Philadelphia Navy Yard

Philadelphia Navy Yard’s $2.6 Billion Transformation Sets New Benchmarks in Diversity, Sustainability

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Ensemble/Mosaic's ambitious master plan for the Philadelphia Navy Yard includes a $1 billion diversity pledge and the creation of a LEED-certified neighborhood

The Philadelphia Navy Yard’s master plan was developed by Ensemble/Mosaic. The plan is taking root across 1,200 acres, with more than 30 acres devoted to park space and 6.3 miles of a waterfront habitat that is home to more than 2,000 trees and wildlife.

The development is called AVE Navy Yard, and it is comprised of two buildings, AVE Normandy and AVE Constitution. Currently we have two residential buildings going up which will be home to more than 1,000 residents, with plans upon full build out to have approximately 4,000 residential units which will be home to more than 6,000 residents

In 2023, the Navy Yard’s first speculative multi-tenant research and development lab building opened. Designed to be the most advanced building of its kind in the Philadelphia region, at four stories and 137,000 square feet, 1201 Normandy is optimized for cell and gene therapy companies and has the flexibility to accommodate a variety of life science and biotech users. 

Brian Cohen, managing director, Ensemble Investments, said the company wanted to ensure that what it was doing was going to be impactful for the city of Philadelphia and the surrounding neighborhoods. The company focused on a robust strategy and thought about which firms and individuals were designing, engineering, constructing, operating and managing its projects, as well as which firms and individuals would be occupying the site. 

$1 billion diversity pledge

Ensemble/Mosaic rooted its master plan in a $1 billion diversity pledge, including a promise to use minority-owned or women-owned enterprises for 20% of its equity investment.

“It was really looking at real estate as its whole lifecycle and thinking about how we could be inclusive and create opportunities for minorities, women and veterans in all aspects of our project,” Cohen said. “We committed to 40% of the companies that we engage with in the design and preprofessional services of our developments would be minority owned, woman owned, veteran owned disabled in construction.”

Ensemble/Mosaic’s goal is that 50% of those companies that are working on and constructing its buildings would be minority women and veteran owned disabled companies. 

It is likely to become more challenging to put some of those requirements in place once tenants arrive, however. “What we’ve committed to is that related to our retail space on the ground floors of our building, we would reserve 25% of our retail space for retailers that are owned by minority women or veterans,” Cohen said. “And we’d offer those at subsidized lease terms so that we could provide opportunities in a prime location for companies and individuals that might not otherwise have the opportunity to locate in a new neighborhood location.”

Since Ensemble/Mosaic started that program in the middle of 2020, it has committed in contracts to approximately $100 million to minority women and veteran-owned companies.

Ensemble/Mosaic also created a foundation that has surpassed $1 million. Met Foundation is dedicated to the education and empowerment of minorities, women and veterans. “Two percent of the net cash flow of everything we develop at the Navy Yard gets donated to that foundation,” Cohen said. “It has an ongoing sustainable source of revenue for everything from workforce training to low-interest loans, grants for minority women and veterans that either live, work, locate at or work on projects at the Navy Yard.”

Ensemble/Mosaic extended that into ownership as well. Mosaic is a minority- and woman-owned company. “When we look to our investors and how we capitalize and finance projects, we are taking that into account,” Cohen said. “On our residential project—a $285 million project—we had $110 million of that that was a minority-led investment by Basis out of New York, a minority- and woman-owned firm. They both invested in the project and then identified and led the rest of that investment for $110 million.”

Sustainability and DEI

All this is being done with a foundational value of sustainability and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) that the developers hope will serve as a model for other large-scale developments.

Nine Ensemble/Mosaic buildings at the Navy Yard are Silver-Platinum LEED Certified and the developers intend to create Philadelphia’s first LEED-certified neighborhood, with every building being LEED Silver or above. In addition, Ensemble/Mosaic has pledged that its $2.6 billion investment in the Navy Yard is committed to environmental, social and governance (ESG) principles.

“The environment contributes more greenhouse gases than any other industry that exists, more than the automobile industry,” Cohen said. “We thought about how we have as much positive impact as possible; developing sustainably was really important,” Cohen said. “We also know that it’s important to our customers and our various stakeholders and so we committed to utilizing LEED.”

Every building the company develops has a minimum of LEED Silver, with most of its buildings having achieved LEED Gold or LEED Platinum certification. “Most recently, we’ve embarked on going through LEED neighborhood development and certifying the Navy Yard as a LEED MD project, which looks beyond the building and to the community,” Cohen said. “It looks to infrastructure, public space, and it looks to health and wellness and making sure that we’re developing responsibly; that we’re thinking about the health and wellness of our occupants, and we’re trying to minimize the impact that we have on the environment and reduce our carbon footprint as much as possible.”

