Ecology's latest posts

The R&D Stimulus

Lance Hosey — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 16:02:00 GMT

This Wednesday, President Obama will call for a $100 billion tax credit to spur research and development among businesses. Considered a key part of the administration?s economic incentives, the credit is designed to reward companies that develop new technologies domestically and preserve American jobs.The move could be just the thing to encourage sustainable innovation. New York Times columnist and green advocate Tom Friedman long has argued that the revolution won?t come with grand plans, as a green Manhattan Project. ?Twelve guys and gals going off to Los Alamos won't solve this problem,? he told Wired two years ago. ?We need 100,000 people in 100,000 garages trying 100,000 things?in the hope that five of them break through.? Tinkerers will save the planet.

The World's Greenest Buildings: Promise vs. Performance

Lance Hosey — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 11:58:00 GMT

One of the complaints about my recent survey of top green buildings (?The G-List,? July 27) was that, like the Vanity Fair survey it echoes, it was based on subjective opinions, not on objective data. Personally, I believe it?s useful to compare apples to apples in order to identify the gaps between the design canon and the green canon. Besides, why do we demand that environmental excellence be based exclusively on verifiable fact when we don?t demand the same of general design excellence? Does anecdotal evidence have value in one arena but not the other?

The Death of the McMansion

Lance Hosey — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 08:25:00 GMT

Earlier this year, when GM cancelled the Hummer, I asked whether it signaled the impending death of the McMansion (?Ding Dong, the Hummer?s Dead,? February 27): ?Since 1960, the average U.S. household has gotten smaller, but the average house has doubled in size. But suddenly, in the past couple of years, the trend began reversing. According to USA Today, in a single quarter during 2008, the average area of new single-family homes shrank by more than 10 percent, from 2,629 square feet to 2,343. ... Ninety percent of builders surveyed by the NAHB last year plan on building smaller, more affordable houses.?

?Truthiness? in the Cinematic City

Lance Hosey — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 12:12:00 GMT

In today?s Washington Post, film critic Ann Hornaday sorts through the facts and fictions of movies based on political history. The extremes range from Oliver Stone?s JFK (1991), a roiling stew of truth, theory, and fantasy, to Alan J. Pakula?s All the President?s Men (1976), ?the ur-text of fact-based political drama? and the definitive account of Watergate, according to Hornaday. Yet, even Pakula?s venerated docudrama about reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein gets picked apart for its variations from documented history, including the invention of its most famous line, ?Follow the money.?

The Green Apple

Lance Hosey — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 14:47:00 GMT

In 2007, I wrote that while our mental image of a ?green city? might resemble Ebenezer Howard's Garden City or small hamlets such as Hastings, Neb., (population 25,000), which Yahoo! named ?the greenest city in America? that year, studies show that New York is the most resource-efficient city in the country (?Is Bigger Better??, August 2007). The Big Apple is more energy-efficient per person than any other American city?and even many states. ?Carbon emissions in NYC are less than a third of the national average,? I wrote back then, ?and typical electricity use is 75 percent lower than in Dallas. Because walking and public transit are popular, gasoline consumption approximates U.S. levels from the 1920s.?

Friggatriskaidekaphobia

Lance Hosey — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 18:15:00 GMT

Friday the 13th seems to have had a frightful influence on ARCHITECT readers. A slew of angry comments appeared on two of my articles yesterday. These in response to ?,? my recent survey of green buildings: "I am so sick of the Green Hype, the only green we should be talking about is how to get paid for practicing architecture.? And this: ?Seriously this Green Gospel and the Green Gestapo?have worn out their 15 minutes. Can we please spend [our] time and energy talking about retaining the relevance of our profession and how best to try to earn a living by practicing architecture?. [LEED] is a ponsi [sic] scheme that we will all look back on and laugh about ten years from now.? That second one is from a LEED AP.

The World's Greenest Architect?

Lance Hosey — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 12:44:00 GMT

My recent survey on the ?greenest? buildings of the past three decades (?The G-List,? July 27) identified William McDonough + Partners, the Renzo Piano Building Workshop, and Behnisch Architekten, respectively, as the architects of the top three projects. What?s interesting, however, is that each of these firms has only three projects on the final list of 122.

Gehry and Osama

Lance Hosey — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 22:01:00 GMT

On July 1, when I criticized Frank Gehry?s flip-flop on sustainability, one reader called my remarks ?lame,? since, he insisted, ?Gehry did green before it was fashionable.? If Gehry?s so green, why does James Wines, author of Green Architecture, call his work a ?mind-boggling waste?? And why did the 52 experts in my recent survey on the greenest buildings fail to submit a single Gehry project?out of 122 buildings they listed?

Candwiches

Lance Hosey — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 23:37:00 GMT

Sandwich in a can. The idea is so brilliantly simple, ya gotta wonder how no one thought of it before now. Why buy peanut butter, jelly, and bread separately, when you can just pop a top and dig right in? Unfortunately, we?ll have to wait a while longer for this marvel of modern technology. Travis Wright, the financier behind the beautifully named Candwich, is, alas, being sued by the SEC for having lied to his investors. (He told them they were getting real estate. Maybe his next big plan is land-in-a-can.)

Blind Spots

Lance Hosey — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 12:14:00 GMT

Last night, Los Angeles Times architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne took issue with the premise of the ?green? building survey I published yesterday (?The G-List?), claiming the new poll, like the original Vanity Fair survey, suffers from ?its own blind spot.? First, I should say that I respect Hawthorne a great deal. His 2001 Metropolis article ?The Case for a Green Aesthetic,? remains one of the only concerted attempts, other than my own, to address the topic of my forthcoming book, The Shape of Green. In fact, because I value Hawthorne?s opinion, I included him in my original list of 150 people I asked to participate in the survey, as he mentions. He didn?t answer that request, on July 8, but he replied almost immediately when I announced the results, on July 27.

An Open Letter to BP?s New Chief

Lance Hosey — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 12:04:00 GMT

So, the well is capped. Tony?s out, and you, Robert Dudley, plan to shrink BP. As the new CEO, you announced this morning that you?ll be selling up to $30 million in assets to cover the cost of damages in the Gulf. Well, Bob (may I call you Bob ? ?), that?s a great first step. But don?t do it to raise capital; do it to become a better company.

As the Pagodas Fall

Lance Hosey — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 12:36:00 GMT

On exhibit now at New York?s Asia Society are a collection of then-and-now photographs documenting shrinking glaciers in the Himalayas. The pictures, backed up by laser rangefinders, reveal a startling contrast between conditions 90 years ago and today, with the ice coverage having retreated by hundreds of feet, the equivalent of a 40-story building in some cases.

