This is a presentation that I prepared for a “Tell my why it’s cool show” which is basically a show and tell for grown-ups in Chicago. Shout-out to Mary for organizing these great events!
Category: Thoughts
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One reason humans are so important in AI development
As it stands, AI is a powerful tool for pattern recognition and copying. This means that it has the ability to extend and amplify current patterns of human behavior indefinitely. Examples include hiring biases that systematically eliminate qualified female resumes, and copying artist styles to make new works of art that are not truly innovative….
How to make the DesMoines Area Rapid Transit system amazing
This is a project I did way back during my years at Iowa State University. I have developed my marketing, aesthetic, and presentation skills significantly since the creation of this project, but the core concepts behind this proposal are still very powerful, relevant, and broadly applicable. The original presentation is shown in the image below…
How to create world class transit in auto dominated cities
American cities are notoriously spread out. Since the highway building boom of the 1950’s American cities have moved strongly away from public transit and walk-ability towards a more auto dependent infrastructure. We spend hundreds of billions of dollars every year on our roads and highways alone (1)(2). In rural areas, this road and highway infrastructure…
How to make affordable housing super expensive
A long list in no particular order.
The Most Beautiful Urban Spaces in Barcelona
The purpose of this post is to highlight some of my favorite urban spaces in Barcelona and get a better understanding of what makes these spaces so wonderful and successful. I am using the term Urban space here to indicate any space, facility, street, plaza, buildings, or infrastructure that is open to the public free…
How to be a good racist
I just finished reading the book “White Fragility – Why it’s so hard for white people to talk about racism” by Robin Diangelo. This is a must read for all white folks and people who enjoy the advantages and privileges of passing as white. The book explains racism better and much more thoroughly than I…
New wind turbines threaten to blow petroleum up.
About three years ago we started to see wind turbines get even more wind behind their sails. Here is the article. https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2018/3/8/17084158/wind-turbine-power-energy-blades At the time the biggest, newest wind turbine blades that were not even out yet had a rotor diameter of 220 meters (~720 feet) and a total height of 260m (~850 feet). The…
How to Prioritize Energy Efficiency in Your New Home
We all have a limited budget. If you are fortunate enough to be able to build your own home from scratch here is a simple framework for you to prioritize your spending when aiming for the most efficient house possible with a limited amount of money. Control the air. Insulate like hell hath frozen over….
The reason we need to reframe climate action goals NOW
Humans and human institutions are master procrastinators. We know this. Everyone knows this. It is a lot easier to continue doing whatever you are doing that it is do try something new. This fundamental human behavior is why our calls for climate action with ten year and twenty year plans have not been met for…
Three Patterns in Chicago’s Ridership Data Waiting to Be Found
Introduction I am doing this case study as a capstone project after completion of the Google Intro Data Analytics Certificate Course. This covers all steps of the data analysis process. These steps are ask, prepare, process, analyze, share, and act. Growing up in Chicago, I took the train to high school throughout the year and…
The most diverse country in the world is…
Part of answering this question hinges on the answers to a ton of other questions. It also may depend on a set of values that are subject to debate. So the first question is what new information is this analysis attempting to uncover. My goal in writing this is to explore which countries in the…
New News, Old News, and Food for Thought.
Cool developments in Science New cancer treatment re-activates the immune system. https://news.mit.edu/2021/new-cancer-treatment-may-reawaken-immune-system-1019 Accountability watch over the Tech Giants Facebook fails to hold dictators and other bad actors accountable to violations of Facebook’s own code of conduct. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/apr/12/facebook-loophole-state-backed-manipulation Food for thought Munger thinks that other people should live in a building that (let’s be honest here)…
Cut Your Carbon Emissions With 10 Awesome Affordable Renovations
Whenever we are looking to renovate our home we want to know what our return on investment will be. Financial implications are just one aspect we must look at. The other, and more difficult, aspect is the impact our renovation has on the climate. How effectively are we utilizing our resources to help mitigate the…
The best way to screw yourself and the planet
Step 1: Chop down a tree that shades your home. Step 2: That’s it. Results: Your air conditioning bill and electrical energy usage during peak summer cooling seasons will go up since the roof is exposed to the sun during the hot summer days. You house will be hotter and more uncomfortable during the summer…
One Powerful Mandate to Improve Efficiency at No Cost
Context It should be no news that we are facing an urgent climate crisis. One of the main contributors to this crisis is our building stock. One of the easiest, most cost effective, and fastest changes we can make is in improving the energy and water efficiency of existing buildings. Renter occupied units make up…
Quantifying the Value of Individual Labor within an Organization.
