Friday 23 September 2011

Innovation

I’ve recently been described as having the imagination of a stoner. Not in the sense that I smoke a lot of weed, I don’t, but in the sense that I can come up with some pretty interesting concepts. From an early age I was boggling my families’ brains with questions ranging from, how do giraffes sleep? Right through to whether or not a tongue warmer was a good idea through an icy winter. This description got me onto thinking about how exactly our brains work and where the innovations they produce emerge from.
A brain by definition is an organ of soft nervous tissue contained in the skull of vertebrates, functioning as the coordinating centre of sensation and intellectual and nervous activity. It is filled with potential greatness if used to its full extent. Through my intrigued research I came across the concept of left and right brain thinkers. A left brain thinker is rational, sequential and draws on previously accumulated, organized information. A right brain thinker is intuitive, simultaneous and Draws on unbounded qualitative patterns that are not organized into sequences, but that cluster around images.

Most of the extraordinary innovators throughout time are the desired few that are both left and right brain thinkers. They have the ability to come up with new and creative ideas with the logical understanding to make them work. Mitchell Joachim is an example of an innovator of ecological design and urban design. Some of his innovations include:



This innovation was created through the ideals of sustainable architecture. His idea is that one day we won’t need to build shelters anymore as we will be able to grow them from organic materials.

                                                  
This car is designed to intellectually drive around town in an ecological manner.
These are just two innovations by this extraordinary innovator to leave you in awe, but some of his other innovations include: Rapid Re(f)use, Urbaneering Brooklyn: City of the Future, SOFT Lamb Car, Green Brain: Smart Park for a New City, New York 2106: Self-Sufficient City and Jetpack Packing and Blimp Bumper Bus.