Blaine Brownell
architect, author, educator, researcher of emerging materials and applications
From transforming home appliances to reshaping building design, Vacuum Insulation Panels (VIPs) promise unprecedented energy efficiency, space savings, and climate-conscious innovation.
Explore how this stunning hotel and hybrid shelter/event venue transform urban spaces into lush, accessible sanctuaries.
Architect Vishaan Chakrabarti’s new book offers a roadmap for designing cities that foster human connection while tackling environmental and societal challenges.
These groundbreaking AI tools are rapidly advancing the AEC industry, revolutionizing design and construction.
From drilling to roofing: How cutting-edge robotics are transforming job sites and collaborating with human workers.
Miami's Caplow Manzano introduces 'hypostruction' to combat mold and enhance occupant health amid rising temperatures and severe weather.
Exploring Azabudai Hills and Beyond, Tokyo's Metamorphosis into a Vibrant Urban Landscape Reflects the Past, Embraces the Present, and Prepares for the Future.
Innovations in wood reclamation and recycling promise to enhance environmental benefits.
A panel discussion at the inaugural War on Dull Buildings Summit hosted by Advanced Glazings and Better Buildings for Humans.
Virginia San Fratello merges 3D printing expertise with local culture to create the House of Snow, a groundbreaking project on the forefront of climate awareness and architectural ingenuity.
A lecture about new material opportunities in sustainable design at the Bond Five Star conference in Marana, Arizona.
Contemporary design meets historic complexity in the second digital turn.
Where digital meets physical: exploring the future of immersive experiences in architecture and design.
Exploring the Fusion of Aesthetics, Ecology, and Functionality in Contemporary Architecture Through Structural Transparent Fluorinated Envelopes.
A deep dive into the architect’s vision of thresholds and the future of urban living.
A lecture and panel discussion at “Being Plastic/Becoming Plastic,” a symposium hosted by the University of Virginia School of Architecture.
From environmental gains to innovative building solutions, 3D printing with nanocellulose promises a greener future.
From Nile plastics to food waste, the Material Lab 25 program is empowering a new generation to transform environmental challenges into sustainable solutions.
These groundbreaking technologies emerge as key to combatting extreme temperatures in creating climate-resilient buildings.
Cairo's informal settlements offer useful lessons in urban design.
At 1 billion dollars, it is the largest museum in the world dedicated to one civilization.
A lecture and panel discussion about the effects of Covid-19 on architectural practice and the world of design and construction.
The New York–based textile designer and weaver has developed eco-minded fabrics with the potential to transform the textile industry.
The dramatic growth of AI-powered supply chain management offerings suggests that the technology sector has become increasingly aware of what AEC professionals have long known: The construction industry can use a productivity boost.
From composite building modules made from compressed seaweed to tiles crafted with seashells, new material possibilities are emerging in this area of development.
Although this is a less-developed strategy, several emerging technologies are worth noting for future incorporation in design and construction.
A new report from the United Nations Environment Program articulates solutions based on an appreciation for pre-industrial approaches to building materials and construction that were less ecologically destructive than contemporary ones.
With its façade composed of bichromatic fibers, Reutlingen University's Texoversum embodies a vision of architectural textiles’ future.
Scientists have begun exploring the use of artificial intelligence tools to automate a variety of tasks that are typically time-consuming, including manual endeavors such as identifying relevant references or potential compound ingredients.
Several manufacturers have developed building modules that replace fired clay with substitute materials requiring less embodied energy.
From carbon dioxide–absorbing paints to bacteria-removing wallpaper, advances in material technologies can improve air quality.
A visit to Tokyo's teamLab Planets, an interactive art destination that provides creative solutions that can be applied throughout the designed environment.
As material sourcing and waste concerns intensify, Particle does not merely represent a fad but indicates a necessary shift toward cradle-to-cradle manufacturing and recycling processes.
The project is a model of how to create an indelible impression on visitors based on the principles of neuroscience. The formula here is deceptively simple but profound: Minimize visual noise while maximizing novelty.
A look at promising developments in battery technology and thermal energy storage.
