LivingHomes had the honor of building the first LEED Platinum certified home in the US, and now they’re on schedule to deliver the first LEED Platinum certified home in Orange County. The new KieranTimberlake LivingHome 1.5 (KTLH1.5) was erected earlier this month in a single day. Located in the city of Newport Beach, we carry no doubts that the home will be LEED Platinum certified given LivingHomes‘ track record.
We first announced Pugh + Scarpa’s Cherokee Lofts in Los Angeles two years ago, and we’re excited to say that the renovated recording studio debuted last month with a Rock N’Platinum grand opening. Anticipating its LEED Platinum certification, the opening literally rocked thanks to the music of Ben Lee and BlueSkyReality, plus three showcase lofts were stylized to pay tribute to Alice Cooper, 30 Seconds to Mars, and David Bowie. A fitting gala granted the number of gold and platinum records recorded at the location, which housed Cherry Studios prior to its conversion into sleek residential units.
In case you missed the opening, fear not – you can check it out this weekend on Saturday and Sunday from noon-5pm!
Photos © Tara Wujcik
Design and engineering innovations over the last two decades have had a dramatic impact on our ability to create beautiful, environmentally sensitive structures that help contribute to a more sustainable future. A dramatic example of the confluence of design, technology and environmental sustainability can be seen in the proliferation of innovative bridge designs around the world. We’ve put together a list of five of our favorites. Check them out and let us know what you think!
The 2009 World Architecture Festival took place this week in Barcelona, drawing great minds to discuss, learn, share and award excellent architectural designs and completed projects. This year’s theme dealt with how to achieve Less With More and the relationship between cities and architecture, with climate change and sustainability playing key roles. The winners of the festival have been announced and we want to highlight four of the completed buildings that stand out for their environmentally sensitive and sustainable designs. Read on to see all of these noteworthy buildings.
Recently we took the trip to Oakland, CA to visit a Habitat for Humanity East Bay Project of particular interest for its pairing of energy-efficient homes with families in need of housing. What was once a deemed by the EPA and the Department of Toxic Substances as a blighted property due to its history as a battery salvage yard has become a sunny neighborhood haven for children to play and families to grow together. It was no small feat remediating some 300,000 cubic yards of soil and bringing in clean fill, but with buildable real estate and housing scarce, the effort is sure to improve more than just the site itself as happy families move into homes that they have taken part in building.
The Architectural Foundation of Los Angeles recently announced the winners of the Design Green awards at a recent ceremony hosted by the AIA/LA to recognize outstanding work built or conceived by Los Angeles architects. Citation, Merit, and Honor Awards were given to six projects that ranged in size from residential to corporate, non-profit to civic and educational, with Honor being the highest award. From the diversity of the projects, it’s clear to see that California architects do more than just design green. With each year and innovation, they elevate green, exceeding our expectations of what a green project should be.
There are reportedly over 750,000 abandoned concrete bunkers scattered throughout Albania, remnants of Communist dictator Enver Hoxha and his policies of paranoid xenophobia. Now graduate students Gyler Mydyti & Elian Stefa have developed a plan called Concrete Mushrooms that would ‘invert the meaning’ of these structures by turning them into a network of habitable eco-hostels, cafés, gift shops and more.
GERMANY WINS THE 2009 SOLAR DECATHLON!
Drumroll please… after an exciting week of competition and judging, the winner of the Solar Decathlon 2009 has just been announced, and it’s a stunner! In a huge upset (as Team Illinois was leading on the scoreboard until just a few moments ago) the …
Buildings consume 76% of electricity generated; they create 48% of our greenhouse gases; a quarter of our waste in landfills comes from construction. Yet we continue to tear down perfectly good ones and replace them with new ones that don’t perform as well and don’t last as long. If we understood what old buildings are saying to us, we would be less eager to rip them down, and perhaps might even emulate them in our new buildings. Read on for examples.
