With the plummeting economy, diminishing environment, and decreasing amount of land available for development, sustainable architecture has become a growing need that has drawn the attention of scientists, researchers, engineers, land owners and naturally, architects.  Last week, engineering school Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and architectural firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill announced a partnership dedicated to advancing the relationship between buildings and land: Center for Architecture Science and Ecology, or CASE.

Comprised of scientists, engineers, and architects from the professional and academic world, CASE has been focusing on ideas such as a rooftop’s ability to harness wind power, the cooling properties of various wall materials, a window’s ability to store sunlight so that it can be transferred into energy the building can use elsewhere, and “eco-chimneys” that could help purify the surrounding air.  According to the New York Times, “The idea is to tap and cultivate the talents of a new generation of architects, thinkers, and planners and turn out sustainable and energy-efficient solutions to today’s environmental challenges in the global building sector, which accounts for more than one third of energy consumption and nearly 40 percent of carbon production.

Not only do buildings count for a third of the world’s energy consumption, but also as the pace of building development increases exponentially, “acceleration in the pace of architectural innovation and the implementation of sustainable material and energy technology becomes ever more urgent,” according to CASE’s website.

Housed at Skidmore’s Manhattan office, where 24 students and six faculty members are in residence, the program was officially announced last week at a reception held on the rooftop of 7 World Trade Center even though it has been operating for a year.

RPI President Shirley Ann Jackson says, “Tackling the global challenges of sustainability and energy security requires a commitment to innovation, to inquiry, and to cross-disciplinary collaboration.  Through the development of innovative systems and materials that will shift building performance toward sustainable and energy self-sufficient models, researchers at the Center for Architecture Science and Ecology will demonstrate to the world the power that lies at the nexus of art, design, science, and technology. Two leaders with long histories of innovation in their fields — Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill — will work together to create ecologically sustainable design through cutting-edge technological experimentation and architectural work.”

For an in-depth look at CASE’s latest projects like “Next Generation High-Efficiency Solar Power Systems for Building Envelopes” and “Advanced EcoCeramic Structural Systems,” go to their site.  Be warned - you might not be able to understand the technical jargon, but at least you’ll get to see some fantastic photos of their work.

Systems research at CASE is currently supported by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the New York State Foundation for Science, Technology and Innovation (NYSTAR).

Contacts:

Elizabeth Kubany, SOM
(212) 298-9516
elizabeth.kubany@som.com

Amber Cleveland, Rensselaer
(518) 276-2146
clevea@rpi.edu