How a Portuguese Hotel Taught Me Everything About Climate-Responsive Design
My laptop crashed right in the middle of a call with this developer from Scottsdale who kept telling me that “buyers don’t give a damn about which way the house…
Why Everyone’s Asking Me About Sustainable Planning Jobs (And What I Actually Tell Them)
Got a text from my cousin’s daughter last week – she’s a junior at UW studying environmental science and wants to know about “sustainability careers” in cities. Made me laugh…
Why I Finally Got My Sustainable Design Certification (And Why It Actually Mattered)
You know what’s weird? I’ve become the person younger architects come to for career advice. Me – the same person who used to roll my eyes at professional development seminars…
The Books That Actually Taught Me About Sustainable Interior Design (Not the Pretty Coffee Table Ones)
You know what’s embarrassing? I became an interior designer in 2006 and didn’t read a single book about material health or environmental impact until 2015. My education was all about…
Why I Got My Hands Dirty Learning Adobe Construction (And You Should Care About Thermal Mass)
That smell hits you immediately when you’re working with adobe – earthy, almost sweet, like wet clay after monsoon rains. I was crouched in Maria’s backyard in Tubac last spring,…
When My Wastewater Project Turned Into a Bacterial Habitat Design (And Why That’s Actually Brilliant)
You know, sometimes client requests sound absolutely bonkers until you realise they’re actually genius. Three months ago, a client called me about their off-grid property in New Mexico and started…
Why I Stopped Fighting BIM Software and Started Using It to Fix Terrible Building Decisions
The engineering consultant’s office had that weird combination of stale coffee and new carpet smell that somehow made everything feel more depressing. I’m sitting there watching this guy flip through…
Why I Stopped Throwing Away Perfectly Good Buildings (And You Should Too)
Walking through that converted Woolworth’s building in downtown Tucson last month got me thinking about waste – not the kind we toss in garbage cans, but the massive waste we…
Why Most Tucson Architects Don’t Get Desert Building (And Which Ones Actually Do)
You know what drives me crazy about working with architects in Tucson? Everyone claims they do “sustainable design” but half of them couldn’t explain why their building won’t turn into…
Why I Finally Started Taking the AIA’s Sustainability Push Seriously (And You Should Too)
Last Tuesday, I found myself in a conference room in downtown Phoenix, surrounded by architects who were debating the merits of LEED certification versus Living Building Challenge standards. The conversation…