Spanish doctoral candidate Nacho Zamora has created a collection of art based around solar renewable energy.  This week and next he is highlighting Solar Ivy and SMIT.  Mr. Zamora identifies public art, specifically projects that utilize sources of renewable energy as fundamental to developing and elevating public discourse and understanding of alternative energy sources.  He will be presenting his research at the European Union Sustainable Energy Week in Brussels this spring.

Nacho Zamora, a Spanish architecture doctoral candidate has curated an international presentation and exhibition of renewable energy–focused technology, art and design, including Solar Ivy.  Mr. Zamora is taking the exhibition to Brussels in April at Sustainable Energy Week.   You can follow along with his research and preparation for EUSEW here.

GOOD Magazine, the standard-bearer for socially conscious publications, called attention to Solar Ivy and its potential to make clean energy more accessible to the masses after picking it up from Dwell.

Also, Solar Ivy is currently being featured on the design blog Materialicious.  Alongside other building-integrated PV products, including solar hot water, PV roofing tiles and portable device chargers, Solar Ivy makes its debut on this visual encyclopedia of contemporary material and architecture.

www.randyduchaine.com

SMIT’s CEO Samuel Cochran offered a view into the evolution of Solar Ivy and SMIT’s business approach at TEDx Brooklyn on Saturday, November 13.  TEDx, independently organized events that mirror the theme and mission of the annual TED conferences in California, came to Brooklyn’s Pratt Institute, where SMIT co–founders Samuel Cochran and Ben Howes met and laid the groundwork for a nascent partnership.

Sam’s presentation discussed the theoretical and designed ancestry of Solar Ivy, from inspiration through the hybrid wind and solar device, GROW.  Emerging out of the powerful response to that prototype, Sam, sister Sita and Ben distilled their work into foundational beliefs in sustainability, technology and design and set out to develop a business model that ultimately led to the currently commercialized Solar Ivy and SMIT’s innovative business model.

This Friday, December 4th, SMIT continues its TEDx tour with an appearance at the TEDxPrincetonU event alongside One Laptop Per Child founder, Nicholas Negroponte.  Check back in next week to read all about it!

In the days heading into Sam’s presentation at TEDx Brooklyn, SMIT was happy to welcome Tze Chun to the studio last week.  Interviewing Sam and Ben for the New York Times’ Fort Greene Local Blog Artist Spotlight feature, Tze explored the evolution of Solar Ivy, SMIT’s design process and the relationships that grow out of working in the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

Be sure to check out her piece on the New York Times.

The UK’s Architecture of Life blog wrote a post about Solar Ivy.

Last week a feature article on Inhabitat: Six Inspiring Examples of Groundbreaking Green Technology.  Solar Ivy appears on that list alongside several other excellent innovations.  Thanks to Yuka Yoneda and Inhabitat for the acknowledgement.

Grow and Solar Ivy were featured in the exhibit Kitchen Ecology at Dwell on Design in Los Angeles, 2009.

(image via designboom)

In October 2008, SMIT was commissioned by Elizabeth Oliver, formerly of Minima, to build a bus shelter using Solar Ivy for A Clean Break, an exhibition of low-impact, prefabricated urban design in conjunction with Design Phildelphia and National Design Week 2008.  The final shelter was realized with the help of Ferra Designs.

As you might have noticed, s-m-i-t.com has received a few updates.  There will be some more changes in the next few weeks, so do not be alarmed if things look a bit different when you return.   Also, please visit the new solarivy.com to see some new images and download our latest Solar Ivy product sheet.

SMIT would like to thank Alex Birdsall, Claire D’Aoust and Lucia Pivaral for all of the great work that has gone into these updates.   Stay tuned for more changes in the coming weeks!