This Design Optimism event hosted by Metropolis magazine addressed the intersection of disease, climate, and the built environment.
New developments may expand the material's versatility in design applications.
Examining a recent breakthrough in bioplastics that could redefine plastic as a much more environmentally responsible material.
Centuries of quarrying stone from more than 650 sites have significantly impacted the environment.
Exploring how excessive outdoor illumination impacts the health of ecosystems.
Like global warming, atmospheric air quality is another wicked problem that must be boldly addressed by the AEC industry.
It’s remarkable that, amid all the anger and speculation stoked by the catastrophe, few are questioning why hazardous chemicals like vinyl chloride have become common and acceptable substances in human society.
Embodied carbon connects to a building’s entire life cycle—including its maintenance and end of life. We must account for the emissions that result from renovation and deconstruction just as we do for manufacture and construction.
Canada-based Hydrogen Naturally is converting wood waste to hydrogen fuel, pointing to a fascinating future for the energy and forest products industries.
In The Pandemic Effect, 90 leading architects, designers, materials scientists, and health officials reflect on the influence of COVID-19 on buildings and cities—and propose solutions to safeguard the built environment from future pandemics, viruses, and contagious diseases on every scale, from surfaces to society.
Spotlighting innovations in concrete, solar power, designing with living organisms, and more.
Conducted by researchers in New Zealand, a recently published study on airborne microplastic pollution brings heightened alarm.
Building codes offer a fundamental baseline of protection in architecture. But a new book by Aleksandra Jaeschke explores how they also show biases that undermine the broader pursuit of systemic environmental performance.
Exploring new products and processes aimed at boosting insulation capacity.
Many common insulating materials reduce operational carbon, but increase other environmental hazards. Thankfully, scientists and product manufacturers are on the hunt for alternatives.
A lecture at the Future of Design conference about how to inoculate the built environment against future pandemics.
Looking to centuries-old Indo-Islamic architecture for lessons on how simple, passive strategies can make a big difference in confronting a warming climate.
A lecture at the University of Utah School of Architecture about how to inoculate the built environment.
Exploring the influence of user experience design in architecture.
Exploring innovations in indoor landscapes, which boost air quality and well-being.
Illegal timber harvesting has an annual economic impact of $1 billion nationwide. However, the causes, effects, and solutions—like DNA analysis—are far from clearcut.
Virus transmission depends on interactions between surfaces and environmental factors, a design concern that invites a closer collaboration between architects, designers, and mechanical engineers to mitigate the spread of disease.
A visit to the Legacy Museum and National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Alabama reveals a profoundly designed space dedicated to the unjust treatment of Black bodies, from enslavement to mass incarceration.
Exploring some of the latest innovations in mineral- and bio-based building products.
While the built environment has always played a role in the emergence and spread of illness, with the rising urgency of climate change, designers must now swiftly adapt their practice to safeguard resilience and health as well as prevent zoonotic spillover.
Exploing the ramifications and possibilities of parallel architecture worlds—the real and the virtual—in the firm's 'Meta-Horizons: The Future Now' exhibition at the Dongdaemun Design Plaza in South Korea.
As researchers further understand the material that is 200 times stronger than steel, graphene will be used for glass, steel, concrete, textiles, and many other building products.
A Review of "Blurred Transparencies in Contemporary Glass Architecture: Material, Culture, and Technology" by Aki Ishida.
Assessing the unique approach to preservation with Turkey's first Modernist building.
On a trip to the city's new Gasworks Museum—from the renovated Hasanpaşa Gazhanesi—a discovery that subtraction is a powerful architectural tool.
Expliring the new disruptive technology in building construction inspired by the pointillist techniques of Georges Seurat.
A review of Charlie Hailey’s new book, exploring how the building feature—while waning in popularity—improves well-being and connects us to nature and the urgency of climate change.
An interview with L & M Instruments co-founder John Waszak about wireless building sensors and UV-C light to eliminate infectious disease.
At the Expo 2020 Dubai and beyond, an exploration of how the region is investing in renewable and solar energy, from solar farms to E-Trees.
