Eye-pod Honors December 28, 2006

The Minnesota chapter of the American Institute of Architects recognized the Eye-pod with an Honor Award at their annual conference held in mid-November. The full list of winners is available here.

From the national AIA online publication AIArchitect: "All three jurors felt this project had excellent documentation throughout the space. It intelligently used common materials to elevate it to something very beautiful. There is a view from a camera device showing the surrounding landscape framed on an interior wall, using the technique Camera Obscura. One juror noted how the place where the building meets the ground was well mediated. Another juror wondered if this project was a play on an outdoor bathroom design."

View our award submission booklet.

 

Homes for All December 13, 2006

Our office was among the exhibitors at the Homes for All conference held December 7 in downtown St. Paul. A day-long conference focused on creating affordable housing and ending homelessness, Homes for All attracted service providers, designers, housing experts and funders from around the state.

Our exhibit was focused on sharing proven ideas for designing buildings to create high-quality, livable, and durable affordable housing. From selecting a site connected to services and transit to the details of good unit design, the presentation showed these design principles implemented in three separate projects from across the Twin Cities.

View the presentation
Visit the conference website

 

AIA Convention wrap-up December 06, 2006

Our state chapter of the American Institute of Architects held their annual convention in late November. Below are a few highlights from seminars and products from the exhibition hall.

Atomic Waste
Local roll-off dumpster service Atomic Waste has developed a process to recycle at least 50% of all construction waste they collect. They had a dandy of a video showing their employees carefully sorting all types of waste in their warehouse, but unfortunately, very little information on their website.

Green Urbanism
Michelle attended an eye-opening session on the differences between European policy on land use and the relative absence of policy on land development here in the Midwest.

A few resources:
One of those books with real paper pages:
Timothy Beatley, Green Urbanism, learning from European Cities.

Also worth checking out is the World Health Organization healthy cities initiative.

EPDM coating
White is the new black. While few issues are this simple, it is now possible to apply a white coating over any typical EPDM roof to decrease heat gain, and therefore reduce cooling loads. Be sure to click on the "visit our interactive sustainable headquarters" link to see a simple industrial building with a high-tech lid.

No-VOC paint remover
Available as a cleaner or a paint remover, this product can be used inside an occupied building to get that overbearing paint off of your subtle masonry (both brick and stone).