An architect and engineer present a case study and give advice on how to be sustainable and cost-effective at the same time. The term “net-zero” often brings to mind big budgets and expensive building systems, but this conception couldn’t be further from the truth. As architects and engineers, we have everything we need to design…

Ed Mazria, FAIA, is an architect who has been called “game changer” since the early 2000s. That’s when he saw, in energy data, just how much buildings were contributing to emissions. He recognized then the leadership opportunity for the architectural profession. Mazria is still crunching numbers and pushing the industry toward greater, faster impact. Today,…

Houston Endowment (HE), a leading Houston philanthropic organization, and design competition organizers Malcolm Reading Consultants, recently launched the global search for an outstanding design team of architects and landscape architects for HE’s new headquarters. The center, circa 40,000 s.f., will be HE’s new public face and will provide dedicated space for the organization’s team and community…

For nearly the past 100 years, Houston has been proud to be a world leader in the oil and gas industry. However, despite the recent fracking boom, there seems to be a growing sense among its entrepreneurial and political elite that this economic model is going to fail at some point, or at the very…

The first full mass timber structure in the nation to use southern yellow pine cross-laminated timber (CLT) panels is set for completion in September 2019. Designed by Gensler’s Dallas office, the First United Bank in Fredericksburg has the distinction of being the first full mass timber construction project to be completed in Texas as well…

Following an April 16 hearing, House Bill 4342 was approved by the House Public Education Committee the next day. HB 4342 now advances with the committee’s full support. HB 4342 would add a licensed architect to the Texas School Safety Center (TxSSC) Board of Directors. TxSSC is the official, university-supported research center at Texas State whose mission is to…

Equity. Diversity. Inclusion. I heard these powerful, complicated words reduced to the acronym “EDI” for the first time last week at a meeting — and while this signal of ubiquitous discussion encourages me, I felt the abbreviation packages them up a little too neatly. What does it mean for an organization to value diversity? How…

As data privacy concerns make headlines, architects should consider how much they share when specifying products Building products have always made up a significant portion of construction project budgets, and the specification of those materials takes up a large amount of architects’ time. But while product selection was once generic and took place in a…

To design for optimal energy efficiency, architects must embrace early collaboration with engineers and energy modelers. As architects, we can design our buildings in a way that celebrates sustainability and energy efficiency and best leverages the skills of mechanical engineers and energy modelers. We can find opportunity for strong aesthetics and sensitivity to users while also celebrating…