PORTLAND, Ore. – (May 4, 2012) – Swiss-educated architect Umberto Dindo is keynote speaker May 8 and May 9 for a traveling exhibition in Portland offering design solutions to meet Swiss law mandating strict reductions in energy use without lowering living standards. The “Smarter Living: the 2,000-Watt Society” exhibition offers 18 case studies demonstrating different approaches to sustainable architecture.
Dindo, FAIA, of Dindo Architect P.C. in New York, will lecture on “When Green is Not A Choice But the Law” in conjunction with the exhibition on display at the University of Oregon in Portland, 70 N.W. Couch St. The exhibition is brought to the U.S. by the program ThinkSwiss – Brainstorm the Future in collaboration with Cleantech Switzerland and the City of Zurich.
Dindo will present his lecture at the UO in Eugene and Portland locations. The Eugene lecture is Tuesday, May 8, at 6 p.m. in Room 206 Lawrence Hall, 1190 Franklin Blvd; the Portland lecture is Wednesday, May 9, at 5:30 p.m. (with a reception to follow) in the Event Room, White Stag Block, 70 N.W. Couch St. Both lectures are free and open to the public.
Currently 2,000 watts is the current average rate of total energy use worldwide – including averages of 300 watts in Bangladesh, 1,500 watts in China, 1,000 watts in India, 12,000 watts in the United States, and 6,000 watts in western Europe. In 2008, citizens of Zurich approved a law setting the goal of reducing annual per capita energy consumption from its current 6,500 watts to 2,000 watts by 2150.
The “Smarter Living – The 2000-Watt Society”exhibitionillustrates the impact of this goal by presenting the diverse range of design solutions under way. Case studies in the exhibition show sustainable architecture approaches in both small and large projects and demonstrate that, in Switzerland, green is no longer an option but the law.
Dindo has been chair and co-chair of the AIA New York chapter Committee on Architecture for Education. In 2007, he curated an exhibition “A New Architecture for a New Education” that travelled throughout the U.S. Last year, he organized a symposium, “Designing in Context: Ideas for 21st Century Indian Cities” with Christopher Benninger, Arjun Appadurai and Kenneth Frampton at the Center For Architecture in New York. Currently, he chairs the advisory committee for the exhibition “Architecture for Education: Pedagogy in Design,” which will open in New York in October.
Dindo’s appearance in Portland and Eugene is supported by the Consulate General of Switzerland in San Francisco.
ThinkSwiss is a program of the Swiss Confederation under the auspices of Presence Switzerland, the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs and the Swiss State Secretariat for Education and Research. As a leader in science, research and technology, Switzerland works with its U.S. counterparts to address the challenges of sustainability and find solutions that benefit our world.
Contact: Sabina Samiee, UO in Portland Communications, sabinas@uoregon.edu, 503-412-3729
Sources:
Umberto Dindo, udindo@att.net, (212) 447-5830;
Nancy Cheng, Director, UO Department of Architecture in Portland, nywc@uoregon.edu, (503) 412-3732;
Martin Schwartz,cultural officer, Consulate General of Switzerland in San Francisco, martin.schwartz@eda.admin.ch , sfr.vertretung@eda.admin.ch, (415) 788 2272, ext. 102.
Links:
ThinkSwiss - Brainstorm the Future www.thinkswiss.org
http://thinkswiss.org/core-topics/climate-change/smarter-living
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