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Keeping It Green

Page Updated:
March 7, 2022

• LEED Certification Defined

• • The Prizker Prize Winner

  Architecture’s Highest Honor Has Gone to the British Designer, Who Focuses On Issues of Environmental Sustainability and Social Equity
  
  

  Mar. 7, 2023 -If “uneasy lies the head that wears a crown,” David Chipperfield is feeling somewhat uncomfortable about having been awarded architecture’s highest honor, the Pritzker Prize.

  That is not because he’s ungrateful — “it’s nice to be recognized,” Chipperfield, the 69-year-old British architect, said in a telephone interview. It is because he has long thought that “architecture is more important than architects,” and because he believes that “we’re facing two existential crises: social inequality and climate collapse.”

• • New Skyscraper, Built to Be an
  Environmental Marvel, Is Already Dated

  The Design Landscape and City Rules Have Changed Quickly
  
  

  Feb. 14, 2023 -One Vanderbilt, a commanding new skyscraper in the heart of Manhattan, seems to be reaching for the future. One of the world’s tallest buildings, it pierces the sky like an inverted icicle and fuses seamlessly with an expanding network of trains and other transport at its foundations.

  It is also the rare skyscraper designed with climate change in mind. It holds a self-contained, catastrophe-resilient power plant capable of generating as much energy as six football fields of solar panels. The building captures every drop of rain that falls on it, and reuses that runoff to heat or cool its 9,000 daily visitors.

• • Are Tiny Homes a Solution to the Housing Crisis?

  At the International Builders’ Show, Exhibitors Offered Mini Prefab Houses and More
  
  

  Feb. 10, 2023 -A tug of war is being waged over the size of the American home.

  Pulling in one direction are the forces of expansion: the well-financed dream for many of a sprawling single-family house; the NIMBY activism that prevents the incursions of multifamily buildings into low-density neighborhoods; and — not least, in the age of Covid — the desire to contain one’s life and work under a single roof without losing one’s mind.

• • The Extraordinary Benefits
  of a House Made of Mud

  Architects are Finding Ways to Keep Mud’s Beauty and Function Alive in a Warming World
  
  

  Jan. 19, 2023 -On a mid-May morning in the village of Koumi, Burkina Faso, Sanon Mousa has nearly finished annual maintenance on his three-room house.

  He replaced termite-ridden roof supports with freshly cut beams and reinforced the heat-defying mud walls, some of which are a yard thick and more than a hundred years old. After replenishing the roof thatch and sacrificing a goat to the memory of his ancestors, all that remains is applying layers of rainproofing to the exterior.

• • Recycling Our Cities, One Building at a Time

  Builders Are Mining Existing Structures for Materials to Make New Buildings Greener
  
  

  Nov. 24, 2022 -Extending the life of existing structures, making them more efficient and reusing materials when properties are torn down offers one of the clearest paths for decarbonizing a sector that single-handedly threatens efforts to keep global warming within the 2C limit set in the 2015 Paris Agreement. 

• • Cork is Not Just a County in Ireland

  'Tigin' Tiny Home is Built With Hemp and Cork
  
  

  Oct. 14, 2022 - At the root of the tiny house movement is the idea that small is beautiful, and living a simpler lifestyle is not only better for the planet, but for people who want freedom from the vicious cycle of consumerism, and mortgage debt. But with the popularity of tiny homes growing tremendously during the last several years, prices for these right-sized dwellings have also shot up.

  Thankfully, it is still cheaper if one is willing to put in the effort to build one's own tiny home, but it can be a daunting task if one is not familiar with basic woodworking and construction know-how.

• • California Set to Decarbonize Buildings

  The State Takes
  Another Big Step
  
  

  Oct. 12, 2022 - The California 2022 Energy Code for newly constructed and renovated buildings blazes a trail for states and local governments seeking to decarbonize the building sector aggressively, feasibly, and cost-effectively.

  The updated code, adopted by the California Energy Commission (CEC) in August 2022, encourages electric heat pumps, establishes electric-ready requirements for new homes, and strengthens ventilation standards. For the first time in the nation, this update also includes solar+storage systems as the performance standards baseline for select nonresidential building types. Over the next 30 years, this code is estimated to provide the state with $1.5 billion in environmental benefits.

