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Here’s the latest from my penultimate alma mater!

Architecture Students Win National Sustainability Video Competition

March 28, 2008

MOSCOW, Idaho – A video by the University of Idaho chapter of the American Institute of Architecture Students has won the National Architecture 2030 Reverberate Video competition. The video seeks to spread the word about global warming.

The group submitted two versions of “A Brighter Future” – one with and one without sound – and took home a $4,000 prize for the silent production.

The impetus for the video came in late December at a National AIAS Forum attended by several University of Idaho AIAS students. Edward Mazria, senior principal at Mazria Inc., an architecture and planning firm in Santa Fe, N.M., presented at the forum and challenged the students to address sustainable practices in architecture.

Mazria also is the creator of the 2030° Challenge for global architecture and the building community, which calls for all newly constructed buildings to be carbon neutral by 2030, meaning that no fossil fuel is used to operate the facility.

Nick Hubof, a senior in architecture and president of the Idaho chapter of AIAS, said the event was inspiring. “We came back from Forum motivated to create awareness about global warming and what individuals can do to address the problem,” he said.

Shortly after returning to campus for the spring semester, northern Idaho received a large amount of snow, and an idea was born.

“In architecture, we respond to the environment and use material that is locally available,” said Hubof. “We decided to make a structure that reflected where we live.”

The 60-second video shows students building an igloo on the University of Idaho campus. They worked together to create a compact, level surface, and fashioned snow blocks using recycle bins and buckets.

“This structure is conceptually compelling as a perfect example of passive design,” said Jake Dunn, a senior in architecture from Mountain Home and the video project leader. “It uses local materials (snow), is formally responsive to climate, has a low embodied energy, and leaves an ephemeral impact on its environment.”

The video showcases different light sources, including glow sticks and fire. “The main focus of the video was to emphasize not using coal as an energy source through designing passive architecture,” said Dunn.

“While coal is a readily available resource, the amount of damage it does to the environment diminishes other sustainable actions,” said Hubof. “The video shows that what you do locally can have a global effect.”

The video also documented the event of a community coming together for a common good. “We really hoped to communicate through the video that it takes the right design attitude to mitigate the problem of global warming,” Dunn said. “As architecture students, it’s not about making tons of igloos; we just wanted to show that it’s possible to achieve beautiful design while being carbon neutral.”

The video is featured on the American Institute of Architecture Students Web site at www.aias.org, and also is available at www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWJ-bYu5mT8.

The video project team includes: Jacob Dunn; Nick Hubof; Tim Hedrick, a senior in architecture from Boise; Luke Ivers, a sophomore in engineering from Potlatch; Jarod Hall, a graduate student in architecture from Vernal, Utah; Sean Nelson, a graduate student in architecture from Bountiful, Utah; Brett Gulash, graduate architecture student from Las Vegas, Nev.; Randy Teal, assistant professor of architecture; and Frank Jacobus, assistant professor of architecture.

The University of Idaho’s College of Art and Architecture trains it students to be leaders in sustainable practices, both personally and professionally. For more information, visit www.caa.uidaho.edu, e-mail caa@uidaho.edu or call (208) 885-4409.

(I miss you, University of Idaho)

I’m a big fan of The Solar Living Institute. I just read about one of their former interns who is now taking her skills to those who need it most.

Since September of 2007, Jenny has been working with Border Green Energy Team (BGET), whose mission is to install renewable energy technology in rural villages and refuge camps along the Thailand/Myanmar border. In an area ridden with strife, Jenny and the BGET team have been working to bring appropriate technology solutions for health care, education, and food in the community.

With local agricultural needs taking a priority, Jenny and the BGET team installed solar water pumping, gravity-fed drip irrigation, and composting systems that are appropriate for the needs of the refugee camps in the area. Jenny also coordinated the installation of a 720 watt solar system that is now providing power to a village medical clinic for the use of lights, microscopes, computers, and a vaccine refrigerator. The team has nearly completed the installation of a 3.5 kilowatt microhydro system that will provide power to the elementary school, dormitory, and in the future will expand out to individual houses within the village.

Learn how you can help too.

