Arquitectura Hoy

A todos los interesados en obtener más información sobre diseño sustentable pueden escuchar el programa Arquitectura Hoy por WKAQ 580AM, los domingos a la 1pm.

El domingo 6 de junio, el Arq. Eliot Santos entrevistará al Arq. Fernando Abruña ganador del premio Henry Klumb. Pueden hacer sus preguntas en vivo, o por email en cualquier momento a arquitecturahoy@caappr.org

Para convertir casas y diseños sustentables e información adicional pueden comunicarse con el Arq. Eliot Santos al (787)249-0640.

Premio Henry Klumb

By Lloyd Alter,
Toronto on April 7, 2009 4:04 AM

Oscar Wilde wrote "all criticism is autobiography"; much the same can be said about choosing the best in green design and architecture, it may tell more about our preoccupations than anything else. Design is so subjective, and green design is even harder, given that it is so difficult to define. Is it green enough? Is it good enough? Where is the balance? Do we go safe or edgy? Old favourites or young up-and-comers? What kind of geographic diversity? We give it our best shot.

Continue to Best of Green: Design + Architecture

Via TreeHugger

(EN ESPAÑOL)

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Shaun Donovan and U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Secretary Ray LaHood have announced a new partnership to help American families gain better access to affordable housing, more transportation options, and lower transportation costs. The average working American family spends nearly 60 percent of its budget on housing and transportation costs, making these two areas the largest expenses for American families. Donovan and LaHood want to seek ways to cut these costs by focusing their efforts on creating affordable, sustainable communities.

The Secretaries discussed their plans for sustainable communities today at a U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation and Housing hearing titled, “Livable Communities, Transit Oriented Development, and incorporating Green Building Practices into Federal Housing and Transportation.” To read the full text of Secretary Donovan’s testimony, visit HUD’s website.

“One of my highest priorities is to help promote more livable communities through sustainable surface transportation programs,” said Secretary LaHood.

“This partnership will help expand every American family’s choices for affordable housing and transportation,” said Secretary Donovan. “HUD’s central mission – ensuring that every American has access to decent, affordable housing – can be achieved only in context of the housing, transportation, and energy costs and choices that American families experience each day.”

DOT and HUD have created a high-level interagency task force to better coordinate federal transportation and housing investments and identify strategies to give American families:

• More choices for affordable housing near employment opportunities;
• More transportation options, to lower transportation costs, shorten travel times, and improve the environment; and
• Safe, livable, healthy communities.

Via Buckminster Fuller Institute, HUD

Catalyzing the vanguard of a design science revolution

Greetings Design Revolutionaries!

Bucky had it right. “You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”

That’s why we’re awarding a $100,000 prize each year for comprehensive solutions that radically advance human well-being and ecosystem health. The 2008 prize will be conferred June 23rd in NYC.

STEP UP TO THE BUCKMINSTER FULLER CHALLENGE.
JOIN THE VANGUARD OF THE DESIGN REVOLUTION.

Learn more at bfi.org and challenge.bfi.org

The 2009 Challenge begins this Fall. Stay tuned…

Via Buckminster Fuller Institute

From www.contemporist.com

Published June 26th, 2008

Thanks to Ed from Diseño Earle Architects for letting us know about a new house they’ve designed which is soon to be under construction.  Located in Spain’s Costa del Sol region, the house takes advantage of the area’s abundant sunshine with large windows to provide natural light, as well as a wing-like roof that holds solar panels at the correct angle to maximize the energy they generate while also hiding them from view.

See more photos and read more about the house on the Diseño Earle website → here.

Via Contemporist

Dutch architecture office FARO architecten bv sent us this amazing experimental house, where the main idea was to give big spaces to the client. Be sure to check out the lounge hanging from the ceiling.

