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The word "harmony" may be immensely overused in the architecture world, but it’s difficult to avoid when describing Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava’s creations. While many bask in the glow of his paradoxical designs, some see his projects as nothing short of an architectural attack against harmonic city planning. Regardless, Calatrava’s reputation for structural risk-taking has made him one of the most recognized architects in the world. With a background in architecture and civil engineering, Calatrava is also a sculptor and painter. This artistic combination is evident not just in Ysios Bodegas but in the majority of his projects, which often blend (or clash) the worlds of intricate design with practicability.

If you are thinking about installing new siding on your home, engineered wood siding is becoming a popular choice for residential cladding due to its life expectancy and its ease of use. Although installing engineered wood siding may seem like a complicated project, a few tips and tricks can make it a job many experienced do-it-yourselfers can accomplish. Join our host, Jeff Wilson, as he describes the benefits of engineered wood siding and demonstrates a few installation tips and techniques.

The first skyscraper in the United States to achieve LEED Platinum also utilized the principles of biophilia in its design, helping to bring the feeling of nature into the heart of New York City.

When One Bryant Park – also known as the Bank of America Tower – was completed in 2009, it became the second tallest structure in New York City (after the Empire State Building). It was also the first skyscraper in the United States to achieve LEED Platinum certification. The list of its energy-efficient and environmentally friendly features is impressive and has been much discussed.

Your eyes sweep across the panorama. Rolling hills are bursting with colorful wildflowers of vivid orange, yellow, and purple. A Bay Checkerspot butterfly dances by in the flickering light reflected by what looks like a pond but is in fact a skylight of Renzo Piano’s California Academy of Sciences building. Piano worked with Academy scientists and a team of California professionals, including Stantec Architecture from San Francisco, to revitalize the California Academy of Sciences building, located in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park.

(Thanks in part to Gehl Architects)

Over the past decade or so, New York City has been making dramatic improvements that emphasize the quality of life on the street, urban vitality, and sustainability. This is a most welcome shift that is part of a most welcome sea change. Specifically, the city has been carving out more spaces for pedestrians, bicycles, public transit, public gathering, and parks. New York City has no lack of pedestrians, and these improvements invite more. Planting a million trees and creating 200 miles of bike lanes are certainly New York City-sized moves. Like many cities, New York City is correcting the problems created by modernist planning and the predominance of the automobile, including damage to ordinary life for people on the street, where valuable urban vitality was traded for more lanes of traffic and parking lots.

Are you working with your builder to plan construction for a new home or remodel your existing home? Maybe you are just contemplating your next move. Chances are you have heard about PEX plumbing and have wondered if it's a suitable option for your residence as compared to the more traditional piping material, copper. Although PEX (cross-linked polyethylene) is a relatively newer piping material than copper or even chlorinated polyvinyl chloride (CPVC), it has a successful history of use in residential applications. PEX has been used in Europe since the 1960s and has experienced significant growth in the United States since its introduction in the 1980s. In a highly regulated industry, PEX piping undergoes extensive testing and certification to meet strict performance requirements to ensure a quality material that provides healthy drinking water.

Tired of eating at the picnic table on the lawn but not interested in maintaining a wood deck? Look to make a lasting impression in your backyard by installing a paver patio. Paver patios are aesthetically pleasing and are relatively low-maintenance. If you hire a contractor, you can expect to pay $15–$20 a square foot, depending on where you live and what type of paver you have selected. If you are able to set aside some time and are willing to perform the work on your own, you could save 40%–60% by doing it yourself. Let's get started!

Contractor to Contractor: Follow professional interior contractor Robert Thimmes as he demonstrates how to frame-out openings. This third installment in a series of articles, Framing Walls With Light Gauge Metal Studs, visits the common practices for the framing of window and door openings.

When plumbing your openings and transferring your layout to the top track, turn your stud 90 degrees and attach your level high on the stud flange. Align the bottom edge of your stud with the edge of your opening, get the bubble "dead-on" and mark the top. Attaching your level to the flange rather than the webbing gives you a straighter surface that is less prone to bow, thus reducing variables and improving quality. Since one side of your opening has been plumbed, now just measure over the actual width of the opening and mark to establish the top of the other side.

At first glance, Cincinnati, Ohio, appears to be a typical Midwestern city. A closer look reveals a sophisticated community of architectural trendsetters. Beginning in large part with a transformative vision for the University of Cincinnati campus in the late 1980s, Cincinnati is now home to a major concentration of signature contemporary architecture. One of the architectural treasures of Cincinnati is the Lois & Richard Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art, home of the Contemporary Arts Center (CAC). Designed by Pritzker Prize award winner Zaha Hadid and opened in 2003, the Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art allows CAC to serve its organizational mission to unite art and people in a provocative architectural environment.

The Grange Insurance Audubon Center exhibits several innovative systems and design approaches. DesignGroup architects introduced untreated cedar siding, custom storefront glazing to prevent bird strikes, exterior shading to achieve passive solar design, flexible classroom spaces, weathering steel signage, and geothermal wells with an integrated heat pump system. Following brownfield remediation, several stormwater management applications were constructed, including a vegetated roof, rain gardens, bioswales, and a pervious pavement parking lot. [Watch Part 2]

Allowing your pups to come and go as they please can make your life easier. Installing a dog door is easier than you think.

Ceramic tile is an ideal choice for walls and floors in any bathroom. It’s durable, impervious to water, and comes in an almost limitless selection of colors and styles. Tiling a custom bathroom with your own hands is a rewarding project for an experienced do-it-yourselfer. Join our host, Jeff Wilson, as he offers guidance on installing wall and floor tile in the second installment of Buildipedia's custom bathroom series.