• • Japan’s Tallest Residential
  Building is a “Vertical Garden City”

  Tokyo's New Pair of Green Skyscrapers Shows How to Live in Harmony With Nature
  
  

  Sep. 29, 2022 -Ever dreamt of living in a lush garden, but also benefiting from the advantages of a high-tech modern home? Well, I’ve got some good news. Two unique green skyscrapers were completed in Tokyo, Japan — and they might be just what you’re looking for. Covered in trees and other plants, with a green cover spread from the ground floor all the way up to the 11th and 7th floors of the two buildings, respectively, these modern buildings are a sight to behold.

• •A Green Building Technique, Inspired by Fish Food

  University of Toronto Researchers are Borrowing From Krill Biology to Develop New Technologies to Cool Down Indoor Environments
  
  

  Aug. 31, 2022 -You may know krill for their role as whale food. Most stories about these teeny shrimp-like crustaceans are told from the perspective of their many predators; they live near the bottom of the ocean food chain and get devoured in huge numbers by fish, seabirds and marine mammals.

  But krill are complex creatures in their own right. And they may have a lot to teach us about how to make buildings more energy-efficient.

• •  Building Tomorrow’s Clean
  Energy Systems On Green Steel

  Boston Metal Expects Its Green Steel Technology to Be Commercially Available by 2026
  
  

  Aug. 30, 2022 -An undeniable boon to the United States’ energy transition, the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act also presents a major opportunity for the steel industry’s decarbonization efforts. The historic $369 billion in climate investments aims to ramp up renewable energy generation and domestic manufacturing of solar panels, wind turbines, energy storage, and electric vehicles. Here’s the crux: all of these products require steel – and plenty of it.

• • The Hospital of the Future Will Be Grown, Not Built

  Architect Eric Corey Freed
  Explains How and Why
  
  

  CNET, Aug. 12, 2022, - Freed has been looking at where architecture has been going over the last few decades and sees trends toward "bio-engineered" buildings. And when you look at energy or carbon, we are way past energy efficiency and net zero—we are heading toward carbon negative design and the idea of nature-based, symbiotic design. We are going to grow buildings, not build them.

  Freed notes architects think about architectural metrics, like air quality or carbon emissions, while their clients are thinking about money. In the health care setting, there are doctors who care about patients and have their own metrics. He believes this is wrong.

• • Bricks Made From Waste Oil
  Stick to Each Other Without Mortar

  It's a Much Better< Use
  For Industrial-Grade Oil Waste
  Than Dumping It In a River
  
  

  Aug. 4, 2022 -Bricks — the literal building blocks of modern society. At Flinders University, rese are hard at work improving the sustainability of this classical building material. Their solution involves using waste products instead of mortar and cement to produce cheaper, more eco-friendly bricks.

• • The Secret to Stronger Cement Has
  Been Hiding Inside Waste Shrimp Shells

  An Unexpected Material Can Help
  Greatly Improve the Properties
  of Modern Cement
  
  

  Aug. 3, 2022 -Our cement can be significantly stronger — if we make it shrimp-flavored.

  Well, not exactly. But the addition of nanoparticles obtained from waste shrimp shells into cement paste can help make the material much more durable, according to researchers at the Washington State University and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. This innovation could help reduce seafood waste while offering a better building material — which would reduce costs, as less concrete would be needed to support the same load, allow new possibilities in its use, and lower greenhouse gas emissions related to the production of this material.

• • The Linear City Is Reborn

  Saudi Arabia's Plans
  for a 106-Mile Mirrored City
  
  

  July 29, 2022 - The idea of a linear city makes a lot of sense. Madrid had the first, with La Ciudad Lineal in 1882 built around a streetcar line. Edgar Chambless described "Roadtown" in 1910, writing: "The idea occurred to me to lay the modern skyscraper on its side and run the elevators and the pipes and wires horizontally instead of vertically." American architects Michael Graves and Peter Eisenman proposed the Jersey Corridor project in 1965.

• • Carbon-Neutral Concrete

  First, You Must Grow the Limestone
  for Climate-Friendly Concrete
  
  

  July 9, 2022 -Concrete is the most prolific man-made material on the planet, and as a result, its production is one of the most significant contributors to climate change.

