Archinect - News

Seattle’s Super-Green Bullitt Center Opened on Earth Day

2013-04-23T16:37:00-04:00

Yesterday, on Earth Day, Seattle's latest green building celebrated its grand opening: The Bullitt Center, a super-efficient office space at 1501 East Madison Street, was designed to become the world’s largest functioning, commercial Living Building, using an estimated 83 percent less energy than a typical Seattle office building and achieving Net Zero Energy and Net Zero Water.

AIA Selects 2013 COTE Top Ten Green Projects

2013-04-22T21:13:00-04:00

The top ten examples of sustainable architecture and green design solutions have been selected by the American Institute of Architects and its Committee on the Environment (COTE) today. The COTE Top Ten Green Projects program, now in its 17th year, celebrates projects that are the result of a thoroughly integrated approach to architecture, natural systems, and technology.

Surface Design Award Winner: Kebony KREOD Sculpture

2013-02-21T15:27:00-05:00

KREOD, a portable wooden structure revealed in London last September, has recently been recognized with a Surface Design Award for Temporary Structure.

Results of tur(i)ntogreen International Student Design Competition

2013-02-12T14:09:00-05:00

The winners of the tur(i)ntogreen international design competition were recently announced in Turin, Italy. Organized by the Research and Documentation Center in Technology, Architecture and City in Developing Countries at the Politecnico di Torino, the competition had invited university students [...] to develop new multidisciplinary solutions for a sustainable and inclusive city reflecting on new forms of urban management and regeneration through agro - housing and urban - farming models.

Winners of Transiting Cities - Low Carbon Futures Competition

2013-01-21T14:42:00-05:00

A few days ago, we published one of the finalist entries of the international design ideas competition, Transiting Cities - Low Carbon Futures. The competition was open [...] to develop innovative visions for Latrobe City, in eastern Victoria, Australia to make the transition from a singular economy dominated by the power industry (coal mining and electricity generation) into a diversified economy and prosperous low carbon regional city.

The Bullitt Centre: A Green American Icon

2013-01-16T12:54:00-05:00

A brand new green building project is set to become one of the world’s most sustainable commercial office builds not for the new and innovative technology it has implemented but for the unique approach to green building the developers have taken.

Transiting Cities - Finalist Entry “Networked Ecologies: Rethinking Remediation”

2013-01-11T14:01:00-05:00

Last fall, the international research project and design ideas competition, "Transiting Cities - Low Carbon Futures," had invited designers and academic institutions from various fields to envision new, innovative and alternative cities of the near future by defining opportunities for transition into low carbon, prosperous, and vibrant communities. One of the finalist entries [...] is the concept "Networked Ecologies: Rethinking Remediation" by Arizona-based team Studio One.

Peel-and-Stick Solar Panels: A World First

2013-01-09T19:31:00-05:00

Researchers at the Stanford School of Engineering have succeeded in developing the world’s first peel-and-stick thin-film solar cells. The idea will allow the cells to be applied to almost any surface, with successful tests having been conducted on paper, plastic and window glass. This opens up significant opportunities for alternative applications for solar technology, previously limited by traditional solar cells, which must be mounted on stiff, often heavy, fixed panels.

The UK’s Most ‘Outstanding’ Green Building

2012-12-20T20:23:00-05:00

The building, known as 1 Angel Square, has been designed to deliver a 50 per cent reduction in energy consumption compared to The Co-operative’s current Manchester complex and an 80 per cent reduction in carbon. This will lead to operating costs being lowered by up to 30 per cent.

Will This Be The World’s Greenest Skyscraper?

2012-11-30T01:03:00-05:00

Holistic sustainability is a notion too often forgotten in a global industry heavily focused delivering on green ideals. While the notion of green building is an umbrella under which all things related to environmentally responsible construction and design efforts are categorized, the green sector actually falls under the broad-reaching holistic sustainability model.

Frank Harmon Wins Honor Award for AIA NC Center for Architecture and Design

2012-11-28T16:59:00-05:00

November 28, 2012 (Raleigh, NC) – Frank Harmon Architect PA, a multi-award-winning firm in Raleigh, NC, has received an Honor Award from the North Carolina Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA NC) for the design of the new AIA NC Center for Architecture and Design in downtown Raleigh.

Already praised by the media as a “heroic gesture” (Metro Magazine), a building “that behaves like the skilled diplomat it was designed to be,” (News & Observer), and “an ode in zinc and cypress, and an inviting treatise on transparency,” (Huffington Post), the building is located on an oddly shaped, previously unused lot in downtown Raleigh near the State Capitol and Government Complex.

According to Frank Harmon, FAIA, the building and landscape were conceived of as “one interlocking system” with the help of Charlottesville, VA, landscape architect Gregg Bleam, FASLA. “The landscape is an extension of the building and the building is an extension of the landscape,” Harmon said. ...

