Doors Open Denver This Weekend

Doors Open Denver
"150 Years of Denver Architecture"
Saturday & Sunday, April 12th & 13th 10am-4pm

2008 is the 150th anniversary of the founding of Denver. Doors Open Denver will celebrate by opening doors representing “150 Years of Denver Architecture” in a FREE two-day event that allows you to go behind the scenes of the city’s significant architectural gems and lesser-known treasures. Spend the day on a self-guided tour of both historic and modern buildings, register for an Expert Tour or embark on an Urban Adventure, a self-guided tour based on a theme.

via DenverInfill Blog

Here are some Expert Tours of interest:

An Emerald Gem in Lower Downtown – US EPA Building: EPA’s new regional headquarters is an excellent example of ‘green building’, and how the built environment can reduce its environmental footprint. Come learn about this state of the art building, and the strategies used to reduce impacts to the natural environmental, better conserve energy, use less natural resources, reduce waste and create a healthier workplace environment.

Alliance Center – Green Multi-Tenant Nonprofit Building: The Alliance Center demonstrates a hub for a state-based sustainability movement with thirty non-profit tenants. Tenants, partners and community members use the building as a tool for collaboration, education and social advocacy. It is one of two buildings in the world to receive two Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certifications from the US Green Building Council – LEED Gold for Existing Buildings and LEED Silver for Commercial Interiors. The Center received Energy Star Leader certification. Over 50 signs and displays highlight the collaborative, green and historic features throughout the Alliance Center. This tour will explore the Alliance Center’s “green” ingenuity, design and unique characteristics

Discover How Easy It Is To Be Green…Creatively: Architect/ Developer Cheryl Spector & Associates will lead a tour of this LEED Registered, award winning green facility – Nine10Arts. Learn how being green is affordable. Following the tour you can visit with over 18 different artists who have their studios here, drink a cup of coffee, eat lunch in Studio 6 Coffee House or hang out in the Gallery and courtyard.

Denver Architect Firms Merge to Form Eight Track Architecture LLC

Three University of Colorado at Denver instructors have merged their own architecture firms to form a new company called Eight Track Architecture LLC. The new company, located at 910 16th St. in Denver, combines the existing architecture practices of Charles McBride, Matthew Shea's Void company and Ken Renaud of Box. McBride is a senior instructor at CU Denver, and Shea and Renaud are lecturers there. Eight Track's practice ranges from construction technique to "the idiosyncrasies ... of the city street," according to the firm. "The architect's responsibility to the city is not only to understand and work within its own particular constraints, but to simultaneously challenge its structure, its preconceptions," McBride said in a statement. The principals' past design work ranges from single-family homes and restaurants to master-planned projects. Those projects were worked in Boulder County, Colorado Springs and Southern California.

via Denver Business Journal

Denver Designated A New Solar American City

array in Denver via Sunflower Solar

The US Department of Energy (DOE) has selected 12 new Solar America Cities, bringing the number from 13 to 25 in total, and moving along the $2.4 million initiative to provide up to $200,000 per city to build solid solar infrastructures. The announcement came at the New Frontiers in Energy Summit 2008 in Denver, Colorado, which is among the 2008 Solar America Initiative (SAI) cities. The overall program goals are to facilitate adoption of solar technology by individuals and businesses and to make solar electricity from photovoltaics a cost-competitive energy choice by 2015.

via Inhabitat

Denver Architecture Firm of the Week 4/3/08 Humphries Poli Architects

Image Credit: Frank Ooms/Ooms Design 553 House

Profile from website:
"Longtime colleagues and collaborators Dennis Humphries and Joseph Poli founded Humphries Poli Architects, P.C. in 1994. Named 2005 Firm of the Year by the Denver Chapter of the AIA, HPA has garnered nineteen design awards, plus other publications and recognition, in its 11 years. This 29-person firm offers architecture, interior design, urban design, historic preservation and landscape architecture services. The firm specializes in multi-family housing, urban design, civic architecture, libraries and preservation projects. HPA brings a layered and rich approach to every project, resulting in thoughtful solutions that reach beyond the project's physical boundaries. Every project is an opportunity to make our city a better place to live, work, and relax. The HPA studio is still located in Denver's Golden Triangle neighborhood in its third storefront office at 1215 Elati St. For more information visit HPA’s Web site at http://www.hparch.com/.

