DENVER, Aug. 26 /PRNewswire/ -- Montreux Energy (www.montreuxenergy.com), a premier organizer of strategy roundtables on the future of global energy investment, announced that it will host a gathering of national and international experts to discuss new ways to improve the efficiency and sustainability of urban energy, systems, and infrastructure.

CITYDESIGN + CITYBUILD 2010 will be held September 14-16 at the Hyatt Regency Convention Center in Denver..  The conference theme, "Clean Energy, Technology, and Design for the Networked City" will engage thought leaders from a variety of industries, including utilities, clean energy, and real estate development in a series of roundtables at the three-day event.

"More than half of the global population now lives in cities, so it is critical that our leaders effectively communicate the enormous opportunities and challenges for cities in creating a sustainable future," said Andrew Bermingham, CEO OF Montreux Energy LLC. "CITYDESIGN + CITYBUILD 2010 is one way to initiate that dialogue with thought leaders from around the world."

Featured conference speakers will include:

• Autodesk   Geoff Zeiss, SmartGrid and Utilities Leader, San Rafael
• BASF   Jack Armstrong, Building & Construction Markets Leader, Florham Park
• CH2M HILL, Avinash Patwardhan, VP, Water & Mgr, Int'l Sustainable Solutions, W Palm Beach
• City of Aurora   The Hon. Ed Tauer, Mayor, Aurora
• Colorado Public Utilities Commission   Ron Binz, Chairman, Denver
• Encana   Eric Marsh, President, Encana Natural Gas Inc., Denver
• GE Water   Jeffrey Fulgham, Chief Marketing Officer, Schenectady
• Harvard University Graduate School of Design  Pierre Belanger, Assoc Professor, Cambridge
• HOK  Monte Wilson, Director of Planning, Atlanta
• Honeywell  Diane Beauchamp, Director, Clinton Climate Initiative, Minneapolis
• Hogan Lovells  Andrew Spielman, Partner, Denver
• IBM   Nancy Pearson, Vice President BPM, SOA, and Websphere Marketing, Armonk
• Joint Inst for Strategic Energy Analysis at NREL   Douglas Arent, PhD, Exec Dir, Golden
• Jones Lang LaSalle  Dan Probst, Global Chairman, Energy & Sustainability Services, Chicago
• MWH Global  Robyn McGuken, Director Resource Efficiency Management, Broomfield
• Shell International   Alexon Khor, General Manager Low CO2 Solutions, London
• Suez Environment   Henry Saint Bris, Senior Vice President Strategy, Paris
• Swiss RE   Bernd Wilke, Vice President, Zurich
• U.S. Department of Energy   Carol Battershell, Acting Director, Golden Field Office, Golden
• Xcel Energy  Randy Huston, Project Delivery Executive, Smart Grid, Denver

CITYDESIGN + CITYBUILD 2010 sessions will make the crucial connections between such vital issues as water and energy, smart grid and smart buildings, carbon, optimization and energy efficiency, sustainable mobility and transportation systems, and waste and waste-to-energy. It will also showcase exciting new major global urban development projects from the world's leading engineering, architecture, real estate development firms.

Conference sessions will focus on:

• Rethinking Urban Design in the New Sustainability Paradigm
• Transport: Smart Urban Mobility
• Powering our Cities with Clean Energy and the Smart Grid
• Technology and the Networked City

A special 3-hour workshop will be held Tuesday, September 14 from 12:30 to 3:30 pm, titled "Videogames as Tools to Design Cities of the Future."  The cost of the Workshop is $25.  Seating is limited.

The event formally opens with registration and reception starting at 4pm Tuesday, Sept 14, and an Opening Keynote panel beginning at 5:30 pm.  Registration for the entire three-day event is $350.

The full CITYDESIGN + CITYBUILD agenda is available online at http://www.citydesign..com. To spread the conference information to future generation and emphasize the magnitude of challenges of the built environment, special pricing available to teachers and educators.

