by Jana Branch
WHAT’S HAPPENING
- Raise the roof for local! Sustainable architecture is taking a lesson from the 100-mile diet to build the 100 Mile House. Done right, every material used, from the foundation on up, is sourced, new or recycled from within 100 miles.
- The Architecture Foundation of British Columbia has launched an international competition to design a 100-mile home. The emphasis is on rethinking current design solutions to contemporary housing requirements. After all, today’s Little House on the Prairie needs Internet.
- Building with local materials used to be the order of the day. But global transportation and cross-cultural design appetites have made homes a mishmash of Made-in-Somewhere-Other-Than-Here materials.
WHAT THIS MEANS TO BUSINESS
- Whether as backlash to globalization, a priority on self-sufficiency, or a concern for sustainability, locavore principles are mainstreaming. Businesses should ask if there’s a 100-mile version in their category waiting to be mapped.
- Building with local materials can revive design methods developed over generations to best fit the climate. It also keeps money in the region, strengthening local economies and communities.
- Iconoculture has been reporting on the locavore movement for a decade, and it’s only getting stronger. Citizen consumers are voting with their dollars to support community wellbeing.
RESOURCES
