HOK’s Anica Landreneau, the chair of the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED Steering Committee, has sat down for an in-house interview published by the firm in a preview of the changes contained in the LEED v5 update. The new changes align with the Paris Agreement, AIA 2030, MEP 2040, SE... View full entry
A new study funded by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) using climate data to predict the cost of maintenance for military facilities threatened by extreme weather events has outlined new approaches for estimating condition loss and reduction of services. The findings, which can be applied to... View full entry
The White House recently announced an update in its efforts to bolster clean construction in the United States. The update lists various public and private entities that have now committed to its three-year-old Federal Buy Clean Initiative. Some companies mentioned in the press release as signing... View full entry
A surprising new claim about the amount of steel being used to construct NEOM’s new The Line megacity and other satellite developments is being advanced by several regional outlets, which claim the amount equals one-fifth (20%) of the world's current steel production. The claim was first... View full entry
Following our previous look at an opening for a Design and Construction Manager at the Eames Institute, we are using this week’s edition of our Job Highlights series to explore an open role on Archinect Jobs for an Assistant Professor of Architectural Design, Structures, and Mass... View full entry
ICYMI Niall Patrick Walsh started the State of AEC intended to "guide you through the latest analyses, indexes, and trends on how the architecture and construction industries are performing economically." In reporting on the September U.S. Federal Reserve rate cut he pointed out "the Fed’s... View full entry
British construction tech start-up Automated Architecture (AUAR) is sending two of its pop-up, robotic micro-factories to the U.S. for the first time in a move to bring automated and affordable house building to North America. Founded in 2019, AUAR functions by licensing its technology to builders... View full entry
Populus goes one step further in its boast of being 'carbon positive', not just offsetting the hotel’s carbon footprint but actually taking out far more carbon than it puts in – a promise few businesses would dare to make, for both financial and publicity reasons.
As a term, however, 'carbon positive' can be linguistically confusing [...] and with no clear definition of what 'carbon positive' means, there are no metrics by which to determine its validity.
— The Guardian
The project, first announced in February 2021, has since garnered skepticism amidst its developer Urban Villages' claims of being a first-of-its-kind carbon-positive American design in the typology. The true sustainability of the firm’s 2009 Aqua Tower in Chicago has been scrutinized in the past... View full entry
MIT engineers have created 3D-printed glass bricks that could offer a new approach to construction with sustainable and reusable materials. These interlocking bricks, which offer similar strength to concrete, are designed for circular construction, allowing buildings to be disassembled and... View full entry
Twenty-six CEOs from some of the world’s most influential landscape architecture firms have publicly committed to making their profession zero emissions by 2040, aligning with the goals set out in the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA Climate Action Plan). Collectively generating... View full entry
A recently completed project in Oxford, United Kingdom has earned distinction as the first-ever in the country to obtain a 100% BREAAM score for its environmental credentials. Image: courtesy CMP Architects The 43,745-square-foot scheme from CMP Architects created valuable lab space for research &... View full entry
The Environmental Protection Agency has published details of a new label program aimed at increasing the amount and quality of more sustainable U.S.-made construction materials in the marketplace. It supports the agency’s new $160 million grant initiative to spearhead new Environmental Product... View full entry
The U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Maine are leading interesting new engineering research into floor cassettes made using recyclable natural materials that are strong enough to be used in multi-story buildings. Thanks to experiments at UMaine's... View full entry
AI's capacity to initiate energy use reductions and decarbonization of the building sector was documented recently by researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. A new study of medium-sized office buildings in the United States revealed the potential for an 8% emissions reduction by... View full entry
The International Union of Architects this week revealed the theme for this year’s World Architecture Day. Held annually on the first Monday of October since its creation in 1985, the day occurs parallel to the United Nations’ World Habitat Day, aligning the architecture community’s efforts... View full entry
