Taz Loomans | Inhabitat - Sustainable Design Innovation, Eco Architecture, Green Building - Part 3

Taz Loomans

Taz Loomans is a licensed architect who is the principal at an architecture and development company called Blooming Rock Development. She is also a writer and publishes the award-winning Blooming Rock blog which focuses on urbanism, sustainability and architecture. Taz writes for other publications as well, including Modern Phoenix, the Firefly Living blog, Arizona Community Contractor magazine, Java Magazine and the Atlantic Cities. She serves on Phoenix's Historic Preservation Commission, is co-chair of the Phoenix Post-War Architecture Task Force, co-chair of the American Institute of Architect's Advocacy Committee and also serves on the Phoenix General Plan Update Task Force. Along with being involved in a variety of community-building projects, she partners with Women Design Arizona to curate and organize the Sustainable Communities Lecture Series that brings together experts and the community to talk about how to make Phoenix a more sustainable city.

Taz Loomans

London Unveils High Line-Inspired Linear Park for Southbank’s New Nine Elms Development

London Unveils High Line-Inspired Linear Park for Southbank’s New Nine Elms Development

The Linear Park will wind through the Embassy Gardens housing development from Vauxhall to the Battersea Power Station. Residents will be able to open their doors right onto the meandering park,

Siemens Headquarters to be the First LEED Platinum Office Building in the Middle East

Siemens Headquarters to be the First LEED Platinum Office Building in the Middle East

The Siemens Headquarters by architects Sheppard Robson in Masdar City, Abu Dhabi is anticipated to be the first LEED Platinum office building in the Middle East, and it could set a new standard

Lark Energy Gets Green Light to Install UK’s Largest Solar Farm in an Old Airfield

Lark Energy Gets Green Light to Install UK’s Largest Solar Farm in an Old Airfield

Large-scale solar developer Lark Energy recently announced that it has obtained permission from the Charnwood Borough Council to install the UK's largest solar farm! The $55.5 Million solar farm

LA Metro Signs $3.6 Million Deal With VYCON to Harvest Energy from Speeding Subway Trains

LA Metro Signs $3.6 Million Deal With VYCON to Harvest Energy from Speeding Subway Trains

LA Metro photo from Shutterstock Today clean energy storage system manufacturer VYCON announced that it has been awarded a $3.6 Million contract by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan

Frank Lloyd Wright House in Phoenix Still Faces Demolition After Anonymous Buyer Retracts Offer

Frank Lloyd Wright House in Phoenix Still Faces Demolition After Anonymous Buyer Retracts Offer

Photo by Colin Slais In June of this year 8081 Meridian, a real-estate development company, purchased the house with the intent to demolish it and build two large homes on it. Since then,

The Transforming D*Haus Changes Shape to Accommodate Different Seasons

The Transforming D*Haus Changes Shape to Accommodate Different Seasons

The house was originally designed as Grunberg's graduation project to deal with extreme temperatures like hot summers and frigid winters. The geometries and movement of the house are based on a

New Research Shows that Climate Change May be More Severe than Originally Predicted

New Research Shows that Climate Change May be More Severe than Originally Predicted

Climate change photo from Shutterstock New research shows that climate change may be happening faster than we predicted. A method of assessing the top 16 climate change models developed by

President Obama’s Re-Election is a Victory for Clean Air and Clean Energy

President Obama’s Re-Election is a Victory for Clean Air and Clean Energy

Sky photo from Shutterstock Frances Beinecke, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council, declared Tuesday’s re-election of President Barack Obama a major victory for the

Natcore Builds World’s First Black Silicon Solar Cell Using Scalable Production Process

Natcore Builds World’s First Black Silicon Solar Cell Using Scalable Production Process

Solar Cell photo from Shutterstock Natcore Technology has created the world’s first commercially-viable absolute black silicon cell. The company claims that by using a scalable liquid phase

Amonix Achieves Highest-Ever Recorded Solar Power Efficiency with Concentrated Photovoltaics

Amonix Achieves Highest-Ever Recorded Solar Power Efficiency with Concentrated Photovoltaics

Solar panel manufacturer Amonix has announced that its concentrated photovoltaic technology has set a new efficiency record; their module achieved a conversion rate of 33.5%, which meets a

Iskandar Malaysia to be a Model Sustainable and Socially Equitable City of the Future

Iskandar Malaysia to be a Model Sustainable and Socially Equitable City of the Future

Iskandar, an area that covers 2,217 square kilometers at the southern tip of Malaysia, is the center of its country’s sustainable development strategy as an ultra-green and socially integrated

25 Countries and the European Union Fail to Agree to Protect Antarctic Waters

25 Countries and the European Union Fail to Agree to Protect Antarctic Waters

A coalition of 25 countries and the European Union have failed to reach an agreement to protect critical areas of the Antarctic Ocean from overfishing and other concerns related to pollution

London Array: World’s Largest Offshore Wind Farm Generates Energy for the First Time

London Array: World’s Largest Offshore Wind Farm Generates Energy for the First Time

