How It’s Made: Low-E Glass ECOHOME “Low-E glazing falls into two broad categories: soft coat and hard coat. Both applications involve depositing a thin, transparent coating of silver or tin oxide on the glass surface to allow short-wavelength sunlight to pass through while blocking long-wavelength heat radiation. The difference between the two coatings lies in [...]

Ask anyone outside of the building industry the last time they stepped foot in a brand new home and they may need to pause and think. Surely for some, it’s been quite a while. The housing bubble burst nearly six years ago, and only recently has new construction picked up. It’s worth noting the design [...]

How does the design of a school make a difference to learning? According to an English study, it can help quite a bit — 25 percent, to be exact. Researchers from the University of Salford and architectural firm Nightingale Associates studied elementary school students in Blackpool to evaluate how design elements such as light and air quality affected students’ ability [...]

Check out this cool apartment from Treehugger. It measure up at a whopping 200 square feet and manages to combine all the necessities for living in a sleek, modern space. According to the architects, MYCC Studio: “This singular urban shelter is just twenty square meters and nevertheless is one hundred cubic meters of volume. In such [...]

It truly is amazing how vision and ingenuity can lead to some very unusual houses. In very tiny configurations. Over in Warsaw, one architect saw a space between two buildings–not a space most of us would have thought of for a house. After all, it was only fit for walking between the two buildings…right? But Jacub Szczesny [...]

One of the more consumer-oriented blogs that we like is Apartment Therapy. They have a series called Before & After where they cover small projects like renovating a dresser, all the way up to major remodeling projects. Not too long ago, they featured this lovely kitchen: Isn’t it nice? It’s especially impressive considering what was there before (bonus picture of the [...]

If you are a builder or remodeler dealing with multifamily housing, you know that building codes regarding size are very important. In high-density urban areas, people sometimes actually want smaller spaces — it’s greener, often less expensive and there’s less to clean. San Francisco might very well end up with the smallest-allowable apartments in the [...]

By now it’s clear that mobile apps and smartphone technology are changing the way professionals in the world’s of building, remodeling and architecture do their jobs. These tools have improved everything from communication to finding and sharing inspiration to capturing inspiration in new designs and more. Architect Magazine spoke with four tech-savvy architects to get [...]

Wood, Mortar, Magic New York Times “Their particular — and, frankly, peculiar — building method is called cordwood masonry. And in a three-day workshop over Labor Day weekend, they will again demonstrate its earthy alchemy. That is, how to create a masonry wall with short lengths of exposed wood in place of the usual brick [...]

Dear Builder’s Engineer: Advice for My Son Builder “Dear Builder’s Engineer, You write a lot about business savvy. I’m nearing retirement and want to pass along my design-build company to my son. What is the one most important piece of advice you would give in this situation? Frank R., Spartanburg, S.C.” Big Homes Are Back [...]