Recent Awards:
In addition to the AIA Colorado 2006 Firm of the Year Award, HPA has received several other distinguishing honors, including AIA Denver 2005 Firm of the Year. Also, Dennis Humphries was honored as the 2003 Colorado Chapter of the American Subcontractors Association Architect of the Year as well as AIA Denver 2006 Architect of the Year and AIA Colorado 2005 Architect of the Year. In all, the firm and its projects have received more than 30 awards in the last 12 years. Recent award winning projects include the Granby Library (Granby, Colo.), 553 House (Denver), Blake Street Flats (Denver), the Brownstones at Riverfront Park (Denver) and Ten Winkle Towers (Denver).

Current Projects:
Rangeview Library District - Brighton Library
East Village Master Plan - Park Avenue Redevelopment, Denver

Trash = BioSIPs

Picture Credit: Julie Herdt

Great ideas coming from CU Boulder. One man's trash is another man's treasure... future speak - "Just another day down at the garbage mines!"

"We see waste stream as the new resource for industry," said Julee Herdt, CU Professor of Architecture and leader of a university-supported project to convert paper, cardboard, and wooden waste products into structural insulated panels (SIPs) that provide a fast, energy efficient basis for housing construction. "Instead of cutting down trees and mining the earth, there are very valuable waste stream products that can be used to create new materials. That's what we're doing here at CU, is saying these mountains of waste are new natural resources."

via Colorado Daily News

BioSIPs via Treehugger 2005

Also regarding environmental materials from the CU Solar 2005 Project

Architect for Hire Website

I just relaunched my personal architecture website a few days ago and I wanted to share the link in case you wanted to see some of the projects I have been working on. I'm actively looking for an architecture position in Denver, Colorado if you have any feedback or leads I would very much appreciate if you shared them with me, you can contact me at the email link on my website.

Architect for Hire.com

Jean Nouvel Wins 2008 Pritzker Prize

Jean Nouvel wins the 2008 Pritzker Prize.

Pictured is Torre Agbar built in 2003 and open in 2005 in Barcelona, Spain. "A unique feature of the building is its nocturnal illumination. It has 4,500 LED luminous devices that allow generation of luminous images in the facade. In addition, it has temperature sensors in the outside of the tower that regulate the opening and closing of the glass blinds of the facade of the building, reducing the consumption of energy for air conditioning."

Denver Architectural Firm Recognized as Best in Recreational Design

Denver-based Ohlson Lavoie Collaborative, an architectural leader in recreation, fitness and aquatics, has won a pair of 2008 Innovative Architecture & Design Awards from Recreation Management Magazine.

The Health and Fitness Center at Washtenaw Community College was designed to deliver the latest breakthroughs in sustainable design. OLC architects wanted to establish a functional facility that promotes healthy living for both the students on campus and the local residents who will be members. Some unique characteristics of the facility include lights that go on automatically when daylight falls below a certain level; floors and carpets made of non-toxic renewable materials; and a reflective white roof that reduces heating and cooling requirements. The WCC building is positioned to become the first gold-certified LEED™ building for health-and-fitness west of the Mid-Atlantic U.S.

via eMediaWire

Denver Architecture Firm of the Week 3/26/08 - Sean Garrett Architecture

I've decided to showcase Denver's local architecture firms in a weekly blog post. In my recent search for an architecture position (email me), I've been researching many great firms in the Denver area and I'd like to highlight the recent work and philosophies of some of these companies.

This week I've chosen an architect whose office is located very close to my home and that drew my attention a while back with his Green House competition win in Chicago (pictured on the left).

Sean Garrett Architecture

From SGA's website;

"The Qualities we value…Each new building is but a single contribution to the larger built and natural environments that we inhabit, and each individual design and construction project either reveals and reinforces the qualities we value or conceals and degrades our sense of place. Whether cityscape or landscape, SGA strives to identify the critical components and characteristics of each place and design architecture that responds appropriately to the individual, community, culture, and environment. The incorporation of green, sustainable, and energy-efficient building technologies is part and parcel to SGA’s design process."

Current projects include the Charlie's on Colfax redesign with a new front facade. From SGA's website; "SGA’s proposed addition and renovation to Charlie’s Bar responds in part to a loss of patronage resulting from Colorado’s Clean Indoor Air Act. The over-height, sloping, exterior screen wall secures a new outdoor patio that isolates smokers from other patrons while preserving a visual connection to the nightclub interior. The tall, colorful wall takes its cues from the nearby mid-century modern architecture and doubles as a new building façade that masks the existing structure. "

Sean Garrett Architecture

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.