Global in scope and comprised of six 30-minute chapters filmed in HD, e² design season two features the designers and drivers of change in the world of sustainable architecture. Each episode looks at the built environment’s ecological effects, and the design innovations that can reduce buildings’ contribution to climate change.
Episodes explore: how former mayor Enrique Peñalosa transformed Bogotá, Colombia into a model of sustainable urban planning; architect Thom Mayne’s General Services Administration building in San Francisco, a possible model of the future workplace; the waterfront development of Borneo Sporenburg on the outskirts of Amsterdam, Holland - high density, suburban-style housing without sprawl; the Druk White Lotus School in Ladakh, India, an example of sustainable design driven by local concerns and climate; the philosophy of developer Jonathan Rose toward affordable housing in New York City; and the tireless crusade of architect Ed Mazria to single-handedly convince the building sector to cut carbon emissions in half by 2030.
The e² series debuted in 2006 with its first season of design, introducing viewers to the burgeoning sustainability movement among architects and designers worldwide. Narrated by Brad Pitt and filmed in HD, e² design season one covered: the rise of sustainable skyscrapers and apartment towers in New York; community-based sustainable construction in Sonora, Mexico and Austin, Texas; the promotion of green building practices by Chicago’s city government; recycling construction waste from Boston’s “Big Dig” project; China’s determination to improve its building practices and the ecological risk it poses if it does not; and the environmental leadership of three extraordinary architects - Kenneth Yeang, William McDonough and Wener Sobek.
From the PBS website.
Accessed on July 28, 2008.
