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Not Just Green, “Souper”Green Architecture at A+D Museum

17 February 2011 3,259 views 10 Comments
The solar-panel covered "skin" building. Photo by Olga Khazan.

The solar-panel covered "skin" building. Photo by Olga Khazan.

It may not be easy being green, but it sure is cool-looking. A new exhibit at the Architecture + Design museum in mid-Wilshire explores just how innovative environmentally-integrated architecture can be with its “SouperGreen” exhibit, which opened last week and is on view through April 14th. The exhibit, a collaboration between five different architecture firms, focuses not only on environmentally-friendly “solutions” to man-made problems, it promotes using technology to live in symbiosis with the environment:
“Souper Green features five architectural propositions that explore the way that technology…can promote and enhance a far more constructive engagement between architecture and the environment. This “souped up” approach to green architecture is achieved by leveraging the expressive potential of a meaner, greener technology in order to produce architecture that is not only environmentally responsible…, but which also critically and positively promotes more expressive, exuberant, rad, boss, and totally stoked green experiences.”
Those suffering from “green fatigue” should be advised that this is not your ordinary “slap some solar panels on that thing” eco-shtick. While the distinction may be hard to understand, one really has to see SouperGreen to fully understand these designers’ vision for an environmentally-sound future.
For example, a team working with Wes Jones designed a new type of car that works within the confines of LA’s admittedly not-green highways. The “ELOV,” or “electric low-occupancy vehicle” of California’s future, is as wide as half a car, meaning that hypothetically twice  the amount of cars can be on a freeway at one time. The cars, which look like the Smart car’s cuter little cousin, can also park at a 90 degree angle to a curb, thus making parallel parking both more efficient and less angst-inducing.
Another team, led by Doug Jackson, created a building with a “skin” that appears to “breathe” in conjunction with the sun and wind. As wind direction changes, the solar panel skin twists and lifts, revealing the wind collectors below.
The clever design of the building presentations also jazzes up an exhibit that could otherwise risk being too technical. For example, one trailer-like house filled with wind turbines, designed by Aryan Omar of Richard Meier & Partners Architects, was described on a realistic-looking mock movie poster as though the movie about the house had been panned by oil industry executives because it used only renewable energy. (“The critics rave, ‘That’s not colonial style!’”)
The A+D is a small space, but its filled with big ideas. While we may not all be driving ELOVs or living in wind-turbine homes in the foreseeable future, initiatives like these certainly would make those summer utility bills and afternoon treks down the 405 a little easier to handle.

An oft-made complaint about “green” architecture is that it is virtuous but ugly. Olga Khazan visits a new exhibit called “SouperGreen”at the Architecture + Design museum and finds  just how innovative environmentally-integrated architecture can be.

Those suffering from “green fatigue” should be advised that this exhibit is not your ordinary “slap some solar panels on it” eco-shtick. The exhibit, a collaboration between five different architecture firms, focuses not only on environmentally-friendly “solutions” to man-made problems, it promotes using technology to live in symbiosis with the environment in a visually exciting way:

“Souper Green features five architectural propositions that explore the way that technology…can promote and enhance a far more constructive engagement between architecture and the environment. This “souped up” approach to green architecture is achieved by leveraging the expressive potential of a meaner, greener technology in order to produce architecture that is not only environmentally responsible…, but which also critically and positively promotes more expressive, exuberant, rad, boss, and totally stoked green experiences.”

The "ELOV" cards. Photo by Olga Khazan.

The "ELOV" cards. Photo by Olga Khazan.

For example, a team working with Wes Jones designed a new type of car that works within the confines of LA’s admittedly not-green highways. The “ELOV,” or “electric low-occupancy vehicle” of California’s future, is as wide as half a car, meaning that hypothetically twice  the amount of cars can be on a freeway at one time. The cars, which look like the Smart car’s cuter little cousins, can also park at a 90-degree angle to a curb, thus making parallel parking both more efficient and less angst-inducing.

Another team, led by Doug Jackson, created a building with a “skin” that appears to “breathe” with fluctuations in the sun and wind. As wind direction changes, the solar panel skin twists and lifts, revealing the wind collectors below.

A wind-turbine house presented as a mock movie. Photo by Olga Khazan.

A wind-turbine house presented as a mock movie. Photo by Olga Khazan.

The clever design of the presentations themselves also jazzes up an exhibit that could otherwise risk being overly technical. For example, one trailer-like house filled with wind turbines, designed by Aryan Omar of Richard Meier & Partners Architects, was described on a realistic-looking mock movie poster as though the movie about the house had been panned by the oil industry. (“The critics rave, ‘That’s not colonial style!’”)

The A+D is a small space, but it’s filled with big ideas. While we may not all be driving ELOVs or living in wind-turbine homes in the foreseeable future, initiatives like these certainly would make those summer utility bills and afternoon treks down the 405 a little easier to handle. SouperGreen is on display until April 14.

