{Re}habitat

A backyard oven not only bakes good bread, it creates ambiance and provides a focal point for your outdoor entertaining area.

Sometimes you start a DIY project that defies any real explanation. It usually starts small – for example, I love really good bread. Not the soft, doughy, white bread you buy at the supermarket, but the crusty, pain au levain that a real French bakery would produce. Since very few bakeries do that right, I got into baking bread. Simple enough.

Find out how to optimize your lawn's potential with these tips on fertilizing, going organic, and more.

The sun is shining, the grass is growing, and you're ready to go outside and invest a few weekend hours in making your lawn more beautiful. However, conventional wisdom about spring lawn care may not tell the whole story. In fact, the pervasive notion that spring is the ideal season to begin lawn maintenance may have more to do with your own mood than it does with the growing cycle. What practical steps can you take right now, while you’re feeling inspired, to improve your lawn’s appearance?

It’s no fun to spend money on something you can’t see. Therefore, some green homebuilders are giving you a peek inside their homes’ walls via full-scale "deconstructed" models in order to showcase their energy-saving features.

Homebuilders are finding that green homes, which save owners money in addition to helping the environment, are a powerful differentiator in today’s real estate market. However, buyers may be more motivated to invest in goods that they can actually see. Companies such as Central New York builder Miller Homes and Utah’s Garbett Homes are using deconstructed models to show prospective buyers – as well as building industry professionals and members of the general public – actual sustainable products located inside their buildings’ walls. Miller Homes was awarded a grant from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority to implement high-performance building practices, with a focus on tightening the building envelope, and then partnered with Dow Building Solutions and CDH Energy to build an educational, deconstructed duplex. Garbett Homes has built several deconstructed models to reach out to their target market, first-time home buyers. Referring to a Garbett deconstructed model, Rene Oehlerking, director of marketing at Garbett Homes, says, “Nothing is mocked up. We built the home and we stripped the walls, basically taking parts of the home and peeling them back so people can see the actual application. Everything in our deconstruct is a standard feature.”

The fifth and final article in Buildipedia’s series on the Riverside Museum takes a look at some of the less visible aspects of this spectacular building: the HVAC system, acoustic engineering, and more.

“Complex geometry” is a phrase that successfully sums up Zaha Hadid’s Riverside Museum of Transport and Travel in Glasgow, Scotland – particularly its roof plane. According to Rod Manson, partner and engineer with Buro Happold, “The roof was commonly referred to as the ‘fifth elevation’ on the project.” Its zigzag form, coupled with the vast size of the exhibition space beneath, created several challenges for the engineers tasked with integrating the building systems while ensuring a streamlined look, both inside and out. “It was very important to the architect that the MEP systems be invisible and blend in with the overall building form,” explains Manson. He shared a few of Buro Happold’s clever solutions.

Found objects can be upcycled into home furnishings, construction materials, and more. Jeff Wilson’s home (and perpetual remodeling project) showcases some of his best finds.

Hopefully, many of you have been keeping an eye on {Re}habitat with Rachael Ranney on the Go Green channel. She’s got a knack for making something out of what seems to be nothing, and the results she gets are top-notch.

In this article, fourth in a five-part series on Glasgow’s Riverside Museum, Event Communications showcases Glasgow’s transportation heritage in their design for the Riverside Museum’s historic collection.

Located along the banks of the River Clyde, Glasgow, Scotland is known for its rich heritage of international trade, transportation, engineering, and shipbuilding. In June of 2011, the city celebrated its vibrant history with the opening of the Riverside Museum of Transport and Travel, which features more than 3,000 objects, films, photographs, and personal testimonials dating as far back as the early 1700s.

Welcome to the On Site channel’s Construction Administration Column. When a construction observer gives instructions directly to a subcontractor, it can lead to contentious claims. David A. Todd, P.E., CPESC, discusses how to address the issue.

Columnist David A. Todd, P.E., CPESC, has 37 years of experience in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry and has performed much construction administration during that time. He will answer questions from our readers or from his own practice and will provide answers based on his understanding of the construction process.

Reviewing the basics of hollow metal doorframe installation.