Interior Design Sense

The Los Angeles skyline is changing, and its going for gold – LEED Gold, that is. Opening next week, the Gensler designed Ritz-Carlton Hotel & Residences and JW Mariott at the L.A. LIVE development mark the first time LA has strived to reach such heights in more than two decades. Sitting nearly adjacent to the Staples Center, the hotel is a standout within the new LA LIVE entertainment and residential muti-plex and is hard to miss from the intersection of the I-110 and I-10 freeways. Towering high above it surroundings, Gensler hopes the addition will be a symbol of urban renewal for the area. It’s safe to say that traffic in and out of downtown might get a little more congested as passersby take in the view, but at least Los Angeles Convention Center goers will now have another option to stay at within a walkable distance.

+ Gensler
+ LA LIVE
+ JW Marriott
+ Ritz Calrton

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Post tags: eco design, Gensler, green architecture, green design, la live, Los Angeles, marriot, ritz carlton

Often times standing around in even the most modern and sleek subway stations can be an utter drag. But imagine the surprise if your local platform suddenly sprouted a vast green meadow! Not too long ago Auckland New Zealand’s Britomart Station received a grassy green makeover that transformed 1,250 square meters of its cold hard concrete into a plush green field.

Read the rest of New Zealand Train Station Transformed Into Green Meadow

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Post tags: Auckland, britomart station, eco-art, green design, green meadow, Landscape Architecture, meadow fresh, New Zealand, new zealand train station, public spaces, sustainable design, train station, train station as green meadow, Urban design, urban garden

Fabulous prefab design just became more accessible as LivingHomes has announced that homes by award-winning architect Ray Kappe will be available at lower cost on a national scale. The six Kappe designs now available nationwide come chock-full of all the green features that LivingHomes are known for, delivering high quality design in a sustainable package.

Read the rest of LivingHomes Announces National Availability of Ray Kappe’s Green Prefabs

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Post tags: Contemporary Design, green architecture, leed silver, livinghomes, Ray Kappe, Steve Glenn, Sustainable Building, sustainable design, Sustainable Homes

Recently the Bessie Carmichael School in the South of Market (SOMA) area of San Francisco received a grant from software manufacturer Adobe Systems, in conjunction with the US Green Building Council (USGBC) to green its campus, and the results uncover an inspiring renovation to a tight urban site. The original challenge in 2007 was to convert the school’s existing 60-child preschool into a 230 student K-8 school for the Filipino Community. The site had been maintained as a school facility predating the 1906 earthquake and was in serious need of repairs when the San Francisco Unified School District hired Plum Architects to redefine the school structure.

Read the rest of Bessie Carmichael School Awarded Grant for LEED Certification

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Post tags: Bessie Carmichael school playground, green architecture, green design, green school, San Francisco, soma, sustainable design

The Goethe-Institut New York presents What Is Green Architecture?, a series of conversations, lectures, and events exploring the cutting-edge developments in the field and their impact on contemporary life as well as implications for the future. The series continues with a talk by noted architect Prof. Manfred Hegger, followed by a discussion moderated by Matthias Hollwich.

Manfred Hegger, the recipient of numerous national and international awards, is a professor at the Technical University Darmstadt, Energy Efficient Building Design Unit, and is a founding member/CEO of HHS Planer + Architekten AG in Kassel. He is a member of the Bund Deutscher Achitekten (the German Architects Foundation), the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Nachhaltiges Bauen (the German Society for Sustainable Construction), among others, and was the director of the UIA International Work Program for Sustainable Architecture of the Future from 1999-2008. He will also be a featured speaker at the 1st German-American Energy Efficiency Conference on April 28.

Moderator Matthias Hollwich is the cofounder of HollwichKushner, LLC, and has worked in several internationally acclaimed architectural firms and urban design studios. He is currently visiting professor at the University of Pennsylvania, and is co-editor along with Rainer Weissbach of the book Bauhaus: UmBauhaus – Updating Modernism.

The event will take place April 30 at the Goethe-Institut New York Wyoming Building, New York. Free admission.

