Sunset in the Cascade Range

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Global Ecological Design

 

The fitness of form combined with beauty

 

Why?

Nature is self-making and self-designing, but we humans now influence every natural system, taking what we need from some ecosystems, misusing others, and interfering with the rest. We need designs to restore balance between human needs and natural processes.

At SynGeo (our name is from Greek words meaning "basic writing with the earth"), our ecological designs focus on whole communities that work in the same self-sustaining and self-limiting ways as nature. By consciously creating meaningful order, SynGeo develops ways of producing widespread community wealth while positioning the community for a long, sustainable future in a healthy environment.

 

Who are we?

We are a core design group, generalists with a working knowledge of the arts and sciences, plus a talent for integration, who devote our efforts to creating and implementing ecological designs. We assemble teams of consultants--designers, architects, artists, ecologists, and engineers--for specific projects to work with corporate officers, government officials, military units, citizens groups, and planners. We are associated with the Marsh Institute, a nonprofit educational and research corporation; we donate 10% of all profits to charitable and conservation organizations.

 

What do we do?

Regional ecological development plans include: A boreal settlement and wilderness plan for the North Slope of Alaska), a plan for the northern Sonoran desert, and a development and conservation plan for the Palouse region. Pilot projects have been done for the City of Seattle, City of Moscow, and the City of Pullman. Current projects include: Forest Restoration (Glendale, Oregon), Predator Ecology (Central Balkan Park, Bulgaria), and Natural Revegetation (Sarasota, Florida). Other large, long-term projects include: Corporate responsibilities in communities, a framework for recognizing primary cultures as independent nations, and a proposal for empowering the United Nations.

Global plans deal with global cycles and global issues, such as air and water. These plans have significant political and economic components. We provide general directions, through conceptual and mathematical modeling, for infrastructural rebuilding, agricultural regeneration, wildland restoration, and optimal human conditions. The firm also provides comprehensive system designs to regional, national, and international governments.

We design places as organic wholes to promote the well-being of individuals and the common good. We strive to employ all the characteristics of good design: right scale, place specificity, simplicity, efficiency, fitness, resilience, durability, and redundancy. SynGeo designs are conscious efforts to recognize and impose meaningful order within important limits. SynGeo works within the constraints of nature, believing that the constraints merely stimulate creativity. Our designs enhance human self-worth and self-reliance, enrich whole communities, and permit the continuity of natural patterns and flows.

 

How do we do it?

We participate with you in a complete design process, guiding your involvement and commitment to the art of living together as a community.

Our designs are open, respectful, and continuing, derived from an understanding of natural processes, stability, and change, as well as from the range of human needs. We stress suitability, fitness, health, flexibility, frugality, maturity, and diversity.

 

How are we unique?

We address all levels of design, from the conceptual to the political, and are involved in all stages of the process.

Our immediate goals are to reverse degradation of the global environment, to reclaim places for communities and nations, to increase public awareness of the interdependence of communities, to create environmental quality, and to transform public values by generating new metaphors for living.

For information on our past and current projects or for free consultation, please contact: Director, SynGeo, Email: Design@SynGeo.org

 

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