|
contents | events | |||||||||
| AIA College of Fellows Awards 2015 Latrobe Prize to Woodbury University Arid Lands Institute for ‘Drylands Resilience Initiative’ The American Institute of Architects (AIA) College of Fellows selected a team led by Woodbury University's Arid Lands Institute for its "Drylands Resilience Initiative: Digital Tools for Sustainable Urban Design in Arid and Semi-Arid Urban Centers" to receive the 2015 Latrobe Prize. The Latrobe Prize, named for architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe, is awarded biennially by the AIA College of Fellows for a two-year program of research leading to significant advances in the architecture profession. The $100, 000 award will enable the Arid Lands Institute (ALI) and its cross-disciplinary partners to further develop and test a proprietary digital design tool, known as "Hazel, " that eventually will enable arid communities anywhere to design and build the infrastructure needed to capture, retain and distribute stormwater runoff. The technology builds on previous public and private sector funded research to maximize low-carbon localized water supply; shape water-smart urban planning, zoning and building policy; identify key sites for public and private investment; develop pilot projects that are scalable and replicable; build water-conversant design professions and support water-sensitive design education. "The critical global issue of securing low-carbon and sustainable urban water supplies within arid urban centers affects billions of people around the world, " said David Cronrath, AIA, Dean of the School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation at the University of Maryland and chair of the 2015 Latrobe Award Jury. "We were impressed with the overall research plan, the working partnerships that were part of the proposal, and the social justice that was at the center of the research. The Arid Lands Institute and its Drylands Resilience Initiative model a new way for design professions to partner with scientific and public policy communities to catalyze public imagination and action in the face of growing climate challenges." Arid Lands Institute co-directors Peter Arnold and Hadley Arnold assembled and lead a team that includes Rowan Roderick-Jones, CSci, ENV SP, Associate, Water Systems Group, ARUP, San Francisco; Deborah Weintraub, AIA, LEED AP, Chief Deputy City Engineer, Bureau of Engineering, Department of Public Works, City of Los Angeles; Leigh Christy, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, Associate Principal, Perkins+Will, Los Angeles and John Haymaker, AIA, Ph.D., LEED AP, Director of Research, Perkins+Will, Atlanta. "The Drylands Resilience Initiative will test a tool which should enable engineers and architects to make more thoughtful decisions on the integration of stormwater capture and reuse in their projects. This aligns perfectly with the Bureau of Engineering's goal of making Los Angeles the most livable city in the world through the use of sustainable design practices, " said Weintraub, AIA, City of Los Angeles Chief Deputy City Engineer. "Latrobe Prize funding comes at a crucial stage in the tool's development, as we continue to build it out and test it. Ultimately, the Drylands Resilience Initiative will result in a fully automated tool that supports communities and design teams developing distributed infrastructures, absorptive landscapes, innovative building systems and water-smart public policy for drylands urbanism, " said Peter Arnold, Principal Investigator and Director of Research for the Arid Lands Institute, affiliated with Woodbury University's School of Architecture. "The tools and systems developed and tested in Los Angeles will have potential applications in drylands globally." write your comments about the article :: © 2015 Construction News :: home page |