holistic eco design
More than the sum of the parts
In holistic design, the left hand knows what the right's doing. When they work together, the result is better. This is especially true for environmental design because nature behaves as a complex ecology. If we design with this ecology, we maximise the benefits of nature, limit the undesirable effects and minimise our damage to nature.
Examples
Nick Radford designed this house extension (right) on an organic farm. The house was to be built as much as possible from timber cut and milled on site, so he identified suitable trees and based the design on the available timber. He identified and recommended conservation of Tallowwood species because although an excellent timber, it is core koala habitat.
He designed a grey water trench between the house and the river. Water saving measures within the house design were made in order to reduce the trench size. To protect river water quality, commercial timber grade clumping bamboos were located below the trench, close enough to uptake maximum nutrient but far enough away to avoid roots penetrating the trench wall.
This project (right) subcontracted to Design Studio 22 had no interesting view. A gallery was created and an artificial view designed. It's a shady zen garden that's also edible, with fruit, vanilla, ginger, turmeric, garlic chives, mint and Davidson Plum.
Methods
Permaculture covers a lot about holistic design (refer to "Intro. to Permaculture" or "Permaculture - A Designers Manual" by Bill Mollison). These books discuss carefully considered connections between elements, to maximise mutual benefit and minimise antagonistic effects. Examples:
(1) Run poultry in the orchard. The poultry get shelter, eat pests & windfallen crops. The orchard gets manure and weed & pest control.
(2) The performance of passive solar house design can be improved by landscaping for passive solar. Place plants correctly to allow winter sun and summer shade. These plants can be crops, sheltered by the house for better growth.
(3) Water can be collected on site, used by the household, and purified by the garden which then feeds the household.
