HMC Architects in service to the community

HMC employees give back to their communities through toy drives and fundraising efforts like CANstruction, which benefits local food banks. Employees raised $4,200 for assistance to Haitian earthquake victims; another $5,000, plus a $5,000 match from HMC’s Designing Futures Foundation, went to victims of Japan’s tsunami. Janice Endsley and HMC colleagues have volunteered at the Sea No Evil Art Show, an annual benefit for the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, which has raised $300,000 for ocean mammal protection in the past five years.

HMC Project Manager Andrea Ruelas, LEED AP BD+C, led a fundraising effort through her church to benefit Ciudad de los Niños Orphanage in Matamoros, Mexico.

Konni Doi, CID, LEED AP, Principal/Senior Interior Designer, managed the distribution of donated computer tables, chairs, and other furniture from long-time HMC vendor KI. The furniture, estimated to be worth $10,000-20,000, found a home at the Riverside, Calif., facility of Operation SafeHouse, an emergency shelter for teens. +

All-electric multi-family Passive House projects can be built at the same cost or close to the same cost as conventionally designed buildings, according to a report by the Passive House Network. The report included a survey of 45 multi-family Passive House buildings in New York and Massachusetts in recent years.

Regulations | Aug 23, 2023

Gas industry drops legal challenge to heat pump requirement in Washington building code

Gas and construction industry groups recently moved to dismiss a lawsuit they had filed to block new Washington state building codes that require heat pumps in new residential and commercial construction. The lawsuit contended that the codes harm the industry groups’ business, interfere with consumer energy choice, and don’t comply with federal law.

Government Buildings | Aug 23, 2023

White House wants to ‘aggressively’ get federal workers back to the office

The Biden administration wants to “aggressively” get federal workers back in the office by September or October. “We are returning to in-person work because it is critical to the well-being of our teams and will enable us to deliver better results for the American people,” according to an email by White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients. The administration will not eliminate remote work entirely, though.

Building Owners | Aug 23, 2023

Charles Pankow Foundation releases free project delivery selection tool for building owners, developers, and project teams

Building owners and project teams can use the new Building Owner Assessment Tool (BOAT) to better understand how an owner's decision-making profile impacts outcomes for different project delivery methods.