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Texas Tech Bluebeam

Texas Tech Produces Next-Gen Construction Leaders Thanks to Industry Tech

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Texas Tech’s integration of cutting-edge tools like Bluebeam equips construction students with the tech skills needed to land high-paying jobs and excel in a rapidly evolving industry.

Don Bundock is a construction industry lifer.

Ask him to describe his interest and background in construction, and he’ll quickly reference a photo of him at age 4 looking attentively at a concrete pour. He’ll then mention his family history, a lineage of builders he says goes all the way back to the 15th century.

“I’m inclined to want to build things,” Bundock said, “because I come from a family of shipbuilders from the 1400s. So, I think I’m pretty much genetically inclined to be a construction guy.”

Bundock’s love of and connection to the construction trade is only rivaled by his admiration for and belonging to Lubbock and Texas Tech University.

Born and raised in the West Texas town, a place perhaps most famous for being the birthplace of early rock music legend Buddy Holly, the 80-year-old Bundock speaks with a deep Texas twang and is rarely seen without his Texas Tech ballcap comfortably fitted atop his head.

A 1969 Texas Tech graduate who went on to an illustrious engineering and construction career, including 30 years building locally in Lubbock and on the university’s campus, Bundock has spent the past seven years giving back as an instructor in the school’s Department of Civil, Environmental & Construction Engineering.

Teaching the Trade

Initially looking to ease into retirement by teaching one course, Bundock now teaches four courses encompassing 100 students. This gives him a unique front-row seat at the intersection of construction’s future workforce and contractors and other industry firms turning to the school to cultivate their next crop of talent.

Bundock is especially suited to teach the next generation of construction professionals because of his embrace of using technology to get the job done. Bundock says he’s been keen on extensively studying how the computing revolution that parallelled his professional life could be integrated into construction.

Don Bundock, who worked in the construction and engineering industry for more than 30 years, has been an instructor at Texas Tech since 2017.

“I’ll never forget a professor walking across the stage at my graduation in 1969 who said, ‘One of these days computers are going to be talking to one another all over the world,’ and everybody’s going, ‘Are you kidding?’” Bundock said.

“I was always interested in advancing technology, and that continues to this day.”

To this end, Bundock has made it a hallmark of his teaching career that his students are using the latest and greatest in construction industry technology. Chief among these tools is Bluebeam.

“[Bluebeam] has been mentioned by just about every contractor that I’ve interviewed here at Texas Tech,” he said.

From simple PDF viewing and editing to even the most advanced specialty features, Bluebeam is comprehensively taught at Texas Tech in Bundock’s courses. Bundock’s students say having Bluebeam knowledge has been pivotal when it comes to landing summer internships.

Propelling Students Forward

For some students, having software skills is crucial because the full-time staff of the companies recruiting them aren’t always proficient with the technology, offering the students a chance to make an immediate impact.

This was the case for Maria White, a construction engineering major and one of Bundock’s students who, as an intern for a real estate development company near Lubbock, proposed using Bluebeam for some of its advanced digital collaboration features to complete pay applications.

Jacob Sauder, a construction management major at Texas Tech, has used the Bluebeam acumen he learned while in school every day during a project engineering internship.

“The way we were previously doing pay applications is the project manager would email me, I’d print them, everything was hard copy and then I’d carry this massive file of pay applications. That was not efficient,” White recalled. “We had to find a better solution. And I was like, ‘Why don’t we use Bluebeam?’”

“Even though I was an intern, it left a lasting impact on the way the company runs things now when it comes to pay applications and just working together when people are in different places at the same time.”

Jacob Sauder, a construction management major and another of Bundock’s students, played a similar Bluebeam expert role during his project engineering internship. A vice president at his company needed a way to find similar elements throughout a 3,000-page construction document set in Bluebeam. Sauder showed him the search function in Bluebeam, which the vice president wasn’t previously aware of, and was able to help complete a task that may have previously taken hours in about a minute.

“I learned that [the Bluebeam search function] in professor Bundock’s class through having Bluebeam available to me,” Sauder said.

Building the Future

Bundock says the importance of technology is validated through his observations of employers that attend Texas Tech job fairs on campus. As soon as companies see Bluebeam and other high-level industry software tools on student resumes, they immediately want to talk to them about internships and other job opportunities after college.

