On the other side of photographer Christina Seely’s lens, everything is illuminated. The 2007 Metropolis Next Generation winner is taking her photo series, Lux, on the road. Her images explore the enormous consumption of light in metropolitan areas across the globe and she chose her urban destinations from a NASA map of Earth at night (pictured below).

 
Seely’s photograph, Metropolis: 40°25’N3°41’W (Madrid)

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Are engineers having all the fun lately or can architects get in on the action? At the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects lately they’ve been kicking around the idea of getting architects in on the energy auditing game. At a recent Not Business As Usual luncheon, reps from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) along with a handful of engineers came to explain what energy auditing is and how it’s done. The engineers say that having engineering know-how is critical to analyzing mechanical systems, but that doesn’t mean they have the monopoly. If you like this initiative, maybe it’s time to start thinking about it as a business opportunity.

Teach building owners how not to feed the meter

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A silent concert of lighting designs graced the Helen Mills Theater last night for the exhibition Audible Light. New York City students from across the design spectrum competed for cash prizes in the Illuminating Engineering Society’s ninth-annual student lighting competition. Faced with the challenge of translating sound into light without making any noise, approximately 50 entrants played off notions of sensual experience and scientific mechanics to create a twinkling display.

Hye Yeun Lee with Subway Sounds. Click audible_light to see it in action. Read more…

This week is shaping up to be the perfect time to show the amazing things that are afoot in the realm of technology. Tomorrow marks the second annual Greener Gadgets conference, a full-day of discussions on the future of emerging technology and a showcase of forward-thinking gadgetry. And earlier this week an envoy from Intel’s Corporate Technology Group came to New York with Tech Haven, a showcase of the company’s buzzworthy and most cutting-edge projects. While these devices are still prototypes and further research is being conducted in their labs, a few are in working condition and it’s only a matter of time before we’re using them to get healthy, decrease our energy consumption, and impress our friends. Read more…

Greener Gadgets is back for its second year. The full-day conference will explore the issue of sustainability in the consumer electronics industry. Last year’s conference looked at issues of emerging technology, recycling, efficiency, and business via examples that ranged from electronic geese to wind-powered cell phones. The upcoming event promises to push the conversation even further. Read more…

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) announced the winners of the 2009 Young Architects Awards today. Among the eight honorees is Jinhee Park of SINGLE speed DESIGN (Ssd) who along with partners John Hong  (who won the Young Architects Award in 2006) and Erik Carlson won the first annual MetropolisNext Generation award in 2004 for the Big Dig House.

Jinhee Park (front) and others from the firm of SINGLE speed DESIGN among dismantled sections of Interstate 93 at Leverett Circle in Boston, the inspiration for their Big Dig House

(Portrait by John Goodman for Metropolis)

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What would it take to make you wish you were in Alaska in the dead of winter? Perhaps a collection of large-scale installations, out-of-the-ordinary performances, and impressive exhibitions could convince you it’s the place to be. Enter FREEZE, a multifaceted festival to draw on the creative energy of the northern climes, going on now through February 2. Among the arctic-inspired installations—cars frozen in an artist made lake, an “icequarium”, a catapult for participant-made ice sculptures that makes drinking water (to name a few)—stands the 84 foot wide Northern Sky Circle by 2004 Next Generation Design Competition** runner up Vancouver-based molo. The design studio is no stranger to creating elaborate constructions with simple materials and are best known for furnishings made from paper. For this project, they’ve turned to Alaska’s greatest natural resource—snow.

Stephanie Forsythe, who co-founded the firm with Todd MacAllen, and I discussed their ephemeral Alaskan structure via email. Read more…

Times are tough right now for architects. Projects are slowing down and people are nervous about their jobs. But there’s some silver lining—architects are now reflecting, brushing up, and making plans for the future. And the AIA New York chapter is facilitating community brainstorming at the Center for Architecture with its “Not Business as Usual” luncheons.

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Trang Nguyen’s map of proposed charter schools focused on teaching sustainability in underutilized existing spaces.

I recently went to the end-of-semester review for Pratt’s urban-design studio, Central Brooklyn: A Model Net-Zero Carbon District. Led by the professors Viren Brahmbhatt and Meta Brunzema (a runner-up in Metropolis’s Next Generation competition), students attempted to find serious urban-design solutions to issues surrounding climate change. “The ultimate goal is to create implementable urban-design and policy ideas for a model Special Sustainability District,” Brahmbhatt says. “The central-Brooklyn site, which includes Bedford Stuyvesant and Pratt’s Brooklyn campus, was selected because it includes a great variety of urban typologies, socioeconomic settings, as well as Pratt, an institution with a sound commitment to reducing its carbon footprint.” Read more…

It’s easy to forget about professional development when you’re chained to your desk, but we’re here to remind you it’s the end of the year and continuing education credits are due. To help keep your accreditation, the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects is offering 2008 Procrastinators’ Days next week (December 4-6) to members and non-members.

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