Cup City

Lance Hosey — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 12:59:00 GMT

The AIA?s announcement of the latest crop of Small Projects Practicioners Awards winners shows just how compelling modest designs can be?like poems instead of essays or novels. However, none of the 2010 winners tells as striking an environmental story as one of last year?s projects, Cup City

AC-Free

Lance Hosey — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 12:45:00 GMT

With the record-shattering heat last week, it?s tough to imagine life without air conditioning. But that?s exactly what Stan Cox does in his new book, Losing Our Cool: Uncomfortable Truths About Our Air-Conditioned World (and Finding New Ways to Get Through the Summer). Pulling the plug on AC would have a tremendous environmental impact, since it accounts for a significant portion of U.S. emissions and energy consumption and has doubled in the past two decades. But, as Cox explains in The Washington Post on Sunday, losing AC would have myriad other benefits for our homes, workplaces, and communities.

The World As You've Never Seen It

Lance Hosey — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 17:32:00 GMT

How we visualize the planet affects how we treat it, for our view of the world influences our worldview. An inherent challenge with any map is translating the curved faces of the Earth onto a flat surface, which distorts the sizes and shapes of land masses. Cartographers long have complained about the inaccuracies of the Mercator Projection, the standard map of the world, the one hanging in every classroom. Devised by Flemish cartographer, Gerardus Mercator, in 1569, it extends the continental lines from a sphere onto a cylinder, dramatically shrinking the top and bottom of the globe. And the point of view?with the equator and the prime meridian at center?reinforces dichotomies between East and West, North and South, Old and New, Rich and Poor. It?s a Eurocentric worldview.

The Best Buildings from Three Decades?

Lance Hosey — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 15:27:00 GMT

Like David Letterman, or John Cusack in High Fidelity, I loves me a good list. So, of course I?m fascinated by Vanity Fair?s current issue, which features what the magazine proclaims as the 21 ?greatest buildings of the last 30 years.? ?We asked the world?s leading architects, critics, and deans of architecture schools two questions: What are the five most important buildings, bridges, or monuments constructed since 1980, and what is the greatest work of architecture thus far in the 21st century?? The editors requested responses from 90 people, and 52 responded, including 11 Pritzker Architecture Prize winners, the deans of eight major architecture schools, and some journalists and critics. (Paul Goldberger reportedly picked more of the top-rated buildings than anyone else. Does this make him the keenest observer?)

Gehry Gone Green?

Lance Hosey — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 14:47:00 GMT

Can the most famous architect(s) of our time champion the most infamous challenge of our time? Frank Gehry came under fire in May, after publicly criticizing sustainability as ?political,? the LEED rating system as ?bogus,? and green building as ?fetishized,? akin to ?wearing an American flag pin.? Of course, he?s not alone in his apparent disdain; in an interview last year, Peter Eisenman declared, ??Green? and sustainability have nothing to do with architecture,? and Zaha Hadid is notoriously silent on the topic (and has not responded to my request for a statement). Obviously, it would be nice if the most celebrated architects of our time would champion the most challenging issue of our time. But the real question is not whether they go green?it?s whether they could.

What the Frack?

Lance Hosey — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 14:55:00 GMT

Does your sink spontaneously combust? If so, odds are that you and your plumbing are victims of fracking. A deep-well drilling technique developed by Halliburton, hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, extracts natural gas by injecting millions of gallons of water, sand, and chemicals, many of them toxic, into boreholes at high pressures, breaking up bedrock and releasing the gas inside. While the process gets to the gas more easily than conventional drilling does, it also wastes tons of water, destroys land and subterranean ecosystems, and contaminates drinking water supplies, making both people and animals sick.

Renewing Renewables

Lance Hosey — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 12:56:00 GMT

Speaking a solar panel factory last month, President Obama declared, ?The spill in the Gulf, which is heartbreaking, only underscores the necessity of seeking alternative-fuel sources.? He insisted that he was ?not prepared to cede America's leadership? in green technology or the global economy. ?The promise of clean energy isn't an article of faith, not anymore. The future is here.?

Carbon-Negative Concrete

Lance Hosey — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 16:48:00 GMT

With population expected to soar by 2050, development will explode?not just buildings, but roads and other infrastructure. So the next few decades are sure to see a huge amount of concrete being poured. Trouble is, concrete isn?t exactly the most environmentally intelligent material, since every ton of cement produced releases nearly a ton of CO2. Finding smart alternatives to concrete is a key leverage point for driving the construction industry toward sustainability.

The Slash Fund

Lance Hosey — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 13:43:00 GMT

When Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas), long an oil industry advocate, said on the floor of the House last week that BP was the victim of a ?shakedown? for agreeing to set aside a $20 billion ?slush fund,? even the right-wingiest of the right-wingers knew it was boneheaded?not just politically, but ethically. House Minority Leader John Boehner ordered Barton to recant and apologize or lose his ranking member status on the energy committee.

10 for '20: Rick Fedrizzi, Bill Browning, Pliny Fisk

Lance Hosey — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 08:04:00 GMT

In my May column (?10 for ?20?), I list 10 possibilities for the green building industry over the next decade. To supplement my own list, I asked a number of people, including the entire listserv of the AIA Committee on the Environment (COTE), to suggest their own, and I?m featuring some of these responses here this month. The simple question I put to them was this: ?What do you feel could or should be the most important developments in the practice and pursuit of ?sustainable design? in coming years?? Wrapping up this feature are a few ideas each from three of the industry?s most important thinkers and doers.

10 for '20: Tyler Krehlik

Lance Hosey — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 06:58:00 GMT

In my May column (?10 for ?20?), I list 10 possibilities for the green building industry over the next decade. To supplement my own list, I asked a number of people, including the entire listserv of the AIA Committee on the Environment (COTE), to suggest their own, and I?m featuring some of these responses here this month. The simple question I put to them was this: ?What do you feel could or should be the most important developments in the practice and pursuit of ?sustainable design? in coming years? Tyler Krehlik is an associate principal and the committee chair for sustainability with Anshen + Allen, a leading healthcare design firm.

10 for '20: RK Stewart

Lance Hosey — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 06:50:00 GMT

In my May column (?10 for ?20), I list 10 possibilities for the green building industry over the next decade. To supplement my own list, I asked a number of people, including the entire listserv of the AIA Committee on the Environment (COTE), to suggest their own, and I?m featuring some of these responses here this month. The simple question I put to them was this: ?What do you feel could or should be the most important developments in the practice and pursuit of ?sustainable design? in coming years?? RK Stewart is an associate principal with Perkins+Will and the former national president of the AIA. ?The main thing,? he says, ?is to get real, meaningful outcomes rather than just designing them.?

