Archinect - News

Paris Olympics Athlete's Village to cool without AC during summer games

2024-05-03T17:30:00-04:00

To combat the intense summer heat in France, a geothermal energy system will cool the athlete apartments in the Seine-Saint-Denis suburb. This technology utilizes natural resources and is expected to reduce carbon impact by 45 percent compared to traditional air conditioning systems. The system will maintain a temperature below 79 degrees Fahrenheit during the night, even in the event of a heatwave, according to Laurent Michaud, the director of the Olympic and Paralympic Villages.

The planned alternative system will distribute cold water from underground to cool through the floors of the apartments, which will later become home to more than 6,000 permanent residents after the more than 15,000 Olympic and Paralympics athletes vacate in September. The buildings all have green roofs and will reportedly be powered completely by renewable energy in line with Paris' 2050 principles. Their construction achieved a 30% reduction in its carbon footprint compared to other modern projects.

Other countries, meanwhile, have promised to bring their own portable systems as a backup as experts have forecasted another unusually hot summer for the continent.

BIG designs off-grid 'adventure village' Vollebak Island

2023-06-01T14:29:00-04:00

BIG has shared details about their latest collaboration with British clothing company Vollebak to design a self-sufficient, off-grid island off the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada. Named after the brand, the 11-acre Vollebak Island is intended to be fully powered by carbon-neutral energy.

The island site centers around the 6,426-square-foot Earth House, a village-like series of nine interconnected buildings clustered under a man-made hill, and the 947-square-foot Wood House, a standalone garden suite structure on the island’s eastern shoreline.

View of Vollebak Island's Earth House. Rendering: MIR. Image courtesy Vollebak

Each space on the island is made from material tailored for their specific uses, including stacked seaweed, compacted earth, hemp, glass brick, and locally-sourced stone. The island will be powered through a combination of offshore wind, geothermal energy, and solar power, with the energy stored in Tesla power walls.

The Earth House. Rendering: MIR. Image courtesy Vo...

New York City's first geothermal apartment complex tops out in Coney Island

2023-05-31T08:11:00-04:00

LCOR, along with energy solutions company Ecosave USA, has topped out the first geothermal apartment complex in New York City. Located at 1515 Surf Ave. in Coney Island, this project stands as the city's largest district geothermal ground-source heat pump project to date. The system aims to decrease the building’s energy consumption by over 60% compared to structures equipped with standard HVAC systems.

The project, designed by STUDIO V Architecture, received partial funding from New York’s Community Heat Pump Pilot Program. This aligns with the state's goals towards net-zero climate emissions.

The building features an array of amenities such as an outdoor pool, fitness center, landscaped courtyard, indoor handball and basketball courts, tenant lounges, co-working space, and on-site parking. A portion of the building’s residences, 30%, is set aside as affordable housing.

The expected completion date for the construction of this building is in early 2024.

IKEA partners with SunPower to sell solar panels in California stores

2022-05-25T16:30:00-04:00

IKEA U.S. has teamed up with SunPower, a California-based solar technology and energy services provider, to launch a new program called Home Solar with IKEA. Through this collaboration, members of the IKEA Family customer loyalty program will be able to purchase home solar solutions, available through SunPower, to generate and store their own renewable energy. The initiative is expected to launch in select California markets in Fall 2022.

Founded in 1985, SunPower sells, installs, and finances solar power products, including panels, batteries, mounting hardware, and monitoring software. This partnership forms part of IKEA’s mission to become circular and climate positive by 2030. IKEA already has an expansive renewable energy portfolio in the U.S., with two wind farms, two solar farms, two geothermal systems, seven biogas-fuel cells, and rooftop solar arrays on 90% of its locations. Additionally, the furniture and interiors giant announced STRÖMMA in August 2021, a project initiate...

Google's BIG + Heatherwick-designed Bay View HQ campus opens

2022-05-17T18:55:00-04:00

Google has announced the opening of its new Bay View campus in Mountain View, California, with the neighboring Charleston East project in its final phase of construction. Together, they form the latest additions to Google's headquarters.

Photo: Iwan Baan, courtesy of Google

The web giant celebrates the first time it led the concept and construction of one of its own major campuses, boasting an extensive list of human-centered, sustainable features.

According to Google's project announcement, Bay View is an all-electric, net-water-positive facility with the largest geothermal installation in North America. Both projects report being the largest buildings in the world to pursue LEED-NC v4 Platinum and the largest to pursue elements of the International Living Future Institute (ILFI) Living Building Challenge (LBC) Petal Certification.

