Chevrolet Volt. Electric when you want it, gas when you need it.

Chevrolet Volt. Electric when you want it, gas when you need it. The Chevrolet Volt is unique among electric cars because it runs on two sources of energy. You have an electric source – a battery – that allows you to drive gas-free for an EPA–estimated 35 miles. And there's also an onboard gas generator that produces electricity so you can go farther. So if you want to drive using only electricity, you can. If you want to drive using electricity and gas, you can do that, too. Feeling all revved up? Check out what this current Chevy Volt driver has to say about her unique driving lifestyle…A typical day for Kelly Hendricks involves running around town, meeting with clients, visiting jobsites, and shopping for materials. It’s no wonder why the car she drives is so important to her since she spends a good portion of her day sitting in it. After her 11-year-old SUV was rear-ended and totaled, she decided it was time for a new start. “Being an eco friendly interior designer in San Diego, I loved the thought of driving purely on electricity, but at the same time I wanted to feel at ease knowing I won't get stranded because once I go beyond the battery range the car transitions to a gasoline power source,” she says. She found her ideal vehicle in the Chevy Volt.Hendricks is pleased with her driving experience so far, but also with how much money she is saving on fueling costs. “With as much driving as I do, I'm only having to purchase gas once a month and it averages out to be $27-$30. And my electricity bill has only gone up about $25 per month,” she reports. She does nearly all of her charging up from her own garage, and looks forward to the day when charging stations are more readily available. By charging regularly, Volt owners are averaging about a month between fill-ups.In the meantime, Hendricks says she gets a kick out of the questions people ask her about her Volt. In fact, a recent trip to her Chevy dealership had her upstaging the sales team. “I stopped by the Chevy dealership to pick something up and there was this guy standing out front along with some sales people and he started asking me questions about my Volt. His first question was how much money am I spending on gas a week,” she says. “You should have seen the look on his face when I told him I only buy gas once a month, compared to the $50 per week my former SUV used to cost. He was so stunned and surprised -- I love when that happens!”As for a final fringe benefit, Hendricks says her decision to be a Volt owner makes her feel good about her role in helping the environment, as well as the country. “I like that I am helping to support jobs in America.”The 2012 Chevy Volt offers an EPA-estimated 35 miles on a full charge based on 94 MPGe and an additional 340 miles with a full tank based on 35 city, 40 MPG highway . Actual range varies with conditions.Volt is available to order at participating dealers.Has your Volt ownership reinvented your driving experience? Tell your amazing story here.

You’ve always enjoyed watching cooking and home design shows, especially those that offer strategies and ideas you can apply in your own kitchen or during your next dinner party. To keep improving your kitchen IQ, now you can view the Master Class Series from Jenn-Air.The six-part video series – four of which are currently online, with two more coming in the fall – features insights from experts in design, cooking, and entertaining. Viewers learn how to create a uniquely beautiful cooking space and add some spice to their dinner parties, as well as specific cooking techniques including roasting and searing.The Jenn-AirMaster Class series is all about helping those who love to cook and entertain, or are planning a new kitchen. For design ideas, Mary Jo Peterson brings her award-winning expertise gleaned from her experience as president of her own Connecticut-based design firm and member of the National Kitchen and Bath Association's Hall of Fame. Loren Daye, a Brooklyn-based owner of the creative design studio, Love is Enough, and co-designer of Tasting Table Test Kitchen & Dining Room, also shares her knowledge. And aspiring chefs will learn a lot about getting the most out of their kitchen appliances from Brendan McHale, the executive chef of the New York-based Tasting Table Test Kitchen & Dining Room.View sessions one through four of the Master Class Series videos at JennAir.com/masterclass.

If you want to update your kitchen with new appliances based on the price tags alone, you should resist the urge to make an impulse purchase. Not only can it be an expensive undertaking, but you’ll have to live with your decision for many years to come. Luckily, a new iPhone app launched by Jenn-Air called DesignVision provides you with the chance to visualize the kitchen of your dreams so you don’t leave the store stressing over whether you’ve made the right choice.The app, introduced at the Architectural Digest Home Design Show this past March, lets you see how Jenn-Air® luxury refrigerators, ovens, and range tops look in the kitchen you have right now – in other words, your kitchen, not the fake kitchen setup in the showroom. It works by using your iPhone to position a Jenn-Air® appliance over your old one to see how the upgrade can turn your kitchen from merely functional to fabulous. You can share the photos, too, if you want to get your family and friends can to share their input about your potential purchase.The app goes beyond just creating an image, however, by getting into the details. DesignVision lets you check out different finishes, get info about dimensions and specs, and even locate a showroom near you that carries the products of interest.Download DesignVision at the Apple App Store to start creating your beautiful new kitchen.

This post is sponsored by Chevrolet – It’s more car than electric.

Note: The 2012 Chevy Volt has an EPA-estimated 94 MPGe ; 35 city, 40 MPG highway . Actual range varies with conditions.

The Chevy Volt* is unique among electric cars because it runs on two sources of energy. You have an electric source – a battery – that allows you to drive gas-free for an EPA–estimated 35 miles. And there’s also an onboard gas generator that produces electricity so you can go farther. So if you want to drive using only electricity, you can. If you want to drive using electricity and gas, you can do that, too. Hear what one proud Volt owner had to say about how the electric car has reinvented his driving experience.

