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Chicago Architecture Data

A New Archive of Chicago Buildings Goes Beyond the Loop – the new digital archive Chicago Architecture Data is the work of software developer and architectural photographer / writer John Morris and team.  They’ve drawn on information from the 1995 Chicago Historical Resources Survey, city and county tax records and assessor’s data, the blog …

Compare green building standards

      Green Building Standards – this page on the US Environmental Protection Agency’s website allows you to compare characteristics of six green building standards: International Code Council’s 2012 International Green Construction Code (IgCC) ANSI/ASHRAE/USGBC/IES Standard 189.1-2011: Standard for the Design of High-Performance Green Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings (ASHRAE 189.1) ICC 700-2012: 2012 National …

Shed of the Year

      Shed of the Year: boat-roofed creation sails to victory – annual competition in the UK got almost 2000 entrants this year.  See some of the others at Shed of the Year 2013 entrants. Why sheds?   From Shed of the year contest trumpets UK’s love of garden hideaways: Novelist …

Sou Fujimoto’s Serpentine Gallery Pavillion

  Video: The making of Sou Fujimoto’s 2013 Serpentine Gallery Pavilion – Wallpaper has a 3:29 min video clip on this year’s pavilion, the result of Fujimoto’s desire to create an ‘architectural landscape’.   ‘The experience is more like a labyrinth but the space is very simple,’ says Fujimoto. Sized more …

World’s greenest office building?

  A Building Not Just Green, but Practically Self-Sustaining – the about-to-open Bullitt Center in Seattle hopes to be “the world’s greenest” office building.  It’s aiming for certification with the Living Building Challenge, “the built environment’s most rigorous performance standard” and which requires 12 months of continuous occupancy to qualify.  The article …

A ‘darker green’ for tech campuses

  Silicon Valley Tech Giants Plan Super-Green Campuses – a number of high tech companies (Apple, Google, Facebook, Samsung, Nvidia) are planning corporate campuses in California that, in addition to being designed by big name architects, go beyond the standard requirements for sustainability in new buildings. Apple’s campus, designed by …

Earthen architecture, Star Wars, thermal mass, and troglodyte hotels

  Earthen Architecture: A Technique of the Past Helping Us Toward a Greener Future –  UNESCO and Building Green Futures are working together to build a women’s center in Palestine made out of earth, or mudbrick, an ancient tradition that’s excellent at conserving energy. … over one third of the world’s population lives …

Skyscraper over moving trains (video)

  Instructional Video of the Day: How to Build Skyscrapers Over Moving Trains – 2:46 min video shows method of construction to be used by ‘mega-developer’ Brookfield in Manhattan West.   The company intends to develop two 60-story towers without interrupting train traffic, though a dozen tracks connecting Penn Station to …

Building Research Information Knowledgebase

Building Research Information Knowledgebase (BRIK) – a great free resource for both finding and sharing research on the built environment. A collaborative effort of the American Institute of Architects and the National Institute of Building Sciences, the Building Research Information Knowledgebase (BRIK) is an interactive portal offering online access to peer-reviewed …

Wallpaper’s Design Awards 2013

  For an all-around design magazine, Wallpaper is among the best.  To see their Design Awards 2013 you’ll have to find a February print issue, but visit the website and look around.  Two sections to start with are Architecture and Travel where you’ll find a lot on hotels.    

A building too tall

  A Timeless View From the Cloisters Faces a Modern Intrusion – the view across the Hudson from the  Cloisters a branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art that makes you feel you’re in medieval Europe, is being threatened by a 143 foot tall headquarters building for LG Electronics that’s being …

Look, up in the sky – Tall Trends, 2012

The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat’s Year in Review: Tall Trends of 2012 is filled with statistics and observations on tall buildings, from 2012, trends from 1960-2014, by location, material, and function, and by global region. Although the pace of completions slowed in 2012, there is no indication of a …