One of the great issues of the day is the inequalities seen within the modern corporation whereby executives are rewarded very well financially while many laborers executing the day to day tasks that make the corporation possible are not even paid enough to make ends meet. Often the people doing the physical work required to…
Off-Grid Carbon Free Life in a Mountain Cabin
This schematic design proposal didn’t meet the client’s aesthetic desires but I thought the Mountain Valley A-Frame was still worth sharing due to the awesome unique location and some interesting client requirements that resulted from that unique location. The site is located near Yellowstone National Park a few miles from a lake in a valley…
Add 3D context to your Revit File
Seven Simple Steps To Make Your Home Carbon Free
It is definitely possible to accomplish a net zero energy and net zero carbon home within a reasonable price range. There is nothing special, complicated, or magical about it. Here are nine simple steps that you can use on your next home construction or renovation project and estimates of their associated costs. Please note that…
Surprise! The best way to stay comfortable is insulation.
Humans are foolish creatures, in particular when it comes to how we build. You know those crazy people who wear shorts and a t-shirt outside when the temperature is hovering around freezing? That is exactly what a poorly insulated building looks like. Put on a coat! What crazy fool would want to be so uncomfortable?…
All Electric Construction Equipment Will Become The New Normal
Why? We are in a climate emergency and need to eliminate all carbon burning operations immediately. It is more efficient Cheaper operational expenses because there are less moving parts to maintain, no oil to change, etc. No need to haul in or go get fuel Less air pollution Less noise pollution In case you think…
10 Reasons Why All Electric Homes Will Be the New Normal
We are in the midst of a climate emergency. We must eliminate carbon usage in our homes and everywhere else too. We still need to heat, cool, light, and operate our homes and electricity is a widespread commercially available alternative to fossil fuels. Every fossil fuel appliance now has an all electric counterpart that exceeds…
Four More Years Until Free Wind Kills Dirty Coal
In the last two years Wind and Solar just wiped U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates on the floor. Here is a graph of their estimates in 2018 for which fuel sources would provide our electricity in 2020. Well, it turns out that the EIA drastically underestimated the power of wind. Here is a graph…
Eliminate Fossil Fuels With This Happy New All Electric House
My parents are “up in age” if you will. Like many people in their 70’s and 80’s mobility is more difficult and simple improvements in architecture and design can make a tremendous difference in their quality of life and how long they will safely be able to live independently. For many years I have been…
Live better with more food, more energy, and less water!
Many people in this world behave as though our economy is a zero sum game. But, in most cases, it is not a zero sum game. In many cases simply re-arranging our thinking or our systems can actually support a better economy and more biodiversity with fewer resources. This article is a perfect example of…
Cad Mapper
Shout out to Gayane for bringing this resource to my attention. This tools gives you site shape files. The website is Cad Mapper.
