This is one very important aspect of sustainability…doing more with less. Watch, its fascinating!
Moving Walls Transform Apartment: Four Minutes of WOW! VIDEO : TreeHugger.
Doing more with less…
Jan 10th, 2010 by admin
In Detroit, Entrepreneurs See Opportunity in Hard Times – NYTimes.com
Jan 10th, 2010 by admin
How neighborhoods are transformed!
It is not an uncommon instinct to start an enterprise in bad times and seize on weakened competition, lower overhead costs and perhaps more free time. Nor is it limited to Detroit. But the trend is particularly striking here, in a city that was suffering long before the rest of the nation fell into recession and where hard times, business closings and abandonment became routine generations ago.
via In Detroit, Entrepreneurs See Opportunity in Hard Times – NYTimes.com.
Together We Can Reduce Carbon Emissions
Jan 8th, 2010 by admin
In terms of carbon emissions, how do we get deliver solutions to our climate and energy challenges? For those who simply wish to get there quickly, it may look easy in terms of technology. However, Miguel Mendonça of the World Future Council is convinced that getting there requires more agreement, more collaboration and more action.
via Renewable Energy Focus – Comment: how do we get to a sustainable future?.
Ken Wilber in Sex, Ecology, Spirituality argues that the environmental crisis can only be tackled by a structure that goes beyond nation-states to become truly global. This article starts to echo that sentiment.
A Boon to Renewable Energy?
Jan 8th, 2010 by admin
Google is stepping up its forays into the energy world.The Internet search company, which consumes vast amounts of electricity to run the computers in its data centers, last month created a subsidiary called Google Energy. It then applied for approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to be allowed to buy and sell power much like utilities do.Google said that it did not have specific plans to become an energy trader and that its primary goal was to gain flexibility for buying more renewable energy for its power-hungry data centers.
via Google Applies to Become Power Marketer – Bits Blog – NYTimes.com.
LEED AP Announcement
Dec 12th, 2008 by admin
I am pleased to announce that I can now add LEED AP to my professional credentials. LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is a green building rating system developed by the U. S. Green Building Council to certify buildings as having been designed, constructed and commissioned to high levels of “green accomplishment.” The LEED system of certification is not the only green building certification program in the United States, but it has become the most widely participated in program in the States. Many municipalities are now requiring LEED certification of buildings constructed with public money.
Becoming a LEED AP (accredited professional) means that I have demonstrated a thorough understanding of the LEED rating system and its application to building projects and can therefore be instrumental in guiding a construction project to LEED certification. It also is further evidence that I am serious about being green in my practice.
While a LEED AP is not required to construct green building projects, having a LEED AP as part of your project team can significantly improve the green performance of the project. And there are those who would say you are not serious about being green if you don’t have a LEED AP on your team. While I don’t fully agree with that statement, I do believe that a LEED AP can be an asset to any project, whether or not it seeks LEED certification.
In the New Year, the LEED AP program will be revised to develop a three tiered system of accreditation. There will also be requirements for continuing education that do not currently exist. So increasingly, the LEED AP accreditation system will identify levels and areas of knowledge and expertise and it will also become a guarantee that LEED APs are staying current with the state of the art.
My New Position at Pratt Center for Community Development
Sep 13th, 2008 by admin
Although I was not looking for a job, an opportunity to do something I love doing, working with community groups and not-for-profits who are trying to make their way in the construction world, found me. A good friend sent me the Pratt Center’s advertising for a lead architect and if ever there was a job meant for me, it was in that job description. I applied and the rest, as they say, is history.
This position officially started on April 7, 2008 and I am loving it. Already I am exploring the possibilities of libraries and housing, youth ministries in decommissioned convents, supportive housing above churches, and more.
As this is a full time position, it means my ability to service clients in my own independent practice will be more limited. Those of you with whom I currently have contracts need not worry as Pratt fully understands that I will need to devote some time to bringing your projects to a timely and successful conclusion. Fortunately, all of you are in the finishing stages of the work we are doing together, so this should be a pretty smooth transition.