Texas Tech University’s Department of Civil, Environmental & Construction Engineering produces construction industry professionals across a range of specialty disciplines. The school boasts of an employment rate above 90% for all its graduates.

“That’s what we want to see happening, where our students are getting credit for what they’re doing here at Texas Tech and they’re getting four and five job offers each,” Bundock said.

Bundock says he’s proud of the role Texas Tech is continuing to play by imparting its students with innovative construction industry technology, including Bluebeam. “We feel like we’re going to lead the way, and I think we’re setting the bar very high,” Bundock said. “People are going to have to jump to get ahead of us here at Texas Tech.”

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Burmor Construction Bluebeam

How Bluebeam Streamlined Residential Development for Burmor Construction

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See how Burmor Construction used Bluebeam to improve accuracy, reduce delays and enhance client collaboration

When contractor Burmor Construction needed to accurately price a residential development, Bluebeam was the obvious choice.

Elliot Road is a residential development project comprising 30 new dwellings. It involved clearing an existing site and infilling new homes. To help the team coordinate the project effectively, Burmor used Bluebeam.

The tool provided huge time savings during both design and construction. During design, it made the process of measuring the different elements of the project very easy, and in construction it helped the project team and client to make faster decisions.

Designing with digital tools

Sam Harwin, senior quantity surveyor at Burmor, had been using Bluebeam for several years. When he joined the company, it was something he was keen to roll out.

“One of the biggest benefits is that it makes measurement so easy to do,” Harwin said. “That helps us to accurately price our jobs and order the right number of materials. We try to do everything digitally, and then export the measurements to Microsoft Excel to build the bill of quantities.”

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As well as improving measurement, Bluebeam helped speed up design and reduce costs. For example, the team no longer needed to print multiple large drawings and complete markups by hand, which is time consuming and runs the risk of mistakes. This has led to a reduction in paper usage and has removed the need to purchase expensive printers. The team has even been able to reduce the size of its workspace.

Using software on site

During construction Bluebeam also helped the team to work on the project remotely, increasing approval speeds and avoiding delays.

Harwin said: “We had an issue on site when we cleared some vegetation. We found a boundary wall that was damaged. Instead of the client having to come to site and look before deciding, we digitally marked up the drawing, added a comment to explain what we’d found and then attached some photos. 

“This was all added to an email, with the client able to respond that day,” Harwin said. “In the past, something like that might have delayed a decision by up to a week, potentially causing a knock-on effect with other tasks.”

Increasing business efficiency

Using tools like Bluebeam is part of a wider strategy at Burmor to use technology to improve efficiencies.

“Like most businesses, we utilize Office 365 and OneDrive for our projects, with secure folders set up to share the latest documentation with clients and our supply chain partners,” Harwin said. “We’ve just started using drones to carry out site surveys too, allowing us to quickly review project progress.”

“While these are all useful, you also need tools that are specific to construction. Bluebeam is very versatile. It’s easy to use, is always up to date with the latest versions of documents and helps us to visually explain projects to our clients.”

“For example, we had to move some doors early in the design. It was easy to markup the drawing during the meeting, with the client able to decide there and then.”

Benefits for small contractors

To achieve benefits of any new software, construction businesses need to ensure they invest time and effort into the rollout process, according to Harwin.

“My advice to SMEs is that no matter what size you are, there is software that can help,” Harwin said. “Many construction businesses are doing the same thing and have similar needs—it might just be that for an SME this is on a smaller scale.” “We have found that software empowers smaller businesses to deliver work themselves that in the past they have had to go elsewhere for. We showed a bricklayer how to use Bluebeam’s measurement tool to help calculate the number of bricks they needed. Traditionally, they may have asked for QS support or discussed drawings with the architect, but they can do that themselves now using tools like Bluebeam.”

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Zombie Malls

Are Malls Dying? It’s Complicated

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Physical, brick-and-mortar shopping malls have been declared ‘dead’ time and again, but their real future is more complicated for builders (from 2022).

The retail shopping mall is dying.

At least that’s the sentiment shared by most. CNBC reports that 25% of malls in the United States are expected to shut down within the next five years. Large mall owners are drowning in debt. The COVID-19 pandemic shattered the brick-and-mortar retail sector as consumers moved much of their shopping online. Developers, cities and towns are searching for ways to make use of already-dead malls, as many seek to convert their remains into affordable housing, offices and gyms.