  The concrete production process involves burning quarried limestone at temperatures higher than 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit (1,400 degrees Celsius), which emits carbon dioxide. The entire process creates about 8 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions.

• • LEED Gold for Portland State University’s New Hall

  View the Slideshow

  Nov. 2, 2021, (INHABITAT)-Portland State University (PSU) located in the heart of Portland, Oregon has a long history of providing innovation and education to the pacific northwest city. So when the campus discussed Fariborz Maseeh Hall, a building constructed in the 1960s, the choices were to demolish it or renovate it. PSU decided to leave the structure in place and hired Hacker’s design team to lead the transformation.

• • Sunnyside Yard: A Carbon-neutral Masterplan in NYC

  PAU Unveils Carbon-Neutral
  Sunnyside Yard Masterplan in NYC

  Mar. 13, 2020 (inhabitat) -Global architecture firm Practice for Architecture and Urbanism (PAU) has revealed a masterplan for transforming over 180 acres of underutilized land in Western Queens’ Sunnyside Railyard into a thriving mixed-use neighborhood with a net carbon-neutral footprint. Developed in collaboration with a multidisciplinary design team on behalf of the City of New York, the ambitious urban revitalization project seeks multiple sustainability targets, from equitable economic growth and placemaking to the implementation of on-site renewable energy and energy storage systems.

  Created in partnership with New York City’s Economic Development Corporation and Amtrak, the Sunnyside Railyard masterplan envisions a mixed-use program comprising 12,000 new 100% affordable residential units, 60 acres of open public space, a new Sunnyside Station to connect Western Queens with the Greater New York region, ten schools, two libraries, over 30 childcare centers, 5 healthcare facilities and five million sf of new commercial and manufacturing space to stimulate new middle-class job growth. Walkability and livability will be major drivers behind the design and have informed decisions to incorporate more mid-rise scale buildings, anti-displacement strategies and an abundance of connective green space.

  Click now for the story, and a slideshow.

• • Wood Waste Can Make Recycled Concrete Stronger

  Wood Waste Makes Recycled Concrete Stronger Than Ever

  Feb. 21, 2020 (New Atlas) — Production of the cement used in concrete is a huge source of CO2 emissions, so the more that we can recycle existing concrete, the better. That's where a new study comes in, which indicates that discarded concrete becomes even stronger than it was before, when wood waste is added to it.

  Concrete is made by mixing an aggregate such as gravel with water and cement. Once the mixture has cured, the cement hardens, and binds with the aggregate to form a solid block of material.

  Led by Asst. Prof. Yuya Sakai, scientists at The University of Tokyo ground pieces of such concrete into a powder, then added water, along with lignin obtained from wood waste. Lignin is a highly cross-linked organic polymer, and is a key component of the support tissue in vascularized (water-conducting) plants – it's what gives wood its rigidity.

• • 'Czech' Out This Climate Change Inspired Building

  Climate Change-Inspired
  Skyscraper Could Become Czech
  Republic’s Tallest Building

  Oct. 18, 2019  (inhabitat)-Inspired by the apocalyptic imagery from climate change projections, sculptor David ?erný and architect Tomáš Císa? from the studio Black n´ Arch have proposed a visually striking skyscraper that’s sparked controversy with its inclusion of an enormous shipwreck-like structure. Dubbed the TOP TOWER, the project proposed for Prague rises to a height of 450 feet, which means that if built, the tower would be the tallest building in the Czech Republic. The project is led by developer Trigema who aims to create a multifunctional, LEED Gold high-rise that includes rental apartments, a public observation area and commercial uses on the lower floors.

  Click now for the story and a slideshow.

• • Greening the College Campuses

  11 Ways Colleges are Moving
  Toward 100% Renewable Energy

  Nov. 7, 2018-America's colleges and universities are playing a huge role in helping the world transition to 100 percent renewable energy.

  On Oct. 16, Environment America Research & Policy Center released a report titled "Renewable Energy 101," detailing 11 of the best strategies and tools that universities can use to move towards meeting 100% of their energy needs with renewable sources. Among them: microgrids and energy storage, electric and sustainable transportation, geothermal heating and cooling, and more.

