Urban dwellers across the EU are having a say in making their surroundings friendlier to people and the environment In the Italian town of Nepi last year, a school covered floorspace in sheets and asked children to draw how they would change the urban layout. Elsewhere in the town, a care centre for elderly people quizzed them on the same topic in a questionnaire. The drawings by the children and answers from the care centre’s occupants touched on issues affecting wellbeing including water, food, energy and social interaction. Sustainability was also a primary concern, with children even comi ..read more

MATRYCS toolbox offers stakeholders from the building sector, the opportunity to monitor and improve the energy performance of buildings; design facilitation and development of building infrastructure; receive policy impact assessments; and de-risk energy efficiency investments A toolbox of data-driven applications designed to unlock the power of big data for building energy management and policy making was launched today in Brussels. The newly released MATRYCS toolbox - which was assessed by policymakers, IT developers, research centres and seven municipalities - offers stakeholders from the ..read more

The project’s first prototype is on display at an exhibition in Shanghai, China Produced by nature… with a little help from A.I. CRA’s latest startup Maestro prototypes “A.I. Timber”, an innovative construction material that reduces waste by preserving the original shapes of the trees. Instead of sawing unique logs into standardized boards, Maestro uses A.I. to fit them together like puzzle pieces. The project’s first prototype is on display at an exhibition in Shanghai, China. Maestro, a new construction-technology startup born out of the design and innovation office CRA-Carlo Ratti Associat ..read more

New research reveals that, some 2,000 years ago, Roman water engineers were keeping up a regular programme of managing and maintaining the ancient water systems While 21st century water companies struggle to maintain clean, fresh supplies, new research today from an international team led by Oxford geoarchaeologist Dr Gül Sürmelihindi, reveals that, some 2,000 years ago, Roman water engineers were keeping up a regular programme of managing and maintaining the ancient water systems. According to the research, published in Science Advances, ancient water manag ..read more

Smart houses, which are equipped with advanced technologies and devices that allow them to operate autonomously and interact with their inhabitants, are a critical component of the smart city of the future Smart cities are designed to optimize the use of resources, reduce waste, and improve the quality of life for their residents. The integration of smart houses into smart cities can help achieve these goals by creating a more efficient and responsive built environment. One of the primary benefits of smart houses in smart cities is their ability to optimize energy usage. Smart houses can moni ..read more

Leverage IoT and mobile app to facilitate self-service operations for property management NineSmart Limited is proud to announce the launch of Smart Residence, a contactless access and facilities booking solution for residential buildings under NineSmart Solutions (NSS). With the rising demand for property technology (PropTech), NineSmart is committed to becoming a prominent solution provider in the market with advanced IoT technology. Smart Residence is a brand-new IoT solution that connects commonly used residential amenities with cloud, which allows residents to control and reserve these f ..read more

The project is developed by Belgian company Xior Student Housing and Amsterdam-bsed real estate developers DubbeLL Mecanoo's Brink Tower has been granted planning permission to create an energy positive, green, and inclusive neighbourhood in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The studio has announced that construction work is set to begin in mid-October, 2022 in Amsterdam. In 2020, Mecanoo won a competition to design a 90-meter-high mixed-use tower, offering spaces to live, work, do business and relax in a healthy environment. The project is developed by Belgian company  ..read more

TAB 2022 aims to empower architects, planners, and environmental designers to take a proactive stance on architecture’s expressive capacity to perform circular operations, to generate resources – food and energy – and to self-decompose The 6th Tallinn Architecture Biennale will open its doors on September 7th, 2022 in multiple venues in the heart of Tallinn, Estonia with a vast programme conceived to foster dialogue, multidisciplinarity and experimentation.  This year's biennale is themed as “Edible; Or, The Architecture of Metabolism” and the international architecture fe ..read more

Designed and Manufactured in New York, Ctrl+e’s New Building Intelligence & Energy Management Platform Unlocks Actionable Insights Needed to Save Money and Eliminate Waste Ctrl+e, an innovative building intelligence and energy management company, today unveiled its transformative solution to one of the largest costs and environmental challenges commercial building owners face today: energy waste. Ctrl+e’s revolutionary building intelligence & energy management platform modernizes the legacy infrastructure of any commercial building and unlocks massive savings. By providing real-time v ..read more

This small family uses some innovative techniques and tools Every now and then, here on Treehugger, we cover interesting specimens of architecture that architects build as residences for themselves and their families. Some might be low-carbon homes that are carved out of heritage-status structures, while others might be modern live-work spaces converted out historic microapartments, or even low-cost affairs built out of repurposed vehicles like this architecture student's bus home. Whatever they may be, it's always fascinating to see how such projects are conceived, d ..read more