Oak Ridge Today

Planning Commission to hear 2030 strategy for City Center

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The Oak Ridge Municipal Planning Commission will hear a 2030 strategy for the Oak Ridge City Center in a meeting this evening (Thursday, January 10).

The presentation, titled “Oak Ridge City Center, a 2030 Strategy,” is scheduled to start at 5:30 p.m. at the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce. The presentation will be given by Phil Enquist of Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill.

Also on the agenda for this evening are a review of the City Blueprint; a re-subdivision for Clark’s Preserve, a residential development; and master plan amendments for Clark’s Preserve and The Preserve at Clinch River.

ORNL: Car, building are 3D-printed, can power each other

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ORNL 3D-Printed House and Vehicle on Sept. 24, 2015

A 3D-printed vehicle and building that were part of a nine-month research demonstration project were unveiled on Industry Day at ORNL on Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2015. The natural gas-powered car and solar-powered building can provide electricity to each other. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

A car and house built using large-scale 3D printers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory can provide power to each other, and they’re part of a project designed to answer “what if” questions that could lead to innovations in building and car construction and energy use, storage, and consumption, researchers and officials said Wednesday.

The 210-square-foot house—it’s a solar-powered building—and the printed utility vehicle—officials affectionately call it a PUV—were printed at ORNL’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility on Hardin Valley Road.

They were unveiled at ORNL on Wednesday during the lab’s first-ever Industry Day. The building and PUV are part of a project called the Additive Manufacturing Integrated Energy, or AMIE, demonstration.

Additive manufacturing is the process used to build something one layer at a time. One of the most well-known examples is the Shelby Cobra car 3-D printed on a large-scale polymer printer at the MDF. President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden admired that vehicle—and joked about taking it for a spin—during a trip to East Tennessee in January. [Read more…]

Urban design leader named newest UT-ORNL Governor’s Chair

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Phil Enquist

Phil Enquist

KNOXVILLE—Philip Enquist, partner in charge of urban design and planning and leader of the City Design Practice at Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, has been named the 16th University of Tennessee-Oak Ridge National Laboratory Governor’s Chair. Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill is one of the world’s leading urban planning, architecture, and engineering firms, a press release said.

Enquist and a select research team will serve as Governor’s Chair for High Performance Energy Practices in Urban Environments and will be affiliated with and administer projects through the UT College of Architecture and Design.

The Governor’s Chair team will be a research partnership among many designers at the firm who specialize in sustainable urbanism and high-performance buildings. Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill’s City Design Practice is the world’s most highly awarded urban planning group.

The contract between ORNL, UT, and the design firm is pending, the press release said. [Read more…]