  Click to read the whole
  story from Environment America.

• • Toronto’s New Green Building Achievement

  Studio Gang to
  “Sustainably Grow” Toronto with
  this Energy-Efficient Tower

  July 20, 2018 -American architecture practice Studio Gang has unveiled designs for One Delisle, a new residential tower that marks the firm’s first foray in Canada. Located in downtown Toronto on the corner of Yonge and Delisle, the project is envisioned as a standout architectural icon that combines a striking hive-like design with energy-efficient performance. The proposed building intends to achieve Tier 2 of the Toronto Green Standard.

  Inspired by plant growth, the sculptural, 16-sided One Delisle features eight-story modules stacked together in a spiraling formation to reach a height that surpasses 500 feet. The 550,000SqF building will comprise 263 residential units as well as a two-story base with retail space and restaurants. The area around the tower will also be redesigned to include wider landscaped sidewalks, an expanded park and other improvements for a more pedestrian-friendly experience. The main street character will be preserved to respect the existing neighborhood architecture.

  Click now to learn more from
   CleanTechnica, and view the slideshow.

• • University Solar Parking Project

  Salisbury University Completes
  Solar Parking Canopy Project

  August 23, 2017 - Standard Solar, a leading solar energy company, announced the completion of its solar installation with Salisbury University (SU). Standard Solar constructed and will operate, own and maintain the 541.8 kilowatt (kW) solar system featuring four solar canopies and five electric vehicle (EV) charging stations. The canopies will cover a parking lot to provide shade for the University’s Parking Lot H, as well power to the adjacent educational buildings

• • A New Approach to Green Building

  Parasitic Wooden Cubes
  Slash Parisian Buildings
  Energy Consumption by 75%

  Mar. 3, 2017 -Stéphane Malka has designed a clever way of optimizing the energy efficiency of older urban structures while working within the restrictions of Parisian building codes.

  Her Plug-in City 75 design envisions attaching parasitic wooden cubes to the facade of a 1970s-era building, extending the living space and significantly reducing the building’s annual energy consumption by approximately 75%.

  The story includes a slideshow

• The Dirty Secret of So-Called 'Fossil-Fuel Free' Buildings

  The ‘Embodied Carbon’ in the Building
  of Glass and Steel Blocks
  Makes Them Anything But Green

  Apr. 3, 2021 (The Guardian), -Hanging plants smother the walls of a new office block proposed for Salford, giving it the look of something from an abandoned post-Covid city, reclaimed by nature. The ivy-covered tower, designed by Make Architects, has been trumpeted as “fossil-fuel free”, set to run on 100% renewable energy and reach net zero operational carbon, with tenants enjoying the biophilic benefits of dangling foliage. But not everyone is convinced.

  “It’s strange to see something described as ‘fossil-fuel free’ when it is made of concrete, steel and glass,” says Joe Giddings, coordinator of the Architects Climate Action Network (Acan) campaign group.

• • What a Real Green Roof Looks Like

  Amazing Green-roofed School Melts
  Into the Mountains of France

  Feb 10, 2017 -In the 1960s, the Jean Moulin High School in Revin, France was artfully tucked into the town’s grass-covered hills. However, over the years, the old building began to fall apart due to neglect and severe weather. When the town decided to renovate the damaged structure they called upon Duncan Lewis Scape Architecture (slideshow included).

• • Building in S. Africa Goes for LEED

  Schneider Electric Building
  in South Africa Aims for
  LEED Gold Certification

  Feb 7, 2017 -The Midrand Waterfall Development in South Africa will soon receive a couple of world-class, energy-efficient additions aiming for the highest green certification in the country. The first among them, the Schneider Electric office designed by Aevitas Group is a star-shaped structure optimized for a superior energy performance, targeting a LEED Gold certification.

• • Bamboo: Green Material Spotlight

  Bamboo: Green Material Spotlight

  Oct 31, 2016 -Bamboo is not only loved by cute, cuddly panda bears, but these days it’s a green material of choice among builders and homeowners alike.

