Driver-less cars, precision agriculture, artificial intelligence – although these may evoke images of futuristic cities only seen in sci-fi films, they may be our reality sooner than we think. It was recently announced that Sioux Falls may be a tester-ground for 5G internet technology. Senator John Thune believes this will change and propel our economic landscape …
Designing Healthful Environments
Health and well-being is one of my greatest passions in life. After all, you only have one life, and as you use it, you can never get it back. I fully believe design has the ability, and even the responsibility, to serve the health and well-being of those who experience it. There are many small ways …
South Dakota’s first Passive House multi-family project
Earlier last month, tenants started moving into a first-of-its-kind apartment building in South Dakota. Located in eastern Sioux Falls, Copper Pass Apartments is a 30-unit apartment building design and constructed to achieve Passive House certification.
Are Passive Houses part of the conversation?
Last week the SDSU Department of Architecture (DoArch) hosted a ribbon cutting at PH01:BRK, the first custom designed single-family passive house in South Dakota. The event culminates almost three years of work, and has introduced passive house principles to students, initiated research and training, and most visibly, resulted in the construction of a certified, student …
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Practice Innovation Lab: One year on
Just over a year ago, I found myself connecting with young architects from across the nation. Our goal, develop models for what the practice of architecture might look like in the year 2030. It was an exhilarating exercise, and also refreshing to see that out state and region (what many of the attendees probably would term …
Architects in pop culture
Feeding my fascination with how the profession intersects with pop-culture, here is some light content from Architectural Digest, regarding how the profession (and related fields) are portrayed in TV & film (and if the characters are any good at what they do). I only caught one episode of “How I Met Your Mother” during its …
Washington Pavilion celebrates 20 years
I cannot help but share a bit about a building and an institution I truly cherish. The Washington Pavilion represents one of my first experiences with the power of architecture, mashing up my love for the arts with my love for the sciences – in a similar way that architecture combines those elements as well. …
A map of every building
Due to some technical difficulties earlier in the week, I am behind on my duties as blog host to have something lined up at the beginning of the week. That said, there is a lot of great content on the way (I promise), so stay tuned. For today, I urge you to take some time …
High-performance can “pay-off” in the long run
One of the challenges I often face as an architect is trying to help clients and building owners bridge the gap between what is best in the long run and what is the most cost-effective solution up front. I’d like to say I’ve been doing this long enough to see the effects of both approaches, …
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Newly appointed AIA SD Disaster Coordinator
In response to national and regional advances in disaster preparedness, AIA South Dakota had begun to develop a Disaster Assistance Program by connecting with AIA National and other State components to create the protocols for our volunteer architects to respond in case of a major event (tornado, floods, forest fires, and winter storms) in our …
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