We’ve been bringing you breaking coverage of this week’s Solar Decathlon in Washington DC throughout the week and one of the most interesting homes to emerge from the competition is the North House, a super sleek, high-tech solar powered home designed to generate more energy than it consumes – an especially impressive feat granted that the home was designed for the extreme climate of Northern Canada. Currently in 4th place at the Decathlon, Team Ontario/BC is exhibiting an incredibly impressive showing. With two days left of the competition, they still have a good chance to eek out some more points in the categories of Engineering, Lighting and the biggie, Net Metering, which could still put them in the lead.
It’s blue skies and sun showers in Washington, D.C. as the 2009 Solar Decathlon kicks off in a dazzling display of solar powered architecture. This bi-annual solar architecture event challenges 20 exceptional student teams from across North America to design, build, and operate the most attractive and energy-efficient home powered by the sun, and this year’s competition is showcasing an incredible lineup of designs. The Inhabitat team was excited to get a sneak peek at all the solar houses this week before the event opened to the public, and we’ll be bringing you live coverage of the event and sharing all of the stunning solar homes on display, so check out our Solar Decathlon coverage and stay tuned as we unveil our favorite projects!
A jaw-dropping feat of architecture has risen in the Italian city of Nola, just a stone’s throw away from the cataclysmic Mt. Vesuvius. Designed by Renzo Piano, Vulcano Buono is an epic cone-shaped commercial center crowned with a gorgeous sloping green roof. Piano’s “good volcano” contributes a vital new space to the southern edge of the Nola commercial district, which is the most most important freight terminal complex in southern and central Italy.
We love hearing about old structures being converted into comfortable living spaces, but a water tower?! Dubbed the “House in the Clouds”, this architectural marvel was constructed 85 years ago as a water tower to serve the township of Thorpeness in Suffolk, England, but today it serves as a bed and breakfast for anyone searching for a getaway overlooking England’s low lying hills. Read on for the tower’s history, which is just as curious as the tower itself.
Today Germany’s historic Hamburg-Harburg Harbor announced the development of a sustainable ECO CITY that combines industry, entertainment and pedestrian life into one super green package. Designed by international firm Tec Architecture and the global engineering company ARUP, ECO CITY is one of the only projects in the world that is seeking to achieve the highest level of environmental certification from all three major green building rating systems (LEED, BREEAM and DGNB). The project is an exceptional example of how to integrate efficient technology and building methods while fostering social interaction and community rebirth.
Charlotte, North Carolina-based architecture firm Little Diversified Architectural Consulting has conceived of an incredible project that transforms a vacant parking lot in Dallas into a completely self-reliant eco-city. Dubbed the Entangled Bank, the project features a green-walled citadel emblazoned with solar panels, an agricultural field, and an extensive system for greywater treatment and recycling, providing its residents with sustainable sources for food, water and energy.
Israeli-based architect Zvika Tamari of TeaM Architects recently proposed a conceptual plan for the burgeoning city of Modiin in Israel that takes the form of an incredible grass-roofed eco-dome. Situated at the center of the city and surrounded by a series of green spaces, the Globe Ecological Hub functions as a museum and multi-use urban center that promotes sustainable living. The grass-crowned hub takes advantage of natural ventilation, daylighting, active solar systems, and a host of other green building strategies.
On track to become the first green building to achieve both LEED Platinum and Living Building Challenge Certification, the Omega Center for Sustainable Living (OSCL) embodies the synthesis of wastewater recycling, clean energy, and eco-friendly architecture. Designed by sustainable design firm BNIM Architects as a functioning model for the nonprofit organization Omega Institute for Holistic Studies, the state-of-the art environmental education and water reclamation facility in Rhinebeck, New York serves as a teaching tool to educate visitors on Omega’s ongoing environmental initiatives, including innovative wastewater strategies.
