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MAKING BUILDINGS GOOD
The days of making the business case for sustainable design, or even explaining what LEED means and why it is important, have passed. Today's green building challenges have moved to more complicated areas of policy — permitting and politics — and the motivating sense of competition to be "the greenest." — Published 2009.0722
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PELLI'S PLATINUM VISIONAIRE
At first glance, the glossy new 35-story condominium tower slicing into the lower Manhattan skyline doesn't stand out as a beacon of sustainable design. Its sleek form — an extruded curving wedge accented with red terra cotta bands — looks more Ferrari than Prius. And the structure's granite base and travertine lobby walls are elements not usually associated with green building. — Published 2009.0610
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SOLID GREEN PRACTICE
Given the urgency of our response to climate change and other environmental needs, is it really okay to keep building new non-green buildings?
Here are nine U.S. firms that took sustainability to heart and made green design a centerpiece of their work, and have now taken the next logical step: they have committed to create only green buildings, from here on out. — Published 2009.0506
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AUTODESK ECOTECT ANALYSIS 2010
If your client adds a series of penthouses to his pending skyscraper, will it cast a shadow on nearby city properties? How much can you reduce solar gain by adding some shading devices between the floors?
If you cover the roof areas with photovoltaic panels, how much electricity can you generate? And if your client changes the project from a residential building to an office building, how will it affect the annual water usage? — Published 2009.0429
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AIA/COTE TOP TEN GREEN PROJECTS FOR 2009
In September 2005, as construction was starting at the Shangri La Botanical Gardens and Nature Center in Orange, Texas, the property was severely damaged by Hurricane Rita. The building team led by Lake/Flato Architects salvaged storm-felled trees and incorporated the wood into the project. — Published 2009.0429
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GREEN OR GREENWASHED?
What would you call a green building standard that, on balance, tends to interfere with environmental reform more than help?
In March 2009, ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition television show featured the first house in the country to win certification under the new green building standard from the National Association of Home Builders. — Published 2009.0422
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ASU POLYTECHNIC GREEN
The new academic complex on the Polytechnic campus of Arizona State University (ASU) was built to withstand the insistent, erosive forces of the desert around Mesa, Arizona.
"Being out on the eastern part of the valley, the site is very exposed and gets hit very hard with wind and rain," says Beau Dromiack, design leader for RSP Architects, the architect of record for the project. "It requires a durable architecture which we call 'desert tough.'" — Published 2009.0422
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GREEN SYNAGOGUE
When the Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation of Evanston, Illinois, set out to build a new synagogue, they found the goal of achieving LEED Platinum certification arising naturally from the spiritual context.
"The Torah teaches us that the earth does not belong to us, that we are but stewards of God's creation," says Rabbi Brant Rosen. "Building the most sustainable facility possible was for us a religious act." — Published 2009.0415
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HELLO LEED V3!
The U.S. Green Building Council is rolling out the long-awaited LEED Version 3 on April 27, 2009. It's been ten years since the first LEED version was released in 1999, and this release is intended to initiate a pattern of biennial updates.
The green building industry has been asking for changes to LEED for some time. One of the criticisms of the current LEED Version 2 has been the inequity of the one-point-per-strategy system. — Published 2009.0415
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AIA/ALA LIBRARY AWARDS
In León, Mexico, a white stone-and-glass-clad structure expresses monumental solidity while maintaining indoor-outdoor connectivity. A three-story pergola of white-painted steel covers a plaza and rooftop terrace, adding a rhythmic lightness to the composition. This is the new library designed by Pei Partnership Architects for the state of Guanajuato. — Published 2009.0408
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