Architecture

Team California took the early lead today in the 2009 U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon by winning the Architectural contest. The Solar Decathlon, an international design competition held on the National Mall, challenges university-led teams to design, build and operate the most attractive, functional, and energy efficient solar-powered homes. This is the fourth time DOE has held the competition since 2002.

The world's leading architects, engineers and building designers are focused on getting to zero: net-zero energy buildings, which produce as much energy as they use over the course of a year. While these revolutionary buildings are necessary and technically possible, because of the prohibitive cost and technical sophistication required, few buildings have achieved this exalted status.

If green building is to ever become mainstream (and, trust me, it’s not even close today), it will need people like Sally Wilson working behind the scenes. A trained architect, Wilson is a real estate broker in the CB Richard Ellis (CBRE) Washington office, and the firm’s global director of environmental strategy.

LOS ANGELES (AFP) — Switzerland's Peter Zumthor was on Sunday named as the winner of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, the industry's most prestigious annual award.

Van Alen Institute is an independent nonprofit architectural organization whose mission is to promote inquiry into the processes that shape the design of the public realm.