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10 hopes for the future of Chicago sustainable design

Got permanence? Ample natural light, high ceilings, strong walls and floors, and open plan layouts allow the former Main Chicago Public Library (now Chicago Cultural Center) to function perfectly as an art gallery with little adaptation.

A reporter recently asked me “where do you think Chicago is headed in term of sustainable design in the next five years?”

I thought about it for a while, and, thankfully, I got to write it and not just blurt something out.

Hope it’s worth reading.
This is my response:

A “Cross of Iron” and our resources

Dwight D. Eisenhower by C. Harrison Conroy. Image source: Eisenhower Presidential Library

On a recent, fascinating Chicago Public Radio Worldview program which explored the possibility of a space-based arms race and the wisdom of starting yet another potential conflict.

Why would this be of concern to an architect?

Real estate considers green retrofits

Is real estate coming around to the idea that rehabbing or retrofitting buildings to higher energy-efficiency standards may not only meet the bottom line to stay in the black, but may also be helping to stimulate a growing market?

Is green good enough?

Thoughts on the relevance of the search for sustainability in buildings

The restored Jefferson Reading Room of the Library of Congress

The name game

Anyone tired of the term ‘green’ as applied to buildings?
Of course, plenty of us are – whether design professionals, clients, contractors, or the average citizen. This much-touted, highly questionable, vague, and uncritical term attempts to describe a search for something larger and more relevant that is, by its nature, difficult to describe succinctly.

Vertical farm

Pierre Sartoux’s “The Living Tower.” Source: verticalfarm.com.

Remember the Hanging Gardens of Babylon?
It was a little while ago - maybe you were filing your taxes or something at the time.

Musical embassadors

Left: Leonard Bernstein leads the nascent Israel Philharmonic from the piano during “Rhapsody in Blue” in the Negev Desert during wartime, 1948. Right: Eugene Ormandy of the Philadelphia Orchestra walks with Chinese officials at the Great Wall of China, 1973.

The New York Philharmonic, the oldest orchestra in the, United States, has announced plans to play U.S.-themed music in North Korea.

Who’s the LEEDer in high-performance building standards?

The U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) building standards helped bring more people to the table in terms of awareness of environmental issues related to design and construction… but are they eating right?