Grimm Building Materials Green Island: Local Supplier
Last Tuesday I found myself standing in the lumber yard at Grimm Building Materials on Green Island, running my hands along a stack of locally sourced white pine boards. The…
How I’ve Watched Sustainable Design Go From Fringe Experiments to Mainstream Practice
Digging through old planning documents in Seattle’s archives always makes me think about how dramatically our approach to building has changed. Last month I was researching development patterns from the…
Why Most “Sustainable Design” Projects Miss the Point Entirely
Last Tuesday, I was sitting in a coffee shop in South Austin reviewing architectural plans with a new client when she pointed to her architect’s latest revision and said, “Look,…
Biophilic pool: Designing Water Features That Heal
The sound of water has always been my antidote to stress. I'm not talking about those cheesy desktop fountains that sound like a leaky faucet – I mean real water,…
Eco Friendly Wood Furniture: Classic and Timeless
Looking at a piece of century-old reclaimed oak last week got me thinking about what we're really buying when we choose furniture. My client held up a sample of brand-new…
Restorative spa interior design: Relaxation Through Nature
Walking into a truly well-designed spa should feel like stepping into a hidden grotto you discovered as a child – that sense of stumbling upon something magical and restorative that…
Restore space design: Creating Restorative Environments
Standing in my friend Maya's apartment last Tuesday, I couldn't help but notice how exhausted she looked despite having just returned from a two-week vacation in Costa Rica. "I feel…
Regenerative design green building: Beyond Sustainability
Walking through that restored prairie outside Chicago last month, I couldn't shake the feeling that I was witnessing something revolutionary. The tallgrass swayed in patterns that seemed almost choreographed, while…
Testing Mushroom Walls and Other Weird New Building Materials That Actually Work
I spent three hours last month crawling around a house in Fremont examining what looked like walls made from compressed mushrooms. The homeowner, this software engineer named David, kept following…
When I Helped Transform My Friend’s Kid’s Basement Classroom (And What Happened to Test Scores)
I was dropping my friend Sarah’s daughter off at school last month when I accidentally took a wrong turn and ended up in the basement hallway of Roosevelt Elementary. Honestly?…