Rising 23 stories above Portland, Oregon’s evolving West End neighborhood, Twelve|West is a mixed-use building designed to meet two LEED Platinum Certifications and serve as a laboratory for cutting-edge, sustainable design strategies. It features street level retail space, four floors of office space for ZGF Architects LLP, 17 floors of apartments and five levels of below-grade parking.

As a 2010 Top Ten Award Winner of the AIA/COTE Top Ten Green Projects, the building has an eco-roof, rooftop garden and terrace space, complete fitness studio and a theatre. Four wind turbines sit prominently atop the building representing the first U.S. installation of a wind turbine array on an urban, high-rise. Twelve|West serves as not only an anchor in a rapidly transforming urban neighborhood, but also as a demonstration project to inform future sustainable building design.

Photographs by Tim Hursley

King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Thuwal, Saudi Arabia, designed by global architectural firm HOK, has been selected as one of the 2010 "Top Ten Green Projects" by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Committee on the Environment (COTE). The annual awards program honors sustainable projects resulting from an integrated approach to architecture, natural systems and technology.

The project is a new international, graduate-level research university established to drive innovation in science and technology and to support world-class research in areas such as energy and the environment. As Saudi Arabia's first LEED certified project and the world's largest LEED-NC Platinum project, KAUST is a new international, graduate-level research university established to drive innovation in science and technology and to support world-class research in areas such as energy and the environment.

All photographs: © JB Picoulet
All plans and Renderings: © HOK

Earlier this month, we featured OMA's winning project to the expansion of the Musée National des Beaux-Arts du Québec (MNBAQ). Another proposal that we found quite interesting was developed by BIG jointly with Fugère Architectes.

The Musée National des Beaux-Arts du Québec houses extensive collections of historic and contemporary art and hosts major traveling exhibitions from across the globe. At present, the museum is located in three existing structures of varied history, purpose and architectural expression, but its small size has limited the scope of exhibitions it can mount.

The Experimental Ranch House, was originally designed by Cliff May (20th Century California Architect credited with creating the California ranch-style home in 1931) as his personal residence. It is situated in the Sullivan Canyon area of Los Angeles. The historic house was completed in 1952 and is thought to be a unique example of the evolution of Ranch House design.

All photographs by Joe Fletcher

The 2360 square foot structure centers on a spacious great room that contains the living area as well as the kitchen. The room has a large skylight that provides a view of the tree canopies above and floor to ceiling windows at the North end. The resulting effect is an indoor space that is fully integrated within the outdoor environment.

Yale University has completed construction of a new ultra-green building—designed to use 50 percent less energy than a comparably sized modern building—for its School of Forestry & Environmental Studies (F&ES). Kroon Hall achieves its remarkable energy savings from a host of design elements and technical strategies molded to fit the building’s New England weather and climate.

Kroon Hall is named in honor of benefactor Richard Kroon (`64) and Mary Jane Kroon.

“Yale’s most sustainable building to date reflects the School’s mission and the intellectual passion of its faculty and students,” said Yale President Richard C. Levin. “It is an extraordinary design, and we hope its energy-saving concepts will be emulated widely and inspire others to advance green building even further.”

All photographs by Morley Von Sternberg