Windcatchers are fascinating in that they are so elemental, playing the hot desert winds against cool water to effectively humidify and cool the human environment. That is air conditioning.

It’s a shame that we’re seeing the same trend — the destruction of local architectural practices — in the Himalayas, as nuclear-powered ice sheets replace traditional glacier farming. Do we need a Slow Glacier movement?

Slipping between parallel universes, and speaking of Alexis, he tweets this afternoon with regards to Bloom boxes, referencing that very same post:

@alexismadrigal An even better best-case scenario analogy for #bloomenergy, @GreenLandLady, air conditioners: http://bit.ly/LJ6uk

Perhaps Bloom and NASCA should converse? I love the idea that the way to impact vernacular architecture is not to engage in academic glamorization (a la Learning from Las Vegas), but to do the absurd: make storm control a vital part of housing technology, or build a small black box which can slash houses’ energy import needs and carbon emissions, or redesign buildings as stillsuits and aquifers.

Seems to me that the solutions that the NASCA ended up proposing were interesting for how highly contextual they had to be.