In its 2017 World Changing Ideas Awards, Fast Company has named three SOM projects as finalists: The Kathleen Grimm School for Leadership and Sustainability at Sandy Ground, the Additive Manufacturing Integrated Energy project (AMIE 1.0), and the Modular Indoor Micro-Climate (MIMiC) system. Together, these projects demonstrate how research and design expertise is being applied to solving global challenges.
“We sifted through more than 1,000 truly impressive entries to find the ones our panel of judges thought were the best combination of creative problem solving and potential to change our world for the better,” Fast Company said. “Each of these projects represents the best of social entrepreneurship, where innovation and impact are intersecting.”
The Kathleen Grimm School, a finalist in the Energy category, is the first net-zero-energy school in New York City and one of the first of its kind worldwide. Located in Staten Island, the cutting-edge building is designed to harvest as much energy from renewable on-site sources as it uses on an annual basis. Conceived as a “sustainability lab,” the project incorporates a range of design strategies that will help New York City meet its goals to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
AMIE 1.0, also a finalist in the Energy category, is a research and design collaboration between SOM and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory. SOM designed the energy efficient, 3D-printed building to produce and store renewable power and to share energy wirelessly with a 3D-printed vehicle. The project illustrates the potential of a clean energy future by achieving independence from the power grid.
The Modular Indoor Micro-Climate system is a finalist in both the Energy and Student categories. This project, an innovative heating and cooling system, was designed by the Center for Architecture Science and Ecology (CASE), a research collaboration between SOM and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Instead of conditioning an entire space, MIMiC creates a more sustainable and healthier indoor environment by providing thermal comfort when and where it is needed.