Future City Designs

These are great ideas and future buildings for city centers.

Evolo Skyscraper Winners 2008
Clean Technology Tower in Chicago by Adrian Smith and Gordon Gill
Sustainable Towers in Malaysia by Studio Nicoletti Associati
Highline 23 in NYC by Neil M. Denari Architects
Anti-Smog in Paris by Vincent Cllebaut Architecte
What will the future be in 2008? We are almost there...
or are we? Back to Future!

Design Unveiled for Clyfford Still Museum

via Denver Post via Archinect via Artdaily.org

Lots of discussion about the design on Denver Infill Blog

Brio54 - Modern Green Living

brio54 Modern Green Living

Introduces beautiful new designs for sustainable living. Check out these designs and the buzz surrounding them.

PREFAB Links from 2007

Strohhaus - featured on Inhabitat's PREFAB Friday - Nice Materials and simple Eco Layout.
Logical Homes - featured on Inhabitat's PREFAB Friday - Open Layout Container design - warm weather.
Single Haus - from BLDBLOG narrow elevated prefabs.
WaterShed - from PREFAB Friday
MkLotus - from PREFAB Friday
MkLoft - from PREFAB Friday
Option - from PREFAB Friday
Solar Green Powerhouse - from PREFAB Friday
Linx Shipping Container Shelter - from PREFAB Friday
Loq Kit - from PREFAB Friday
Construisons Demain Green Prefab - from PREFAB Friday
ASAP House - from PREFAB Friday
PieceHomes - from PREFAB Friday

Overview from WIRED

SOLAR DECATHLON 2007

2007 Solar Decathlon Teams

Technische Universität Darmstadt - Winner
Cincinnati
LeafHouse
University of Colorado

New Museum of Contemporary Art Denver opens this week

This week begins the inugural kick-off with tours and galas and a public opening on Sunday October 28.

via The Daily Camera

Floating Houses and Mass Cultural Like-Mindedness

Over the last week I've been thinking about New Orleans and Katrina, the Weather Channel had an overview of what happened and it got me thinking about an idea for a house that rests on a raised hollow solid foundation but can detach with a floating floor level that could rise with rushing floods. This seems like a sensible approach to areas that are prone to general rising sea rate, river delta flooding, hurricanes, and tsunamis. In a brief overview of some of my frequented sites I find several posts that show this idea in varying degrees, all within this last week, interesting coincidence, I find it interesting how anniversaries of events can focus peoples efforts and thoughts toward future solutions. I'll add to the collective with my overview of these floating structures and how they could pose a solution to these disaster-prone areas. Next step is to make them affordable and sustainable.

Inhabitat DuraVermeer and Waterstudio
Inhabitat Katrina Anniversary
BLDGBLOG Single Hauz
Archidose Floating in Illinois
Treehugger Steel Floating Tower
Seattle Times LSU professor suggests back in April

Eco-Infill and Studio H:T design the first-ever factory-built and LEED-certified home in the US

Press Release

The architects that brought you the HGTV show "Dream House" which chronicled the construction of an architects mountain-side dream home, now bring you some urban infill. According to the press release the home is scheduled to be placed on August 16th, 2007 in the Highlands. I'll have to hunt it down to try an get some photos, I'm really interested to see how it fits in with the neighborhood and maybe get some neighbor reactions. I applaud the effort at hoping to attain the LEED Silver certification, an am curious as to whether this truly is the first factory built LEED certified home int he US. I'm also curious on what the cost is per square foot compared to other Denver infill homes. Looking for some more press on this project...

Studio H:T
Eco-Infill

via Worldchanging

Hugh Brown, 71, reaches milestone: 50 years of design

Local Denver Architect still uses a drafting board (shouldn't we all). Architect as artist, i like it. He helped design the Ritchie Center at DU with recently deceased Cab Childress, interesting because it's where I currently work. I wonder if the common thick black glasses and bowtie will continue with future architect generations?

picture and article via Rocky Mountain News

CU-Boulder Architecture Defends Solar Prize

Roof-integrated photovoltaic panels were installed Aug. 2 by University of Colorado at Boulder students on the school's latest Solar Decathlon entry as part of a project update for the fall competition, the third of three competitions to date that CU-Boulder won previously in 2002 and 2005.

Special features of this year's CU-Boulder home include building-integrated photovoltaic panels, which will provide a waterproof roofing shell while collecting all of the energy needed to power the home; a ductless heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) system with architecturally integrated heat exchangers; and a mechanical spine in which the plumbing and HVAC system are centralized in a completely modular, prefabricated, structural core.

via YourHub and CU-Boulder Solar Decathlon

Colorado, Redirect to Green Resources

Thanks to Denver Infill Blog who notes "One of the many reasons why urban infill is so important to our community is that it's a very sustainable form of development. Urban infill is anti-sprawl. Instead of constructing new travelways, utilities, and buildings in undeveloped greenfield areas, urban infill projects take advantage of existing infrastructure and increase the utility of land in already established areas. Urban places like Downtown Denver also are home to many environmentally sound and healthy practices like LEED-certified buildings, public transit, pedestrianism, etc."

Like a "Green" Yellow Pages for Colorado.

Redirect Guide

Buona Notte Antonioni

Photo by Guido Harari

In my opinion, the greatest filmmaker of all time passed away on Monday at age 94. I'll never forget watching his films in Hancock Hall between studio time in architecture school, and retrospectively the impact he and Fellini had on my design sensibility. Resto nella pace, Michelangelo Antonioni, vivrete per sempre nei miei occhi.