For others, the shopping mall isn’t dead quite yet. Yes, the great indoor shopping mall—where teenagers congregate, food courts flourish and escalators shutter crowds to a multi-level retail experience—is likely in the rearview mirror. But as pandemic lockdowns ease and people are eager to re-enter the world, the in-person, outdoor shopping experience maybe on the precipice of a renaissance.

Join Built, the Bluebeam Blog, in the above video as we dig deeper into the future of malls.

Why converting (or demolishing) dead malls is harder than you think.

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Why Water Management Is Among Construction’s Most Pressing Issues

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The construction sector uses a lot of water, not least in the manufacture of essential materials like concrete and mortar. As the world confronts a looming climate crisis, what does the industry need to do to manage its water usage more effectively when delivering the homes and other buildings society needs?

As well as one of life’s “essentials,” water is a crucial element in a variety of industrial processes, not least construction.

To the casual observer, the only visible evidence of construction site water use might be a worker hosing down a truck full of construction waste to prevent the escape of dust.

But lots of water is used in many aspects of construction and in a variety of ways.

Amid a climate change crisis and the increasing threat – and instance – of drought, the sector is looking at ways to improve water efficiency in construction projects, as well as doing more to source what it does use responsibly while striving to minimize waste and leaks.

How much water is used in construction?

According to the Construction Products Association, water is used throughout the construction lifecycle, from extracting raw materials to construction product manufacturing, throughout the building phase, and obviously once buildings have been completed and are occupied.

And when a building has reached the end of its useful life and is set to be demolished, water is used in that process too, not least to reduce the spread of dust and other debris into the air.

The CPA goes on to say that manufacturers of construction products rely on water across a broad spectrum of uses. Water, it says, “can serve as a lubricant, a cleaning agent, a sealant, a heat transfer medium, a solvent, an air pollution control medium, plus an array of other uses depending on the material and products being produced.”

Crucially, water is used in the manufacture of mortar and cement concrete, materials that have their own issues when it comes to energy efficiency and their environmental impact.

According to the journal Nature Sustainability, in 2012 concrete production was responsible for 9% of global industrial water withdrawals and 1.7% of total global water withdrawal.

The UK Centre for Moisture in Buildings reckons that up to 8,000 liters (2,113 gallons) of water may be included in mixtures and materials as construction of an average-sized new-build home proceeds, although this varies depending on the design.

The importance of water management during construction activity

Water is clearly a crucial component of construction activity. Consequently, its sourcing, storage, use and eventual disposal need to be managed effectively.

With mounting pressure on existing water supplies amid threats of droughts and other climate change-related events, having a construction water management plan in place is a must.

There is plenty of information available to the construction sector covering how to use – and conserve – water during project delivery.

In the UK, the Construction Leadership Council has drawn up water management guidance that asserts the need “to improve the efficiency of water use on construction sites through better planning and management … and to encourage consideration of environmental risks associated with construction activities.”

The CLC said its ultimate aim was to eliminate the demand and use of potable water in construction. “It is unlikely that water demand can be eliminated, but efforts can be made to reduce and use alternative sources, as well as reuse water for construction activities,” it added.

Once a project’s water needs have been identified, alternative sources should be planned for, with a metered potable supply available as backup.

The CLC calls for a water use hierarchy to be put in place, addressing – in descending order – the elimination of unnecessary water use; consideration of alternatives to potable water, such as rain and “grey” water; reduced use; and the reuse and recycling of water.

Effective water management is a group effort

The Water Conservancy organization encourages water conservation at every stage of a construction project, from design to planning and the construction process itself.

It also highlights the importance of involving the people tasked with delivering a scheme in the water use goals.

It is important, it says, to establish water conservation as a key objective of the project and ensure that everyone involved is aware of their responsibilities.

The Water Conservancy adds that induction training should be provided for new employees and contractors “so that they are also aware of their responsibilities and the benefits of the program,” while the project’s water management plan needs to be kept on-site to “ensure that all employees are aware of and have access to it.”

Water management needed to be discussed at regular meetings, the Water Conservancy says, with ongoing achievements monitored.

And in a nod toward the benefits of highlighting good practice, it adds: “Promote your successes with press releases to local media and industry associations.”

What are the rules and regulations around water consumption?

There are several areas of regulation covering water and the built environment, although these are focused on the degree to which water is used – and saved – once a development has been completed.

The mayor of London’s office spells out how agencies in London and adjoining regional and local planning authorities will work to “protect and conserve water supplies and resources in order to secure London’s needs in a sustainable manner.”

