By 2030, around a quarter of UK buildings should be heated using them, according to the UK government's climate advisory body, rising to 52% by 2050. Electrifying heating will also be key to decarbonising buildings in the US, says Melissa Lott, director of research at the Centre on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University. One study in San Francisco referred to heat pumps as the "single most impactful lever" to reducing emissions. — BBC
Communal heatmains can be used to overcome the challenges of digging expensive boreholes for heat pumps in private homes and urban apartment blocks where most of the UK’s population resides. The country’s push to heat half of its homes using heat pumps, which are evolving, puts it... View full entry
Toronto-based Montgomery Sisam Architects has unveiled their design for the overhaul of the University of Toronto’s Koffler Scientific Reserve. Situated in a rural site in King Township north of the city, the new campus is intended to accommodate research students and faculty for extended... View full entry
The new building codes make 49 amendments to the International Building Code...will be the first time Aspen has set energy limits for every building in the city...The new regulations are not about affordable housing...Axelman does not expect the new regs will reduce the rumbling thrum of construction that is the soundtrack to Aspen. — The Colorado Sun
Jason Blevins covers the recent news out Aspen regarding passing of Ordinance NO .01 (Series of 2023), pitched as key to achieving the city’s Climate Action Plan. View full entry
For much of its recent history in mitigating climate change, Denver has concentrated on buildings’ operational energy — the energy needed to run basics like heating, air conditioning, lighting and hot water. That will shift in May, when Denver’s newly adopted green code takes effect, said Christy Collins, green communities specialist with the local government. — Smart Cities Dive
Denver’s new green code will make it so a building’s embodied carbon is considered. It will provide minimum requirements for the siting, design, construction, and plans for the operation of projects. Commercial projects in Denver are now required by law to choose around 10% of the green code... View full entry
MVRDV has released a series of proposals to respond to rising sea levels in Vancouver. Working as part of a North Creek Collective team, the Dutch firm produced a catalogue of options for adaptive buildings aimed to inspire other coastal cities to “undertake immediate action to adapt to climate... View full entry
In a few short years, policymakers and building designers have gone from pushing energy-efficient design and products—which saved folks money—to targeting carbon emission reductions, even if it costs more in the long run. This paradigm shift is rapidly changing expectations for the development and operation of affordable housing. — Shelterforce
New York, Boston, and Los Angeles are three of America’s largest cities to have recently adopted some version of law or code changes mandating the design of new buildings (with the occasional exception for certain, typically smaller multifamily developments) be made all-electric. The... View full entry
The University of Toronto’s School of Engineering has announced a new research center that will, together with its industry partners, work to find a viable solution to the growing need for public infrastructure that is in tune with the push for sustainability and concerns over climate change... View full entry
AL_A has been granted permission to construct the world’s first magnetized fusion power plant. The Culham Science Centre facility, to be located in Oxford, UK, is anchored by a 125-foot-tall cylindrical fusion hall wrapped in a translucent facade. The scheme was first unveiled in August... View full entry
In January 2022, a team of developers, architects and environmental consultants began work on a 50-year project that — if completed — will become one of Denmark's most ambitious and controversial infrastructure schemes to date: A 271-acre man-made peninsula devised to shield its capital, Copenhagen, from rising sea levels.
But the multi-million dollar environmental project has drawn vocal criticism — primarily, and somewhat ironically, from those concerned about the climate.
— CNN
Despite its intent, Copenhageners have lodged multiple unsuccessful attempts at halting Lynetteholm’s construction in the European Parliament and national assembly. The design calls for a linear wall shielding 35,000 new homes that can be bolstered as necessary in what is called a “process... View full entry
Beijing-based landscape architecture firm Turenscape has completed the transformation of a former 126-acre dumping ground into a “dreamlike floating forest” in the eastern Chinese city of Nanchang. The new Fish Tail Park operates a triple function as a habitat for wildlife, a... View full entry
For one of the last features of 2022, Daniel Vella explained why It’s Time To Consider the Refugee Camp as a City. Orhan Ayyüce "couldn't agree more with the main idea" and noted that in fact "Turkey is building extra story addable, planned, cmu based cities in Idlib to accommodate refugees who... View full entry
A team of researchers from MIT and Harvard University, working with laboratories in Italy and Switzerland, has made progress in understanding how concrete used by the ancient Romans has lasted for millennia. The discovery, outlined in a new paper published in the journal Science Advances, centers... View full entry
The architect wanted to create social housing in Los Angeles. Dogged by the FBI, his hope for more egalitarian architecture never came to be. — The Nation
Does it surprise you that an architect dedicating his life's work for better housing for the working classes would be declared, with the pressure of the real estate industry and communism scare, a public enemy and had the FBI trying really hard to discriminate against him for years?That architect... View full entry
A modular, wooden cabin from Dutch designer Caspar Schols has won the World Hotel Building of the Year 2022 Award at the recent World Architecture Festival (WAF). Named ANNA Stay, the project is recognized for its sustainable design that allows its guests to reconnect with themselves and... View full entry
Construction is underway on the $180 million Gateway Building at the University of British Columbia, designed by Perkins&Will and Schmidt Hammer Lassen. Intended as a “principal point of entry” to the UBC campus, the design of the six-story, 267,000-square-foot mass timber building seeks to... View full entry
