Ceiling Cloud was awarded first prize in the "interior" category of the Designing Fabrication Awards for its successful integration of design aesthetics, lighting, environmental performance and fabrication.  Part of the London Design Festival, the awards were organized by the AA|FAB cluster of the Architectural Association School.  

Houston's first offgrid building has been completed by METALAB as a research project in the UHGBC (Green Building Components) initative.  The charge has been to team up with industrial partners to perfect the product with regards to its design and access to market.  Harvest Moon Development, ttweak renewables and METALAB have formed a joint-venture to build and distribute these as disaster relief centers, triage/medical offices, security stations, parks & recreation spaces, sales centers, educational centers and construction field offices. The SPACE's PV system with battery backup will provide the unit with power for 3-4 days in the event of successive days without sun and a small generator provides a 2nd backup.  Standard Renewable Energy, our region's largest onsite renewable energy vendor, has provided the technical specification of equipment and installation.  The project will be on view this month at the UHGBC Exhibition opening this Tuesday, Sept. 8th and continuing until Sept. 18th.  Come by and see the other exciting research projects produced by faculty and students at the University of Houston.    

The molds for the PV Pod prototype are being fabricated at Plastic Mart in Burnet, TX.  Our high-density polyethylene roto-molded vessles will be exhibited at the UHGBC exhibition next month.

We've branded our 1975 Ford F150... the matching colors (Avacado) was a nice bit of serendipity.

Metalab and Merge had pizza and Photo con Queso brainstorming with Brooke Schwab Photography to discuss marketing strategies and beta-version fixes.

Swamplot catches Joe Meppelink and family enjoying some of the first summer showers to be had from Matthew Geller's Open Channel Flow.  

The full pipework assembly, drain grate with hand pump, bench and landscaping are done Matthew Geller, Metalab and family gather at high noon for a spritz Avery cranks the hand pump Joe takes over to achieve full CFM on Open Channel Flow and Luca looks on with cool delight

The full-scale Grotto cut out of 1/8", 1/4" and 3/8" stainless steel sheets will need more tolerance between the components as we incrementally assemble the structure.  It won't be possible to weld a part without checking and tweaking the alignments a few cells away.  We've devised a system of holes that will allow for fasteners to be placed to hold the connectors to the ribs temporarily.  As adjustments are made to the braked angles, the fasteners are tightened and contact is made.  Two other holes in the connector will provide easy access to perform a basic plug weld.  Fasteners are removed, welds ground and the entire structure will be glass-bead sandblasted, erasing the trace of the assembly process.

The Photobooth for Brooke Schwab Photography has returned with its coat of white paint ready for the equipment installation.  It will begin making the rounds to weddings and other events for original candid photos taken from a innovative and elegant container. standing on the ballast plate upper aperture for strobe light, camera and touch screen monitor below perforation down the side along the radius of the bends only and blending into the  flat solid surface via a sorting script interior, access door open access door closed embedded casters for short distance mobility and placement on ballast plate for stability

The University of Houston Green Building Components (UHGBC) research initiative has produced a video exhibiting the projects several of us have been working on over the past year. Included are the SPACE, PV Pod and others. Interviews were filmed at UH and Metalab with footage shot at the Mirabeau B site and Campo Sheet Metal. An exhibition of the GBC projects and research program will be hosted at the College of Architecture from September 8th-18th, 2009.