Six Projects to Receive 2013 SEED Award for Excellence in Public Interest Design

2012-11-14T15:27:00-05:00

Winners of the 2013 international SEED Award for Excellence in Public Interest Design were announced yesterday. SEED Awards recognize excellence in social, economic, and environmental design, and represent the collaborations needed to create truly sustainable projects and change in the world. Six projects were selected out of sixty-five submitted from 21 countries worldwide.

Ten Top Images on Archinect's "Biophilia" Pinterest Board

2012-10-12T14:28:00-04:00

In case you haven't checked out Archinect's Pinterest boards in a while, we have compiled ten recently pinned images from outstanding projects on various Archinect Firm and People profiles.

Today's top images (in no particular order) are from the board Biophilia.

↑ Cabbagetown Garden in Toronto, Canada by PLANT Architect Inc.

↑ Robinson Nature Center in Columbia, MD by GWWO Architects

↑ Galileo's Pavilion; Johnson County Community College in Overland Park, KS by Studio 804 (team member: Nathan Jarvis)

↑ Pine Creek Pavilion in Pine Creek, MT by Artemis Institute

↑ The Offices of Buck O'Neill Builders, Inc in San Francisco, CA by jones | haydu

↑ AEA Headquarters in Bronx, NY by Future Green Studio

↑ Home in the Hills in the Santa Cruz Mountains, CA by Geoffrey Holton and Associates (team member: David Waldorf, Photo: Muffy Kibbey)

↑ Tree Adventure in Philadelphia, PA by Metcalfe Architecture & Design

↑ Pelter Residence in Los Angeles, C...

Scarcity contra Austerity

2012-10-08T19:37:00-04:00

Conditions of scarcity demand new ways of thinking, an expansion of the role of the architect and designer outwards in order to function more broadly and imaginatively as spatial agents. In contrast to the regimes of austerity ... the territory of processes and networks opened up by scarcity is far more conducive to creative intervention. It is here that scarcity — which can seem at first a bleak prospect — can become the inspiration and context for constructive and transformative action.

What is the difference between scarcity and austerity? On Places, Jeremy Till contrasts the political ideology of austerity — imposed reductions of public services and social benefits — with the physical condition of scarcity — the measureable dwindling of finite resources — and explores how this distinction might enable designers to grapple with big-scale challenges. A keener understanding of scarcity, he argues, "might inspire us to widen the field of practice and allow us to operate more creatively."

Pop Rocks: Soft Urban Boulder Field

2012-10-04T14:22:00-04:00

Vancouver hosted a fascinating hybrid of public spatial art and waste material upcycling in its downtown area this summer: Pop Rocks, a temporary installation that covered a full city block. The project is fabricated entirely from post-consumer and post-industrial waste from the metropolitan Vancouver region.

The installation, an equal collaboration between Matthew Soules Architecture and AFJD Studio (Amber Frid-Jimenez & Joe Dahmen), engages tactically with these materials to produce soft forms that extend the typical range of active and passive social activities, fostering unexpected social encounters and new perspectives on the city.

Winners of URBAN ANIMAL: 2012 Animal Architecture Awards

2012-09-06T19:10:00-04:00

Ned Dodington, founder of AnimalArchitecture.org, today announced the winners of the 2012 Animal Architecture Awards. This year's competition, titled "URBAN ANIMAL", called for designs that reshape, expand and redefine the context of urban thought and space while keeping in mind the needs (and possible benefits) of synanthropic species — wild animals that “live near, and benefit from, an association with humans and the somewhat artificial habitats that humans create around them”.

See also: Bat Cloud, the top award winner, previously in the Archinect News.

Architectural Association’s Foster + Partners Prize 2012 Goes to Yi Yvonne Weng

2012-07-06T19:14:00-04:00

Earlier this week in London, the Architectural Association and Foster + Partners announced AA diploma student Yi Yvonne Weng as winner of the 2012 Foster + Partners Prize for her project ‘The 6th Layer – Explorative Canopy Trail’. The award is presented annually to the AA fifth year diploma student whose portfolio best addresses the themes of sustainability and infrastructure. The recipient is selected jointly by the AA and Foster + Partners at the end of each academic year.

UNStudio-Designed Center for Virtual Engineering Realized + Awarded German Sustainability Prize

2012-06-22T19:11:00-04:00

Amsterdam's UNStudio has just realized its latest project, the Center for Virtual Engineering (ZVE) [...] in Stuttgart, Germany. The official opening took place this week with an opening ceremony during which the German Sustainable Building Council (DNGB) awarded the building with a Gold certification. UNStudio worked in collaboration with German firm Asplan Architekten on the architectural services for the Center.

State of Alabama Bans Sustainable Development

2012-06-13T15:07:00-04:00

The folks in Alabama have just passed a law that says quite clearly that they don’t want anything to do with sustainability. Though they might not have any problem with clean air and water and all that, it seems to be the planning for it that is the problem. Because planning, after all, is apparently what communists do.

