There is a screening of a Memphis movie called Daylight Fades tonight 7:00 and 9:25 at Studio on the Square. Tickets can be purchased at the door. It is a vampire movie that was shot at various locations around town. Have read good things about the movie and am excited about seeing it.

There will be an upcoming series of blog entries on architecture in the movies, so this was a natural fit to start the series. Be sure to look for the Memphis architecture used in the movie. Do you recognize the bedroom used in the opening scene of the trailer?

Daylight Fades - July 20th
7:00 and 9:25
Malco Studio on the Square
2105 Court Ave.
Memphis, TN 38104

1. Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University - 811.83 pts
2. University of Applied Sciences Rosenheim - 810.96 pts
3. Stuttgart University of Applied Sciences - 807.49 pts

This was the inaugural European Solar Decathlon. It was estimated that they had over 190,000 visitors go through the homes, so it had a larger public response than the Solar Decathlon on the National Mall in Washington.

One of the amazing factoids from the competition: 6,177 kWh were produced and 2,579 kWh were consumed by 17 solar villas. So they produced almost 3 times more energy than they used during the 10 day competition. That is an amazing stat that shows how architecture and good design can literally change the world.

Luminhaus, VT's solar villa, has some cool features:
Radiant heating in the concrete floors, smart phone applications that allow the user to track and manipulate the energy use of the house (turn on and off lights, lock and unlock doors, open and close sun shades), ability to hibernate when occupant is away thus reducing energy use, unique transportation abilities that allow the house to be moved without a flatbed.

If you are interested in participating in Solar Decathlon 2013, click here

The University of Tennessee made the roster of 20 teams for next year’s competition. There were teams from all over the world vying for one of the 20 slots, so congratulations to Team Tennessee on your great accomplishments. All Tennesseans should be proud. Good luck next year on the National Mall!

You can keep up with what is going on by following their blog here.

Le Corbusier was one of the most influential architects of the 20th century. He, along with Mies van der Rohe and Walter Gropius were considered the pioneers of modern architecture.

Amongst the many incredible works of Corbusier, is Villa Savoye. It is one of his finest and most well known houses. Built outside Paris in 1929, it is his best representation of the International Style. It utilizes all of his famous “5 Points of Architecture”

1. Pilotis – Ground level support columns that elevate the building off the ground. This opens the space underneath for domestic use.
2. Flat Terrace Roof – Flat roofs allow for domestic use.
3. Free Plan – Typically walls are load bearing, supporting floors above, and therefore are placed where needed structurally. But gridded structural columns and reinforced concrete floors, allow for walls to be “freely” placed where ever wanted.
4. Freely Designed Façade- As non-load bearing walls allowed for their free placement within the plan, it also allowed for free placement of windows within the walls.
5. Horizontal Windows – Horizontal application allow for even ventilation and natural daylighting.

Yesterday, we featured Denmark’s Pavilion. Today we are featuring the UK Pavilion. It was designed by Thomas Heatherwick. It is one of those rare buildings that, quite literally, blurs the line between structure and texture. It is called the Seed Cathedral because it houses over 200,000 seeds in 60,000 resin filled rods, that act as: display pieces, natural light sources, exterior texture, and possibly structural members of the building (engineers discovered that the rods could support the structural members, but as time was not their friend, they used a more conventional method of supporting the structure.)

Why seeds? Britain is pioneering the Millennium Seed Bank partnership, a conservation project where seeds from 25% of the world's plant species are being collected, researched and stored. Many people know of this project, but no one has seen it. This was a great stage to present it to the world.

The pavilion has been nicknamed the dandelion. It is an apt nickname in that after the expo ends, the seed rods will be “blown away” to hundreds schools throughout China and the UK, to be used as teaching aids.

Here is a link to Detail Magazine that has a little more information on (you guessed it) the details of the project. Once there, look on the left side of the page in the grey box. There is a link to "Designing the Seed Catherdral." If you click on it, the magazine on the right side of the page will open to the article.

Expo 2010 in Shanghai has some amazing architecture from all points on the globe. We will be featuring some of our favorites.Today’s favorite is the Danish Pavilion designed by Bjarke Ingels Group, BIG.

Kudos to Bjarke Ingels Group for an inspiring piece of architecture. It is remarkable that in Shanghai, one can truly experience some of Copenhagen's best attractions. Edvard Eriksen’s original mermaid sculpture is on loan in the pool in the center of the pavilion. The pool is filled with sea water taken from Copenhagen's harbor. 1500 city bikes are offered for general use, free of charge, to experience the pavilion in true Danish fashion.

BIG even thought about the Copenhagen experience in their pavilion design. For those lamenting the temporary loss(the Expo ends in October) of the mermaid, there is a live video feed of her on display in the Copenhagen harbor.

Did you know that your phone charger draws several watts of electricity even when the phone isn't charging? The TV, VCR, and DVD in their standby modes also draw several watts of electricity. According to the Department of Energy, 20% of your energy bill goes to appliances and electronics. 75% of the electricity used to power home electronics and appliances is consumed while those products are TURNED OFF. So 15% of your electricity bill goes towards appliances that are turned off.

A quick way to stop this energy bleed is to unplug the electronics and appliances when they are not in use. Better yet, plug multiple electronics into power strips and then turn off the power strip when the electronics are not needed. One should see an average savings of $50 to $70 just by utilizing these tips.

*Information used from US Department of Energy website.

Did you know that the average household dedicates 11% of its energy budget to lighting? While there is a lot of debate about the use of compact flurescents vs. LED's, there is another obvious and often forgotten answer, daylighting. Daylighting is the practice of using natural light to illuminate a building's interior space. If used properly, it can result in energy savings of up to 32%. There are many ways daylighting can be used, but to keep it short and sweet today, lets focus on 2.

1. Clerestory windows . Clerestory windows are usually short, wide windows set high on the wall. They allow natural light to reach deeper into the interior space, thus reducing the need for artificial light and reducing energy usage. Making them operable allows for natural ventilation benefits, but that is another entry for another day. Just remember that natural ventilation is a good thing.

2. Light shelves . Light shelves are quite literally, shelves near windows designed to reflect or bounce light deep into a building. They may be interior or exterior. Light shelves can introduce light into a space up to 2½ times the distance from the floor to the top of the window, and advanced light shelves may introduce four times that amount. Deep window sills can act as light shelves. Light shelves need to be light or neutral color to maximize their refelctive values.

*Statistics gathered from Energy Center Of Wisconsin
*Photo courtesy of Langdon Clay
*Project: Mercedes-Benz of Memphis