Author: Allison
-
Solar Power Becoming Dirt Cheap
A new product will make solar energy dirt cheap. Solar power used to have a payback of about 20 years. The lifespan of photovoltaic (PV) panels was about 20 years, making solar a difficult sell given the high cost.
-
Creating Layers of Value – What’s Good For Environment is Good for Business.
We consider a project unsatisfactory if it’s just beautiful. We consider a project unsatisfactory if it’s only green — or only functional. We consider a project falls short if it’s not a good fit for it’s natural setting or urban context.
-
Low-energy Solutions
We humans, occupants of the habitat we call The World, find ourselves in a predicament – confronted by a changing environment, we must adapt and do so quickly, achieving carbon neutrality by 2030
-
Lewis & Clark Exploratory Center of Virginia: Engaging People is Key to a Building’s Success
We design with the philosophy that engaging people in our buildings is key to a project’s success. We think a lot about how to create opportunities for discovery, for collaboration, for a conversation with nature
-
Architects and Community Engagement
We believe in win-win solutions. Obstacles can be surmounted with creative thinking and a few skills. One area where architects can make a difference is in the public arena.
-
Sustainable Design Requires Creative Solutions
A sustainable architect needs to solve for more than would the typical designer. I liken our process to solving the Rubic’s cube – where all the goals, challenges and givens must be in alignment.
-
Harness the Sun at the Community Level
Passive solar design is well understood yet little considered at the community design level. New York City planners had the foresight to lay out the NYC street grid with solar aspect in mind.
-
Charlottesville VA Architect Chris Hays’ Interview with Home Style Green
Charlottesville VA architect Chris Hays talks with broadcaster Matthew Cutler-Welsh about how homes can improve your life.
-
Allison Ewing Shares Her Green Design Expertise at Hanley Wood’s Vision 2020 Symposium
She discusses why the building is at a Darwinian crossroads and it’s time to evolve an Architecture of the Fittest.
-
Adaptation
Lichen grows on the sunny side of the bark of a tree, capitalizing on the warm of the environment. I’m fascinated by the compass termite amitermes meridionalis, native to northern Australia, that builds its nest like a sundial.