Moving earth is always exciting to watch. For me, it was even more so as I watched them break ground on the Colorado State University Engines and Energy Conversion Laboratory’s (EECL) expansion into the Powerhouse Energy Institute. This development is the latest step in a march of innovative progress that has characterized the lab since it’s beginning in 1992. Three years ago, when I decided to attend CSU for Mechanical Engineering, the lab with its innovative, student-involved research approach played a major role in my choice. Interestingly the EECL was named one of the top 25 ‘Awesome College Labs’ by Popular Science in 2011 – Wow!

The great research environment within the EECL may have pushed me to apply for a position at the lab, but it is the building that has made the lab comfortable and inspirational. The 1936 Art-Deco brick structure with its large, welcoming doors and multitude of windows, combined with the work and people, houses the true spirit of ‘The Engines Lab’ as a location that has served to unite private and university research and development with the goal of innovation to improve human life.

Three years and many great projects later, the power of the building has come to the forefront of the lab with the development of the new Powerhouse Energy Institute. Led by architect Bob Hosanna, the Neenan Company has worked collaboratively with the Powerhouse Energy Institute staff to design a highly sustainable solution for its expansion. The new building is a 65,000 square-foot addition onto the south end of the former Fort Collins power plant in North Old Town Fort Collins.  The new workspace is exciting in itself. But this addition is especially meaningful to the lab as the design (and present construction) has been in complete alignment with the innovative, yet historically respectful tradition of the lab. The current structure is an awesome tribute to the individuals who made the building, Fort Collins, and Colorado so great.  As a result, the design team was inspired to create an addition that complements the building, mimicking the original structure while still making it cutting-edge (LEED Platinum rating is expected).  Fittingly, the facility will be a laboratory for the development of green building technologies.  The vertical-axis wind turbines and a woodchip hopper for a gasifier system will stand where four smokestacks and a coal-hopper once stood, creating a modern study tool for the historic building’s former structures.

1936

2013 Rendering

Read more…

Three years ago, faculty and students from three schools came together to form the Empowerhouse Collaborative. The participants—Parsons The New School for Design; the Milano School for International Affairs, Management and Urban Policy at The New School; and Stevens Institute of Technology—joined forces to compete in the US Department of Energy 2011 Solar Decathlon. We wanted to change the way affordable housing is designed and developed.

This December 4th we realized our goal, joining Habitat for Humanity of Washington, D.C. (DC Habitat) and the D.C. government to celebrate the dedication of Empowerhouse, a new home for two local families in the Deanwood neighborhood of Washington. This was also a celebration of a series of firsts in the district: the first net-zero-site, the first Passive House, and one of the first low-impact residential developments.

Read more…

NYIT student volunteer working on construction site of Nosara Recycling Center, August 2012

Earlier this year I wrote a blog post about sLAB Costa Rica, the design-build initiative at the School of Architecture and Design at the New York Institute of Technology (NYIT), with my studio, Holler Architecture, taking the lead. Back then my students had just finished the design of a much needed Recycling and Education Center for Nosara, a small community in northwestern Costa Rica. This past summer the project made a huge step toward reality. Funded in part through a fundraising campaign on Kickstarter over 30 NYIT architecture students traveled to Costa Rica during July and August and volunteered on the construction site of this important community project. In order not to loose momentum the students have set up a second Kickstarter campaign to help finish the project this coming January.

This past summer under the supervision of local construction professionals we were able to set up the construction site, complete the site grading, concrete foundations, and concrete block walls; and even built the first wooden roof truss. Read more…

Tablets are revolutionizing how people interact with information. We can now walk around with libraries in our knapsacks and the touch screen interface has enabled us to bridge the physical-abstract divide. The universe is now pushed and prodded, and just as the universe is expanding, so is our access to digital information.

A new app by Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, called Ecological Urbanism, is the start of a deep dive into innovation research, with real prospects for finding urban sustainability treasure.

