| The administration at the University of California Santa Barbara finally realized that the emperor had no clothes and cancelled the mostly windowless Munger Hall,1 but the fight for natural light and air continues. The monstrous dorm would have sentenced over 4,000 students to bedrooms with no windows, creating a potentially disastrous living experience. In location near […] — Read More
| Agrihoods, neighborhoods that incorporate food production into their design, have been getting more attention in the residential development world. In many cases, these projects are conventional sprawl with a tiny community garden or orchard. Whereas, in their truest form, agrihoods weave food production into the design and experiential fabric of their communities in much more […] — Read More
| A man to whom Terrapin owes much of our passion and focus passed away last month. Edward O. Wilson made multiple contributions to science and society. His focus on ants and their behaviors led to a sometimes controversial exploration of innate vs learned behavior in other species—sociobiology, a field in which he was a pioneer. […] — Read More
| Over the years I have noticed that while good ideas come and go, truly bad ideas take on a life of their own. Some ideas even move into the realm of what Amory Lovins calls ‘spherically stupid’—stupid from any direction you look. Billionaire Charlie Munger is giving the University of California Santa Barbara $200 million […] — Read More
| This feature is a follow up to Bill’s previous post on The Journey of Sustainability. 1 September 2021 Thirty years ago today, Amory and Hunter Lovins, over the objections of some of the Rocky Mountain Institute’s board of directors, allowed a 29-year-old to launch a new program to work with real estate developers to make […] — Read More
| The green building movement and arguably the larger discussion about sustainability have progressed in scope and understanding over the last three decades. Terrapin staff have been at the heart of this journey. In retrospect, this progression can be understood as three distinct levels of sustainability, each with their own focus, and with direct and indirect benefits […] — Read More
| Disaster resilience has focused primarily on the physical characteristics and resource provisions of a home. How might we incorporate psychological resilience into design? — Read More
| A “New Design Ideas” article on biophilic design and the future of architectural education. — Read More
| Our very own Dakota Walker discusses a common thread behind Terrapin’s diverse work in sustainability — Read More
| Here are some of our takeaways from an action-packed week at Greenbuild — Read More
| In this feature, Bill Browning provides his take on the growing adoption of biophilic design and ways that practitioners can expand their use of this design language. — Read More
| Looking for a summer book recommendation? This year our Summer Reading list features titles ranging from authors we know well to ones we’re meeting for the first time. — Read More
| The possible applications and potential environmental implications of blockchain technology are significant. — Read More
| Environmental strategist Bill Browning shares strategies and insights on the benefits on incorporating biophilia into built environments. — Read More
| We may not have solved all of sleep’s mysteries, but we are starting to understand the role environmental design plays in promoting sleep and health. — Read More
| How might our collective experience of the built environment impact the perception of “success” in architecture? — Read More
| What qualifies as “sustainable forestry” may depend on your point of view, but fundamentally a tree stand is not a forest. — Read More
| “When the sun is warm on my face and the breeze is cool, I know it is good to be alive.” — Read More
| We’ve released two new biophilic design case studies: Östra Psychiatry Hospital in Sweden and the Parkroyal on Pickering hotel & spa in Singapore. — Read More
| While humans have reached nearly every corner of the surface of this planet, there are still inhospitable places where, without the slow process of evolutionary adaptation, we explore only as visitors aided by advances in technology. The ice-locked continent of Antarctica is one such place. — Read More
