June 15, 2010

Despite AIA Concerns, There’s Plenty of Important Work Ahead for Architects

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet “I think most buildings that are being built are very much focused on managing cost…So you tend to see less creativity in that environment, less exciting designs, less upscale materials being used in them.” Kermit Baker, the CFO of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), says in today’s CNN article, ‘Masterpieces’ on hold, waiting for better times. Once again, the American Insititute of Architects has missed the mark. Just because there isn’t room for fancy new skyscrapers in the American budget doesn’t mean that there is less creative, less exciting design on the horizon. In fact, I contend that…

June 14, 2010

Jerry Ufnal Explains the Benefits of Home Performance Assessments

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet I met Jerry Ufnal while volunteering for the Greenbuild conference last year. He was the chair of the media and public relations committee for the local effort behind the national conference. Jerry is a leader in the green building community and is a wealth of information when it comes to energy efficiency. He was kind enough to write a guest post about his experience with a new trend in the green building industry, Home Energy Assessments: ____________________________________________________________________________ Mornings are still pleasant in Phoenix, so I leave the door open in my office for fresh air as I wait for…

June 09, 2010

How Can We Make Historic Preservation a Lucrative Option?

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet As Jim McPherson mentioned yesterday, there’s already a criteria in place to evaluate whether a building is worth saving or not, and that is the Phoenix Historic Property Register. There is also the National Register which is essentially the same but slightly different. Here’s a look at what they require… The Phoenix Historic Property Register Criteria: The Phoenix Historic Preservation Commission shall evaluate each parcel of property within an area that is included in the application for a demonstrated quality of significance in local, regional, state, or national history, architecture, archaeology, engineering or culture, according to the following criteria:…

June 08, 2010

Jim McPherson – ‘Demolition Should Be the Last Resort’

by: Jim McPherson

Tweet As I mentioned yesterday, there was some strong disagreement in the historic preservation community about my post Why Not All Buildings Should be Saved. It’s important to hear all points of view on this subject and have a constructive discussion about it. Below is Jim McPherson’s point of view about the Leighton Knipe house and historic preservation in Phoenix. Jim is a respected leader in the community. He serves on the board of the Arizona Preservation Foundation and is the winner of the 28th Annual Governor’s Heritage Preservation Grand Award. He reminds us that we already have a strong…

June 07, 2010

Bob Graham on Why the Leighton Knipe is Worth Saving

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet Last week I posted my point of view about why not all old buildings should be saved. I used the Leighton Knipe house as an example of an old building that isn’t necessarily worth fighting for. But a few people in the historic preservation community disagreed with me. One of the people who’s spoken out about the Leighton Knipe house is Bob Graham, a local architect doing important work in historic preservation and other urban projects. I interviewed Bob to get his point of view about why he thinks this building is important and why it should be saved:…

June 02, 2010

The After Hours Building – Well Intentioned, Well Executed

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet What I love about the After Hours building is that it is sustainable because it is well-designed. In fact, it’s an example that good design and green design are actually synonymous. The merzproject is the architecture firm behind this building and they deserve a great deal of credit for getting lots of little things right. They deserve even more credit for getting the BIG things right though. But before I go any further I want to give the owners of After Hours, Russ Haan and Mike Oleskow the bulk of the credit for this incredible project. Without their vision…

June 01, 2010

Phoenix – Let’s get on the Solar Highway!

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet As you know, we probably live in the sunniest place in the country. This may become a frustrating thing in the coming months when we might be praying for an occasional cloudy day in July, but it’s what we have to deal with here in the Valley of the Sun. Our constant companion, the sun, is actually a blessing if we consider that Phoenix is supposed to become a ‘solar city’ according to Mayor Phil Gordon’s Green Phoenix plan. (Currently Phoenix has received a $25 Mil grant from federal stimulus funds for the Green Phoenix plan and will be…

May 31, 2010

Why not All Old Buildings Should be Saved

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet This weekend, the Phoenix Historic Neighborhood Coalition (PHNC) released the Most enDangered Dozen. It’s a list of local historic buildings in danger of being torn down, some because they are in blighted neighborhoods, some because they themselves are in terrible condition and some because their owners have foreclosed. In other words, these properties are on the verge of being sold to some very enterprising but potentially culturally insensitive people that will likely tear these buildings down. The buildings that made this list elicited different reactions from me. With some of them like the Art Deco Professional Building and Al…

May 26, 2010

The Environmental Imperative for Historic Preservation

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet Green building is all about solar panels, smart thermostats and fancy gray water plumbing right? Well, not really. Those things are components of green building, but they’re not the entire story. Far from it. The most effective green building happens when ancient wisdom is combined with new technology. Unfortunately, this ancient wisdom is not as sexy as new technology can be and hence it rarely gets much press. Some examples of ancient wisdom are orienting your building for passive solar design, using the least amount of materials to build, using local materials, and reusing what is usable. Today I…

May 25, 2010

The BIG delusion in Phoenix

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet Paul and I live in a 920sf unit with 3 cats. Does this seem small to you? No that’s not our place in the photo. That’s a luxury home in Queen Creek. Here’s what’s making me think that size does matter. Yesterday I wrote about the Awakening the Dreamer Symposium which highlighted the environmental, spiritual and social issues of our world today. One of the exercises of this event was to question our assumptions. The assumption I want to challenge today is about size. Here are some variations of the basic assumption that bigger is better: bigger = more…