Three Sustainable Design Questions for MAP’s Sara Bayer

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Article courtesy of MAP Architects While the work of sustainable development is a year-round pursuit, Earth Day gives us an opportunity to reflect on our progress and advocate for more. So, we asked our Director of Sustainability, Sara Bayer, three quick questions to talk about where we stand. In the last couple of years we’ve signed the AIA 2030 commitment and won 7 NYSERDA Buildings of Excellence awards, what are…


Vancouver To Be Home To World’s Tallest Passive House Building

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Canadian developer Brivia Group has selected downtown Vancouver as the location of its newest and most sustainable project yet. CURV, a 60-storey residential development between Burrard and Thurlow Streets, will be the world’s tallest passive house building – a modern, low carbon and energy efficient building that contributes to a healthier planet, mirroring the environmental ethos of the city of Vancouver. Passive House is the highest standard for energy efficiency in commercial…


Building a climate resilient future

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Sustainability at ROCKWOOL "At ROCKWOOL, we transform volcanic rock into stone wool and our products contribute to address many of society’s biggest climate change challenges, creating new opportunities to enrich modern living and build safer, healthier, and more climate resilient communities. Indeed, stone wool is a versatile natural material with multiple benefits that makes it ideal for applications in buildings, industry, transportation, horticulture, and water management.  We pursue a fact-based,…


Empire Building Challenge

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Empire Building Challenge A New Era for High-Rise Buildings The Empire Building Challenge will spur economic growth and renewal in New York by attracting best-in-class manufacturers, solution providers, and entrepreneurs from around the world to help transform our existing building stock into the buildings of the future. Investing in the most promising novel approaches to retrofitting our tallest buildings will transform the high-rise building market and position the State as…



NYC Enacts Legislation to Promote All-Electric Buildings

NYC is now the largest city in the U.S. to enact legislation relating to the electrification of buildings. On December 15, 2021, the NY City Council voted in support of Int. 2317A-2021, which effectively mandates the electrification of most new buildings by prohibiting the on-site “combustion of a substance that emits 25 kilograms or more of carbon dioxide per million British thermal units of energy.” Former Mayor Bill de Blasio, a…


China’s first Passive House office building now certified

Press Release, Passive House Institute, 2 July 2015 China’s first Passive House office building now certified Local stakeholders turning increasingly to energy efficiency Darmstadt, Germany. The Passive House concept has reached yet another milestone in the growing market of China: The countries’ first office building designed to this highly energy efficient standard has been certified in the city of Zhuozhou. The building owner and occupant is the company Hebei Xinhua…