This post is sponsored by Chevrolet - It's more car than electric. The Chevy Volt is getting a lot of attention these days, and if you drive a Volt, you are, too! Volt drivers say they’re constantly getting stopped at grocery stores and cornered in parking lots by curious onlookers wanting to know how the Volt works. Surely, you can relate. What is your Volt story?Maybe it’s about what it’s like to charge regularly and fill up rarely, the furthest you’ve driven on an electric charge, or perhaps how the Volt has made you competitive with maximizing your efficiency. Now it’s your turn to share how you have achieved these amazing feats and how the Volt has changed your life.Please send your amazing stories to http://goo.gl/pa1Al and you may be profiled for a feature!

The Barcelona Institute of Architecture (BIArch) is currently receiving applications to the second edition of the MBIArch post-professional degree program, with classes beginning in September.

Summer DLab experiments with digital design tools and rapid prototyping techniques as integrated systems of design development. Taking advantage of its unique location within the AA premises in the heart of the London, the workshop will create a vibrant atmosphere not only through its rigorous studio work, but also by its public lecture programme that will share the diverse expertise of professionals from London’s leading offices in the areas of digital design and fabrication techniques.

“BIArch is a place for the production and dissemination of architectural knowledge, anchored in a specific place and culture but open to the exterior.” Josep Lluís Mateo, President of the BIArch Board of Directors, Chair of Architecture and Design at ETH Zurich and Principal of Mateo Arquitectura

The Barcelona Institute of Architecture (BIArch) is an international institution set up to further the interaction between academic research, specialized practice and the dissemination of contemporary architecture. BIArch seeks to promote new ways of considering and practicing architecture within the context of rapidly changing technological, environmental, and economic conditions.

The Institute is currently receiving applications to the second edition of the MBIArch Master in Architecture. The post-professional degree program consists of an innovative curriculum covering Architectural Design, Urban & Territorial Studies, Energy & Building Technologies, Digital Media, as well as History, Theory, & Criticism. Supported by an outstanding international faculty, the course combines lectures, seminars, studio work, and on-site workshops in aiming to bridge the gap between professional training, critical analysis and design-based research.

Truly sustainable construction projects do not solely focus on environmental performance, but also incorporate aspects of innovation, economic feasibility, architectural quality and above all social impact. These so-called five target issues serve as the basis for the adjudication process of the Holcim Awards competition for sustainable construction projects and visions. Naturally, each project has its own focus, but to be successful in the competition they have to perform well in all five target issues.

Selecting the most outstanding projects in sustainable construction from several thousand submissions will be the challenging task of more than fifty leading experts on sustainability. The jury members for the 3rd International Holcim Awards competition include architects Bjarke Ingels (Denmark), Keller Easterling (USA) and Michel Rojkind (Mexico) – all independent experts of international stature engaged in the sustainable development of society, building processes, construction materials, and building projects.

Entries in the USD 2 million competition are evaluated using five “target issues” to define sustainable construction. Three of these stem from the triple bottom line of balanced social, environmental and economic performance. The two remaining issues pay homage to contextual and aesthetic impact, along with innovation and transferability. A series of five jury panels will meet in June/July 2011 in each of the five world regions: Europe, North America, Latin America, Africa Middle East, and Asia Pacific.

Sustainable development typically looks at the “triple bottom line” of economic, ecological and social factors and has become the Zeitgeist of the industry. In the context of the built environment, innovative and contextual impacts must also be factored into any calculation of sustainability. With such broad elements to be considered, it’s no wonder that exemplary projects in sustainable construction are rarely the work of one single person or profession, but combine the expertise of several fields: architecture, engineering, research, biology and sociology.

To bring the concept of broad sustainability for the building industry to life, the 3rd International Holcim Awards for Sustainable Construction identify and recognize the cutting-edge of sustainability – propelling more widespread and consequential adoption of approaches to build a more sustainable future. The Holcim Awards competition also includes a category for the “Next Generation” of university students to share their concepts for the sustainable projects of the future.

Design competitions are an ideal vessel to raise awareness and introduce a broad audience to issues affecting the built environment. Winning an award can have a significant impact on gaining public support or securing sponsorship for the respective project. The Holcim Awards is such a design competition: it promotes and rewards innovative approaches to sustainable construction.

One of the award-winning projects is the “The Living with Lakes Center” (above) in northeastern Ontario, Canada. The project will also house a research center to aid the restoration of the city of Sudbury’s ecosystem with an emphasis on water security for future generations. The research center will be self-sufficient for electricity and heating needs and be built to LEED platinum standards with instrumentation fitted to monitor the effectiveness of an array of technical features and their impact on lake water quality.

is a center for research, practice, and dissemination of contemporary architecture. BIArch is an open laboratory for professionals and researchers that promotes new ways of thinking and practicing architecture in face of technological, energy, and economic conditions in permanent change. Seeking to become an international referent for architecture, BIArch is launching its Post-professional Master’s in Architecture degree program, the MBIArch, in September.

**This article is sponsored by the Barcelona Institute of Architecture.

Good design is more than ever a key social and cultural asset. In order to provide students and practitioners with the tools needed to direct activity in the challenging context of the current professional climate, a new center for research, practice, and dissemination of contemporary architecture has recently opened in the city of Barcelona. The Barcelona Institute of Architecture (BIArch) is positioned to become an international referent for architecture, particularly with the launch of its post-professional Master’s degree program, the MBIArch, directed at architects that want to develop higher levels of conceptual, design and practical skills.