  When considering green building materials, bamboo is right up there with the best of them. Stronger than steel and twice as strong as concrete, this renewable resource is home to wildlife, needs little energy for growth, prevents the erosion of soil, and also provides biomass.

• • Have Your New House 3D Printed

  And It Can Be Done in Less than 24 Hours

  Aug. 21, 2021, (The Economist)-A BATCH OF new houses across California is selling unusually fast. In the past two months, 82 have been snapped up, and the waiting list is 1,000 long. That demand should, though, soon be satisfied—for, while it can take weeks to put up a conventional bricks-and-mortar dwelling, Palari Homes and Mighty Buildings, the collaborators behind these houses, are able to erect one in less than 24 hours. They can do it so rapidly because their products are assembled from components prefabricated in a factory. This is not, in itself, a new idea. But the components involved are made in an unusual way: they are printed.

• • Washington's African American Museum

  African American Life, History and
  Culture in LEED Certified Building

  July 12, 2016 -The enveloping lattice opens the building to exterior daylight, which can be modulated according to the season. In one sense, this is architecturally practical and sustainable—and will help the building become the first Smithsonian museum to achieve LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold certification.

• • Getting to Net Zero With Geothermal

  Going Net-Zero in California
  with the Help of Geothermal

  July 12, 2016 -When it was time to build its Americas headquarters in California to LEED Platinum and net-zero standards, power management solutions provider Delta looked to a geothermal exchange system for the building's heating and cooling functions.

• • Battery Maker Pushes Clean Energy

  Total(™) to Buy Battery Maker Saft
  in Push to Expand Clean Energy

  May 9, 2016 -Total SA agreed to buy French battery maker Saft Groupe SA in a 950 million-euro ($1.1 billion) deal, ratcheting up investments in clean energy by one of the world’s largest oil companies.

• • Environmentally Friendly Environment Center

  The Net-Zero Frick
  Environmental Center: One
  of the World’s Greenest Buildings

  May 14, 2018 -This Pittsburgh building just became the first municipally owned building in the U.S. to achieve Living Building certification — arguably the most rigorous proven performance green building standard in the world. Designed by Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, the FEC is among the world’s greenest certified buildings and it earned LEED Platinum certification last year.

  The 15,600-square-foot building produces as much energy and water as its consumes annually and it incorporates a wide array of other sustainable features including geothermal heating and cooling, locally sourced non-toxic building materials and daylight dimming controls and sensors.

  
  Click now for the story and
  slideshow from Inhabitat.

• • Sustainable Sports Stadiums

  Five of The World’s Most
  Sustainable Sports Stadiums

  From Green Building Elements:

  Sustainability is one of the most important aspects of any new architectural design and in recent years we’ve seen this spread into the world of sports stadiums.

• • Greenbuild Philly

  Sponsored by Greenbuild Nation

  The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) is a non-profit organization committed to expanding sustainable building practices. USGBC is composed of more than 15,000 organizations from across the building industry that are working to advance structures that are environmentally responsible, profitable, and healthy places to live and work.

• • China’s Future City

  China's Future City

  November 18, 2014 -One might take Tianjin Eco-City for just another of the many residential areas sprouting up all over China. But this place is different. The roadside trash cans are covered with PV panels so they can light up at night...

• • De Blasio’s Green City

  Green City Sets Goals
  for Building Efficiency

  September 20, 2014 - In a sweeping effort to reduce its environmental impact, NYC is planning to overhaul the energy-efficiency standards of all its public buildings and to pressure private landlords to make similar improvements.

• • Turning Our Windows into Solar Panels

  Totally Transparent Solar Cells Could
  Turn Our Windows Into Solar Panels

  Sept. 14, 2014. -In the future, you'll be able to charge your phone just by placing it in the sun, and you'll generate electricity through your windows, not just from the panels on the roof. How? By covering glass in a material that captures energy from the invisible parts of the light spectrum, but still lets in visible light. In other words: translucent solar cells.

• • Bali Green Village

  The Green Village of Bali

  Set along the slopes of the Ayung River in Sibang, Bali, Green Village is a master-planned community of eighteen dramatically unique homes, each custom designed, rigorously engineered, and hand-constructed to embody the inherent strengths and versatility of bamboo...