Green ArchiTEXT

Inhabitat: Gensler's Irwin Miller on Sustainable Architecture and Opportunity Green

By Evelyn Lee

INHABITAT: We’ve covered several Gensler projects in the past on Inhabitat. As one of the largest architectural and design firms in the world, how does Gensler prioritize sustainability not only in their buildings but in the everyday operations of your offices.

Irwin: We think of great design as having four equally important parts: ethical practice, experiential design, thoughtful impact, and excellent delivery. Included in ethical practice is sustainability and the idea that you can’t create great design without it. This translates into our everyday office operations in many big and small ways. The really exciting sustainable operations are yet to come in our new office! We’ve worked closely with Glumac to get our energy usage as low as possible through the use of natural light, task lighting, and daylight sensors for overhead lights. We are using chilled beam technology for cooling instead of conventional forced air. All of our plumbing fixtures are very low-flow, and we’ve built showers to encourage the use of alternative transportation, and we offer a great rideshare incentive program. In fact, a key factor in our ultimate decision to relocate to downtown Los Angeles was the proximity of our new office a broader range of public transportation options. We also have recycling, green cleaning products, and paper with high recycled content. All of the vendors that visit our office are asked to share what’s green about their product, and we host weekly presentations that always include sustainable building materials, products, or technology. I could go on, but the bottom line is that we definitely practice what we preach when it comes to sustainability. READ FULL INTERVIEW>>

via inhabitat.com

Perkins+Will Research Journal looks at evidence-based design, information content of BIM & more

The latest issue of the excellent Perkins+Will Research Journal (Vol. 03.02) explores five diverse, thought-provoking topics: evidence-based design in healthcare; design of a modular student housing unit; analysis of information content in BIM; relationships between digital design and fabrication; and network challenges associated with BIM data sharing. Articles include:

“A Design-Based Approach to Collecting Evidence” – Diana Davis, Bowman Davis

Evidence Based Design (EBD) research analyzes the built environment through a very rigorous lens, one that takes its methodology from scientific protocol. Most environmental designers are not well versed in the utility of scientific methodology for demonstrating design efficacy, even though they employ a similar method of questioning.

“Performance-Driven Design and Prototyping” – Ming Tang, Ajla Aksamija, Michael Hodge, Jonathon Anderson

Discusses performance-driven design and fabrication as one of the emerging approaches in architectural design, where computational tools are used for integrated design exploration, analysis and fabrication.

“The Information Content of BIM” – Mario Guttman

The application of general information theory to pragmatic problems within the architecture, engineering, construction, owner and operator (AECOO) industry is explored in this article. Some basic principles about the nature of information and how it provides value are defined and applied to current issues in the use of building information modeling (BIM) and integrated project delivery (IPD) in design and construction.

To download the full issue, or individual articles, go here.

GreenTown Joplin: Sustainable and Healthy Disaster Recovery

By Nora DePalma

Nearly five years after a massive tornado leveled 95% of Greensburg, KS,  the town has become a living laboratory and a proving ground for emerging environmental technologies.

The non-profit  Greensburg GreenTown has been the educational resource for the community,  working side-by-side with city and county officials, business owners and local residents to incorporate sustainable principles into their rebuilding process, while also serving as a conduit through which donations can be distributed.

...

Now GreenTown is now taking its award-winning blueprint for natural disaster rebuilding to help an even larger city, Joplin Missouri, which suffered a similarly hideous EF5 tornado this past May.  The Green Earth PR Network has made a contribution to help  GreenTown Joplin in its efforts to:

• construct a series of eco-demonstration homes,
• establish eco-lodging for people that want to visit Joplin, and
• author a handbook to help guide future victims of natural disasters embrace a sustainable approach to recovery. READ MORE >>

via blog.greenearthpr.net

Architectural Record: Green Schools to Be Built With Donated Materials, Volunteers

By Scott Blair

An audacious plan is under way to build as many as 24 new schools in key markets across the U.S. solely through corporate funding, donated materials and volunteer labor.

