Are your clients asking you about wellness? You’re not alone. Healthy interiors and wellbeing are the trending buzzwords of sustainable design. Lighting design for circadian rhythm and water filtration methods might be on the... Read more

Hello Sustainable Advising Leaders,

Here are the notes from the last Zoom call. We had a great turnout! Looking ahead, now that things are rolling along we’d like to get into the rhythm of a regularly scheduled monthly call. Since Tuesdays seem to work well for most people, I am proposing the 4th Tuesday of the month from 3-4pm ET. That... Read more

Beginning this year, Miller Hull will not only continue to quantify the upfront embodied carbon of every project we finish through construction, but now purchase third-party certified carbon offsets equivalent to one-third of the project’s impact. Great design is no longer enough - we must take responsibility for our architectural impact in the... Read more

People tracking pollutants and dirt into buildings can cause indoor environmental quality (IEQ) problems, increase maintenance costs, and reduce the life of the floor. When they track rain and snow on hard surfaces, it increases the risk of personal injury due to slips and falls.

BuildingGreen-Approved Track-Off Systems

... Read more

Composting toilets convert human waste into nutrient-rich fertilizer for nonfood plants, rather than mixing the waste with potable water and flushing it down the drain. They can also save infrastructure costs and minimize the burden on wastewater systems.

They’re not for every project, but they do warrant consideration. Composting... Read more

The Sages network is specifically for industry veterans and long-time Peer Network members, including those who are still active with one of the other networks and those who have moved on from that role. This group can help set priorities, drive advocacy, and... Read more

Are your firms discussing the health effects of silica dust on people working with engineered stone and the recent announcement of the upcoming ban in Australia, as of July 2024?

https://www.dezeen.com/2023/12/14/australia-bans-engineered-stone-silico...

According to the article, a recent report says that there is no safe level of... Read more

It may take hundreds or thousands of years to return to pre-industrial-age levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide, but the loss of animal and plant species that is occurring today is, practically speaking, irreversible. It will take millions of years for evolution to fill the ecological niches being vacated by extinctions and restore healthy... Read more

Has anyone done a LEED Homes and a NGBS certification and have insight into the differences, challenges, etc between the two?

We have an environmentally-minded client who asked us to look into an alternative to the blue adhesive film that is typically used to seal uninstalled ducts for IAQ purposes. From a human health and waste perspective, they were hoping to find something that was both plastic-free and reusable. Has anyone tried out other options? I thought it was... Read more

Hi folks,

We're kicking off a new way for us to collaborate as a network: monthly web-based conference calls. The first one will be on Friday, Nov 15 at 1:00 eastern time. The topic will be "Sustainability and the Small Firm: Practices in Transition" -- which is the name of the proposal James has submitted (and gotten first-round... Read more

Welcome to the quiz portion of Green Building Product Certifications: Getting What You Need.

Learning Objectives
Upon completing this course, participants will be able to:


1. Differentiate between a standard and a certification.
2. Describe "greenwashing" and list at least two ways to spot it.
3.... Read more

Hello everyone. I am seeking some guidance on crafting an arguement for why my firm should support a change to the Washington State Energy Code which would mandate electric heat pumps for commercial builidngs.  AIA WA is working on the state commercial energy code update under consideration this spring.  We have been invited to sign on to an... Read more

Welcome to the quiz portion of Lighting Design for Health and Sustainability: A Guide for Architects​!

Learning Objectives
Upon completing this course, participants will be able to:


Describe how high-quality lighting design dovetails with sustainability by improving energy efficiency and supporting occupant health and... Read more

Like everyone we’re struggling with the tight labor market. We’re not looking to poach. What we have found previously are individuals that have a passion for high-performance buildings but aren’t working on them in their current role for one reason or another.

Openings include:

Project Manager              3-5 years’ experience on... Read more

What is your favorite, tangible example of an EUI?

I find it easy for individuals to undervalue the power of a single EUI and curious what useful parallel the creative folks in this forum have used to illiterate its compounding value?

Cheers!
DiAnn

HI All,

I am curious if others are using THERM in-house for your envelope design?

We usually use our building envelope/curtain wall consultants (Boston - so mostly RWDI and Heintjes) but our teams are finding that they need the information faster than our consultants can provide, they are backlogged, or we have some curtain wall... Read more

Mass Timber Construction: An Economic Study of Supply, Best Use, and Implementation in three North American regions

This series unveils a macroeconomic study of building with mass timber in three U.S. regions; the Upper Midwest, Rocky Mountain Colorado, and the Southeast. 

Three companies - SCB Architects, LeMessurier, and Turner... Read more