Green ArchiTEXT

Living City Design Competition Winners: "People thriving in partnership with nature”

The International Living Future Institute and the National Trust for Historic Preservation Bestow Top Honors and $75,000 to Paris team for “visionary pragmatism”

IMAGES: International Living Future Institute

First Place in the competition went to the UK's Daniel Zielinski and Maximilian Zielinski for their reinterpretation of Paris.

The International Living Future Institute today announced the winners of the Living City Design Competition, which it hosted in partnership with the National Trust for Historic Preservation, at Living Future ‘11.  The competition called for teams worldwide to create powerful visualizations of how existing cities might be transformed to achieve and transcend the Living Building Challenge 2.0, the built environment’s most rigorous performance standard.
 
More than 80 teams submitted entries, addressing 69 different cities spanning 21 countries. Submissions were evaluated based on their ability to capture the attention and imagination of a broad audience and reassess assumptions about a future filled with high-tech, ecologically dislocated cities.  Rather than constructing new cities from scratch, submissions also focused on the premise that a “living” future will rely on retrofitting the existing built environment and regenerating the evolutionary capacity of life.
 
“Each of the entries represented the crucial first steps in redefining our urban ecosystems and how they work in tandem with their natural environment,” said Jason F. McLennan, CEO of the International Living Future Institute and a member of the seven-person jury panel that selected the winners.  “This process was at least as important as the impressive end results.”
 
The Winners

Daniel Zielinski and Maximilian Zielinski of the United Kingdom earned the first-place prize and a $75,000 award for their Paris-based entry, which was able to combine a deep respect for the City of Light’s rich history and culture with a pragmatism that could be implemented in myriad contexts.  The jury noted: “Daniel and Maximilian crafted an elegant interplay of design solutions with real-world strategies.  Their submission achieved the end goal in a way that welcomed and incorporated the present, and instead of simply showing how the ‘natural world’ might colonize urban environments, it created fertile ground for people thriving in partnership with nature.”
 
The team Atelier G40 captured second place, including a $25,000 award for its entry, “City Makes. City Lives.” that re-envisioned Bellingham, Wash.  The jury was impressed with the strategic nature of the team’s approach to urban transformation.  The jury couched this entry as a cleanly conceived approach that showed a deep cultural understanding of its place.
 
As it was first conceived, the Living City Design Competition included an additional stand-alone prize of $25,000 to be awarded to the entry that best incorporated historic preservation into its vision for the future.  During the review process, however, the jury concluded that because all of the leading entries fully incorporated the historic character of their communities, the original intent of the award was no longer warranted.  Instead, the jury awarded five teams $5,000 each in recognition of their unique contributions:

• Earning the Can-Do Award for its entry, “Coeur d’Alene After the Reign,” a student team from the University of Idaho was acknowledged for its ability to demonstrate how a post-oil world might also include healthier, more supportive and more meaningful community life.  The jury summed up the theme of this entry as: “The future’s gonna be fun.”
• Two entries took the Images that Provoke Award: Team [GU] of Seattle and Rollerhaus Pictureworks & Design Co. of Chicago each earned high marks from the judges for their powerful visuals.  The jury noted that “these entries make the viewer feel physically transported into an imagined reality.”  The Chicago team achieved this effect by “overlaying the prairie on the city,” while the Seattle project achieved what the jury termed “Watershed: Reclaimed, City: Bubblewrapped.”
• The Cities that Learn Award was given to Ashok B. Lall Architects of New Dehli, India and Team OLIN of Philadelphia, Penn.  The “evolving blocks” explored in “Patchwork Philadelphia” and the “catalyzing of the emergence of healthy diversity” envisioned in New Dehli both demonstrated nuanced conceptions of how the cultures and traditions developed in different neighborhoods might interact.  These entries acknowledged cultural realities and explored how social equity might lead to ecologically restored cities.

Reflecting on this diverse pool of entries, the jurors noted: “We were heartened that, collectively, the competition’s participants demonstrated a deep understanding of the foundational elements of a restorative civilization.  Some entries brilliantly addressed the built environment’s relationship to waterways; others celebrated the human element and reminded us that we are intrinsic to our ecosystems; and still others showed a subtle awareness of the healing power of thriving, connected habitat.”
 
