The Frontier Project, located in Cucamonga, Southern California, is a 14,000 square foot demonstration building that will educate all in the community about the latest information, technologies and approaches regarding environmental friendliness. The project will make resident consumers, commercial builders, and sustainable advocates aware and informed of the alternative building methods to encourage sustainability. HMC Architects’ building will not just be something for visitors to look at and admire; rather, the building will become more of a learning experience as visitors are welcomed into its spaces and sustainable strategies are pointed out with their importance explained. “Everything from material and plant selection, the layout of space, and the maintenance regime will have a purpose, demonstrating the principle of green design for home owners, consumers, contractors, design professionals, sustainability advocates and the general public,” explained the Frontier Project founders.
More about the demonstration building, including a video and images, after the break.
Interview conducted, condensed + edited by Sarah Wesseler
What do research and development mean in today’s design field? To learn more about architectural R&D, I turned to KieranTimberlake, a Philadelphia-based firm that has earned wide acclaim for its innovative work in arenas such as prefabrication and sustainable design. Partner Stephen Kieran and research director Billie Faircloth spoke with me about the history and practice of the firm’s in-house research team.
The Waterpod ProjectTM has been floating around the New York area for the past few months gaining a lot of attention. Beginning in Newtown Creek, between Brooklyn and Queens, the Pod is moving down the East River and Hudson River. As reported by Melena Ryzik for The New York Times (view her articles here) this experimental project investigates the blend of community living and artistry. Showcasing artworks, performances and such, the WaterpodTM, is an eco-conscious environment that was designed “In preparation for our coming world with an increase in population, a decrease in usable land, and a greater flux in environmental conditions, people will need to rely closely on immediate communities and look for alternative living models; the Waterpod is about cooperation, collaboration, augmentation, and metamorphosis,” explained Mary Mattingly, a photographer who thought of the Waterpod idea.
First, don’t forget to check our first Round Up of interviews done by our team. And then, you can move on to our second part of some of our greatest interviews featured in ArchDaily.
Internationally recognized practice RMJM Architects have recently announced their groundbreaking $1 billon mixed-use complex for the Atasehir district, the growing residential and business area of Istanbul, Turkey. RMJM’s complex will allow the new business center to flourish by serving 20,000 people and providing for a variety of their needs. The project will be revolutionary for Turkey as it will become the country’s first LEED-certified mixed-use development upon its 2011 completion date.
More images and more about the complex after the break.
The Re: Vision Dallas competition named three winners, two of which we previously featured on AD (DB + P and Atelier Data + Moov). The third winner is Little, a studio based in North Carolina, with their Entangled Bank proposal. “Entangled Bank combines heavy duty technological prowess with artistic integration of systems. The building is designed as a holistic, integrated design…The Entangled Bank entry materials was incredibly impressive… Each unit type was designed, completed with suggested sale price and amount of energy consumption. A wide array of green collar job programs were provided that work with the design of the building to engage residents and educate visitors. All of the jurors were struck by the thorough and joyous submission of Entangled Bank,” explained juror Eric Corey Freed.
More about the project (including a great video) after the break.
Carl Hampson and Eunike Design recently designed the Pitch House for Belmont, Massachusetts. The home is the reinterpretation for the ideals of early European modernism as it “evolves the universal machine for living concept into a site-specific contemporary dwelling shaped by the local forces of climate, culture, and sustainability.” The main living spaces sit under a pivoting roof that responds to the changing seasons by providing the correct amount of sunlight and shade to the interior throughout the year. The constantly changing roof “provides a centerpiece for year round outdoor activities.” An open ended site strategy responds “to the transformation of suburban ideals facilitated by the influx of information technology” while the home’s orientation, active and passive solar strategies, thermal mass, and earthen berms collectively reduce year round energy loads.
Argentinian architects Adamo-Faiden shared with ous a very interesting project. MuReRe houses are social housing project for Buenos Aires that is installed on top of already existing homes.
