Championing the
Changemakers

On our Contractor Coffee talk a few weeks ago, Emi LaFountain (Turner Construction) brought up the idea that there was a lot of blue stain wood that are being landfilled instead of used, and suggested that maybe the designers among us could find a way to turn ugly into beautiful.

I had never heard of this issue, but I was on a call the... Read more

Composite windows come in two basic types: fiberglass, and wood/plastic composite.

BuildingGreen-Approved Windows

Fiberglass and other composite window lines have NFRC unit U-factors of 0.20 or lower. Higher U-factors are allowed for products that include significant recycled content.

Manufacturers also must demonstrate... Read more

As if you weren't worrying enough already, here's a little something that I ran across through monitoring activity on the American Society of Healthcare Engineers discussion boards:  https://www.id-hub.com/2018/10/17/hospital-plumbing-reservoir-resistance-interview-amy-mathers/, "Hospital Plumbing as a Reservoir for Resistance".  This is both a... Read more

THIS WEBINAR PURCHASE AND REGISTRATION IS CLOSED.

Why high-performance assemblies? And why now? Today we demand better thermal performance from our building assemblies than ever. But higher performance... Read more

from the Tortured by Randomness Department:

Y'all ... I was recently reminded (by Bill Reed) about a lovely quote ... and I'm keen to use it in a talk upcoming ... 

Here it is:
Place is a doorway into caring. Love of place unleashes the personal and political will needed to make profound change. It can also unite people... Read more

Some of you are aware of my ongoing saga of off-site renewable energy and a LEED certification we are pursuing. The short version is that there is a new-construction corporate headquarters office building (Building #2 on the attached graphic). This building is pursuing LEED certification. 

The company also just installed a 1 MW... Read more

Hi: Please check out the fantastic editorial from Ned Cramer at Architect on "The Future of Architecture Education is the Future of Civilization". The deadline to comment on the latest draft of the NAAB accreditation criteria is November 22 and, as in the past draft, it falls far short of prioritizing climate action and sustainability. VERY... Read more

All,

My team at WSP has a pretty awesome senior position available and I wanted to bring it the group's attention as we try to get the word out. The role is to lead our Sustainable Design Analytics group (part of our Built Ecology team), ideally based in CA or NYC, but open to wherever good candidates may be. If anyone knows someone that... Read more

Hi all!

I've heard several people talk about developing tools for assessing/codifying a client's values for a project as part of an integrated design process (ie. a set of questions, survey, etc.). Would anyone be willing to share?

(Z, are you listening? I specifically recall you mentioning a tool like this...)

Thanks!... Read more

Welcome to the quiz portion of How to Make Integrated Project Delivery Work for Your Project.

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


1. State three problems that Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) promises to solve.
2. Dispel four misconceptions about IPD that have... Read more

I have reached out to the AIA staff members that I work with on the Energy Leadership Group (AIA ELG) to see about getting into the cycle of updating these standard documents.  Another member of the ELG, architect Kjell Anderson of LMN in Seattle, is interested in working with us on this effort, as he has started including Standard 209 language... Read more

Good Afternoon -

I'm wondering if anyone has a sample project wellness plan or survey that they'd be willing to share?  The 2.0 says additional resources are coming soon but I have a few project engineers that want to help get these going and are looking for a starting point.

You can email me direct if you don't want to post here... Read more

Auto-quiz used for CEUs for attendees of the 2023 SDL Winter Summit.

All,

The current version of the program manual includes ID numbers for the best practices, as shown below. I know we want to keep a quick reference number or ID, but though it would be worth asking if we want to use the below, reorder them in some way, or use a different kind of ID. Opinions?

Thanks,
Jenny

--------... Read more

Hello, All!  I'm hoping for your help to keep a green roof on a project of ours.  We have a large healthcare project in the Midwest that is coming in over budget.  To avoid losing our extensive green roof, I'm looking for alternate sources of funding - grants, private sources, etc.  Has anyone gone down this path before and have shareable... Read more

Hi All,

FSC is working on some exciting new research to help further quantify the carbon impact of forestry management and they are looking for your feedback.  If you are interested in providing your voice or just staying informed of what is happening in this space, please see the details below and register to attend.

FSC Forest... Read more