Cool Hunting

Monterey Bay Shores Eco-Development
This spectacular design—still in the works—aims to convert a desolate desert, into a thriving environmental preserve and eco-resort. The building incorporates an astonishing array of green designs, which include a five-acre green roof which supports native species, living walls, botanical and herbal gardens and sustainable green dining. Monterey Bay Shores is being built with the goal of reducing its carbon footprint by 50%. In...

Cascadia Living Building Challenge and Leader Program
by Russ Lowe Moving beyond the once revolutionary LEED (Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design) scope of strategies and requirements for building green, Cascadia, the Northwest chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council's Living Building Challenge meets once unimagined sustainability standards in areas of Site, Water, Energy, Materials, Indoor Quality, Beauty and Inspiration and Process and Leadership. Using a guideline of 20 prerequisites, the initiative...

Kraanspoor: Dock Turned Office Building
The Dutch, the beautiful Dutch—in terms of architecture anyway. With Kraanspoor they have led the way again with this reuse of an old crane dock. A new glass office building, with a climatic façade of double glazing, motorized louvers on the outside and full length windows on the inside, hovers above the old dock. The result of the architect Trude Hooykaas of OTH bicycling...

The Pharos Project
by Russ Lowe Addressing inconsistencies and other challenges in eco-friendly construction, a revolutionary group of like-minded (and large-minded) scientists, architects, engineers, humanitarians and optimists from the U.S. Green Building Council's robust Northwest Chapter, Cascadia, have developed Pharos, a project that might just reshape the Green movement.Its namesake, the island lighthouse of Alexandria, references the guiding beacon that led travelers through unmarked waters in ancient...