Exploring international innovations in sustainable food production from vertical farming and “agritecture” to saltwater-tolerant desert crops and food-fuel investigations.
Designers are more deeply integrating display technologies into the built form.
An examination of recent innovations in architecture and allied fields that have been accelerated and galvanized by the pandemic.
The barriers that are now so ubiquitous in our public spaces often block airflow and can even increase transmission of the virus.
The pros and cons of cordless, battery-free energy through smart power companies like WiGL.
The new technologies and recent global commitments to reduce the material’s carbon footprint.
While the country buzzes about economic inflation, the architecture industry is facing its own issues of product downsizing and quality control.
With faster cultivation rates, a higher carbon capture, and advances in processing, hemp could be the next big thing in structural systems after mass timber.
The latest research on "functionalized" wood and the familiar material's conductive potential.
From temperature to light flicker, L&M Instruments’ Iris Multi-Sensor IoT Monitor can track the state of our built environments and send that data anywhere.
Ongoing efforts by the steel industry to reduce its carbon footprint.
With the built environment being the largest contributor of global emissions, will increasing the use of timber help?
A.C. is contributing to the climate crisis. A look at the newest advances to this problematic technology.
Taschen's survey of the most innovative projects from the country's recent past.
The ways to detect concrete cancer and other structural damage before it's too late.
New materials and research that could contribute to a quieter future.
A new book by Skylar Tibbits, "Things Fall Together," envisions a bold future of self-assembly and programmable matter.
Promising research into jammed structures and other types of aleatory architectures.
What the post-COVID workplace will look like.
How this carbon-rich soil can reduce our carbon footprint.
The possibilities of the Japanese art form.
The growing trend of using construction and demolition waste to make new materials and products.
The ways residential and commercial projects are already adapting.
Putting three to the test: Pharos, Declare, and Mindful Materials.
Startups like Ottan Studio and Biohm are designing sustainable building products using overlooked—and surprising—materials.
New and creative offerings that will help architects respond to the pandemic.
The sustainable design potential of this humble material.
By focusing design around microorganisms, architects can help reduce COVID-19, repair building materials, and even make better cheese.
The possibilities of bagasse, a sugarcane waste product that can create eco-friendly building materials.
How a pioneering chemist helped create new alternatives to traditional air conditioning.
The possibilities of the President-elect's infrastructure and climate change plan.
An interview with the architect about his groundbreaking career.
The role architects can play to clean the air and help ease the pandemic.
How architects should redesign the workspace with sound as a priority instead of an afterthought.
Revisiting the Japanese architect's tent-like dwellings and finds them remarkably clairvoyant.
What we can learn from the tragedy in Lebanon.
How operable windows, newly designed filters, and far-UVC light can help stop the spread of coronavirus.
Material solutions to make interior spaces safer during COVID-19.
An inside look at the company's bold ambitions.
An interview with the award-winning, St. Paul, Minn.–based architect and co-founder of 4RM+ULA who knows the consequences of racial injustice all too well.
Existing and emergent materials that emulate natural systems to inhibit bacteria and virus growth.
Assessing potential shifts to workplace design in a post-pandemic society.
The design conventions of buildings that continue to use energy even as the workforce is forced to stay home.
Visualization tools and their influence over the design process.
Recent findings on COVID-19 transmission from surface contact.
How the economic theory of marketplace "disruption" can be applied to the built environment.
Exploring additional logistical wrinkles in President Trump's pursuit of uniform federal architectural design.
Innovations in robotics that incorporate living cells and machine-controlled organisms.
Emergent building materials and assembly systems to watch this decade.
A review of the latest book by University of Maryland assistant professor Ming Hu, in which she details the various interpretations of net-zero construction and offers a resolution for a more universal understanding.
Here are eight of the most carbon-friendly products for roofing, cladding, insulation, and other categories—all of which are available for specification, or soon to be.
Read the takeaways from the Future of Wood studio at the University of Arkansas, where students reimagined composite wood products.
Blaine Brownell, FAIA LEED AP