Fire suppression - Old Skool Style

Not really a design problem, unless this particular rope was actually specified as part of the fire surpression system. Think of it like this...

-Building on fire.
-Fire burns rope which closes fire door (not on hold opens) creating a fire barrier
-Releases tension on valve allowing manifold to open supplying the sprinkler system
(not shown from this point on...)
-Sprinkler system fills bowl with water lifting gate via pulley on cage of mice
-Mice exit cage and run across a series of bridge to plate of cheese
-Pressure on bridge dials '9-1-1 emergency' on push button phone
-Additional weight to plate of cheese pulls blanket from off of parrot cage
-Parrot repeats address of structure over and over for 911 operator until extinguished from smoke inhalation

Display Building and Greenwashing

This project was from the 2007 Cleveland Home and Garden show. It was an attempt to display sustainable design principles, probably in a manner that would be understood by the layperson.
- One example of sustainable design quoted here was the collection of rainwater for land irrigation. I understand that the display building was built inside another but wouldn't the addition of a water collection system (ie. gutters) have been useful for explaining exactly how the water was collected? Notice the nice fountain catapulted from the turret which has the possibility of collecting water from around 30 to 40 square feet yet leaves the rest of the roof entirely unattended.
- I thought the fountain splash (from a pump operated fountain) collecting on and eventually migrating through the turret window was a nice touch.- I don't know if not lining anything up with the "trim" was an intentional decision or not. If it was I would call it "bold" to be nice. If not, then someone should have kept there eye on project construction a little more closely.

I have more photos of this particular project but don't want to harp on "when bad ideas/construction attack". What infuriated me most was the blatant exclamation of how "green" this project was with little or no innovative ideas to support it. Sure there was a sign for low VOC paint and there was a gigantic solar array on the roof (old fashion PV to be sure, nothing new and exciting). I am not sure but I think the wall construction was Structural Insulated Panels which was a nice idea but how would anyone even know? What about solar orientation? There sure seems to be a lot of glass! Where was the practical application that would be a take home lesson? Maybe at another booth.

Hell, I am surprised the thing wasn't clad in vinyl.

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