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{Re}habitat
Learn how adaptive reuse and upcycling can add hip design to your home, apartment, or yard with the Go Green channel's {Re}habitat series. Follow host Rachael Ranney as she shows you how to repurpose salvaged and found materials, adding fun and function to your space without breaking your budget.
A plate-type heat exchanger is a device which transfers the heat stored in one fluid to another fluid at a different temperature by passing the different fluids by each other in plate-like chambers. The flow of the fluids may be cross-flow, parallel-flow, or counter-flow (perpendicular), as defined by the directions from which the fluids are supplied to the exchanger.
Based on historical precedence, rammed earth is becoming a widely accepted practice. Dave Nedrow, who was interviewed for the article Maximizing the Sun's Heat, is a freelance designer formally educated in architecture and is currently pursuing licensure. He offers us some of his research about a highly insulative wall construction with low embodied energy.
Architects and builders are often challenged to look for innovative and cutting edge building technology when considering their choices for materials and types of construction. This investigation often produces interesting and stunning results, and the Modern period in architecture could be partially defined by this. However, let us not forget about historical vernacular styles and methods of construction, specifically that of rammed earth. The continents of Africa and Asia have both housed civilizations utilizing rammed earth as a building material, dating as far back as 2000 BC, and it has continued to be used through to today. Although arguably less technologically advanced, and possibly once considered “low brow”, rammed earth construction offers us new possibilities. As society advances, our use of materials continues to evolve. Historically, earthen bricks were made and stacked to generate the walls.
I recently read an article in the Columbus Dispatch from Rick Barret of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel titled “Americans losing their fix-it skills, poll shows”. Americans are “tinkering” less and are not taking pride in building something.
In many historic homes, especially ones that date from the Victorian era, one of the most eye-catching design features is a stained glass window. These classic elements recapture the elegance and luxury of days gone by, but the beauty of stained glass is no longer restricted to older homes. Many manufacturers nationwide offer an extensive range of modern stained glass products to suit the needs of any homeowner.
The term “stained glass” actually refers to glass that has been painted and then fired; traditional works are constructed from pieces of cut glass that are set into lead channeling to form a pattern. Most of what we see today is really art glass, although some artisans still practice traditional methods.
Don't Mow Your Lawn
Prevailed upon by a technocratic society, people are frequently alienated from nature and social interaction. As such, rumor has it that ecological outdoor living spaces are greatly coveted safe havens. The sky’s the limit; an outdoor living space or room can take on the functions of any interior home space within the constructs and limits of any locale. This is green architecture at its best; it brings the residents and their visitors' mental, emotional and physical conditions back into sync with nature.
Which kind of countertop should you get? Our guide will help you to decide which of today's most popular countertop materials will best work for your style, budget, and habits.
Joshua Lloyd, LEED AP and blogger of Symbiotic Home, explains a bit of the process by which he selects green building materials.
As a working architect with several years of experience of project management for green buildings, I believe that the sooner you can draw a line in the sand that defines your green objectives, the more likely your building will achieve sustainability success. Let's take materials for an example. While materials are the most visible features of a green building, they are often the most publicized features of green buildings as well. When choosing green materials, we should research the data and then be able to answer why we chose this material and how it fits into the sustainability of the project.
This is the fourth article in the series on U.S. infrastructure, following our bridges article, “A Bridge to Everywhere." The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) assigned the United States’ DAMS infrastructure a grade of “D” on their 2009 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure.
As discussed in the prior infrastructure article, the average age of a bridge in the United States is now 44 years. The average dam is an older sibling to the typical bridge, at 52 years old. Dams and bridges in the United States share many things in common. Being generous and assuming an average life span in parallel with human years, both these national systems are in the midst of a mid-life crisis.
