As a New York green builder, Eco Brooklyn is always interested in learning about what other sustainable design ideas are out there. Last night, I listened to an amazing TED talk that took green building to a whole new level. Michael Pawlyn, formerly with Grimshaw Architects, London, spoke about biomimicry and sustainable design and how […]
Biomimicry and the Eden Project Read More »
When I first started mentoring interns one of the first things I told them was that they always had to leave their work area cleaner than when they came to it. Over time this metaphor became the most powerful thing I think I can teach them. Leave your surroundings cleaner than when you arrived….. If
Leave Your Surroundings Cleaner Than When You Arrived Read More »
Before New York City as we know it today existed, the Gowanus was a tidal wetlands and stream ecosystem. In the 1860s, the area was dredged to become the Gowanus Canal, a major route for oil refineries, tanneries, chemical plants, manufactured-gas plants and other heavy industries who settled along the canal’s banks. These factories dumped wastes and leached
How Can We Clean Up the Gowanus? Read More »
A few years ago, Eco Brooklyn’s director became certified as a LEED AP. Till this day we have yet to certify a job with LEED. This is because we easily attain LEED Platinum standards and feel it falls short on many levels. So we put our money and energy on other things we feel are
Review and Critique of LEED Read More »
An activist group has formed in Surrey, England called The Diggers 2012. Their similarities to Eco Brooklyn are apparent with their slogan, “To make the Waste Land Grow.” As a NYC green builder, Eco Brooklyn strives to make the concrete filled city more ecologically diverse and thus balanced. The concrete jungle can be thought
Diggers 2012: Making the Waste Land Grow Read More »
Here at Eco Brooklyn we are making plans to build a backyard treehouse as part of our ongoing experimentation with living walls and salvaged materials. We have so much great wood it makes a lot of sense to offer a back yard treehouse service to New York families. It’s actually more like a shed on
Building a treehouse. I mean shed. No, rec space? Read More »
For those of us who live in historic homes we know that our period dwellings bring us both joy and frustration. The frustration is largely attributed to the endless repairs that classic Brooklyn Brownstones require and their not so efficient envelope. Eco Brooklyn has renovated many brownstones and knows first hand how challenging it can be
Das Haus: First NYC Passive House in BK Read More »
When was the last time you used a pay phone? For me, I think it was when I was in High School in the early 90s when I was stranded downtown. But since everyone, and I mean everyone, has a mobile phone now, pay phones are obsolete. In a way, I am saddened by
Phone Booth Aquarium Read More »
The growth in sustainable and green living has given rise to a movement of eco-tourism in a variety of forms across the country. Specifically the use of salvaged materials is making a breakthrough in the realm of practical and/ or novel green construction. Across the country salvaged building trends and communities are blossoming and their
Fun Built with Salvaged Material Read More »
Last week, the interns from Eco Brooklyn went to the Net Zero Symposium sponsored by Das Haus in White Plains, New York to hear lectures and view a model of Das Haus, a passivhaus model made from two shipping containers that functions completely off the grid. The conference was held at the White Plains Public
