The energy embodied in aluminum From TheConversation.com (never heard of it, but it seems like a good news source): the embodied energy of aluminum is 211 gigajoules per ton. It takes a lot of energy to separate aluminum from its ore but it is relatively easy to recycle (relative to other metals like steel). Embodied... Continue Reading →

[A comfortable tread-to-riser ratio for a six-year-old] In a wheelchair Half an inch over four feet. Accessibility code dictates anyone in a wheelchair can pass over a threshold 1/4" tall with another 1/4" bevel on top (maximum). No stairs. Just ramps and elevators/lifts. Code marks the intersection of law and design, and it can be... Continue Reading →

A comfortable tread-to-riser ratio for a six-year-old Stairs are well regulated, with lots of rules dictating width (based on how many occupants may need to evacuate in an emergency), handrails, guardrails, nosing size and profile, and the tread-to-riser ratio (based on the standard size and shape of people). People aren't standard sizes and shapes, although... Continue Reading →

The Gini Coefficient This number is measured from 0 to 1 and describes the gap between rich and poor in a given place (the lower the number, the more evenly divided wealth and resources are among all members of that community/inhabitants of that place). This blog post from The Economist (with graphic from research out... Continue Reading →

How to unclog a rapidograph This lesson is a hard one to defend its inclusion in a list of 250 things all architects should know (18 days in and the biggest discovery I have is that there is seemingly no context to the list, no explanation as to what it is. 'List of things all... Continue Reading →

Jane Jacobs in and out A break from chronology to celebrate Jane Jacobs, whose centennial birthday was celebrated by a Google Doodle and by various public figures and commentators on various design forums including personal favorites Greater Greater Washington (local to DC), City Lab and many others. I never made it through her work, only... Continue Reading →

The rate at which the seas are rising. Best estimate: .13" per year (per National Geographic and NOAA, both possibly referencing the same source material). There is some debate on whether the rate of climate change and sea level rise will increase or level off as the effects of both act on one another (is... Continue Reading →

What Victor Hugo really meant by ‘this will kill that' "By 1832, the year he published his novel, Hugo believed architecture had reached an impasse: architects had nothing new to say. This artistic bankruptcy was revealed in the profusion of movements that toyed with earlier styles: neo-classicism, neo-Byzantine, neo-this, neo-that. Architecture was dead, but architects... Continue Reading →

How to lay bricks Two pieces of advice from teachers in undergrad architecture schools: If you want to work out your forearms, apprentice with a brick mason over the summer If you want a lucrative profession skip architecture and become a mason specializing in butter joints - the thin mortar joints that most pre-modern architecture... Continue Reading →

And [a history] of its [glass] meaning Glass as building material has always meant connection to the outside world, often at a cost of warmth (or dryness). Two papers/essays discussed in past architectural theory classes covered some of the evolving meaning of glass and of windows in the 20th century. Type and its Transformation by... Continue Reading →