Archinect - Features

The US Just Defined a Zero Emissions Building: Is It Enough?

2024-06-27T16:46:00-04:00

For the first time, the US government has issued a definition of a 'zero emission building.' While the effort to define a 'zero emission building' is both timely and commendable given the proliferation of unverified titles such as 'net zero' and 'carbon positive' in the AEC sector, shortfalls in the new definition may have unintended consequences.

Living Walls: Balancing a Plant-Centric Process with People-Centric Design with Habitat Horticulture's David Brenner

2019-11-14T10:00:00-05:00

The built environment shapes our lives daily. Yet as we further explore the landscapes of the metropolitan areas we call home, designing with plant life is often seen as an accessory or an afterthought. However, for the San Francisco-based multidisciplinary design firm Habitat Horticulture, the possibilities for plant-centric spaces and the potential plants have to make our lives better is extremely high.

Founding principal and lead designer David Brenner explains that his passion for plant life started at a young age in his grandparents' garden. Today, Brenner seeks to shift the perception people have about plant life, often portrayed as “static accessories” to the built environment, by creating a way for people to experience these beautifully complex entities through larger than life living wall installations.

For this week's Studio Snapshot, Brenner talks about his multifaceted team and how they create structural feats that go beyond standard plant management and cultivation. Ac...

Between Sampling and Dowsing: Field Notes from GRNASFCK

2015-04-30T13:10:00-04:00

In case the name didn’t tip you off, let it be said that GRNASFCK is not your average landscape architecture studio. Whether producing disjointed travelogues in Celebration, Florida or organizing rallies for extremophile bacteria in San Francisco, GRNASFCK operates almost like an industrial dredge, unsettling easy or comfortable ideas about the relationship between architecture and ecology, and covering impressive conceptual (and geographic) ground.

Shitting Architecture: the dirty practice of waste removal

2014-08-13T11:13:00-04:00

In a recent episode of the Comedy Central show Broad City, protagonists Ilana and Abbi find themselves the inadvertent hosts of a hurricane party. Since the devastation of Hurricane Sandy, such impromptu events – a tradition in the American South in which people who cannot (or will not) evacuate gather together to drink and weather the storm – are increasingly appearing in television shows, revealing the degree to which global warming has infiltrated popular media. In this particular instance, Abbi finds out that the storm has shut off the plumbing at the exact moment that her neighbor-slash-crush arrives, and right after she’s defecated.