Architect: FARO architecten bv
Location: Steigereiland, Netherlands
Construction Year: September 2006 – February 2007
Contractor: Kerkhofs montagebouw
Finishing: Dick Caarls
Technical advice: Pieters BouwTechniek
“Whale” construction: Bosgraaf yacht-design
Climate Advice: TH
Floor Tiles: MOSA
PU floors: Sinck&Co
Fencing: Carl Stahl
Domotica System: Moeller
Budget: 320,000 EURO (US $498,816)
Constructed Area: 207 sqm

On the Steigereiland, near Amsterdam, Pieter Weijnen built his own experimental wooden home. The house is painted a vibrant blue, referring to the traditional dike houses of nearby Durgerdam. Spaciousness is the keyword in this design. The ground floor consists of a roomy live-in kitchen. Entering the home, the first thing you notice is the lounge hanging from the ceiling like a floating island. The bottom of this contraption is shaped like the belly of a whale and clad in copper. The shape has been interpreted as a boat or a basket, giving the space below a homely atmosphere. Together with the floating lounge, the 7 meter high space creates a vertical loft. To make the most use of the space, Weijnen wanted to avoid load bearing walls as much as possible. To ensure stability, he used old docking poles as diagonal braces behind the front wall. All the walls and floors are made of massive, laminated Lenotec spruce wood.

Sustainable use of energy is a leading principle for the house on Steigereiland. The glass façade facing South, lets in plenty of daylight and sun heat. The air-conditioning is based on an ancient Arabian system: the air from the dwelling is pumped through underground tubes. After the air has cooled down, it is led back into the building. A tank under the roof terrace collects rainwater, which is used for the washing machine and the toilets. Plenty of recycled materials were used building this wooden home. The large beams in the front are old docking poles from the IJ, and the furniture in the children’s room is made of used cheese shelves. The copper cladding on the floating lounge, used to be on top of the roof of a church.

Via ArchDaily

De: Plataforma Arquitectura

“Ir más allá de la Arquitectura” – la exploración de nuevos dominios y terrenos – a sido el lema de Volume desde sus inicios el 2005. Es hora del siguiente paso: ¿como llevar a la práctica este “ir más alla”? ¿Como materializar ese discurso, cuando parece ir contra todas las lógicas económicas e industriales? Volume presente la práctica NO SOLICITADA – poderosos generadores de ideas, planes de negocio sólidos y metodologías de diseño idealistas. Estas son las herramientas esenciales que permiten a los arquitectos reclamar su autonomía profesional.

Con este párrafo se introduce a una de las mejores ediciones de la revista Volume, que aborda el tema de la arquitectora no solicitada o auto encargo. El editor en jefe de la revista Volume, Arjen Oosterman, abre con su artículo “Una profesión aparte”, donde reflexiona sobre los cambios en el rol del arquitecto, partiendo con la post guerra y el movimiento moderno, quienes cambiaron al arquitecto artista por las utopías de la industrialización. Si bien durante la primera parte del siglo pasado esto permitió a los arquitectos abordar complejos temas de la sociedad de ese entonces desde la arquitectura, se volvió incapaz de responder a cambios en el cliente (estado-privado), el mercado, la producción, la construcción e incluso en el retorno económico, estancándose. Si bien siempre se necesitará quien diseñe dentro de una cierta estética, el rol del arquitecto va más allá que eso. Según palabras de Oosterman, que los arquitectos […] re definan su rol, pasando de ejecutores de encargos extremadamente competentes a emprendedores y productores. Y cierra con la siguiente frase: Arquitectura No Solicitada: ¿quién se atreve?

Continúe leyendo en Plataforma Arquitectura

Vía Plataforma Arquitectura, Archis.org

+ Ole Bouman
+ Unsolicited Studio

De la página web Recetas Urbanas:

Santiago Cirugeda es un arquitecto atípico que desde el inicio de su carrera ha puesto en práctica sus ideas directamente sobre el terreno. A lo largo de los últimos diez años, ha desarrollado un método de trabajo basado en la observación y análisis de la ciudad, al objeto de afrontar las carencias urbanísticas que en ella detecta. Su arquitectura, inmediata y portátil, es un despliegue de ingenio y creatividad que busca proponer nuevos modelos ajustados a presupuestos limitados. Entendiendo la arquitectura como una disciplina que debe velar por la mejora de las condiciones sociales, plantea un modelo de ciudad autogestionada donde los ciudadanos puedan decidir sobre su entorno inmediato.
Este libro presenta catorce situaciones concretas en las que Santiago Cirugeda explica cómo ha sido capaz de tergiversar el statu quo de la ciudad mercantilizada para proponer una ciudad más habitable. En él se detallan las estrategias que le han permitido reinventar tanto la vivienda, como los museos, la universidad, los centros sociales o el espacio público.

