House of the Rising Sun

Update: Virginia Tech's Lumenhaus recieved the first place award at the European Solar Decathlon in Madrid!

The Lumenhaus, a joint venture between the Virginia Tech departments of Architecture, Building Construction, Engineering, and Computer Science, departed last week for an overseas trip to Madrid for the international Solar Decathlon Competition. The house combines passive heating and cooling with cutting edge technologies such as solar photovoltaics and geothermal heat transfer to create a net-zero residence that can be controlled remotely via i-phone and could be replicated on a commercial production line. One of the coolest parts of the house is its ability to connect to a gooseneck trailer hitch and become a mobile home. The international competition serves to act as a catalyst for technology transfer, and should be an amazing event. Look here (solardecathlon.gov) for more information on the Solar Decathlon and here (http://lumenhaus.com/) for more information on Virginia Tech's entry.
Here are some pictures of the house to whet your appetite...

Monumental Project: The Metrosol Parasol

My second post on interesting construction from the Iberian Penninsula  is  highlighted by a close look at one of the more innovative projects under construction in the world today - the Metrosol Parasol in Seville. Our group was fortunate to be invited on a tour of this incredible project by Arup, the general contractor on the job. The design for the project was done by J. Mayer H. Architects, know for their funky designs and cutting edge materials, and is supposed to represent a sort of organic tree canopy over what used to be a car park which is now being transformed into a public park.

Who Says Parking Can't be (kinda) Cool?

As part of its plan to expand graduate research facilities and living quarters on campus, Virginia Tech has identified the need for compact, infill development and therefore the necessity of several new stacked parking structures. To minimize cost and the disruption caused by taking a whole parking lot out of service, the University has opted for a design/build project delivery method for the first of the new parking structures to be constructed. This delivery method will be combined with precast concrete panel construction to improve the speed and productivity of the construction crews on site. The project will be completed in a little under 1 year, and will add hundreds of new spaces to the existing parking stock on campus. The following are some photos of the ongoing construction:

Construction Observations from the Iberian Penninsula

This winter break I had the wonderful opportunity to travel to Spain and Portugal with the School of Building Construction at Virginia Tech to study architecture, urban planning, renewable energy, and culture. As the observations made abroad could fill a hundred blog entries, I am going to dedicate this entry to a few specific construction practices observed while traveling the Iberian Penninsula. The topics covered in this section include historic preservation, adaptive reuse and renewable energy systems. These topics represent the most commonly observed differences in construction practice between Spain/Portugal and America; this entry hopefully will shed some light on these differences for those not able to make the trek themselves.

Downtown Roanoke Development Part I - November, 2009

Many cities around the country have undergone a renaissance of downtown living, entertainment and recreation in the past decade. The rising costs of commuting and peripheral living combined with an increased focus on making downtown areas safe and desireable has begun to reverse the trend of the "edge city" and shift the national momentum back towards downtown living. Census data shows, for the first time in decades, an upward trend in population growth in urban areas compared to the suburbs. The positive externalities associated with this growth are various, but can be generally agreed upon as good. For example, living in more dense, walkable neighborhoods reduces vehicle miles traveled to and from work etc., increases health and wellbeing, and allows a social fabric to develop among people that otherwise might not have met. These issues all have their detractors, but it is this author's opinion that good planning and proper policy can make downtown areas extremely enjoyable places to live, work and play.

As a place near and dear to my heart, I have decided to document some projects in Roanoke, Virginia to illustrate what I mean by a "downtown renaissance". I recently toured the downtown Roanoke area to compile a photo-documentary of recent development that is transforming the personality of the urban core. As there are currently too many exciting projects in downtown Roanoke to write about here, I will set several qualifications for a project to make this particular entry.

* The project must be in downtown Roanoke or an associated neighborhood.
* The project must be funded primarily with private investment.
* The project must represent a radical change from the building/place's previous use.
* The project must contribute in a meaningful way to Roanoke's sense of place.

The following photos provide a taste of what is happening and its potential implications to the downtown urban fabric.

Blacksburg Motor Co. Tour

Today I was able to attend a site tour of the Blacksburg Motor Company, a former car dealership and filling station in downtown Blacksburg, Virginia that has just undergone a complete renovation and earned a Platinum certification under the LEED rating system administered by the United States Green Building Council. Design for the facility was undertaken by Spectrum design in Roanoke and construction by Breakell Incorporated, with project financing coming from the Town of Blacksburg. The project presented a unique opportunity for the three stakeholders to collaborate on a project, and the Town of Blacksburg was particularly supportive of the effort to bring a marquee green project into its building portfolio. As a former heavy brownfield site, the Blacksburg Motor Company renovation posed unique challenges that pressed the creative potential of the project team. Following are some photos snapped during the tour and accompanying explanation of particularly interesting features of the project.

Monitoring Energy Production and Consumption

As holistic building design advances and greater emphasis is placed on energy efficiency, new technologies are being developed to assist in whole-building energy monitoring.These programs enable a facilitie's owner to effectively sub-meter each energy-consuming device in a building and even control these devices from the network. One such software application is Tridum by Niagra Framework. According to the manufacturer, it is a "is a software platform that integrates diverse systems and devices regardless of manufacturer, or communication protocol into a unified platform that can be easily managed and controlled in real time over the Internet using a standard web browser. By integrating today's diverse building systems such as environmental controls, security, lighting, energy, video, fire and life safety, Niagara is creating better buildings---ones that are smarter, use less energy, are more efficient, have lower operating costs, are safer and contribute to a sustainable environment." That's a lot of applications!