Newsweek’s 2012 Green Rankings: This time it’s serious – post on GreenBiz about annual ranking of 500 largest companies from around the world describes it this way: …this year’s rankings represent the first meaningful, apples-to-apples comparison of company performance in the rankings’ four-year history. Companies are ranked by three …
Large-Scale Installation Lets Visitors Walk On Air – installation by artist / architect Tomas Saraceno is layers of clear film that gallery-goers can climb around on, if they dare. See more photos and a video on this “bouncy castle” here (also the source of the image shown). …the presence and …
5 Outside-The-Box Ideas To Change U.S. Cities For The Better – Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Mayor’s Challenge is uncovering ways “for local governments to improve the way their cities work by taking on social and economic problems, improving customer service, enhancing accountability to the public, and making government work more effectively.” Among the …
Desktop 3D printer creates ceramic bricks for buildings – Dutch architect Brian Peters has developed a program for creating oddly shaped ceramic bricks using a desktop 3D printer.
Q&A: Designing the office of the future – interview with Allison Arieff of SPUR on trends in office design. When talking about how an office might accommodate different ways of working, she says this: …when I was in college and I went to the library there was a different place …
The ACEEE – American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy has a wealth of resources on energy efficiency in the U.S. states. Here are a few: The State Energy Efficiency Scorecard – shown here; top 3? MA, CA, NY State Energy Efficiency Policy – click on a state and get a full …
German scientists create usable foam from tree bark – University of Freiburg’s Biofoambark project creates a foam suitable for insulation from tree bark. Properly processed, it can be used to produce hard foams that are not only good for insulation for buildings and molded auto parts, but that also …
Sound Design: Can a Hospital Design Decrease Noise in an ICU Environment? – it’s great to see someone in a position to effect the design of healthcare environments paying attention to this issue. The Cannon Design post links to a poster (the visual kind) with more information.
The 2-part series The Wonderful Color Wheel: Part 1 and Part 2 takes you from the 18th c. enlightenment to the present, with great examples. At the end of the second part there are references to The Creation of Color in Eighteenth-Century Europe and History of the Color Wheel. This post …
Check out the topic “Collective housing” on the blog of Spanish architectural publishers a+t. It looks like they’ve drawn a number of more recent posts from their books. A lot of projects from the Netherlands.
Try Crowdsourcing Your Performance Reviews – interesting idea posted on Harvard Business Review’s Management Tip of the Day. See a longer version here. A group of independently deciding individuals is more likely to make better decisions and more accurate observations than a lone manager.
Key test for re-healable concrete – “Experimental concrete that patches up cracks by itself is to undergo outdoor testing.” BBC Science post about concrete being developed at Delft Technical University that “contains limestone-producing bacteria, which are activated by corrosive rainwater working its way into the structure.” “In the lab we …
5 Ideas That Could Have Prevented Flooding in New York – the post has details, but here are the five ideas: Sea Gates and Surge Barriers Elevated infrastructure Wave Attenuators Oysters and Sand [“Beach nourishment”] Different development patterns
Just out – Booz & Co’s Global Innovation 1000: Making Ideas Work. There are interactive features as well as great charts showing change in R&D spending over time, what industries and regions are spending the most, and many more. Here’s the full 16-p PDF. [Note: Booz & Co is now strategy&. …
If you’re in New York anytime through Jan 7 check out the MOMA exhibition Quay Brothers: On Deciphering the Pharmacist’s Prescription for Lip-Reading Puppets. The exhibit features sets from the brothers’ stop-action animated films, along with posters, book art, and other works on paper. It’s in the film work, though, …
Tall building specialists reveal concept for 1.3 sq km satellite city outside Chengdu – WAN post about “dense vertical city that acknowledges and in fact embraces the surrounding landscape” just outside of the Chinese city of Chengdu. Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture envision it as very pedestrian-friendly, with …
A person’s safety and health while working is important not only for the worker but also for the business or organization, on the principle that a happy and healthy worker works better. Here are two resources that list tools to assess a variety of ergonomic factors at the work place: …
Mumbai’s Models of Service Excellence – Interesting article suggesting that Mumbai’s dabbawalas, the people who deliver lunches six days a week, serve as an example to managers of a well-designed delivery system. The dabbawala service is legendary for its reliability. Since it was founded, in 1890, it has endured famines, …