LEED - The Handbuilt City

Old House Love: Ditch The Chemical Floor Finishes

October 21, 2020October 26, 2020 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments barrier finish, carpentry, chemicals, DIY, finish carpentry, floor finishing, floor refinishing, flooring, green building, hardwood flooring, historic preservation, home improvement, home rehab, home renovation, lacquer, LEED, linseed oil, natural finishes, oak, old house love, old houses, petrochemical, petroleum distillates, polyurethane, Renovation, sanding, shellac, softwood, trim carpentry, usgbc, varnish, wood finishes, wood finishing, woodshop, woodworking, zero-VOC

Nat explores wood finishes using a domestically-made, zero-VOC linseed oil-based varnish for some 1895 hardwood floors.

Energy Efficiency Construction

New Client Who Dis

August 17, 2020August 16, 2020 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments ASHRAE, BPI, building code, building envelope, climate action plan, climate change, detroit climate action collaborative, Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice, energy auditing, energy audits, energy code, energy efficiency, energy waste reduction, energystar, eric douglas, hers, Kevin McNeely, Kimberly Hill Knott, LEED, RESNET

Handbuilt’s newest client is energy building guru Kevin McNeely, who works on energy audits and architectural energy consulting services around the Midwest.

Public Health Construction

Indoor Air Quality and COVID

July 27, 2020July 27, 2020 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments air quality, ASHRAE, building envelope, building science, coronavirus, covid, covid pandemic, energy efficiency, hers, HVAC, IAQ, indoor air quality, Kevin McNeely, LEED, mcneely building group, ultraviolet, UV light

Green building is increasingly focusing less on hi-tech lightbulbs alone and more on a holistic building that is not only

Business & Economics Urban Planning Parking

The Billion Dollar Hot-And-Ready: Touring Detroit’s Little Caesars Arena

January 23, 2020February 10, 2020 Nat Zorach 0 Comments baumann consulting, comerica park, detroit red wings, detroit tigers, ecoachievers, economic development, Ilitches, LEED, Little Caesars Arena, Mike Ilitch, olympia development, olympia stadium, palace of auburn hills, QLINE, silverdom, usgbc, woodward avenue

Detroit’s Little Caesars Arena is impressive. Whether it’s a masterpiece of sustainability of community development, on the other hand, is up for debate.

Urban Planning

Greening Sprawl and The Limits of Incrementalism

October 8, 2019October 8, 2019 Nat Zorach 0 Comments arkansas, CNU, Density, Detroit, greenfield, LEED, municipal revenue, New Urbanism, Oklahoma, rick fedrizzi, Sprawl, straw ban, strip malls, suburbia, suburbs, townships, Urban planning

Often, when I get excited about a discussion about sustainable urbanism or green building, the projects in question turn out