Green ArchiTEXT

Public Interest Design: Need, Opportunity and Generosity

Great piece on BNIM's blog:

By Sam De Jong

Seek out the place where there is a great need. Often in this place we find an absence of design, yet here exists the greatest opportunity.

This provocation has been with me for a number of seasons, and has resurfaced in a whole new light this weekend after engaging with a community focused on Public Interest Design.

It was at the Structures for Inclusion 12 Conference in Austin, TX hosted by Bryan Bell and his team at Design Corps, where projects from around the globe best exemplifying the mission of the SEED Network (Social Economic Environmental Design) were being honored. The theme of the conference, “Design is Relational”, allowed the attendees to explore impact is on the relationships, the empowerment, and the activities created by Public Interest Design, in addition to the bricks and mortar aspect of design and construction.

The projects were diverse. They ranged from a hospital in Rwanda, to a youth farm in New Orleans, to a Native American Pueblo in New Mexico, to our very own Bancroft School in Kansas City. But the theme of each project was consistent: there was a need that someone saw as an opportunity to serve the needs of the public. READ MORE >>

via www.bnim.com

Bancroft: Structures for Inclusion

View more presentations from BNIM

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.

Inside The Ecological Engineer: Glumac - Profile of Mercy Corps Headquarters

Inside my latest book, The Ecological Engineer: Glumac. An in-depth look at the LEED Platinum Mercy Corps Headquarters (Portland, OR) that highlights use of daylighting, natural ventilation, an energy-efficient facade and alternative energy technologies - one of a dozen short project profiles throughout this new monograph.

Open publication - Free publishing

Inside The Ecological Engineer: Glumac - Chapter 7, "At the Heart of Justice"

Inside my latest book, The Ecological Engineer: Glumac. A closer look at the AIA COTE Top Ten Green Award-winning designs for the Wayne L. Morse Federal Courthouse in Eugene, Oregon.

Preview of CEBRA Architect's Monograph: CEBRA_files_01 (VIDEO)

Very cool video from CEBRAarchitects (Copenhagen, Denmark), showcasing the firm'sfirst book CEBRA_files_01.

Tuscaloosa Forward: BNIM Creates New Site to Help the City's Tornado Recovery Efforts

BNIM launched Tuscaloosa Forward in June 2011 to create and manage the dialogue between community residents and the planning team - critical to sustainable recovery and rebuilding efforts...and the results have been stunning so far. Read more in "Tuscaloosa Forward Takes Off".

Congrats to BNIM: 2011 AIA Architecture Firm Award Winner!

BNIM: 2011 AIA National Architecture Firm Award

HMC Architects’ New Initiative: Environmentally Neutral Design

HMC Architects announced today the firm’s High-Performance Architecture Initiative which includes a building design process and commitment to share ongoing research publicly. Based on HMC’s dedication to environmentally neutral design, the initiative will act as a directive for the firm’s work across all practice areas, including Higher Education, Pre-K-12, and Healthcare. Progress made through the initiative will inform an evolving public resource, providing the industry with an open source of information for designing beyond sustainability.

In order to truly move towards high-performance architecture, HMC and the architecture profession as a whole must make a major shift toward integrated thinking of buildings, not as isolated entities, but as integral parts of their place, serving as harbingers for an improved environment. The intended result is a building that is attune with its surroundings, to the extent that there is no negative impact on the environment. High performance architecture aims to advance beyond today’s accepted guidelines and standards classifications and towards truly environmentally neutral design, employing three primary areas of measure in determining the success of a project:

• Environmental Impact: The building should have a reduced environmental impact measured in three areas: its effect on climate change, pollution and resource consumption.
• Human Health: The building has to promote human health and quality of life. This is measured in two areas: performance and program.
• Economy: The building should benefit society and provide added value to the community through several major areas, such as education and income.

READ MORE >>

via blog.hmcarchitects.com

BNIM Will Receive 2011 AIA Architecture Firm Award

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) Board of Directors (BOD) voted today for Berkebile Nelson Immenschuh McDowell Architects (BNIM) to receive the 2011 AIA Architecture Firm Award. The Kansas City, Mo.-based firm celebrated for advancing the design of sustainable architecture from nearly its inception to today when it has become a preeminent force fundamentally re-shaping the built environment.

The AIA Architecture Firm Award, given annually, is the highest honor the AIA bestows on an architecture firm and recognizes a practice that consistently has produced distinguished architecture for at least 10 years. BNIM will be honored at 2011 AIA National Convention in New Orleans.

BNIM, led by named partners Bob Berkebile, FAIA, Tom Nelson, FAIA, David Immenschuh, and Steve McDowell, FAIA, describe themselves as Midwestern regional architects, but aren’t limited to any specific style or design language. Always rigorously sustainable, their buildings can be woodsy with familiar vernacular references, or refined with hi-tech glass and steel compositions of pure building performance. BNIM has a national presence with offices in Des Moines, Houston, Los Angeles, and San Diego, but they have truly left an indelible mark on Kansas City, their hometown base. This is because of the sheer number and variety of buildings they’ve designed there, but also because of the professional influence they have wielded as mentors, teachers, and practitioners.

From 1970 when it was founded to today, BNIM has been a crucial voice in defining and developing the art and science of sustainable architecture at its every historic juncture. In 1990, principal Bob Berkebile, became the founding chairman of the very first AIA Committee on the Environment (COTE), whose awards would soon become a leading guidepost in the development of sustainable buildings. Three years later, at AIA headquarters, Berkebile hosted the first meeting to establish a green building certification non-profit, which would eventually become the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). That year he also worked on a pilot design study for a Montana State University building that became an early template for the LEED rating system. Just this year, BNIM became one of two firms to complete a building that met the world’s strictest green building certification system: The Living Building Challenge. The Omega Center for Sustainable Living in Rhinebeck, N.Y., is a biological wastewater filtration facility that produces no waste, recycles all its water, and generates all its own energy. BNIM’s close, influential relationship with the USGBC continues to this day, as the firms weighs in on how to move LEED beyond its current highest Platinum standard. READ MORE >>

via www.aia.org