Though New York City’s real estate climate is anything but sunny, this year, the Lower East Side Girls Club (in partnership with the Dermot Company, a high-profile local developer) will break ground on a new 30,000–square foot, mixed-use arts and community center on the corner of 7th Street and Avenue D. It will be the first and only Girls Club facility in NYC (when boys and girls clubs nationwide joined in 1986, the Boys Club of New York, operating on the LES, opted out of the merger, leaving the neighborhood’s girls to develop their own organization). Now, says the Girls Club’s web site, “this sustainably built, ‘green,’ state-of-the-art capital project will enable us to triple our program capacity.”

Read the rest of An Urban Paradise for the Lower East Side Girls Club

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Post tags: Architecture, city architecture, green architecture, Green Building, leed gold building, lower east side girls club, mixed use building, sustainable architeture, Sustainable Building, urban architecture, youth educational programming

New York City’s urban grid is dense, so when new developments pop up, we root for intelligent and environmentally-positive design that balances out the concrete with a little bit of greenery. Architect Enrique Norten and his NYC-based firm, TEN ARQUITECTOS, are in the midst of building a mixed-use high-rise in Hell’s Kitchen called Clinton Park, which will provide some much-needed green space to concrete jungle on the west side. The unusual stepped roof and S-shaped design reminds us a bit of terraced farming — an age-old agricultural method — and provides ample space for budding urban gardeners to sow their seeds. When you consider the stepped terrace with the contemporary look-and-feel of the building’s facade, we know this green and attractive addition to the urban grid is sure to please future residents.

Read the rest of Ten Arquitectos NYC Tower Has Stepped Green-Roof!

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Post tags: “sustainable architecture”, clinton west new york city development, eco architecture new yrok city, green architecture, green roof, mixed use architecture, mixed use building, new york city architecture, reen design, rooftop garden, Sustainable Building, sustainable design, terrace garden, Urban design

New York-based architects Perkins Eastman sent us their new project, 303 East 33rd Street, the first green development in the Murray Hill neighborhood of Manhattan. It’s a 12-story, 165,00 sf building.

More images and the architect’s proposal, after the break.

Developed by Toll Brothers, Inc. and The Kibel Companies; 303 East 33rd Street is the first green development in the Murray Hill neighborhood of Manhattan. Designed by top ranked green architecture and design firm Perkins Eastman, the LEED Certified development is a fresh interpretation of the full- and half-block residential complexes built during the last century, and reflects the mix of architectural diversity in the area.

303 East 33rd Street brings a modern vernacular to the area and raises greater awareness of sustainable design and smart living. The 165,000 sf, 12-story development is defined as a series of single attached buildings facing the street alternating in height. A highly energy efficient envelope -exceeding the thermal requirements of New York City code-comprising brick piers, terraces, balconies, and large expanses of glass fracture the architectural repetition, heightening the concept of an ensemble of buildings rather than a single development.

The interior of the building comprises 128 studio, one-, two-, and three-bedroom homes in a variety of layouts as well as a three-bedroom, four-bathroom triplex penthouse. Additional amenities include a fully-equipped fitness center, media lounge with pool table, a children’s playroom, and full-service concierge.

Using rapidly renewable materials and low-VOC finishes, Perkins Eastman created a contemporary interior space that engages the residents to participate in a more sustainable lifestyle. Each unit is equipped with electrical sub-meters allowing the tenants to monitor their electrical use and manage their personal consumption. To discourage automobile use, the development purposely omitted a parking garage from the design and instead chose to offer parking discounts in an adjacent venue for hybrid vehicles.

A landscaped roof-top, with a total of 1,700 sf of outdoor space, takes advantage of distinctive urban views. The roof-top design limits the use of potable water for landscaping, employing a variety of indigenous, drought tolerant plants to create an outdoor oasis for the residents.

This stunning home in Kirkland, Wash. is one in a series of prefabricated homes called PLACE Houses designed by architect Heather Johnston. The home’s diverse use of sustainably-sourced materials and low-impact energy harvesting — in addition to its fresh, contemporary look — won the series a spot as one of the Top 6 Prefab Designs in the April 2006 issue of Wallpaper magazine. Built with SIP panels, this 2,800 square-foot model home was constructed on-site and has almost every green amenity you can imagine. This PLACE House has the look of a custom-built home, but can be ordered and built as though it were part of a “ready-to-wear” line — making for an easy, streamlined package.

Read the rest of PREFAB FRIDAY: PLACE Houses

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Post tags: contemporary design green, green architecture, Green Building, low impact housing, Prefab, prefab design, Sustainable Building, sustainable design