Four other submissions were selected by attendees at Living Future ’11 as the winners of the People’s Choice and Living Building Community choice awards:

• “Chamizal Connection” by Alvarez and Sanchez was honored in both categories for its regeneration of an urban zone in Mexico City
• “Symbiotic Districts: Towards a Balanced City” by Portland Ecodistricts was also selected as a People’s Choice award
• “Fight for your Right of Way” by The Miller Hull Partnership and “Pioneer Square – Living Green and Blue” by International Sustainability Network were also chosen as Living Building Community choice award winners

“The Living City Design Competition teams have engaged in a process that is truly the beginning of the work at hand: connecting with our communities, asking the crucial questions about how each specific place may be restored, and empowering communities to participate in their own evolution,” the jurors stated.
 
The Judges

Composed of leading thinkers, critics and practitioners in the evolving field of restorative design, the jury included:

• Eden Brukman, Vice President, International Living Future Institute
• Liz Dunn, Director, Preservation Green Lab at the National Trust for Historic Preservation
• Doug Farr, President, Farr Associates
• Patrice Frey, Director of Sustainability, National Trust for Historic Preservation
• Jason F. McLennan, CEO, International Living Future Institute
• Bill Reed, Principal, Integrative Design Collaborative; Regenesis, Inc.; and Delving Deeper
• Susan Szenasy, Editor in Chief, Metropolis Magazine

Judges and competition organizers are now exploring ways in which the winning teams can engage with their respective communities to take these visions from conversation to action.

Second Place went to Atelier G40 for “City Makes. City Lives.”, re-envisioning Bellingham, Washington.

TED Talks: Using nature to grow batteries

Ed Mazria: How New York City Can Achieve Carbon Neutrality in Buildings by 2030

By Jacob Slevin

Are New Yorkers up for the Challenge? Our problems of climate change and diminishing energy supply are greater than ever, but architects and designers can have a significant impact in improving the state of the planet. Buildings are responsible for over 75% percent of New York City's greenhouse gas emissions, and there is a tremendous opportunity to effect real change through energy efficient and innovative design.

Ed Mazria is an architect who is making a big difference, as a preeminent leader and visionary in the field of sustainable design. With a career spanning 45 years, he has been engaged in environmental issues since the 1970s. He is the author of the "bible" of solar design, The Passive Solar Energy Book. Most significantly, he closed his practice in 2006 to start Architecture 2030, a nonprofit that challenges designers to achieve carbon neutrality in buildings by the year 2030. Carbon neutral buildings are ones that do not emit greenhouse gases or offset any emissions by producing renewable energy.

...

How do you see New York City as uniquely positioned to achieve significant greenhouse gas reductions?

Ed Mazria: New York City is already quite energy efficient due to the city's high density and public transportation network. The inherent efficiency of the city's plan and infrastructure will make it easier to meet greenhouse gas reduction targets than in many other locations.

The city consists primarily of occupied existing buildings. It is typically much simpler to design a sustainable building when it is a new construction. Do you see significant environmental improvements being possible in this regard?

Ed Mazria: Most buildings in New York will undergo renovation over the next twenty years. A number will also get demolished. As well, many building enclosures will soon need replacement, particularly post-WW2 curtain wall buildings. Gut renovations of office spaces take place on a regular basis. There is great opportunity to re-imagine and reduce energy consumption in all these buildings. READ MORE >>

via www.huffingtonpost.com

World’s Greenest K-12 School Building: Hawai‘i Preparatory Academy’s Energy Lab Certified as a Living Building

The International Living Building Institute today announced the results of its extensive audit of the Hawai’i Preparatory Academy’s Energy Lab, verifying that the new 6,000 square foot educational facility meets all of the Imperatives of the Living Building Challenge version 1.3.

The Living Building Challenge, widely regarded as the world’s most rigorous green building performance standard, has redefined the design and construction process for dozens of projects since its launch in 2006. To achieve ‘Living’ status, all program requirements must be met and proven through a full year of operation. A Living Building must generate all of its own energy through clean, renewable resources; capture and treat its own water through ecologically sound techniques; incorporate only nontoxic, appropriately sourced materials; and operate efficiently and for maximum beauty.

