If you would like to attend Dwell on Design for free, we have some last minute passes for our pioneers. It runs from June 6 until June 8. Just send an email to redaktion@clubofpioneers.com with one word that sums up the LA design style. If you're not already a member , join up. It's easy.Read to find out more...Ever wondered how to build a cool house in a hot desert? Or seen prefab housing that works like a beehive? Or what about planting shrubs for minimalist gardens? Well all this and more is to be discovered this weekend down at the LA Convention Centre.


The Dwell on Design show is now in its third exciting year. The event is organized by Dwell Magazine and is a mix of expo, seminar, events and tours. As with the magazine itself, it is heavily focused on sustainable and cool designs and objects, which is why we like it so much!!As well as the 200 exhibitors , who include professionals from the fields of architecture, lighting design, gardening, domestic appliance retailing and car manufacture, there will be an entire neighbourhood of full-scale, pre-fab, sustainable structures completely landscaped and furnished by Dwell!Visitors can also learn how to green their own home and work with architects and designers. Throughout the show, the Design Innovation Theatre will present talks and demonstrations on all things design. There will also be off-site events, like the private home tours. On Sunday the “Downtown Urban Living tour ” has caught our eye and will show the best of adaptive reuse and new multi-family buildings. "Downtown Los Angeles is booming with residential projects ranging from new construction to the adaptive re-use of older buildings", we are told. "This tour will feature some unique residences in the re-awakened downtown".
See the Dwell slide show.

All images from Dwell.

Tanking up in L.A.:

So when is a gas station not a gas station? When it is a Green Information Center in Beverly Hills. A new BP (British Petroleum) service station has opened just in time for the green conscious Oscars.Its looking for Staff on Craigslist. BP is in the position of being on some people's list as one of the world's top 10 polluters so is this green window dressing or greenwashing:

This is not a public relations stunt says BP’s public relations staff

Fair enough, it opened in time for this years green conscious oscars which are provided with green(er) transportation for the stars by Mikhail Gorbachev's Global Green Foundation. Beyond Petroleum is both a brilliant slogan and a worthwhile goal. I hope it is less about selling more gas and more about getting rid of petroleum based transport. The strategy does call to mind the classic Corporate Oxymoron:

Corporate Oxymoron™ (aka when a company sells a product while at the exact same time telling the world how bad that product is)

To be fair BP is the world's largest producer of solar panels and sponsor of Solar Neighbors. Anything that puts more solar cells on roofs is a good thing in my opinion AND we are not getting rid of gasoline fueled cars any time soon without some serious legislative action by a government with more of an energy backbone than the current administration. So in my opinion an effort by an Oil company is still a legitimate effort but one that should be watched carefully so allegations like those which plague Chevron concerning the electric car do not occur. Lets hope BP's next steps will be to pump hydrogen, charge electric vehicles and sell competitively priced Solar Cells over the counter. That would be a service to everyone. Because selling gasoline behind a 'Green Facade' isn't going to get us beyond anything, certainly not petroleum, it just encourages more of the same old habits of bad behavior. Perhaps someday soon there will be a BP carbon offset credit available at the pump to cover your gas. I would heartily endorse the sale of legally adjudicated CO2 credits to cover every gallon of gas sold the question is who would be willing to pay for them. That petroleum isn't going to last forever so it makes sense for BP to diversify and cover its assets with other alternatives to gasoline. Thank you for not smoking at the Pump!