Sustainable Design Update

Green Engineering

I just received a link to a great post at a blog for online engineering degrees.  Don’t let the focus of the blog put you off, this is a great source of green tech info.

From the intro:

The Engineering A Better World Blog is about applying the general principles of engineering; testing, method, research, creativity, and artistry, to our world in a very practical way. By highlighting the creative work of others and by presenting new ideas, we’ll attempt to improve the world around us in our little way. Practically speaking, we’ll cover new ideas, highlight people who are making a difference, and provide resources to inspire you and give you the resources to assist you in changing the world for the better as well.

A Sample of Green Engineering Blogs:

1.  Green Engineering Blog at Design News : Design News editor-in-chief John Dodge weighs in on how engineering and technology can incorporate environmentally-friendly elements into as many projects as possible. Many of the other blogs on the site feature similar valuable content as well.

2. Environmental Engineering Diary : Environmental engineer Arie Dipareza Syafei covers numerous aspects of his chosen field, serving as both a primer and introduction for newcomers and a sounding board for professionals. Many posts concern his graduate research into membranes.

3. Environmental Engineering Blog : This multidisciplinary blog relates environmental issues and green initiatives back to engineering and technology, and posts touch upon a wide variety of related subjects. Politics, law, geology, and real estate all determine how environmental engineers develop products for a healthier planet.

4. Environmental Engineering at Suffolk : Students and staff at Suffolk University discuss their personal projects as well as environmental engineering trends and topics from around the world. Most posts, however, understandably tend to focus on Massachusetts.

It looks like the Engineering a Better World Blog may become a new source for good information on green tech, if it can become independent from the online University blog …

More at:  50 Must-Read Green Engineering Blog

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Edible Schoolyard

The Edible Schoolyard in NewYork and Alice Waters’ Chez Panisse Foundation, are designing a new schoolyard for Public School 216 in New York that aims to educate school children about food, where it comes from and what real fresh foods taste like.   The Edible Schoolyard is designed to produce energy, collect rainwater, process compost and recycle.

The school features a kitchen classroom (anyone remember Home Economics?) and a  greenhouse where children learn about ecology. The children at PS 216 learn to take care of plants and to become stewards of their environment.

More Information:  Arch Daily

Valcucine Green Wall

When I was a young Architect I remember asking a senior partner in the large firm where I worked how he was going to integrate his design into the landscape.  His response was “When I am done designing I’ll send it over to (name brand landscape firm) and they will stick some growies on it”.  While he was kidding me, that expression embodied more than a little truth about how Architects, Engineers and Landscape Architects worked together back before integrated green design became popular.

I think the “green wall” by Valcucine shown above is a  tongue-in-cheek commentary on green design.  If they were serious they would have used something other than the WalMart pots for the plants.

More at: Valcucine

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Hof House – Studio Granda Architects

The cold weather here in Ann Arbor reminded me of one of my favorite buildings of 2009.  Just south of the Arctic Circle, the Hof House both blends with and contrasts the local environment. Studio Granda Architects designed the house with salvaged materials wherever possible, carving telegraph poles into a sun screen and using local basalt for stepping stones. Designed for extreme local weather conditions (Skagafjörður Fjord), the Hof House utilizes passive solar design strategies for the half year when the sun shines.  It also uses geothermal heating and high insulation levels.

The exterior finish is cedar attached to concrete structural walls. and like Frank Lloyd Wright buildings it is intended to weather to a natural grey.  While the overall aesthetic doesn’t look it, the Hof House has repeating irregular hexagonal shapes.

Geothermal heating warms stone floors and provides heat and hydro power provides electricity throughout the house.

Studio Granada’s Hof House won the Mies van der Rohe Award for 2009.

Check Out:   Studio Granda Architects

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