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Seattle's Olympic Sculpture Park

Former brownfield site reinvented as a connection between the city and the water’s edge.

July 19, 2007

To create Seattle’s new Olympic Sculpture Park, lead designers Weiss/Manfredi have fittingly sculpted the earth.

A Temple to Transparency Rises in Athens

A technically challenging and long-anticipated Museum devoted to the display of ancient artifacts nears completion at the foot of Greece’s most sacred mount

Joann Gonchar, FAIA

June 19, 2007

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A technically challenging and long-anticipated Museum devoted to the display of ancient artifacts nears completion at the foot of Greece’s most sacred mount At of the foot of the Acropolis in Athens, a politically charged and technically complex project first envisioned more than two decades ago is finally nearing completion.

Heliostats Tap Sunlight for Lighting Outdoor and Indoor Spaces

Michael Dumiak

May 19, 2007

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A sunny morning at the new Haus der Forschung in Vienna brings more than another day’s work.

Joann Gonchar, FAIA

May 19, 2007

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Efforts to make life-cycle assessment (LCA) an integral part of sustainable design practices are beginning to bear fruit. Since late 2004, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) has been working to incorporate the methodology into its widely used building-rating system, LEED, and has committed to producing a detailed plan for integration by November 2007. The two-year-old not-for-profit organization, Green Building Initiative (GBI), has already created a climate change calculator primarily intended for use with its own rating system, Green Globes. But the organization also plans to release a stand-alone version of the software, without charge, to other green-building organizations, trade

A Super-Small House Achieves an Ideal State of Design Integration

Michael Dumiak

April 19, 2007

One Comment

Richard Horden looks to a lustrous time in design with his Micro Compact, 10-foot-square houses— a time when it was actually a pleasure to fly in an airplane.

As prefabrication sheds its off-the-rack image, automation via 3D printing threatens to transform conventional construction

Ted Smalley Bowen

April 19, 2007

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The supersizing of printer technology could significantly extend the limits of concrete. By adapting technologies similar to those used in ink-jet and 3D printers and rapid prototyping machines for large-scale use, researchers in the U.S. and the U.K. are developing automated systems capable of rapidly constructing houses and other structures. Photography courtesy of Loughborough University (top and above left). Renderings: University of Southern California (above right and below) Plans by USC researchers include a simple gantry (below) for constructing a house, as well as a combination scaffold/ gantry for high-rises (above right). Loughborough University’s gantry (above left) could eventually produce

A Super-Small House Achieves an Ideal State of Design Integration

Michael Dumiak

April 2, 2007

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Richard Horden looks to a lustrous time in design with his Micro Compact, 10-foot-square houses— a time when it was actually a pleasure to fly in an airplane.

Zero-Carbon Cities

Sara Hart

March 19, 2007

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With cities worldwide facing daunting environmental challenges on a global scale, a multidisciplinary team at Arup seeks to create a model for how cities can develop carbon neutrally Once upon a time, when the world’s population was a fraction of the 6.5 billion it is today, environmental issues were thought of as local problems. Writers, politicians, scientists, and activists have recorded the polluted, disease-producing conditions of urban centers for centuries. Benjamin Franklin petitioned the Pennsylvania Assembly in 1739 to stop dumping waste and remove tanneries from Philadelphia’s commercial district, citing foul odors, lower property values, and disease. And yet, even

Zero-Carbon Cities - 2

Sara Hart

March 19, 2007

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With cities worldwide facing daunting environmental challenges on a global scale, a multidisciplinary team at Arup seeks to create a model for how cities can develop carbon neutrally Dongtan’s ecological footprint The Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) describes the global environmental imbalance succinctly: “Sustainability requires living within the regenerative capacity of the planet. Currently, human demand on the planet is exceeding the planet’s regenerative capacity by about 20 percent. This is called ‘overshoot.’ ” Dongtan is expected to eventually be home to more than 500,000 residents, which is a drop in the bucket for a country of 1.3 billion people. But

Joann Gonchar, FAIA

March 19, 2007

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Last month’s declaration by a United Nations panel that global warming is “unequivocal,” and that fossil fuel use is “very likely” to blame, should intensify discussion of the already hot topic. Of course, many “green” architects and their consultants were already focused on the issue, not only in relationship to the buildings they design, but also in regard to their own business practices. Image © Atelier Ten For its New York City operations, Atelier Ten, an environmental design firm, recently completed an inventory of office activities associated with carbon emissions that spanned a 12-month period. Last month’s declaration by a

Credits: 1 AIA LU/HSW; 1 AIBD P-CE; 0.1 ICC CEU; 0.1 IACET CEU

Join us for this insightful webinar, where we'll delve into the principles of biophilic design and acoustical strategies.

Credits: 1 AIA LU/HSW; 1 AIBD P-CE; 0.1 ICC CEU; 0.1 IACET CEU

This webinar will explore the growing use of mass timber in K-12 schools and its transformative benefits across four key areas: health, well-being, durability, and sustainability.