Dan Phillips; Designing With Sustainability

Dan Phillips is an American builder and designer from Texas with a different approach to building homes. He is the founder of a nonprofit construction company called  Phoenix Commotion. One might ask what is so special about this construction company, however, after watching this video the reasons are obvious. Phoenix Commotion focuses on designing houses using recyclable materials and applying creative techniques in constructions. Dan Phillips asserts that, ” We can’t continue to live this way. We throw away and buy new rather than repair and re-use,” he adds. “We need to use renewable resources and use non-renewables carefully.” The main beneficiaries of this company are usually people with low income who cannot afford conventional houses such as people living on minimum wages. Therefore, Phoenix Commotion is considered to look at building houses from a humanitarian and environmental point of views. However, there is no conclusion of weather these environmentally friendly houses can be as reliable as conventional houses in terms of insulation and safety.

Moving to the designs, 70 to 80 percent of the material Phillips uses in building the houses are materials that have been recovered from other construction sites that are usually thrown away to waist or random materials that people throw away such as: Plywood, Mismatched bricks, Ceramic Tiles, Shattered mirrors, Bottle butts, Wine corks, Old DVDs, Bones, License plates, Crystal platters, and Cans. “A frame shop was getting rid of old samples, and I was there waiting,” said Dan Phillips. Phillips uses creative methods in utilizing the material that usually goes to waist. For example, to resolve designs, he uses discipline, orderly design,  and the concept of repetition to create pattern and unity. In his ted talk Phillips pointed out that people are used to patterns and if one maintains a certain pattern in any design it would not make a difference what material is used or what it looks like. Therefore, he tries to maintain a strong and fashionable design in every house he builds.one of his most admirable projects include:

– The Tree House:

Resources:

– http://inthralld.com/2012/11/dan-phillips-turns-trash-into-recycled-homes/

– http://www.cleanhouston.org/heros/phillips.htm

– http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/03/garden/03recycle.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0