Studio E Architectsfaced a compelling challenge when designing the first phase UC Davis West Village, which opened last October in California’s upper Central Valley. Experiencing moderate winters, warm summers, prevailing winds and moderate rainfall within the heart of former agricultural fields, the new addition to UC Davis was to be a net-zero facility. Serving as the largest of its kind and a model for campus communities and environmentally conscious urbanism. That is sustainable and community oriented. The program required 123 units of student apartments in one, two and three-bedroom configurations, 45,000 square feet of ground level commercial space all of which would emulate the central park space in downtown Davis and become the heart of West Village.
Follow us after the break to see the sustainable solutions that Studio E Architects came up with!
Beijing-born architect Ma Yansong has become an important, emerging voice to a new generation of architects. Shortly after establishing MAD architectsin 2004, his practice earned worldwide attention (2006) by winning an international competition to design a residential tower near Toronto, expected to be completed in the summer of 2012. In this interview with Studio Banana TV, Yansong discusses a few of his latest works, including MAD’s first museum completed last year in Ordos, Inner Mongolia. Continue reading for more information.
Oasia Downtown, designed by WOHA, sets out to create an alternative imagery for commercial high-rise developments. It combines innovative ways to intensify land use with a tropical approach that showcases a perforated, permeable, furry, verdant tower of green in the heart of Singapore’s Central Business District (CBD). More images and architects’ description after the break.
Understanding that environmental responsibility is an integral part of design excellence, Perkins + Will’s new Atlantic office, known as 1315 Peachtree, serves as an example on how current technologies can be used to achieve LEED Platinum Certification, meet the 2030 Challenge and help reduce toxic materials from our building products.
1315 Peachtree is an adaptive reuse of a 1985 office structure transformed into a high performance civic-focused building. Located in the heart of Midtown Atlanta across from the High Museum of Art, the new building continues to house the Peachtree Branch of the Atlanta-Fulton County Public Library and introduces a new street-level tenant space occupied by the Museum of Design Atlanta (MODA). The Perkins+Will Atlanta office occupies the top four floors with office space for up to 240 employees. Continue reading for more information on the highest LEED score building in the Northern Hemisphere.
In this interview by Jan Schevers and Esther Schevers, Stephen Bates of Sergison Bates architects discusses how education is tied to exploration and research. As a professor at TU Munich, each semester offers an opportunity to take on new themes in architecture that allow him to break conventions that come up in practice and are oftentimes associated with the ways in which his students have been taught. More discussion after the break.
After Mayor Bloomberg, Cornell President Skorton and Technion President Lavie announced Cornell’s victory over Stanford to build an eleven acre state-of-the-art tech campus on Roosevelt Island in New York City, the team has now tackled their next step in choosing six high-profile architecture firms competing to design the schools first academic facility.
SOL Austin - Solutions Oriented Living – is a model development of a sustainable community that integrates social, economic and ecological components to create a “holistic community”. The project was a result of a partnership between KRDB Architects, Beck-Reit contractors, the Guadalupe Neighborhood Development Corporation (GNDC) and the Austin Housing Finance Corporation. The medium density, single-family in-fill project in central east Austin, just three miles from downtown incorporates a significant portion of low-income and affordable housing, sustainable practices and consideration for the kind of future that developments like this can create.
Read on for photos, plans and more information about this project, considered for the AIA 2011 Design Awards in Urban Design.
The Sustainable Cities Symposium, put on by the faculty of environmental design, in partnership with the Development Studies program, at the University of Calgary, will explore global challenges and opportunities in addressing sustainable development. It will provide insights into planning and design solutions in different cities and serve as platform for discussions, experience sharing and networking. Economic growth, environmental protection, and social equity dominate the global discourse with people being at the center of our vision of a more sustainable world. The event takes place on March 14 and goes from 5:30pm-8:00pm. For more information, please visit here.
LivingHomeshas just announced the launch of their first well-designed, affordable and sustainable prefabricated home known as C6. Starting at $179,000, the home is nearly half the cost of most other LivingHomes models and includes 34 tons of carbon offsets. It is the first to achieve LEED® Platinum and feature Cradle-to-Cradle inspired materials.
C6 was designed by the architects of LivingHomes in collaboration with Make It Right, a nonprofit founded by Brad Pitt and renowned architect William McDonough to build 150 Cradle to Cradle inspired LEED Platinum homes in New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward. A portion of the proceeds from each C6 will help support the efforts of Make It Right. Continue reading for more.
