Tag: generation

Next Generation of Landscape Architecture Leaders Focus on Climate, Equity, and Technology

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Next Generation of Landscape Architecture Leaders Focus on Climate, Equity, and Technology

Next Generation of Landscape Architecture Leaders Focus on Climate, Equity, and Technology

“Our fellows have shown courage, written books, founded mission-driven non-profits, created new coalitions, and disseminated new tools,” said Cindy Sanders, FASLA, CEO of OLIN, in her introduction of the Landscape Architecture Foundation (LAF) Fellowship for Innovation and Leadership program at Arena Stage in Washington, D.C.

Sanders highlighted the results of a five-year assessment of the LAF fellowship program and its efforts to grow the next generation of diverse landscape architecture leaders. The assessment shows that past fellows are shaping the future of the built environment in key public, non-profit, and private sector roles.

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And she introduced the latest class of six fellows, who focused on climate, equity, technology, and storytelling:

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Chris Hardy, ASLA, senior associate at Sasaki, used his fellowship to significantly advance the Carbon Conscience tool he has been developing over the past few years. The web-based tool is meant to help landscape architects, planners, urban designers, and architects make better land-use decisions in early design phases when the opportunity to reduce climate impacts is greatest.

Carbon Conscience is also designed to work in tandem with the Pathfinder tool, created by LAF Fellow Pamela Conrad, ASLA, as part of Climate Positive Design. Once the parameters of a site have been established, Pathfinder enables landscape architects to improve their designs and materials choices to reach a climate positive state faster.

Hardy examined more than 300 studies to develop robust evidence to support a fully revamped version of Carbon Conscience, which will launch in July 2023. He found that “landscape architecture projects can be just as carbon intensive as architecture projects per square foot.” He wondered whether the only climate responsible approach is to stop building new projects altogether. “Are new projects worth the climate cost?”

After months of research, he believes decarbonizing landscape architecture projects will be “very hard,” but not impossible. He called for a shift away from the carbon-intensive designs of the past. To reduce emissions, landscape architects need to take a “less is more” approach; use local and natural materials; and increase space in their projects for ecological restoration, which can boost carbon sequestration. He cited Sasaki’s 600-acre mega-project in Athens Greece — the Ellinikon Metropolitan Park — as a model for how to apply Carbon Conscience, make smart design decisions, and significantly improve carbon performance upfront. “There are exciting design opportunities — this is not just carbon accounting.”

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Ellinikon Metropolitan Park / Sasaki. Image © Sasaki
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Ellinikon Metropolitan Park / Sasaki. Image © Sasaki

Landscape architect Erin Kelly, ASLA, based in Detroit, Michigan, sees enormous potential in using vacant land in cities for carbon sequestration. Her goal is to connect vacant lands with the growing global offset marketplace, which offered 155 million offsets in 2022 that earned $543 million. And

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Developing 3-D electronics with pre-distorted pattern generation and thermoforming

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Developing 3-D electronics with pre-distorted pattern generation and thermoforming
Developing 3-D electronics with pre-distorted pattern generation and thermoforming
Overview of the fabrication method of 3DE based on predistorted pattern generation and thermoforming process (referred to as PGT3DE) featuring high customizability, conformability, and stretchability. (A) Basic mechanism of the PGT3DE. 3DE can be fabricated using thermoforming simulation and the predistorted pattern generation method. (B) Schematic cross-sectional illustration of fabricated 3DE based on PGT3DE. (C and D) Designed 3D circuit model (C) and fabricated 3DE (D) [(i) top view and (ii and iii) bird’s eye view without the 3D mold (ii) and with the 3D mold (iii)]. (E) 3D conformal property of the thermoformed SEBS film with a microscope image of thermoformed SEBS film (i) and 3D mold (ii). (F) Electrical stability under various deformations; the 3DE is robust under stretching (ii), twisting (iii), and folding (iv) deformations without electrical disconnection. (G) Ear-shaped 3DE. The LEDs in the 3DE are well lit because of the successful electrical interconnection. Photo credit: Jungrak Choi, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST). Credit: Science Advances, 10.1126/sciadv.abj0694

Three-dimensional electronics (3-DE) is attracting much interest due to the increasing demands for seamless integration on curved surfaces. Nevertheless, it is challenging to develop 3-DE with high customizable conformity and stretchability. In a new report now published in Science Advances, Jungrak Choi and a research team in mechanical engineering, materials science and science and technology in South Korea presented a method to form three-dimensional electronics based on predistorted pattern generation and thermoforming. Using thermoplastic elastomer and liquid-metal-based conductive electrodes, they accomplished high thermoformability and stretchability during device fabrication and function. The new technology can facilitate a wide range of functionalities in wearable technologies.

Developing 3-DE

Three-dimensional electronics have high customizability, 3D conformability and stretchability to form state-of-the-art stretchable electronics in response to the increasing demands to form curvilinear surfaces for wearable sensors. The process to directly develop 3-DE with high customizability, 3D conformability and stretchability on any complicated surface are in high demand. Among the many development methods, thermoforming is a manufacturing technique that uses thermoplastic deformation of a plastic film onto a 3D shaped mold with the advantages of low fabrication cost, large area scalability and quick prototyping. In this work, Choi et al. developed a method for 3-DE based on pre-distorted pattern generation and thermoforming abbreviated as PGT3DE with a thermoplastic elastomer and liquid metal-based conductive electrode. During the 3-DE fabrication process, the team applied a highly stretchable thermoplastic elastomer-based substrate such as styrene-ethylene-butylene-styrene (SEBS) and a stretchable conductive electrode such as eutectic gallium-indium-based liquid metal mixed with copper microparticles.







Electrical and mechanical stability test of the 3DE under stretching, twisting, and folding deformations. Credit: Science Advances, 10.1126/sciadv.abj0694

Experimental overview

As proof of concept, the scientists designed a 3D circuit model and lit three LEDs on the 3D surface and noted its stretchability for flexible deformations, without electrical disconnection during the process. They also developed complicated shapes including an ear-shaped 3-DE. The team followed two key steps to form 3-DE based on the pre-distorted pattern generation and thermoforming (PGT3DE)

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