Microsoft's new corporate campus in Redmond, Washington, designed by LMN, NBBJ, WRNS Studio, and ZGF Architects, is being built with a bevy of digital technology tools. Construction Dive reports that the massive construction project will bring up to 1.3 million square feet of new development... View full entry
Ridership on Metrolink would double between Burbank and Anaheim, relieving freeway congestion, and new high-speed electric trains would slash emissions along the route under a plan that would shift up to $5.5 billion from the bullet train project in the Central Valley to Southern California. — The Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times reports that the California High-Speed Rail Authority could funnel a portion of the $20.5 billion already earmarked for the state's new train system toward a high-speed link connecting Southern California. The funding would improve regional commuter rail services... View full entry
Scotland will soon be meeting the equivalent of 100% of its electricity needs from clean energy sources.
That’s the prediction made in a new report published by member organisation Scottish Renewables, which suggests renewable energy is providing signficant benefits to almost every aspect of the nation’s economy and is supporting major growth in terms of innovation, jobs, communities, climate progress and the rural economy.
— Energy Live News
The United Kingdom's green energy revolution is continuing apace following record-setting sustainable energy generation initiatives that have nearly eliminated the use of coal-fired energy in the country. According to the Scottish government, Scotland's recent move to double-down... View full entry
This post is brought to you by LafargeHolcim Foundation Call for exemplary construction projects and visionary design concepts. The LafargeHolcim Awards seeks leading projects of professionals as well as bold ideas from the Next Generation that combine sustainable construction solutions with... View full entry
Sterling Backus's son only had one question after he drove a Lamborghini Aventador in the XBOX video game Forza: Can we build one? Most dads would respond with a chuckle and some quip about winning the lottery. But not Backus, whose day job is laser physicist. Backus responded, "Sure," and he meant it. As of this week, the replica is capable of driving under its own power. — Auto Blog
With a budget of about $20,000, the father and son team have tackled the tremendous challenge of building a car from scratch. Backus talks about spending his time on YouTube learning about 3D-printing and how he obtained the panel layouts for the car on GrabCAD and modified them as required. The... View full entry
Any busy person understands the overwhelming sight of countless emails sitting in an inbox on a Monday morning. They come in all shapes and sizes: there are those that don't require a response, easy enough, on to the next; the sales ones asking us to check out a new glass product, annoying; there... View full entry
Since [...] the federal government turned control [of Governors Island] over to New York City, under the condition that it not be used for residential housing, it has been an island in search of a purpose [...]
Now, the city has a new idea: transforming one of its last big chunks of developable land [...] into a “living laboratory” for coping with the effects of climate change.
— The New York Times
The early stages of a plan to convert New York's Governor's Island into a self-funded sustainability laboratory have come to light. The proposal bears some similarities to the Billion Oyster project, a decade-old proposal developed by an eponymous nonprofit and landscape architects SCAPE hat... View full entry
Skanska USA has introduced a new open-source database tool, the Embodied Carbon in Construction Calculator (“EC3”), which estimates and evaluates the carbon emissions contained within a variety of construction materials...The searchable database is based on environmental product declaration (EPD) data and has a list of more than 16,000 materials...categorized by performance requirements, design specification, project location, and global warming potential. — Construction Dive
The new technology enables owners, contractors, and designers to calculate a project's carbon footprint, reports Construction Dive. Currently in pilot testing, the tool "has helped participating projects to achieve embodied carbon reductions of up to 30% with little to no cost impact. View full entry
A new tower designed by Zaha Hadid Architects containing the world’s tallest atrium is nearly complete. The so-called Leeza SOHO tower straddles a new subway line in Beijing and was designed for developer SOHO China. The subway line running below the site bisects building, creating the... View full entry
Google's Architect-In-Residence and Head of R+D for the Built Environment, Michelle Kaufmann, will help lead the first ever 2019 fellowship cohort. After releasing an open call for fellowship applications earlier this year, four fellows have been chosen to help spearhead Google's newest... View full entry
A few years ago, the owners of the Rangers concluded that the sweat-inducing weather was depressing attendance, and decided to build $1.2 billion Globe Life Field, with a retractable roof and air conditioning, right next to their not-very-old and still perfectly good stadium. The residents of Arlington are chipping in $500 million of that cost. — Bloomberg
As climate change continues to bestow its work upon the planet, Texas Rangers Baseball are one of the many feeling its effects. Globe Life Field, the new HKS designed baseball park under construction in Arlington, Texas, and due for completion in March of next year, is the $1.2 billion response to... View full entry
...the SmartCan is one of those rare home-focused robots that could...actually deliver some genuinely useful functionality...Using a companion app, the SmartCan will follow a pre-programmed schedule and automatically drive itself to a curbside drop off point on garbage pickup days, and then autonomously return to wherever you keep them parked the rest of the week — Gizmodo
While the SmartCan may prove a pragmatic solution for some homeowners, there are still questions of price, which have yet to be revealed, and maintenance, such as charging, risked damage, and owners remembering to keep paths clear, reports Gizmodo. View full entry
It’s well known that the production of cement—the world’s leading construction material—is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, accounting for about 8 percent of all such releases...A team of researchers at MIT has come up with a new way of manufacturing the material that could eliminate these emissions altogether, and could even make some other useful products in the process. — MIT News
The research team is exploring the "idea of using an electrochemical process to replace the current fossil-fuel-dependent system" that relies on coal-fired ovens to convert limestone, clay, and sand to Portland cement. Through the new process, the need to burn coal will be avoided and the emitted... View full entry
Google and the Château de Versailles have teamed up to take VR users on a private tour of Louis XIV's royal residence. It's the largest photogrammetry project ever done at the castle, with 21 rooms and 387,500 square feet of internal surfaces captured. — Engadget
Google has also made it possible to "handle and inspect over 100 sculptures, paintings and other works of art and see them with incredible close-up detail," according to Engadget. The experience is currently only available to HTC Vive and Oculus Rift users. In addition to the virtual tour... View full entry
It's no secret that planned obsolescence makes the world go 'round. We've all been there: You buy a big-ticket item that seems to work great until, that is, the product is no longer under warranty. Soon after, it breaks. Lo and behold, repairing the item is prohibitively expensive, it might even... View full entry
