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Join us every second Tuesday of the month for a dose of optimism with thought-provoking guests who are revolutionizing their fields. Innovators will lead virtual workshops for an hour of discovery, inspiration, and community. Led by editor in chief, Avinash Rajagopal, these workshops will be guided by our audience, where questions are not only welcome but encouraged.

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Metropolis Editors, Natural Habitat, sustainability, sustainable architecture

METROPOLIS Introduces Natural Habitat, a Sustainable Homes Video Series

The series debuts with a tour of a tranquil upstate New York retreat designed with Passive House principles.

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LEED Platinum (198)

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    Projects

    Sliding Shades and Natural Ventilation Help This San Diego Office Aim for LEED Platinum

    … to purge thermal mass each night for passive cooling. Seen as a living ecosystem, Block D advances sustainable workplace design by being hyperconscious of both climatic concerns and its occupants’ health and wellness. You may also enjoy “Outside Puerto Escondido in Oaxaca, Mexico, an Eco-Resort Balances Design and Nature.” Would you like to …

  • Projects

    Centro University's LEED Platinum Campus Emphasizes Transparency and Community

    … each other.” “We really wanted a campus that represented the spirit of the school,” says architect Enrique Norten. “It’s a school that wants to be collaborative, that wants to be interdisciplinary, where everyone works with everyone else.” A green roof, solar panels, and natural ventilation all contributed to the campus’s LEED Platinum certification.

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    Carbon and Your Client’s Real Estate

    Tarkett’s ReStart program recycled 153,574 pounds of carpet removed from San Francisco’s Moscone Center during renovation, helping the convention center achieve LEED Platinum status. Courtesy Tarkett The “Why” Carbon and Your Client’s Real Estate Understand the Impact on Real Estate Investment On average, 9 percent of a company’s investment is …

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    Sample Responsibly 

    The materials library occupies pride of place in the LEED Platinum certified offices of Irvine, California–based firm LPA. The firm remains one of the few in the United States continuing to meet the requirements of the AIA 2030 commitment. Photo courtesy LPA Design Studios Product Selection Sample Responsibly Sample Selectively Only sample “Pass” products …

  • Profiles

    Shannon Goodman is Helping Make Material Reuse the Norm

    … courage and clarity after a six-month yoga teacher training—surprised herself by speaking up: Couldn’t some of the building’s original materials be salvaged for reuse, especially since Perkins&Will’s leadership was targeting LEED Platinum for the renovation? “Why would we only think about grinding this up and recycling? It didn …

  • Projects

    Payette's New EXP Building is Designed for Research and Built to Perform

    … roof terrace, open to all, with extensive plantings and views of the Boston skyline in multiple directions. The building had an aggressive sustainability agenda and is designated LEED Platinum. The horizontal stainless-steel shading helped achieve a 78 percent decrease in energy use compared with the baseline Architecture 2030 Challenge, Sullivan and Schwartz explain. This …

  • Projects

    Inside Google’s New York HQ in Historic St. John’s Terminal

    … warehouse. St. John’s Terminal is now home to Google, which bought the building in 2021. Thanks to a collaboration between CookFox on the architecture and Gensler on the interiors, St. John’s Terminal has transformed from an austere industrial workhorse into a gleaming 1.3-million-square-foot, high-performance, LEED Platinum workplace. Letting

  • Programs

    Design Optimism Talks: Accelerating the Path to Zero

    … embodied carbon, the sustainability leader put in a plug for building reuse: “If you were going to demolish an existing building and replace it with a new LEED Platinum one, it would take 80 years to reverse the environmental damage. Focus on existing buildings.” Asked what he considered a sustainable building ideal, Ramanujam averred: “A …

  • Programs

    Three Hospitality Projects Set the Bar for Sustainable Service

    … restaurant design. This is the first commercial project in Chicago to use a Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) structural system, among other sustainable features. The building achieved a LEED Platinum Certification. In addition to the CLT structure, the project deploys a host of strategies including higher efficiency kitchen equipment and HVAC systems, photovoltaic panels for power …

  • Profiles

    For Asheville, North Carolina–based Samsel Architects, Sustainability Is an Ongoing Process

    For Asheville, North Carolina-based Samsel Architects, stewardship is an integral part of being an architect. This value is apparent in some of the firm’s largest projects including a ground-up LEED Platinum EcoDorm for Warren Wilson College and a modern renovation for Eagle Nest Outfitter’s 1980s-era office space. Courtesy Samsel Architects …