JetBrains’ Green New Office May 01, 2021 Czech software development company JetBrains had a clear concept for their new offices, revolving around being connective, comfortable, and versatile. The green campus overlooks the Gulf of Finland, and the building’s shape is designed to offer beautiful views from many vantage points. One such vantage point is the generous interior atrium, which sports live greenery […] Read More
Cool Roofs for a Warming World March 01, 2021 Why We Need Cool Roofs and What to Consider When Planning to Install Them By Kurt Shickman Rising temperatures are fast becoming the key challenge for our cities and urbanized areas. The effects of heat have negative outcomes for people’s health and well-being, social equity, energy use and peak demand, resilience of health, transportation and […] Read More
Amazon’s Arlington Headquarters to Highlight Helix March 01, 2021 Plans designed by architecture firm NBBJ have been submitted for Amazon’s new headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, near the United States Capitol. One of the four buildings will be shaped like a double helix and offer two walkable paths of landscaped terrain. The 350-ft.-tall tower, dubbed “The Helix,” will be the centerpiece of the PenPlace campus, […] Read More
ORNL and FEMP Build Smart Walls November 01, 2020 Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and the Department of Energy’s Federal Emergency Management Program (FEMP) have partnered to create a prototype wall named “EMPOWER.” This “smart” wall is 3-D printed using a manufacturing system called SkyBAAM, which prints concrete. SkyBAAM constructs walls without the use of a gantry system, and it reportedly can be set […] Read More
Europe’s Largest Green Façade Completed in Düsseldorf October 01, 2020 Nearly 30,000 hornbeam hedges form the “cladding” for Kö-Bogen II, a new building in Gustaf-Gründgens-Platz (plaza), Düsseldorf, Germany. Ingenhoven Architects, the project’s designer, said they didn’t want the new structure to compete with the existing buildings in the plaza, so it had to be completely different. Beneath the greenery lies 450,000 sq. ft. of office […] Read More
Traditional Clay Bricks Could Store Energy October 01, 2020 One of the biggest barriers to solar energy becoming cheap and ubiquitous as an alternative and/or supplement to “the grid” is the expense and inconvenience of installing a battery storage. A team of researchers at Washington University in St. Louis, MO, is investigating a solution to allow traditional clay-fired bricks to store energy. although the […] Read More
NYC Requires Sustainable Roofing Zones July 01, 2020 All newly constructed buildings and all buildings undergoing a complete roof deck or roof assembly replacement in all five boroughs of New York City must now have a “sustainable roofing zone,” under Local Laws 92 and 94, which took effect in November. As part of the Climate Mobilization Act, this means a photovoltaic (PV) electricity […] Read More
Living Wall as Art May 01, 2020 Urban Ecotones, an interior living wall installation in Oakland, CA, in 2019 became the first living wall to meet the requirements of public art status by a U.S. city. The wall, by David Brenner, founder and principal of Habitat Horticulture, is a 19- x 34-ft. living wall at 601 City Center that is now a […] Read More
Buildings That Breathe February 01, 2020 Barcelona’s Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC) has undertaken a project examining the benefits of hydroceramic façades as a means of cooling down buildings in hot countries. Known as “breathing” buildings, the technology uses an insoluble polymer called “hydrogel,” fabric as a water channel, and ceramics. The hydrogel, it is claimed, can expand its […] Read More
