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Adaptive Reuse Has Gone to the Dogs

Kurgo Dog Products repurposed its existing warehouse, shipping containers, wood logged in the 1800s, and even an old canoe to create its new dog-friendly HQ.

NFL Season Is Sustainability Season

As the 2016-17 season for the National Football League opens, sustainability is increasingly becoming an important player in the on-field experience for the teams and their fans. Implementing and promoting sustainable features in stadiums is also a way for team and stadium ownership to save money and generate goodwill in an environment where stadium-building costs are skyrocketing and often, local taxpayers have to foot a least part of the bill.

IoT is Smart for Buildings

Buildings are increasingly no longer just containers for life. Through technology, buildings are gaining lives of their own. With the amount of data that can be accessed about everything from occupancy, to airflow rates, to energy use, it is almost as if buildings are nearing sentience. And, as in science-fiction accounts of inanimate things achieving sentience, it spreads rapidly.

First Rotatable Lab for the Tropics Opens in Singapore

The Building and Construction Authority’s (BCA) SkyLab, the world’s first high-rise rotatable laboratory for the tropics, and the Academic Tower, a dedicated experiential learning facility and living lab for the built environment sector, opened in recent ceremonies at the BCA Academy in Singapore.

The Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.

The Renwick Gallery was built in 1859, and in the 1960s Jacqueline Kennedy led a successful campaign to restore the building’s use as a museum. Fast forward to the 21st century and the building’s comprehensive two-year renovation program significantly reconfigured building mechanical space to address improved access for maintenance, while reducing energy and water use.

Archive »Topics & Opinions

Finding Common Ground: Defining Zero Energy Buildings

Buildings that produce more energy than they consume have moved from concept to increasingly common reality in recent years. But until a few months ago, no general, industry-wide agreement existed as to what exactly defined such a building.

Kent W. Peterson, P.E., Presidential Member/Fellow ASHRAE; and Paul Torcellini, Ph.D., P.E., Member ASHRAE

Resiliency: From Surviving to Thriving

When disasters strike, buildings can turn into traps as they did in Hurricane Katrina, or they can provide places of refuge.

Sarah Foster, Managing Editor, with Christopher Weems and Rebecca Matyasovski, Associate Editors. Tani Palefski, Assistant Editor, provided additional research.

LED Lighting

When designers of the first net zero energy school in the U.S. considered how they would approach the lighting design differently using today’s LED technology, the results extended far beyond just switching out the lightbulbs.

Robert Anthony Hans, P.E., and Kenny Stanfield, AIA