GAB Report library
Buildings
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Triple Bottom-Line Bank Is Net Zero Ready
Beneficial State Bank has a challenge for its customers and depositors. It is to “build something beautiful.” For its new headquarters in Oakland, California, the bank commissioned Gelfand Partners Architects to realize the bank’s mission of community and sustainability through the remodel of an office suite in an existing downtown building. The 6,680 square foot…
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Partner in Reconciliation: Building for the Indigenous People of Canada
The University of British Columbia (UBC) was honoured with a Sustainability Award from APPA: Leadership in Educational Facilities, for the second time in six years in August of 2017. It was a no brainer to have AYO Smart Home’s Pilot House share this stunning and innovative campus. The idea for the AYO Smart Home came…
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It’s Time to Provide Leadership
Hosted by the USGBC Northern California Chapter and following a hiatus since its last conference, GreenerBuilder 2017 came back strong and was a stimulating success, well attended by over 360 attendees. It took place at the Zero Net Energy Center in San Leandro, California, a 1980s tilt-up building that has been transformed into a breathable…
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Fighting for Our Message: Energy Efficiency and Beyond
The 2017 Beyond Energy Efficiency Conference hosted by Build It Green was an inspirational success, well attended by over 250 attendees including 43 speakers and 13 exhibitors. It took place at the Zero Net Energy Center in San Leandro, California, a training center for electrical apprentices from IBEW Local 595 and NECA, and the first…
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Building Below Zero: The Net Zero Plus Transformation
Thank you PBS for spreading the word – net zero buildings are front and center now. American public TV station PBS recently aired “Building Below Zero: The Net Zero Plus Transformation,” a documentary written, produced and directed by Jim Jackson. Actor and environmentalist Ted Danson narrates this examination of moving beyond net zero to net…
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Why Green Building Materials Are Here to Stay
Editor’s Note: Contributing author Megan Ray Nichols created and writes for her own blog Schooled by Science. Green building practices and materials are growing in popularity in the United States as well as throughout the world. Indeed, given the increasing need for sustainability and the finite nature of the world’s resources, almost all buildings will…
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Hua Nan Bank Goes for the Gold
The Xinyi Central Business District in Taipei, Taiwan is home to a handful of buildings designed by well known architecture firms including C.Y. Lee & Partners of Taipei 101 fame, Paris-based Vincent Callebaut Architectures, U.S.-based Richard Meier and Partners, and Taipei-based KRIS YAO | ARTECH. Recently I had a chance to tour the office headquarters…
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NZE Library as Students’ Live Learning Lab
Editor’s Note: This article consists of writing from the Editor as well as WRNS Studio. In light of the upcoming Net Positive Energy and Water Conference to be held on February 18-19 in San Diego, California, I reflect upon the outstanding projects that were showcased at the 2014 Net Positive Energy and Water Conference organized…
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Solar Serpents as Adaptable Global Solution
Editor’s Note: The Solar Serpent in Paradise project was brought to my attention by Mans Tham, a Stockholm-based architect and urban strategist who was educated in Stockholm as well as at U.C. Berkeley. One of his post-graduate classes examined how urban life would change due to peak oil usage in Los Angeles, California, Shanghai, China, and…
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From Down and Out to Solar Pioneer
The Housing Authority of the County of Santa Clara (HACSC) has successfully transformed a previously foreclosed federal housing complex into a dignified and energy efficient, affordable family housing complex that annually feeds 244,350 kWh of renewable energy to the power grid and enables all the residents to “go solar” and reap the cost benefits of…