GAB Report library
Buildings
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Mass Timber Cuts Embodied Carbon in High Seismic Middle School Study
A whole building life cycle assessment published by WoodWorks compares the mass timber replacement facility for The Bush School in Seattle against a composite steel baseline, demonstrating how structural timber and exposed surfaces lower upfront embodied carbon within high seismic zones.
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Washington High School Proves All-Electric Net-Zero Design at Scale
Washington, D.C. achieved LEED v4 Platinum certification for the new Benjamin Banneker Academic High School by combining an airtight building envelope, a 950-kilowatt solar array, and deep geothermal wells. The 175,000-square-foot facility now operates at an EUI below 20 kBTU per square foot.
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Upper Concrete Decks Solve Wind Sway in Mass Timber High-Rise
Norway’s 85.4-meter Mjøstårnet demonstrates how mass timber scales to high-rise heights by resolving structural dynamics and fire safety through deliberate material trade-offs. By combining regional glulam frames with heavy concrete upper floors, the design tames wind-induced acceleration while maintaining rigorous passive burnout protection under European building standards.
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Midwestern Adaptive Reuse Proves Closed-Loop Water and Net-Positive Power
Three years of post-occupancy operations at the Stanley Center for Peace and Security in Muscatine, Iowa, show how deep adaptive reuse achieved net-positive energy, closed-loop water autonomy, and significant commercial supply chain reform.
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Mass Timber Cuts Upfront Carbon by Half at Denver Burwell Center
A comparative life cycle study of the University of Denver Burwell Center demonstrates that mass timber cut upfront embodied carbon by approximately 50 percent compared to a steel baseline. By eliminating secondary finishes and accelerating erection by six weeks, the team kept the net cost variance within five dollars per square foot.
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Ecocity World Summit 2022 is Virtual
Now in its 14th edition, the Ecocity World Summit, the longest running conference on sustainable cities, has come a long way since the first Summit held in Berkeley, California in 1990, making its way throughout the world, from Australia to China, from Turkey to the UAE. Looking back, I have had the opportunity to volunteer…
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Architecture at Zero 2020 Winners
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2020 Architecture at Zero Competition
The 2020 Architecture at Zero competition, now in its ninth year, was conceived as a response to the zero net energy targets set out by the California Public Utility Commission (CPUC) in the 2008 report, California’s Long Term Energy Efficiency Strategic Plan. In this report, the CPUC set out four “Big Bold Energy Efficiency Strategies”…
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Facades+ San Francisco
The symposium program includes three sessions covering issues unique to the region, including innovative building skins, high performance facades, and the future face of San Francisco.
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nZEB Oodi – More Than Just a Library
Editor’s note: If I have the opportunity, I always try to include some personal perspective on the projects that I feature on the Green Architecture and Building Report. My friends Andrea Lee and Giles Richter recently traveled to Helsinki and spent at least a couple of hours exploring a really cool, new building near the…