For current feature 525 Golden Gate Seismically and Systematically Sustainable I spoke with architect David Hobstetter, of the San Francisco firm KMD Architects. David made the case for seismic resilience as a key factor in discussing his building’s sustainability. Particularly, within a regional context and as part of a rating system like LEED.

On a related note Bill Lascher wrote Disaster Resilience Part of Sustainability, Too, an article for Miller McCune wherein Erik Kneer, an associate engineer at Degenkolb argues that LEED scoring should "be more closely tied to a project’s regional context. Along the Pacific Coast, for example, regionalization credits might be based on a building’s seismic performance, while in the Southeast credits might be issued for the ability to withstand hurricanes". Lascher reports that "many regional chapters have advocated for such credits, and chapters can adapt their guidelines somewhat to address regional concerns, but disaster resiliency hasn’t made its way into the organization’s certification rules."

News
In anticipation of the Publish Or... bracket [GOES SOFT] event at WUHO Gallery this past Thursday, April 19, Archinect showcased a few select projects from the book including GROUNDING: Landslide Mitigation Housing Jared Winchester / Viktor Ramos. With GROUNDING the designers seek to "mitigate future catastrophic events, salvage currently unbuildable landscape, and to evolve an architectural vernacular of dwelling within tight topographic settings" using a network of soil stabilizing housing units positioned within the fragile sub-strata of the Rancho de Palos Verdes community. Orhan Ayyüce opined “Let the earth slide. don't build in land slide areas. another anology to this is seminal article by mike davis, ‘let malibu burn’ meaning don't build in areas where nature has a way of acting up." however Andrew Chaveas wrote that he was "tempted to agree with Orhan, the reality remains that the vision of this project could be cast into the trend of ‘emergency’ architecture that seems to be growing with each natural disaster. With global population rising, we will be forced to continue developing in 'hazardous' geographies: earthquake zones, tsunami zones, etc. etc.; so it's certainly encouraging to see attempts at addressing all these issues."

Copenhagen based BIG unveiled their official designs for the 490-foot-tall Beach and Howe tower in Vancouver, a collaboration with Westbank, Dialog, Cobalt, PFS, Buro Happold, Glotman Simpson and local architect James Cheng. Derek Kaplan wrote "I used to walk by this site almost daily -- Bing Thom's office is a couple blocks from here.  the area, especially under the bridge and on ramps, could definitely use some rehabilitation.  I'd like to see some graphics showing the payoff of the extruded facade, but they are right that solar gain is a usually-unaddressed problem of the highrises in vancouver."

James Brew, AIA suggested that "If you designed or built a home that met energy code just a few years ago, that same home will probably not be legal to build just a few years from now" due to quickly improving residential energy codes. Emily Kemper added on "Studies have shown that code updates are one of the single biggest drivers of energy savings in housing stock.  In some states it is mandated in the law that code be updated on a regular schedule...Looking at that map, I'd hate to live in North Dakota... northern climate zone without a statewide energy code?  Scary..."

Toshiko Mori also recently wrote a touching obituary for architect Yoshiko Sato who passed away earlier this year, published in The Architect’s Newspaper.

Work/Firms/Blogs
The residents of The New Norris House provided information about the bathroom and the water features installed there, that are helping conserve water.

Architect and writer Levan Asabashvili shared an adapted version of a presentation given for the colloquium: 'Why Preserve Public Housing?' held on 31 March at Columbia University. In the presentation Asabashvili reviews the history of Soviet public housing and argues for the preservation-restoration post-war Soviet housing in Georgia.

Schools/School Blogs
Patrick Beseda is debating participating in University of Colorado, Denver’s Design Build Bluff program.  He asked the Archinect community for their opinion on The Importance of Being "Built" coming out of school. wildlobo71 offers that "a knowledge of how things REALLY work, really relate, really go together, is one of the biggest things the firm I work for looks for in new hires... if you have this knowledge coming out of school, all the better for you and your resume!"

Bronwyn Charlton one of the students from Washington University St Louis doing a semester abroad in Helsinki, took a whirlwind tour of Eastern Finnish architecture visiting; the Church of the Cross (designed by Alvar Aalto), Sibelius Hall (designed by Hannu Tikka and Kimmo Lintula) and Säynätsalo town hall (designed by Alvar Aalto).

Did anyone attend today’s Urban Hike of the Los Angeles River? The special tour was done in conjunction with the A+D Museum current exhibition Drylands Design, and done to allow hikers the opportunity to learn about Los Angeles' own water scarcity issues first hand along with LA's rich history with its river. victimeyes wondered "hm, would you really want to walk in that river in sandals?? i saw a homeless guy pissing in it once while i was showing around architecture students the area around SCI-Arc. This isn't necessarily a fresh water river, but ok!"

Discussion Threads
Transparence is curious to know What building material should we stop using permanently and why? mdler pops up to post "I agree with Medusa's comment about EIFS. Dryvit always blames the issue with their crapy material on the install". Meanwhile Miles Jaffe lists "Endangered species like tropical hardwoods.Materials that must be shipped from the four corners of the Earth.Everything from China.The 'why' is obvious."

Jefferson would like suggestions regarding examples of great rooftop architecture/spaces that you'd like to share? PsyArch reports that "there's lots of crappy bars on hotel roofs shielded from the roof-top plant by bamboo and gas heaters." in London while el jeffe recommends "corbu's bestigui penthouse."

mmrd is looking for the  Location of the "Elia-Bash House" (Califon, New Jersey) by Gwathmey-Siegel. Anyone want to help out?

Finally, abrillAY wants to know what you guys think of UofC's EVDS and M.Arch programs along with their pedagogy and adoption of a generative modelling focus. whistler tells abrillAY to "Phone Marc Boutin".