Dubbed the Green Schoolhouse Series, the idea sprung from father-and-son team Marshall and Jeff Zotara, co-founders of Cause and Effect Evolutions, a Carlsbad, Calif.-based firm acting as organizer, project manager and public relations firm representing corporations and construction industry firms that have pledged financial or in-kind support for the school construction, estimated to cost more than $200 million in total.

Contractors broke ground this month on the inaugural $4-million schoolhouse, dubbed Safari, in west Phoenix. The 6,291-sq-ft building is being built for Roadrunner Elementary School, which serves 800 students and is—like the other schools to follow—an existing Title 1, low-income, public school campus. Future projects will range from 6,000 to 15,000 sq ft.

The schools are designed to achieve LEED-Platinum certification. "There are only two LEED-Platinum schools in the entire country, and they are both in wealthy communities," Jeff Zotara says. "We wanted to give something at the highest levels of sustainability to an underserved community." READ FULL ARTICLE>>

via archrecord.construction.com

The latest shade of green – zero energy use at TD Bank

PHOTO: Globe and Mail

By Erica Ruth Kelly

Since 1990, the Friends of the Environment Foundation at Toronto-Dominion Bank has helped fund more than 19,000 environmental projects with the aim of helping Canadian communities to reduce, reuse and recycle. Recently, TD added another “r” to this list: renovation.

In October, the bank unveiled a newly renovated branch in London, Ont., that is designed to produce as much energy as it uses. The solar panels at the retrofitted building will generate more than 100,000 kilowatt-hours of green electricity, the bank says.

The renovation follows TD’s construction of a new branch in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., which it says is the first ever “net-zero energy” building of its size in the retail world. Developing this branch, which has been open for five months, was an easy decision, says Roger Johnson, TD’s senior vice-president of enterprise real estate, since the bank had sufficient land to put the solar array on, and the state gets plenty of sunshine.

...

The zero-energy principle is becoming more practical as traditional fossil fuels become more expensive, says architect Paul Dowsett, a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) accredited principal at Sustainable.TO, a Toronto firm dedicated to green design. The renovation should protect the building from the future rising costs of energy, he says. READ MORE >>

via www.theglobeandmail.com

New Information Curriculum Embodied in Building Design

Nice piece in Environmental Design + Construction on merging digital and information technology within Goody Clancy's design of the new Center for Informatics at Northern Kentucky University (NKU) outside Cincinnati.

...

Griffin Hall is the new physical home of the College of Informatics and the centerpiece of Vision 2015, the northern Kentucky’s region’s 15-year strategic plan to bring together business and academia to strengthen the regional economy. 

The driving force of the program is the emerging integration of digital and information technology throughout the curriculum at NKU. Recognizing that business informatics and medical informatics are changing the very nature of human interaction, the program called for extracting traditional areas of study from their distinct academic “silos” and aggregating them in a central crossroads on campus.

The sustainable building solution, built for approximately $255 per square foot, features innovative materials and intelligent building systems (IBS) that align with the mission of integration and collaboration. The project was designed utilizing BIM (Building Information Modeling) across the entire team to represent the design and construction process in on-going and real-time three-dimensional representation.

“A sustainable building approach is part of NKU’s commitment to environmental stewardship,” said Rob Chandler, principal in charge of the project for Goody Clancy. “As architects and planners, we are committed to delivering highly responsive buildings with the very best tools and technologies available to us. NKU recognized that part of its ground-breaking approach to integrating information extended to the building itself. As a result, the building truly communicates with its systems and achieves higher efficiencies, lowers utility use, and reduces the University’s carbon footprint. ”

