Our not-so-hidden agenda: We want to use your building project to make the neighborhood / city / world a better place.
Sustainability
How We Operate: Finding Beauty in the (Honesty of) Reclaimed Building Materials
In the collage above are just a SMALL SAMPLE of our favorite uses of reclaimed wood in moss projects (from top left): Bowling Alley Bench, Begyle Tasting Room, Brew, Bar Pastoral, 2 Sparrows, and Erie Street Loft. Keep reading to see why and how we seek to use reclaimed wood products as often as possible. It is a truth pretty universally acknowledged […]
Invisible Sustainability: Starting from the Drawingboard
For all the noise made about sustainable technology ( PV panels on the roof, energy star everything, etc. ) an equally important part of what makes a building green is invisible. Today’s post explores some of the less tangible qualities that make a green building – nothing you can buy, or add on after the fact – concepts […]
Taking Rachel Carson’s Message Home For Dinner
On Rachel Carson’s Birthday, let’s use the message of Silent Spring to forward the production of local, sustainable, organic food.
Low Flow Fixtures 101: or How to Save 11,000 Gallons of Water in 5 Minutes
What ARE low flow fixtures? Read all about them and meet your new friend the WaterSense certified aerator, which you can install in your own faucet in five minutes.
The Dyeing of the Green – St. Patrick’s Day Reminds Us About the State of the Chicago River
There’s an old joke most famously spoken by Tommy Lee Jones’s Marshall in the Fugitive: “If they can dye the river green today, why can’t they dye it blue the other 364 days of the year?” Just dyeing the Chicago River blue isn’t a great idea, environmentally speaking, but perhaps we could treat the St. […]