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Energy: The Latest Architecture and News
SPARK Architects' 3D Printed "Big Arse Toilet" Transforms Waste into Energy in India
04:00 - 23 November, 2018
In support of World Toilet Day on November 19, SPARK Architects launched their prototype for a 3D printed toilet module titled, "Big Arse Toilet" alongside a slogan stating that "Sparks gives a sh*t." Though the pun-filled humor is definitely attention-grabbing, the project tackles serious issues of hygiene and sanitation as part of the UN initiative to eliminate open defecation by 2025. With the perpetuating cycle of malnutrition, disease, and poverty, poor sanitation is the leading cause in nearly a third of the deaths in low- and middle-income regions in several countries such as India.
Easily transportable, the toilet module converts human waste into biogas into electricity using a micro combined heat and power (CHP) unit. Essentially producing "free" energy, SPARK's proposal combats the issue of open defecation and uses the abundant natural waste in remote communities in Indian villages where there is low accessibility to electricity.
https://www.archdaily.com/906395/spark-architects-3d-printed-big-arse-toilet-transforms-waste-into-energy-in-india
Vasundhra Aggarwal
Helsinki Energy Company to Go Entirely Energy Neutral
14:00 - 16 September, 2018
In the quest for carbon neutrality, the City of Helsinki in Finland announced its action plans to minimize greenhouse gas emissions substantially by 2035. The city’s fully owned energy company, Helen Ltd, a producer of district heating, power, and district cooling, aims to augment this policy by converting its largely coal and natural gas energy production processes to climate-neutral energy production, thereby eliminating carbon dioxide emissions fully by 2050.
https://www.archdaily.com/902157/helsinki-energy-company-to-go-entirely-energy-neutral
Vasundhra Aggarwal
This New Documentary Series Seeks to Bring Knowledge to Architecture Students
06:00 - 15 September, 2018
Architecture, Form, and Energy is a documentary series featuring 6 interviews with architects and intellectuals from the United Kingdom, United States, Malaysia, and Mexico. The series seeks to disseminate information that inspires contemporary architectural evolution, from the impact of climate on a place, finding inspiration in nature, the relationship between form and energy, selecting the right materials, and appropriate technological application.
https://www.archdaily.com/901816/this-new-documentary-series-seeks-to-bring-knowledge-to-architecture-students
Mónica Arellano
Form Follows Energy
09:55 - 10 June, 2018
Architecture is energy. Lines drawn on paper to represent architectural intentions also imply decades and sometimes centuries of associated energy and material flows. “Form Follows Energy” is about the relationship between energy and the form of our built environment. It examines the optimisation of energy flows in building and urban design and the implications for form and configuration. It speaks to both architectural and engineering audiences and offers for the first time a truly interdisciplinary overview on the subject, explaining the complex relationships between energy and architecture in an easy to follow manner and using simple diagrams to show how
https://www.archdaily.com/895380/form-follows-energy
Rene Submissions
The Architecture of Chernobyl: Past, Present, and Future
14:30 - 30 April, 2018
April 26th saw the 32nd anniversary of the 1986 Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster, with the explosion of the Reactor 4 of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine causing the direct deaths of 31 people, the spreading of radioactive clouds across Europe, and the effective decommissioning of 19 miles of land in all directions from the plant. Thirty-two years later, a dual reading of the landscape is formed: one of engineering extremes, and one of eeriness and desolation.
As the anniversary of the disaster and its fallout passes, we have explored the past, present, and future of the architecture of Chernobyl, charting the journey of a landscape which has burned and smoldered, but may yet rise from the ashes.
https://www.archdaily.com/893523/the-architecture-of-chernobyl-past-present-and-future
Niall Patrick Walsh
Solar Squared: A Glass Block That Generates Electricity
06:00 - 25 September, 2017
Renewable energy experts from the University of Exeter in England have developed a glass block with built-in solar cells. The idea is that with the spread of technology, it is possible to build a house or a whole building's facade using blocks that generate energy.
The product has been named Solar Squared, tests done at the university have shown that they guarantee thermal insulation and allow natural light to enter the building.
https://www.archdaily.com/879957/solar-squared-a-glass-block-that-generates-electricity
HAUS
New Book Calls for an End to Our Fetish for Conditioned Skyscrapers
06:00 - 16 March, 2017
Professor Alan Short of the University of Cambridge has published a book advocating for the revival of 19th-century architectural ideas to address the crippling energy use of modern skyscrapers. The Recovery of Natural Environments in Architecture proposes an end to the architectural fetish for glass, steel, and air conditioning, instead drawing inspiration from forgotten techniques in naturally ventilated buildings of the 1800s. The book is a culmination of 30 years’ research and design by Prof. Short and his colleagues at the University of Cambridge.
