Innovation Blog
Architectural Record and GreenSource presented our annual Innovation Conference on October 7th and 8th. Read our editors’ responses to selected talks below:

• John Straube: Enlightening, if Chilling
• Hot Topic, Cool Ideas: Next-Generation HVAC Systems at 2009 Innovation Conference
• Colin Harrison: What Does IBM Have to Do with Cities?
• Toward a Sustainable Architecture: Helmut Jahn at the 2009 Innovation Conference
• BusinessWeek/Architectural Record Awards Dinner

VIDEO: View Helmut Jahn’s entire talk from Innovation 2009 in our video library.

Hundreds of architects and industry professionals attended RECORD's 2009 Innovation Conference Innovation Conference on October 7th and 8th. View images of conference  presenters and attendees in this gallery.

Photo courtesy Laurie A. Meisel

Merck-Serono Headquarters
Architect Helmut Jahn, FAIA, president of Murphy/Jahn Architects, discussed Merck Serono, a highly sustainable complex of new and existing buildings located on the shores of Lake Geneva, at this year’s Innovation Conference. Architectural Record featured the project in a recent Building Types Study and GreenSource featured it as a case study.

Photo © Rainer Viertlbock

John Straub
Innovation 2009 speaker Dr. John Straube, principal of Bulding Science Consultants, recently authored a piece for GreenSource that asked, “Can Fully Glazed Curtainwalls Be Green?”

Image courtesy Craig Aurness /CORBIS

IDeAs Z² Net Zero Office Building
With the IDeAs Z² office building, EHDD Architecture transformed a 1960s tilt-up concrete structure into a bright, airy, net-zero energy building. EHDD principal Scott Shell, AIA, presented the project at Innovation 2009. Record and GreenSource have profiled numerous other EHDD projects, including the Chartwell School, the San Mateo Public Library, and the Ross School.

Photo © Doug Snower

Center for Architecture Science and Ecology
GreenSource recently wrote about Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute partnering with Skidmore, Owens, and Merrill to create the Center for Architecture Science and Ecology, a program in which graduate and doctoral students work on cutting-edge green design solutions. CASE’s director Anna Dyson and Carl Galioto, FAIA, a partner at SOM, spoke about the center at this year’s Innovation Conference.

Image courtesy SOM

Rumsey Engineers
One of the great obstacles to achieving net-zero energy is that ravenous energy hog, HVAC. Peter Rumsey, PE, of Rumsey Engineers covered the fundamental ideas behind some of the newest technologies for cutting the energy consumption of thermal comfort systems for buildings at Innovation 2009. A leader in the industry, the firm has worked on many significant recent projects, including the Bronx Library Center, the Caesar Chavez Library, the Congregation Beth Sholom Synagogue, the Global Ecology Center, the Nueva School, and the Portola Valley Town Center.

Photo © César Rubio

View images, read reports, and watch video from previous Innovation Conferences.

Image courtesy Sebastian Howard