10 for '20: Bob Harris

Lance Hosey — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 08:39:00 GMT

In my May column (?10 for ?20?), I list 10 possibilities for the green building industry over the next decade. To supplement my own list, I asked a number of people, including the entire listserv of the AIA Committee on the Environment (COTE), to suggest their own, and I?m featuring some of these responses here this month. The simple question I put to them was this: ?What do you feel could or should be the most important developments in the practice and pursuit of ?sustainable design? in coming years?? Bob Harris with Lake?Flato in San Antonio, offers what he calls ?a hopeful list,? including one extra.

10 for '20: Kira Gould

Lance Hosey — Mon, 31 May 2010 10:15:00 GMT

In this month?s column (?10 for ?20?), I list 10 possibilities for the green building industry over the next decade. To supplement my own list, I asked a number of people, including the entire listserv of the AIA Committee on the Environment (COTE), to suggest their own, and I?m featuring some of these responses here this month. The simple question I put to them was this: "What do you feel could or should be the most important developments in the practice and pursuit of ?sustainable design? in coming years?" Kira Gould is Director of Communications with William McDonough + Partners, 2007 Chair of AIA/COTE, and co-author (with me) of Women in Green: Voices of Sustainable Design (Ecotone Publishing, 2007). Her thoughts for the future lean toward life and grace more than buildings, per se.

10 for '20: Marc L'Italien

Lance Hosey — Fri, 28 May 2010 09:28:00 GMT

In this month?s column (?10 for ?20?),, I list 10 possibilities for the green building industry over the next decade. To supplement my own list, I asked a number of people, including the entire listserv of the AIA Committee on the Environment (COTE), to suggest their own, and I?m featuring some of these responses here this month. The simple question I put to them was this: "What do you feel could or should be the most important developments in the practice and pursuit of ?sustainable design? in coming years? Marc L?Italien, a principal with EHDD in San Francisco and designer of the AIA/COTE Top Ten-winning Factor 10 House in Chicago, emphasizes how the profession and the public define the value of design.

10 for '20: Lucia Athens

Lance Hosey — Mon, 24 May 2010 06:17:00 GMT

In this month?s column (?10 for ?20?), I list 10 possibilities for the green building industry over the next decade. To supplement my own list, I asked a number of people, including the entire listserv of the AIA Committee on the Environment (COTE), to suggest their own, and I?m featuring some of these responses here this month. The simple question I put to them was this: ?What do you feel could or should be the most important developments in the practice and pursuit of ?sustainable design? in coming years? Lucia Athens, a senior associate with CollinsWoerman in Seattle and author of Building an Emerald City: A Guide to Creating Green Building Policies and Programs (Island Press, 2009), focuses here on the intersections of buildings, planning, and policy:

10 for '20: Victor Olgyay

Lance Hosey — Thu, 20 May 2010 03:29:00 GMT

In this month?s column (?10 for ?20?), I list 10 possibilities for the green building industry over the next decade. To supplement my own list, I asked a number of people, including the entire listserv of the AIA Committee on the Environment (COTE), to suggest their own, and I?m featuring some of these responses here this month. The simple question I put to them was this: ?What do you feel could or should be the most important developments in the practice and pursuit of ?sustainable design? in coming years?" Victor Olgyay is a principal architect with the Rocky Mountain Institute?s Built Environment Team.

10 for '20: Vivian Loftness

Lance Hosey — Sun, 16 May 2010 01:24:00 GMT

In my column this month (?10 for ?20?), I list 10 possibilities for the green building industry over the next decade. To supplement my own list, I asked a number of people, including the entire listserv of the AIA Committee on the Environment (COTE), to suggest their own, and I?m featuring some of these responses here this month. The simple question I put to them was this: ?What do you feel could or should be the most important developments in the practice and pursuit of ?sustainable design? in coming years? Vivian Loftness is University Professor at the Carnegie Mellon School of Architecture and past Chair of AIA/COTE.

10 for '20: Bill Reed

Lance Hosey — Wed, 12 May 2010 05:11:00 GMT

In my column this month (?10 for ?20?), I list 10 possibilities for the green building industry over the next decade. To supplement my own list, I asked a number of people, including the entire listserv of the AIA Committee on the Environment (COTE), to suggest their own, and I?m featuring some of these responses here this month. The simple question I put to them was this: ?What do you feel could or should be the most important developments in the practice and pursuit of ?sustainable design? in coming years? Bill Reed is a principal with both the regenerative planning firm Regenesis and the strategic environmental planning firm Integrative Design.

10 for '20: Engin Ayaz

Lance Hosey — Sun, 09 May 2010 17:43:00 GMT

In my column this month (?10 for ?20?), I list 10 possibilities for the green building industry over the next decade. To supplement my own list, I asked a number of people, including the entire listserv of the AIA Committee on the Environment (COTE), to suggest their own, and I?m featuring some of these responses here this month. The simple question I put to them was this: ?What do you feel could or should be the most important developments in the practice and pursuit of ?sustainable design? in coming years?? Engin Ayaz is an energy and resources consultant with Arup.

10 for '20: Alex Wilson

Lance Hosey — Fri, 07 May 2010 05:04:00 GMT

In my column this month (?10 for ?20?), I list 10 possibilities for the green building industry over the next decade. To supplement my own list, I asked a number of people, including the entire listserv of the AIA Committee on the Environment (COTE), to suggest their own, and I?ll be featuring some of these here during May. The simple question I put to them was this: ?What do you feel could or should be the most important developments in the practice and pursuit of ?sustainable design? in coming years?? First up is Alex Wilson, founder and executive editor of BuildingGreen.com, which publishes Environmental Building News.

The Bud Light House

Lance Hosey — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 10:20:00 GMT

Three people arrive at a friend?s house:

?Welcome to my new abode.?

?Whoa, this is awesome.?

?Who knew you were so environmentally responsible??

?Yeah. Wait?enviro-WHAT??

?Your house, made of empty Bud Light cans.? ?Oh, they?re not empty.?

Fat City

Lance Hosey — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 13:04:00 GMT

Obesity is big news. In the cover story of the current issue of The Atlantic (?Beating Obesity,? May 2010), Marc Ambinder writes that the U.S. is the world?s fattest nation, with an obesity rate more than double that of many European nations. Children could be suffering most, for one in three is either overweight or obese?having a Body Mass Index of over 30. This is why Michelle Obama has made it her mission to tackle childhood obesity, as she outlined in Newsweek last month. The simple goal of her organization, Let's Move, is to ?raise a healthier generation of kids.?