The George and Ellen Rieveschl Digitorium is the figural heart of Griffin Hall, comprising a two-story hall, embraced by the layered transparent skin of the Commons. The sweeping form acts as a forecourt to an L-shaped classroom and administrative wing. The Commons and the exterior of the Digitorium are illuminated by a dynamic assemblage of RGB LED lighting that is visible from the interior campus and west quad.  On the interior, the digitorium can be transformed into a reception space, high technology classroom, digital movie theater, recital hall, computer simulation center (for gaming, security, finances and other simulations), distance learning center, or a place for many other performance and teaching experiences. Eight “digital opera boxes” surrounding the central core also function as small breakout rooms. They feature computational equipment that allows for active, simultaneous engagement with building events and simultaneous display from all eight opera boxes on the 13’ x 25’ microtile wall. READ MORE >>

via www.edcmag.com

Living Buildings: Cladding buildings to help combat effects of climate change

The Earth Times reports on a different kind of 'living building': one that uses protocells to create a protective cladding for buildings:

By Michael Evans

As bizarre as it may seem, the University of Greenwich School of Architecture and Construction is poised to use ethical synthetic biology to create 'living' materials that could be used to clad buildings and help combat the effects of climate change.

Researchers from the University of Greenwich are collaborating with others at the University of Southern Denmark, the University of Glasgow and University College London to develop materials that could eventually produce water in desert environments or harvest sunlight to produce bio fuels.

Working with an architectural practice and a building materials manufacturer, research is taking place using protocells to fix carbon from the atmosphere or to create a coral-like skin, which could protect buildings. For those not in the know, protocells are made from droplets of oil in water that allow soluble chemicals to be exchanged between the drops and their surrounding solution.

Professor Neil Spiller, the new head of the University of Greenwich School of Architecture and Construction and himself a professional architect, is most enthusiastic about the use of protocells. Previously Vice Dean and graduate programme director at the University College London's Bartlett School of Architecture, he has been investigating their use for some time.

He said that the research team at Greenwich was currently looking at methods of using responsive protocells to clad cities in an ethical, green and sustainable way. A key feature was the desire to use ethical synthetic biology to create large scale, real world applications for buildings. READ MORE >>

via www.earthtimes.org

CNN's greenest buildings of 2011

Photos: CNN.com

Nice recap of some of the year's greenest buildings - receiving RIBA, Green Good Design and AIA COTE Top Ten Green Award recognition worldwide.

(CNN) -- Some house important corporate meetings; others are family homes. Some are gearing up to welcome top athletes while others open their doors to school children each day.

But all these buildings have one thing in common: This year they have won coveted architecture awards for innovative design and construction methods and for promoting sustainability.

CNN puts the global spotlight on a handful of buildings that have been recognized not only for their good looks but for their green credentials too.

Casa Locarno -- Locarno, Switzerland

Overlooking Lago Maggiore in Switzerland, Casa Locarno was designed by Designyougo and insulated to low energy standards. Instead of using conventional heating, solar collectors on the roof provide energy for the low temperature under-floor heating, as well as for hot water during most months of the year. READ MORE >>

Award: Green Good Design 2011

via edition.cnn.com

Coming Into the Country: Living Buildings in Alaska's Aleutian Islands

Teams from cities ranging from Hong Kong to Budapest, Brooklyn to Sarajevo, have accepted Cascadia Green Building Council’s challenge to design – and build – an affordable, energy-efficient home in one of the world’s most challenging environments.

Nearly 200 teams have signed up to design a small home on the Aleutian Islands that just might revolutionize how we build affordable housing. 

The winning design will be used to create a new home for Jimmy Prokopeuff, a 32-year-old Aleut man living in Atka, Alaska, whose current house is badly in need of replacement. But the true goal of the project is to re-envision sustainable, affordable housing in one of the world’s harshest locales.

The Living Aleutian Home Design Competition, hosted by Cascadia Green Building Council in partnership with the Aleutian Housing Authority, aims to inspire teams to bring the tenets and principles of the Living Building Challenge 2.0 ™, to Atka, an Aleutian Island that has been continuously occupied for more than 2,000 years.  Currently, Atka has a population of 61 people.

