Green Features Attracting Tenants to New Buildings
from the Nation's Building News
Looking over the changes in the kitchen and bath industry in the past 10 years, or even the past two years, one thing is clear: Design is fluid. Indeed, the creative nature of the field almost demands that today’s trends will be ever-changing and evolving, as consumers and design professionals continue to pursue “the next big thing.” So what is the “next big thing?” While it’s been widely debated, more and more people are betting on Universal Design as the “green” of the future. More

Why She Buys: Women Are Females First and Consumers Second
from The Wall Street Journal
As women all over the world continue joining the workforce—earning their own paychecks as well as driving the spending of their spouses’—they have become the alpha consumers of planet Earth. As a result, executives in almost every industry are scrambling to create products and programs with female appeal, particularly in gender-neutral and traditionally “male” product categories like electronics, insurance, automobiles, and finance. Author Bridget Brennan discusses what makes female consumers spend. More

Economists Predict Housing Recovery Next Year
from the Builder Online
If the nation’s housing forecasters agree that housing starts and sales will drop to record lows this year, they also believe that the nation will see a sizable pickup in activity next year. As we round the halfway curve for 2009, housing economists still have questions about overall economy. But they say they can see the light at the end of the tunnel, and it’s not a train coming in the opposite direction. The consensus view is that, despite some startling job loss, the overall economy will rebound later this year. That should lead to an improvement in new-home sales and starts, with sales recovering before starts, of course. More

Eco-Friendly Wall Coatings Reflect Well on Green Building Project
from GreenerBuildings
Eco-friendly exterior wall coatings that incorporate heat reflective technology helped a Florida office building earn a LEED-Gold green rating and won the project recognition from an industry magazine. More

Designing for Health: We Eat What We Build
from Contract Magazine
We are what we build"—a concept that recognizes the link between human health and sustainability—is always present in the healthcare interiors work of Perkins+Will. But for the design of the Jaffe Food Allergy Institute at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City, a particularly sensitive approach was required with the needs of the acute patient in mind. More

Steep Downturns in Nonresidential Construction Projected Through 2010
from AIA
A weak economy and continued difficulties with construction financing have slowed investment in nonresidential buildings by U.S. businesses, nonprofit institutions, and government agencies. Construction of buildings, which began to slow in the second half of last year, moved into a downward spiral toward the end of the year. This industry will see no relief this year, but the decline will moderate somewhat as we move through 2010. The AIA Consensus Construction Forecast Panel projects a 16 percent decline in nonresidential construction activity this year, and an additional drop of almost 12 percent in 2010. More

Renovated Beach House Gets Ventilated Wood Skin
from Inhabitat
Home renovations and upgrades typically involve painting the house, re-tiling the bathroom floor or converting the garage into a room for Grandma. But when presented with the opportunity to re-vamp an existing house in Casablanca, Chile, architects Jose Ulloa Davet and Delphine Ding didn’t shy away from taking the route of Extreme Home Makeover. As striking as the views that surround it, the two architects were able to transform a lackluster 90’s beach house into a gorgeous, angular construction overlooking the South Pacific. More

Green Building in a Changing Economic Environment
from Contract Magazine
Currently, buildings contribute the largest single source of emissions to our environment. Approximately 40 percent of all carbon emissions come from buildings, and these are the places where you live, work and play. At the American Institute of Architects (AIA), we are approaching sustainability and green buildings with a solutions-based approach that embraces technological change and incorporates the business case for green buildings, which has become immeasurably stronger during the past decade, as prices for green materials have decreased and knowledge of green design has increased. More