By doing so, they care about the sustainability of both buildings.
You can see more images (some of them are in Spanish) and the architect’s description after the break.
Dubai based X-Architects recently unveiled the Urban Oasis, their latest sustainable master plan for Al Ain. The 12-hectare urban development was conceived as a “micro-specific, compact, and passive sustainable urban oasis.” Inspired by the existing natural environment and the traditional dense urban fabric of Islamic cities, the master plan develops an “environmental synergy between landscape and urbanity.” More about the master plan after the break.
Greeen! Architects shared their competition proposal for a new library and office building for the University Duisburg-Essen, in Germany. The young architectural practice specifically focuses on ecological and sustainable design approaches. For their proposal, a large ecological complex intends to “create a place where city and university are woven together.”
We have shared architects’ different approaches to addressing the pressing food issue, from the highly conceptual designs to the more classical ideas. It seems that more competitions and clients require architects to implement gardens for harvesting food, or create an available food solution to accompany the structure. Statistics estimate that more than 80% of the population will live in cities by 2050 and the oil transportation needed to ship food from rural areas will only become more expensive. Soon, adding alternative farming methods won’t be an option; it will be a necessity if food for cities is to remain cost-efficient.
Plantagon, a Swedish-American company, has recently created their take on the vertical farm idea: a geodesic dome containing an urban Plantagon® greenhouse. The farm “will dramatically change the way we produce organic and functional food. It allows us to produce ecological with clean air and water inside urban environments, even major cities, cutting costs and environmental damage by eliminating transportation and deliver directly to consumers,” explained Plantagon.
HyBrid Architecture + Assembly‘s building system, coined “Cargotecture”, offers a sustainable, modular and affordable alternative to traditional construction methods. The Seattle-based architecture and general contracting firm recently created the first cargo container buildings for Seattle in the design district of the Georgetown area.
More images and more about the cargo buildings after the break.
A few weeks ago we were in LA for Postopolis!, and we toured around the city visiting interesting practices. One of our biggest surprises was Yazdani Studio. We started to see this firm because of their buildings for the Ordos project, so we decided to visit their offices and interview the principal, Mehrdad Yazdani.
Mehrdad Yazdani (BA Arch U Texas at Austin, M Arch at Harvard GSD) is a principal at Cannon Design, an international firm with several offices in the US and abroad. A big corporate office, with all the pros and cons it has. Given this, Mehrdad started Yazdani Studio as a small laboratory that benefits from the reach and resources of a large international practice, with the flexibility of a smaller design studio. This in-between position has allowed Yazdani Studio to work on several scales. Something I really liked when i visited their office was the large amount of test models I saw laying around for every project, a proof of the amount of experimentation at the practice.
Some of Yazdani Studio projects include the recent renovation of the Museum of Tolerance (and a 2nd phase that will be completed next), the UCSD Price Center, a new campus for Tata Motors and several institutional buildings. Yazdani Studio was also one of the first practices to start working in Ordos -before the Ordos 100 project- with a Villa currently under construction. Also, Yazdani Studio is developing a restaurant and a concert hall, as supporting programs for the cultural district envisioned for this emerging city on the Mongolian desert.
Well, enough with my intro. Just watch the interview.
Some pictures of our visit to the practice after the break.
This is the first interview recorded live at Postopolis! LA at the rooftop of The Standard. This time we present Yo-ichiro Hakomori from whY Architecture.
Amidst financial buildings and high-rise apartments, Belgian architect Vincent Callebaut has redefined the conventional skyscraper. His 132 story complex for the south edge of Roosevelt Island addresses the pressing need for environmental and ecological sustainability. This conceptual design focuses on creating a completely self-sustaining organism that not only utilizes solar, wind, and water energies, but also addresses the pending food shortage problem.
During the AIA Convention 2009 we had the chance to talk to different AEC software companies, to learn how they are helping architects. We decided to keep the conversation on the same interview format we have been using, so you can hear it straight from the developers.
