Residential Architect Magazine: doctor spec

Specing a Lift/Slide Door

Mon, 15 Oct 2012 04:31:46 EST

Zero-threshold doors require detail drawings and a good track.

rainscreens: a not-so-new way to install your siding

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 03:09:30 EST

is there a better way to clad your homes?

The latest highly insulating windows are almost as efficient as a wall

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 01:39:48 EST

Highly insulating windows are effective, but are they worth the price?

New toilets offer good looks and high performance

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 01:39:38 EST

The toilet category is abuzz with cool designs and ultra high-efficiency products.

Panelization Building Systems Offers Many Benefits

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 01:31:32 EST

Is panelization the future of residential construction?

Solar-Integrated Roofing Makes a Splash

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 01:41:42 EST

New roofing helps solar panels hide in plain sight.

Recycled-Content Products Should Be Speced Carefully

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 01:38:33 EST

What role should recycled-content products play in your design work?

Selecting Windows for Multifamily Projects Is Harder and Easier Than You Think

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 01:37:40 EST

How do you spec durable, high-performing windows for a multifamily project? Very carefully.

Green Piece

Tue, 2 Mar 2010 12:54:21 EST

The temperature atop Chicago’s City Hall building on an average summer day is usually 14 degrees to 44 degrees cooler than the county office building across the street. The reason: the county building has a typical black-tar roof, while City Hall has a green roof planted with grass, plants, and flowers. The idea of planting grass or other vegetation on the roof of a building or house may seem like a holdover from the ’60s counterculture movement, but proponents say such roofing systems are the solution to a wealth of environmental problems plaguing cities and jurisdictions across the country.

architect-designed products—a doctor spec web-extra

Fri, 8 Oct 2010 04:47:26 EST

the business of making art

Tue, 22 Jun 2010 04:31:04 EST

Bruce Tomb had no clear plans in 1984 when he hand-cast a basin for a gallery exhibition in Santa Clara, Calif. As an art piece, Sacred Basin was successful, but “it wasn't done with the intent to become a product,” the San Francisco-based designer says.

gray matters

Tue, 11 May 2010 12:14:56 EST

Mark Larson, AIA, looks forward to the day when a client gives the green light on graywater harvesting, a system that allows homeowners to capture and reuse wastewater.

great walls

Tue, 2 Mar 2010 01:14:40 EST

John Dennis Murphey, AIA, used to specify his exterior walls the way everyone else did—with 2x4 studs, fiberglass insulation, sheathing, and so on—but very little about his walls is the same anymore. Today he designs high-performing exterior walls that ar

production values

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 09:13:03 EST

what it takes to bring alternative housing models to market.

the new standard

Fri, 19 Feb 2010 07:36:15 EST

There are plenty of off-the-shelf products on the market that can help resolve transition issues and a host of other problems. In the process, they can create details that are every bit as elegant as a skilled artisan's, but not nearly as costly.

something old, something new

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 08:32:21 EST

Architect Griz Dwight, AIA, was doing an adaptive reuse project in the Washington, D.C., area when he came upon a brick wall that had been covered over with a thick layer of plaster.

thanks, but no tanks

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 08:29:21 EST

The Partnership for Advancing Technology in Housing (PATH) is a HUD-funded program whose goal, in part, is improving the energy efficiency of houses. So when PATH decided to build its first concept home to showcase its mission, it picked the best building technologies available, including insulated concrete forms, metal roofing, and spray foam insulation. For hot water needs, PATH rejected a traditional heater in favor of an on-demand tankless system.

A Bright Future

Fri, 19 Feb 2010 06:56:44 EST

Buried in an energy bill signed into law by President Bush last December was a little-noticed provision that phases out incandescent light bulbs over the next four to 12 years in favor of more energy-efficient technology.

water woes

Fri, 19 Feb 2010 07:08:25 EST

The U.S. freshwater supply is drying up. Well-documented shortages in the West have been spreading east to Atlanta, Florida, and the Carolinas, among other areas, and clean-water advocates and government officials are concerned.

warm ways

Tue, 2 Mar 2010 01:11:18 EST

are alternative heating technologies really better than conventional systems?