Blog

How to Keep Floor Beams Where They Should Be Inside the Airtight Layer You know the air barrier must be continuous, without interruption around the entirety of the conditioned space - inboard of the main insulation layer, thereby keeping the conditioned air within the conditioned space, optimizing efficiency and minimizing the chance … read more

Adhesive Bonds and Failures What's Going On? We use adhesives to form airtight and watertight enclosures. It is essential that the adhesive bonds are strong and lasting.... 50 years, 100 years, and longer. How do we know when we have the right kind of adhesion? What are the different ways a tape's adhesion will be able to provide us … read more

Elevating the Performance of our Brooklyn Headquarters At 475, we preach that a continuous, airtight, insulated, and thermal bridge free envelope is essential for high performance buildings. While our old, retrofitted Brooklyn garage falls short of the level of performance we would typically like to see, that didn't stop us from imple … read more

The Future of Ecological Living On Display While active opposition to all climate progress reverberates from US leadership, the imagination of those plotting a course for a better future is not deterred. The Yale Center for Ecosystems in Architecture (CEA) has partnered with Gray Organschi Architecture to create a display project desi … read more

Introduction to Glavel Sub-slab insulation and lightweight fill made from recycled glass bottles The state of glass recycling in America is grim. Although post-consumer glass is theoretically very recyclable, our municipal recycling facilities have not been able to make the process work in reality the same way it has in Germany or Ja … read more

Smart Walls For Smart Kids: Okanagan College Child Care Centre Sustainable Architecture & Building Magazine (or SABMag for short) announced the Canadian Green Building Awards for 2018, including a personal favorite of ours among the winners: the Okanagan College Child Care Centre in Penticton, British Columbia. This project was nam … read more