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HOUSING TANGO
Eight vibrantly colored steel and glass towers dance around a landscaped courtyard, exposing most of the living rooms to the outdoors, with a wall of bedrooms wrapped around three sides of the block. Each of the 27 apartments has a unique character, the block is self-sufficient in energy, and many functions — from heating to door locks — can be individually controlled by personal computer. — Published 2007.0425
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SWEETWATER CREEK
Like many other buildings that receive the coveted Platinum-level LEED certification, the Sweetwater Creek State Park Visitors Center, near Lithia Springs, Georgia, features numerous energy conservation measures and has a roof full of photovoltaic cells to generate electricity. — Published 2007.0418
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MODULAR MODES
Modular houses are composed of one or more sections that are factory built, transported by truck, and set on a foundation. Modular houses may be made of two modules, as is the Sunset Breezehouse shown here, or they can be assembled from a kit of prefabricated parts. — Published 2007.0411
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SUSTAINABILITY CAD STRATEGIES
At the GreenBuild Conference in late 2006, Phil Bernstein, Autodesk vice president of Building Industry Strategy and Relations, announced that the software company would begin working with the U.S. Green Building Council to help architects and engineers more readily adapt their digital design processes to incorporate sustainability issues. — Published 2007.0328
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ENVIRONMENTAL CENTER IN GEORGIA
Architects designing educational centers for environmental organizations bear a special responsibility to make their medium part of the message. The new Gwinnett Environmental & Heritage Center (GEHC) in Buford, Georgia, designed by Lord, Aeck & Sargent, is a lesson in itself about energy and water conservation. — Published 2007.0228
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ESSEX STREET HOUSE
Australian architect Andrew Maynard is bursting with theories. He develops concepts such as "malleable space" into architectural "products" such as a mobile bedroom unit, with the ultimate goal being to transform it into architecture. The process sounds simple enough, but Maynard is the first to acknowledge that such conversions are rarely smooth. "Reality is always getting our floaty idealized concepts dirty, and that is half of the fun." — Published 2007.0221
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CHALLENGING URBANISM
How should the rapid changes in 21st-century society influence the methods of urban planners? How can planners promote sustainable development in light of population shifts from traditional city centers?
To answer such questions, the French research organization Sustainable Urban Development (PIDUD) started the new year with a binational event. The French-German colloquium "Cities and the Various Time Scales of Sustainable Development" took place in January 2007. — Published 2007.0214
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BUILDING POTENTIAL
In the rolling hills just east of Austin, Texas, a small compound of experimental buildings makes up the Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems (CMPBS). Here, Pliny Fisk III, his partner Gail Vittori, and a cadre of researchers and interns explore the depths of sustainable building. — Published 2007.0131
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UNSUSTAINABLE
"Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." This definition was written 20 years ago in the Brundtland Report, commissioned by the United Nations. Since then, the goal of sustainable urban development has been embraced, in theory, by many officials and design professionals all over the world. But examples of meeting today's needs seem limited to the more prosperous segments of society. Living conditions today in the slums of many of the world's largest cities are appalling, and not improving. — Editor — Published 2007.0117
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CULTURAL INITIATIVE
Architectural education often cloisters students in an internally focused world of individualized design — encouraging Wright-like bravado or Gehry-esque showmanship. The work of educator Sergio Palleroni challenges this instructional paradigm, and the profession as a whole, to confront a larger global reality and to creatively tackle problems of growing poverty, increasing population, and shrinking resources. — Published 2007.0103
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