_Paolo_Rosselli_DSC_8101.jpg?1489090441 "Professor Short argues that skyscraper design must depart from its current reliance on glass and steel, and begin to harness natural ventilation. Boeri Studio's Bosco Verticale. Image Courtesy of Paolo Rosselli")
https://www.archdaily.com/866864/new-book-calls-for-an-end-to-our-fetish-for-conditioned-skyscrapers
Niall Patrick Walsh
Snøhetta Designs World’s Northernmost Energy Positive Building in Norway
12:10 - 18 January, 2017
A country known for economic dependency on its rich oil deposits, Norway is now looking toward the future of energy production: net-positive architecture. Taking the lead in this initiative, developer Emil Eriksrød has commissioned American-Norwegian firm Snøhetta to design Norway’s first energy positive building, Powerhouse Telemark, a 6,500 square meter (70,000 square foot) office building located in the tiny Norwegian town of Porsgrunn, home to just 35,000 people. When completed, it will be the world’s northernmost plus-energy building.
https://www.archdaily.com/803678/snohetta-designs-worlds-northernmost-energy-positive-building-in-norway
Patrick Lynch
Thom Mayne Completes Research on Houston’s Urban Future
14:00 - 18 December, 2016
Pritzker Prize winner Thom Mayne has completed a three-semester–long study of Houston’s future, given its current sprawling urban conditions and rapid growth. The project, conducted alongside 21 University of Houston students and faculty members Matt Johnson, Peter Zweig, and Jason Logan, focused on ways of addressing the problems that arise from Houston’s historical lack of zoning in conjunction with the largely unregulated growth of industry and capitalism. These approaches include reinventing the current energy infrastructure, changing real estate and density, and leveraging the lack of zoning to generate new ideas.
https://www.archdaily.com/801618/thom-mayne-completes-research-on-houstons-urban-future
Alyssa Wu
This Floating Desalination Megastructure is Designed to Combat California's Water Shortages
09:30 - 25 August, 2016
California is suffering through its 5th year of severe water shortage. Aquifers and rivers continue to dry out as the water provided by melting snowpacks is reduced, and even the heavy rain brought by El Niño this year could not relieve the drought. Authorities are wary of the long-term consequences for California and neighboring areas of the Colorado River, and Santa Monica is now seeing a growing number of initiatives to control the use of potable water and find sustainable solutions.
Most recently, a competition asked architects, artists and scientists to conceive sustainable infrastructure projects to improve Santa Monica’s water supply. Bart//Bratke and studioDE developed a raft structure named “Foram” that illustrates the future of floating platforms in sustainable development.
https://www.archdaily.com/793589/this-floating-desalination-megastructure-is-designed-to-combat-californias-water-shortages
Marie Chatel
ArchTriumph Present the "Energy Pavilion" Now Open at Museum Gardens
12:00 - 26 June, 2016
This week, Museum Gardens became the host to the annual Triumph Pavilion, this year focusing on the concept of "energy." Five Line Projects' aptly titled "Energy Pavilion" takes a multi-faceted approach to the theme, addressing social sustainability, movement and the power of community. The pavilion presents a playful meeting place, designed to explore the impact of a single positive action on its surroundings.
https://www.archdaily.com/790178/archtriumph-present-the-energy-pavilion-now-open-at-museum-gardens
Lauren Crockett
Architecture at Zero Competition Challenges Teams to Design Zero Net Site Energy Housing for UCSF
07:00 - 12 May, 2015
The 2015 Architecture at Zero Competition has launched, challenging students and designers to develop 'family-style residential units' for the Mission Bay Campus of the University of California San Francisco. Now in its fifth year, the competition calls for designs that produce "at least as much energy as [they] use over a year," excluding the embodied energy of building materials and transportation of people and materials to and from the site. Entrants must be able to demonstrate that their designs can be reasonably expected to meet a zero net energy goal over a prolonged period of time. The competition is open to student and professional individuals and teams, with up to $25,000 in prize money to be won. Interested parties have until August 28 to register and submissions are due September 25 at 1PM PST. Read more about the competition at Architecture at Zero's website and check out the winners from last year here.
https://www.archdaily.com/629761/architecture-at-zero-competition-challenges-teams-to-design-zero-net-site-energy-housing-for-ucsf
Patricia Arcilla
Video: How Tesla's Powerwall Will Provide Energy to the World
14:20 - 6 May, 2015
The world's energy infrastructure may soon undergo significant change; Tesla Motors recently unveiled the Powerwall, a compact, lithium-ion battery pack that will allow residents to autonomously consume energy by drawing from their own sun-powered reserve. For just $3,500, you can purchase an attractive, wall-mounted battery capable of storing up to 10 kilowatt-hours of energy - about a third of what the average US household uses daily. Beyond this, the company will also be offering scalable Powerpacks to businesses and utility companies that will allow limitless storage. Powerwalls will go out for delivery this summer.
https://www.archdaily.com/628159/video-how-tesla-s-powerwall-will-provide-energy-to-the-world
Karissa Rosenfield