May 17, 08
From The Book
Shelter: Introduction
We think of our homes mostly in terms of memory and emotion - a magnificent meal prepared in the kitchen, a child's first steps across the living room, a basement that gives us the shivers. The longer we live in a home, the more the structure that once represented new beginnings and great milestones fades into the background. Our lives unfold within it, but we tend to forget about all the ways we continue to interact with and depend on the services our home provides.
At its most basic, a house is a tool for living, but most homes today are blunt, poorly designed tools. But better homes are on the way. A confluence of new technologies and approaches is beginning to allow us to create buildings of a whole new stamp.
Image: Zero (fossil fuel) energy home by Zoka Zola. Read more here
Using Disasters for Systemic Change
After reading Justus Stewart’s recent article about a BIM collaboration I immediately thought of the Earthquake in China, the Cyclone in Myanmar, Hurricane Katrina and the SE Asian Tsunami, and last year’s mini-disaster in the San Francisco Bay Area where...
Guest Editorial: Water Trading in China: A Step Toward Sustainability
by Yingling Liu In recent years, scarcity and pollution of water have become the paramount environmental woe in China. Numerous reports and books have exposed China's water crisis, depicting a nation suffering in the face of black-running rivers and...
Are Myanmar’s Storm Victims Suffering Needlessly?
As the floodwaters of Cyclone Nargis began to recede from Myanmar's low-lying Irrawaddy Delta this week, at least one regional leader was quick to note that this devastating disaster could have been partially prevented through better coastal management. Surin...
BIMstorm: Honing Bureaucracy, Giving Urbanism an Edge
by Justus Stewart As the recent discussions in the blogosphere attest – Andrew Rivken and Joseph Fromm in two prominent examples – we are at an interesting hurdle for climate action. Post-tipping point, we are in the exciting phase...
Book Review: Verb Crisis
Verb Crisis, edited by Mario Ballesteros, Albert Ferré, Irene Hwang, Michael Kubo, Tomoko Sakamoto, Anna Tetas and Ramon Prat. Design by Twopoints.net (Amazon UK and ) USA Publisher Actar says: Verb Crisis examines architectural solutions to the extraordinary conditions...
Cities of the Future, Today
As cool as ultra high-performance green buildings are individually, the real action is all with districts. Individual buildings may blaze paths, and as we engage in acupunctural infill (changing sprawling or underused areas into walkable, compact mixed-use communities by adding...
Celebrating the reality of green-collar jobs on Earth Day
by Anna Fahey There's lots of buzz about green-collar jobs these days (sort of like blue-collar jobs, but with a sustainable edge) -- whether you're listening to Obama, McCain, or Clinton; Gregoire, Kulongoski, or Schwarzenegger. Green-collar jobs: skilled manufacturing. You...
James Hansen on Peak CO2 and Big Carbon
Jim Hansen with at his clearest and most forceful articulation yet of why climate change, peak oil and human well-being all argue for a massive shift: Our conclusion is that, if humanity wishes to preserve a planet similar to the...
Green Buildings and Smart Grids
by Patrick Mazza A new energy ecosystem is emerging that connects smart, green buildings with a smart, green grid to optimize energy flows. Since commercial and industrial buildings represent around 40 percent of U.S. energy use, and homes another 30...
Casas Tristes ("Sad Houses")
I'm on the lookout for a new flat in Berlin again and i still have to recover from the discovery that prices have increased fast and implacably, at least in the Prenzlauerberg area. Which brought back to my mind a...
"The most important web site on the planet."
- Bruce Sterling
Have an idea or know about a great new tool or solution? We want to know about it!
Suggest a Story
Submission Guidelines
Design:
Matt Chapman
Logo Design:
Egg
Hosting, Development, and Technical Management: