Keynote speaker Maurice Cox, of Tulane University spoke about how Tulane had to reinvent itself after Hurricane Katrina, and how the university incorporated active citizen participation into the design process while achieving the highest quality of design excellence.  Architecture students from Texas Southmost College and Monterrey Tech kept the discussions lively.  

Sunday, January 11, 2015

Permaculture Design Movement

MG'er, Hector Rene Garcia, Architect and Partner participated in Part Two of the Permaculture Design Intensive Training with Wayne Weiseman, an international leader in permaculture design, utilizing the teachings of Bill Mollison’s Permaculture Design System.  Garcia achieved a working understanding of ecologically-based planning, site design and management. He was awarded a Permaculture Design Certificate upon completion of this two-part intensive training with a total of 8 days of instruction and design. (Garcia also took part in the Permaculture Design and Education Workshop during the summer of 2014 for a total of 96 hours of hands-on training.)

Wayne Weiseman: An international leader in permaculture design, Weiseman has taught hundreds of Permaculture Design Certificate courses, designed numerous master plans, consulted for educators for curriculum and professional development, taught ecological construction methods, and worked as a contractor, herbalist, renewable energy expert, and farmer over the past thirty years. His new book, Integrated Forest Gardens: The Complete Guide to Polycultures and Plant Guilds in Permaculture Systems was published in August 2014.

Introduction to Permaculture by Bill Mollison. Mollison is considered by many to be the "father of permaculture," an integrated system of design that Mollison co-developed with David Holmgren. It encompasses not only agriculture, horticulture, architecture and ecology, but also economic systems, land access strategies and legal systems for businesses and communities. 

Former MG'er, Mario Garza, Jr. leads his group in mapping-out their design strategy. Mario has been a permaculture activist for many years and grows multiple varieties of fruits and vegetables on his property.


Concept for the Trinity Community Garden project.

Intense design sessions led to innovative results.

Project Goals.

UTPA engineering professor, Jorge Vidal and MG'er Hector Rene Garcia layout the rational for their design as Stephen Johnson and Daniel Vela offer constructive criticism. 

Concept for the Trinity Community Garden project.

Wayne Weiseman reviews team concepts for the Trinity Community Garden project as Hernan Colmenero explains his teams design.

Concept for the Trinity Community Garden project.

UTPA student, Carlos Cortez of Harlingen and his team develop their concept.

Concept for the Trinity Community Gardens project.

Ing. Gerardo González Garibay comments on the mission statement produced by Raziel Flores and Daniel Vela. Gonzalez graduated from the Faculty of Forestry at the University of Nuevo Leon as Forest Engineer in 2013. His first encounter with Permaculture was an introductory course in Tulum, Quintana Roo, learning system design and living philosophy, then deciding to transform his life and stop being a designer / developer of websites and advertising to jump into the development of sustainable systems; Gonzalez obtained his certificate in Permaculture Design (PCD) in Australia taught by Bill Mollison and Geoff Lawton in 2009.  He is currently in charge of the Huerta Project, La Loma Agri-Culture-Permanente, implementing and developing techniques according to the principles of design. Gonzalez seeks to provide tools and knowledge to system design and Permaculture Organic Farming for all those interested, creating Permaculture Mexico (www.permacultura.mx) and organizing information and training to all those who require knowledge.



Concept for the Trinity Community Gardens project.

Site of the future Trinity Community Garden.

Concept to be developed for the Trinity Community Garden project.

Carlos Cortez presents his teams concept.

MG'er Hector Rene Garcia, Architect, receiving his Permaculture Design Intensive Training Certificate from Wayne Weiseman.