Lawrence Biemiller recently opened a HUGE can of worms in the Chronicle of Higher Education when he asked whether all faculty members really need private offices (article). At 92 comments and counting, the overwhelming majority of faculty members responding are vehemently opposed. They cite need for confidential discussions with students, inability to work in a communal environment, and challenges to status (“when administrators do it, I will”) among other reasons.

Even though I am a campus planner who works in an open, collaborative environment, I think the faculty have a ...[more]

You know you need to update your healthcare facility. You’re not operating as efficiently as you could. You know what’s not working, but in this climate of ‘doing more with less’ how do you take steps that are strategic and sound? If there is one thing that’s constant in health care delivery, it’s change: if you’re going to successfully balance current needs with the demands of an unknown future, you should start with careful facility planning.

Step 1: Know what you have
This means developing a detailed inventory of buildings, including square footages. It’s surprising how many ...[more]

There’s been a lot of discussion lately about changes to LEED. Are new credentialing requirements too complicated and cumbersome? Are the efforts of the USGBC to focus on energy efficiency in the new version of LEED enough to ensure green buildings are truly green? Everyone seems to be waiting to see what changes recently introduced by the USGBC mean for the future of LEED. Let’s step aside from all of that for a moment and look an outside influence that may be more important.

A draft of the International Green Construction Code (IGCC) ...[more]

I’ve attended many trade shows over the years and the Lighting Expo in Frankfurt in April was one of the most extraordinary examples of product design innovation I’ve seen.

If there was a theme this year it was that the future of lamping is LED. That said, it soon became obvious that all LEDs are not equal and that new lamping technologies, while progressive, are not yet the answer for all lighting. Issues like overall performance, color rendering, glare, dimming, and life expectancy still need to be carefully evaluated in the selection ...[more]

We’ve all heard that producing in a BIM (Building Information Modeling) environment is drastically different than producing in CAD, but it was the contrast between “novice” and “experienced” BIM that really surprised me. At times I almost laugh out loud, thinking about how I did things when I started and how I do them now. I can remember sitting at my desk, arm hurting (seriously) from squeezing my mouse trying to get Revit to behave. The one thought constantly running through my head: “There has to be an easier way.”

I can picture the ...[more]

As architects, making a positive environmental impact means being more than responsive to project needs: it means being active and deliberate in developing and applying research to make better, more energy-efficient buildings.

An important component of sustainability is the reduction of energy consumption. After all, less energy used translates to less fuel burned, which results in fewer emissions of global warming gases. In addition, less demand for energy results in a need for fewer power plants (whether coal burning or nuclear plants, or even photovoltaic arrays or windmills), using fewer natural resources for construction.

At ...[more]

When looking at the design aspirations institutions executed in mid-century modernism, one is looking at the forefront of progressive campus design in that era. Concerned at once with the pragmatism of program, form following function, and the honesty of the new building technology of steel and glass, one is looking at a language of forms with universality that could be applied in any place or typological context. What is most striking about many built and unbuilt projects of the mid-century is the theoretical abstrac- tion of the plane on which ...[more]

Picking up where our annual posters left off, we designed and developed a series of bookmark-like cards for our 2010 annual mailing. They feature inspirational quotes on one side and architectural photo details on the other. The cards are die-cut with slots that allow them to interlock for assembly into a basic structure. These cards can also be used individually as bookmarks or pinned up for a daily dose of inspiration. A PDF of the cards can be downloaded here.

The format was inspired by the Eames House of Cards designed by Charles and Ray Eames in 1952. The original 32 interlocking cards featured ...[more]