Via Recetas Urbanas

Descarga la versión en pdf (2 capítulos)
Editorial Tenov

As the planet heats up and our resources stretch to accommodate a skyrocketing population, it has become clear that water will be a hotly contested commodity in the coming years – some are even calling it the “new oil”. Charles Paton has endeavored to meet this challenge with his Seawater Greenhouse which takes a low-cost, low-energy, carbon-neutral approach to desalination. Recently he’s been working with Eden Project and Grimshaw Architects to create a gorgeous sweeping Teatro Del Agua. The design will incorporate Paton’s remarkable desalination method with a publicly accessible venue for the performing arts, once again focusing our societies around the common element that sustains them.

The Teatro del Agua works by coupling “a series of evaporators and condensers such that the airborne moisture from the evaporators is then collected from the condensers, which are cooled by deep seawater.” The sweeping structure will incorporate solar panels to provide heat for the evaporators and will operate almost entirely on renewable energy.

The Teatro del Agua is planned to be but in Spain’s Canary Islands. We’ve covered culturally focused desalination plants in the past, and we’d love to see more innovative ideas such as these begin to precipitate around the world.

+ Seawater Greenhouse
+ Grimshaw Architects

Via Inhabitat, cleantechnica.com

This weekend, I attended the NEN’s Clean and Green Summit which included a wonderful green walking tour of San Francisco’s Mission district. We strolled by beautiful gardens and saw some great community initiatives, but the highlight by far was a showing of Sunset Magazine’s sustainable gem, Casa Verde. We’ve covered the zero energy super-home in the past, but here’s a first-hand look at its stunning fusion of fine modern design with an exceptional set of sustainable features.

Situated a block away from Garfield Park, Casa Verde contributes a shining example of green architecture to San Francisco’s vibrant Mission neighborhood. Designed by John Lum Architecture and constructed by Meridian Builders and Developers, the infill is an exceptional renovation of an existing structure that showcases the state of the art in sustainable design.

Upon entering the foyer of Casa Verde we were greeted by the house’s patio and spa, which lead into the building’s beautiful courtyard via a sliding set of doors. Despite the brisk weather and the foyer’s open air construction, the interior was pleasantly toasty thanks to the building’s solar-thermal heating system and radiant floors.

The exterior walkways all feature permeable paving, a boon considering San Francisco’s temperamental rainy season and the Mission’s ancient state as a marshland. The courtyard is a peaceful place, silent save for the trickle of its fountain and the soft thrum of a wind turbine – a rarity in inner city spaces.

It’s one of the few turbines that been cleared for construction in San Francisco as part of provisional study to test the efficiency of wind-power in the bay area. The turbine generates from 1.6 to 1.9 KW of electricity which is boosted by 5KW from a set of solar panels to provide for all of the 3,700 sq foot home’s energy needs. Should windspeeds increase above 60mph the turbine will lock up to prevent a breakdown, and our guide, Chris, allayed our avian fears, stating that not a single bird injury has happened since construction was finished last Fall.

Casa Verde’s vibrant interior softens its industrial metal and glass construction with eye-catching pops of color and texture. Moving on to the living areas we climbed a beautiful set of staircases with lucid glass slats that glow with light filtering down from above. All of the building’s wood floors and surfaces are FSC certified or reclaimed, and the builders took great care to recycle 90% of construction waste.

As we reached the top story we looked up and saw a stunning Ether chandelier hanging above the third floor staircase. Its beautiful hand-blown glass baubles are illuminated from the top to create a shimmering halo effect, conjuring up images of sun-laden dewdrops or fireflies in jars.

Casa Verde’s crowning story features an open floor plan suffused with light thanks to the great glass windows that surround it. An elegant Noguchi table lies nestled between two white Barcelona chairs, testament to the timeless chic of all things mid-century modern. Slick surfaces and warm wood-grain finishes are accented by dynamic rough-hewn artworks composed from single sheets of metal that have been cut into spiraling shapes and extruded outward. All of the home’s appliances are Energy Star certified, and a planter sparkling with bits of reclaimed glass sits atop a counter recycled from the same material. A green roof with a rainwater recycling system tops off the sustainable citadel.

As we walked away I couldn’t help but notice the “For Sale” sign staked out in front. I somehow neglected to ask for an estimate.

+ Casa Verde Idea House

Via Inhabitat

Photos by Mike Chino