“The purpose of the Living Building Challenge is to fundamentally transform the relationship between the built and natural environments,” commented Jason F. McLennan, CEO of the International Living Building Institute. “By incorporating the most advanced restorative design practices into its Energy Lab, Hawai’i Preparatory Academy has created an unparalleled educational opportunity.  Students who interact with this building will emerge with a new understanding of their role as the planet’s stewards. What’s really exciting is that with a space this beautiful and carefully considered, students discover that sustainability isn’t about deprivation: it’s about learning how to thrive in a manner that benefits the ecosystems we inhabit.”

The project team’s goal was to create a new kind of classroom that would facilitate scientific study both indoors and out, linking interior spaces with the surrounding landscape. Students are immersed in the systems that they study, collecting real-time comparative data on how the Lab’s three different types of photovoltaic panels perform and encountering indisputable evidence of how individual actions affect the building’s performance. The Lab also demonstrates that modern, highly used buildings can actively contribute needed resources, rather than simply consuming them. By producing substantially more energy than the Lab requires, the building’s photovoltaic panels and wind turbines are helping to power the Academy’s other campus buildings.

Energy Lab Director, Dr. Bill Wiecking noted that the project has been fully integrated into the students’ educational experience. “What makes the Living Building Challenge so powerful, and so perfect for schools, is that the students have to participate in it fully if they want certification. It brings out their playful and competitive spirit. Now they’re so invested in it, they understand everything about how the building functions, and they’re the first ones to notice if we’re using too much energy or wasting water. Our kids want to lead; they love rising to a challenge.  This project has made them sustainability leaders in their homes and in our community. We hope that this is the first of countless schools worldwide to adopt the Living Building Challenge.”

For Dr. Wiecking, the Energy Lab is much more than an individual project: it has the potential to transform our sense of what is possible. For proof of the power of inspiration, he looks back to one of the pivotal events of his childhood. After watching Neil Armstrong walk on the moon, Wiecking had a new sense of what can happen when people are committed to achieving something. “When I look at what we’ve accomplished here, I feel a bit like a member of the NASA team,” he said. “I mean, if we can create something like this out here in the middle of the Pacific, there’s really no limit to what dedicated people can achieve elsewhere.”

Mithun's Bert Gregory: A Sustainable Master Plan for State Center in Baltimore

‘The Bar Has Been Raised’—AIA Announces 2011 Top Ten

Nice recap of this year's AIA COTE Top Ten Green Award winners from Environmental Building News:

The American Institute of Architects Committee on the Environment (AIA-COTE) has announced its Top Ten Green Projects for 2011. “The bar has been raised” since the Top Ten competition began, noted members of the jury. “Now we want to see diverse project types, projects that resolve urban issues or social issues, projects that change occupant behavior.” The jurors also noted particular interest in innovative water management techniques, passive survivability, urban infill, and community improvement. “The architect is in a way taking on the role of a developer, and they are changing city policy about what is acceptable,” concluded juror Joshua Aidlin, AIA. Other members of the Top Ten jury for 2011 were: Mary Guzowski; Kevin Kampschroer; Mary Ann Lazarus, FAIA; Jennifer Sanguinetti, P.E.; and Lauren Yarmuth. Profiles of these projects are available by clicking each project name below (full profiles available by subscription), or at www.aiatopten.org.

Cherokee Studios: A mixed-use urban infill project, this building features a green roof and provides stormwater filtration to help prevent ocean pollution. A system of perforated screens allows daylight and outdoor air to permeate the apartments while also providing shade as residents desire.

First Unitarian Society Meeting House: This addition to a historic meetinghouse designed by Frank Lloyd Wright takes the form of an arc to counterbalance the triangles of the original structure. Stormwater runoff from the original meetinghouse has been flooding neighboring properties for years, but the green roof and pervious landscaping of the addition have solved this longstanding problem.