It stipulates that development should minimize the use of mains water by incorporating water-saving measures and equipment and by designing residential development so that mains water consumption would meet a target of 105 liters (28 gallons) or less per head per day.

There will also be support for sustainable water supply infrastructure in new developments as part of water companies’ water resource management plans.

How to reduce water consumption in construction: Now and in the future

While construction is improving water usage, designers of the homes and other buildings society needs will be creating them with water efficiencies in mind.

Planning authorities want limits of 125 liters (33 gallons) of water per person per day on new housing developments as part of the Building Regulations Part G and can demand a lower limit of 110 liters (29 gallons) as part of a planning condition.

The water footprint of a new home or office can be reduced considerably by thoughtful design.

Showers can replace baths, or baths can be designed to be more water efficient. Dual flush toilets are becoming the norm, while rainwater collection, via a water butt system, can replace tap water for most outside uses. Meanwhile, appropriate landscaping can protect homes from flooding – another consequence of climate change – and prevent wasteful water run-off.

With the world on the brink of a full-blown climate crisis, water efficiency in construction must be addressed. The sector is no doubt fully aware that it makes good environmental – and business – sense to tackle the water issue sooner rather than later.

Can Construction Be Completely Emissions-Free? Norway Aims To Find Out

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Dark Sky Bluebeam

How DarkSky Standards Combat Light Pollution and Protect the Night Sky

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DarkSky International, an education, advocacy and conservation organization protecting the night sky, approves new luminary standards, lighting programs and policy language

At one time, nightfall plunged our ancestors into darkness and let them marvel at celestial objects in an inky sky. But in recent times, our ability to alter natural light levels has advanced to the point that stars, planets and galaxies are fading from view. Of the 2,500 stars that should be visible, the typical American suburbanite can see only a few hundred.

Instead of starlight, the night is filled with streetlights, spotlights, stadium lights, neon signs, billboards and parking lot towers—all contributing to light pollution, defined by National Geographic as the excessive or inappropriate use of outdoor light. Light pollution damages human health, alters wildlife behavior and wastes energy and money as light blazes when and where it’s not needed. The result is glare that blinds drivers, light trespass that disturbs sleep, eerie orange skyglow over metro areas and confusing and garish groupings reminiscent of Times Square.

Until light is policed in the same way as air, water and land pollution, it falls to architects, engineers and designers to select lighting systems that perform their function while still preserving the night sky—with the help of manufacturers whose fixtures meet the specs for responsible lighting and governments that support policies to protect darkness.

“I think people are understanding the urgency of lighting design, because it’s become more and more difficult to see a clear night sky from anywhere,” said James Brigagliano, lighting program manager at DarkSky International.

The harmful effects of too much light

Light where it doesn’t belong disrupts the night and day rhythm encoded in the DNA of all animals and plants. That impacts behaviors from feeding and sleep to reproducing and evading predators.

Human circadian rhythms are attuned to outdoor light during the day and darkness at night. Breaking that cycle with artificial light increases the risk for obesity, depression, sleep disorders, diabetes and other diseases, according to research reported in Environmental Health Perspectives.

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For wildlife, prey use darkness as cover and predators use light to hunt, so illumination dramatically alters the environment and the odds. For instance, newborn sea turtles need to turn toward the ocean and safety after hatching on the beach, but often they’re confounded by light on shore. Birds that migrate or hunt at night are lured by brightly lit cities and veer from their flight patterns. And after dark, the insects that birds depend on are drawn to burning bulbs and their deadly heat.

Worse still, lights are often pointless, adding economic waste to ecosystem harm. DarkSky International estimates that at least 30% of all outdoor lighting in the United States serves no purpose and is emitted by lights that don’t have shields to prevent spillage. Wasting light costs $33 billion each year and uses about 120 terawatt-hours of energy—enough to meet New York City’s electricity needs for two years. Quality outdoor lighting could cut energy use by 60% to 70%, saving billions of dollars and reducing carbon emissions. But that depends on lighting responsibly.

Five principles for responsible outdoor lighting

DarkSky and the Illuminating Engineering Society jointly published the Five Principles for Responsible Outdoor Lighting to prevent and reduce light pollution. Designing new projects or retrofits using the principles can create beautiful, functional, healthy lighting that minimizes harmful effects and saves energy and money.

  1. Useful: If it’s not serving a function, you shouldn’t have it.

Identify the purpose of lighting and its impact on everything in the vicinity, including wildlife and habitats.

  • Targeted: Aim light so it falls only where it’s needed.

Direct and shield light beams so they point down and don’t spill outside the area being lit.

