"Given the shortening timeline for dramatically reducing greenhouse gas emissions, it is imperative that governments committed to doing so have a readily assessable way to begin realizing reductions in their building sector," writes Ed Mazria, FAIA, and Kristina Kershner in a recently released report, Meeting the 2030 Challenge Through Building Codes. "The 2030 Challenge code equivalents listed in Table A [of that report] provide a simple, practicable solution using existing building energy codes and rating systems. By amending existing codes based on these code equivalents, governments can be confident that their codes meet the initial 50 percent reduction target of the 2030 Challenge."
Continue reading "A Way to Achieve 50% Carbon Reduction" »
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe called architecture frozen music. Bompas and Parr think architecture and gelatin might be a better match.
These London-based culinary architects and the University College of London (UCL) hosted a jelly banquet on July 4th as part of the London Festival of Architecture that featured work from the UK's best architecture firms, all rendered in gelatin. The entries were judged on their innovation, aesthetics, and "wobble factor."
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The U.S. House of Representatives Small Business Committee is holding a hearing this month on the Federal Acquisition Regulation that allows federal agencies to withhold up to 10 percent of design fees until the project completion. The AIA has a representative—a small-firm principal who has been affected by this regulation—who will testify on your behalf. If you have been affected as well, we’d like to hear your story, too. Read on …
Continue reading "Has Federal Fee Retainage Affected You?" »
As we here at AIArchitect gear up for our second every fantasy architecture theme issue, I've been struck by the detail and care of the images we've been sent. Every time, it seems, that we sit down to discuss one of these projects after reading a written description, our preconceived notions of what it might look like are capriciously crushed when we pulled up a rendering by visions both inspiring and intimidating.
In that spirit, here are a handful of videos (courtesy of that quintessential medium of the moment, You Tube) of architects and of their work.
Continue reading "Work On the Boards, On the Web" »
Another Texas oil man has hijacked our nation's energy policy discussion. But this time, he might not be saying what you expect, that is, if you've been able to avoid T. Boone Pickens' media barnstorming crusade against fossil fuel dependence.
Pickens' is a billionaire career oil man with political connections. He was Bob Dole's energy policy advisor in his 1996 presidential run. He's the founder and chairman of BP Capital Management, who’s run out of faith that the traditional fossil fuel industry can solve (or even stop creating) energy policy problems. His well-rehearsed shtick is based on a few simple numbers: essentially, 70 percent of the nation's oil is imported from foreign sources, at a cost of $700 billion a year. In 10 years our energy use patterns will cost $7 trillion, and will constitute the largest transfer of wealth in human history.
Continue reading "Pickens On Peak Oil" »