DONG Energy, E.On and Masdar just announced that their joint venture the London Array - soon to be the world's largest offshore wind farm - switched on for the first time today! The wind farm,

Obama Administration Approves 285,000 Acres of Utility-Scale Solar Power Across 6 Western States

Obama Administration Approves 285,000 Acres of Utility-Scale Solar Power Across 6 Western States

Last week, the Obama Administration approved a plan that will make way for utility-scale solar development on 285,000 acres of public land in the Western US. The plan encompasses areas of

UBC’s Ultra-Sleek Coren Urban Bike is Manufactured from High Tensile-Strength Carbon Fibers

UBC’s Ultra-Sleek Coren Urban Bike is Manufactured from High Tensile-Strength Carbon Fibers

The Coren is sleek in looks and performance, weighing in at a mere 17 pounds. The UBC desginer, Christian Zanzotti expresses this lightness through super-slim top and down tubes. The bicycle is

Construction Begins on Texcoco Lake Ecological Park – The World’s Largest Urban Park in Mexico City

Construction Begins on Texcoco Lake Ecological Park – The World’s Largest Urban Park in Mexico City

As the Texcoco region is key to the hydrological systems of Mexico City, the park will serve as part of the city’s water infrastructure with 11 rivers, 14 canals for waste water, 4 water

BIG’s Connecting Greenland: AIR + PORT Exhibit Proposes a New Future for Greenland

BIG’s Connecting Greenland: AIR + PORT Exhibit Proposes a New Future for Greenland

Currently, Greenland residents rely heavily on air travel to get around, but are plagued by empty flights and staggering prices. BIG and its cohorts are proposing to address this domestic

Kirchplatz Office + Residence in Switzerland by Oppenheim and Huesler Redefines Live-Work

Kirchplatz Office + Residence in Switzerland by Oppenheim and Huesler Redefines Live-Work

Oppenheim and Huesler successfully walked the fine line between restoring the historic feel of the original farm house and creating a contemporary, minimal aesthetic that is appropriate for

Renzo Piano’s MUSE Museum is a Sustainable Building that Will Help Revitalize Trento’s Riverfront

Renzo Piano’s MUSE Museum is a Sustainable Building that Will Help Revitalize Trento’s Riverfront

The museum is part of a larger redevelopment effort in this part of Trento which will include housing, leisure, retail and office space, all to be designed by Renzo Piano Building Workshop. The

MONOHEDRON: Andrej Cverha’s Futuristic Prefab Canvas Shelter is Highly Customizable

MONOHEDRON: Andrej Cverha’s Futuristic Prefab Canvas Shelter is Highly Customizable

Cverha has a penchant for flexibility; his TOTO twin lamps, for example, have heads that rotate to create various levels of light. One can also see his obsession with customizable products in

Ronen Tinman Converts Old Car Parts into Fabulous Furniture

Ronen Tinman Converts Old Car Parts into Fabulous Furniture

You can say Tinman has his feet in two worlds – the past and the future. He’s very interested in preserving the dents, the trademarks, the hood ornaments, the scars, and essentially the

Federal Government Suspends Nuclear Power Permits Until Waste Issue is Resolved

Federal Government Suspends Nuclear Power Permits Until Waste Issue is Resolved

Cooling Tower photo from Shutterstock Nuclear waste issues have been plaguing the US federal government for decades - and they finally came to a head this year. In June, a US Court of Appeals

Cheong-ah Hwang Crafts Incredibly Intricate Sculptures Using Paper

Cheong-ah Hwang Crafts Incredibly Intricate Sculptures Using Paper

Hwang is a wife and mother, originally from Seoul, and now based in Columbus. Her original works of art are very difficult to produce, and therefore expensive to purchase. But because she wanted

Shimizu Corporation’s New Tokyo Headquarters is the ‘World’s Least CO2-Emitting Building’

Shimizu Corporation’s New Tokyo Headquarters is the ‘World’s Least CO2-Emitting Building’

After the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami Japan shut down all of its nuclear reactors and set regional energy reduction targets to help meet energy demands without having to increase

ROPE Pavilion by KNE Studio Is An Elegant Woven Warming Shelter In Canada

ROPE Pavilion by KNE Studio Is An Elegant Woven Warming Shelter In Canada

The aptly named ROPE Pavilion is made out of manila rope and a birch wood frame. A very simple and elegant construct, the birch wood frame is notched to hold the strands of the manila rope in

Radio Nacional de Espana’s New Headquarters Features a Smart Facade That Cuts Emissions by 50%

Radio Nacional de Espana’s New Headquarters Features a Smart Facade That Cuts Emissions by 50%

The extensive modular façade not only screens the sun from the building strategically, but it also provides interest and beauty. Between the vertical exterior screen and the glass facade of the

8 Overarching Urban Systems That Make a City Sustainable

8 Overarching Urban Systems That Make a City Sustainable

1: Sustainable land use planning and urban form Keeping the city compact and fighting urban sprawl, as well as creating a distinct separation between urban and rural areas, are key to

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