The Eighth Continent

Lance Hosey — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 09:39:00 GMT

The largest man-made structure in history isn?t the Great Wall of China, the Large Hadron Collider buried 600 feet below France and Switzerland, or even the U.S. Interstate Highway System. No, the largest ever created?albeit inadvertently?is the Pacific Trash Vortex, also known as ?Garbage Island.? An enormous, dense collection of plastics and debris caught in the North Pacific Gyre, west of California and north of Hawaii, has accumulated for decades to become what some call "The Eighth Continent." Estimates on its size range from twice the area of Texas to something larger than the continental U.S.

A Streetcar Named Delay

Lance Hosey — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 15:54:00 GMT

Plans to reintroduce a streetcar system to Washington, D.C., are being stalled by fears that overhead wires will spoil the aesthetic character of the nation?s capital. As Washington Post columnist Philip Kennicott explained on Sunday, objections center on two points??that the city is filled with streets that have historically significant and aesthetically impressive views; and that wires and poles would be ugly intrusions on these grand vistas. The former is questionable, the latter a matter of opinion.?

Get the Lead Out

Lance Hosey — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 13:24:00 GMT

Lead paint was banned in 1978, but according to the EPA it?s still present in 90 percent of American houses built before 1940. So, on Earth Day next week (April 22), a new Federal rule will require all contractors working on home renovations to be certified in lead paint removal. Long overdue, the new regulation will go a long way to protect people from the health risks associated with lead exposure?including nervous disorders and reproductive problems. Children and pregnant women are especially at risk. In fact, a former secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services once called lead poisoning the leading environmental threat to American children.

E. O. Wilson and Consilient Design

Lance Hosey — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 16:52:00 GMT

Every year, the University of Virginia and the Thomas Jefferson Foundation jointly award three medals in Jefferson?s name?one each for architecture, law, and citizen leadership. The Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medal in Architecture is given to an individual ?for notable achievement in design or for distinguished contributions to the field of architecture," and past recipients have included Glenn Murcutt, Shigeru Ban, Peter Zumthor, and Frank Gehry. This year?s medal went not to an architect but, strangely enough, to an entomologist.

The Last Monument

Lance Hosey — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 13:25:00 GMT

Architects have a love-hate relationship with monuments: we like Big Statements, but we snicker at One-Liners. Once upon a time, architectural trophies such as the Arc de Triomphe, the Eiffel Tower, and the Washington Monument could transcend their commemorative function to become cultural icons, emblems of cities and nation-states. But today we prefer the subtler forms and more challenging symbolism of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial or the Names Project Foundation's ephemeral and ever-changing AIDS Memorial Quilt.

Architecture Unplugged

Lance Hosey — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 15:41:00 GMT

The terminology surrounding the agenda known as ?sustainable? or ?green? design can be confusing, and debate continues about language and definitions. In the cloud of fuzzy terms and goals, Dan Williams offers an interesting distinction in his book, Sustainable Design: Ecology, Architecture, and Planning (Wiley, 2007).

Could Walmart Save the Green Building Industry?

Lance Hosey — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 11:13:00 GMT

Walmart gets a bad rap, mostly deserved. As Charles Fishman shows in The Wal-Mart Effect (2006), it?s not only the largest company in the world, it?s the largest company in the history of the world, and it?s a hungry monster. In 37 of the 50 states, it employs more people than any other company but refuses to allow unions, and its relentless pursuit of greater market share has put countless local companies out of business. Walmart singlehandedly has mothballed innumerable historic small towns and dragged the landscape of America out into the sprawling exurbs. 70 percent of us now live within 15 minutes of one.

The Environmental Psychology of John Ford

Lance Hosey — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 17:55:00 GMT

In the final two minutes of John Ford?s masterpiece, The Searchers (1956), John Wayne returns from a five-year quest to retrieve his niece, played by Natalie Wood. The family waits in the shade of the wooden porch, looking out on the vast Staked Plains of Texas (actually Ford?s favorite production location, Monument Valley, Utah). The camera oscillates between porch?and yard until finally settling on the interior, a pitch black room looking straight out at Wayne, approaching the doorway. The family carries Wood inside, while Wayne pauses, turns, and saunters away as the door closes on him. The End.

The Sandpit

Lance Hosey — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 09:16:00 GMT

Sam O?Hare?s gorgeous short film The Sandpit captures ?a day in the life of New York City, in miniature.? Shot with a tilt-shift effect and pieced together like stop-motion animation from 35,000 still photographs, the video portrait makes the Big Apple appear, in fact, very small. Helicopters alight like dragonflies, ferry boats bob like toys in a tub, and people swarm like ants tending a hill.

Hyper-minimalism

Lance Hosey — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 18:40:00 GMT

?Green? architects dream of designing office spaces that feel like working in a forest, but why not just work in an actual forest?

Who?s Afraid of the Big Bad Health?

Lance Hosey — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 14:59:00 GMT

Builders, that?s who. Construction industry groups opposing both the House and the Senate healthcare bills include the National Association of Home Builders; Associated General Contractors; Associated Builders and Contractors; the National Roofing Contractors Association; Mason Contractors Association of America; Independent Electrical Contractors; the National Stone, Sand, and Gravel Association; and the National Lumber and Building Materials Dealers Association.

The War That Keeps on Giving

Lance Hosey — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 21:32:00 GMT

The Hurt Locker won the Oscar for best picture on Sunday, almost exactly seven years after the war began in Iraq. $700 billion and many thousands of casualties later, the country is nearly decimated, and children are suffering the most. By 2007, according to its government, Iraq?s orphans numbered 5 million?half its children. Now BBC reports a new casualty of the war directly linking urban and environmental devastation.

The Seven Sins of Greenwashing

Lance Hosey — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 13:37:00 GMT

Industry has become more wary about ?greenwashing??false claims or insufficient achievement?but it hasn?t necessarily become more savvy about recognizing it. The clearest, smartest, and most entertaining guide I know is the ?Six Sins of Greenwashing? report put together by TerraChoice Environmental Marketing. (Updated in 2009, the original report now contains seven ?sins,? the final being ?worshipping false labels.?)

3D PV

Lance Hosey — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 16:57:00 GMT

Who said solar panels have to be flat? Conventional wisdom says to point photovoltaics directly at the sun to maximize exposure. The only trouble, of course, is that the sun moves. (OK, so the Earth turns, and the sun appears to move.) So, unless the solar panel moves with it?say, on tracking panels?it will lose most of the potential energy it could collect in a given day. So the usual procedure is to fix the panels at the sun?s average angle and azimuth.