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10 Comments »

  • nick vida said:

    Interesting and nice show. There was a lot of stylish and sexy design in there. Most of them could use quite a bit of modeling to investigate how their technologies really work efficiently and practically. The Doug Jackson project implemented the most expensive and least efficient solar panels, and 1/4 to 1/3 were not able to face the sun. Some were even shading themselves within the mechanical feature itself. Aryan Omar of Richard Meier used vertical axis wind turbines in an environment where there is plenty of land, which would easily accommodate a very high horizontal axis wind turbine which work much better than VAWT, which are in the RE biz are called lawn ornaments by everyone but the manufacturers. There was another project there with an entire house tracked the sun. It had about 6 to 8 kw of solar on it which would be enough to power 60% of a 20 ton slew drive? I dont know the specific numbers, but I am guessing more of a loss than it is worth.
    What was missing was really innovative ways of using less technology to get more done. That is the frontier, and designers have not grasped it yet. The solutions that will shift paradigms will not be those that do great things with better sources of power, they will be ideas that remove the need for power while making things better. Right now it might seem too humble or too lackluster to many in the design world, but those designs will create the icons of the future and become heroes.

    # 18 February 2011 at 1:19 am
  • nick vida said:

    Interesting and nice show. There was a lot of stylish and sexy design in there. Most of them could use quite a bit of modeling to investigate how their technologies really work efficiently and practically. The Doug Jackson project implemented the most expensive and least efficient solar panels, and 1/4 to 1/2 were not able to face the sun. Some were even shading the other rows within the mechanical feature itself, and they folded to different angles creating a mismatch loss of power within the series string of modules.
    Aryan Omar of Richard Meier used vertical axis wind turbines in an environment where there is plenty of land, which would easily accommodate a very high horizontal axis wind turbine, which work much better than VAWTs. (VAWTs are called lawn ornaments in the RE business by everyone but the manufacturers).
    There was another project there with an entire house tracked the sun. It had about 6 to 8 kw of solar on it which would be enough to power 60% of a 20 ton slew drive? I dont know the specific numbers, but I am guessing more of a loss than it is worth.
    What was missing was really innovative ways of using less technology to get more done. That is the frontier, and designers have not grasped it yet. The solutions that will shift paradigms will not be those that do great things with better sources of power, they will be ideas that remove the need for power while making things better. Right now it might seem too humble or too lackluster to many in the design world, but those designs will create the icons of the future and become heroic.

    # 18 February 2011 at 3:08 am
  • nick vida said:

    typo free below

    # 18 February 2011 at 3:15 am
  • Tweets that mention Not just green, “souper”green architecture at A+D museum | Design & Architecture -- Topsy.com said:

    [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Ricky, Trends DesignGallery. Trends DesignGallery said: SouperGreen. A + D Museum. LA. http://fb.me/UpSfGFL4 [...]

    # 19 February 2011 at 1:10 am
  • Nell Alleva said:

    It is good to see it here, I think that this technology is still not support as much as it should be. I know that there are some programs to support it, but it is simply still not enough I think. At least there are websites like this one that support green technology.

    # 20 September 2011 at 10:58 am
  • Shweta Naik said:

    The Designs are simply awesome with the new technology.

    # 8 October 2011 at 4:11 am
  • carol william said:

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    # 11 October 2011 at 5:53 am
  • carol william said:

    Stratus is an experienced provider of Integrated Facilities Maintenance Services for retail, commercial, medical, industrial, professional and multi-

    family buildings and real estate property. We deliver comprehensive, first-in-class services for clients in the Pittsburgh Metropolitan area.

    Our integrated service approach allows you to choose the type and extent of services required. Whether you “bundle” services for totally-outsourced

    care or engage individual services, Stratus Building Solutions of Pittsburgh will customize a successful cleaning program to satisfy your needs.

    As an industry leader and innovator, our services are environmentally-friendly, including for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)

    projects. Our optimum “green” services enable clients to benefit from healthier building environments, along with marketing advantages for attracting

    and retaining occupants.

    Stratus Building Solutions | Stratus Building Solutions

    Franchise

    # 11 October 2011 at 11:58 am
  • Dawras said:

    I am very glad that I find your regular post here. Which seems to be very important and it made good time pass for me. I will always give a nice thrust look in to you from my bookmark feed. I don’t actually comment and don’t like to spend time in typing the comment. But here I have to do this because this one deserves a good like.

    # 14 February 2012 at 4:10 am
  • Averyjohnson50 said:

    I wonder if residential real estate will eventually be built with this green technology design. I think the architecture is done nicely and I'm sure it will be a success. The design is no other I have seen before.

    # 19 February 2012 at 4:26 pm

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