EVOLVING THE SOLAR HOUSE

By the end of the 1970s, a significant discourse emerged about the solar house's aesthetic problems and potentials. In numerous cases, solar architecture was treated as a historically emergent type with a secure and inevitable future. One example from 1978:

More Design Context and Environment

BIRD-FRIENDLY DESIGN - PART TWO: PROBLEMS WITH GLASS

Glass can be perceived differently depending on a number of factors, including how it is fabricated, the angle at which it is viewed, and the difference between exterior and interior light levels.

Combinations of these factors can cause it to look like a mirror or dark passageway, or to be completely invisible. Humans do not actually "see" most glass, but are cued by context such as mullions, roofs or doors.

(Published 2013.0515)

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

To the Editor,

I agree that there are many myths circulating today about the U.S. timber system.

Here in Douglas County, in western Oregon, the top saw log producing area in the nation, our county budget is broken and things are tough for rural residents. Some people still blame the owls.

(Published 2013.0515)

AIA GREEN TOP TEN

The LEED Platinum-certified headquarters for the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, designed as a joint venture of KMD Architects and Stevens Associates, is the product of a rigorous building provisioning process to replace high-rent private-sector leased space with a long-term-affordable and cost-certain city-owned building.

(Published 2013.0424)

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

The Tree Growth Game

Thanks for your article "The Corruption of Wood" reviewing some of the forestry myths that prevail out here "behind the timber curtain."

Another manipulation of forestry facts drives some misleading numbers often cited to present over-harvesting as sustainable. I call it the tree growth game. This will be part of cooking the numbers to support a return to "regen harvesting" (also known as clearcutting) by the BLM in the O&C checkerboard forest lands of Oregon.

(Published 2013.0424)

THE NEED FOR BIRD-FRIENDLY DESIGN

For many people, birds and nature have intrinsic worth. Birds have been important to humans throughout history, often used to symbolize cultural values such as peace, freedom, and fidelity.

(Published 2013.0327)

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