Power Plant in a Box

Lance Hosey — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 14:48:00 GMT

K.R. Sridhar?s ?Bloom Box? fuel cell, widely reported since premiering on CBS? 60 Minutes last Sunday, is being called the ?Holy Grail of clean energy.? Fuel cells convert hydrogen and oxygen into water and produce electricity in the process?quietly, without harmful emissions. Sridhar?s innovative technology does it in the size of a refrigerator, with a payback of only three to five years, so it could do to the power plant what the laptop did to the desktop computer by making energy small, portable, and affordable. Ladies and gentleman, iPower has arrived.

Ding Dong, the Hummer?s Dead

Lance Hosey — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 12:00:00 GMT

Yesterday, General Motors announced that after trying to unload the failing Hummer brand on a Chinese company, regulators there nixed the deal. So GM plans to ?wind down the business in an orderly and responsible manner." Bad news for Detroit but good news for the rest of the world. For nearly 20 years, the iconic, oxymoronic ?luxury SUV? has been the very symbol of excess. Costing up to $40,000 and averaging 10 mpg in the city, it was ridiculous by any standard. With a curb weight of 6,000 pounds, the fatted calf of a car was technically illegal (and barely fit) on many streets. The only real appeal (for some) was its puffed-up image, but for such a muscular vehicle, it was surprisingly unsafe, riddled with blind spots and difficult to brake quickly because of its weight. It deserved to die.

No More Branding

Lance Hosey — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 11:31:00 GMT

Of the many misconceptions about green building, the most potentially harmful is the belief that sustainability is invisible. Choose some high-performance mechanical equipment, high-insulation glazing, and low-VOC finishes and call it a day. In most LEED-rated buildings, green is a hidden agenda?how it?s shaped and how it looks and feels is irrelevant, subject as always to the capricious tastes and visual preferences of designers. Business as usual.

Barbie the Architect (Almost)

Lance Hosey — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 13:15:00 GMT

Last week, Mattel announced the results of its online poll deciding Barbie?s next career. (In her 51 years, she?s had 114 jobs, so apparently she?s both incredibly versatile and more than a little fickle.) An economic?recession seems like a bad time to be job hunting, but Barbie's an eternal optimist, after all. So the public got to choose among five professions: surgeon, computer engineer, news anchor, environmentalist, and, yep, architect.

How Green Are These Olympics?

Lance Hosey — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 19:13:00 GMT

Kicking off today, the Vancouver Olympics are being touted as ?the greenest games ever.? Initiatives include everything from LEED standards for new construction, various incentives for public transportation, community energy systems that include heat recovery from sewage and wastewater, and alternative power. Ninety percent of the energy used for the games will be from renewable hydroelectric sources. All of this will result in about a 15 percent drop in the total carbon footprint, compared to past games.

Photographic Greenwashing

Lance Hosey — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 11:18:00 GMT

As I wrote a few years ago in my column about the challenges of photographing green buildings (?Shooting Green,? October 2007), Jean-Luc Godard claimed that photography is truth, but architectural photography often stretches the truth. Every place has its own narratives, and the best camerawork reveals them effortlessly, naturally. Great architectural pictures are creative non-fiction. Far too often, however, photographers (or architects, or art directors) impose their own narratives, and the image becomes fantasy. Sometimes the fiction is blatant, as when Mies van der Rohe and Le Corbusier doctored photos to appear simpler and cleaner, but usually the manipulation is subtler, such as Ezra Stoller cropping out context so buildings seem like totemic sculpture.

Men Rule

Lance Hosey — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 12:57:00 GMT

My December column in the print magazine (?Women Rule?), about new research on women and work, upset at least one (male) architect in Florida, whose letter ran in the January issue: ?I found the article ?Women Rule? to be insulting to the profession. What type of responses would you get if you published an article titled ?Men Rule???

LEED Feeds Back

Lance Hosey — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 13:38:00 GMT

As Nate Berg recently reported for ARCHITECT (?Want the Medal? Keep the Metrics,? Jan. 20), LEED 2009 requires that building owners seeking certification must agree to share annual data on the projects? water and energy use for five years or risk losing the USGBC imprimatur. While the rating system is evolving in many ways to become more mature and resilient, this change alone could prove to be the most significant.

A Smarter Spaghetti Bowl

Lance Hosey — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 12:29:00 GMT

Opposites attract, according to the Missouri Department of Transportation. Last summer, Missouri City opened the nation?s first diverging diamond interchange (DDI) where Interstate 44 crosses Missouri 13. The typical interchange forces left turns to cross oncoming traffic, a recipe for disaster during rush hour. The DDI avoids this in a counter-intuitive way?by briefly moving traffic to the opposite side of the road. In the simple braided configuration, the traffic signals are placed away from the turn to choreograph cars more fluidly, so the DDI can move traffic faster, reduce congestion, and increase safety, in itself a significant breakthrough. According to various sources, roughly 40,000 traffic-related fatalities occur every year in the US. That?s about 100 every day, or one every 13 minutes.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Lance Hosey — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 10:37:00 GMT

In his January 22 post, my fellow Architect blogger Aaron Betsky wrote, ?Like most successful styles, [sustainable design] justifies itself by claiming to be pursuing a higher truth?in this case that of saving this planet. The goal justifies many design crimes, from the relatively minor ones of the production of phenomenally ugly buildings?to the creation of spaces and forms that are not particularly good for either the inhabitants or their surroundings.? (Full disclosure: in the space of that ellipsis, Betsky takes aim at my former employer, Bill McDonough. No skin off my nose, but it?s ironic that in the previous paragraph Betsky says he believes working toward the creation of buildings as energy producers is a ?feasible goal,? when McDonough?s Lewis Center at Oberlin achieved this over a decade ago, and of course it?s not the only building to have done so.) In response, I?ll say that on the one hand, whether a building is ugly has nothing to do with whether it?s green. On the other hand, it has everything to do with it.

The Grass Isn't Always Greener

Lance Hosey — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 16:41:00 GMT

As I reported in my December 21st post, many universities, communities, and organizations are adopting ?no mow? policies to avoid the cost and consequences of conventional grass lawns. Now new research reveals the magnitude of these consequences.

Understanding Green Building Guidelines

Lance Hosey — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 14:24:00 GMT

?The green building movement has grown significantly over the past few years, accompanied by a corresponding appetite for information about every aspect of green building,? writes Traci Rose Rider. ?The tidal wave of information has become a challenge to navigate and organize.? She takes on this challenge in Understanding Green Building Guidelines for Students and Young Professionals (Norton, 2009), a welcome and long overdue primer.

