New Architect Of The Day Luis Barragan

 By now you've probably figured out that our Architect Of The Day really isn't posted daily, it's kind of just a figure of speech, or at least as we all to happily confess to, a bit of shameless attempt to get people to visit our website. Nonetheless, we are posting architects and referencing them for design inspiration when we find them. Luis Barragan is our architect for today.

Inspired Design Frank Lloyd Wright Weltzheimer House

 Going through our architectural history looking for homes that we feel might inspire us in some way. Residential property design that blends the natural environment and at the same provides the possibility for architectural solar. First place we're going to look is Frank Lloyd Wright, a master of natural design and simplicity. The Weltzheimer House was originally built in, completed, in 1949. It is, in our opinion one of the great examples of Wrights Usonian homes. The project has long roofs, visually supported mostly by windows and doors. It's light, it's airy and the roof would make for perfect solar without  diminishing the overall appeal of the building. 

Color And Geometry The Museum At Prairiefire

One of our all time favorite museums, the Museum at Prairiefire in Kansas, it's a kids museum, although good for everyone, natural history museum. Super fun. For us though, good design inspiration, geometries and color, blends beautifully in to the surrounding landscape. This is something worth bookmarking.

Photo Credit Flickr Laura Gilchrist

Architect Of The Day Kengo Kuma

In the first follow up to our inaugural architect of the day Zaha Hadid, we're highlighting Kengo Kuma. Kuma is a Japanese architect who has been practicing at his namesake firm for the better part of 30 years. His primary focus has been on recovery of traditional Japanese architecture, albeit with something of modernist flare. There's an excellent critical analysis of his theories and practice of architecture that is well worth reading - NY Times.

For our purposes we're interested in his use of wood construction, panels, latices and other shape and form work. A couple projects in particular, his Sunny Hills project, the Asakusa Culture Tourism Center and the Nagasaki Museum. 

Energy Sage Solar Community Calculator

 First of all, love Energy Sage, they have been around for quite some time, tend to be very well informed, easy to read and educational. So, kudos to them, if you're curious about solar and other environmentally friendly energy ideas, then you should definitely checkout their site. 

On a recent visit we stumbled across their Solar Community Calculator, which asks you to enter your address, the type of solar PV system you would be installing (Commercial, residential, etc) and your basic electric bill info. They then use Google Project Sunroof to calculate your potential energy savings and preformance for your property. Actually a pretty good estimator, we did not cross check it against other online resources, but off hand looked pretty accurate. Interested in solar, need to do more research, it's a good tool, check it out.

High Design And Sustainable Architecture Go Hand In Hand

 Increasingly, climate change is a topic on people's minds. Over the past decade, the concern has manifested itself in everything from all-electric vehicles to solar-powered air travel. Eco-friendly living has even seeped into some of the largest man-made projects in the world: skyscrapers. Many might assume that green architecture can only be achieved at the expense of high design—but that is not the case. From the heart of midtown Manhattan and the Rick Cook–crafted Bank of America Tower to the verdant WOHA-designed Oasia Hotel in downtown Singapore, AD rounds up nine of the most sustainable skyscrapers on the planet that turn eco-friendly measures into beautiful design.

For The Full Article at Architectural Digest

Our Inaugural Architect Of The Day Zaha Hadid

 There is so much shameless cliche and obvious clickbait going on with this title, and honestly not going to be apologetic about it. We're kicking of a whole series of planned posts that will highlight an architect, or designer that we're really impressed with and whose work we feel might be able to contribute some inspiration towards our goals of designing artistically inspired solar PV constructs. 

Our first architect is Zaha Hadid, yep, she's super popular right now and for good reason, she was an incredibly talented architect, designer and artist. Known as The Queen Of The Curve, her buildings are pretty recognizable even to those who might only have a passing understanding or recognition of her work. While "The Curve" is the antithesis of the boxy rectangle of solar panels, those curves and how they support structures might provide some interesting insight, in particular Hadid had a pretty awesome table we love, the Mesa Table.