SOLAR 2008, produced by the American Solar Energy Society, is the premier technical conference for solar energy and energy efficiency professionals in the U.S. Taking place this May 3-8th in San Diego and in its 37th year, this industry-leading conference series offers you the emerging trends, technological breakthroughs, industry insight, and connections you need to stay ahead.

With the energy industry changing at an unprecedented pace, this conference helps you understand the changes and uncover the opportunities. It examines the most timely topics of the day, and introduces you to the industry leaders, innovators, and exhibitors who are shaping the industry.

Who should attend:

* Researchers and scientists
* Dealers and installers
* Architects and green builders
* Academics
* Policy-makers and utility representatives
* Investors, entrepreneurs, and analysts
* Industry professionals, career-changers, and students
* Homeowners

The Solar Living Institute is proud to be part of this cutting-edge event, and will be offering the following workshops at the conference:

* Investing in Renewable Energy
* Commercial & Industrial PV
* PV Field Verification & Testing
* Fire Resistant Building & Landscaping
* Biodiesel: Your Homemade Fuel
* Making Solar Affordable: Rebates & Incentives
* Energy Efficiency & Conservation
* Green Remodeling Basics

To register for these classes or for the conference, visit the American Solar Energy Society website.

I found this video for you by Daniel Davis about algorithmic architecture.

Read more about this.

Jean Nouvel has won the 2008 Pritzker Architecture Prize.

So I give you:

Top Eight Reasons Why I Like Jean Novel:

#1. He’s ambitious. Like me.

“I take this prize as a strong incentive to continue increasingly demanding and ambitious work,” he said.

#2. He like to experiment. Like me.

Thomas J. Pritzker, chairman of the Hyatt Foundation, noted that the jury’s citation acknowledged the “persistence, imagination, exuberance and above all the insatiable urge for creative experimentation” of Nouvel’s work.

#3. He’s adventurous. Like me.

“For me, every building is an adventure,” Nouvel said. “Every project is an adventure. I research every project. I talk to a lot of people. Every building has a relationship to the climate, to the wind, to the colors of the buildings around it. I arrive at a concept with all the parameters in place. When I have all of these constraints, I begin. Without constraints, architecture does not exist. You are a sculptor.”

#4. He fights against architectural monotony. Like me.

“When you go around the world, you see all the same buildings, and you feel like you’re in the same place,” he said. “I fight all the time for the specificity of architecture. I fight against global architecture.”

#5. He’s not a fan of signature styles. Like me.

While some architects aim for a standout, Nouvel said the designs of his buildings are inseparable from their settings.

“I feel like every site has a right to have an architectural aesthetic,” he said. “Architects today try to create a little world, a petit monde, a micro monde. It’s important to try to create a building in its context.”

#6 He has an insatiable curiosity. Like me.

“He has a tremendous intellectual curiosity,” Jimenez said. “Each work is quite different than the other because of this fascination.

#7. He cares about context. Like me.

“It’s not like he’s bringing a particular brand and deposits that brand wherever he’s working. He’s more insightful and piercing. Nouvel looks at context, not in a literal way, but as an opportunity for new ideas and new connections.”

#8. He pushes the envelope. Like me.

Nouvel “has pushed architecture’s discourse and praxis to new limits. His inquisitive and agile mind propels him to take risks in each of his projects, which, regardless of varying degrees of success, have greatly expanded the vocabulary of contemporary architecture.”

Source of quotes

I just read this article in Architectural Record by David Sokol called “The Sagaponac Effect: Modernist Subdivisions Multiply.”

I’ve long had this hunch (that I have discovered to be true), that it doesn’t always matter what the housing market is doing. Some people are just fine, buying-a-new-house-wise.

David Sokol tells us this is true, in niche markets.

America’s small number of Modernist subdivisions will endure the popping of the housing bubble. “After all, this is an audience that likely has a good credit history and no financing problems. They’re not going to be stretching themselves to buy this home.”

The phrase “Modernist subdivision” makes me a little breathless. I grew up in a soulless mind-number car-dependent subdivided hell just north of Los Angeles called Santa Clarita Valley (My little sisters even use its area code derogatorily, as in, “She’s so 661.")

But a Modernist subdivision. Well…now…how does that work?

