NYC real estate
fromCurbed
9 hours agoWhere Have All the Normal Windows Gone?
Large windows in new builds are popular but come with practical drawbacks like limited ventilation and difficulty finding suitable curtains.
In 1962, the architect Buckminster Fuller envisioned a floating city that would free humanity from its dependence on the Earth. The speculative project consisted of enormous geodesic spheres that would naturally levitate in air warmed by the sun and be anchored to mountaintops.
Offsite construction has delivered measurable environmental gains, with a peer-reviewed study showing an average reduction of 78.8% in construction waste compared to conventional methods. Under controlled factory conditions, reductions can reach up to 90%, highlighting significant improvements in sustainability.
From Alpine chalets shedding snow to Mediterranean roof tiles mitigating summer heat, the slope responded to climate and construction challenges long before it became an aesthetic code. Although modern architecture has favored horizontal planes and orthogonal plans, the pitched roof requires a project to be conceived in section.
For most of human history, night arrived as a planetary certainty. Darkness spread across landscapes, and the sky revealed thousands of stars. Today, that sky is disappearing. Artificial light spills upward from cities, scattering through the atmosphere and turning night into a permanent haze. Research mapping global sky brightness shows that more than 80 percent of humanity now lives under light-polluted skies, and the Milky Way has vanished from view for over a third of the world's population.
Photovoltaic (PV) solar energy represents a modular technology that can be manufactured in large-scale facilities, generating economies of scale, while also being adaptable to small-scale applications. From residential rooftop systems to large-scale power generation installations, photovoltaic solar energy has established itself as a cost-effective option for electricity production in many countries around the world.
Blindness is a very scary disability, says Prof Lauren Ayton, deputy director of the Centre for Eye Research Australia at the University of Melbourne. But people don't realise actually about 90% of vision loss can be prevented or treated. And like many other problems, keeping the eyes healthy so often comes down to good diet, keeping active, and regular check-ups.
Checking your equipment once a month helps catch small issues before they turn into expensive repairs. A routine keeps everything running smoothly and extends the life of the hardware. Managers should create a simple checklist for their maintenance staff to follow.
Custom drapery depends on a series of calculations that remain largely unseen. Measurements define scale. Yardage determines proportion. Fabric and lining affect weight, opacity, and movement. Much of this work takes place before a finished curtain ever comes into view. For Ray Chen, founder of TWOPAGES, an early mover in modern window-treatment solutions, this layered process became a point of focus.
Stress-skin panel construction is probably the most energy-efficient and cost-effective building method available today. With super-high insulation levels and airtightness, a stress-skin panel house should have extremely low heating and cooling costs. A reduction of 50% on utility bills as compared to a typically constructed house is reasonable.
From the large industrial roofs and galleries of the 19th century to the contemporary atriums of museums and public buildings, glass has been a recurring material in shaping large and monumental interior spaces. More than a technological or engineering solution, these horizontal glazed planes introduce a distinct luminous quality: light that comes from above. Unlike lateral daylight entering through façades, zenithal light is more evenly distributed, reduces harsh shadows, and lends spaces a sense of continuity and openness that is difficult to achieve otherwise.
By utilizing this dual-entry condition, the design reorganizes the vertical circulation, placing the primary entrance on the upper level and redefining the ritual of returning home while transforming storage into an architectural façade.
Architecture that celebrates the natural transition between day and night, using light and shadow to create a dynamic play of contrasts. The filled spaces, with their defined functions, are complemented by the emptiness of the courtyards, which act as visual and sensory ventilators.
The design team at Znamy Się introduces a glass installation with a ridged, biconvex profile that references the form of the eye's lens. Positioned to interact with natural daylight, the element refracts and distorts incoming sunlight, echoing the optical function of focusing light onto the retina. Through this intervention, light operates not only as illumination but as a shaping device within the space.
Prism Shelter is a by Space10 Studio located at the foot of Changbai Mountain, conceived as an inhabitable optical installation within a winter landscape defined by snow, wind, and low temperatures. Positioned to frame views of the mountain massif, the structure provides a sheltered point from which visitors can pause and observe the surrounding terrain. The project combines the typology of a small with a calibrated visual device that alters the perception of the distant ridgelines.