From 300 submissions, 28 designs were shortlisted for the sixth Land Art Generator Initiative design competition, hosted by Seattle-based nonprofit Land Art Generator (LGA). Challenged to create a large-scale installation capable of producing clean energy for Masdar City, Abu Dhabi, teams of landscape architects, engineers, artists, and designers conceptualized innovative, often whimsical, installations that would create "a clean energy landscape for a post-carbon world," according to the organization. Shortlisted proposals include Istanbul-based firm Superspace's SolarCloud, which features a field of solar power–harvesting balloons. "The results of this year’s challenge have risen beyond our expectations and clearly point us in a positive direction toward a sustainable future," said LGA directors Elizabeth Monoian and Robert Ferry in a press release. "Rather than despair about the havoc that human activity has already wrought on our planet, we can instead unite behind the manifestation of beautiful ideas such as these that reflect an emerging human culture of environmental stewardship." Winners will be announced in September. [LGA]
Like a tree canopy twinkling with metallic leaves, the underside of Goede Doelen Loterijen's (GDL) skylight-studded roof features 6,840 polished-aluminum and folded ceiling tiles designed to send dapples of daylight across the surfaces below. Supported by six branching, tree-like steel columns, the 43,270-square-foot roof covers the 85,000-square-foot building and entrance plaza, unifies the GDL’s staff members, and broadcasts the organization’s social and environmental mission to the Zuidas neighborhood of the Netherlands. [ARCHITECT]
The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) published its first Living Standard Action Toolkit to help members and practitioners share ideas from USGBC's Standard Issue report to the public. Released earlier this year, the Standard Issue report details public opinion on sustainability, green buildings, and the environment. With the tool kit, USGBC aims to offer "ways to better spread the message that everyone on this planet deserves a safe and healthy place to call home, ideas for framing the issue and starting conversations, tangible steps you can take right now to make a difference, and words and images that resonate (and don’t resonate) with people." [USGBC]
Construction technology company Katerra's cross-laminated timber (CLT) products have successfully passed testing for first use, a significant step as the company moves forward in establishing 270,000 square-foot CLT manufacturing facility in Spokane Valley, Wash. The company will initially sell five-layer and three-layer panels for flooring, and has plans to expand its offerings to include seven-layer and nine-layer panels. The Catalyst Building in Spokane, Wash., is slated to be the first project to use Katerra's CTL panels with an initial shipment of 500 units scheduled for this month. [Katerra]
2019 R+D Awards: New Orleans–based Trahan Architects transformed Atlanta's historic Alliance Theatre into an interactive destination made possible through performative millwork; the project is one of eight winners in our 13th annual R+D Awards. [ARCHITECT]
