{Re}habitat

Buildipedia's interview with William Cary of the Miami Beach Planning Department sheds light on the city's development.

William Cary is the Assistant Director of the Miami Beach Planning Department. He is extremely knowledgeable about the city’s rich architectural history, and during his tenure, Cary has been influential in shaping the city into a magnet for notable modern architects. We spoke with him for our feature on the Evolution of Miami, but he provided so much interesting insight that we wanted to share more from that conversation.

Two large-scale construction projects, one an interdisciplinary research building on the University of Colorado campus and the other a new arena located in Lincoln, Nebraska, shift away from awarding contracts based solely upon lowest bid.

Many business-as-usual practices within the building industry are being rethought. Among them is the practice of automatically awarding a contract to the lowest bidder. It is becoming more common for clients, architects, and general contractors to team up early and work closely together for the good of the client, the project, and the project’s end users. Such is the case for the Colorado Initiative in Molecular Biotechnology, with a new building on the campus of the University of Colorado at Boulder that was designed by Robert A.M. Stern Architects, and for the new Haymarket Arena in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Downtown Toronto takes advantage of Lake Ontario's constant lake bottom temperature to operate a heat exchange system.

Toronto’s Deep Lake Water Cooling system offers the city’s downtown property owners a compelling alternative to their buildings’ air conditioning requirements. Instead of installing separate chilled water generators within their buildings, many are taking advantage of the Deep Lake Water Cooling system, operated by Enwave Energy Corporation. The Deep Lake Water Cooling system offers substantial cost savings if building operators forego a standard chiller plant and instead install heat exchangers to interface with it. We’ll overview the functional parts of the Deep Lake Water Cooling system, which has been in service since 2004: the Lake Ontario intake pipes, the Island Filtration Plant, Enwave’s Energy Transfer Station (ETS), and the closed-loop Deep Lake Water Cooling chilled water circuit that individual buildings can access with new heat exchangers.

Replacing an old wooden door is an easy afternoon DIY project, and you probably have the basic tools required. Watch our easy solution in 60 Simple Seconds.

Exterior wooden doors are subject to weather extremes and often deteriorate long before the door frame. Rather than tear out the entire door and frame, you can replace the old door by matching up the existing hinges on a new door and installing it on the existing frame. Watch this episode of 60 Simple Seconds for a quick look at how to replace a wooden door.

Have a leaking toilet? Fixing it is easier than you think. Watch our easy solution to a leaky toilet in 60 Simple Seconds.

Finding water all over your bathroom floor from a leaky toilet is never a good situation. Fortunately, fixing the leak is only a few flushes away. One of the most common causes of a leaky toilet is the wax ring that sits between the toilet and the drain. Replacing a leaky wax ring is a quick DIY job that should be done when you first notice the leak. Watch this episode of 60 Simple Seconds for a quick look at how to replace a wax ring and fix that leaky toilet.

Clean your bathroom grout to get your bathroom looking tiptop. In this episode of 60 Simple Seconds, homemade grout cleaner is an effective way to do this dirty job dirt cheap.  

Is dirty grout diminishing the look of your tile floor? Grout, especially in ceramic tile floors and bathrooms, collects dirt and grime. Sealing grout can help to keep it clean, but it’s important to get grout clean before sealing it annually. There are many methods for cleaning grout and some depend on the type of tile you have. Before spending money on an off-the-shelf grout cleaner, try a grout cleaning solution that can be made by using basic household supplies like baking soda, ammonia, and white vinegar. Watch this episode of 60 Simple Seconds for a simple method of cleaning grout.

The final step in most ceramic tile projects is to seal the sanded grout. Unsealed grout gets stained and dirty, moldy and mildewed. This simple home maintenance task should be performed every six or 12 months and will save you lots of time scrubbing.

Sealed grout is waterproof and easier to maintain, which makes for a better looking floor. Sealed grout holds its color better and will prevent water from leaking around your tiles. Sealing sanded grout is also a quick DIY project that you should do once or twice a year to keep your tile floors and bathrooms looking sharp. It only requires grout sealer and a brush. Watch this episode of 60 Simple Seconds for a brush-up on how to seal sanded grout.

An urban infill project in Venice, California, provides an example of flexible home design.

Multi-functional spaces have been receiving attention in the design world lately, as homes become smaller and every room must do double – or triple – duty. The 700 Palms Residence was designed by founding Principal Steven Ehrlich of Ehrlich Architects to have a modest carbon footprint and to fit into an existing residential community, so creating flexible spaces was key.