Bridge House

This “Bridge House” in South Australia is very cool.  I give credit to the owners who wanted to move from the city to “fulfill their dream”, but was the architect thinking about storage or did the client not have anything too store.  Did they just chuck their stuff in a dumpster before leaving their city life?  [...]

Auto-Ban

 In an interesting move to become more environmentally friendly, the German town of Vauban has removed one of the largest facets of modern life — the automobile.  The entire town is extremely environmentally conscious; homes are powered by solar panels or co-generation engines. It has also become a popular tourist attraction as a few busloads [...]

Iconic Skyscrapers Going Green

Two iconic skyscrapers, the Sears Tower in Chicago and the Empire State Building in New York, will be receiving major overhauls to reduce their energy consumptions.  The Sears Tower is aiming at a near 80% reduction in energy use, while The Empire State Building will reduce its consumption by 30%.  Hopefully these upgrades on city [...]

Water Tower Wind Power

Dr Majid Rashidi, a professor at Cleveland State University in Ohio, has developed a wind turbine system that can be attached to existing building water towers, or other circular towers. This would allow for easy integration of wind turbines into existing urban buildings. The design uses the curvature of the water tower, to increase the [...]

Foundation In The Morning, Completed House By Night!

The Simpatico Homes are prefabricated homes specifically designed to take advantage of off-site manufacturing technologies. Built to the same codes as site-built homes, modular designs are constructed in a dedicated factory where quality control measures ensure a superior product.  The homes are built in several smaller modules and are nearly 90% complete when transported to [...]

Hearst Tower Leading The Way

 Foster and Partner’s Hearst Corporation Tower in Manhattan has been claimed to be the city’s first “Green” building ever since it has been completed in early 2006.  The skyscraper was constructed within an existing six-story cast stone façade of the original Hearst building in effort of preserving the landmark site.  It has received numerous awards [...]

Beijing: Sustainability of the Olympics and Beyond

I wrote this short description about the measures taken to “green” the Olympic venues for the Beijing Olympics almost a year ago, right around the time of the Games. It all seemed well and good, but has it really made a difference? China has been struggling for quite some time with environmental issues due in part [...]

NYC Highline

http://www.dillerscofidio.com/ Diller Scofidio + Renfo won a competition for the renovation of the High line in NYC several years ago.  The project is underway and has overcome many obstacles in the process.   What is neat and exciting (sustainable too) about this project is foremost the High line is an artifact of the city and will [...]

Pre-fab homes?

So, here’s a video and article about new pre-fab homes that didn’t start in the sustainability market but now have moved in that direction. I am thoroughly distrubed by the reference to picking out your pre-fab home on ikea’s website. Watch the video, read the article…would you live in one? Despite the obvious negative connotation [...]

For all the homeowners out there… present AND future!

This is a “Handy Man’s” reference book. Feel free to use any of the ideas. (Not responsible for fires, flooding, electrocutions, shootings or divorces.) handyman [Click here "handyman" view PDF]