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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.
While we aren't quite through the first decade of the 21st century, The LA Times is running an Arts & Entertainment series tagged 'Notes on the Decade.' Architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne checks in with, “Architecture: Star architects emerge, but even they find limits,” a commentary on the status of early 21st century architecture.
The article hits most of the highlights of the last nine years: the advancement of BIM design and modeling technology; the effects of the 9/11 World Trade Center attacks; the building boom in China; and the momentum of the green building agenda. Hawthorne also singles out a few worthy contributions to our built environment, most notably the CCTV Tower in Beijing, China, a top contender in The Huffington Post's Best Buildings of the Decade poll. But what resonates most for me is the final thought on the influence of architects and the power of architecture.
I envision that somewhere, in our national array of large facility operators, there must be a seasoned fuel manager, armed with sharp pencils, finely tuned spreadsheets, and two red telephones, each linked to a fuel oil and a natural gas distributor, respectively. I imagine him or her sitting at a dimly lit desk, deep in a warm mechanical room, alongside a huge array of quietly humming dual-fuel boilers. A small computer screen on the desk is scrolling the latest fuel commodity prices.
Here's To Unchopping Your Christmas Tree This Year
Written by Stephanie Aurora Lewis Fri Dec 18 2009National reporter Ted Anthony wrote "Analysis: Climate 'debate' pits loud vs. louder" yesterday for The Associated Press about the international debates encircling the climate change in Copenhagen. As experts present scientific data, the public pounds back with rebuttals via the UN's web portal called, "Add your voice to the Climate Petition." In short, Anthony suggests the experts' voices should take precedence over the general public's voice that is, in his opinion, based on information that is anything but scientific.
Maybe we should realize that we do not live in a world that is purely scientific? It would be naive to miss the fact that scientists do interpret data via their biased lens, just as easily as the "perceived uninformed public opinion" can validate natural occurrences with their own personal experiences.
Moving on, is it really worth it to debate now whether or not our planet is showing us signs of its weariness? Do we need to continue to justify our exorbitant use of natural resources? Even one little home / life change can help all of us to achieve the goal of "use less, waste less."
Human nature does not live on facts and data alone. We are passionate, compassionate, and are all capable of using our intuition to make advanced thoughtful conclusions, thus the difference between human and robot.
So, why not use all of our senses to wage a war on global change?
After all, that is what the famous architect Maya Lin did in her video about rainforest deforestation. Take a look.
The traditional concept of “preventive maintenance” applies to maintenance on a piece of machinery based on its quantifiable use, or the passage of a set amount of time. A good common example of preventive maintenance is changing the engine oil in your car every 3,000 miles or 3 months, as many automobile owners’ manuals may suggest. “Predictive maintenance” is an attempt to refine maintenance activities to only those times when they are functionally necessary, based on data collection, analysis, and (negative) trend determination from an established “healthy” base level.
Whether you are a do-it-yourself pro or beginner, wouldn’t it be nice to have a little help when estimating the quantity of material that is required for your project? Preventing over- and under-ordering material and eliminating additional trips to the home improvement store will save you both time and money. Below are a few helpful online calculators and estimators that we have found.
There are many things an exterior wall should do. Among the most significant performance requirements is environmental separation; "it needs to keep the outside out and the inside in," according to Joseph Lstiburek, Ph.D., P.Eng. It also must be safe and structurally sound, and it has to look good. Structural engineers do a good job of keeping structures from falling down. Building codes do a good job of ensuring that buildings are safe. Architects do a good job of making buildings look good. Where we most often fail is in the environmental separation.
The tables have turned as owners are coming to architects requesting a LEED Certified building, reports Bruce S. Fowle, FAIA and LEED AP of FX FOWLE. Furthermore, “According to FMI Management Consultant’s 2008 U.S. Construction Overview, construction industry stakeholders are increasingly recognizing green building capabilities as "good" — and as a necessary part of a firm's best practices. Green building is no longer a niche sector,” reports HGTV in their News Trends article Construction Industry: Green Building is Good.
Climate change is a topic that, unlike the polar ice caps, won’t be disappearing from the newspapers, televisions and websites that deliver our news. It’s no surprise then that the Copenhagen Climate Conference is the center of attention this week. As world leaders meet to debate the rate of climate change and the degree to which it should be controlled, design professionals continue to lead the way in implementing methods for reducing the effects of building construction and operation on our planet’s resources.