Greensburg Schools: After a tornado destroyed almost every structure in Greensburg, Kansas, the community chose to rebuild using sustainable strategies. For the schools, that meant a major emphasis on daylighting and indoor air quality to improve the learning environment. The project also features stormwater capture and reuse, along with a constructed wetland for onsite wastewater treatment.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE >>

via www.buildinggreen.com

The Key to Design Insights: See the World Differently

How to think like a designer: Don't just observe the world, but draw upon what you know, interpret what you find, and look for unmet needs

By Luke Williams

There's a wonderful New Yorker article titled "The Eureka Hunt" (PDF). It's the story of a firefighter named Wagner Dodge who survived an out-of-control fire in the Mann Gulch in Montana in 1949. Thirteen other smoke jumpers died in the fire, but Dodge was saved by a brilliant insight. Fleeing for his life, he suddenly stopped running and ignited the ground around him. He then lay down on the smoldering embers and inhaled the thin layer of oxygen clinging to the ground. The fire passed over him and, after several terrifying minutes, Dodge emerged from the ashes, virtually unscathed. 

What sort of a crazy person stops running from a fire and starts another one? Well, if you know certain things about fire and oxygen—knowledge that may have taken years to acquire—it's not as nutty as it sounds. Dodge had been a firefighter for many years and knew that fire needs three things to exist: fuel, air, and heat. By getting rid of the grass (i.e. fuel) around him, he took his chances with the fast moving fire and was able to save himself. 

At first glance, insights like this one may seem to come out of nowhere. But in hindsight they make perfect, logical sense. What happens is that we (sometimes unconsciously) recognize patterns that enable us to see things in a new way. Albert Einstein put it succinctly when he said insight "comes suddenly and in a rather intuitive way. But intuition is nothing but the outcome of earlier intellectual experience." READ MORE >>

via www.theatlantic.com

U.K. Neighborhood Records Its Electricity Use on the Street

By Andrew Price

A little feedback can go a long way. In Brighton, in the United Kingdom, a group of residents living on Tidy Street are recording their daily electricity use on a giant infographic painted on the street outside their homes.

As The Tidy Street Project website explains:

Each day the participants' electricity usage over the previous 24 hours will be marked; and each week participants can choose to add another comparison line that will show how their electricity consumption compares to another region in the UK or even a different country. We hope that the residents, in collaboration with a local graffiti artist, will produce an engaging artwork that will stimulate the street and passersby to reflect on their electricity use.

The project has been running for roughly three weeks and already the participants' electricity use has dropped by 15 percent. Imagine what we could do here in America if we had smart meters and real-time energy use displays in our homes. Lots of people are aware that energy use is a creeping problem but virtually nobody is aware of how much they use.

via www.good.is

PopTech Interview: Emily Pilloton on chicken coops, farmers markets and sustainable design

By Emily Spivack

High school students designing chicken coop models

Project H Founder Emily Pilloton (Social Innovation Fellow 2009) has her hands full in Bertie County, North Carolina. She’s educating high school students about design and sustainability, prototyping chicken coops and planning a farmers market in a neighboring town. We caught up with her for an update.  

PopTech: What’s Project H up to in North Carolina?
Emily Pilloton: We have been working in Bertie County, the poorest and most rural county in the state, for two years now. Last year, we wrote a curriculum for high school education and became high school teachers. The Studio H curriculum draws from many of the design/build curricula you see in college-level architecture programs, like Auburn's Rural Studio, but does it at a high school level. The motto is "Design. Build. Transform." We teach design as a creative process, within a shop class environment, and put those skills towards solutions that Bertie County is asking for and desperately needs.

PT: How is Studio H different from other forms of design education in public schools?
EP: It is full-scale architecture - each year our students design and physically build one contextually responsive and socially transformative piece of architecture to house new innovative programming in Bertie County (this year, a farmers market pavilion for the town of Windsor). READ MORE >>

via poptech.org

William McDonough on Cradle to Cradle Design (VIDEO)

Great short video with Bill McDonough - part of The Designers Accord's new Sustainability in 7 video series:

Designers Accord - Sustainability in 7 - Bill McDonough from Core77 on Vimeo.