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New Building Energy Efficiency (Title 24) Standards
The 2013 standards update for lighting, space heating and cooling, ventilation, and water heating are anticipated to add approximately...

Vistacraft Engineers
Jul 9, 20142 min read


Greening The Palomar
Designed by prominent California architect William H. Weeks the historic Hotel Palomar building is considered to be quintessential of...

Vistacraft Engineers
Jun 15, 20142 min read


The Dew Point in Insulating Wall Assemblies
Diagram depicting dew point in relationship to elements of wall assembly. This assembly utilizes cork board as the exterior insulation...

Vistacraft Engineers
May 27, 20142 min read


Shipping Container Architecture: Advantages and Challenges
Cité A Docks Student Housing project located in Le Havre, France. A four-story building that houses 100 apartments made of old shipping...

Vistacraft Engineers
May 21, 20144 min read


The Annals of Urban Design: Kresge College
by Matthew Pinsker University of California, Santa Cruz Daniel Matthew Silvernail Architect Intern The assemblage of buildings known as...

Vistacraft Engineers
May 15, 20143 min read


The Brave New World of Insulating Wall Assemblies
A proprietary wall system marketed in Germany which utilizes 60-80mm reed insulation as the exterior insulation material. The effective...

Vistacraft Engineers
May 8, 20142 min read


LEED-ND: Developing Viable Communities
by Matthew Pinsker University of California, Santa Cruz Daniel Matthew Silvernail Architect Intern The Leadership in Energy and...

Vistacraft Engineers
May 5, 20143 min read


Comparing Insulated Structural Systems
It is useful to compare two types of Insulated Structural Systems – namely, Insulated Concrete Forms (ICFs) and Wood Waste Masonry (WWM)...

Vistacraft Engineers
Apr 30, 20143 min read


Cradle to Cradle Thinking
Diagram of the cradle-to-cradle approach to environmental sustainability. Cradle to cradle is a concept popularized by the American...

Vistacraft Engineers
Apr 27, 20142 min read


Santa Cruz Greenbelts
by Matthew Pinsker University of California, Santa Cruz Daniel Matthew Silvernail Architect Intern Greenbelts within Santa Cruz,...

Vistacraft Engineers
Apr 8, 20143 min read


Net-Zero Buildings
One NZE building: the Research Support Facility in Golden CO, approximately 50% more efficient than it’s conventional counterparts. The...

Vistacraft Engineers
Mar 22, 20143 min read


Buildings and Light Pollution
When animals live in cities, they have to adjust their behavior and life histories to novel environments. Noise pollution puts a severe...

Vistacraft Engineers
Mar 11, 20142 min read


The Urban Heat Island Effect
Aerial view of the city of Los Angeles California An urban heat island is the name given to describe the characteristic warmth of both...

Vistacraft Engineers
Mar 10, 20143 min read


Your Ecological Footprint
This unit of measure was first conceptualized in the PhD dissertation of Mathis Wackernagel under the supervision of William Rees at the...

Vistacraft Engineers
Mar 7, 20142 min read


The San Francisco Federal Building
San Francisco Federal Building Most of us have noticed the new Federal Building complex in South of Market – it’s readily apparent and...

Vistacraft Engineers
Feb 12, 20141 min read


Living Machines
The Living Machine at Lewis Center for Environmental Studies at Oberlin College One of the ultimate goals of green building is the...

Vistacraft Engineers
Feb 12, 20142 min read


Predicting Environmental Impacts of Building Construction
Buildings in L’Hospitalet de Llobregat A team of researchers from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC) has developed a method...

Vistacraft Engineers
Jan 13, 20141 min read


Lovell Health House: Architectural Masterwork
Lovell House, in context, from the Griffith Observatory. © 2013 DMSA all rights reserved. During the Thanksgiving break while in the...

Vistacraft Engineers
Dec 11, 20132 min read


City Planning According to Artistic Principles
The Piazza della Signoria in Florence Bernardo Bellotto, c.1742 Oil on canvas. Szépművészeti Múzeum, Budapest, Hungary Camillo Sitte...

Vistacraft Engineers
Dec 9, 20132 min read


The Cost Estimator’s Role in Architectural Design
It has been said that the only real building material is money. For an architect, the three key components informing the design process...

Vistacraft Engineers
Nov 17, 20133 min read
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