I will keep my independent practice open, but I will be limiting the projects I take to projects that meet the following criteria:
* The project must clearly not be eligible to be brought into Pratt.
* The project must have sustainability, in the fullest sense of the word, at the center of its aspirations.
Have a look at Pratt Center’s mission here. If you know of a community group or not-for-profit pondering how to get themselves into that abandoned warehouse building around the corner, I would love to talk to them and see if the center can be of any help.
It is my intention to continue to utilize this website to let you know what I am up to and as a repository of information relevant to construction and sustainable living. So I hope you won’t mind if I occasionally post something here and let you know about it.
Thank you to all past and current clients, I hope our paths will be crossing soon, be it around an important community project done through Pratt, or something new and sustainable through my continuing private practice.
With warmest regards,
Michael Bogdanffy-Kriegh
Owner, MBK Architect
Lead Architect, Pratt Center for Community Development
WBAI Radio Interview
Jul 2nd, 2008 by admin
On July 3, 2008, I was interviewed by Andra Miller, President of the New York Society for Ethical Culture. We explored the concept of an ethical relationship to our planet, green building, the role of consumption in our society and some ideas about how we can all be more sustainable. You can listen to this interview in its entirety (approximately one hour) here.
Beyond Building Green, Challenging the Consumer Narrative
Mar 17th, 2008 by admin
To say that the transformation we are undergoing in the way we think about our built environment is radical or unprecedented is in some ways an understatement. In a space of little more than ten years, the green building revolution has gone mainstream. One of the most significant factors propelling this movement forward is our collective worry about global warming. Never before has an environmental crisis been given a dimension that is as comprehensible, or as vividly imaginable to us, as the melting of our polar ice caps, the changing of our weather patterns and the recognition that we are responsible.
While I wholeheartedly endorse the green building movement in architecture and seek to fold green practices into my work wherever possible, I am not convinced that it does enough to tackle head on our current rates of consumption, which are not even close to sustainable. In my opinion, if we really want to be green, which is to say, live sustainably, we have got to come to grips with the consumer narrative that we are all deeply embedded in and begin to construct a new one.
This past weekend I gave a talk on this subject at the Ethical Culture Society of Westchester. A transcript of that talk can be found here.
In this talk I identify two movements, Voluntary Simplicity and Cohousing, as being examples of the kind of lifestyle change we need to be undertaking if we are to come to terms with our over consumptive life styles. Another that came to my attention as a result of giving the talk is the Small House movement. These are all relatively small movements, and I am not convinced that alone or collectively they are the answer. Yet they point us in a direction of conversation that I think can be useful.
I will be giving this talk again at the New York Society for Ethical Culture on April 20, 2008 at 11:30 A.M. I invite anyone in the vicinity to come and hear it. In the coming months I expect to be posting more on this topic and related issues, so stay tuned.
Michael Bogdanffy-Kriegh
A New Year Thanks to Our Clients and Collaborators
Dec 27th, 2007 by admin
As the year draws to a close we would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to our clients and collaborators. We appreciate the faith you display in us when you choose to work with us and we believe we have repaid that faith with thoughtful diligence as we worked together to realize construction goals.
We want to reaffirm our commitment to providing an architectural service that encourages teamwork across all project disciplines. We firmly believe that all players have something valuable to contribute to the process and we want to help get the best out of each and every one.
Our commitment to environmentally responsible design and production grows constantly. We are proud that we are able to incorporate products and systems that are energy efficient, renewable and otherwise environmentally sound choices in all of our projects, sometimes without our clients knowing it. We are even more proud to take leadership within our own business structure. As pioneers in virtual office production we have built a production model that minimizes resource consumption. All of our team members work with us through the internet which eliminates the need to build and maintain separate office space. We employ state of the art web based collaboration tools to coordinate our work and we make these tools available to our clients and collaborators so that we can all be more efficient with our time and planetary resources.
We wish everyone a happy and healthy new year!
The Team at MBK Architect
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