Interior Design Early Influences
Ever since he was a boy, Sim Van der Ryn has marveled at and respected nature. The patterns in nature, the relationships, the beauty. Now, through hands-on projects conducted under the aegis of the Ecological Design Institute, Van der Ryn is teaching this sense of wonder and respect to school children.
Before it was even popular, Van der Ryn was a champion of ecological, or environmental, design. His own definition of ecological design is "the art and science of designing an appropriate fit between the human environment and the natural world." Van der Ryn traces the direction of his life's work back to his childhood.
Born in Groningen, Holland, Van der Ryn and his immediate family left their war-torn country and moved to New York City. His extended family, however, was not as fortunate and perished in Nazi concentration camps. Van der Ryn sought refuge from these unhappy times in nearby deserted marshes, beaches and vacant lots where, he remembers, "I found an inner calm in the midst of an unfamiliar order and fascinating forms of life."
Trained as an architect with a degree from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Van der Ryn now realizes how much his childhood experiences influenced his career and his way of life. Knowing this, Van der Ryn's current direction is toward imbuing youngsters, as well as young professionals and students of architecture, with a basic understanding and respect for nature that they can carry with them through their own lives.
The Ecological Design Institute (EDI) was founded by Van der Ryn in 1994 and is essentially an outgrowth of the Farallones Institute, which Van der Ryn started in the late 1960s in an effort to generate national awareness of "ecologically integrated living design." According to Van der Ryn, Farallones represented the first generation of ideas -- then called "ecologically appropriate technology" -- while EDI is the second generation.
EDI, based in Sausalito, CA, is housed in a former garage located on the waterfront. Using the environmental design techniques it preaches, including straw bale walls and a marsh garden to recall what was once on the site, EDI's offices often attract drop-in traffic.
"People driving by just come in asking, 'What is this place?'" says Van der Ryn.
EDI is divided between a non-profit organization that develops education and training programs and the Ecological Design Group, which designs projects for clients using sustainable construction methods. EDI is working on design oriented projects with primary school children. For example, the Sustainable San Domenico Project introduced ecological design to students from kindergarten through 12th grade at San Domenico School in San Anselmo, CA. Together with the children, Van der Ryn and his colleague Stuart Cowan built a tool shed out of natural and local materials including clay, straw bale and reclaimed telephone poles. There also is an organic garden and a water system on school grounds. According to Van der Ryn, EDI is working on developing 40 more such gardens in schools throughout the Bay area over the next 18 months. These gardens become outdoor classrooms that the students build themselves.
Inside their regular classrooms, students are learning about patterns in nature and the brief levels of scale that connect the entire galaxy with the molecular structure of DNA and everything in between. The goal is to make children aware of ecological design and to encourage them to use its tenets in everyday living. Furthermore, EDI hopes to make eco-living part of the mainstream curriculum in California schools.
On the university level, there is the Ecological Design Education Network (EDEN), a three- to 12-month paid internship program that offers design students the opportunity to learn about ecological design on the job. Based on their areas of interest, students are matched with ecological design firms and organizations. The first 20 interns in the EDEN program are currently being placed with these firms across the country.
According to Van der Ryn, EDEN was established in response to the lack of ecological design courses formally offered in university programs. "Changing the curricula in design schools is a slow process," he says. "But there are many students who are interested in ecological design and want to learn now. So, EDEN supplements what they are learning in school."
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