APPALACHIAN SUNCATCHER Nestled into a hillside near Asheville, North Carolina, the Blue Ridge Parkway Destination Center is projected to use 75 percent less energy than a comparable conventionally designed facility. Trombe walls, a planted roof, bioswales, daylighting, a high-efficiency mechanical energy-recovery system, and other "green" features add up to make this National Park Service facility a contender for LEED Gold certification. — Published 2008.0521
	GREENER GREEN ROOFS The sedum roofs of today symbolize performance-oriented green roof design. Like fine-tuned engines, they run on leaner artificial substrates with almost no organic matter; volcanic rock or expanded shale, baked at 2000 degrees Fahrenheit (1093 degrees Celsius), make the substrates lighter and soil depths as thin as possible. They seem to be race cars in the fleet of green roofs — maximum performance paired with minimum weight. The simple soil mixtures and roof sections of the early days of green roofs developed into multilayered complex systems supporting the homogenous surface of succulents. The unkempt and rough gave way to the groomed and cultivated, reminiscent of the unrelenting beauty of agricultural fields. — Published 2007.1024
	ENVIRONMENTAL CENTER IN GEORGIA Architects designing educational centers for environmental organizations bear a special responsibility to make their medium part of the message. The new Gwinnett Environmental & Heritage Center (GEHC) in Buford, Georgia, designed by Lord, Aeck & Sargent, is a lesson in itself about energy and water conservation. — Published 2007.0228
	CANADIAN WAR MUSEUM Designers of the new Canadian War Museum in Ottawa, Ontario could have merely created a protective envelope for Canada's wartime artifacts. Instead they designed a monumental structure to inspire a nation by integrating artistic symbolism with pragmatic innovation. — Published 2006.0125
	HIGH-METAL TOWER A crisp, subtly articulated new form has risen among the towers of New York. The Helena, a 580-unit apartment building designed by FXFOWLE ARCHITECTS, formerly Fox & Fowle Architects, brings elegant design and sustainable technologies to a building type often underserved in both these regards. — Published 2005.0928
	CRADLE TO CRADLE WINNER In 2002, architect William McDonough and chemist Michael Braungart published Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things, in which they argued that energy efficiency and waste reduction are not sufficient as sustainability goals. Architects should instead aim for waste avoidance. To explore possibilities for implementation, an international Cradle to Cradle Home Design and Construction Competition called for submissions with innovative approaches to materials and systems for sustainable residential design. The winning team, from Seattle, presents their design that reflects the paradigm and vision laid out in the book. — Editor — Published 2005.0713
	BEHNISCH IN BOSTON With ever-rising energy prices, commercial tenants in office buildings have begun to consider the increasing cost of heating, cooling, and lighting their spaces as a "second rent." Savvy developers and architects are responding to their concern by making new buildings far more energy efficient than in the recent past. — Published 2005.0209
	SUSTAINING SYDNEY SPACES A group of office workers in Sydney, Australia comes face to face with history every day. When entering their new building, they pass by an extraordinary four-story-high raw sandstone wall. It is the remains of a trench that convict laborers dug by hand for the installation of a 19th-century gasworks. Now that the site has been redeveloped, the wall is preserved as a major feature in an eight-story atrium. — Published 2004.0714
	GREENING ROOFTOPS Green roofs — topped with soil and living plants — have well known benefits to the buildings beneath them. They provide thermal and sound insulation and can prolong roof life. They also offer healthful benefits to their urban surroundings. So says Steven Peck, executive director of Green Roofs for Healthy Cities. Other potential benefits of so-called "naturalized" rooftops include stormwater management, urban food production, air pollution reduction, and urban heat island temperature modification. — Published 2003.0625
	GREEN ROOF RETROFIT The 1925 art deco-style Montgomery Ward Catalog Building in Baltimore, Maryland has just undergone a rehabilitation. The adaptive reuse project by DMJMH+N, an architecture/ engineering firm in Washington D.C., restored the facade of the landmark building and installed a 30,000-square foot (2800-square-meter) "green" roof. — Published 2003.0409

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