Design e2: Gray to Green

When I was a kid I loved construction toys. From the UK we got Meccano sets, but my passion was a Kenner Girder and Panel building set from the USA. The remarkable thing about all of those toys (unlike the despicable LEGO sets of today where you buy them with plans and put them on a shelf, imagination is removed from the equation) is that you kept re-using the parts and designing new buildings and new cities and new worlds. Gray to Green, Tonight's episode of design:e2 reminded me of my childhood, as I watched the building of Paul Pedini's modern house from components of the "big dig"- the burying of a Boston expressway. All buildings should be like Paul's house or my Girder and Panel set- we should be able to take them apart and re-use the components. This episode is a revelation that should change the way we think about building- We should design and build as if the components will be used forever. ::Design:e2