Sin City

Lance Hosey — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 10:09:00 GMT

Once upon a time, Robert Venturi might have been right. Forty years ago, he took some Yale students to Las Vegas ?to reassess the role of symbolism in architecture? and found, as he, Denise Scott Brown, and Steven Izenour recounted in Learning from Las Vegas, a city dominated by billboards and marquees strung along the strip in front of oceans of asphalt. ?The sign is more important than the architecture. This is reflected in the proprietor?s budget. The sign at the front is a vulgar extravaganza, and the building at the back, a modest necessity.? That might have been accurate back then, but in the past decade Vegas has shown serious interest?and serious investment?in buildings. Today it?s no longer a city of symbols, it?s an architectural utopia.

Sustainable Floor Planning

Lance Hosey — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 14:09:00 GMT

As anyone who reads my columns knows, I'm interested in how form can enhance performance. Too often technology distracts from elementary decisions about how we shape things. Shape affects sustainability--so much so that often it can be read in the floor plan of a building.

Ecological Literacy in Architectural Education

Lance Hosey — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 14:11:00 GMT

As a supplement to Architect's education issue, let me point to a study I co-wrote a few years ago. In 2006, on behalf of the AIA Committee on the Environment (COTE) and sponsored by the Tides Foundation, Kira Gould and I co-authored ?Ecology and Design: Ecological Literacy in Architectural Education,? a report on how schools are embracing sustainability. Our conclusion was that they aren?t. After months of research, visiting universities, and interviewing faculty and students, we discovered many exciting courses and innovative programs. However, no school of architecture?not one?has committed to ensuring that every student who passes through the doors will become steeped in the principles of ecology. Until this happens, sustainable design education can only scratch the surface.

The Smell of Sustainability

Lance Hosey — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 10:41:00 GMT

Scent is a potent stimulus. The poet Schiller kept rotting apples in his desk and would whiff on them to overcome writer?s block. Yale researchers found that the smell of spiced apples has an exhilarating effect that can even fend off panic attacks. And according to a Dutch study, people tidy up more when there?s a hint of citrus in the air.

Frank Lloyd Wright, Neuroscientist

Lance Hosey — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 09:29:00 GMT

A cornerstone of biophilia, the instinctive human attraction to other living things, is the idea that we all share environmental preferences for certain visual and spatial conditions. New research shows that these preferences may include specifically how people like to enter and view a place.

New Year's Resolution: Hire More Women

Lance Hosey — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 14:33:00 GMT

In my Eco column this month, ?Women Rule,? I report that Fortune 500 companies with the most women in senior management are showing a higher return?by more than a third?on investment than are men. In addition, for the first time in history, women are on the verge of becoming the majority of the US workforce, so the gains women are showing in leadership positions are likely to transform whole companies and whole industries. This is good news not just for the economy but for the environment, since by large margins women tend to support sustainability more readily, as Kira Gould and I reported two years ago in our book, Women in Green: Voices of Sustainable Design.

Avatar-chitecture

Lance Hosey — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 05:40:00 GMT

Yesterday I saw Avatar with my 17-year-old nephew (his second viewing in as many days). Years in the making, James Cameron?s sci-fi epic could revolutionize filmmaking, but more importantly for viewers, it?s amazingly entertaining. And incredibly beautiful.

The Lawn is Dead (Long Live the Lawn)

Lance Hosey — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 17:57:00 GMT

Want to become more environmentally friendly? Stop mowing. This year Middlebury College reduced the area of regularly mown lawns by twenty acres (or 26% of the total), letting those areas become wildflower meadows instead. These "no mow" zones will cut emissions and costs, including 670 gallons of gas and 1,000 hour of labor annually. In addition, they will create additional wildlife habitat and natural beauty to the campus.

Climate change: Hot or not?

Lance Hosey — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 12:31:00 GMT

It?s a weird week for environmentalists. In the midst of the United Nations? historic Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, global warming deniers are having a heyday. Recent exposure of correspondence between climate scientists at the University of East Anglia (so-called "Climate-gate") has set off a firestorm about an alleged plot to falsify data, giving further fodder to outspoken critics such as Congressman James Inhofe of Oklahoma, who has called global warming ?the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people.? The Weather Channel founder John Coleman likewise calls it ?the greatest scam in history.? And a few days ago the ever-eloquent Sarah Palin told conservative talk-radio maven Laura Ingraham that ?this is a money-making deal for Al Gore and some of his environmentalist friends.? (Ignore the man behind the curtain: it's Al Gore.) One conservative blogger?s solution to the whole mess: ?Nuke Copenhagen!?

Greening Up With the Joneses

Lance Hosey — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 11:36:00 GMT

Peer pressure can be a powerful motivation for going green. Two years ago, a study conducted by Arizona State University found that people are more likely to reduce their electricity use if they think their neighbors are doing the same. Researchers hung four fliers on doorknobs: one said conserving energy is good for the environment, another said it was good for people, another that it saved money, and the fourth said most of the neighborhood was already doing it. Electricity meters later showed that the houses with the fourth flier showed the most change. Said researcher Robert Cialdini, ?Simply urging people?or telling them that it?s a good idea to recycle or conserve energy?is the same as nothing.?

Tiger Woods Syndrome

Lance Hosey — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 13:48:00 GMT

This week, two unrelated news stories caught my attention because they link the unlikeliest figures: Mies van der Rohe and Tiger Woods.

The Beauty Premium

Lance Hosey — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 09:58:00 GMT

Another brilliant book from Richard Florida, author of The Rise of the Creative Class. In his latest, Who's Your City?, Florida shows that where you live, more than any other single factor, determines whether you?re happy. ?Choosing a spouse and choosing a career are important life decisions?but perhaps even more predictive of our all-round personal happiness is our choice of living location,? Florida writes. ?The place we choose to live affects every aspect of our being. It can determine the income we earn, the people we meet, the friends we make, the partners we choose, and the options available to our children and families. People are not equally happy everywhere, and some places do a better job of providing a high quality of life than others? The point is, where we live is a central life factor that all the others?work, education, and love?follow.?

Plant more trees than roofs

Lance Hosey — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 17:10:00 GMT

If you?ve know anything about sustainable development, you?re probably familiar with the physical benefits of planting trees, which produce oxygen, sequester carbon, provide shade, protect paving, lower energy consumption, and reduce the heat island effect, not to mention create beautiful streetscapes. However, you may not be as familiar with the sociological benefits, which are astounding.

