California Academy of Sciences and the Green Roof That Breathes
# California Academy of Sciences and the Green Roof That Breathes I remember standing in Golden Gate Park looking up at what appeared to be hills that had somehow materialised…
Lammas Ecovillage Pembrokeshire and the UKs First Planned Eco Settlement
# Lammas Ecovillage: Living Proof That Off-Grid Community Design Actually Works I first heard about Lammas when a client mentioned they’d visited friends who lived “completely off-grid in Wales, but…
Biodiverse Roof Design and How to Create Habitat Not Just Greenery
# Biodiverse Roof Design and How to Create Habitat Not Just Greenery Most green roofs are ecological disasters dressed up in marketing speak. There, I said it. You see these…
Cornell Tech Tower New York and How It Became the Worlds Largest Passive House
When I first heard about a 26-storey residential tower in New York being built to Passive House standards, I’ll be honest: I was sceptical. The physics seemed brutal. Here’s the…
How Much Weight Can My Roof Support and Do I Need a Structural Survey
# How Much Weight Can My Roof Support and Do I Need a Structural Survey You’re looking at that flat roof on your extension and wondering whether you can transform…
The Real Cost of Building With Natural Materials vs Conventional Construction
# The Real Cost of Building With Natural Materials vs Conventional Construction When I started analysing the true costs of natural building materials versus conventional construction, I expected to find…
The 10 Best Green Roof and Living Wall Projects in the World
# The World’s Most Important Green Architecture Projects: A Crew Debate Right, so we finally sat down and hashed this out. Took us three sessions, nearly ended a friendship between…
Choosing Indoor Plants That Actually Improve Air Quality and Where to Put Them
# Choosing Indoor Plants That Actually Improve Air Quality and Where to Put Them I spent the better part of a decade convinced that filling my flat with plants would…
Goldsmith Street Norwich and the Council Housing That Won the Stirling Prize
I was walking past a building site in Norwich about eight years ago when I saw something that made me stop dead. The builders were installing these massive triple-glazed windows…
Brithdir Mawr Pembrokeshire and the Roundhouse Community That Fought Planning Law
I built my first structure without planning permission when I was twenty-three. Nothing as ambitious as a whole house, mind you – just a garden shed that was probably six…