Green Dot Animo Leadership High School / Brooks + Scarpa Architects. Architects: Brooks + Scarpa Architects Location: 11044 South Freeman Avenue, Inglewood, CA 90304, USA Principal In Charge: Lawrence Scarpa, FAIA Project Architect: Angela Brooks, AIA, Mark Buckland, Ching Luk Project Design Team: Brad Buter, Silke Clemens, Emily Hodgdon, Gwynne Pugh, Sri Sumantri Engineering: Thorton Thomassetti-Structural Area: 53500.0 ft2 Year: 2013 Photographs: John Linden From the architect. This new public school for 500 students is located in a tough South Los Angeles neighborhood almost directly under the flight path into LAX and adjacent to the very busy 105 Century freeway.
The design was influenced by the New Orleans architects Curtis and Davis who designed and built many schools in the early 1950s in Louisiana. Their designs adapted to the harsh southern climate without using air conditioning, creating sustainable light filled and poetic spaces for kids to learn. Similarly, this project is designed to enhance passive sustainable strategies. ZCB Zero Carbon Building / Ronald Lu and Partners. Architects: Ronald Lu and Partners Location: Kowloon Bay , Hong Kong Year: 2012 Area: 3,300 sqm Photographs: Courtesy of Ronald Lu and Partners ZCB is the first zero carbon building in Hong Kong.
Energy hierarchy with its priority on energy demand control is adopted. Passive design with climate-responsive built form, orientation, layout and envelope enhance natural ventilation, daylighting and solar shading. The spacious entrance hallway is orientated and fully opened to the prevailing summer breeze, and provides a comfortable setting for gathering and temporary exhibition without the use of air-conditioning. An ultra-low OTTV of 11 W/m2 is achieved mainly due to optimized window-to-wall ratio, deep overhang over the south facade, external shading fins, minimized east and west facades / windows, high performance glazing system, and shaded and insulated roof.
Eco-efficiency is the key design concept which targets for high environmental quality and minimized loading. UPDATE: zHome / David Vandervort Architects. Last June we announced the zHome community designed by David Vandervort Architects, a target zero-energy community in Washington that is one of many springing up across the country, changing the way communities are planned and developed. Since World War II spawned the era of suburban living, the Levittown model has been the trajectory along which so many communities across the country have gone. Now with sustainability and ecologically conscious design being at the forefront of many architects’ practices, it makes perfect sense for whole communities to take the leap as well.
But what does that mean for the lifestyles of its residents? And does this make an exclusive neighborhood where only some are willing or able to comply. zHome is built in a transit-oriented development east of Seattle in the suburban area of Issaquah Highlands,Washington. While public space was an essential component to building social ties, privacy was also an important aspect of the project that DVA had in mind. Colorado Court / Brooks + Scarpa. The award winning, LEEDTM Gold Certified, Colorado Court by Brooks + Scarpa is 100% energy independent, distinguishing itself from most conventionally developed projects. Implementing energy efficient measures above and beyond the standard practices of the time, this project was able to optimize its building performance and ensure reduced energy use during all phases of construction and continuing upon occupancy.
The initial planning and design of Colorado Court was a direct derivative of an emphasis on passive solar design strategies. More details, photographs, and drawings following the break. Architects: Brooks + Scarpa Location: 502 Colorado Avenue, Santa Monica, California, USA Project-in-Charge: Lawrence Scarpa, AIA Project Architect: Angela Brooks, AIA Project Team: Gwynne Pugh, AIA, Anne Marie Burke, Heather Duncan, Vanessa Hardy, Bettina Hermsen, Tim Peterson, Ching Luk, Jackson Butler, Steve Kodama, FAIA Project Energy Engineer: Dr. AD Interviews: Scot Horst. Over the past decade, sustainable design has been transformed from a fringe movement to big business. However, given the sheer scale of the environmental damage caused by the built environment, it’s clear that far more must be done.
To prevent future catastrophes, the industry must both scale up its green initiatives and increase their effectiveness. On the quantity front, the entity most responsible for the explosion of green building is LEED. Developed in 2000 by the US Green Building Council (USGBC), the voluntary project rating system has won over the industry by providing both a convenient set of guidelines for sustainable practices and a clear marketing incentive for designers and firms to go green (or at least appear to). When it comes to moving forward on the quality side, however, the picture is a bit fuzzier. Within LEED, the most obvious place to look for innovation is Platinum, the highest level of project certification. I think that’s a good way to put it. Solar Decathlon 2009 update.
Team Germany wins Solar Decathlon 2009. After 9 days and 10 contests, Team Germany from the Technische Universität Darmstadt won the 2009 Solar Decathlon with their surPLUShome project. The surPLUShome is based on a single room concept. The interior design is characterized by a multi functional body as its central element. This body contains primary functions like the kitchen, stairs and the bath and defines the possible use of close-by space. Besides it takes over functions of furniture and the building services. But the most interesting aspect of this house is its shingle inspired ventilated skin, using photovoltaic modules. You can learn more about the house at Team Germany’s official website. New Solar Collector So Efficient It Works At Night.
While we’ve seen solar cell efficiency squeak past 40% in labs this year, we’re still stuck commercially with panels that at most convert about 20% of what hits them into energy. Then there’s the whole “darkness” thing that cuts into production for part of the day. Researchers at the Idaho National Laboratory have potentially solved both issues by turning to another hot field: nanotechnology. From the article, With this new technology, millions of extremely small twists of metal are molded into banks of “microantennas”, which can be placed on almost any material, including plastic sheets.
With this new tech, researchers believe they can hit an efficiency rating of about 80%! Of course, there is a catch. Via neoseeker Pinterest. Artificial Solar Leaves: Tack 'em to Your House! Written by Hank Green on 03/03/08 A new sustainable design group called SMIT (Sustainably Minded Interactive Technology) has been working on a pretty awesome little invention. Instead of mounting big-ol' solar panels on heavy rigid structures that need reinforcement and special installers, they've put the solar panels on small, flexible, durable pieces of plastic.
And then they tacked the pieces of plastic to a house. Of course, each little panel has to be individually wired to its neighbor, so that they can all produce electricity for the house. The idea is that the solar cells remind passers buy of ivy leaves. Via Inhabitat. Quantum Dots and Next-Gen Solar Cells - Solar PV Power Research. When it comes to turning sunlight into electricity, today's technology leaves lots of room for improvement.
The most efficient solar cells on the market, which are made of silicon, convert less than 20 percent of the light that hits them into electricity, and the theoretical maximum efficiency of these cells is around 31 percent. One reason for this low efficiency is that much of the incoming light contains energy that is too high for solar cells to capture, so it's lost as heat. Now researchers have shown that it's possible to harvest that energy before it escapes, meaning that engineers could one day develop next-generation solar cells with efficiencies of up to 66 percent. The research, funded by the Department of Energy, is described in the June 18 edition of the journal Science. When light hits a solar cell, a fraction of its energy is absorbed, exciting electrons in the cell's material and knocking them free.
Not only was the transfer successful, it was also very fast.