Harvard Graduate School of Design: Ecological Urbanism App from Second Story on Vimeo.

Read more…

When the symposium “The Sound of Architecture” kicks off this evening at the Yale School of Architecture, designers in skinny jeans and square black glasses may well be outnumbered by a cast of artists, musicologists, engineers, and even an archeoacoustician for good measure. Though Friday’s keynote will be delivered by architectural luminary Elizabeth Diller of Diller Scofidio + Renfro, the weekend’s program will be populated by some decidedly un-architectural figures.

The lineup of speakers and performers, drawing upon a broad array of disciplines, is designed to take the aural dimension of architecture beyond the exclusive domain of the acoustic technicians who meticulously tune the contours of concert halls and theaters.

“Acoustics have been important to designers since the days of Vitruvius,” says co-organizer and Yale PhD candidate Joseph Clarke. “But architects often tend to think and design visually, with sound relegated to a secondary role. By bringing together a range of speakers across so many different disciplines, this symposium seeks to breathe new life into study of the sonic dimensions of architecture.”

Some of the highlights include:

• A talk titled “The Ear, the Eye, and the Space,” by Craig Hodgetts, architect of the Hollywood Bowl’s newest incarnation.
• A performance of composer Ingram Marshall’s work “Alcatraz,” blending images, music and “found audio” of buoys, birds, and cell doors.
• John D. Peters of the University of Iowa taking a close look at Mormons’ role as acousticians.
• Sound studies star Jonathan Sterne, author of “MP3: The Meaning of a Format” discussing “A Simple Theory of Convolution Reverb.”

“Carchitecture”

Read more…

Week two of the teen design charette for Washington DC’s 11^th Street recreational bridge was a flurry of activity. The students learned the history of the project from representatives of the Department of Transportation who explained that the bridge is at the end of its useful lifespan. Rather than demolishing the entire structure, the city saw an opportunity to salvage the existing concrete piers and explore the possibility of installing a new span across the Anacostia River. This new park would no longer carry 18 wheelers, instead it would support demonstration gardens, exercise facilities, and outdoor performance spaces.

The city hopes to achieve four key objectives through building the new recreation bridge: improve community health, promote the environmental quality of the Anacostia River, stitch together the adjoining neighborhoods that have long been divided by the river, and use the bridge as an anchor for economic development. Over a two week workshop in July, the students’ task was to create programming for the bridge. The results are imaginative and inspirational.

Read more…

On a steamy Monday morning in July, over a dozen high school and college students took their seats in a Washington DC gallery just half a block from the Anacostia River. They’re here to participate in a two week-urban design charette. Following a brief presentation the students launched into questions about the proposed transformation of an existing freeway bridge into a pedestrian link and recreational destination. The tone of the discussion was occasionally rowdy, but the content was right on target, hitting all the major concerns that arose since this project began as an inspired pipe dream: how will it be funded, is there political will to see it built, how to ensure that foot traffic and access are adequate, how to deal with polluted river water, will there be gentrification and potential displacement of existing residents, and how to prevent crime?

The old 11th Street bridges that connect southeast DC with communities east of the river have reached the end of their lifespan; replacement bridges are now under construction. The D.C. Office of Planning along with several District agencies are exploring the idea of using the base of one of the bridges to create a park for active recreation, arts, and environmental education and connecting the communities of Capitol Hill with Anacostia.

Though the students understand the obstacles facing the bridge project, this has not hampered them from delving into design and programming to achieve the four lofty goals of the project:  promote healthy communities, restore the health of the Anacostia River, bring economic prosperity to the region, and symbolically stitch together the two sides of the river. Participating students are in the city’s Summer Youth Employment Program, chosen for their interest in architecture, planning, and environmental engineering. They come directly from one of three District agencies: the departments of Planning, Environment, or Transportation. They understand the challenges they face, while they’re eager to come up with some truly innovative solutions.

Read more…