Daylighting Art: Hawai'i State Art Museum

Glorious views inside and out

Works like a charm

Who's Afraid of Daylighting Art?

Certainly not the Broad:

Not Seattle Art Museum:

History museums have got it on, too:  At the Minnesota Historical Society's James J. Hill House:

And The Henry Ford...click here, please.

Daylighting Works at This History Museum

      



Clerestories in The Henry Ford
Museum spaces

The Henry Ford and Greenfield Village has a lot going for them. History, of course, is one of those qualities.

Along with organic farming and some innovative site water management, they have some daylighting locations that work awfully well - all because the buildings are early ones.

Setting the Weinermobile Café (below) along the side with the most exposure means visitor enjoy the  natural light but objects in the area are not over-exposed.


And in the Historic Area at Greenfield Village, there are some great daylighting in action at Edison's Menlo Park reinstallation:

  
It's clear the sun is important here for work. [see label below]. And on this dreary day visitors needed no extra light to see in this exhibit. 







Green Bling

I'm buiding a collection of 'green' cartoons.

This is my favorite so far. It says what I think people feel when they seem me coming -- sorry about that, everyone.

"Oh God, here they come -- act green."

But this is the cartoon I use most. I use it to talk about the perils of Green Bling.

 

This really just shouldn't happen. But it does.

You've seen it around you:

• The dollars spent on a solar array in a low-sun region when the most-important step is improving the building envelope.
• The rain barrels purchased but not hooked-up; or hooked-up but never drained!
• Wind turbines and wind spires in low-wind areas.
• Bamboo single-use utensils (I mean come-on...use them again for Pete's sake!)

This isn't the same thing as Greenwashing - when you say something is greener than it is, or you use associations to convince consumers or viewers that you are doing something for green reasons.

Green Bling is using visible, catchy-looking green practices and products totally inappropriately because you're about the 'look', not the result.

Don't do Green Bling. But do send me pictures of if you see any!