Inhabitat loves shipping containers, whether from down under or the Great North. These self-contained quadrilateral wonders are the perfect modular building unit; easily transported, super durable, and, with over 700,000 containers being abandoned per year in U.S. ports, in need dire need of being re-purposed. That’s why we are happy to see IC Green, another innovator in the field of shipping container architecture. Check out their line of modest but sustainable and stylish container dwellings as they sprout up all over Southern California, including this weekend at Dwell on Design!
Designing and building a LEED Platinum house is reason enough for us to take notice. When the house is also the work of graduate students at the University of Kansas and it is designed to function off-grid, you can bet that we will anxiously follow its development. Studio 804’s 3716 Springfield House is a two-story residence that is exactly these things, and with the school year just wrapped up, so has the construction of this eco-friendly house in Kansas City.
The World Wildlife Fund has been making huge waves in the environmental movement since it was established five decades ago, and is now taking its mission yet another step further by applying it to architecture. RAU Architecture’s organically shaped design was selected from a variety of candidates as the new look for the WWF Netherlands headquarters based on the fact that the RAU proposed using the existing building as the crux of the new one instead of demolishing it. Completed in 2006, the building has remarkable sustainable innovations that allow it to be entirely self-sufficient, carbon neutral, and a wonderful work environment for employees. What we love even more is that RAU’s design does not sacrifice architectural style in order to achieve its environmental goals.
A proposal for a £250m luxury hotel in London is aiming to bring commerce, tourism, and a BREEAM “Excellent” rating to the north banks of the River Thames. Alsop Architects has collaborated again with Blackfriars Investments after a successful partnership with the Palestra Building in South London. Designed to give distinct characteristics to the building elevations, translucent stones will be used to add texture of the exterior of the unique shape of this building, while other sides will feature a faceted façade system that will be insulated to improve thermal performance.
In the ever-expanding metropolis of Mexico City, green space is hard to come by. An estimated population of 22 million inhabitants bears an impressive weight on the Valley of Mexico and, in recent years, architects and urbanists have been examining solutions to combat the thickening smog. This stunning Vertical Park by Jorge Hernandez de la Garza intends to infuse the city with much-needed green space in the form of a modular skyscraper made up of a series of stacking units. The solar-powered structure contains sky-gardens in addition to spaces for living and working, and recycles all of its own water.
This eye-catching residence designed by Fiona Winzar Architects is both an interesting study in angles and in eco-friendly building techniques. The home’s unusual feature is a roof extension that is used to provide privacy and shade and mimics the shape of an eyelid — inspiring its name, the Eyelid House. Built for a family of five living in a city environment, the home needed to feel airy and inviting while also incorporating smart eco-friendly features that would have money-saving, energy-efficient benefits. Highlights include preserving the existing building, a rainwater collection system, use of solar hot water, passive ventilation, and the use of materials made in Australia.
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Traditional medicine may be the best choice for some ailments, but sometimes all we need is a little help from Mother Nature. Samantha Lee’s Farmacy is a floating urban farm that grows medicinal plants and herbs in a series of nets along the brick wall of Regent’s canal. The factory’s design employs a waterwheel to wash, dry, grind, and distill herbs into their commercial state.
The New York Times has quietly added a new search item to their online real estate section that is sure to please anyone in the market for eco-friendly new digs. You can now search for “green buildings” along with other popular features like dishwashers, swimming pools and pre-war buildings!
For the past 171 years the Benedictine nuns of Conventus of Our Lady of Consolation in the UK have lived in an aging monastery afflicted with high maintenance costs and an inefficient heating system, however they recently made the move to a new environmentally friendly eco-convent. Designed by Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios, the nuns’ new home in North York Moors National Park is constructed from locally sourced materials and boasts a variety of eco-friendly features including solar hot water heating and a rainwater recycling system.