Chinese drywall is no surprise

Lance Hosey — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 12:59:00 GMT

There?s something rotten in China. But now it?s here. Thousands of homeowners in Florida and elsewhere have been complaining about the stench of sulfur and corroded pipes and wiring, and earlier this week the federal Consumer Product and Safety Commission confirmed suspicions about the source: drywall imported from China. During the recent housing boom, a shortage of domestic materials led to an increase in imports, particularly gypsum wallboard, one of the most plentiful materials in both residential and commercial construction. Some of the drywall has emitted high levels of hydrogen sulfide, ruining pipes and wires but also making residents sick. Today the commission announced that it has expanded its investigation to include US-made drywall, as well, and several lawsuits already have been filed against manufacturers such as National Gypsum and Georgia-Pacific.

Fort Hood's "Resiliency Campus"

Lance Hosey — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 08:54:00 GMT

One of the tragic ironies around the November 5 shootings at Fort Hood is that the base had become a central focus of the army?s efforts to address mental and emotional health. According to the Washington Post, Fort Hood has one of the highest suicide rates in the army, with more than 75 taking place since the Iraq war began, including 10 this year. Divorce, depression, and violence are increasingly common among soldiers stationed there.

The Illustrated Wall

Lance Hosey — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:04:00 GMT

Monday was the 20th anniversary of the toppling of the Berlin Wall, and as expected there was a lot of hype and hoopla. In a rather silly bit of theater, temporary pylons were set up on the original site and tipped over like dominoes. The commemorative events left me cold, but revisiting archival photographs of the wall reminded me of something that hasn?t gotten much attention?the graffiti.

Not So Stimulating

Lance Hosey — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 10:16:00 GMT

The idea behind the energy-efficiency portion of the federal stimulus package was brilliant: invest $25 billion to create jobs quickly and launch a broader effort to transform the nation?s infrastructure. A huge bonus would be to raise public awareness about the impact of buildings on climate change. Cutting energy demand in buildings, Energy Secretary Steven Chu told the Washington Post, isn?t just low-hanging fruit?it?s "fruit on the ground."

Bioblitz

Lance Hosey — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:07:00 GMT

In late August, scientists at Yellowstone National Park conducted the first-ever ?bioblitz,? described as ?a scientific mad dash to document as many species as possible over the course of a day.? The results, announced this week, were to find more than 1,200 species that hadn?t been discovered in the park before, including microscopic worms, mushrooms, a bluish-green lichen, a slender grass, and a colorful tiger beetle. All in all, 46 kinds of bees, 373 plant species and over 300 bugs were found in a two-square-mile area.

Fish Out of Water

Lance Hosey — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:45:00 GMT

Traffic jams could be a thing of the past. Nissan recently revealed its Eporo concept car, which avoids collisions by mimicking the behavioral patterns of schools of fish. Moving together, the robotic vehicles automatically adjust speed and trajectory to glide around each other and obstacles. The implications for safety and convenience alone are astounding: every year in the US, many commuters spend as much as a full week traveling to and from work, and there are nearly 40 thousand traffic fatalities.

Which is greener?metric or imperial?

Lance Hosey — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 14:07:00 GMT

Remember in grade school when you first learned about the metric system and your teachers claimed that by the time you were an adult you?d be using it for everything from baking to building? Gerald Ford signed the Metric Conversion Act in 1975, 34 years ago. What happened? I suspect that inertia in the construction industry had much to do with nixing the conversion, but reactionary fears about internationalism certainly had a hand, as well. For example, in an op-ed piece for CNN this summer, conservative lobbyist John Feehery claimed the metric system symbolized ?a philosophy that was out of touch with the people in the 1970s and is still out of touch with the lives of most Americans today.?

Vive la toilette!

Lance Hosey — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 21:21:00 GMT

I just spent five days in Paris. So many memorable moments, too many to count: the Seine at night, the Manets at the Orsay, the cobblestone streets crisscrossing the slopes of Montmartre, jazz in every window, crepes on every corner, Smart Cars every half block. But one other thing sticks in my head, something completely unglamorous but memorable, nonetheless: dual flush toilets are standard issue.

Two Museums

Lance Hosey — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 10:13:00 GMT

In the past month I've had occasion to visit two museums of indigenous arts and crafts, separated by 5,000 miles: Jean Nouvel's recent Musee Quai Branly in Paris, and Arthur Erickson's Museum of Anthropology (1971) at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.

Prospect-Refuge City

Lance Hosey — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 06:47:00 GMT

In The Experience of Landscape (1975), Jay Appleton outlined the theory that our cultural, aesthetic, and spatial preferences are based on natural instincts for survival. As he describes, we are drawn to environments that help us feel sheltered while still enjoying a clear view of our surroundings: "at both human and sub-human level the ability to see and the ability to hide are both important in calculating a creature's survival prospects?. Where he has an unimpeded opportunity to see we can call it a prospect. Where he has an opportunity to hide, a refuge?. To this ? aesthetic hypothesis we can apply the name prospect-refuge theory." The instinct is so ingrained, in fact, that we seek these traits not only in the terrain but also in images such as landscape paintings. As biologist E. O. Wilson put it, aesthetics is in the genes of the beholder.

The Real Estate-Industrial Complex

Lance Hosey — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 11:39:00 GMT

I was toying with a piece about the influence of the real estate lobby in Washington when I discovered that Time magazine had beaten me to it. In the current issue (October 12), columnist Justin Fox writes that the National Association of Realtors gave more money than any other group to candidates in the last elections and notes that 1.1 million members can bend a lot of ears on Capitol Hill. Quoting Eisenhower?s warning about the ?acquisition of unwarranted influence? by what Ike called the military-industrial complex, Fox writes that it?s time to call out the real estate-industrial complex.

Striped Donkeys

Lance Hosey — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 16:21:00 GMT

A Gaza City zoo recently acquired two new zebras, and they?ve been a big hit, especially among children. The only problem is that they?re not zebras. Most of the animals in the Marah Land zoo were smuggled in past Israeli blockades, and zebras were too expensive. So, instead, they painted stripes on donkeys. Using masking tape, a brush, and black hair dye, the zookeepers made their own ?zebras.? The kids don?t seem to mind. Or notice. There are striped donkeys in architecture too.

The Vancouver Convention Centre

Lance Hosey — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 11:01:00 GMT

The new Vancouver Convention Centre is a massive building, but it doesn?t look it. Designed by LMN Architects in Seattle and located on Vancouver?s spectacular waterfront, the building gracefully takes advantage of varying topography to maintain a surprisingly humane scale along the street. Along the sides, it tips and slants and shoots upward while the plaza drops away, beckoning viewers toward the water. The effect is a welcome counterpoint to the stumpy towers of condos and offices glutting the downtown district.

The Most Intelligent Building in the World?

