Hi: Great to see so many of you at AIA COTE Top Ten last week.  I'm forwarding the message below for those of you who know Marsha Maytum and can contribute to this important effort. Deadline is next Friday June 23rd!Thanks.

Mary Ann

Hello, friends,

During A'23, Je’Nen and I discussed our desire to send Marsha photos we have... Read more

Hi All,

I just became aware of the attached detail (if I uploaded it correctly) for a project in Portland, OR going out for permit at the end of this week.  Has anyone located the radiant tubing at the bottom of concrete like this before?  It doesn't sit right with me, though I cannot pinpoint exactly why.  Our consultants and the... Read more

Welcome to the quiz portion of "Spec This, Not That: Avoiding Toxic Chemicals in Commercial Building Projects"!

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


Hi all,

I have asked a few of you in this list, but thought I might expand the question to the wide group.

To ensure that your firm will be able to collect post-occupancy energy data from your completed projects, have any of you included language about sharing energy data during operations in an owner agreement/contract? We have... Read more

Hi all,

We know preparations for Greenbuild are well underway for many of you. We also know that there will be many things competing for your time while you're there. Here's one more to consider! We don't have all the details solidified yet, but wanted you to know sooner rather than later for planning purposes.

We hope you’ll... Read more

Does anyone have a "healthy material" exterior bleacher benchtop (beyond natural wood or metal) recommendation for a public high school track and field? 

How do we discern between fiberglass, recycled plastic or HPDE?  Is there a rule of thumb on how to advocate for specifying a "not as bad" material? 

The project is in a coastal... Read more

Rotary Uninterruptible Power Units

Power interruptions and brief changes in voltage can damage electrical equipment, compromise computer data, shut down manufacturing, and endanger hospital patients. In the case of power outages, generators usually take over, but about 98% of all interruptions last less than ten seconds, and there is a... Read more

Hey all,

Thanks to everyone who joined today's peer network webinar - it was great to share what our working group has been developing in the last year. This group gathered to work through a series of decision-making trees to publish some kind of relatively repeatable guidance for how to advance this conversation with a variety of owners... Read more

We just wrapped up an awesome Winter Summit at Gulf State Park in Alabama. I'll be posting flip chart pages and notes here--we can use this forum to continue the conversations. 

Apologies for the flurry of emails, but it seems best to start separate threads for each topic. If you'd rather limit the flow, you can switch to daily digest... Read more

Dear SDL'ers

After many months of soul searching about my role as a sustainability leader and how to have the most positive environmental impact, I have decided to take a leave from practice to pursue further studies this September. I will be undertaking a two year Master’s degree at the Institute for Resources, Environment and... Read more

A couple Minnesota cities are considering adding electrification to their sustainable building policy (required for new construction receiving City financial assistance). Concerned that the market isn't ready for a full-on mandate, they are considering a more moderate approach of requiring developers/design teams to conduct an electrification... Read more

Hello! 

We have several projects that are either pending ILFI Zero Carbon certification or the owner is planning to purchase offsets to cover construction emissions. Thus far, I have not considered this in our corporate footprint reporting. However, we are including A5 emissions whenever feasible and multiplying that performance over the... Read more

Hi SDLers-

Like many of you, I have found myself involved in our firm’s nascent Social & Racial Justice working group. Our group is laser focused on advancing BIPOC and is seeking to understand more about approaches our firm can take on advocacy, transparency, and training. They are interested in hearing about specific approaches... Read more

Welcome to the quiz portion of Why Post-Occupancy Review Is the Future of Design (And How It Can Serve You Now).

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


1. Explain the importance of post-occupancy evaluation (POE) for occupants and the opportunities in POE for architects.... Read more