Facades using the product, called Solar Squared, will be able to generate electricity while allowing greater amounts of daylight. The blocks also provide improved thermal insulation, developers say.
Solar Squared’s design consists of an array of optical elements that focus sunlight on small-sized solar cells. These are incorporated within the glass bricks during manufacture and they collect diffuse components of sunlight, making it useful for capturing solar energy in urban areas.
— Global Construction Review
Academics from the Engineering, Mathematics and Physical Science department of England's University of Exter have developed a solar power technology that fits into glass bricks. Its modular design is scalable, allowing for flexible structural integration. We now have the capability to build... View full entry
Permissive building codes, industry inertia, and market demands — like clients clamoring for floor-to-ceiling views — have widened the discrepancy between the kind of buildings cities say they want and what they actually allow. So while the industry inches towards better environmental performance, buildings in Boston and other cities still fall short of the sustainability goals that everyone claims to embrace. — The Boston Globe
Courtney Humphries of Boston Globe argues that the current trend for extensive use of glass in buildings contradicts today's strive for sustainability and "green building." When New York started tracking energy use by skyscrapers, the gleaming 7 World Trade Center — one of that city’s more... View full entry
In his latest design investigation, Joseph Choma, the founder of Design Topology Lab and an architecture professor at Clemson University, is helping shape up a future for fiberglass being used as a primary building material. Choma has been developing a fabrication technique that allows him to... View full entry
How does one maintain excitement while embodying elegance? The artful tension of the Ivanhoe House, as designed by Billy Kavellaris of the Australian firm KUD, is an excellent example. Located in the Melbourne suburb of Ivanhoe, the single-story 370 square meter house initially engages visitors... View full entry
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.(Tip: use the handy FOLLOW feature to easily keep up-to-date with all your favorite Archinect... View full entry
Walk through the towering door now, and Midtown falls away. The transition is not abrupt; a visitor is met first with a bank of wooden cupboards, easing newcomers off the street and into the vastness of the house itself. Then, space. The main room provides an unimpeded vista through 100 feet of natural-lit openness, a glass wall, a courtyard and pond, and a small separate structure beyond. The effect — of muted light, of air, of cleanness — is moving. — The New York Times
Fresh from her daily column at The Paris Review, Sadie Stein visits a Philip Johnson-designed apartment/artistic showcase in midtown Manhattan known as the "Rockfeller Guest House."Combining a rich historical narrative with some evocatively observed design, this piece is, as befits its author, a... View full entry
Relax, you don't need new glasses: the closely spaced, suspended panes of glass on Giovanni Vaccarini's SPG Headquarters in Geneva purposefully create a blurred/vibrating effect, especially when viewed from a distance.However, producer The Piranesi Experience and filmmaker Claudio Esposito have... View full entry
Snøhetta's "7th Room" is an addition to the previously existing Treehotel in Northern Sweden. The tree-canopy-level, snow-blanketed room features a pretty cool assortment of sleek furnishings and views, whether you're standing on the ground looking up, or lounging on the fur-lined chairs looking... View full entry
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.(Tip: use the handy FOLLOW feature to easily keep up-to-date with all your favorite Archinect... View full entry
Thanks to in situ artist Daniel Buren, the white glassy curved sails of the Gehry-designed Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris have received a generous splash of vibrant color — or 13 colors, to be exact...Developed in collaboration with Frank Gehry, Buren's temporary piece, titled “The Observatory of Light“, made its official debut this past Wednesday. It took 29 nights over a period of five weeks to apply the dyed filters and white 8.7 cm-wide strips throughout the building's 3,528 glass panes. — Bustler
Read more about Buren's intervention on Bustler. View full entry
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.(Tip: use the handy FOLLOW feature to easily keep up-to-date with all your favorite Archinect... View full entry
Researchers at University College London (UCL) claim that a “revolutionary” new type of window could cut cleaning costs in tall buildings and reduce heating bills by up to 40% thanks to a new combination of nano-scale engineering inspired by the eyes of moths, and thermochromic coating.
The prototype, revealed today, has conical nanostructures engraved on its surface that trap air and prevent all but a tiny amount of water coming into actual contact with the glass.
— globalconstructionreview.com
"The lead UCL researcher said this would be a big draw for high-rise building owners, since the cost of cleaning the windows surpasses the cost of installing them after the first five years."Related news stories on Archinect:MIT researchers have created a new material that stores and releases... View full entry
... transparent photovoltaic cells are fundamentally inconceivable, considering that solar panels can develop energy power through a transformation of absorbed protons into electrons [...] light would have to flow unrestrained to the eye, meaning that those protons would have to go wholly through the substance. Therefore what the Michigan State team developed [...] a device that utilize organic salts to take in wavelengths of light that are imperceptible to the human eye. — Next Nature
Developers have released design plans for the housing element of the Moscow ZiL industrial zone redevelopment.
According to RBK Realty magazine, nine architecture firms from Russia, the USA and the Netherlands will be working on housing in the redevelopment of the former automobile factory, located in the south of Moscow. [...]
The building presented by Dutch agency Neutelings Riedijk Architecten consists of 10 towers, each with a golden glass and steel facade.
— calvertjournal.com
While the grand ZiL redevelopment scheme includes various buildings assigned to architectural firms including Asymptote Architecture, bureau Speech and Sergey Skuratov Architects, it's Dutch studio Neutelings Riedijk Architecten's exuberant, soviet-chic, and certified blingy towers that caught... View full entry
A section of a new glass-bottomed walkway at Yuntai Mountain Geological Park in Henan Province, China, cracked at around 5 p.m. Monday afternoon, causing the tourists on it to understandably freak out. [...] The walkway is suspended at a height of about 1,080 meters, or 3,543 feet. [...]
Glass walkways and bridges have become extremely popular in China: The walkway at Yuntai opened on Sept. 20, and just days later a 900-foot glass suspension bridge opened in Yunnan province.
— mashable.com
"A spokesperson for the Yuntai Mountain tourism bureau told People's Daily Online that the cracks occurred after a tourist dropped a stainless steel mug on the walkway."Related on Archinect:China opens 590-foot-high glass-bottom bridgeGlass Cracks Below Tourists in Chicago Skydeck View full entry