On the Aesthetic Potential of Sustainability

2012-06-04T13:45:00-04:00

So, to re-pose the question: what is the radical aesthetic consequence of the cultural desire for sustainable performance? Is it something that expresses itself in a set of formal rules, like the Modern response to the development of the steel frame? Or is it something — because it is essentially about performance — requiring entirely different means to fruition? Well, as with uncharted territory: here there be dragons.

In his latest essay for Places, David Heymann asks, "What is the 'radical aesthetic potential of sustainable design?" Drawing on examples from Leonardo to Duchamp to Peter Zumthor, Heymann explores the still unmet challenge — the "uncharted territory" — of developing a new aesthetic ideal inspired by the evolving technologies of sustainability.

Traditional architecture offers a strong foundation for green building

2012-04-26T18:14:36-04:00

Green building does not always require the latest in smart grid technology, solar panels, expensive recycled materials or the manipulation of Leed scores for environmental design in the same way students study tactically for standardised university examinations. Architects and designers across the globe are channelling their ancestors and creating building plans that maximise air flow, mitigate their impact on the local environment and offer comfort to residents and workers.

Global Holcim Award 2012 Winners Announced

2012-03-30T15:47:00-04:00

A secondary school project in Gando, Burkina Faso, a community center project in São Paulo, Brazil, and an urban renewal plan in Berlin, Germany are the winners of the Global Holcim Awards for 2012. These leading sustainable construction projects were selected from 15 finalist submissions by a jury of independent experts led by Enrique Norten. The finalists were the regional Holcim Awards 2011 winning projects that had been selected from more than 6,000 entries in 146 countries.

Can wooden skyscrapers transform concrete jungles?

2012-03-18T23:48:00-04:00

Swapping cement and steel for timber is the vision of a number of environmentally-minded architects who are planning high-rise buildings across the world. Architect Michael Green has plans for a 30-story wooden skyscraper in Vancouver, while plans are afoot in Norway and Austria for 17- and 20-story buildings that use wood as the main building material, eschewing steel and concrete.

Project Zero - Runner Up at Design to Zero Competition

2012-02-16T13:25:00-05:00

We are happy to also present the second prize winner of the 2012 Design to Zero competition: Project Zero, a collaborative effort by graduate students Daniel Kim and Caitlin Ranson from Clemson University School of Architecture [...]. Project Zero seeks to redefine the "unit," focusing on the tight relationship between material unit, family unit, and living unit. The site chosen for the proposal is in a historic residential district not far from downtown Grennville, South Carolina.

Clemson University Students Take First Prize at Design to Zero Competition

2012-02-09T13:51:00-05:00

A team of two graduate students from Clemson University School of Architecture, Eric Laine and Suzanne Steelman, has won the international Dow Solar Design to Zero competition. The team's proposal LiveWork was awarded the first place award, along with a $20,000 prize sponsored by Dow Solar.

Santa Monica Complete Green Street Breaks Ground

2012-01-23T15:20:00-05:00

Designed by John Kaliski Architects, in conjunction with Lawrence Moss & Associates, Landscape Architects, and Kimley-Horn & Associates, Civil Engineers, the Ocean Park Boulevard Complete Green Street recently broke ground on December 12, 2011. When completed in early 2013, it will be the longest complete green street in the City of Santa Monica, and one of the longest in Southern California.

JET, JCI, and Terraplan to Build Eco Community Development in Bangladesh

2012-01-09T18:22:00-05:00

The collaboration of three Toronto-based firms, JET Architecture, JCI Architects, and Terraplan Landscape Architects, has won the commission to build the "Shobuj Pata" (Green Leaf) Eco Community Development in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Regional Holcim Awards 2011 for Asia Pacific

2011-12-13T14:50:28-05:00

Following the regional Holcim Awards for sustainable construction projects for Latin America, Europe, Africa Middle East, and North America, winners of the Asia Pacific Awards have recently been announced, bringing the regional phase of the 3rd International Holcim Awards competition to a close. A total of USD 300,000 was presented to twelve groundbreaking projects at a ceremony in Singapore.

Regional Holcim Awards Winners for North America Announced in Washington, DC

2011-10-24T15:39:16-04:00

The winners of the 3rd International Holcim Awards competition for sustainable construction projects and visions from North America have just been announced. A total of USD 300,000 was presented to ten diverse and innovative projects from Canada and the USA at a ceremony in Washington, DC.

We're very excited to see our friends from Lateral Office / InfraNet Lab (also Archinect's collaborating partners at the acclaimed BRACKET project) and long time Archinect contributor Mason White take home the first prize. Congratulations!

Regional Holcim Awards 2011 for Africa Middle East

2011-10-14T14:34:04-04:00

In the last few days, we've published the winners of the Regional Holcim Awards 2011 for Latin America, as well as Europe. Here are now also the winning projects of the competition for sustainable construction projects and visions from Africa Middle East which had been announced recently at a ceremony in Casablanca, Morocco.