Photo: Iwan Baan, courtesy of Google

Designed in collaboration with Bjarke Ingels Group and Heatherwick Studio, the campus officially broke ground in 2...

Cornell University to drill 10,000-foot hole to utilize geothermal energy

2022-02-03T13:51:00-05:00

In May 2022, Cornellians will see a drill the height of McGraw Tower rise above a plot of land between the Cornell Teaching Dairy Barn and Cascadilla Creek as it drills a 10,000-foot hole. The drilling is part of the Cornell University Borehole Observatory: the first stage of the University’s Earth Source Heating project, which aims to eventually use geothermal heat to provide ecologically-friendly heating to campus buildings.

Cornell’s Earth Source Heating Program, aiming to harness renewable energy in Ithaca, is part of the school’s Climate Action Plan. The goal of the initiative is for the University’s campus operations to be carbon neutral by 2035. This step of the project will first explore the feasibility and safety of the site before delivering heat to the campus.

The Borehole Observatory will allow researchers to investigate how much heat geothermal energy can provide, determine whether it will be sufficient for Cornell’s campus, and if there are any consequences to using this site.

California poised to ramp up its geothermal capacity

2020-01-28T16:21:00-05:00

After years of playing third fiddle to solar and wind power, geothermal energy is poised to start growing again in California. [...] The new plants will be the first geothermal facilities built in California in nearly a decade — potentially marking a long-awaited turning point for a technology that could play a critical role in the state’s transition to cleaner energy sources.

The Los Angeles Times on California's efforts to increase, potentially double, the share geothermal energy contributes to the state's electricity mix by adding new plants.

Traditionally, the much higher upfront cost of geothermal plants (compared to solar or wind farms of comparable capacity) outplayed the technology's big advantage of generating dependable emission-free, renewable electricity regardless of weather conditions above ground.

With more plants going on line in coming years, hopes are that kilowatt-hour prices of geothermal-generated electricity will drop enough to help California reach its ambitious goal of 100% renewable-powered energy by 2045.

Steven Holl's Institute for Contemporary Art at VCU to open April 21

2018-04-17T15:14:00-04:00

Steven Holl Architects' new Institute for Contemporary Art (ICA) at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) will open to the public on April 21, 2018. The ICA's new building named the Markel Center will debut with its inaugural exhibition Declaration, an exploration of contemporary art’s power to respond to pressing social issues. This will be Virginia's first art institution dedicated exclusively to exhibiting contemporary art.

Institute for Contemporary Art at VCU Markel Center at night. Image: Iwan Baan.

Aerial view of the Institute for Contemporary Art at VCU. Image: Iwan Baan.

The building features dual entrances opening to the city’s arts district on one side and VCU’s Monroe Park campus on the other, providing a connection between the two.

View of the Royall Forum at the Institute for Contemporary Art at VCU. Image: Iwan Baan.

Steven Holl Architects activated the 41,000 square feet of space with an open design to create flexibility. With an inviting 33-foot-high central forum, ...

Google's Dandelion startup wants to make geothermal energy more affordable for homeowners

2017-07-10T14:49:00-04:00

Google parent Alphabet is spinning off a little-known unit working on geothermal power called Dandelion, which will begin offering residential energy services. [...] Dandelion chief executive Kathy Hannun said her team had been working for several years "to make it easier and more affordable to heat and cool homes with the clean, free, abundant, and renewable energy source right under our feet," and that the efforts culminated with the creation of an independent company outside of Alphabet.

"In the U.S., buildings account for 39% of all carbon emissions, mostly from the combustion of fossil fuels for heating and cooling," Dandelion CEO Kathy Hannun explains on the company's blog. "In the Northeast, heating and cooling is particularly carbon-intensive due to the relatively high use of fuel oil or propane as a heating fuel. This also leads to unpredictable costs for homeowners; if fuel prices rise during a particularly long and cold winter, their wallets take a hit."

Hannun describes how designing a better drill was the key to reducing cost, time, hassle, and environmental impact of the drilling process: "After months of testing, we hit upon a design for a fast, slender drill that hit our objectives. It could drill just one or two deep holes just a few inches wide, and compared to typical installation rigs, it produced less waste and took up much less space as it operated. It left a typical suburban backyard relatively undisturbed, so we could minimize landscaping costs ...