  • Low level: Light should be no brighter than necessary.

Use only the light required and make sure nearby surfaces don’t reflect light and create excess.

  • Controlled: Use light only when it’s needed.

Install motion detectors, dimmers and timers to allow only the minimum light needed available at any time.

  • Warm-colored: Use warmer-color lights where possible.

Cut back on shorter wavelength light (blue-violet) to the least amount needed.

New standards, programs and policies to bring back the night

The DarkSky Approved program provides objective, third-party certification for lighting design,  products and installed projects that reduce light pollution. Designers can search products by manufacturer, use, retailer, light temperature and residential use. Project standards fulfill requirements for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification as well, but requirements continually evolve based on new information.

“We’re cutting down on what we allow for high-angle lighting—from 90 to 80 degrees,” Brigagliano said. “So now we’re allowing only 1% of the total light output of a fixture to be between 80 and 180 degrees. There’s no benefit to light between 80 to 90 degrees and the new cutoff will help reduce uplight and sky glow.”

DarkSky Approved programs now include pedestrian lighting as well as sea turtles, sports venues and lodging. The new program addresses glare from light fixtures used in areas like campuses where people need lower-level lighting for safety at night.

“We also have wildlife-tuned luminaries, with subcategories like sea turtles,” Brigagliano said. “That’s needed because different species have different sensitivities to wavelengths. However, if we control brightness and shield the light source, we’ve taken care of much of the issue and the color of light is less important.”

In addition, DarkSky recently released an updated and simplified model policy that was written to make it easy for states and municipalities to adopt. “Just a little bit of improvement is better than none,” Brigagliano noted.

Every place a dark sky place

The International Dark Sky Places program certifies areas worldwide that preserve and protect darkness through responsible lighting policies and public education. Not all are remote parks and sanctuaries—a neighborhood or city can earn recognition as a Dark Sky Community or Urban Night Sky Place if residents are committed to a healthful and beautiful night.

“Anywhere where there’s a DarkSky-approved place, there’s been a fair amount of dark sky conceptual lighting design,” Brigagliano said. That work may soon be required as part of state or local regulations. At least 19 states and a number of municipalities have laws in place to reduce light pollution.

To be ready, architects, engineers and designers must recognize that light can be a pollutant—and balance providing light with protecting the dark.

Hero image courtesy Mark Eichenberger

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Volcano Dome Hawaii Bluebeam

These Two Friends Built a Viral Off-Grid Volcano Retreat in the Heart of Hawaii

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The unique retreat offers an extraordinary experience in a custom-built volcano-inspired structure. Go inside.

Friendship can take you to surprising places. For Cassandra Dalla Riva and Karen Lee, two best friends who post online about their experiences with do-it-yourself, off-grid construction on their shared Instagram profile, a chance meeting on vacation ended in the two creating a truly unique building, nestled away in the lush Hawaiian jungle.

Called “Inn a Volcano,” the fully off-grid luxury property looks just like two miniature volcanos, fully stocked with everything you need to enjoy one of the most unique Airbnb experiences on the Big Island. Built spoke to Dalla Riva and Lee about the story behind the building of the fascinating structure.

Two adventurers unite

Dalla Riva and Lee met on vacation. “We met five years ago on a vacation in Oahu one night and instantly clicked,” Dalla Riva said. “We have been friends since then.”

The two immediately bonded over their shared lust for life. “Dalla Riva and I have all these crazy adventures, like going to pole camp in turkey and CalEarth to learn how to build a hurricane shelter,” Lee said.

Dalla Riva agreed. “We’re all over the place, bringing our wildest ideas to each other and meeting them with support. So when we saw the OMG!Fund contest, I knew I had to reach out to Lee to collaborate to brainstorm ideas together.”

Dalla Riva had moved to Hawaii’s Big Island in 2019, building a tiny house on land that’s currently home to the volcano. Idly exploring the internet one afternoon, she saw a structure that sparked her interest. “We were looking through the OMG category on Airbnb and I saw a dirt-looking dome that somewhat resembled a volcano, so that’s where the idea originated,” she said.

In 2022, Airbnb hosted a contest to give 10 lucky winners $100,000 to bring their most awe-inspiring ideas to life. “We had entered a bunch of ideas together and separately, but I think because the volcano was harmonious with Hawaii’s landscape, the volcano village and the volcano national park, it made it an easy choice for Airbnb to choose this idea,” Lee said.

