Northglenn, a Denver suburb, opens a net zero, all-electric city hall with a mass timber structure

Northglenn, Colo., a Denver suburb, has opened the new Northglenn City Hall—a net zero, fully electric building with a mass timber structure. The 32,600-sf, $33.7 million building houses 60 city staffers. Designed by Anderson Mason Dale Architects, Northglenn City Hall is set to become the first municipal building in Colorado, and one of the first in the country, to achieve the Core certification: a green building rating system overseen by the International Living Future Institute.

K-12 Schools

The importance of selecting healthy materials for K-12 projects

Clark Nexsen interior designers Anna Claire Beethoven and Brittney Just, CID, IIDA, LEED Green Associate, share why it is imperative to specify healthy building materials in K-12 schools.

Office Buildings

Fact sheet outlines benefits, challenges of thermal energy storage for commercial buildings

A U.S. Dept. of Energy document discusses the benefits and challenges of thermal energy storage for commercial buildings. The document explains how the various types of thermal energy storage technologies work, where their installation is most beneficial, and some practical considerations around installations.

Industrial Facilities

UK-based tire company plans to build the first carbon-neutral tire factory in the U.S.

ENSO, a U.K.-based company that makes tires for electric vehicles, has announced plans to build the first carbon-neutral tire factory in the U.S. The $500 million ENSO technology campus will be powered entirely by renewable energy. The first-of-its-kind tire factory aims to be carbon neutral without purchased offsets, using carbon-neutral raw materials and building materials.

Green | Feb 10, 2017

Radical proposal would transform Chicago’s Lake Shore Drive and create new lakefront park space

Over 70 new acres of public space would be created between Ohio Street and North Avenue.

Green | Feb 6, 2017

A to Z: Seoul’s elevated park features 24,000 alphabetized plants

The plants will represent 250 species found in South Korea.

Green | Feb 3, 2017

Nanjing Green Towers will be Asia’s first vertical forest

The project will be covered in 1,100 trees and 2,500 cascading plants and shrubs.

Sustainability | Jan 27, 2017

An office building proposed for Norway would generate more power than it uses

Over it’s 60-year lifespan, the power generated form the project would cover the energy cost of construction, production, and material transportation.

Sustainability | Jan 24, 2017

From an industrial park to an eco-neighborhood in Brussels, Belgium

At the heart of Vincent Callebaut Architectures’ eco-neighborhood will be three 100-meter-tall Vertical Forests.

Sustainability | HDR | Jan 19, 2017

How NYC is slashing 80% of greenhouse gas emissions by 2050

To help one of the most complex cities in the world develop an actionable strategy to meet visionary GHG reduction goals, we focused on strategies for deep carbon reductions for the city’s entire building stock, which constitutes 73% of citywide emissions, writes HDR's Jennifer Bienemann.