Small Firms, Great Projects
On View January 13 – February 18, 2011

Celebrating exceptional Bay Area architecture, this exhibition showcases the innovative and award-winning work of local architecture and design professionals, including the work of 450 Architects. Whether you are looking for an architect, or simply passionate about architecture, Small Firms, Great Projects is an invaluable resource. The exhibition introduces viewers to architecture and design firms experienced in a wide range of work, including new residences and remodels, commercial and retail spaces, educational, civic, institutional and religious projects, historic preservation, and landscape and interior design.

Link

This short film gives you a quick intro to the various ways we can make power. Built by Quantum Builders, 450 Architects designed the Sausalito Home, which features a rainwater harvest system, and is featured here in the video below and in the AIA Marin Home Tour of 2010.

Read more info here.

Where does Your energy come from?

Caroline Bos of UN Studio
Deep Planning: Relational Models for the Sustainable City (1.0 LU)
November 17, 6:00 pm
AIA San Francisco
130 Sutter Street, Suite 600
$10 AIA Members | $15 General Admission | $5 Students
Register at http://carolinebos.eventbrite.com

Caroline Bos, Cofounder of UN Studio, an Amsterdam-based architecture firm known for its collaborative approach to design, will discuss the studio’s Deep Planning methodology and illustrate how it is incorporated into some of its projects which include the Arnhem Central Masterplan in the Netherlands and the IFCCA Urban Study for 23rd to 42nd Street in New York City.

Implemented since the 1990s, this approach requires the extended overview of the network to detect correspondences and overlaps between the locations, parties and programmes involved. Generating a situation-specific, dynamic, organisational structure plan with the aid of parameter-based techniques, the in-depth, interactive nature of the Deep Plan incorporates economics, infrastructure, programme and construction in time. As a result, relations, instead of the optimisation of individual data form the parameters of the project, generating potentials that no single, individual interest could have engendered.

Founded in 1998 by Ben van Berkel and Caroline Bos, UNStudio presents itself as a network of specialists in architecture, urban development and infrastructure. Current projects are the restructuring of the station area of Arnhem, a shopping mall renovation in Kaohsiung, a masterplan for Basauri, a music theatre for Graz and the design and restructuring of the Harbor Ponte Parodi in Genoa. UNStudio has realized amongst others the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart, a façade and interior renovation for the Galleria Department store in Seoul and a private villa in up-state New York.

Source: http://www.aiasf.org/calendar.htm

This November 5-7, the 5th Annual North American Passive House Conference will be held at the Portland Hilton in the terrific city of Portland, OR.

With energy efficiency, health, comfort, affordability and climate change emerging as watchwords in the new construction economy, building professionals around the US and Canada are gravitating to the Passive House Standard. Moving beyond “guess-timation” and prescriptive rules of thumb, appreciating the rigorous and clearly defined energy metric, many are pursuing study and implementation of the science of Passive House construction. They’re learning its building science and technical specifics, applying its innovations, calculating its energy balances, analyzing its economics, designing and implementing its solutions.

At the end of 2008, there were 15 Certified Passive House Consultants in the US; by the end of 2010 there will be over 300. Projects have been completed in a variety of climate zones around the continent, and the community of Passive House professionals, instructors, students, manufacturers and homeowners is beginning to flourish and develop traction.

Like seed crystals, built projects of high quality are attracting well-deserved attention and encouraging broader implementation of this coherent system of design and construction. The conference is to feature a number of those projects, both in presentation and on tour, to learn from the experiences of their planners, builders and residents.

This year’s conference features a few notable luminaries: Wolfgang Feist, founder and director of the Passivhaus Institut in Darmstadt, Germany. Amory Lovins, co-founder, chairman and chief scientist of the Rocky Mountain Institute. Both are physicists crucial to the development and advancement of building energy science. Jens Laustsen, Senior Policy Analyst, specializes in building energy for the International Energy Agency. Robert Hastings, architect and energy consultant, has led a host of international programs studying sustainable buildings.

PH Consultants and other longtime high-performance building professionals from across North America are designing and building a wide array of outstanding projects in an increasingly diverse range of climates and challenges. Their experiences, impressions, problems and solutions will also be crucial, as we develop our command of Passive House principals and our abilities to apply them in the US.

A variety of quality sessions will speak to everyone from newcomers to building professionals to energy policymakers. There are also numerous pre-conference opportunities, so watch the website. For those who have completed the PH Consultants Training Program, the certifying exam will be held on the afternoon of Wednesday, November 3rd. For Consultants and Consultants-in-Training looking to continue their development, there will be three workshops, each conducted by very talented PH professionals from the US and abroad.

Of course, the conference will hold an exhibit of Passive House-relevant, high-performance materials and products. Also, optionally available to participants, will be a Friday evening dinner and a Sunday tour of projects built in the Portland area.

450 Architects is proud to be part of the Passive House movement with half of our staff as Certified Passive House Consultants. See our explanation of Passive House here, and email us for more information at info@450architects.com, or call us at 415-546-0450. And, feel free to stop by! We are conveniently located in downtown San Francisco, at 450 Clementina St, easily accessible by foot, bike, BART, MUNI, or car.

Resources:
http://450architects.com/
http://passivehouse.us
http://450architects.com/blog/2010/09/27/passive-house-vt/
http://www.passivehouse.us/passiveHouse/PHIUSHome.html
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