As Dalla Riva explained in an Instagram caption, “I told my boss I had won $100,000 and he was like ‘Sure you did. It’s probably a scam.’ But once that first $33,000 direct deposit hit, we got to work!”

Learning on the job

Dalla Riva and Lee didn’t have any kind of construction experience—but they had a vision. To successfully execute their plans, the duo went to Hesperia, California, to attend a workshop at the CalEarth Institute, whose mission is instructing students in sustainable and accessible forms of what they call Earth Architecture.

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“When we got back, we also reached out to Mark Hansen, who had built a permitted dome in Hawaii over 10 years ago, via letter,” Dalla Riva said. “He graciously gave us his cindercrete recipe and lessons on how to build in the rainforest,” Lee continued. “There wasn’t anything traditional about him, but his tradition of spreading sandalwood and knowledge of earth bagging gave us huge inspiration in creating the volcano.”

From that point on, it was up to them to leverage their new knowledge as effectively as they could. “I’ve never built anything in my life before the volcano,” Lee explained. “We learned on the job and had to redo things two, three or even four times over,” Dalla Riva said.

“Once the direct deposit hit, we hired an excavator operator to clear the land,” she said. “We had to bring in nearly 300 tons of rock before we hired masons to pour the foundation. Then, we did the first two layers of earthbags ourselves, with the help of friends, before we realized how much more help we would need.”

“Surprisingly, the earth bagging only took us eight weeks compared to the six months of finishing work,” Lee said. There were plenty of setbacks along the way. “We got scammed, we ran out of money and we didn’t finish in time,” Lee said. “At almost every step, it seemed like we made a mistake and had to do things over and over again,” Dalla Riva added. “Doing things for the first time is always the hardest.”

All’s well that ends well

After all their hard work, the duo was able to create a truly memorable structure—one that has captured and improved upon their original vision.

Dalla Riva said her favorite aspects of the finished volcano include “the lava lamps, the bathtub, the moss mirror, the candle niches, the comforter—I could go on.” Lee agreed, adding that the lava floor, rainbow crystals, bean bag, wood accents and the skylights are her favorite things about the dome.

Lee said that for her, the most memorable part of the structure was all the work and hours she and Dalla Riva put in to create it. “I loved all the literal blood, sweat and tears it took within us when earth bagging,” she said. “It felt religious and holy. It was spiritual so that this replicated the history of architecture.”

The volcano is in the top 10% of homes on Airbnb, Lee said, and has been getting lots of love on the internet as well. “We have had a couple Instagram reels go viral,” Dalla Riva said, while Lee added that the public response to the structure has been “mostly good.”

So, what’s next for the duo? “We are going to build another volcano!” they both enthused. “On the next build, I have a specific floor paper in mind in front of the heart-shaped bathtub,” Lee said. “What floor paper?” asked Dalla Riva.

And with that they were off dreaming of another unique and creative structure that will set the internet talking and create one-of-a-kind memories for visitors from all around the world.

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Manchester, England Bluebeam

Manchester’s High-Rise Renaissance: How Towering Developments Are Transforming the City

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The city in northwest England is famous for its successful soccer teams, a vibrant music scene and, in recent years, a proliferation of tall buildings.

As pressures mount on the availability and cost of land, and as demand for office and residential space soars, the rollout of tall buildings across the United Kingdom has inevitably increased in recent years.

Traditionally, London has been home to the tallest buildings in the UK. The NatWest Tower, now called Tower 42, was the country’s tallest on its completion in 1980, rising 183 meters above the streets of the capital’s financial district.

Superseded in 1990 by One Canada Square (235 meters) in neighboring Canary Wharf—which was itself overtaken by the 309.6-meter-tall Shard, on the south side of the River Thames in 2012—Tower 42 has also been dwarfed by an array of imposing office developments built across the Square Mile. These include the 278-meter-tall 22 Bishopsgate and the Cheesegrater (aka the Leadenhall Building; 225 meters).

The pace of development of such buildings is set to continue. Still more office skyscrapers are planned in the city between now and 2030, while over in Canary Wharf new apartment towers proliferate, though none are likely to reach the heights of the area’s Landmark Pinnacle, which, at 233 meters, is Europe’s tallest residential building.

For lovers of high-rise living and working, London has it in spades. Yet the capital’s dominance in tall buildings is being challenged by a city some 200 miles to the north.

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Over the past decade the delivery of several high-rise schemes in Manchester has put it firmly on the map in terms of ambitious developments. These have played a role in the city’s recent growth, signaling its ambition as an alternative living and working destination to London.

What has prompted this surge of activity? And is the proliferation of towers in the city a good thing?

