October 21, 2015
Time to Hire More Elves! This might not be a specifically architecture-related story, but it is about building. Some of the best kind of building, in fact. If you were looking forward to spending Christmas morning in your pajamas with your favorite five-year-old, building a pirate ship, the Death Star, the Guggenheim, or even just a simple tower out of plain white blocks, you might be out of luck. Word is out that LEGO production might fall short of demand this holiday shopping season. Meaning we might run out of LEGOs. What? Initially reported by Reuters, the good people over at Quartz are blaming it on the new Star Wars movie. (You know, that thing that got you to watch the first half of that atrocious New York Giants vs. Philadelphia Eagles game Monday night.) The Danish company is frantically trying to amp up production, but it might not be in time for Christmas. Bad news if you haven’t ordered that Endor kit you’ve been eyeing. Good news if you have an extra Millennium Falcon kit just sitting around that you can put on eBay. [Quartz]
The New Pollution French researchers (with their partners at Rice University in Houston) studying asthma patients in Paris found man-made carbon nanotubes as part of the detritus of the pollutants found in the victims lungs, suggesting that the creation of carbon nanotubes could be an unfortunate byproduct released into a car’s exhaust by its catalytic converter. The samples, with what look like artificial nanotubes, match samples from patients that the Rice researchers have found back home in Texas. There’s no suggestion as of yet that there might be a linkage between the presence of nanotubes in lung tissue and asthma, but previous studies have brought up the specter that nanotubes could act in a similar way on the body as asbestos, as a carcinogen. [Discovery]
riza3architects
Green Power The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recognized the Pittsburgh organization for its efforts in accelerating the development of renewable energy, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and advancing public health. Phipps is one of several organization to receive the “Green Power Partner of the Year” award this year. The other winners include Apple, Microsoft, the National Hockey League, and Tucson Unified School District in Arizona. Last year, Phipps became the first institution to attain Well Platinum Pilot certification, the International Well Building Institute’s highest distinction, for its Center for Sustainable Landscapes. This year, the building received full Living Building Challenge (LBC) certification. The education, research, and administration building is part of a $23-million, multi-year expansion underway at Phipps to upgrade its facilities to emphasize more green and sustainable building practices. In April, Phipps debuted a sustainable modular classroom designed to LBC standards. [EPA]
Green Fellows The Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI)—which administers LEED project certifications and professional credentials for the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC)—yesterday named 35 individuals as Fellows in the USGBC’s LEED credentialing program. The individuals, who were nominated by their industry peers, are required to have at least 10 years of green-building experience and hold a LEED Accredited Professional credential from the GBCI with a specialty focus. They were selected based on their technical proficiency in applying LEED to their project work, for their efforts to educate and mentor colleagues around green-building issues, and for their general advocacy of sustainable construction. The new class of Fellows represents firms including Atelier Ten, Eskew+Dumez+Ripple, Payette, Perkins Eastman, and SmithGroup JJR. See the full list from the USGBC. [USGBC]
Joining Forces Callison and RTKL are now CallisonRTKL, a union that has been in the works since RTKL’s parent company, Arcadis, acquired Callison in October 2014. [ARCHITECT]
Home on the Range Established in 2009 by Erik Nelson, AIA, and Brian Caldwell, AIA, the latest in our Next Progressives series of emerging architecture firms to watch, Thinktank Design Group, is a collaborative partnership that mediates between architectural practice and real estate development. Based in Bozeman, Mont., Thinktank strategically employs its setting to establish geographical and cultural context for its work. The small office focuses the majority of its efforts on local design and development projects that range from residential work to civic and commercial projects such as the Lark hotel renovation shown above. [ARCHITECT]
Awards: Enter Now!
The 63rd annual Progressive Architecture Awards program is now accepting submissions. The winners of our annual program honoring unbuilt designs are published in the February issue. Regular deadline is on Oct. 30, with the late deadline (and extra $50 per entry) on Nov. 4. Enter now!
Nominate an individual or organization that is advancing the green building industry through the adoption of technologies for the inaugural BOLD (Building Optimizers, Leaders and Disruptors) Awards. The deadline is Oct. 28. Finalists will be notified on Nov. 11, and winners will be honored at Greenbuild in Washington, D.C.
The Graham Foundation’s Carter Manny Award recognizes doctoral students working on dissertation topics in architecture. Applications are available online now and due Nov. 15.
The Urban Land Institute is now accepting applications to compete in its student competition to design an urban planning and development scenario. Teams must apply by Dec. 7.
Bathroom products manufacturer Victoria + Albert is challenging designers to create a space that uses its products. Entry is free and submissions are due Dec. 20.
AIA|DC is accepting entries for the Sarah Booth Conroy Prize for Journalism and Architectural Criticism to reward excellent reporting of architecture and urbanism in Washington, D.C. The annual prize is $5,000. Deadline is Dec. 31.
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