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- Winners of the Architecture at Zero Competition announced!
The AIA-SF and PG&E have recently announced the four winning entries and the jury recognition selection of the ARCHITECTURE AT ZERO competition. ARCHITECTURE AT ZERO challenged participants to design a mixed-use building or series of buildings for an industrial urban infill site in Emeryville, California. The complex had to include housing, retail space and a new public library branch and achieve site zero net energy, consuming less energy than the amount generated on-site over the course of a year.
The four winners include Jihyoon Yoon, a student at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with the project “Phototactic – Ville”; Curtis Ryan, Sara Maas, Kyle Blomquist and Megan Gelazus of the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee with their entry “Ripple Effect”; Tom Tang and Yijie Dang of New York City with their design entitled “Chimera”; and finally, Chris Parlette of Berkeley, California with his project “Towards Net Zero Energy.”
The “Phototactic - Ville” consists of a neighborhood complete with a library, atria, running track, community gardens, wetlands, a green corridor and ample parking, and is powered by solar energy. The design also includes a sophisticated stormwater runoff system and maximizes the infiltration of natural light into the buildings for natural illumination.
“Ripple Effect” is a housing community with two parallel structures and zero net energy, thanks to a rooftop photovoltaic system whose energy production exceeds the demand of the site. Rainfall will be collected on site and stored in cisterns for re-use in toilet flushing and washing laundry, accounting for approximately one-third of the water required.
“Chimera” is a primarily residential community composed of three buildings, each with their own unique way of generating renewable energy which is then shared between them. These energy sources include photovoltaic panels, wind turbines, solar hot water and a hydro-electric heat pump. Energy savings are guaranteed by envelope insulation and solar shading.
“Towards Net Zero Energy” is an urban infill project for a neighborhood centered around a mixed community center and library, also including housing, commercial spaces and bike paths and storage, promoting green mobility. Roof-mounted photovoltaic panels as well as wind turbines located at the edge of the site produce clean energy to meet the requirements of the development, and high-efficiency LED lighting is implemented throughout.
The jury also recognized the project “Battery Park: from Zero to Positive” by HOK in San Francisco, California for its admirable endeavor of applying the concept of net zero energy to existing communities and buildings.