The Living Building Challenge dares the building industry and all inhabitants of the built environment to rethink how buildings are designed, how materials are sourced and how people interact with the built environment. The Aleutian Islands, often called ”the birthplace of the winds,” encompasses a 1,050-mile archipelago that is a treeless, windswept land of steep, high volcanoes, flower-strewn, moss-covered meadows and long, wide beaches.

Prokopeuff is an Alaska native, and more fortunate than many of his classmates, he found a good job in his hometown and is happy to remain. He is the production manager at the Atka Pride Seafood Plant, the community’s largest employer. He says he’s hopeful the plant will continue to thrive, with plans in the works for additional processing lines. Prokopeuff’s love for family and a passion for hunting and fishing make Atka the perfect place for him. Almost.

His living conditions are less than optimal. His small, ranch-style home was built by his father and grandfather shortly before he was born.  It is typical of any house built during that time – where comfort depended on cheap fossil fuel.  But heating oil shipped to Atka is no longer cheap. Given today’s prices of $6 to $8 a gallon, that can mean monthly heating bills of $600 in the heart of winter, which can last anywhere from four to six months.

“It is so expensive,” Prokopeuff says. “I am so excited for my new home. Everyone here is. It could change things.”

It could change things everywhere. The Living Aleutian Home Design contest challenges teams to create a prototype for affordable, sustainable residences in a rural community confronted with sky-high construction costs, an extreme climate and a pressing need for adopting alternative fuel strategies.

When it’s over, the Aleutian Housing Authority (AHA) will have a replicable design it can use in all 10 villages where the authority builds homes.  And it will help demonstrate to others, in rural areas everywhere, that there are ways to radically reduce energy consumption and make the switch to renewable energy, in safe, healthy, affordable homes, explains Mark Masteller, Alaska director for Cascadia.

“The Living Building Challenge deals with far more than energy, of course, but that’s the big driver in rural Alaska,” Masteller says. “With this competition, the AHA will be able to help scores of families, and it will stimulate progress among other builders, here and hopefully across the globe.”

Judging the contest are:

Dan Duame, Director at Aleutian Housing Authority
Sebastian Eckmann, Builder at Nordic Constructors
Jack Hebert, President/CEO at Cold Climate Housing Research Center
Bryan Mackay-Lyons, Principal at Mackay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects
Jason McLennan, Architect and CEO at International Living Future Institute
Lauri Straus, Architect at kpb architects
Susan Szenasy, Editor-in-Chief at Metropolis Magazine

The first prize submission will receive a $35,000 cash prize and have the option to work with the AHA to bring the design to completion. The second-place winning entry will receive a $15,000 prize. Winners will be announced at Living Future 2012, Cascadia Green Building Council’s annual unConference, May 2-4 in Portland.

TED Prize Winner for 2012: The City 2.0

For the first time in the history of the prize, it is being awarded not to an individual, but to an idea. It is an idea upon which our planet’s future depends.

The 2012 TED Prize is awarded to….the City 2.0.

The City 2.0 is the city of the future… a future in which more than ten billion people on planet Earth must somehow live sustainably.

The City 2.0 is not a sterile utopian dream, but a real-world upgrade tapping into humanity’s collective wisdom.

The City 2.0 promotes innovation, education, culture, and economic opportunity.

The City 2.0 reduces the carbon footprint of its occupants, facilitates smaller families, and eases the environmental pressure on the world’s rural areas.

The City 2.0 is a place of beauty, wonder, excitement, inclusion, diversity, life.

The City 2.0 is the city that works.

The TED Prize grants its winner $100,000 and “one wish to change the world.”   How will this prize be accepted on behalf of the City 2.0? Through visionary individuals around the world who are advocating on its behalf. READ MORE >>

via www.tedprize.org