10 PDC handouts – design

by Aranya SADIMET design process (click here to download mindmap)  Limiting Factors in Design (click here to download mindmap) Methods and Approaches to Design  (click here to download mindmap) Themes in Design

Design Course Exercise: What do I eat?

In this exercise, which can be used in a PDC, students try to identify and evaluate their involvement in and impact on food cycles. After evaluating the impacts, students are asked to implement an action plan to reduce the food consumption and sourcing from sustainable sources. The full description of the exercise can be dowloaded… Continue reading Design Course Exercise: What do I eat?

Permaculture Design Process – 10. Design presentation

by Aranya The following pattern is a guide to what you might cover during your design. Either follow this through as described, or use it as a basis for your own ideas. Observations Describe your site Explain the context of your design, where it is located, size of site etc. Show your base map and… Continue reading Permaculture Design Process – 10. Design presentation

Permaculture Design Process – 6. Placement & integration

by Aranya Introduction Now we’ll get down to experimenting with where the different elements & systems in your design might be best placed. If you already have a fixed point of focus on the site (such as a house), then you’ll be aiming to place everything most efficiently in relation to that. Most designs you… Continue reading Permaculture Design Process – 6. Placement & integration

Permaculture Design Process – 5. Choosing systems & elements

by Aranya Introduction So having identified the key functions that we are going to design for, we are now going to think about the best ways to fulfil them. Ideally, we only include something (a system or element) in our design if it fulfils at least three functions. Remember the ecological principle: Multiple functions for… Continue reading Permaculture Design Process – 5. Choosing systems & elements

Session Plan Collection from Monika Frank

Monika Frank, France, has shared some lessons plans: 1. Design Process and Elements of Permaculture Design A 90 minute session Objectives: Know different steps in design cycle / process Know why it is important to follow a design process and that it is cyclical Get the idea that permaculture design does not only mean planning a… Continue reading Session Plan Collection from Monika Frank

Permaculture Design Process – 4. Identifying functions

By Aranya Introduction This is the stage where we identify what will be the focus of the design. We take what we have learned from the client interview(s) & determine what key functions are required (there may be many, but some will be more a priority than others). When we visit somewhere new, we often… Continue reading Permaculture Design Process – 4. Identifying functions

Permaculture Design Process – 3. The Client Interview

By Aranya Introduction This is the part where we identify why we are redesigning the site. The following process we would ideally go through with each client (everyone involved ought to be interviewed to some degree). Sometimes, your clients will include both adults and children, though one or two may guide the process more than… Continue reading Permaculture Design Process – 3. The Client Interview

Permaculture Design Process – 2. Creating a base map

By Aranya Introduction If you are lucky, you will have obtained a good map from your client, on which you can base your own. Maps are made for many different reasons though, and it is unlikely that even if you have, you will be holding the perfect map for you in your hand just yet.… Continue reading Permaculture Design Process – 2. Creating a base map

Permaculture Design Process – 1. The site survey

This is the first article of a comprehensive series on permaculture design by Aranya. Enjoy! by Aranya 1. The site survey Introduction We are going to start our process by first surveying the area to be designed. You might not always be designing areas of land (permaculture is much more flexible than just this), but… Continue reading Permaculture Design Process – 1. The site survey

Philosophy

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with reality, existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language.[1][2] Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational argument.[3] In more casual speech, by extension,… Continue reading Philosophy

Design

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Design, when applied to fashion, includes considering aesthetics as well as function in the final form. Design is the creation of a plan or convention for the construction of an object or a system (as in architectural blueprints, engineering drawings, business processes, circuit diagrams and sewing patterns).[1] Design has different… Continue reading Design

Esthetics & Design: Symmetry

Hand-out in workshop on Esthetics & Design in Permaculture. Patterns in Nature: Symmetry  Bilateral animals, including humans, are more or less symmetric with respect to the sagittal plane which divides the body into left and right halves. Plants and sessile (attached) animals such as sea anemones often have radial or rotational symmetry. Fivefold symmetry… Continue reading Esthetics & Design: Symmetry

Esthetics & Design: Fractals

Hand-out for a workshop on Esthetics & Design in Permaculture. Patterns in Nature: self-similarity & scale  Exact self-similarity: identical at all scales; e.g. Koch snowflake Quasi self-similarity: approximates the same pattern at different scales; may contain small copies of the entire fractal in distorted and degenerate forms Statistical self-similarity: repeats a pattern stochastically so… Continue reading Esthetics & Design: Fractals

Esthetics & Design: Sheet Mulching

Hand-out for a workshop on sheet mulching. emphasis on esthetic qualities of the shape of beds/pathways/stepping stones and the different textures of the finishing top layer. An often encountered criticism of permaculture design in public space is that it looks “messy”. And frankly: it often does. Going overboard on pragmatism can lead to a neglect… Continue reading Esthetics & Design: Sheet Mulching

Sociocratic Circle Method

What is the Sociocratic Circle-organization Method? The Sociocratic Circle Organization provides a way of producing and leading organization on the basis of equivalence in decision making through the principle of consent. Governing Consent The core of the method The sociocratic ‘vision’ on living together is a society in which people live and share their lives… Continue reading Sociocratic Circle Method