Autodesk has finally announced that their AutoCAD software is coming back to the Macintosh. At this point its just straight AutoCAD , no Architecture or Revit but a big step for those of us who have been forced to use Parallels as a solution.

Prior to 1992 AutoCAD had a version for the Mac but they dropped support after version 12. For those of us who are Apple fans we had to use PC's for AutoCAD up until the Intel processor in Macs and Parallels. With Autodesk cornering a great deal of the AE market there were few alternatives.

I recently had a chance to stop by the completed Pierce Residence in the University Hills neighborhood in Denver.  This brick and stucco house is 2700 finished square feet with 3 bedrooms, 2-1/2 baths, and has a large bonus room above the garage.   There was a lot of brick detailing on the exterior of this house:   We used a single-wythe full brick veneer with a double brick soldier course band around the bottom of the house, brick frieze at the gables, arched brick soldier coursing at the windows, and decorative brick coining at the garage.

Instead of going the traditional brick ledge route, we pushed out the foundation wall 4” so that the stud wall hangs off the interior edge 1-1/2” to make room for the 4” brick on the exterior.  This method requires less foundation pour while also adding a small amount of square footage to the basement.  A win-win.

Designing a brick home that is more sensitive to the traditional residential style of Denver was a nice change from the vast amount of stone currently used throughout the city.

This is what he sent:

August 29, 2010

To Whom It May Concern,

I am writing to share the great experience I had having EV Studio design and prepare my custom home plans.

EV Studio can tailor their services to your particular needs and situation.  In my case, I provided the site engineering and soils report. They provided the exact home design that matched the building systems my contractor uses.  They also provided certain items that were needed to obtain an out of State County building permit.

EV Studio also has the ability to design homes that meet your vision of the type and style of house you have in mind.  Whether you need a house made from traditional materials or alternative materials, they will give you professional guidance throughout the design.  If you have special energy needs in mind, they can guide you through the decision making process.

Lastly EV Studio is easy to work with, makes communication easy, and responded in a timely manner allowing me to stay on schedule to start construction.  Their structural engineer in particular gave me strong support by preparing a solid design with all the needed details in a short amount of time.

I would recommend anyone who is looking for an architect that can support different projects of all sorts to try EV Studio’s services.  I am very appreciative and proud of their role in my custom home design project.

Sincerely,

Stephen Clark, P.E.

Features of the Organic Modern Home include:
•    An engineered structural system to eliminate thermal bridging
•    Smaller footprint with open floor plan & compact shape
•    Structural Insulated Panels construction above grade
•    Insulated Concrete Forms for foundation
•    Slab concrete floors with in-floor radiant
•    Spray in Foam insulation (wherever necessary)
•    Resource efficient structural elements
•    Recycled construction materials wherever possible and on site recycling program during construction
•    Passive solar design with southern exposure
•    Glass ratios LEED = North-South glazing 50% higher than East-West glazing
•    Winter (single) low-e windows on South exposures
•    Double low-e windows on North, East and West exposures
•    Well designed overhangs for shading
•    Thermal chimney for active or passive convection loop in chimney with duct controls
•    Compost capability and Built-in Recycle centers in kitchen and garage with convenient sorting space
•    Natural daylighting with windows in every room
•    Kalwall translucent insulating panel on select windows (R-20 at 2-3/4” thickness-- Nanogel provides museum quality day-light transmission
•    Natural ventilation with operable windows
•    Natural cooling (air intake through or past vegetation)
•    Natural cooling (air intake from north side at mechanical mezzanine)
•    Airlock entry
•    Contamination control @ entry with permanent walk-off grates and bench and storage area for removal of shoes / coats
•    Detached garage (unconditioned) for contaminant control and energy efficiency
•    Southern exposure w/ 4:12 pitch roof  for PV systems with 600 – 700 s.f. would effectively create 800 kWh (avg. 1900 s.f. home/lifestyle)
•    Site close to public transportation and local services
•    Geothermal system on certain sites
•    High-efficiency boiler as primary heat source if geothermal ground source heat pump not available. Sidearm boiler for domestic and a zoned system
•    All high performing appliances
•    Low-flow fixtures including dual flush toilets
•    Ultra-high performance glazing
•    Air-Air heat exchanger for ventilation requirements with HRV system in mezzanine mechanical space
•    Heat recovery system on Domestic Hot Water
•    Energy efficient lighting system
•    Low VOC / Odors / Emissions for all interior materials & finishes
•    Durability planning
•    Modular component design for cost control and project repeatability