How to add images to a Revit Schedule
If you have a common workflow issue that just can’t be done in Revit… I hate to say this but… Just google it. 99% of the time you will find an answer. This is just a link slash shout-out to the folks at CADD Community for a great tutorial on how to add images to…
Covid-19 and Interior Design (Part 5)
This post is the fifth in a series. Please read the main article before beginning this part. Due to the broad scope of the topic at hand this issue has been divided into multiple posts. Each post is centered around a topic related to homes might change as a result of Covid-19. Topics will be…
Covid-19 and Integrated Tech (Part 4)
This post is the fourth in a series. Please read the main article before beginning this part. Due to the broad scope of the topic at hand this issue has been divided into multiple posts. Each post is centered around a topic related to homes might change as a result of Covid-19. Topics will be…
Tiny Homes are Not the Answer
America should be ashamed that, despite being the wealthiest country on earth with one of the most vibrant business scenes, we still have a massive amount of homelessness. To address this issue some people have proposed building tiny homes for the poorest to make homes more affordable. The thought behind this idea is that smaller…
It is Earth Day #50
And we are failing our planet miserably. JFK once said “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” Well some wise folks at Commvault have remixed this to “Ask not what your planet can do for you. Ask what you can do for your planet.” In…
Covid-19 and Construction Assemblies (Part 3)
This post is the third in a series. Please read the main article before beginning this part. Due to the broad scope of the topic at hand this issue has been divided into multiple posts. Each post is centered around a topic related to homes might change as a result of Covid-19. Topics will be…
Covid-19 and Residential Construction Practices (Part 2)
This post is the second in a series. Please read the main article before beginning this part. Due to the complexity of the topic at hand this issue has been divided into multiple posts. Each post is centered around a topic related to homes might change as a result of Covid-19. Topics will be linked…
Covid-19 and Home Space Planning (Part 1)
This post is the first in a series. Please read the main article before beginning this part. Due to the complexity of the topic at hand this issue has been divided into multiple posts. Each post is centered around a topic related to homes might change as a result of Covid-19. Topics will be linked…
Covid-19 and Housing (Main)
I recently read an article about the influence of disease on bathroom design in the United States. This article made me wonder about the role of Covid-19 on the home. What kinds of impacts might this current pandemic have on the design and construction of our homes? Will it change where people want to live?…
All Electric Homes are the Future
The goal of this post is to encourage people who are considering building a new home to go all electric. The main reason to do this is environmental. At the moment going all electric may cost a little bit more because of a lack of market penetration. However the cost disadvantages of the equipment required…
Weekly Readings
Another week another list! The Living Building challenge is one of the most holistic sustainability standard. Most standards like LEED and Green Globes are designed in such a way that you can still build a building that uses toxic chemicals you just get less points. The Living Building challenge really gets sustainability right starting from…
Weekly Readings
Procrastination is awful. At least reading is enjoyable. Super adobe is a cool system that reshapes an abundant resource into beautiful housing with minimal materials and energy. Kudos to Fabio for bringing this company to my attention!https://www.calearth.org/intro-superadobe Indoor vertical farming in Chicago’s back of the Yards Neighborhood.https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-backyard-fresh-farms-vertical-indoor-farm-20190807-j7bzv2axi5cfrfuvspqyht7xku-story.html The limitations of neighborhood councils and participatory democracy…
George Washington’s Birthday
Looks like this is becoming a habit. Truly original content just takes longer than I anticipated. “Washington’s greatest and most lasting contribution was his example in establishing what is called “ordered liberty.” Ordered liberty requires that citizens be honest. The opposite of ordered liberty is dishonesty and confusion. Washington was known for his honesty. ”…
Link-Fest 3…
Because I didn’t take time to write last week. Frick Environmental Center is a building that I have had the pleasure of getting a personal tour of while I lived in Pittsburgh. Here is a link to their website which has much better descriptions of the building that I could hope to compile.https://www.pittsburghparks.org/frick-environmental-center-building Earthquake hazards…
Link-fest 2!
It appears that I will be too busy to write a real article this week as well. So, for the sake of convenient education, here is another set of links for your brains to munch on. This is an interesting article from a blog that is tailored more specifically to Pittsburgh but also looks at…
Link-fest 1
Since I do not have time this week to write a real post that involves research I am simply posting some links to interesting reads or cool stuff that people have told me about or that I have found during the week. The topics of these links span everything from home construction and sustainability to…
Martin Luther King Jr. Day
Martin Luther King Jr. made the world a better place through the power of vision, determination, and powerful community organization. But even in his time he recognized that the fight for justice was only beginning. I would like to take this day to see how far we have come as a nation and how far…
The new home construction market mismatch
This post is an evaluation of the idea that new housing built today skews luxury while leaving affordable and mid-priced new home construction as under-served markets. To be clear this is a sub-issue of the larger issue which is a simple lack of sufficient supply as seen by the following quote from a research paper…
Can Autonomous Private Vehicles Eliminate Traffic Jams?
Many people hail the arrival of the autonomous car as a solution that will alleviate traffic congestion by reducing accidents and allowing for coordinated and fluid motion of traffic. While these characteristics of future driving automation that are not yet possible may indeed help improve traffic they will not eliminate traffic jams nearly to the…