EDC in the News

Sequential Biofuels: The roof of SeQuential Biofuels, in Eugene, Oregon, is planted with native shrubs. Pump islands are sheltered by photovoltaic panels, which generate electricity for the building.

As gasoline prices speed toward the $4-per-gallon mark, consumers are buying hybrid and flex-fuel cars or filling up with biodiesel, and new ethanol plants are sprouting up to squeeze an alternative fuel from corn. Fittingly, the retailers of these cleaner fuels are using green design to make an architectural statement that their pit stops are as ecoconscious as their fuels.

In Eugene, Oregon, SeQuential Biofuels opened the state’s first commercial biofuel facility last year. The station dispenses ethanol as well as locally sourced biodiesel. Company cofounder Ian Hill worked with his mother, Susan Hill, AIA, an architect based in Lexington, Kentucky, to incorporate green features into the station’s design. A roof embedded with a 32.6-kilowatt photovoltaic array shelters the pump islands; its central panels have clear backings to transmit more daylight. The roof above an accompanying 2,000-square-foot convenience store also received a green treatment: It is planted 5 inches deep with 4,800 native Oregonian plants. Bioswales adjacent to the parking areas filter storm water.

Celebrating the Earth

The University's Holistic Options for Planet Earth Sustainability conference will kick off today with an emphasis on the aquatic environmentalism.

HOPES is organized by the students of the Ecological Design Center and aims to promote the understanding and the application of sustainable design principles in architecture. Registration for the three-day conference is free for students and can be done online or at the keynote address tonight in 177 Lawrence at 7 p.m. Students can also earn academic credit for the conference by picking up a form from the organizers anytime during the conference and completing certain requirements.

Eugene Weekly

Conference Brings Together Artists, Architects, Community

Women in war-torn nations won't have to walk 30 miles a day for water.

Buildings will limit global warming while making bold artistic statements.

Communities will make plans and get their hands into the dirt.

And the parties at day's end? Those parties will rock.

Or so run the visions of students at the UO's School of Architecture and Allied Arts in charge of the Holistic Options for Planet Earth Sustainability (HOPES) conference, which starts Thursday, April 19, and runs through Sunday, April 22. They say that one of the strengths of this unique conference lies in its focus on creating solutions.

The Ecological Design Consortium (EDC) is a multidisciplinary student, staff, and faculty organization at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign established to promote the use and integration of ecological, economical, and equitable design solutions for the built environment.

The main goal of EDC is to educate our members, the university, and the community through discussions, lectures, demonstrations, and hands-on experience in the hopes of creating a healthier and more livable built environment for ourselves and future generations.

ART OR SCIENCE? Prof. David W. Orr, center, teaching ecological design at Oberlin College. by David Maxwell for The New York Times

..."There's a huge amount of inertia in the typical large institution," said Antony Brown, the architect who founded Ecosa. "We need a paradigm shift in terms of what we mean by green education or green design. What I saw happening was, all over the country, universities and architecture and designs schools were adding pieces of it but not making it the core of the curriculum."

But change is occurring, with a small number of colleges and universities leading the way.

As a noted architectural experimenter, Japanese architect Shigeru Ban was a natural choice as keynote speaker to open the student-run HOPES (Holistic Options for Planet Earth Sustainability) conference for 2006 in April. Now in its 12th year, the conference weaves together a mix of architectural scholars, practitioners, and students to promote a deeper understanding of sustainable design issues.

Architecture student Missa Aloisi shows Eugene Mayor Kitty Piercy design concepts for the North Eugene High School Garden Project.

The 2006 HOPES conference

In one of the last events of the 2006 HOPES conference (see earlier story April 6), keynote speaker Scott Self seemed an unlikely activist for the environment. The picture of a corporate architect, ensconced in the high dollar world of hefty clients, Self works for the renowned four-letter firm EEHD. He represented one of the most significant facts emerging in the field — that sustainable design has taken a significant place in the mainstream.

The annual ecological design conference explored a multitude of ideas for minimizing the environmental effects of structures

Shigeru Ban

Eco-design arts conference reaches out.

Eleven years ago a group of idealistic UO students dreamed up the idea of a conference focusing on the impact of design on the environment. And today, one thing that distinguishes HOPES (Holistic Options for Planet Earth Sustainability) from other conferences of its kind is the fact that it is wholly student powered — the nation's only student-run environmental design conference. Besides being a draw to professionals and academics from around the country, the conference throws open its doors to the community, offering a variety of rich educational experiences, from conceptual design to the nuts and bolts.

The Residence Hall Association passed the clean energy proposal five students recommended

A team of students is working to convince University Housing that students in the residence halls want to invest in clean energy instead of more conventional energy such as coal, hydroelectric and nuclear power.