The use of alternative energy is vital within our generation. As the prices of fossil fuels skyrocket and we are beginning to exhaust our natural resources it’s becoming inherently clear that we need to begin to think outside the box and utilize the energy around us that is so often overlooked. The city of Lincoln [...]
Today, Spokane, Washington and Portland, Oregon are home to multiple universities, both public and private. They also have a reputation with their locals for having quality live performances and concerts featuring local, as well as popular, artists. Both have their respective small coffee roasters that most residents are loudly proud of, Stumptown and Thomas Hammer. [...]
The BLDGBLOG Book by Geoff Manaugh introduces us to speculation about future architecture and how the present built environment will eventually change. From the first page of the book, the reader gets an idea of what he is about to read as he is presented an illustration of London in A.D. 2109. London seems like [...]
In the conventional city fabric, the two attributes walkability and biotechnology are seemingly contradictory. This, of course, is not without good reason; the large research complexes fundamental to technological innovation are unsupportive of the intimate, walkable communities so presently desired. The Milken Institute, a leading policy think tank, designated Raleigh, North Carolina as the No. [...]
Wheels of Progress, a 501(C)3 organization, has a simple mission “to create affordable, accessible, supportive housing and transformative environments for people with physical disabilities.” One may not have guessed this noble cause from first impressions of its website. Here are a few suggestions to update and modernize, Wheels of Progress: 1. “Splash pages” or “splash [...]
For over a decade, the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU) has given professionals and students in architecture, landscape, and urban design the opportunity to compete across multiple categories for the annual CNU Charter Awards. The Charter Awards honor a select number of winners, honorable mentions, and two grand prize winners: one professional and one [...]
The explosion of online education in the past decade is rapidly changing the face of education. In 2006, 3.5 million students were listed as enrolled in an “online learning institution of higher education.” In 2009, it was asserted that 44% of USA post-secondary students were taking either some or all of their courses online. This [...]
Given the disappointing situation of nuclear energy stations and their hazardous accidents, nations like Denmark have strictly excluded nuclear use as part of their strategy for producing electricity. This has increased aspiring concepts like alternative energy farms: socially and environmentally-harmless frameworks. Autonomous giant structures that coordinate their moves with nature’s rhythm, the wind power plants [...]
Tacoma, Washington is no stranger to LEED Platinum government buildings, but how about going a step further and creating one that actually has the capacity to react to its environmental conditions and alter itself in order to minimize its energy use? Tacoma’s Center for Urban Waters; a 51,000 square-foot office and laboratory building, was completed [...]
The explosion of online education in the past decade is rapidly changing the face of education. In 2006, 3.5 million students were listed as enrolled in an “online learning institution of higher education.” In 2009, it was asserted that 44 percent of USA post-secondary students were taking either some or all of their courses online. [...]
Washington, like many other western states, did not allow rain barrel use whatsoever until the last few years. Colorado modernized its pioneer-age laws regarding water rights in July 2009, allowing rain barrel usage to anyone to any degree, so long as they have a permit and did not interfere with any other’s water rights. Washington [...]
As President Barack Obama’s recent acceptance speech showed us, Twitter has become one of the largest social networking services in media today. His speech broke the twitter record with 52,756 tweets per minute and generated roughly 4 million tweets. In the realm of architecture, twitter can be used to promote, inform, and create dialogue with [...]
“Wind Mills, Not Oil Spill, The Environmental and Economic Benefits of Offshore Wind Versus Offshore Drilling in North Carolina” is the name of the directorial manifesto, authored by Environment North Carolina, which will guide North Carolina in its fight against the consequences of Senate Bill 820. The controversial 820, which was passed after numerous vetoes [...]
The Øresund Strait links the two nations through an underwater tunnel, an artificial island and a bridge structure, totaling 8km of rail and road. There lies the Øresund region, the northern European territory around the Baltic Sea covering the southern Sweden and eastern Denmark, the most densely populated area in Scandinavia, housing 3.7 million citizens. It [...]
In April 1888, the first streetcar line in Spokane, Washington was built for Browne’s Addition, a neighborhood just one-mile West of downtown. The terrain is level and easy to maneuver for the less-powerful engines. It was built to attract mining and timber barons to the then-newly built mansions in the subdivision. It was drawn by horses and was [...]
Garden designer? How about ecological warrior? Landscape architects may be due for a new reputation, and for good reason. As a field, landscape architecture has changed rapidly over the past two decades. It is too simple to assume that architects focus only on floral gardens and upscale stone walkways. As human environmental impacts become more [...]
Marketing is the set of planning and implementation practices that result in a product or service that is both satisfying to customers and results in a profit. Advertisements are only one component of a marketing strategy which also includes market research, media planning, public relations, product pricing, distribution, customer support, sales strategy, and community involvement. [...]
In July 2012, North Carolina Senator Kay Hagan gleefully snipped the official ribbon at the Piedmont Biofuels ribbon-cutting ceremony, signifying the well-proven commercial viability of the plant’s innovative biodiesel brewing process. Just about two years ago, the triumph of this successful biofuels company was made possible by a $1.2 million United States Department of Energy [...]
Since 1996, the State of Virginia has been working with the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Southeastern High Rail Corridor project to establish high speed rail passenger connections that would connect the City of Richmond to places like Columbia, South Carolina, Savannah, Georgia, and Raleigh, North Carolina. The project is being done as a [...]
Spokane, Washington was given the land for its wastewater treatment plant and Riverside State Park by an affluent citizen in his will in the first half of the 20th century. He designated the land’s division and only allowed the City to keep the land if they used it for those sole two reasons. The only [...]