Join AIA Denver for an evening of socializing, cocktails, hors d’oeuvres, dessert and a celebration of the Denver design community. The AIA Denver 2010 Design Awards Gala will be held from 6 - 10 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 24, at Mile High Station (2027 West Lower Colfax, Denver, Colo. 80204).

The AIA Denver 2010 design award winners are being presented by Design Award Jury Chair David Darling, AIA, of Aidlin Darling Design (San Francisco).

To register, download the registration form or register online. The deadline is Friday, Sept. 17. Contact AIA Colorado Programs Coordinator Jenna Cather at jenna@aiacolorado.org or 303.446.2266, ext. 112, with questions.

This is Sean O'Hara's 5th year as awards committee chair.

Many attendees are watching the industry closely to see innovative product solutions, particularly LED's. This year did not disappoint.  While many manufacturers have shown LED luminaires and lamp (bulb) replacements in previous years, the industry is making enough progress that more of these solutions are nearing readiness for widespread use.

At the LFI Innovation Awards, a new LED module from Bridgelux and Molex won the Most Innovative Product of the Year Award.  Helieon is an LED light source that turns and locks into place, emulating traditional lighting sockets and allowing users to alter beam angle, color temperature or light output without removing or replacing the luminaire.

“Bridgelux is delivering energy-efficient LED lighting solutions that are driving the transformation of the $100 billion lighting industry,” said Bill Watkins, Bridgelux CEO. “Providing high quality light and an easy, familiar installation experience at a price point to enable mass adoption, Helieon delivers on the promise of solid state lighting.”

This year's LFI showcased a number of solutions from manufacturers that bring the promise of LED lighting for general illumination closer to reality.  Viable site and exterior lighting solutions, as well as  linear and point source luminaires for interior use boast increased lumen output, better controllability, better color rendering, and lower costs than in previous years.

The lighting industry continues its endeavor to deliver viable, affordable LED-based solutions for general ambient light, a need which has typically been filled by fluorescent and incandescent lamps.

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Evergreen Mercantile Building (formerly BMC Building) after facelift designed by EV Studio

The transformation of the Evergreen Mercantile building (formerly the BMC Building) in Bergen Park is now complete. EV Studio completed plans for the exterior facelift of the building which included the addition of new siding, an upgraded parapet wall, new storefront openings and the covered walkway in front of the building. The design for the exterior focused on retaining the integrity of existing concrete "Double T" construction of the building while still allowing for increased openings in the shell and the new western aesthetic of the new facade. In addition, the exterior design project was phased to allow the building owners to commence with the construction project while maneuvering through the variance process to allow for the third gable on the far right side of the facade. A variance was required because today's Jefferson County Zoning Resolution setbacks encroach upon the location where the building was originally built.

EV Studio also completed full As-Built measurements and drawings of the existing 13,800 square foot building and then completed the Tenant Improvement Plans for both levels of the building. The Main Level includes newly remodeled restrooms and seven new retail spaces including the Habitat for Humanity ReStore in the rear of the building. The Upper Level includes newly remodeled restrooms and over 4,000 square feet of updated office spaces. There are already tenants open for business in the building including the Blue Spruce Habitat for Humanity Re-Store, Wenzel Music, Boxwood Cabinetry & Design, Rolling Ridge Deck Company and more!

BMC Building prior to facelift designed by EV Studio

One of the building's functions is a replacement for the old management office. This space serves as the new waiting room.

The community room provides a space for both community activities and also an after school program when the school year is in session.

The community center has a full kitchen including cooking facilities. It is fully accessible (at least when someone hasn't stacked water in the knee space).