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West Coast Green: Innovations, Ideas, and Opportunities
The very cool and very educational West Coast Green will be in San Francisco next week, October 1–3, 2009. It’s the largest conference on green innovation for the built environment on the west coast, and will be packed with educational seminars, trade show exhibitors, and showcases. Plan your schedule precisely for each day and get…
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Team California’s Refract House Starts 2,848 Mile Trek to the 2009 Solar Decathlon
It’s the 2009 Solar Decathlon, but the journey began two years ago: 16 design proposals narrowed down to one winning scheme, design development, refinement, hours of hard work, construction, close-in, and finally, today’s auspicious send-off for the Refract House. Team California, a partnership between the California College of the Arts and Santa Clara University, has…
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Bringing Green Home
This LA heat has got me thinking about my house. As a mom, I’m relieved that I can keep the kids cool and happy even though I fully expect to be shocked by the electric bills for blasting our air conditioner this summer. As an architect, however, I am nagged by the fact that I…
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Laundry Facility Reincarnated as the First LEED Certified Residential Building in Northern California
Why would a developer save part of an unreinforced brick building when it has no historical value and would cost more money to save than to demolish it? Because saving one façade would help provide an extra layer of interest to the design of the building, preserve the fabric of existing store fronts, and retain…
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Sripadanna Residence: Synergy in Sustainability Part II
In a previous article, “Sripadanna Residence: Synergy in Sustainability Part I,” we discussed the relationship of synergies generated by a combination of design measures such as: building orientation to take advantage of the sun’s path; predominant shed roof and high ceilings with exposed framing made of reclaimed wood; clerestory windows that bring sunlight and warmth…
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What is Your Building’s Carbon Footprint?
As design professionals and consumers, we have become smarter about the decisions we make in selecting building products and we are asking more questions of the vendors and manufacturers. We now have the knowledge to evaluate and select green materials such as FSC certified wood or a solar photovoltaic system. However, we can take it…
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Rising Tides Competition Exhibit Opens in San Francisco
A unique exhibit featuring innovative ideas related to coastal development and sea level rise opens on Friday, July 10, at the historic San Francisco Ferry Building in downtown San Francisco and runs through July 19. The exhibit, called “Rising Tides,” is the culmination of an international design competition hosted by the San Francisco Bay Conservation…
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Sripadanna Residence: Synergy in Sustainability
Architects have been practicing principles of sustainable design for a long time even before the term sustainability became popular. With increasing popularity of sustainable design, it is important to understand that sustainable design is more than a collection of credits. The key is to create synergy between building systems and practices that multiply each other’s…
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Award Winning Two-in-One Solar Roofing System Launched at PCBC 2009
The PCBC 2009 featured 400+ exhibitors but only Custom-Bilt Metals won the Cool Product Competition in the “Saves Energy” category with their FusionSolar system. I had the opportunity to discuss the product with two of the owners, Joe and Steve Chiovare. The What: Custom-Bilt Metals, a manufacturer of metal roofing and rain gutter products, has…
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Optimism Key to Building Industry Recovery
PCBC (formerly known as the Pacific Coast Builders Conference) kicked off its 50th anniversary in San Francisco, California on June 17–19. The theme, “the New Age of Invention”, was apropos. In this economic climate, it’s time for us in the design and construction industries to re-invent ourselves, innovate, and work towards a more sustainable way…