Nilay Oza, a project architect for the well-known Houses at Sagaponac, in the Hamptons on Long Island, has found that real estate developers want to emulate this Modernist enclave. “I advise people about economies of scale, and finding constants between different designs,” he says of phone calls he’s fielded from throughout the U.S.

Although only seven of the 32 planned Houses at Sagaponac are finished, developers are citing that and other precedents, including the New Urbanist community Aqua, in Miami, Florida, Prospect New Town, in Colorado, and the Case Study Houses of 1945–1966 for their own similar projects. Even in regions not normally associated with a Modernist residential tradition developers are creating subdivisions that offer smorgasbords of contemporary architecture. American Institute of Architects chief economist Kermit Baker, Hon. AIA, calls the schemes “very 2003 or 2004, in that they express this sky’s-the-limit mentality that as opposed to today’s realities.” Yet he and developers believe that this extremely small niche could better withstand the housing downturn than more traditional single-family product.

Dallas is home to two such clusters. Matt Holley, CEO of the company Skymodern, which is developing a Modernist subdivision just south of the Trinity River called Kessler Woods, says that when, in 2002, he began purchasing the parcels that comprise the project’s 18 acres, his research showed that “mid-century houses were on the market for the shortest period, and they were selling at the highest price points.” Further galvanized by the notable architectural works of the Dallas Arts District, and by national trends such as the popularity of Dwell magazine, “I bet it was time to do something edgy,” he recalls.

Edgy. Edgy’s good. Sometimes. But, tell me, is it greeeen?

One of the major characteristics that differentiates the new crop of Modernist subdivisions from predecessors such as Houses at Sagaponac is their adherence to green principles. Kessler Woods residences feature minimal west-facing glazing, foam insulation, and low-emissivity window glass; more recently, Holley says he has incorporated native drought-tolerant landscaping, rainwater capture features, and worked with community officials to revive a trolley line that stops on the edge of the subdivision. Urban Reserve’s streets are narrower so there is less storm runoff, and all houses are required to achieve at least basic LEED certification.

Okay, but can people get mortgages for them?

From a financing point of view, Fontenot is confident that success begets success. “Appraisers need similar properties to figure home values, and some lenders aren’t comfortable with Modernism,” he explains, “so when Urban Reserve gets to 50 percent done, the comps build on themselves and that provides comfort for the next person coming in.” And Holley has faith in consumer preference: “People are willing to spend money for something that’s distinctive and special.”

Dubai’s adolescent period of putting up the biggest, tallest, and blingiest buildings is finally maturing into the tastefully avant-garde with a little help from our friends, The World’s Most Popular Architects.

(That might make a good name for a firm. Or for a Saturday morning cartoon that only we addicts watch.)

Jean Nouvel is designing an opera house for Dubai and a branch of the Louvre next door in Abu Dhabi; the Oslo firm Snohetta has designed a “gateway”; Zaha Hadid is building a skyscraper and a massive office complex, (she’s doing the opera house in Abu Dhabi); in January Norman Foster revealed plans to build an eco-city for half a million people in the Persian Gulf, and, last week, designs for the Abu Dhabi World Trade centre; and, busiest of all, there’s Rem Koolhaas, with office complexes galore and a his new Waterfront City, unveiled this month.

This list of stellar architects marks a shift, according to the director of planning for Dubai, Rashad Bukash. “We want to change what people think of us. Dubai would like to be taken seriously.”

The place has had some bad press lately. It wasn’t just that the city resembled a tart’s boudoir. It wasn’t just the logic, or lack of it, of building a megalopolis where daily temperatures of 50C (122F) require air-con on a Herculean scale and the largest per-capita carbon footprint in the world. Last year there were also reports of poor working conditions in Dubai’s labour camps, home to the hundreds of thousands of workers, largely from South Asia, who build these icons. Chief among the critics was the left-wing architect Mike Davis whose book Evil Paradises: Dreamworlds of Neoliberalism, called Dubai “a nightmare of the past: Speer meets Disney on the shores of Araby”.

At least the United Arab Emirates has signed the Kyoto treaty. I guess so have we…we just haven’t, you know, made it official by ratifying it.

It’s only been a few years since the UAE has signed on. Since then, Dubai has developed CO2 recovery technology, solar power, water recycling and desalination plants, while new codes mean “all new skyscrapers will be green”.