Green building and eco-sensitive design is currently at the forefront of our modern ethos. What this means for the green builders, contractors and architects of NY, and the world, is a period of dramatic change and challenge is ahead if not already begun. A change in the way we think about new buildings and construction, …
The Living Building Challenge- Winner of the 2012 Buckminster-Fuller Challenge Read More »
Many Brooklyn homeowners have inherited a common problem: contaminated backyards. This is a result of over 100 years of garbage incineration, car fumes and toxic paint. In New York, soil is deemed contaminated if there are more than 400 ppm of lead present in the soil (in Euro the maximum is 100ppm!). A few months …
Brooklyn’s Baggage: Soil Contamination in our own Backyards Read More »
After receiving a generous amount of funding, Brooklyn has commissioned a pedestrian walkway to connect Squibb Park and the Brooklyn Bridge Park. The 4.9 million dollar bridge will be designed by Ted Zoli, a MacArther Genius Award-winning structural engineer, he is not only one of the nation’s “it” engineers but also among the nation’s foremost …
Squibb Park, Brooklyn: Prototype for a New Generation of Sustainable Bridge Design: Read More »
Since the Occupy Wall Street events this fall I have immersed myself in information that questions existing paradigms and searches for solutions to current problems. I’ve always done this, and as a green builder I do it on a daily basis, but the recent Occupy Wall Street events has given my ongoing education a focus and timely reference point. …
I just read the book “A Natural System of House Design, An Architect’s Way” by Charles Woods. I was interested in it from Wood’s involvement with Malcolm Wells, a great natural architect and the pioneer of earth covered building. Before I start my review I need to make clear that I see Woods as a …
A couple years ago I was looking into the cold blue eyes of a lying, money grubbing man. He also happened to be a neighborhood contractor. And he said to my face in all seriousness, “I am a green contractor.” Having seen the future of contracting he had started to use low VOC paints and he had …
Quote of the day: The optimist thinks, “The glass is half full.” The pessimist thinks, “The glass is half empty.” The green builder thinks, “That glass is twice as big as it needs to be.”
Word on the street is that the Gowanus Canal is going to be designated a Superfund site. The canal is two blocks from the Brooklyn green show house so it is dear to our heart and very clearly part of our ecosystem. The Gowanus is definitely a good candidate for a superfund designation. It is …
The green show house is an experiment in building. Sometimes we really get it right, sometimes we totally don’t. This kind of experimentation can’t be done on a clients house. But since this is a show house we want to show the process, both good and bad. The hope is that we find better ways …