In conjunction with our recent coverage of the Xi’an International Horticultural Expo, we would like to share Aidan Flaherty’s interview with Holger Kehne, co-principle of Plasma Studio and GroundLab. Plasma Studio, GroundLab and LAUR Studio worked together to win this international competition with a 37-hectare master plan for the International Horticultural Expo, a 5,000SM Exhibition Hall, a 4,000SM Greenhouse, and a 3,500SM Gate Building. The project initiated the re-development of a large area between the airport and the center of the ancient city of Xi’an – known as the home of the Terracotta Army of the Qin Dynasty.
The Expo opened in the spring of 2011 and welcomed more than 16 million visitors before it closed in the fall of 2011. The Expo park will remain as a new contemporary addition to the Xi’an region. The particularities of this legacy plan are currently underway. Holger Kehne discusses his firms’ unique design methodologies and multidisciplinary approach while working on this large-scale project. Read the interview after the break.
Wolf House Productions and Gabriel Pascariu shared with us their first prize winning proposal in the ‘Dnieper Pearls’ international urban planning competition in Kiev. THE BLUE LINE aims at providing a sustainable development framework for the Kiev islands as well as an infrastructural backbone for the future urban development of the entire metropolis. Their design suggests a paradigm shift: from large scale urban and infrastructure projects (specific to Ukrainian urban planning) to a more fluid and efficient place-making driven urbanism. More images and architects’ description after the break.
In reference to Living Steel‘s 3rd International Architecture Competition for Sustainable Housing, Glen Murcuttdiscusses his ideas surrounding the issue of sustainability. He emphasizes the strategies employed by the top contenders such as the planning of orientation, thermal performance, and human effort in addition to other variables involved in sustainable architecture. One particular method that Murcutt stresses is using materials that can dissolve back into the earth, citing earth walls as an excellent medium to build with and their inherent thermal mass qualities. Each team was invited to present their ideas in person, a variation from previous years which Murcutt believes led to the highest quality of work and diversity of the competition series.
RIBA President Angela Brady discusses design in 2012 with British architect Richard Rogers. Together, they discuss the important issues surrounding housing and cities, both agreeing that “intensification is critical”. Homes built within a compact city are said to be five times more efficient than those built outside the city. This realization is an important fact that should guide government officials, builders and architects to work together towards more intelligent and beneficial growth patterns.
The fundamental concern that guided the decision process from the start was how to produce a solution that is environmentally responsible, functional, cost effective and iconic. The circular shape of the building aims at giving a positive response to all of the above.The proposal by MOOV not only preserves the locations and offers living conditions to its dwellers, but also enhances the actual natural conditions, by regenerating the plot. More images and architects’ description after the break.
This unique landscape and future landmark for the city of Qingdao, China is a first place project, submitted by the Los Angeles office of HKS Architects, for the design of the Conservatory by the Office of 2014 Qingdao World Horticultural Expo Executive Committee. The winning proposal was selected from an international selection of projects and was shared with us by HKS. Read on for more after the break.
Serie Architects‘ proposal was recently selected as the design for the 2012 Olympic Pavilion for BMW following a sustainable design competition. Their cutting-edge design will represent a significant architectural addition to the Olympic Park, while reflecting the company’s deep commitment to sustainability. BMW’s pavilion, which has a floor space of 800m2, will be built on an elevated site above the Waterworks River, situated between the Olympic Stadium and the Aquatics Center. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Just last week, Mayor Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn enacted 29 new recommendations of the Green Codes Task Force that will provide the proper foundation for New York to meet the aggressive PlanNYC Goals for 2030. The impact of these new codes is estimated to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 5 percent; lower the energy costs for lighting by 10 percent; save 30 billion gallons of water through better plumbing regulations; treat 15 million gallons of toxic construction water; recycle 100,000 tons of asphalt; and save $400 million in overall energy costs. The implementation of such codes is the result of the formation of the NYC Green Codes Task Force, an organization led by Urban Green Council, that proposed over 100 recommendations in 2010 to address a wide range of sustainable issues; and, in the two years since that report, the Mayor’s Office and City Council have made 29 of those recommendations law, and are currently working to codify 8 others.
More about the new building codes after the break.
European Union Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard urges world leaders attending the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro this June to double the share of renewable energy they use by 2030 and give all citizens access to sustainable power.
