Envelope & Materials

Bullitt Center: Seattle, Wash.

Learn how the Bullitt Center is pushing the bounds of sustainable design—and how tenant buy-in is contributing to lower than expected energy use.

Sweetwater Spectrum: Sonoma, Calif.

Sweetwater Spectrum is a new national model for supportive housing, designed to offer life with purpose and dignity for adults on the autism spectrum.

New Orleans BioInnovation Center: New Orleans, LA

Recognizing that the most important product of a research lab is not chemicals, but insights and innovation, designers of the New Orleans BioInnovation Center sought to maximize human performance with daylight, views to nature, and places for reflection and collaboration.

Hollis Montessori School: Hollis, NH

At the Hollis Montessori School, the school environment is a teaching tool, so it made sense to build the first Passive House certified elementary school in the U.S.

Manitoba Hydro Place: Winnipeg, Canada

Manitoba Hydro, the province's sole energy provider, began planning for a new, energy-efficient headquarters in 2002. The design team soon realized that the extreme climate ...

Concord Retrofit House: Concord, MA

The American Foursquare, a Sears, Roebuck & Co. kit home, was a staple of small American towns between 1908 and 1940. This article describes a project to renovate ...

Bethke Elementary: Timnath, CO

Colorado's Poudre School District reduces energy use as well as construction costs and time by using a prototype design that is progressively improved ...

Pearl River Tower: Guangzhou, China

Guangzhou, China, has leaped the hurdle of energy-efficient buildings with a single bound, moving into a new era of efficient super-tall towers.