Boom Time

With a population of nearly 3 million and regularly competing with Birmingham to be the UK’s second largest city, Manchester is growing—and growing rapidly.

Observers note that Manchester’s economy is expected to post annual average growth of 2.2% between 2024 and 2027, outpacing the UK’s national growth rate of 1.9%. Jobs across the city are also on the rise, with numbers forecast to rise by 1.7% per year over the period, the UK’s second-fastest rate of such growth. 

Evidence of this boom is reflected in the number of tall buildings, particularly residential, springing up across the city. Manchester is where you’ll find the largest concentration of very tall buildings outside London. Approximately 20 towers more than 100 meters in height now pepper the city’s skyline, and several more are in the pipeline, in planning or undergoing construction.

The first notable tall building in Manchester was the Beetham Tower, an apartment block consisting of 47 stories and just shy of 169 meters in height, which was completed in 2006 at a cost of £150 million ($192 million). Designed by Ian Simpson of SimpsonHaugh, it features nearly 300 hotel rooms, more than 200 apartments and several floors of workspace.

Other towers have followed, as developers and the local authorities recognize the potential offered via city-center living, complete with a range of interconnected amenities. Salboy, a developer based in the Warrington area of Manchester, has delivered a number of tower schemes across the city, including the 26-story Obsidian residential building.

The firm is working on the Viadux tower complex, currently under construction in the city, and another SimpsonHaugh design. Once completed, the scheme’s second phase will be Manchester’s tallest building at 230 meters and 76 stories.

Small Firm, Big Ambitions

Currently holding the record for Manchester’s tallest tower—and the tallest outside London—is the South Tower at the SimpsonHaugh-designed Deansgate Square development, a scheme featuring four towers ranging up to 65 stories. The South Tower, which features those 65 floors, is 201 meters high.

Developer Renaker teamed up with a structural engineering firm based in the small West Yorkshire town of Hebden Bridge called DP Squared, now owned by US structural engineers DeSimone Consulting Engineering, to hammer out the details of what were to become the tallest towers in the city.

Founded by Darren Paine together with his wife and business partner Deborah, DP Squared had already worked on a number of tower schemes in Manchester, including the One Greengate project, where one of the towers of that project came in at 32 stories. But the Deansgate development was a step up.

“You’re in a different league from that when you’re designing a building of that scale,” Darren said. “You’re moving away from focusing mostly on making it strong enough to stand up, and instead moving more toward making it work in a way that people using the building don’t feel uncomfortable. That’s a more abstract challenge to deal with.”

Towers, Darren said, are like bridges. “There are considerations that go beyond the weight of the structure. There are other criteria that have to be considered, such as how does the wind move around the building? How does the building respond to that same wind?”

Being structural engineers for the tallest building outside of London, as well as the tallest building in Manchester, generated considerable excitement for Darren, Deborah and their small team.

That said, Darren recognised DP Squared was entering the unknown. “We’d never worked on a tower as tall as 65 stories,” he said, “and we didn’t have anybody we could turn to for counsel. All the research we needed to do in designing and constructing tall buildings we did ourselves.”

With their firm founded 20 years ago, Darren, Deborah and the team at DP Squared take the expanding work on Manchester’s tall towers in stride.

It was a risk at the time, but the client nevertheless placed a lot of trust in the firm, notes Darren, and it has paid off. “They knew we could respond to how they build better than other consultants could. That’s why we’ve been collaborating with them for so long.”

Growth Risk?

Such has been the growth in the number of towers across the city and its effect on the local skyline that it has led some to label the place “Manc-hattan.”

But there are concerns that the proliferation of such buildings could, if unchecked, cause longer-term harm to the fabric of the city’s older structures.

A report by campaign group SAVE Britain’s Heritage titled “Boom not Bust: How Greater Manchester can build the future without destroying its past,” argues that while the economic boom currently underway across the city heralds an exciting time, “such rapid growth comes with a risk of its remarkable built heritage being swept away, when it could be harnessed and reused as a vital part of a sustainable 21st century city.” 

SAVE’s report also alludes to the danger of allowing economic inequality to take hold in a city the size of Manchester. “At the same time, the boom has not reached the region’s outer boroughs, many of whose historic buildings face decay or demolition,” its report says.

Such concerns may be legitimate, and they will no doubt be considered by the city planning authorities.

However, the lure of the commercial opportunities on offer, and the demand for space for both Manchester’s residents and office workers, are likely to drive the march of tower development across the city for some time to come.

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