Archinect - Features

A Victory Under The Sun Must Also Be Against It

2018-09-19T12:54:00-04:00

Imitative solar panels - designed by companies including Sistine Solar and Tesla - call into question the relationship between infrastructural aesthetics and the urgent need to conserve material resources in the current climate. Can conservation really only be sold in a dress? Is the conflation of the two our only way out of the environmental crisis?

The Solar Decathlon Competition Showcases Cutting-Edge Home Designs, But Will it Give us the Next High-Tech Home?

2018-02-08T12:00:00-05:00

Having long wanted to attend the Solar Decathlon, the U.S. Department of Energy’s collegiate competition that challenges student teams to design and build full-size, solar-powered houses, I was excited to learn last year that it was going to be held in Denver, where I reside. As the event drew closer, I signed up for two volunteer roles, working one shift as a greeter and a few as a docent, in order to attend.

Michael Maltzan Envisions the Future of LA's Infrastructure

2016-10-18T12:18:00-04:00

Los Angeles is defined by its freeways: everyone from Joan Didion to Ice Cube to "Saturday Night Live" has conceptualized the city through them. So why is such an integral part of the city’s urban fabric left largely to stagnate in the collective architectural imagination?