Lance Hosey — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 19:25:00 GMT

That?s what they?re calling the Pacific Controls Building in Dubai. The first LEED Platinum project in the Middle East, in 2007 it won the ?Buildy? award for most ?intelligent building.? The Buildys (which bring to mind the Dundies, the fake awards given annually to employees of Dunder Mifflin on the sitcom ?The Office?) are given out at an event called Builconn to recognize projects, individuals and organizations that ?support the vision of networked building systems in which all the facility's disparate systems are seamlessly integrated together to provide the building owner and manager greater value from their investment.?

Truth to Power

Lance Hosey — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 13:40:00 GMT

This week, hundreds of government and business leaders from around the world are meeting at the United Nations to discuss climate change and prepare for the UN Climate Change Conference to take place in Copenhagen in December. If you were invited to address the group, what would you say? Heads of state tend not to ask me my opinion on this or any other matter, but if I found myself in front of that audience with only one issue to raise, it would be this?density.

Equinox

Lance Hosey — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 13:17:00 GMT

Today is the Autumnal Equinox, the first official day of fall. Technically, the equinox occurs when the ecliptic, the apparent path of the sun, crosses the plane of the earth's equator, so day and night are roughly the same length (equinox meaning "equal night"). The equivalency of day and night, light and dark, strikes me as the perfect moment to reflect on the state of the environment. The language and theory of sustainable design and development has always struggled with balancing the positive and negative. Are we trying to minimize the bad or maximize the good? Intentions aside, what have we actually accomplished?

Two Words Assigning Blame

Lance Hosey — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 16:04:00 GMT

Environmentalists hate asphalt?it's made from petroleum, so it eats up fossil fuels; it sucks up heat, so it raises street temperatures; it covers the soil, so it exacerbates runoff; and it falls apart easily, so it's very high maintenance. As the joke goes, "asphalt" is two words assigning blame. Now there's another reason to assign blame to asphalt?litigation. In the past handful of years, potholes plaguing the streets of San Francisco have caused serious injuries among hundreds of pedestrians, and since 2004 the city has paid more than $5 million in claims related to negligent street maintenance. So in addition to its environmental hazards, asphalt now threatens public safety.

Desert Folly

Lance Hosey — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 15:01:00 GMT

It was only a matter of time before Frank Gehry built something in Las Vegas. For years, Gehry's work has shared a love of spectacle with Vegas casino architecture, and in fact his Stata Center at MIT could easily cozy up to New York New York on the Las Vegas Strip. The resemblance is eerie. Now, with his Lou Ruvo Brain Institute nearing completion, Gehry has fully landed in Sin City. While the design is completely in character for him, Gehry rationalizes it this time by comparing the undulating folds of metal to the human brain. A brain institute that looks like a brain is a celebrity architect's version of Cesar's Palace looking like the Roman Forum.

Up From Zero

Lance Hosey — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 21:59:00 GMT

Zero is popular number these days. (If you can call it a number.) For many architects and engineers, the goal of a "net zero building" has become the highest standard of green. Zero energy, zero emissions, zero impact. Eliminating the harmful effects of buildings is a laudable aim, but the concept strikes me as misdirected. Should buildings merely avoid the negative or actually contribute something positive? Should they, like doctors, simply do no harm, or should they grow more health?

No Building's Perfect

Lance Hosey — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 11:51:00 GMT

Over Labor Day weekend, workers on San Francisco's Bay Bridge discovered a nasty crack. Finding a two-inch-thick steel link cut halfway through, repair crews hurried to replace a section of the eastern span before rush hour Tuesday. Every day, a quarter of a million vehicles traverse the bridge, one of the busiest in the country, so closing it threatened to create, as National Public Radio put it, a "nightmare commute." The scare underscores the need for greater diversity in commuting, but it also reminds us just how vulnerable both buildings and cities are.

The Way It Is

Lance Hosey — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 14:27:00 GMT

The death of Walter Cronkite this July caused me to reflect on the intersections of history, architecture, and the environment. Cronkite reined over television news as the CBS anchor for two decades, from 1962 to 1981. Signing off every broadcast with his signature line, "And that's the way it is," he was perhaps the last of the great objective on-air journalists in the tradition of Edward R. Murrow. His polite manner and unwavering integrity made him seem an anchor in more than one sense, and he became a household fixture during a time when TV was more novelty than substance. Politically, those years were tumultuous. Cronkite presented the world to America from the dawn of the counter-culture movement, the height of the Civil Rights movement, the assassinations of JFK, RFK, and MLK, the space race, the moon landing, Vietnam, Watergate, the energy crisis, and the rise of neoconservative politics. His tenure spanned six presidencies, from Kennedy to Reagan.

In Praise of Shorter Weeks

Lance Hosey — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 08:01:00 GMT

Last year, Utah became the first state to mandate a 4-day workweek for most state employees. They call it the 4-10 Schedule?4 days a week, 10 hours a day. The reason? Reduce energy costs. After a year, Utah has cut its annual energy consumption by 13% and estimates that employees have saved up to $6 million in gasoline expenses. The total result will lower greenhouse emissions by over 12,000 metric tons every year.

The Big Squash

Lance Hosey — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 09:58:00 GMT

This morning, National Public Radio broadcast a human-interest story about a giant zucchini. "The town of New Harmony, Indiana, needs to raise more than $16,000 to repair its historic clock tower. Sally Roth decided to help by auctioning off a monster squash. 'Strangely enough, no other giant zucchinis are listed on eBay,' She told the Evansville Courier Press. "The winning bidder can make zucchini bread, pickles, chocolate cake or re-release it into the wild.'"

Fit City

Lance Hosey — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 16:46:00 GMT

The nation's capital is shaping up. Recently, Washington, DC, Mayor Adrian Fenty announced plans to spend tens of millions to overhaul the District's recreational facilities, including school yards, playgrounds, and athletic fields. Fenty, a triathlete himself, told the Washington Post, "I think people demand better recreational centers, better playgrounds, and we've got a great team that is doing just that." And they're moving fast: ribbon-cuttings for new and renovated playing fields have averaged about two per week. But critics complain that the expense may be too high, particularly since costs and funding for upkeep are still uncertain. "People want new recreational centers," DC Council member Kwame Brown said to the Post. "But you may not know for another three years whether it can be maintained."

Under the Sun

Lance Hosey — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 16:43:00 GMT

For my first blog on "sustainability," I can think of no better introductory question than this: What exactly is it? Architects speak of sustainable design in very specific terms, as if it's synonymous with "high performance building," which confines the topic to a narrow set of concerns within one industry alone, and Wikipedia agrees, saying green building "focuses on increasing the efficiency of resource use." More general discussions in the media and the public are similarly limited: the problem is climate change, the source of the problem is emissions, and the solution to the problem is alternative energy. Clean, unlimited power would solve everything, right?