I’ve been busy with my new post as Managing Editor of Inhabitat, which coincidentally kicked off with the start of spring design events in Milan and New York (if you haven’t kept up, check out Inhabitat’s great coverage of Milan Design Week, Designers & Agents, BKLYN Designs, and ICFF). And, Scott has taken on the exciting role of new dad (again) to my new nephew, born in April.

While in New York for the International Contemporary Furniture Fair, I had the good fortune to meet up with Lloyd Alter of TreeHugger, whom I’ve enjoyed reading for quite some time. And, to my delight, my regular daily scope of his writing today turned up a great post that deserves a mention.

Lloyd and I have quite a few shared interests including prefab homes, preservation and sustainable development - he’s been a proponent of building reuse through a fairly regular column called Another One Bites the Dust. His latest post, Donovan Rypkema: LEED stands for Lunatic Environmentalist Enthusiastically Demolishing, highlights the absurdity of destroying old buildings in order to build new “green,” particularly in the name of LEED.

That’s not to say that the USGBC’s program hasn’t made a significant contribution to the momentum of green building initiatives, it has. However, just like every good idea in theory, LEED has its challenges (and critics) in practice. But that’s a post for another day, today is about Lloyd’s great report on Donovan Rypkema from the 2008 Heritage Conservation conference, so be sure to check it out. And stay tuned here, we’re back to our regular program. Cheers!

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Skateboard decks are a familiar sight in the hands of Etnies owner Pierre-André Senizergues, but this pro skateboarder shows they’re not just for four-wheel maneuvers. In an exhibition at Chez Colette in Paris called Skate Study House, Senizergues and Gil De Le Bon Lapointe reinterpreted the skateboard with a nod to mid-century modern design icons of the collective Case Study House project. (more…)

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The New York Times captioned this photo as “the somewhat forbidding exterior of of David Yocum and Brian Bell’s architecture office in Atlanta” but to me it says home. And it is, to bldgs - the architectural firm of David Yocum and Brian Bell - and to Yocum and his wife. All gorgeously adapted 1,850 square feet of it. (more…)

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The Kaufmann House, designed by in 1946 by Richard Neutra, will go up for auction at Christie’s in New York this May. The house, a stunning example of mid-century architecture, recently showed up in a small article in the back of my local German newspaper Die Zeit. The photo that caught my eye was not the usual glamour shot (like the one above from New York Times) but one from an angle that made the house almost unrecognizable. Almost, except the Kaufmann House holds an inescapable beauty that is undeniable. (more…)

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A recent renovation in downtown Roanoke, VA, has nabbed the first US Green Building Council LEED certification in the city. The State & City Bank Building, originally built in 1905, was converted from commercial to mixed-use with five residential condos, six offices and street-level retail space. The building is also the first LEED-certified historic, multi-story conversion from commercial to residential condos in an urban setting. (more…)

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Sears Catalog Homes were one of the first successful forays into prefabricated, factory built housing. For over thirty years in the early 20th century, the company shipped mail-order construction components for architect-designed prefab homes by train to tens of thousands of families. It’s estimated that between 70,000 and 75,000 homes were sold. The houses were available in over 400 versions, many of which still stand today upholding the sustainable design principle of a long lifecycle of usefulness and value. (more…)

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Peter Danko redefines the loveseat with the Arbor Tandem, a gorgeous modern version made from solid maple wood and recycled automotive seatbelts. Danko gets kudos for style and recycled material use. This piece also uses non-toxic water based adhesives, a choice that helps keep Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) to a minimum. Another bonus, the durability of the materials ensures a long useful life, in a very stylish home. Available through Vivavi.

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Colorado residents near Boulder and Fort Collins can resource unwanted construction materials and find deals on recycled house parts at ReSource Yard, the waste division of the Center for ReSource Conservation. There are two ReSource Yard’s, one in Boulder and one in Fort Collins, and both are filled with finds like a selection of wood windows, lighting, cabinetry, flooring and lots of other great reusable building materials. The initiative has been in operation for over a decade and racked up quite a few local and national awards for their efforts in waste reduction and diverting materials from landfills. Online at http://resourceyard.org/

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The National Trust New Orleans field office director, Walter Gallas, blogged last week that, indeed, public housing demolitions have begun in three of the four public housing developments slated to be razed. At current, HUD is spending $762 million to tear down over 4,600 public housing subsidized apartments. All at a time when the Gulf Coast, and the nation, is facing one of the worst affordable housing crisis in American history. (more…)

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Dwellers in Washington state looking for beautiful, handcrafted furniture from reclaimed wood need look no further than the pieces from Alan Vogel. Made from timber salvaged from old barns and farm buildings, Vogel transforms old lumber into timeless tables and benches for home, office and eateries.

(more…)

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