See you in your best blue outfit April 19th - 22nd!!  Check out the both the Bring your own Blue website and the 2010/2030 websites for more information

Green is the new Crimson: Harvard gets Sustainable

The leader in Sustainable Campus projects, Harvard's Green Campus Initiative is the most comprehensive program to make a beautiful campus, a sustainable campus.  With implementation tools, technologies and products, Case Studies, LEED Submittals, and current project lists, Harvard has set the standard for campus development and project education.  The website is a valuable tool for both campus planners, and students alike!

Sustainable Building Technical Manual

The Sustainable Building Technical Manual: Green Building Design, Construction, and Operations is one of the most Comprehensive publications now available to help architects, developers, building owners, government officials, and others implement sustainable development practices.  It contains more than 300 pages of practical, step-by-step advice on sustainable buildings written by some of the foremost experts in the field.

Among the issues the book addresses are the economics of green building; pre-design strategies; passive solar design; heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems; electricity; plumbing; indoor air quality, acoustics; selection of building and landscape materials; and housekeeping.

Get the manual to learn some of the newest strategies for Green Building!!

The Plastic Bag Shopper

This may not be about Architecture, but the plastic bag is something that North American's just can't seem to get rid of!  Even though they clog up landfills, do not decompose for a few thousand years, and require 11 re-uses just to make a plastic bag worth the oil required to produce it*, it seems, too conveniently, part of every shopping experience!  Looking to Ireland as an example, and among US cities like San Francisco, New York, and others, people are beginning to see how easy and economically important it is to phase out the bag.

Many grocery stores like whole foods, and more and more, local grocery stores, offer reusable bags for $1 each at check-out!  Not only are they stronger than the plastics, but they are easier to carry, and for minimal commitment, make a big difference in the environment. 

Our favorite: Baggu Bags in a variety of fun colors!  Really, when was the last time you went for a big grocery trip and couldn't plan to bring a couple reusable bags with you....  

Sustainability and Tradition: Ways of Building and Ways of Living

Our very own Dean Michael Lykoudis is featured in the Traditional Building Magazine Roundtable 2008.  The topic of Green Building has been part of most every conversation about Architecture and Design for some time now, but here, Dean Lykoudis, Michael Mehaffy, and Walter Sedovic discuss what sustainability means in terms of tradition, and how greening our environments involves more than just a switch to LEED guided construction.  

See the full length Roundtable Discussion to learn more about sustainability, the patterns and perceptions of living, and the dynamic of the city and the environment!