Science Daily: AI trained to identify least green homes. “‘Hard-to-decarbonize’ (HtD) houses are responsible for over a quarter of all direct housing emissions — a major obstacle to achieving net zero — but are rarely identified or targeted for improvement. Now a new ‘deep learning’ model trained by researchers from Cambridge University’s Department of Architecture promises to make it far easier, faster and cheaper to identify these high priority problem properties and develop strategies to improve their green credentials.”
Tag Archives: buildings
The Evolución of Cities: AI Helps Map Madrid and More (University of Southern California)
University of Southern California: The Evolución of Cities: AI Helps Map Madrid and More. “A team of researchers… has recently published ‘HISDAC-ES: Historical Settlement Data Compilation for Spain (1900-2020),’ which presents an accessible and publicly available dataset of Spanish cities derived from cadastral building data (i.e., official legal documentation concerning the dimensions, location, type, etc. of a building).”
EPA: EPA Launches Online Tool Providing Energy Use Data and Insights from ENERGY STAR® Portfolio Manager®
EPA: EPA Launches Online Tool Providing Energy Use Data and Insights from ENERGY STAR® Portfolio Manager®. “Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is announcing the launch of a web-based tool that enables users to explore aggregate energy use data from more than 150,000 commercial and multi-family buildings in the United States.”
ABC News: The White House and Google launch a new virtual tour with audio captions, Spanish translation
ABC News: The White House and Google launch a new virtual tour with audio captions, Spanish translation. “Can’t come to Washington? Couldn’t get a ticket to tour the White House? Don’t worry. The White House, Google Maps and Google Arts & Culture launched a new virtual tour of the famous mansion on Friday, which is also National Civics Day. With a computer or smartphone, users will be able to spend time zooming in on all of the rooms that they would have seen had they been able to go on an in-person tour.”
Library of Congress: Relational Reconstruction Toolkit Now Available
Library of Congress: Relational Reconstruction Toolkit Now Available. “The intention with the toolkit is to offer a method for deepening one’s connection to a space that’s meaningful for their own story, with a special focus on communities of color. Though sourced maps, photographs and oral accounts, reconstructions of erased historic spaces are intentionally imaginative as well as authentic. The toolkit is organized into a series of chapters that describe stages of the work to consider.”
Architect Magazine: Meet the New Mellon Foundation Initiative That Is Keeping and Shaping Our Places
Architect Magazine: Meet the New Mellon Foundation Initiative That Is Keeping and Shaping Our Places. “The New York–based organization’s newest program area, Humanities in Place, has deployed $136.6 million since its inception in 2020 to expand the capacity of communities to keep and shape their places and built environments through grants for design projects and the social and cultural infrastructure they provide.”
WCAI: New guidelines help protect historic buildings from rising waters
WCAI: New guidelines help protect historic buildings from rising waters. “Town officials, homeowners, renovators, and others now have a new tool to help them prepare historic buildings for sea level rise and storm surge. The Cape Cod Commission has published new design guidelines for flood risk areas. The work was supported by funding from the U.S. Economic Development Administration.”
Chicago Tribune: Puerto Rican museum in Humboldt Park to tear down archives building amid complaints, lawsuit and find new site
Chicago Tribune: Puerto Rican museum in Humboldt Park to tear down archives building amid complaints, lawsuit and find new site. “It resembles a German style of architecture that is ‘very unusual’ in Chicago, according to the Chicago Park District, and is home to the National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture. But when the museum began construction about a year ago — without proper permits — on a cinder-block structure for archives beside the Chicago landmark, some residents and preservation groups were alarmed, calling it an eyesore that blemished the area’s historic charm and didn’t involve enough community input.”
NREL: NREL Researchers Reveal How Buildings Across United States Do—and Could—Use Energy
NREL: NREL Researchers Reveal How Buildings Across United States Do—and Could—Use Energy . “Buildings are responsible for 40% of total energy use in the United States, including 75% of all electricity use and 35% of the nation’s carbon emissions….To facilitate decarbonization of the U.S. building stock, researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have created a new, meticulously researched data set that details how buildings do—and could—use energy. This data set, called the End-Use Load Profiles, reveals the massive climate impacts that improvements to the U.S. building stock could have.”
Radio Prague International: Ethnologists create online museum of Czech folk architecture
Radio Prague International: Ethnologists create online museum of Czech folk architecture. “Folk architecture is one of the cornerstones of regional and national identity, but it is rapidly disappearing. That is why ethnologists from the National Museum and Czech Academy of Sciences worked together with IT specialists from the Czech Technical University to create a virtual museum of folk architecture in Czechia.”
Mid-Day: Art Deco Mumbai creates exhaustive database of city architects responsible for its magnificent architecture
Mid-Day: Art Deco Mumbai creates exhaustive database of city architects responsible for its magnificent architecture. “Iconic buildings like Regal Cinema in Colaba or the Sona Mahal at Marine Drive may have made for terrific backgrounds for your Instagram Reels, but how much do you know about the people who made these buildings possible? Art Deco Mumbai, a not for profit organisation that documents the history of Mumbai’s Art Deco buildings, has compiled an exhaustive list of architects and designers of yore to specifically fill this gap in the city’s history.”
Fordham University: Seeing Castles on the Streets of New York
Fordham University: Seeing Castles on the Streets of New York. “When you think of the Middle Ages, you likely picture knights, swords, and castles— not things you’re likely to find in New York City. The Medieval New York Project would beg to disagree. The project, a three-way collaborative effort between Fordham’s Center for Medieval Studies Department, the Office of Information Technology, and New Rochelle High School, is striving to show the public that there actually are medieval elements all across the city.”
SF Gate: Google gets go-ahead to build 153-acre Bay Area neighborhood by headquarters
SF Gate: Google gets go-ahead to build 153-acre Bay Area neighborhood by headquarters. “Bay Area tech giant Google got the go-ahead to build a 153-acre mixed-use neighborhood just south of its headquarters in north Mountain View on June 13, with unanimous city council approval. Plans for the 30-year project, which will supplant the Google offices and parking lots currently in the area, include over 3 million square feet of office space and 7,000 residential units.”
Bing Blogs: Bing Maps Global Building Footprints Released
Bing Blogs: Bing Maps Global Building Footprints Released. “Microsoft Maps has a dedicated Maps AI (artificial intelligence) team that has been taking advantage of Microsoft’s investments in deep learning, computer vision, and ML (machine learning). Applying all that cool tech to mapping has yielded many useful datasets and our latest worldwide dataset includes a whopping 1.2B building footprints and 174M building height estimates from Bing Maps imagery between 2014 and 2023 including Maxar, Airbus, and IGN France imagery.”
The Construction Index: New database reveals sources for the building stones of England
The Construction Index: New database reveals sources for the building stones of England. “The Building Stones Database for England is described as the first online searchable tool bringing together information on all the different types of stone that have been used in the buildings of England over the centuries. Users can browse the geological map, search by postcode, address or place name. Or they can look for a specific building stone and representative buildings or structures made with each stone type.”