Lloyd Alter

Dumb and Dumber: NAIOP Calls HSBC HQ Green Project of the Year

NAIOP (the Commercial Real Estate Development Association), which previously graced these pages with its dumb study on energy efficiency, proves once again that they really don't get it. We have called the HSBC headquarters Greenwash and accused it of the LEEDwashing sin of being laughingly inappropriate; NAIOP calls it the Green Development of the Year. As with the energy study, they demonstrate that the industry is completely stuck in a time warp of shiny new suburban buildings on greenfield sites. And, their press release gave us more information about the building that makes it appear even more ludicrous. More in TreeHugger.

"Is LEED a Fraud?" is the provocative title of an article on the Fine Homebuilding website by Kevin Ireton. It appears that mechanical designer Henry Gifford thinks it is, and makes a few good points in his paper A Better Way To Rate Green Buildings.  More in TreeHugger

Recession-Ready Apartment Plans Could Help Avoid Foreclosure

In hard times like the current recession, many people rent out basements or rooms in their houses, but apartment dwellers cannot do it easily. Designing flexible, affordable housing is a challenge that architects have not often risen to successfully- Apartment designs are usually fixed and do not adapt to changes in income, lifestyle or size of family. And as mortgages get harder to find, the extra income from renting out part of an apartment could make a critical difference. More in TreeHugger

Why Is So Much Green Architecture So Ugly?

Child Development Centre, Calgary, Kasian Architects. Ugly? One author thinks so.

There is an interesting debate going on in the journals about the quality of green buildings. More in TreeHugger.

Discovering Miami Beach

I take Mom to Miami for a break from the snow. I mean, What do you say about a city where the parking garages are so high that the new buildings don't start until the old buildings end? That perhaps they have their priorities a bit screwed up? I wrote about it in Treehugger: 

Miami Beach Roundup: They Haven't Discovered TreeHugger Yet

Adhocism: The Case For Improvisation

In 1973 Architects and theorists Charles Jencks and Nathan Silver wrote Adhocism: The Case for Improvisation. Jencks coined the term in 1968.

"It can be applied to many human endeavours, denoting a principle of action having speed or economy and purpose or utility. Basically it involves using an available system or dealing with an existing situation in a new way to solve a problem quickly and effectively. It is a method of creation relying particularly on resources which are already at hand."

Forty years later, we have a lot of materials at hand; as we have noted before, recycling is over- it is time for reusing, repurposing, upcycling and making something new out of the detritus of the boom.

See more in a Slideshow on TreeHugger.