The School of Nursing at the UT Health Science Center here in Houston is a wonderful example of green architecture, and has been selected as one of the top 10 green projects for 2006.

The building happens to be adjacent to my school, and one of my first public health courses was taught there. It was during this class that we had the distinct pleasure of being given a detailed tour of the building by Brian Yeoman of the Houston Advanced Research Center, who was involved with its conception and construction.

Not only is the building aesthetically pleasing, every aspect of it is built on the principles of sustainable design. Check out these fast facts on the ‘green‘ aspects of the building. Interesting points include the fact that 77% of the materials used in the building were recycled or reused, and that because of energy performance optimization the building uses 80% less energy on a square foot basis than the adjacent School of Public Health. Because of tremendous energy savings, such eco-friendly designs are now getting increasingly popular.

PBS ran a 6-part tv series called Design:E2 in June, which introduced the ” inventive leaders and technologies driving sustainable practices in the buildings where we live, work and play.” [via]

I missed out on the series, but intend catching the concluding episode which focuses on architects, and airs on Wednesday August 16, at 11 pm. There’s also some exclusive web content with audio and video podcasts that delve deeper into the concepts of green design. [An added incentive: the series is narrated by Brad Pitt.]

Technorati Tags: School of Nursing Houston, Green Building, Sustainable Architecture, Design:E2, sustainable design, eco-friendly design

As a Houston resident who had a traumatising evacuation when Rita came around last year, I was immediately freaked out by the possibility of ‘Hurricane’ Chris. I started tracking her (or is it his ? Chris is a pretty gender neutral name …) progress immediately, watching the weather news any chance I got, and refreshing the National Hurricane Center’s website a dozen time a day.

Chris started out as a mediocre tropical depression, but the weathermen at Houston went a little crazy predicting its terrifying potential once it hit the hot Gulf waters. I watched in heart-thumping horror as the tropical depression slowly gathered strength and morphed into a tropical storm. And then I heaved a huge sigh of relief when it slowly dissipated. Evacuation plans, supplies, routes etc have been currently stashed away for another day. For I am certain that day will surely come in the next few months.

Forecasters had already predicted that this year’s hurricane season would be ‘very active’, though not as destructive as 2005. Recently, they reduced their prediction due to “a general erosion of a number of factors” – a major one being that the Gulf waters are not as warm as last year (4 F/ 0.5 C above normal compared to last year’s 1 F/ 2.2 C above normal).

I was scared enough last year that I’ve vowed to get the hell out of Houston the minute a hurricane makes it to the Gulf ; which just makes me wonder how scared and paranoid the real victims of previous hurricanes must feel.

Technorati Tags: hurricanes, Houston, Chris