Taiwan recently finished construction on an incredible solar-powered stadium that will generate 100% of its electricity from photovoltaic technology! Designed by Toyo Ito, the dragon-shaped 50,000 seat arena is clad in 8,844 solar panels that illuminate the track and field with 3,300 lux. The project will officially open later this year to welcome the 2009 World Games.
Much like every big city, Toronto has an aging array of Post WW-II high rise apartment buildings. When they were built in the 1960’s they were considered the height of modernity and dense urban design, but now as they are close to reaching the end of their intended lifespan, they are hugely inefficient and lack the qualities that make a sustainable, viable, urban community. There are no markets or grocery stores, inadequate public transportation, and little retail or local jobs. Rather than tear the towers down to start anew, the Mayor and City of Toronto want to use this vast resource of buildings and revitalize the city to become a more sustainable, walkable, greener community.
Modeled after the wings of a dragonfly, this incredible urban farm concept for New York City’s Roosevelt Island intends to ease the problems of food mileage and shortage, and reconnect consumers with producers. Urban farming is a growing trend amongst savvy city dwellers today, but in a densely packed borough like Manhattan, growth must come vertically. Spanning 132 floors and 600 vertical meters, the Dragonfly can accommodate 28 different agricultural fields for the production of fruit, vegetables, grains, meat and dairy. A combination of solar and wind power make Belgian architect Vincent Callebaut’s Dragonfly concept %100 self sufficient.
The very heart of Singapore beats green, thanks to the new design for the National Heart Center conceived by Ong & Ong with medical planning and interior consultation by multinational firm Broadway Malyan. The ambitious 35,299 square-meter building at the center of Singapore General Hospital’s Outram Campus redevelopment plan will hopefully score high green marks with its unique design that places people first. Recognizing that the medical world advances quite quickly, the design incorporates modular building methods to ensure that the structure of the building remains flexible and adaptable both internally and externally, easily and efficiently allowing for future growth.
Not only did this Tulsa loft give Oklahoma its very first LEED certification — it went platinum. Local architect Shelby Navarro pulled out every green design strategy in the book for this project from geothermal heating to a bison-grass green roof and recycled glass floors. Consisting of two attached lofts, the home is just a short walk from shopping and a block from a bike trail in Tulsa’s up-and-coming Cherry Street District neighborhood.
Even when the most sustainable methods of construction are employed it’s a given that whenever you build something new there will be, for better or worse, a visual impact to the landscape. Polish architecture firm KWK Promes decided to embrace that inevitability and build their design for a new home beneath a grassy mound of land. By essentially lifting the existing land and placing it on the roof, the OUTrial house maintains a subtle presence and pays service to the surrounding landscape.
Vertical farms are one of our favorite future-forward concepts for creating sustainable cities. Providing locally-grown produce and food will not only help us reduce our carbon emissions significantly, but also help us become healthier. Romses Architects recently came up with an amazing concept for a vertical farm in Vancouver as part of the City’s 2030 Challenge. Complete with a tower for growing fruits and vegetables, a livestock grazing plane, a boutique dairy farm, commercial space, transit lines, renewable energy and more, the Harvest Green Tower has the potential to be a food growing, energy producing, living, breathing sustainable transit hub.
This brand new, luxurious residence in Noe Valley, San Francisco replaces an inefficient 800 sq ft shack on Hoffman Avenue. Designed and built by SF–based Group 41, the ‘H House’ is a model of both modern architecture and sustainable building for the neighborhood–and it’s currently on the market.
The city of Amsterdam wasn’t quite sure what to do with three abandoned sewage treatment silos, so they decided to hold a competition to determine the best adaptive reuse project. One of the projects submitted for the competition was by Amsterdam-based NL Architects, who proposed to transform the silos into an incredible set of climbing towers. In addition to the climbing areas both inside and outside the silos, the project would include multi-purpose areas, offices, restaurants and other commercial spaces.
LOTS MORE GREAT GREEN DESIGN STORIES HERE... KEEP READING!
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