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Building Materials

Affordable housing in a "gypsy wagon"

January 31, 2012 by Kaid Benfield
with 183 views
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  Where I come from, a lot of affordable housing – especially rural and semi-rural housing – takes the form of mobile homes.  Nothing wrong with that.  But I wouldn’t expect to find many in the city of Boston, and I certainly wouldn’t expect to find one there that’s handmade. But that’s exactly what Sage Radachowsky has.... [read more]

How measuring e-mails can reduce greenhouse gas emissions

January 26, 2012 by Green Buildings Alive
with 149 views
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Our last post asked what we might draw from a global study of 500 million ‘tweets’ which found people are happiest in the morning – at almost precisely the time when complaints about the air conditioning in office buildings peak. The author of the twitter study, Scott Golder, commented “It looks like people send AC requests the same time... [read more]

The green dividend from reusing older buildings

January 24, 2012 by Kaid Benfield
with 225 views
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We already know that, in many cases, retaining older buildings - especially those of architectural or historic character - can strengthen the enduring legacy and enjoyment of a community. But is it good for the environment? [read more]

Is Social Media the Key to Making Buildings More Sustainable?

January 23, 2012 by This Big City
with 210 views
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Can you use social media to better engage your community? Even in construction? [read more]

Top 10 States for LEED Green Buildings

January 19, 2012 by U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC)
with 343 views
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Today, USGBC released its top 10 list of states with the most LEED-certified building square footage per capita. The District of Columbia leads the nation, with more than 31 square feet of LEED-certified space per person in 2011, and Colorado is the leading state, with 2.74 square feet per person in 2011. [read more]

Preparing Cities for Seniors

January 18, 2012 by Victor Negrete
with 228 views
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An ageing population requires that cities reevaluate what good urbanism is. What are the trends in this sector and what needs of the senior population will cities have to start thinking about in order to adjust to this boom? Is walkable urbanism among them? [read more]

What To Do With Brownfields

January 9, 2012 by Eric McNulty
with 107 views
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I had the good fortune to interview Julie Bargmann a couple of months back. I spoke with her about the leadership challenges she faces in brownfield reclamation projects. Bargmann is a landscape architect extraordinaire and nationally known brownfield reclamation expert. Brownfields are “real property, the expansion, redevelopment, or... [read more]

A Tall Building Bible for Urbanists

December 22, 2011 by Chuck Wolfe
with 195 views
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Recent reports and coverage show that the skyscraper is very much alive in the post-9/11 world, despite recession and lowrise alternatives to modern urban development.   Hence the timely release of consulting engineer Kate Ascher’s new book, The Heights: Anatomy of a Skyscraper (Penguin Press, 2011), a remarkably plain-language... [read more]

On Poor Quality: Corruption and Construction in China

December 20, 2011 by Adam Mayer
with 159 views
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As someone who works in the building industry in China, I am often asked why the quality of construction of most new buildings is so poor. The people who usually ask are expatriates from places like Europe or America; rarely does someone native to China who hasn’t spent time overseas pose the same question. [read more]

How Innovative Building Materials Are Saving The World

November 10, 2011 by This Big City
with 339 views
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By Alex Goldmark – Contributing Editor at GOOD.  The next breakthrough in architecture may not come from the likes of Frank Gehry, whose designs – from the Guggenheim in Bilbao to the Walt Disney Concert Hall – draw tourists from across the world. It’s more likely to come from a chemist. Why? Because our future buildings will... [read more]

Capturing Sao Paulo's Sidewalks

October 26, 2011 by the polis blog
with 195 views
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Just as a flaneur in Hong Kong would be remiss in his or her explorations without looking up into the density of urban life that occurs in skyscrapers and apartment towers, looking at the ground offers a glimpse of art, utility and public works in a city — from manhole covers and street gravel, to sidewalk collisions of color, texture... [read more]

Three Years Later: California Academy of Sciences’ Living Roof Also Educates the Design Community

October 14, 2011 by The Dirt ASLA
with 224 views
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Three years ago the California Academy of Sciences museum re-opened in San Francisco. The original projections of annual visitors were for 1.6 million, a head count that has been far exceeded in the past three years. Some of the building’s popularity is undoubtedly due to its iconic 2.5 acre-“living roof”, celebrated in the early... [read more]